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A
radial universe, the Entire is comprised of
five primacies—the monumental
lobes of the universe. In length, the primacies
are on a galactic scale; in breadth, only several
thousand miles wide. A primacy has no absolute
length, degrading at times into the Empty
Lands where geography is distorted
in space-time. Branching from one side of each
primacy are the smaller minorals.
Narrow and deserted valleys, the minorals are
like root hairs on a giant tuber. At the tips
of some minorals scholars attempt to observe
other universes, for the Entire by its cosmography
tends to burrow into the multiverse. Smaller
still than a minoral are the nascences.
These small canyons grow out of the sides of
the minorals but are unstable and shunned.
The
storm walls enclose the primacy,
the minoral and the nascence. These turbulent
arms of the Entire appear as dark and stationary
tidal waves. Each primacy has a great river
along one wall. In all primacies, it is called
the River Nigh. The core of
the radial universe is the Sea of Arising,
wellspring of the River Nigh. Above it hovers
the floating city of the Tarig and the Magisterium,
called the Ascendancy.
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| Titus
Quinn |
Star
pilot, outcast, father and widower. Sent to the
Entire to win back his family, only to discover
that he has a long history in the Entire—a
history he has, for good reason, forgotten. |
| Anzi |
The
young Chalin woman assigned to teach Quinn all that
he’s forgotten. Niece of a powerful master
of a sway, warrior-trained and erstwhile scholar
of the Rose, it is her fatal error that brings Titus
Quinn face to face with Lord Hadenth and Titus Quinn’s
own demons. |
| Sydney |
Alias
Sen Ni, Titus Quinn’s daughter in thrall to
the great psi-enabled Inyx. She first despises,
then grows to love these beasts who live to be ridden,
who live to run, and who are the only Entirean sentients
who do not bend the knee to the Tarig. |
| Mo
Ti |
The
giant Chalin eunuch who befriends Sydney and, as
her protector, provides her the first intimations
of her larger destiny in the Entire. |
| Akay-Wat |
The
four-footed, fanatically truthful Hirrin rider of
the Inyx who longs to serve Sydney and even more,
be her friend. Timid by nature, she is tested when
Sydney and Mo Ti rebel against the Inyx and ask
the riders to stand with them. |
| Yulin |
Master
of the Chalin Sway, spurred by his oldest and most
favored wife, Suzong, he is the first to offer Titus
Quinn refuge in the Entire—against all his
political judgment, and with consequences that will
topple a dynasty. |
| Cixi |
High
prefect of the vast bureaucracy ruling the Entire
on behalf of the Tarig: the Magisterium, a meritocracy
derived from ancient Earth’s China. Cixi commands
the fathomless layers of privilege and power but
hides her heart from all. |
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| Hadenth |
Foremost
Tarig enemy of Titus Quinn, this high lord pursues
a demented compulsion to find and punish Quinn for
past misdeeds. He is joined by the Lady Chiron,
a Tarig female who gave Quinn an unprecedented intimacy,
and in turn obtained the same of him. |
| Ghoris |
Navitar
of the River Nigh, half-mad and deformed as pilots
must be who navigate the space-time stream of the
river, she sees all possible futures, and makes
a fateful choice when she reveals one of them. |
| Johanna |
Titus
Quinn’s wife. Sadly, dead—though that
does not stop her from manipulating events from
the great fortress at the end of the Entire: Ahnenhoon. |
| Su
Bei |
An
obsessed scholar, devoted to identifying the complete
cosmography of the Rose, he will use his knowledge
of the multiverse to further Titus Quinn’s
aims – and his own. |
| Cho |
Lowly
steward of the Magisterium who—alone of all
the legates and princes—uncovers Titus Quinn’s
identity, and leads him to the heart of the Ascendancy’s
secrets. |
| Caitlin |
Titus
Quinn’s sister in law, held hostage by the
Earth corporation that aims to ensure Quinn’s
compliance in the Entire, she must save her children
from corporate threats, and keep the home fires
burning for Quinn, rooting for him to find his family…
and praying that he doesn’t. |
| Helice
Maki |
A
young corporate prodigy, she wants to mend Earth's
contemptible culture of handouts and dependency.
