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Moro's Price

Page 36

by M. Crane Hana


  Cama’s Fire: the molecular-level immolation that occurs after Camalians die, as the individual symbionts in their bodies burn their hosts’ matter to fuel the interdimensional jump back to Camonde and Cama’s largest physical form. Cama’s Fire occurs even before death, as Camalians shed skin, hair, and bodily wastes. Once those materials are between three to five feet away from their host body, they burn up as the symbionts return to Cama. For Camalian adults, this process is voluntary and controllable, allowing them to work with volatile chemicals.

  Cama’s Kiss or Cama’s Touch: the initial infection of the nano-virus symbiont into new human tissue. Most of the time this leads to shock, hallucinations, coma, and death within a few hours of infection.

  Cama’s Lake: large underground pool of golden light below the city of Sagana on Camonde, the lair of Cama’s largest physical manifestation.

  Camalian: member of the biologically enhanced human subspecies who adopted/was adopted by the energy creature called Cama. Initially a group of humanistic political dissidents at bitter war with the more-religious population of Terra Prima, over the centuries the Camalians have carefully fostered a reputation for reason and pacifism. Though individual preferences vary, Camalians tend to be atheists and agnostics. Cama is a real, friendly, and fallible presence in their lives, so they don’t feel a need to invent higher powers.

  While traveling or working in the Terran League, Camalian citizens are required to wear bright orange garb for easy visibility, to wear protective gloves, and half masks or veils to prevent accidental infection of humans. Sexual contact between Terran humans and Camalians is forbidden by both races, as it is considered a death sentence for the human participant. The Sonta apparently have no such fears, as they are each similarly infected/linked to their own star-eaters. Pairings between Camalians and Sonta are physically possible but always infertile.

  Camalian Commonwealth: the worlds settled and/or terraformed by Camalians. General government duties are carried out by Parliament and Representatives. The Emperor or Empress (always the highest-powered Antonin of their generation) intercedes into politics only as necessary to broker compromises. Most of the time, the Royals are charged with keeping stable Cama’s link with the millions of Camalian citizens.

  Camali, pronounced ‘cah MALL ee’: what the Sonta call Camalians.

  Camels: what uninformed or hostile humans call Camalians, trading on the threat of Camalians apparently ‘spitting fire’.

  Camonde, pronounced 'cah MOND': homeworld of the Camalian subspecies. See also ‘Terra Prima’.

  Cedar and Cedar-Saba: a Terran League Apex world, and its continent-wide major city. Saba ‘SAH bah’ was the original settlement, its oldest buildings still present in the university sector. See entry on Siwana Space Museum.

  Cedar University: one of the premier universities in the Terran League, its primary campus alone is almost a hundred miles across. Moro was originally intended to go here on a scholarship to learn business law, and use that training to benefit Ventana upon his graduation.

  Credit: Terran League units of currency. Hard-credit is not linked to a particular economy but to fluctuations in the entire Terran League economy. It can be momentarily unstable but is usually and swiftly self-corrected. Hard-credit is effectively untraceable, can be considered somewhat analogous to our Bitcoin, and is often considered illegal by planetary governments (and thus highly desirable to everyone else). Soft-credit is linked to specific banks, governments, and companies, conferring their theoretical stability in exchange for taxation and easily traced transactions.

  Dala: resort planet in the Terran League.

  Danil (called Danil Sonta), pronounced ‘dan EEL’: a relatively young and newly enslaved star-eater.

  Deljou Shannon, pronounced ‘dell JOO’: human female Cedar-Saba news reporter with Channel 98 entertainment service. Has a reputation as a social activist.

  Demetra Carson, pronounced ‘deh MEE trah’: Doc Carson’s daughter, Jost and Moro’s girlfriend, murdered by Lyton Sardis when she attempted to rescue Moro.

  Dennis Vance: human supremacist businessman in Cedar-Saba, grandfather to Karl Vance.

  Desmeel, pronounced ‘dess MEEL’: isolated backwater planet in the Terran League. Another former laboratory world of the White Storm, now home to a failing human colony.

  Diamond, The: Moro’s stage name when enslaved by Michol Kott.

  Dream Alley: low-rent sector in south Cedar-Saba, known for its drug deals, stolen-goods markets, and bordellos catering to riskier tastes.

  Encanto Sector: wealthier midtown section of Cedar-Saba, seven hundred miles north of Vaclav Sector.

