People, Places, and Things in the Moroverse
Silly me, I thought I was starting to write a fairly simple space opera romp back in 2011. To save on brand-new worldbuilding, I used some background characters and a setting from one of the future time periods of my much larger ‘Lonhra Sequence’ universe.
Moro’s story instantly became linked to a godawful big setting and history. I don’t regret it, since my pattern-matching little brain came up with so many logical reasons for Moro to be part of that larger story arc.
However, many of my erotic romance readers have expressed confusion over the number of names, titles, and tribes mentioned.
To help make up for that, here is a barely alphabetized, hastily edited, awkwardly illustrated*, and probably faulty glossary-appendix for those of you who actually care about such things.
Only the sexuality of specific characters is discussed as it impinges on the plot. I have used only general terms for sexual preference (for expediency, and being fully aware of the much broader range of terms now being advocated in real-world classification.)
As more of this story is written, this list will be updated. Ask me questions, and I might even be able to answer!
* Unless attributed elsewhere, all artwork is my fault.
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Adam Hegen, last name pronounced more like ‘HAY gun’: human medic and spy, posing as a bond-slave assigned to Michol Kott’s arena combat company, and specifically responsible for Moro’s health. Hegen’s face and body have been rebuilt. He has another employer and a secret identity as someone Moro once knew on Ventana: Dr. Carson, father of Moro’s girlfriend Demetra.
Aiyon (called Aiyon Sonta), pronounced ‘eye OWN’: a powerful and devious star-eater (Ksala) whose signature fires are amethyst purple. Is obsessed by/in love with the star-eater Tena.
Aksenna (called Aksenna Sonta), pronounced ‘ak SEN ah’: a star-eater known for her ancient insanity, lingering sadism, and strong sense of honor. Her signature is orange-pink fire.
Alys Antonin ne’Cama: Liatana’s Knife, Ambassador to Cedar, Liatana’s female mate, and official second mother to Valier, though he calls her ‘Aunt’. A former marine, Alys keeps up her physical training and is one of the few Camalians with confirmed enemy kills to her name. Note: the ne’Cama suffix is a Camalian honorific meaning ‘of Cama’.
Antonin, pronounced ‘ANN toe neen’: the Royal Family of the Camalian Commonwealth, direct descendants of Maya and Jamal Antonin. They are bred and engineered for the mental gifts allowing them to function as emotional conduits for Cama and the entire Commonwealth. To physically announce the presence of these abilities, the Antonin Royals show distinct markers: brown-gold skin paired with startlingly bright blond hair and pale-golden to amber eyes rimmed black around the irises. They tend to be short in stature. Their facial features tend to show Old Earth African and south-Asian influences, but that can be said for many Commonwealth citizens.
Anyatisa Aksenna Sonta, pronounced ‘on yah TEE sah’: also called ‘Anya Weaver’ or ‘Anya Dalgleish’. Moro’s Sonta mother, who masqueraded as human while she studied Sonta ruins in the Terran League. She met Merrick Dalgleish on a dig site on Ventana, fell in love with him, and convinced Merrick to return with her to the Aksenna Sonta tribe. Died on Ventana at Moro’s birth.
Apex worlds: the longest-settled and richest planets of the Terran League, known for high technology, sprawling cities, and labyrinthine politics. Several of them are owned/governed outright by the biggest mega-corporations. Many of them, for no reason known to this author, are named for historical sites or tree species of Old Earth.
The Banner Queens: three mysterious and possibly immortal rulers of a Sonta empire in a neighboring galaxy. They alone apparently have the power to create or repair the technology the Sonta use to enslave star-eaters. The Sonta races are essentially exiles cast out of their own empire for unknown reasons by the Banner Queens. Sonta tribes may only return when the star-eaters in their care evolve into Lifebringers. This doesn’t seem to happen often.
Bazo, full name Bazilio Malkovski: sadistic arena fighter defeated and killed by the Diamond (Moro).
Benny Fortunero: formerly Admiral Benjas Fortunero, a Camalian military genius whose flesh-and-blood body died some two hundred years before Moro’s birth. Sacrificing his symbiont’s mental link to Cama, Fortunero had his consciousness and memories uploaded into an Artificial Intelligence. Now alternating between his starship and a smaller military-grade robot body, Fortunero plays at being a small-time trader along the Terran League Frontier. His real mission, condoned by the reigning Antonins, is to conduct mostly benevolent long-term social engineering experiments on the Terran humans he meets. His Camalian assistants often go on to illustrious military or political careers.
Bond, Bonder, Bond-slave: Judicially implemented slavery common in the Terran League and unknown in the Camalian Commonwealth. Individuals and entire families can go into bond, often for multiple generations. Financial losses, bankruptcy, convicted fraud and other white-collar crimes can lead to a Red-Band sentence, usually paid by nonviolent and mostly humanitarian service. Murder, torture, rape, and treason lead to Black-Band sentences, often carried out in grim mining colonies, dangerous industrial work, and the arena fighting system.
