Chapter 4

KETTER: Sector: 5, Pegasus Year: Subsector: A, Bayard Day: System: Webster Gravity: Settled/established: Axial tilt: By: Oxygen: Satellites: % Water: Ident code prefix: KET Continents: Ruled by: General: A poor world, its local economy is based on smuggling. Ketteran local nobles own and operate smuggling ships, with their social standing determined by the amount of wealth they contribute to the planet's economy.

KINDRED OF THE DRAGON: Kins and Bloodmates, those susceptible to and changed by the nosferatu pseudo-virus. They are classed as human-variant, due to the extent of changes made by the virus. They are Narvon System's local nobility, and since 2280 all Imperial ruling nobles in the system are required to be Kindred. Susceptibility tends to run in families, though that is not always the case. Slightly over half the children who become Kindred have at least one Kindred parent.

Contrary to popular belief when the Kins appeared, the Kindred are neither predatory nor violent; their empathy prevents both, in many cases to the point where some Kindred have difficulty defending themselves. Because of this, they welcome the Imperial military, and many areas of all three Narvonese planets have Sandeman police forces. Violent sports are frowned on, considered in bad taste if not actually obscene.

Despite (or perhaps because of) this pacifism, most Kindred who feel capable of it spend some time in the Imperial military. Of these, most serve in the Navy's Chaplain or Medical Corps, though some are engineers or technicians. On rare occasion one will join the Marines; so far all of these have gone to IntelDiv.

KINGDOM SYSTEMS: Twelve planets in nine systems. The first, St. Thomas, was settled in 2158. The Systems' founders were Catholics who disagreed with the Roman Church on a number of matters and either separated themselves or were excommunicated, depending on point of view, when they persisted in acting on their beliefs. They appealed to the Empire, which refused to intervene in a religious dispute. The dissidents then fled, claiming persecution, in three small, barely-spaceworthy craft. When contact was lost and the Rescue Service was unable to find them, they were listed as missing and presumed dead.

Instead, they had gone well beyond what would be Imperial space for the next several centuries. Limited resources and numerous plagues made their growth slow, but it was steady, and by the time St. Michael was settled in 2180, the monarchial system was well established, the Royal Enforcement Service was in place and operating, and the Church had its own Pope.

KINNISON, Subsector 7-A: No. systems: 144 Sector: Cygnus with 3 inhabited planets: 2 Ruled by: with 2 inhabited planets: 10 with 1 inhabited planet: 20

KINS: The majority (90%) of those susceptible to and changed by the nosferatu pseudo-virus. They first appeared in 2275, the result of a laboratory accident. Kins develop great physical strength and projective empathy, as well as the elongated canines that are the visible evidence of their change. This change also restricts their diet to blood, preferably fresh from a human donor. As a rule, they have no difficulty finding donors; their projective empathy allows them to share their feeding-pleasure with the donor. Attempts by Kins to eat normal food result in violent nausea, and most have an equally-violent allergy to strong spices.

KNIGHTS, IMPERIAL: Those who have given the Empire service beyond the expectable, but not of a degree that would make a Life Nobility appropriate. Knights are granted arms and may use "Knight of the Imperium" (abbreviated KI) with their names. They should be addressed and referred to as Sir Firstname.

KORE, Subsector 6-F: No. systems: 59 Sector: Scorpio with 3 inhabited planets: 4 Ruled by: with 2 inhabited planets: 10 with 1 inhabited planet: 26

KORIL: Fermented milk Irschchans drink as humans do wine.

KRANATH: (Of Clan St'nar) Supreme Lord of the Circle, first of the Traiti gods known as the Circle of Lords.

KRANATH, Subsector 21-D: No. systems: 90 Sector: Traiti with 3 inhabited planets: 5 Ruled by: with 2 inhabited planets: 14 with 1 inhabited planet: 21

L

LADY OF LOVE: The Arriani deity, depicted as an attractive human female but of no other set appearance. Although not specifically a sex deity, her followers do consider sexual activity a form of worship particularly pleasing to her (especially with a gynandra or, if off-planet and able, with a woman).