  Father Milos: parish priest and friend of Gran Case. He vanished during the diaspora of freeborn citizens after the takeover of Ventana.

  Galiah Halloran, first name pronounced ‘GAH lee ah’: Ventana bonder and businesswoman who schemed her way into a private fortune and bought her family out of servitude early. Grandmother to David and Levi Halloran. Began the business fraud which allowed Rio Sardis to legally assume control of the Ventana Holding Company and the entire colony.

  The Golden Cage: oldest and most important of the fighting arenas in Cedar-Saba. The arenas are a League-wide, multimillion-credit entertainment industry founded on sexual humiliation and ancient styles of mixed martial arts. Fighters who win (gamecocks) can choose their prize as either the losers’ (songbirds) credits or bodies, and victims are often brutally raped in public in the arena. Both free persons and bondslaves fight in the arena. The credit prizes can rise so high they often allow surviving bondslaves to purchase their freedom in a few short years. While violent criminals are often sentenced to the arena, physically suitable debtors often choose the risk for the possible payoff. While women can and do fight against men in certain arenas, the Golden Cage is reserved for male fighters only.

  Guide of Cama: the closest thing to a priesthood among Camalians. Guides have an unusual sensitivity to Cama (often through diluted Antonin genetics), and can help their less-sensitive compatriots with stress relief, biofeedback, fully activating the healing potential of the symbiont, psychological issues, and sexual issues. They are quick to point out they are not prostitutes, who have their own esteemed guilds in the Commonwealth.

  Hunt sister: Sonta term for a woman in a female/female pairing.

  Imraithi (also called Imra), pronounced ‘eem RYE thee’: Sonta queen and current chief Vessel of Ksala Aksenna, genetic grandmother to Moro. Known to be a neuro- and genetics-sequencing genius. Emotionally very cold and practical. Imraithi has been playing a careful, dangerous, and long game with her daughter Anyatisa as a major pawn.

  Jamal Antonin, pronounced ‘jah MALL’: the first Camalian Shield, husband to Maya Antonin.

  Jason Kee-DaSilva, also called the DaSilva Leopard for his dyed hair and leopard-spot shoulder and back tattoos. A human male fighter defeated by the Diamond (Moro). Known to be the only arena fighter to ask politely for Moro’s submission and get it, the Leopard has neither confirmed nor denied that he and Moro had a secret love affair a year or so before the events in Moro’s Price. Homosexual.

  Johani Richeson ne’Cama, pronounced ‘joe HAWN ee’: female Camalian technician rescued from possible human mob attack by Dr. Adam Hegen, along with her young sons Phillipe and Tomas

  Jost Ventana, pronounced ‘Yohst’ like ‘ghost’: heir and chief officer of the Ventana Holding Company. Moro’s boyfriend. Died during the takeover of Ventana.

  Jumay, pronounced ‘JOO may’: favorite mortal Sonta Vessel of the Ksala Tena. Apparently had a sanctioned affair with Alys Antonin during a diplomatic mission.

  Karl Vance: freeborn arena fighter defeated and killed by the Diamond (Moro). Grandson of Dennis Vance. Had earlier run-ins with Valier at Cedar University parties, where Val apparently mocked Karl’s repressed homosexuality.

  Kial Surna (linguistically drifted version of ‘Kyle Cerna’): human priest from an alternate universe (possibly ours). His rescue of stranded hu
man political prisoners (analogs of the original Camalian dissidents) led him to become the first human mate and Vessel to the White Storm, and the founder of one of the Sonta’s ancestral races in Moro’s universe. Moro was partially engineered from Surna’s stored genetic material, and bears a strong resemblance to him.

  Kino Hospital: medical facility in northern Cedar-Saba known for its Camalian-only facilities.

  Knife and Shield: in Camalian culture the Knife is the same-sex spouse of an Antonin Royal. The Shield is the opposite-sex spouse. Popular convention says that only the most high-powered Antonin Royals need two mates to balance them emotionally. While the attraction is typically instant on sight (on the Antonin’s part), it can be more nuanced for the Knife and Shield. In short, the Royal needs his or her mates, but those mates may not be as emotionally reliant on the Royal.

  Knifehounds: large mastiff-type dogs brought back to Camonde by Alys Antonin from a previous diplomatic mission. Also, Valier’s codeword and nickname for Moro.

  Korman Ventana: original Founder of the Ventana Holding Company, Jost’s ancestor.

