bell-goblet: vibrating crystal container used when drinking Chapantlic spirit
billow bed: C bed with 99% AG, multiple soft wisps of material and smart “feathers” able to avoid being breathed in
Bilpier: Nariscene planet, Heisp system
black-backed borm: C animal
Botrey’s: gambling/whore house in Pourl’s Schtip district
Bowlsea: body of water filling Prime depression in Shellworld
brattle: bush, L8&9S, Sursamen
bravard: lusty, drinking, up-for-a-fight kind of man
Bulthmaas: planet in Chyme system where Xide Hyrlis found
camoufield: (C) projected field camouflaging objects
Chapantlic spirit: type of booze (see bell-goblet)
Charvin: a county of Sarl
Cherien: ridge, near Sarl city, L8S
Chone: a star in the Lesser Yattlian Spray
Chyme: stellar system, home of Bulthmaas
CleaveHull: type of Morthanveld ship
Clissens: a Rollstar of the Ninth, Sursamen
cloud trees: flora, L8&9S, Sursamen
Conducer: (species) those which make habit of taking over and (usually) exploiting structures, artefacts and habitats built by earlier civilisations — from ancients to the recently Sublimed
Core: solid centre of a Shellworld
crackball: C game played with solid wooden ball
Crater: re a Shellworld, a high-walled habitable area on Surface
crile leaf: cocoa-like drug, chewed; L8&9S
Curbed Lands: type of (originally Deldeyn) province
cut-rot: gangrene (Sarl term)
Dengroal: town, L8S, beneath the D’neng-oal Tower
deSept: Nariscene clanlet without a Sept or major clan/family
Despairationals: extremist group, Syaung-un
Dillser: ducal house by Boiling Sea of Yakid, L9S
director general: high rank of the Morthanveld
Disputed: re a Shellworld, one whose Towers are not all controlled by the same species
D’neng-oal Tower: Oct transport Tower, Sursamen
Domity: a Rollstar of L8S
Enabler: (machine) device used to find ways to communicate with alien species and artifacts
Evingreath: a town on the Xilisk road from Pourl
Exaltinates: elite troops under Chasque
Exaltine: top Sarlian religious rank; chief priest
Exponential: see logarithmic
facing: direction; from facing direction of world’s rotation (opposite of backing)
Facing Approach Street: near royal palace in Pourl
Falls Merchant Explorer: guild of merchants exploiting Falls
Falls, the: cataract on the Sulpitine river, L9S (aka the Hyeng-zhar)
Far Landing: peripatetic port on far side of Sulpitine from the Settlement
farpole: direction to pole of world furthest from Sarl heartlands (opposite of nearpole)
Feyrla: river, Xilisk, L8S
Fifth deSept: minor, unaligned clanlet, Nariscene/Sursamen
Filigree: complexes of Shellworld Tower ceiling supporting inverted buttresses
Fixstars: Shellworld interior stars, unmoving
floater: slightly derogatory term used for aquatic peoples by landgoing peoples
Foerlinteul: C Orbital
FOIADSFBF: First Original Indigent Alien Deep Space Farers’ Benevolent Fund (Morthanveld)
Forelight: pre-dawn light cast by Rollstar
Gadampth: C Orbital
Gavantille Prime: waterworld planet, Morthanveld space
Gazan-g’ya: a Crater of Sursamen
Gilder’s Lament, the: tavern, Pourl
Godded: a Shellworld with a Xinthian at its core
Grahy: Morthanveld planet, Lesser Yattlian Spray
Grand Zamerin: exalted rank of the Nariscene (see also Zamerin)
Greater Army: combined armies gathered by Hausk to resist Deldeyn and invade their level
Great Palace: Rasselle, L9S
Great Park: Rasselle, L9S
Great Ship: type of very large Morthanveld ship
Great Tower: one of six fortifications within Rasselle
Guime: a Rollstar of L8S
habiform: technically correct term for what is usually called terraforming; altering any already existing environment to suit it to the needs of one or more species
Heavenly Host: Deldeyn religious sect tyl Loesp empowers
Heisp: Nariscene colony system
Hemerje: ducal palace near the Great Park, Rasselle
Heurimo: a fallstar of L9S