Brightcliff: isolated small planet on the very outskirts of the Terran League, considered an ancient Sonta outpost and possible laboratory world of the White Storm.
Buyout Day: the day when a Terran League colony pays back all its terraforming and colonization debts, and its bond-slave population becomes free citizens with a guaranteed income and voting rights in the colony’s future governance. Planetary Buyout Days are afterward considered some of their most important holidays, and are often marked by the founding of new businesses and the manumission of bond-slaves.
Cama, called Patrona by her Camalian humans, pronounced more like ‘COMM ah’ than ‘KAY mah’: lesser energy being (also called an elemental) somehow related to star-eaters, and terrified of drawing their attention. Her initial bargain with the human dissidents on Terra Prima was intended to hide her golden energy signature within the bodies of millions of virus-converted humans. In return, she gives her humans longer lives and better health, some interesting physical quirks, and a silent background linkage to all other Camalians. The Sonta know her by a slightly different name, and know more of her history than the Camalians do.
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.
Dolan’s Rock: a large hollowed-out and reinforced asteroid in the Frontier, home to a thriving colony of human miners.
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 mid-town 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, 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. Linked to the business fraud which allowed Rio Sardis to legally assume control of the Ventana Holding Company and the entire colony.
Galileo Station: very large orbital space station known as a major independent hub between the Frontier colonies and Terran League Apex worlds.
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 bond-slaves fight in the arena. The credit prizes can rise so high they often allow surviving bond-slaves 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. Heterosexual.
Jost Ventana, pronounced ‘Yohst’ like ‘ghost’: heir and chief officer of the Ventana Holding Company. Moro’s boyfriend. Bisexual. Died during the takeover of Ventana.
Joyguards: paired Sonta monitors who watch over particularly brutal or intense domination rituals, and prevent the participants from injuring themselves or their partners.
Jumay, pronounced ‘JOO may’: favorite mortal Sonta Vessel of the Ksala Tena. Apparently had a sanctioned affair with Alys Antonin during a diplomatic mission.
Kapadokya: human colony not far from Galileo Station, famous for its fresh fruit and vegetable exports.
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 teased Karl about his repressed homosexuality.
Kial Surna (linguistically drifted version of ‘Kyle Cerna’): human priest from an alternate universe (possibly ours). His rescue of stranded human 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’: 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 – considered by the unevolved Ksaloni to be the most enticing prey of all.
Among the Sonta, the oldest 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.
From author’s notes: ‘I think the star-eaters tesseract between points in space. I know they’re capable of several kinds of movement, depending on how much of them is Outside at any moment. I think of them as exceptionally dangerous hermit crabs lurking in concealment, only with dimensional pockets instead of discarded shells. Until they get to the size and cunning of oldsters like Aksenna (or the White Storm!), they’re generally a cowardly lot. There’s a point where they get addicted to absorbed sentience, when the high of secondhand life and thought outweighs the dangers of open hunting. That’s usually the moment the Sonta organize a fishing expedition to either catch or kill the things. The carnage on both sides can make Jaws look like an afternoon at the kiddie pool.’
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. Repressed homosexual.
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. Bisexual.
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 new-born 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 re-use 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 multi-trillionaire 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 absent-minded. 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. Heterosexual (mostly).
Mark David Moore: Terran human talk-show host and human supremacist in Cedar-Saba. Heterosexual.
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. Homosexual, 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.
Merred 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. Heterosexual.
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. Primarily homosexual.
Moro Dalgleish, pronounced ‘MORE oh’, formal name ‘tie MORE oh’: a bond-slave 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 women.
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, halfbreed 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 easy-going, he rarely uses his immense physical strength to restrain Aksenna while she inhabits her other Vessels.
Peridot: yellow-green gas giant around which Ventana orbits.
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.)
Radu: Sonta spymaster for the Ksala Aiyon.
Rajiv Fenti ne’Cama, pronounced ‘rah JEEV’: Guide of Cama attached to the Embassy staff in Cedar-Saba.
Rianta Indusarya (‘ree ANN tah inn dew SAHR yah’) and Meek Indusarya: fellow orphans at the Ventana crèche, essentially Moro’s adopted sister and brother, killed during the takeover of Ventana.
