Dying of the Light

Avalon. Human world in the jambles, colonized by

Newholme during the first century of the Federal Empire. A sector capital during the Double War, Avalon never lost starflight and played a large role in ending the interregnum through its vigorous program of exploration, trade, and re-education. Afterwards it became a center of learning. The Academy of Human Knowledge and its many associated institutes are located on Avalon. Avalon is also an important commercial center, with the largest trading fleet in the jambles. Ships from Avalon often trade for knowledge as well as goods.

Bakkalon. Deity worshiped by the Steel Angels, often depicted as a naked human infant holding a black sword; also called the pale child.

Baldur. First-generation human colony settled directly from Earth in the earliest years of starflight. A sector capital during the Double War, now an important center of trade.

banshee. Also known as black banshee; an aerial predator native to High Kavalaan.

Bastion. Human world in the jambles, details of settlement unknown. Bastion was once a human colony, then taken by the Hrangans during the Double War, finally retaken by humans, and today ruled by the Steel Angels, who have made it their capital.

betheyn. Kavalar term for a woman bonded to a man and under his protection; literally, heldwife.

Blackwiner. Native of the World of the Blackwine Ocean.

Braith. One of the four modern holdfast-coalitions of of High Kavalaan. Braith is generally conceded to be the most traditional of the four. Also, any member of holdfast Braith.

Braque. Human world near the Tempter's Veil, on the the outermost edge of the jambles. Braque is primitive and superstitious, ruled by a priesthood that strictly controls technology.

Bronzefist. Extinct holdfast-coalition of High Kavalaan.

Challenge. Festival city built on Worlorn by ai-Emerel. Challenge is an automated computer-operated self-contained arcology.

chokers. Common species of Toberian tree.

City in the Starless Pool. Festival city built on Worlorn, beneath the waters of an artificial lake, by the World of the Blackwine Ocean.

collapse. The period in which the Federal Empire of Old Earth disintegrated and fell. Dates for the collapse are difficult to fix; war had made communications between worlds even more chaotic than usual, and each planet experienced the collapse in its own ways and in its own time. Most historians cite the revolt on Thor and the destruction of Wellington as the key events in the Federal Empire's fall, but point out that the Empire had been a thin fiction for centuries before that as far as the more distant colonies were concerned.

cro-betheyn. Kavalar term for a betheyn's bond to her highbond's teyn; literally, shared heldwife.

dactyloids. Human term for a winged Hrangan slave-race employed as shock troops during the Double

War, given to the creatures because of their vague likeness to pterodactyls of Old Earth pre-history. Dactyloids were savage, but small-brained and only semi-sentient.

Darkdawn. Human world in the Fringe, close to the edge of intergalactic space. After Darkdawn there is nothing; winter skies are empty but for the light of the distant galaxies. Darkdawn is thinly populated, solitary, and haven to a number of strange religious cults. Weather control has been perfected to a fine art, but otherwise technology is de-emphasized.

Darklings. Residents of Darkdawn.

Daronne. Human world of the jambles, close to the Tempter's Veil. Colonized at least three times by aliens and twice by humans, Daronne is a patchwork of esoteric cultures.

Deep Coal Dwellings. Mythological holdfast-coalition of High Kavalaan, said to exist in ancient times. The folk of the Deep Coal Dwellings were cannibals who preyed on the other holdfasts until destroyed in war. They were alleged to be half human, half demon.

Doable War. Centuries-long conflict between the Federal Empire and two alien races, the Fyndii and the Hrangans. Also known as the Great War, the Fyndiin War, the Hrangan Conflict, the Thousand-Years War, or simply as the War. In many ways the Double War was in reality two conflicts; the enemies never had any contact with each other and were in no sense allies, though both were engaged in warfare against humanity. The Federal Empire occupied the space between the two enemies, and thus fought on two fronts; the Fyndii hordes were inward toward the Core, the so-called Hrangan Empire outward toward the galactic fringe. The war against the Fyndii began first, and was generally a shorter and cleaner conflict, finally resolved through negotiations and the intervention of a third alien race, the Damoosh. The Hrangans were considerably less understandable and much more inimicable to humanity. Hostilities never officially ended between Hranga and Earth; both civilizations collapsed. Humanity underwent the interregnum and recovered, although never again as a single political unit. The Hrangans suffered virtual genocide at the hands of their own slaveraces and human colonials.

Earth Imperials. Originally, administrators sent out from Earth during the heyday of the Federal Empire. After the interregnum, commonly used to refer to any human who lived during the Empire period.

Emereli. Natives of ai-Emerel.

Erikan. Human world named after the religious leader Erika Stormjones, settled by her followers and dedicated to the precepts she espoused, notably immortality through cloning.

Eshellin. Human world on the Fringe, settled by a migration from Daronne. Relatively primitive and sparsely populated.

Esvoch. Festival city built by Eshellin.

eyn-kethi. Kavalar term for the breeding women of a holdfast, who are sexually available to all men; literally, bonded-to-the-holdfast-brothers.