Hicture: a region of L8S
Hicturean: Tower (L8S, not far from Pourl)
Hollow World: see Shellworld
House of Many Roofs, The : play by Sinnel
Hyeng-zhar: cataract on the Sulpitine river, L9S, aka the Falls
Hyeng-zharia Mission: religious order; controlled the Falls’ excavation
Hyeng-zhar Settlement: ever-temporary city, the Falls, Sursamen
Ichteuen: (Godwarriors) fight for Sarl; L8S
Illsipine Tower: Sursamen
Imperial Procreational College: on Nariscene homeworld; regulates Spawnings
Incremental: re a Shellworld, term given to one whose levels occur in exponential increments (hence aka Exponential)
injectiles: any organisms or mechanisms capable of being injected (usually into metre-scale entities, in context especially humans)
In Loco’d: placed under care (Morthanveld term)
Inner Caferlitician Tendril: region of space
interior star: artificial suns emplaced by secondary Shellworld species within these worlds; anti-gravitational, pressing against ceiling of given level; most mobile (Rollstars); some not (Fixstars)
Ischuer: city, Bilpier
Jhouheyre: city-cluster, Oct planet of Zaranche
Jiluence: a Monthian (megawhales) ancestral homeworld
Keande-yi: region near Pourl, L8S
Keande-yiine: Tower in region near Pourl, L8S
Khatach Solus: Nariscene homeworld
Kheretesuhr: archipelagic province, Vilamian Ocean, L8S
Kiesestraal: a fading Rollstar of L9S
Klusse: city, Lesuus Plate
krisk nuts: caude stimulant, L8&9S
Kuertile Pinch: region of space
Lalance: continent, Prasadal
lampstone: carbide
Lemitte: general, Sarl army
Lepoort: plate, Stafl Orbital
Lesser Yattlian Spray: region of space
Lesuus: plate, Gadampth
level: re a Shellworld, one of the world’s spherical shells
lifebowls: see mottled
Logarithmic: re: a Shellworld, term given to one whose levels occur in exponential increments (hence aka Exponential)
Machine Core/level: level immediately surrounding a Shellworld Core
Meast: water-nest city, Gavantille Prime
Meseriphine: star in the Tertiary Hulian Spine
MHE: Monopathic Hegemonising Event (usually runway nanotech)
MOA: Mysterious Object from Afar
Moiliou: Hausk family estate, L8S
Mottled: re a Shellworld, term given to one whose Surface is partially (mostly) free of atmosphere, with significant areas — within large, high-walled (normally original) Surface features — of nominally inhabitable pseudo-planetary environments, called Lifebowls
Multiply Inhabited: re a Shellworld, one with more than one intelligent species in residence
Nameless City: of L9S; long buried metropolis being uncovered by the Hyeng-zhar
nanorgs: nano-scale organisms; often aka injectiles (though this covers non-biological material too)
Natherley: a Rollstar of L9S
nearpole: direction (opposite of farpole)
Nearpole Gate: a main gate of Pourl city, L8S
Nestworld: usually, and always in context of Morthanveld, a type of artificial habitat composed of multiple twisting tubes, comple
xly intertwined and generally water-filled
Night: re a Shellworld, places within a level which are totally or almost totally dark, over the horizon from both direct and reflected sunlight or vane-blocked
Oausillac: a Fixstar of L9S, Sursamen
Obor: a Rollstar of L8S, Sursamen
Oerten: Surface crater, Sursamen
Optimae: name given to Culture, Morthanveld, etc. by more lowly civilisations; roughly equivalent to HLI
Oversquare: re a Shellworld, levels beyond which increasing separation of secondary supporting filaments branching from Towers no longer allows intra-filament inter-Tower travel (usually in top half of levels); opposite of undersquare
Pandil-fwa Tower: Oct transport Tower, Sursamen
Parade Field: Pourl, L8S
Pentrl: a Rollstar of L8S
Peremethine Tower: Oct transport Tower, Sursamen
Pierced: re a Shellworld, a level-accessible Tower
Placed: placed under care (Morthanveld term)
Pliyr: star, Morthanveld space