LANDER: The smallest of the Imperial spacegoing craft. It is shaped rather like a streamlined bus, and is about that size, so small it is not considered a class of ship. Its commonest use is as a shuttle between a spacecraft too large to land and a planet (from which it gets its name), but it is also useful for suborbital flights. While the configuration is usually for passenger transport, palletized construction allows rapid reconfiguration when necessary.

LANGUAGE, Traiti: A tonal language that gives their Imperial English a pleasant lilt. Like German, it combines small words to make larger ones as a matter of course, and the grammatical structure is also similar to German. Some of the terms that have made their way into Imperial English, though primarily used only in the Traiti Sector, are found under their individual entries.

LANGUAGES, Sandeman: Pre-Empire English, called Standard, and a modified version of Classical Russian, called High War Speech. Since the Shapers left Terra before Imperial English was widely accepted, they retained the old alphabet and irregularities (mostly in plurals). Standard is the Sandeman common speech used by both castes.

The purpose of High War Speech, as far as the Shapers were concerned, was another way to set the warrior caste apart. By Annexation, it was less exclusive; most Others had learned at least a little, and as long as they used formal mode to warriors, no one objected. (Familiar mode is restricted to battle-companions, lovers, and one's thakur or 'na.) There is a technical combat vocabulary, however, that remains mostly restricted to warriors since they are the only ones with a real use for it.

LAST GIFT: (Sandeman) The gift of a swift death, asked when a person (usually a Sandeman) has been too seriously wounded, or is too ill, for medical aid to do more than prolong death. Between Sandeman's overthrow of the Shapers and its annexation by the Empire, their medicine was primitive enough that this was seen as an unpleasant necessity to prevent further suffering. As Imperial medical personnel have said repeatedly, Sandeman medicine then was little more than first aid; even something as minor as an abdominal wound was normally fatal.

LAWS, IMPERIAL: The Empire has few laws, but the ones that do exist are strictly enforced, unless there is a very strong reason for not doing so--with the Sovereign the only one able to grant waivers.

And Imperial law is kept purposely simple. Pre-Empire lawyers would be appalled, because if a law is obscure or easily misinterpreted, it is rewritten until it is clear to anyone of average intelligence and subject to only minimal interpretation by the officer judging a case. As with any decision short of the Sovereign's, such a judgement may be appealed, but only on substantial grounds.

The ones so far covered (there are others) include the following:

No noble shall attempt to exercise control over any fief other than the one @ is responsible for. Attempted crimes are punished in the same way as one that was successful. The penalty for murder of or assault on an Imperial noble is death. No mitigating circumstances. The penalty for murder of or assault on an Imperial servicewen is death or life imprisonment. The judging officer may consider substantial mitigating circumstances. A child born to parents of differing cultures will, as far as possible, receive the benefits of each culture most favorable to the child. Massive genetic engineering of humans is forbidden. (This is generally interpreted as engineering not required to correct a medical problem.)

LENORE: Sector: 8, Centaurus Year: Subsector: D, Pan Day: System: Poe Gravity: Settled/established: Axial tilt: By: Oxygen: Satellites: % Water: Ident code prefix: LEN Continents: Ruled by: General: Most inhabitants are receptive empaths, and have difficulty coping with non-empaths, so few leave Lenore. (Barbara Tennison/Sylvia Stevens)

LEO, Sector 19: Ruled by: No. systems: 953 Subsectors: 6 Inhabited planets: 348 A. Hundingsbana D. Hofud B. Galatine E. Graywand C. Gungnir F. Retaliator

LERAS, Nevan Dar-: SNDNS-6894-7693 (7 Jul 2547-24 Jun 2855) Graduated ITMA 2569, first in class; commissioned into SecuDiv and assigned to IBC Emperor Chang. Awarded Sovereign's Medal, merit promotion to 1Lt, and choice of assignment for his actions in the Palace assault that ended the White Order rebellion. Graduated IntelDiv Field Agent School, 2570, again first in class, for which he was given a merit promotion to Captain. He was then assigned to investigate the Melgarie pirate fleet, but went beyond a simple investigation; in 2572 he was able, with the unwilling aid of Melgarie's lover Neyse Greenfield, to arrange the fleet's destruction. For this he received a second Sovereign's Medal and promotion to Major.

