Dying of the Light

keth, kethi. Kavalar term for the males of any holdfast or holdfast coalition; literally, holdfast-brother(s).

Kimdiss. Human world of the Fringe, settled by a group of religious pacifists, now the major outworld commercial power. Kimdissi are traditionally nonviolent, and consequently hostile to the code duello of High Kavalaan.

Kimdissi. Natives of Kimdiss.

korariel. Kavalar term, literally protected property. Originally used by individuals and holdfasts to designate certain mockmen or groups of mockmen as private game; poachers were subject to challenge and duel. Later used by the more progressive holdfasts to protect primitives from extermination at the hands of traditional Kavalar hunters. Properly, the term cannot be applied to a real human, only to a mockman or animal.

Kryne Lamiya. Festival city built on Worlorn by Dark-dawn. Often called the Siren City, Kryne Lamiya was designed so that its towers made music of the controlled mountain winds, thus playing over and over a symphony by Darkdawn's leading composer, the nihilist Lamiya-Bailis.

Larteyn. Festival city built into the mountainwall of Worlorn by High Kavalaan. Larteyn, literally, means bonded-to-the-sky, or sky-teyn. The city was fashioned to a great extent of glowstone, and thus was often called the Firefort.

Letheland. One common name for a primitive human colony in the Fringe. Also known as the Forgotten Colony, or the Lost Colony. All of these terms are offworld in origin; the Lostfolk themselves call their planet

Earth. Letheland is the oldest human world beyond the Tempter's Veil, so old that all details of its settlement have been lost, and only conjecture remains. Its people are largely fisherfolk, with no interest in any way of life besides their own.

Musquel-by-the-Sea. Festival city patterned on those of Letheland, erected on Worlorn by a coalition of outworlders for the Forgotten Colony, which did not have the technology to build it so quickly. A weathered port of multicolored brick and wood, Musquel proved one of the Festival's most popular attractions.

Newholme. First interstellar human colony; an urbanized, overcrowded, highly technological world only 4.3 light-years from Old Earth. Since the interregnum and the isolation of Old Earth, Newholme is commonly regarded as the most advanced human world, and the center of commercial traffic between the stars. New-holme is also the nominal capital of the so-called Union of Humanity, a political unit that claims jurisdiction over mankind everywhere. Only three worlds beyond Newholme acknowledge this authority, however, so the Union is essentially a fiction.

not-men. Human beings who have evolved or mutated so far that they are no longer interfertile with the rest of the race.

Old Earth. Homeworld of the human race, formerly the capital of the Federal Empire. During the interregnum, and after the revolt of sizable portions of its armed forces, Old Earth recalled the remainder of its military and sealed itself off from the rest of humanity. The embargo remains in effect, with only a few exceptions. There are many legends and much conjecture about life on Old Earth today, but few facts. Also known as Earth, Terra, Home.

Old Hranga. Homeworld of the Hrangan race, and one of the few places where Hrangan Minds survive in numbers.

Old Poseidon. Third-generation human world settled early in the Federal period. A planet of turbulent seas and untold riches, Old Poseidon soon became an important trading center and a sector capital. After less than a century, the Poseidonites themselves were building starships and exporting colonists; they settled more than twenty other planets, including Jamison's World.

outworlds. Collective term for all the worlds of the Fringe; i.e., those fourteen human colonies between the Tempter's Veil and the Great Black Sea. Natives of any of these planets were commonly called outworlders by humans within the Veil.

Prometheus. Human world in the jambles, colonized by a military arm of the Federal Empire called the Ecological Warfare Corps during the Double War. Located deep within the war zone and the Hrangan sphere of influence, Prometheus was the headquarters for the biowar ships that spread disease, insects, and plant and animal pests among the Hrangans. After the collapse, Prometheus recovered starflight quickly, and also retained and developed techniques of cloning and genetic manipulation that had been closely guarded secrets of the Federal Empire. One of the most powerful human worlds of the jambles, Prometheus is de facto ruler of its closest neighbors, Rhiannon and Thisrock, and strongly influential on a number of other planets. See also Altered Men.

Redsteel. One of the four modern holdfast-coalitions of High Kavalaan. Redsteel is considered one of the two most progressive of the four. Also, any member of holdfast Redsteel.

Rhiannon. Human world in the jambles, colonized by Deirdre during the middle period of the Federal Empire. A rich pastoral world, Rhiannon today is ruled by Prometheus in all but name, and has no starships of its own.

Rogue's Hope. Human world in the Celian cluster, formerly a sector capital.

Rommel. Gold heavy-gravity planet colonized directly from Earth very early in the Federal period. Rommel and Wellington, its sister planet in the same system, began as unpleasant prison planets for incorrigibles from Earth, but during the Double War the two became the so-called War Worlds from which the Earth Imperials drew most of their assault squads. War Worlders, as troopers from Rommel and Wellington were called collectively, lived all their lives under a rigid military discipline, and were given drugs and special reaction training to enhance their fighting prowess. Ultimately, genetic alterations turned the War Worlders into not-men, unable to interbreed with other humans. Rommel lost starflight during the collapse and has never regained it. Traders avoid the world; Rommelans are considered inhuman and dangerous.

Satan's Children. See Hellcrown.

Shanagate Holding. One of the four modern holdfast-coalitions of High Kavalaan.

Son of the Dreamer. Religious leader who lived on Deirdre in the middle Federal period. The Son of the Dreamer preached a creed of physical pacifism and psychological aggression, and told his followers to resist their enemies with wit instead of force. Today his teachings are influential on Kimdiss, Kayan, Tamber, and several other worlds.