Pourl: region and capital city of Sarl, L8S
Prasadal: planet, Zoveli system
Prille: country on Sketevi
Primarian: type of large Oct ship
Prime: re a Shellworld, term given to structure of world as originally built by Veil
Quoline: river, draining the Quoluk Lakes
Quoluk Lakes: of L8S, near Pourl
Quonber : module platform, Prasadal
Rasselle: Deldeyn capital city, L9S
Reshigue: city, L8S
roasoaril: fruit plant, L8&9S (refinable)
Rollstars: Shellworld interior stars which move
roving scendship: (Oct) scendship air- and underwater- capable
Safe: (multi-million-year) re a Shellworld, term given to one with no recent history of world-caused gigadeaths
saltmeat: (Sarl) salted meat
Sarl: people and kingdom, L8S, Sursamen (also planet)
scend tubes: tubes scendships use
scendship: ship which ascends or descends within a Shellworld Tower
Scholastery: recessional university, like a secular monastery devoted to learning
Schtip: district of Pourl, L8S
scrimp: dismissive name for Falls workers
seatrider: C skeletal AG device; personal transport
Secondary: re a Shellworld, term given to structural additions to world added by later possessors
shade: areas on a Shellworld level without direct sunlight (effect severity varies with shell diameter, vane geometry, etc.)
Shellworld: artificial planet, part of ancient megastructure; also known as Hollow World and Slaughter World (archaic)
Shield world: see Shellworld
Shilda: province of Sarl, L8S
silse: collective term for class of Shellworld creatures which transport silt particles from seabeds and other aquatic environments to land, via hydrogen sacs, evaporation, clouds and rainfall
Sketevi: continent on Bulthmaas
Slaughter World: see Shellworld
SlimHull: type of Morthanveld ship
Sournier: county within Sarl, L8S
Spiniform: (world) a partially collapsed Shellworld
spiniform: applied to species, indicates a spiny, pointed body type
Stafl: C Orbital
Stalks: slightly derogatory term used for landgoing peoples by aquatic peoples
Starfall: (rare) phenomenon occurring when the remains of an exhausted Shellworld interior star fall from the ceiling of a level to its floor; generally catastrophic
Sterut: Nariscene Globular Transfer Facility
Sull: Deldeyn region, L9S
Sullir: Deldeyn regional capital, L9S
Sulpitine: river, L9S
Superintendent: judicial rank, Sursamen Surface
Sursamen: Arithmetic Shellworld, orbiting Meseriphine
Swarmata: the detritus of competing MHEs
SwellHull: type of Morthanveld ship
Syaung-un: Morthanveld Nestworld in the 34th Pendant Floret
Taciturn: of a species, one which is especially uncommunicative
tangfruit: C fruit, pan-human edible
terraf: short for terraformed; a planet so amended, or any other large-scale constructed environment (see habiform)
Tertiary Hulian Spine: region of space; location of Meseriphine
thin-film: screen; goes over eyes to show virtual reality (Morthanveld term)
Tierpe Ancestral: port, Syaung-un
tink: dismissive name for Falls worker
T’leish: sub-group of Morthanveld, on Gavantille Prime
Tower: re a Shellworld, a hollow supporting column or stem, normally with vacuum inside, also used as transport tube
Tresker: a Rollstar of L9S
tropel trees: C flora; common on ships
Twinned Crater: Surface crater, Sursamen
Uliast: general, Sarl army
undersquare: see oversquare
unge: drug, smoked; L8&9S
Upstart: (species) generally recognised if mildly pejorative term for (usually intelligent and even Involved) species which is regarded as having achieved such status by the exploitation of its relationship with another, already advanced, civilisation
Urletine: (mercenaries) fight for Sarl; L8S
Uzretean: a Rollstar of L9S
Vaw-yei: Tower, Sursamen
Veil World: see Shellworld
Vilamian Ocean: on L8S
Voette: country, L8S
Vruise: location of Falls, L9S
wallcreep: foliage, L8&9S