In 2574, he swore personal fealty to Ranger Corina Losinj. On an assignment for her in 2578 (checking the security protecting IntelDiv field agents while attempting to deliver the personal weapons his father Kelly had bequeathed to one who had saved his life), he met and rapidly became close friends with his "target", Kiyoshi Owajima.

When Empress Losinj died in 2624, Nevan technically reverted to his status as an IntelDiv Major, though one with a grace-and-favor apartment in the Imperial Palace and a lifetime income independent of Corps salary. However, the new Sovereign, Jasmine Wang, asked him to continue his special services to the Sovereign without the oath of fealty. Since he was positive his thakur would have wished that, even though she had not asked it of him, he agreed; as a result, until his death in 2855, the various Sovereigns had a personal special agent who, until his fealty oath, had been the best field agent in IntelDiv.

LERAS, Riordan Dar-: Warleader of the Sandeman fleet that approached Mjolnir in 2541. When he was defeated in a duel with Gaelan DarShona, Baron Frederick Klaes' thakur-na, he was honor-bound to provide protection for Klaes' world, which he did by leaving part of his fleet on guard there. Grandfather of Nevan, through Kelly.

LESSA, Subsector 7-E: No. systems: 46 Sector: Cygnus with 3 inhabited planets: 3 Ruled by: with 2 inhabited planets: 11 with 1 inhabited planet: 27

LIBIDINE: A persistent, but non-addictive, aphrodisiac with no known side effects. Effects vary from simple receptiveness with a trigger dose, to release of all cultural sexual restraints with a stronger one.

LIFE-DEBT (Sandeman): The debt a Sandeman clan owes one not of that clan who gives one of its members Last Gift. This always means the person may ask Last Gift of any clanmember, whether battle-companion or not, with the certainty it will be given, and for a warrior, if captured that he will not be tortured for information. (W'women and Others, by custom, are always immune from torture.) A specific individual repayment is between the giver and the receiver's clan-chief.

LIFEPOD: A cocoon-shaped field medical unit which is capable of providing total life support.

LIGHTSABER: An energy weapon developed by Clan Vader of Sandeman, inspired by the ones in the Star Wars trilogy they call the Saga. As in the Saga, it is a large hilt containing the powerpack and other equipment needed to generate a controlled-length, high-intensity laser beam "blade". It first came to Imperial attention in 2542, when Leigh DarVader bequeathed his to Ranger James Medart as a death-gift. At that time the powerpack would support less than five minutes' blade activation, making the saber impressive but of little or no practical use. Within two years, however, Imperial scientists were able to develop a powerpack that lasted over half an hour, making the saber a practical hand-to-hand combat weapon. With distance weapons far more popular with most Imperial citizens, however, they are still seldom seen outside Subsector Sandeman.

The Vader clan's development of controlled-length laser beams, though made specifically for the saber, has proven to be a significant one in other fields as well, leading to numerous improvements in technologies from medicine to heavy equipment manufacture. It has also, since Ranger Medart assisted them in obtaining an Imperial patent on the process, made the clan extremely wealthy.

LIMBURGER BERRIES: Another name for toli berries.

LIU: Traiti unit of distance, 2.58 kilometers (1.59 miles).

LOSINJ, Corina: RCJ-2958-5865 (2548-19 Feb 2624) The first non-human (Irschchan) Ranger, she was recruited by Ranger James Medart in 2569, when she reported the White Order's impending rebellion. In the course of stopping that rebellion, she and Medart experienced pattern rapport, which revealed that he possessed a strong Talent, including a healing aspect she had not previously encountered. She helped him train it as much as possible during the trip to Terra, completing it after the rebellion was over. Testing then showed the Sovereign and other Rangers also had strong Talent, and Losinj trained them as well. That degree of Talent, regardless of its specific aspect, was immediately added to Ranger qualifications.

She accepted Nevan DarLeras as thakur-na in 2574, was elected Successor in 2577 on Emperor Forrest's death, and succeeded to the Throne in 2603. She died in bed, with Nevan in attendance, in 2624.