Her scorn for the average person and her vision
of a new humanity are given new life by the discovery
of the universe next door. |
| Small
Girl |
A
Tarig child whose fateful request for a simple toy
will let loose all hell. |
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| The
Sways |
The
home kingdoms of the sentients of the Entire. Scattered
throughout the five primacies, the sways have distinct
cultural flavors while retaining the unifying traditions
of the Entire such as the Three Vows, worship of
the Miserable God, advancement through the meritocracy,
service in the Long War, and a shared history of
the Entire. |
| The
Ascendancy |
The
floating city of the Tarig. Suspended thirty thousand
feet over the Sea of Arising, the Ascendancy is
the preferred habitat of the Tarig. The upper side
of the city is a formal imperial city with great
plazas, canals, bridges, spires of unguessed at
purpose and the mansions, great and minor, of the
ruling Tarig and their Tarig cousins. In the lower
stories are the five levels of the Magisterium. |
| The
Magisterium |
The
palatial nerve center of the mandarin-like civil
service. The five levels of the Magisterium house
the multitude of clerks, factors and stewards up
to the hundreds of legates, dozens of consuls and
the one high prefect. Their habitation is a labyrinthine
maze of offices and great halls, with the outer
rim of offices overlooking the sea and the budding
arms of the five primacies. |
| The
Rose |
What
those in the Entire call our universe, because of
the existence on one backwater planet of a spectacular
flower. There are no flowers in the Entire. |
| Ahnenhoon |
The
reach of the Arm of Heaven Primacy. Guarded over
by a sprawling and ancient Repel (fortress), this
reach is where the Paion break through to fight
the armies of the Entire. The Long War has been
fought for five thousand years. With war dirigibles,
guns and artillery, the two sides by mutual understanding
fight with limited weaponry. The Entire is fragile.
The Tarig would not jeopardize their creation, nor
would the Paion wish to inherit a decimated land. |
| Rim
City |
A
city a billion miles long and a block wide, surrounding
the Sea of Arising at the center of the Entire.
Access is by navitar vessel, which can take people
instantly to points along the shore. A thoroughfare
called the Way runs in a complete loop through the
city. Because the city is on the shore of the sea,
all five Rivers Nigh converge there. The Ascendancy
hovers high above. |
| The
Undercity |
Beneath
Rim City lies a murky warren of burrows sacred to
The Society of the Red Throne. Portals cast a constant
gloaming light from the sea lying beyond. The undercity
is also a hangout of morts and other society cast-offs. |
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| The
Tarig |
The
stage five civilization sentients who engineered
the Entire and rule over its citizens with unquestioned,
though restrained, power. So long as a few high
laws are observed, the Tarig indulge independent
governance and choice. As such they are worshipped
by the naive and held in awe by most others, even
those who despise them. Tall and bronze-skinned,
they are ferocious predators yoked to the role of
benevolent gods. |
| Chalin |
Copied
from ancient Earth, the Chalin people are human-like,
with physical and cultural characteristics similar
but not identical to that of ancient and early imperial
China. Being the first sentients created by the
Tarig, the Chalin people view themselves as heirs
to the Entire; however all sentients are in theory
equal under Tarig law. Their sway is in the Arm
of Heaven. |
| Hirrin |
Four-footed,
psychologically fragile, it is said they cannot
lie; for this reason they are the most trusted advisors
to the Tarig. Their long necks and prehensile lips
provide them great dexterity. |
| Inyx |
Isolated
and resentful of intrusion, the Inyx are herd beasts
with a culture of bonding with other sentients who
ride them. They are war mounts, massive and fast,
with two rows of horns curving backward down their
necks. The have no speech but communicate heart-to-heart
with each other and with riders whose thoughts they
can share. Their sway is in the Long Gaze of Fire. |
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| Adda |
A
gas bag creature with a sentience based primarily
on electromagnetic sensitivity. Symbionts, they
often rely on smaller sentient passengers to supply
them with bags of grain; for this payment, female
Adda transport citizens cross-primacy in cavities
developed to carry progeny. |
| Gond |
Despite
claims of equality, some sentients are viewed with
derision. Gonds are often feared for their physical
aspect, including large size. Their newt-like legless
bodies can move only sluggishly; therefore they
ride on propelled sleds or litters. The Gond often
rise by dint of hard work to high stations. |
| Ysli |
Short
and simian-looking, the Ysli are sometimes derided
because of their rejection of clothing other than
footwear or belts from which they may hang bags,
purses, or weapons. Exceedingly industrious, their
numbers are widespread throughout the Entire; they
have found a niche in service as ship keepers for
navitars. |
| Laroos |
A
rarely seen sentient, with numbers in decline. Cat-like,
this sentient walks upright, with long arms evolved
for a tree-dwelling existence. |
| Jout |
Short
and huge in girth, the Jout have leathery, petaled
skin. They have made a reputation in war, but serve
equally well in the deep bureacracy of the Magisterium,
where the disciplines are similar. Taciturn, Jout
are said to carry grudges and forget little. Their
sway is in the Long Gaze of Fire. |
| Navitars |
The
navitars are sentients who willingly undergo transformation
by the Tarig to be capable of piloting on the River
Nigh. Relinquishing normal lives, the Navitars are
both navigators and philosophers, experiencing quantum
states but unable to articulate their knowledge.
Helpless in most ways, they rely on ship keepers
to meet their needs. |
| Paion |
The
immemorial enemy of the Entire, attacking at Ahnenhoon
for thousands of years. Unknown entities, they fight
in short metallic simulacra—two-legged, two-armed
torsos that lack heads--staggering robotic mechanisms
armed with weapons that emerge from their armor
in deadly sproutings. The Paion ride in small humps
on the backs of the simulacra, directing, controlling. |
| Fragmental |
A
being that when not tightly framed by Tarig command,
actually lives in other dimensions. As such, it
is incompatible with a four-dimensional world. |
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