Wars of Unity: sequence waged by Hausk to unite the Eighth
Wiriniti: capital of Voette, L8S
Xilisk: region near Pourl, L8S
Xiliskine Tower: Tower nearest to Pourl, L8S
xirze: crop, common on L8&9S
Yakid: Boiling Sea of, L9S
Yakid City: on shores of above, L9S
Yattle: planet, Greater Yattlian Spray
Zamerin: high rank of the Nariscene (see also Grand Zamerin)
Zaranche: planet, Inner Caferlitician Tendril
Za’s Revenge: C cocktail
Zoveli: star and system, location of Prasadal
Zuevelous: Morthanveld family, Gavantille Prime
Zunzil Ligature: region of space; location of Iln home world/s
Ships
Culture
Don’t Try This At Home: Steppe-class MSV
Eight Rounds Rapid: Delinquent-class FP exGOU
Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall: GCU
It’s My Party And I’ll Sing If I Want To: Escarpment-class GCU
Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill: GCU
Liveware Problem: Stream-class Superlifter (modified Delta class, Absconded)
Now We Try It My Way: Erratic-class (ex-Interstellar-class General Transport Craft)
Pure Big Mad Boat Man: GCU
Qualifier: Trench-class MSV
Seed Drill: Ocean-class GSV
Subtle Shift In Emphasis: Plains-class GCV
Transient Atmospheric Phenomenon: GCU
Xenoglossicist: Air-class LSV
You Naughty Monsters: GCU
You’ll Clean That Up Before You Leave: Gangster-class VFP ex-ROU
Nariscene
Hence the Fortress: Comet-class star-cruiser
Hundredth Idiot, The: White Dwarf-class
Morthanveld
“Fasilyce, Upon Waking”: Cat.5 SwellHull
Inspiral, Coalescence, Ringdown: Great Ship
“On First Seeing Jhiriit”: Cat.4 CleaveHull
“Now, Turning to Reason, & Its Just Sweetness”: Cat.3 SlimHull
Sursamen Levels: Inhabitants
0: Surface; vacuum/habiformed: Nariscene/Baskers/others
1: Vacuum: Seedsail nursery
2: Vacuum: Baskers
3: Vacuum: Dark
4: O2 ocean: Cumuloforms
5: Methane shallows: Kites/Avians
6: Higher Gas Giant: Tendrils — Naiant
7: Methane Ocean: Vesiculars — Monthian megawhales
8: Land — O2: Sarl
9: Land — O2: Deldeyn/Sarl
(Under-/Over square division)
10: Mid Gas Giant: Tendrils — Variolous
11: Methane ocean: Vesiculars — Monthian megawhales
12: Lower Gas Giant: Swimmers
13: Water/slush matrices: Tubers/Hydrals
14: Ice/water: Dark
15: Machinery: the WorldGod — a Xinthian
16: Core — solid: the WorldGod — a Xinthian
Time Intervals
aeon: 1 000 000 000 years
deciaeon: 100 000 000 years
centiaeon: 10 000 000 years
eon: 1 000 000 years
decieon: 100 000 years
centieon: 10 000 years
millennium: 1 000 years
century: 100 years
decade: 10 years
year: 1 year
Epilogue
Senble Holse was hunched over a tub with a washboard, furiously scrubbing, when her husband walked in. He came through the doorway of the apartment in the company of a smoothly handsome, ringlet-haired blond gent and holding the hand of a strange-looking little boy. She watched, open-mouthed, as he nodded to her.
“Mrs Holse,” he said. He walked to the centre of their cramped living room, put his hands on his hips — the odd-looking child still kept a determined hold of his hand — and gazed around. He was dressed rather well, even for a prince’s servant, and looked better than ever he had; well-fed and sleek. The twins had taken one look and yelped; they were hiding behind her skirts, holding on fit to drag her to her knees and peeking round, one on each side.
“You look well, my dear,” he said. He caught sight of the youngest, hiding behind the door into the bedroom. He waved. There was a thin cry and the door banged shut. He laughed and looked back at her. “Young Choubris?”
“At school!” Senble told him.
“Good.” He nodded. “Oh,” he said with a smile. (His teeth looked wrong; far too pale and even.) “Where’s my manners, eh?” He nodded at the glossy-looking man standing smiling at his side. “Senble, dearest; meet Mr Klatsli Quike.”
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