LUNA: Terra's only natural satellite, site of the Imperial Navy's Prime Base and main shipyard.

LUPUS: Sector: 17, Indus Year: Subsector: C, Poseidon Day: System: Hellespont Gravity: Settled/established: Axial tilt: By: Oxygen: Satellites: % Water: Ident code prefix: LUP Continents: Ruled by: Capparucini family General: Home of Jael warrior culture.

M

MacLEOD, Jamie: Independent scout who discovered Irschcha in 2527.

MAGNI, Subsector 18-C: No. systems: 180 Sector: Aries with 3 inhabited planets: 3 Ruled by: with 2 inhabited planets: 9 with 1 inhabited planet: 27

MANFREDI, Dana: See Alanna, Dana Dru-.

MARINE CORPS, IMPERIAL TERRAN: The senior Imperial service, the ITMC was founded by Emperor Chang on 10 November 2128, though he established the Empire itself and took the Throne on 22 January. The date was deliberately chosen to coincide with the birthday, 353 years earlier, of the United States Marine Corps; the Navy and the Administrative Service were founded one week later, replacing Solar Federation services which were then disbanded.

Emperor Chang had retired from the USMC at the rank of Major General after twenty-five years' service, and thought it only fitting that the ITMC--a great majority of whose first officers and NCOs came from the USMC--continue the history and traditions he thought invaluable. He also instituted a new tradition at that time: at 1000 hours, Palace Standard Time, on 10 November of every year, the Sovereign @self publishes the Birthday Article to every Marine post and shipboard detachment. While there have been many changes, the ITMC retains things like the dress blue uniform and Marine Emblem which make its lineal descent from the USMC obvious. The dress blue uniform (with the USMC male version used by both sexes) is essentially unchanged; the ITMC Emblem substitutes the Imperial stylized globe for the USMC's Terran Western hemisphere. (For non-humans, there are uniform variations based on physical structure; Traiti, for instance, do not wear headgear except for protection, and the Irschchans, since 2569, wear a kilt version of any Imperial uniform.)

MARSTON, Dan: Dana Manfredi/DruAlanna's pen name when writing historical fiction.

MEDALERT TEAM: An emergency medical response team led by a physician, whenever possible a trauma specialist.

MEDART, James Kieran: RJT-6743-5197 (14 Aug 2494-28 Mar 2669) Imperial Ranger, 2515-2669. Led rescue of Yonar Colony, his first solo mission, 2518. Negotiated with the cloudcats to obtain human/Irschchan settlements on Ondrian in exchange for the privilege of travel on Imperial ships, 2532. Called Mjolnir Conference, 2542, which resulted in the end of the Sandeman War and the creation of Subsector 5-D, Sandeman. Recruited Ranger Corina Losinj, then helped her stop White Order revolt, 2569; en route from Irschcha to Terra on this mission, the two discovered and began to train his latent Talent. To Ranger Losinj's surprise, this included healing, an aspect that had not appeared on Irschcha.

Had Medart not been selected as a Ranger, he planned to specialize in xenoanthropology, and has in a sense done so, though not formally. His interest in the variety of cultures humans and non-humans alike can develop has led him to study and visit as many as his assignments allow; while he is not totally familiar with all the cultures in the Empire, he is the Ranger normally called on when there is an inter-cultural problem.

MEERCLAR, Subsector 9-F: No. systems: 111 Sector: Ursa with 3 inhabited planets: 5 Ruled by: with 2 inhabited planets: 12 with 1 inhabited planet: 28

MELGARIE, Jord: HPUJE-7895-2835 (? 2518-20 Nov 2572) Found 18 Jun 2518 by Subsector 6-G Rescue Service, alone in an escape capsule from which all identification had been removed. He appeared to be approximately four months old, and medical tests showed him to have been a subject of major genetic engineering (which explained the lack of identification, if not the abandonment).