  Ksala and Ksaloni, pronounced more like ‘ka SAH la’ and ‘ka sah LOW nee’: also called star-eaters, sun-devourers, Bound Ksala, Unbound (also known as Feral or Free Ksala). Extremely ancient spacefaring energy beings. Cannibalistic predators apparently birthed either at the beginning of their universe, or out of the largest black holes. They eat matter and energy, by preference each other. When they ingest large numbers of sentient beings, they begin to gain sentience themselves. The Sonta ancestors discovered how to enslave them as power sources and weapons, using as lure and punishment physical sensations transmitted through mortal Vessels linked to their star-eaters. Some Ksala continue to evolve into different kinds of energy-beings, called Lifebringers.

  Among the Sonta, the oldest and most prized Bound Ksala are the pack mates Aiyon, Aksenna, and Tena, apparently born out of one primordial cataclysm along with their brother, the former star-eater now called the White Storm. Alone of all known Ksaloni, these four learned how to hunt together instead of tearing each other apart. Their legendary murder of an ancient Lifebringer called Fountain of Stars set off the cosmological beginnings of both the Sonta and the human races in Moro’s universe.

  In physical form (a tiny manifestation of their true size), star-eaters can appear as gigantic black masses of tentacles and fins studded with eyespots/mouths glowing in their signature color.

  Bound Ksala often appear to manifest distinctly ‘male’ or ‘female’ personalities. This is largely an illusion created by long contact with mortal Vessels.

  A few of the long-enslaved Ksala have mastered the trick of not only taking over their Sonta Vessels’ bodies, but of subsuming those bodies into the Ksala’s own tentacles and reconstituting them at will. This requires great skill on the Ksala’s part, and vast trust on the Vessel’s.

  Laren, pronounced ‘lar EHN’: a Camalian girl at the Camalian Embassy in Cedar-Saba.

  Larosain Ker Danil, pronounced ‘lar OH say een’: a mortal Sonta Vessel stolen by the Ksala Danil, before Danil attempted to stop Lyton Sardis from summoning the White Storm. Saved from certain death by Moro.

  Levi Halloran: Ventana farmer in league with Lyton Sardis, executed by Sardis during the takeover of Ventana.

  Liatana Antonin ne’Cama, pronounced ‘lee ah TAN ah’: the current Empress of Camonde and the emotional heart of her empire. If Cama loses control and starts flooding the populace with potentially lethal cascades of negative emotions, Liatana can step in and stabilize Cama. But Liatana doesn’t know there are two other Camalians with even stronger abilities than hers.

  Lifebringer: the final evolution of a star-eater (Ksala). The Change appears to be triggered by the slow growth of conscience and empathy, paradoxically as the star-eater ingests more and more sentient lifeforms. At the end of this cycle, the star-eater’s signature color pales until it burns pure white. The newborn Lifebringer is essentially helpless as it adjusts its energy outputs, figures out how to jump in and out of multiple universes, and learns its new ability to trigger star-formation and nudge the conditions to create new life. During this phase, the young Lifebringer is easy prey for unchanged star-eaters, who appear to have murderous philosophical differences with their victim. (Interviews with Tena Sonta indicate the star-eaters want to hoard all available energy as a way to possibly negate the future cold Death of their universe, while Lifebringers want to use and reuse that energy even more quickly in star formation and the creation of sentient life.)

  As a force for ‘pure’ good, Lifebringers can be as ultimately terrifying and ruthless as their star-eater predecessors. The creation of new heavy elements means suns have to die, and old lifeforms must be brushed aside to allow for the advancement of new ones.

  The Sonta whisper that the Banner Queens who control them may be Lifebringers.

  Lyton Shajahan Augustine Sardis, pronounced more like ‘LIGHT on’: Director of Rio Sardis, human multitrillionaire known for his interest in forbidden Sonta technology, his freakishly long life, and his rumored sexual sadism. His overarching goals stem from his fear of the Sonta, and his wish to find an ultimate weapon against them. Lyton’s sexuality is less directed at body preferences than it is at the right victims.

  M-space: alternate dimension(s) that Terran, Camalian, and Sonta ships ‘jump’ through to achieve faster-than-light travel.

  Maitland Trevannis Antonin ne’Cama: Valier’s father, Liatana’s Shield, a xeno-archaeologist who excavated the possible Sonta ruins on Ventana. Brilliant but infamously absentminded. Likes his mate Liatana, but adores his mate Alys—and is not at all fazed by the fact that Alys does not generally like men. The triad's courtship is considered a romantic legend on Camonde, and a colossal embarrassment to their son Valier.