Rio Sardis: one of the top three League terraforming corporations, now expanded into thousands of other businesses. Its corporate symbol is a stylized palm tree usually shown in platinum or gray. It owns at least two Apex planets (Palmyra and Rowan), large investments in the intermediate planet Willowtree, and at least fourteen colony worlds including Ventana. Rio Sardis has a history stretching back to Old Earth, when Persian tech entrepreneurs threw off Arab religious influences and petroleum economies, and developed the first affordable nuclear fusion engines. The Sardis family had long been aggressively proud of their Persian heritage, until Lyton Sardis’s father allowed neo-Christian Terra Prima supporters into his board of directors.
Roberto Chu: the current Premier of Cedar.
Rowe Vermilion Singh: law firm in Cedar-Saba.
Sagana, pronounced ‘say GONE ah’: capital city of Camonde, ancestral seat of the Antonin Royal family.
Sasha ‘Gran’ Case: blind elderly woman who ran the Ventana Township orphans’ crèche where Moro grew up. Killed during the takeover of Ventana.
Savinilan, Savi, pronounced ‘sah VEEN ee lahn’ or ‘sah VEE’: male Sonta Vessel and consort of Aksenna, originally born to the tribe of Danil.
Sentience: the quality of self-awareness and empathy most cherished by Lifebringers. In Moro’s universe, many things besides mortal humans and aliens have sentience; even some planets and stars have been shown to possess a slow-reacting intelligence.
Sergeant Acton: one of Lyton Sardis’s bodyguards on board the starship Persepolis.
Sofia Carson: Doc Carson’s wife and Demetra’s mother, died in a terraforming accident on Ventana around the time Moro was born.
Sero, Sera: male and female honorifics used in the Terran League and the Camalian Commonwealth. Equivalent to our ‘Sir’ or ‘Madame’.
Siwana Space Museum: antiquated Cedar-Saba museum housing artifacts of the Terran League migrations from Old Earth and Terra Prima. Needs to invest in better security.
Sonnaroi, pronounced ‘SAWN ah roy’: ancient name for what became the Singer-clans of the Tiun/Sonta empires. On their homeworld of Lonhra, the Sonnaroi were furred, semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers considered extremely primitive by the more-advanced Sirrithani. Sirrithani are descended from Terran human and Dana interbreeding (with genetic engineering help on a semi-godlike level) with Sonnaroi females. Sonnaroi males did not interbreed with ‘outsider’ females; until the introduction of artifical tank incubation, such dalliances usually resulted in the death of mother and fetus, and became anathema to all Lonhran cultures.
The Sonnaroi, through every name change I’ve given them over thirty years, have been stubbornly matriarchal due to their sexually dimorphic bodies and physically demanding cultural roles. Adult males are larger, stronger, and shaped differently than the females, but the former experience a much-shortened lifespan in exchange for fathering children. They tend to be a protected class, indulged, fed by female hunters, their energies reserved for breeding or lethal territorial battles. The males also tend to be the scholars of their race.
As their more-modern forms, called ‘Singers’, the Sonnaroi are valued members of the Sonta starfaring tribes. Their current status among the Tiun empires of the Banner Queens is unknown.
Sonta, pronounced ‘SAWN tah’: long-lived humanoid species living and migrating in vast, self-contained worldships. The race appears to be various hybrids of three distinct subspecies: tall, brawny humanoid warrior-stock; a shorter, more-delicate and almost elfin group; and furred and tailed sentients called Singers* who resemble a cross between Terran lions and velociraptors. Each Sonta tribe has adopted/enslaved a particular Bound Ksala, and their fates are entwined with their star-eaters’ destinies. The Sonta are conjectured to have a written history going back at least 100,000 years, and distant kinship to League and Camalian humans. Before Moro, there were no known Sonta/human hybrids. Sonta sexuality is too fluid to easily fit human terminologies; for all intents and purposes, assume everyone is pansexual.
*See entry on ‘Sonnaroi’.
Stratton: wealthy district of northern Ceda-Saba.
The Sunburst Throne: ancient throne of the emperors of Camonde. Visitors expect it to be grandiose, but it is a very simple large chair carved from a single block of the oldest basalt on Camonde, and decorated only with symbols of science, mathematics, and Cama’s sunburst emblem. It is directly inspired by artist Rowena Morrill’s portrait of Isaac Asimov, and the throne depicted with him.
Syene, most often pronounced ‘Sigh EE nee’: a Camalian woman self-exiled to the Terran League, current assistant to the Camalian Artificial Intelligence called Benny Fortunero. Heterosexual.
Symbiont: the colonial nano-virus created by Cama and Maya Antonin. All cells of this stable, artificial virus carry particles of Cama’s matter, and are linked to each other through quantum entanglement. This allows Cama to monitor her chosen humans and occasionally ‘speak’ to their minds. Camalians who are unusually sensitive to the symbiont can sense other Camalians’ surface thoughts and emotions. In the case of Antonin Royals, many of them can not only contact/control large groups of other Camalians, they can sometimes influence Cama herself for brief periods.