Raised on New Bavaria by a series of foster parents who found him difficult to cope with. He enlisted in the Subsector Navy in 2536, then deserted in 2538, stole a ship, and began a career of piracy. A charismatic leader, he soon attracted other criminals and became head of a pirate fleet which eventually spread its operations out of Sector 6, making it an Imperial rather than a local concern. Several Imperial agents attempted to infiltrate; all, until Nevan DarLeras in 2570-72, were uncovered and killed. Melgarie himself died when DarLeras was able to call in a Fleet strike which destroyed the pirate base.

MESSENGERS, IMPERIAL: Heralds or military officers with special commissions to carry particularly sensitive or ceremonial verbal or written messages from the Sovereign or a Ranger. All Messengers are protected with special anti-interrogation conditioning which can be triggered by circumstance as well as by a spoken phrase, and on occasion a volunteer is given special conditioning so @ can deliver one of the Sovereign's messages in @'s own words and as close to voice as the Messenger can manage. When acting as such, Messengers wear scarlet tunics and travel in scarlet courier-class ships.

MILITARY, IMPERIAL: The Imperial Terran Marine Corps and Imperial Terran Navy. Imperial military personnel are very carefully selected; as a rule, enlisted personnel and Academy candidates have the equivalent of a pre-Empire bachelor's degree; by graduation and commissioning, an officer has the equivalent of three or four doctorates, and all ranks are expected to continue their educations. They are thoroughly tested in all physical and psychological aspects, then assigned where their individual aptitudes, attitudes, and training will be most useful. Note that this definitely includes a person's preferences, part of the Empire's pragmatism: a person does better in a job @ likes, so it is in the Empire's interest to put @ there. If for some reason it is necessary to put someone in a job @ doesn't like, @ will be there as briefly as possible.

MINOTAUR, Subsector 2-D: No. systems: 129 Sector: Hydra with 3 inhabited planets: 6 Ruled by: with 2 inhabited planets: 12 with 1 inhabited planet: 27

MIRACLE-WEED: The Ondrian plant that is the only source of rapid-heal. Originally wild, it has been intensively cultivated since 2532, when humans and Irschchans established a colony for that purpose. Miracle-weed has been grown on other worlds, but does not thrive or produce usable rapid-heal.

MITHRA, Subsector 6-D: No. systems: 146 Sector: Scorpio with 3 inhabited planets: 4 Ruled by: with 2 inhabited planets: 12 with 1 inhabited planet: 23

MJOLNIR: Sector: 5, Pegasus Year: Subsector: B, Sleipnir Day: System: Thor Gravity: Settled/established: 2154 Axial tilt: By: North Americans, Scandinavians Oxygen: Satellites: 2 (Gnasher, Grinder) % Water: Ident code prefix: MJO Continents: Ruled by: Klaes family Arms: On a platinum field, a mallet proper, head upward, with a thong through the handle's end. General: Stopping point of the Sandeman Eruption, 2542.

MJOLNIR CONFERENCE: (2542) The conference Ranger James Medart called in a successful attempt to end the Sandeman invasion of Sector Five. Mjolnir at the time was a Sandeman protectorate; its Baron Klaes declared it extraterritorial so the two sides could meet on neutral territory. The war ended due to what Medart liked to call "sweet reason, backed by five battle fleets"--though to his amusement, the Sandemans saw the fleets and Imperial weaponry as a temptation rather than a threat, and joined the Empire for the chance to use them.

MULTIVERSE: A group of related alternate universes. Exactly where one multiverse ends and another begins is not definite, since there is overlap, sometimes considerable. Grouping alternates into multiverses, though, makes it easy to refer to such a group without having to identify each alternate by its official designation.

N

NANNSTEIN, Reinhard: (2100-2142) A Da Vinci-type genius, Nannstein developed the science of gravitics in 2123, financed by a small inheritance he had invested and turned into a fortune. Still working independently, despite many offers from industry and government, he invented hyperdrive in 2125. Working with his friend Cheong Chang, he helped establish the Empire, then designed and supervised the building of the Imperial Palace in Antarctica. He disappeared in 2142 while testing an improvement of the hyperdrive.

NARVON System: Sector: 16, Virgo No. planets: 12 Subsector: A, Athena Inhabited: 3 Ruled by: Nilssun family