  Mark David Moore: Terran human talk-show host and human supremacist in Cedar-Saba.

  Mateo DaSilva: human student at Cedar University, Valier’s best friend pre-Moro, distant cousin of the arena fighter Jason Kee-DaSilva. Believes he introduced Val to the perversions of the arena culture, not knowing that Val has been secretly following fighters’ careers for years. Hopelessly infatuated with Valier.

  Manchester Station: Terran League colony world suffering from a recent nuclear waste spill and long-term environmental degradation from unregulated industry.

  Mara: demigoddess, intercessor to the Divine, worshipped by many Terran League humans. May or may not be an analog to our universe’s Virgin Mary.

  Maya Antonin: the first Camalian empress. Engineered (perhaps with Sonta help) an incredibly virulent version of the Camalian symbiont that wiped out millions of humans in the Battle of Camonde.

  The Maya Variation: ancient, virulent strain of the Camalian nano-virus symbiont, designed to kill humans by the millions and convert only the most intelligent and mentally stable into Camalians.

  Melissy: human passenger on a train in Cedar-Saba.

  Merrick Dalgleish: human father of Moro. Adopted into the Aksenna Sonta tribe, returned to Ventana and became a lawman with the Sheriff’s department. Died while Moro was still a child.

  Michol Kott, pronounced ‘mee KOL’: former arena fighter and businessman/pimp, owner of Kott Combat Incorporated and many arena fighters and bonded support staff. ‘Owned’ Moro for almost eight years according to a training plan set in motion by Lyton Sardis.

  Moro Dalgleish, pronounced ‘MORE oh’, formal name ‘tie MORE oh’: a bondslave arena fighter nicknamed ‘Diamond’, formal name Taimoro Aksenna Dalgleish Antonin, called by some Sonta ‘Aksenna’s Abomination’ or ‘Aksenna’s Mistake’. Has a connection to the elusive Lifebringer now known as the White Storm. Accepted possible death from sex with Valier, in lieu of committing suicide by stepping off a Cedar-Saba skyscraper. Moro can become Dominant when he needs to, but physically and mentally requires submitting to Valier, too. Bisexual, but previous largely negative incidents involving female partners make him nervous about sexual encounters with wom
en.

  Moro shares his mother’s sensual Sonta adaptation, meant originally as a Vessel’s lure for enslaved star-eaters: when other people touch Moro’s bare skin, they feel a momentary pulse of pleasure that fades until they repeat the touch.

  Nico Richeson ne’Cama: Johani’s deceased husband, lost in the wreck of the Austin Salazar cargo ship.

  Odasu, pronounced ‘oh DAH soo’: male Sonta, half-breed Singer-clan pilot, member of the Aksenna Sonta tribe, Vessel of Aksenna. A giant compared to his smaller Sonta mates, Odasu often hides his seemingly bestial features and furred skin behind masks and cloaks. Intelligent, curious, and generally easygoing, he rarely uses his immense physical strength to restrain Aksenna while she inhabits her other Vessels.

  Peridot: yellow-green gas giant in the Ventana solar system.

  Persepolis and Nineveh: luxurious courier ships owned by Rio Sardis. Persepolis is the craft most often used for private trips by Lyton Sardis, while Bill Sardis has claimed Nineveh for his own.

  Old Earth: the planet where humans evolved. Abandoned because of overpopulation and climate-driven disasters. There may be humans still on Old Earth three thousand-odd years later, since not everyone could or chose to evacuate.

  Port Tysona, pronounced ‘tie SEW nah’: city on Camonde, known as primary barracks for the elite military forces.

  Potentials: possible mates of Antonin Royals, Potentials are Camalians with the right physical and mental characteristics to be confidants, mates, and good influences on the royal family (especially but not limited to the crown heir or Emperor/Empress.) Not always soul-bonded on their end. There are usually many possible Potentials for each Royal. Cama tries to identify them early and aim them toward the training they’ll need to deal with a hysterical Royal (often without telling the Potentials what she is actually doing.) Despite this care, accidental Potentials can stumble across an impressionable Royal. (Moro is not the only such case in Camalian history, though he is the only one who triggered his Royal’s fixation years before actually becoming Camalian.)

 

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