Tagorska Spaceport, pronounced ‘tah GORE skah’: starship port in northeastern Cedar-Saba.
Tena (Tena Sonta), pronounced ‘TAY nah’: the most relatively sane member of her star-eater pack. Sonta history suggests that Tena was already ‘tame’, and volunteered to become enslaved to a Sonta tribe along with her siblings Aiyon and Aksenna. Tena’s signature color is searing magenta fire. There are rumors she is holding back her Change into a Lifebringer until her siblings are ready to join her – or she loses patience and kills them.
Dr. Terise Volker Sardis, pronounced ‘tear EES’: neuroscience expert, human supremacist, and ex-wife of Lyton Sardis. A major Terra Prima supporter. Responsible for the synthetic secondary neural network that allowed Lyton Sardis to control Moro’s actions from a distance. Heterosexual.
Terra Prima, pronounced ‘TEAR ah PREE mah’: 1) the first colony of humanity on the migration from Old Earth, lost when Camalians wrested control of it and forced surviving humans to flee. 2) Powerful quasi-religious and socially conservative human supremacist organization with similarities to several of our religious fundamentalist groups.
Terrani, pronounced ‘tear AWN nee’: what the Sonta call Terran League humans. Usually with overtones of insult, and often paired with a word that means ‘dawnfly’ (for an insect that lives for only one day).
Terran League: major human empire, created after humanity was forced off Terra Prima by the rebelling Camalians.
Valier Antonin ne’Cama, most often pronounced ‘val YAIR’, (nicknamed Owl-boy by Moro): Camalian crown prince with a gift for nano-engineering, long-concealed sadistic urges, and secret abilities that neither he nor Cama want to reveal. Bisexual with a current preference for male partners.
Val’s toolbelt: think the dorkiest combination of Batman’s utility belt and any workman’s carry-all belt, this ugly black monstrosity has dozens of pockets, pouches, and attachments. He began assembling it as a child. It houses Val’s personal collection of nanotech tools, some survival gear, and at least one sex toy in questionable taste. After the events of Moro’s Price, Val is never going anywhere without that belt.
Vilstad Meng: arena fighter defeated by the Diamond (Moro).
Vilam (William) Volker Sardis, prefers being called Bill Sardis: only legitimate son of Lyton Sardis and Terise Volker. Bisexual with a preference for female partners. Quote by: ‘There are so few naturally nice people in the universe. It is incumbent upon us utter bastards to protect them whenever we can.’
Vaclav Sector: entertainment district in south-central Cedar-Saba, known for casinos and sports franchises.
Vaclav 17: the casino skyscraper housing the Golden Cage at its summit.
Vaclav 18: the industrial building just to the north of Vaclav 17, place where Moro saves Val’s life on the roof.
Ventana, also called RS14: a previously viable terraformed farming community on a large rocky moon. Sonta artifacts may indicate the moon was a former environmental laboratory of the White Storm.
The Ventana Network: informal and leaderless group of displaced Ventana colonists plotting revenge on Rio Sardis, and the restoration of Ventana’s scattered surviving population.
Ventana Design Group: fake business set up to hide Lyton Sardis’s continuing ownership of Moro.
Vittori, pronounced ‘vit OAR ee’: desert planet in a backwater part of the Terran League. Another former laboratory world of the White Storm, now home to a failing human colony after they excavated a Sonta site too deeply.
Waterside Tavern: the best bar and restaurant in Ventana Township. For many years, Anya Dalgleish was part-owner, bartender, and cook.
The White Storm: once the most powerful star-eater in several galaxies. Pack leader to his lesser siblings Aiyon, Aksenna, and Tena, he evolved into a Lifebringer approximately twelve thousand years before Moro’s birth. Apparently away from this universe for long periods of time, he reappears occasionally to trick Unbound star-eaters into deathtraps, or meddle in planetary engineering and the progress of several mortal civilizations. Aiyon wants to kill him. Aksenna is still in love with him. Tena just wants him to stay the hell away from her (they have History.)
He has worn many names and disguises during his long, slow change from a star-eater to a Lifebringer. His history is recounted in upcoming Lonhra Sequence stories, novels, and novellas.
Willowtree: intermediate planet in the Terran League.
Wynne Ventana: Jost’s mother. Came up with the plot to claim the underage Moro as the Ventana Family’s personal bond-slave and thus keep him safe from offworlders looking for him. Died from a hereditary degenerative disease while Jost and Moro were still teenagers.
Zarin Basrali, pronounced ‘zar EEN bass RAW lee’: security analyst at Rio Sardis, recruited by Bill Sardis for a spy mission against Lyton Sardis. Semi-devout Avestan Persian. Orphan raised by a Rio Sardis crèche. Admittedly bisexual.
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