Infinity's Shore

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Anglic — a human language created in the twenty-first century, using many English words, but influenced by other pre-contact tongues and modified according to new understandings of linguistic theory.

Biblos — a fortress containing the archive, or hall of books; a combined university/central lending library with profound influence on Jijoan culture.

Bibur — a river running past Biblos, joining the Roney at Tarek Town.

Buyur — former legal tenants of Jijo, froglike in appearance, and known for wit, foresight, and for gene crafting specialized animal tools. Departed when Jijo was declared fallow, almost half a million years ago.

Chimpanzee or “chim”—a partly uplifted variety that accompanied humans to Jijo, mute but able to communicate readily with sign language.

Client — a race still working out a period of servitude to the patrons that uplifted it from presapient animal status.

Danik — a vulgarized term for Danikenite, a cultural movement dating from soon after humanity’s first contact with Galactic civilization. Daniks believe Earthlings were uplifted by a Galactic patron race that chose to remain hidden for unknown reasons. An offshoot cult believes that the Rothen are this race of wise, enigmatic guides. (Also sometimes “Dakkin”)

Day of Judgment — in prophesy, when the Six Races of Jijo will be judged for their crimes. By that time, many hope that their descendants will be like glavers — innocents, far along the Path of Redemption.

Deconstructor — a mechanical device licensed by the Institute of Migration to demolish remnants of technological civilization on a planet declared fallow.

Dolo — a village on the Roney River, famed for papermaking.

Dooden Mesa — oldest and largest g’Kek enclave.

Dross — Any nonbiodegradable waste material, fated to be cast into the Midden, for recycling by Jijo’s tectonic fires.

Dura — Approximately one third of a minute.

Earthclan — a small, eccentric Galactic “family” of sapient races consisting of neo-chimpanzee and neo-dolphin clients and their human patrons.

Egg — see Holy Egg.

Er — a genderless pronoun, sometimes used when referring to a traeki.

Exploser — demolitions expert who mines settlements of the Six Races for quick destruction, should The Day arrive. Guild headquarters in Tarek Town.

Fen — plural of “fin”; Anglic shorthand for a neo-dolphin.

Fist of Stone — a huge shelf of stone above Biblos that has been mined by the explosers, and would serve to destroy the fortress on Judgment Day.

Fractal World or Fractal System — a place of retirement for races that have nearly transcended the Civilization of the Five Galaxies. A huge, diffuse edifice made of hydrogen snow, constructed to surround and use all the energy of a small star.

Galactic — a person, race, concept, or technology deriving from the eons-old Civilization of the Five Galaxies.

Galactic Institutes — vast, powerful academies, purportedly neutral and above interclan politics. The Institutes manage or regulate various aspects of Galactic civilization. Some Institutes are over a billion years old.

Galactic Library — a fantastically capacious collection of knowledge gathered over the course of hundreds of millions of years. Quasi-sapient “branch Libraries” are found in most Galactic starships and settlements.

Gathering Festival — annual fair that celebrates and reinforces the Great Peace among Jijo’s sooner races. Incorporates a pilgrimage to the Holy Egg.

Gentt — a river just north of Blaze Mountain.

Great Peace — a time of growing understanding among the Six Races, variously credited to the influence of Biblos, or else to the arrival of the Holy Egg and rewq symbionts.

Great Printing — the sudden introduction of paper books by the humans soon after their arrival on Jijo.

Grok — Anglic term, of obscure origin, that denotes understanding a thing or ’concept in its entirety. Similar to the Scottish “ken.”

Guenn Volcano — Location of the hidden forges of Uriel the Smith.

“Heresies”—variant views of Jijoan destiny, held by groups who disagree with the High Sages. One holds that Galactic law is just — and Jijo would be better off without “infestation” by sooner races. Others subscribe to more orthodox interpretations of the Sacred Scrolls, that each exile race should seek separate salvation down the Path of Redemption. One rare heresy is called “progress.”

Holy Egg, the — a mysterious mass of psi-active stone that emerged from a volcano a century ago, accompanied by widespread visions and dreaming.

Humicker — slang term for someone who mimics humans, because Earthling texts still dominate literate life of Jijo, long after the Great Printing.

Ifni — probably a vulgarization of “Infinity.” In spacer tradition, a name given to the goddess of luck. Personification of chance or Murphy’s law.

Illias — a matriarchal tribe of horsewomen living secretly in the Spectral Flow.

Izmunuti — a red giant star, uncomfortably close to Jijo’s sun; spews a carbon wind masking Jijo from supervision by the Institute for Migration.

Jadura — Approximately forty-three hours.

Jijo — planet in Galaxy Four. Home of seven sooner races: humans, hoons, qheuen, urs, g’Kek, devolved glavers, and “demodified” Jophur known as traeki.

Jophekka — the homeworld of the Jophur.

Kidura — approximately one half second.

Kiqui — a presapient race of amphibians native to Kithrup.

Kithrup — a water world rich in heavy metals, where the Streaker crew lost Captain Creideiki and many others in escaping a dire trap.

Loocen — largest of Jijo’s three moons.

Lorniks — a domesticated animal, bred as servants by qheuen. Lorniks are radially symmetrical, have four legs and four three-fingered hands.

Midden — a vast undersea crevasse, or subduction zone, formed by plate tectonics, that runs alongside the Slope. Dross generated by inhabitant races — from skeletal remains to hulls of sooner spacecraft — should eventually be dumped here, where natural forces will carry it below Jijo’s crust for melting.

Midura — a unit of time. Approximately seventy-one minutes.

Morgran — a transfer point where Streaker was first attacked by warships of the fanatic religious clans.

Mule spiders — a life-form engineered to destroy buildings and technological artifacts on worlds declared fallow.

Mulching ceremony — reduction of dead bodies, returning flesh to the Jijoan ecosystem. Often involves consumption of flesh by specialized traeki rings. Nondegradable leftovers are treated as dross and sent to the Midden.

Neo-chimp, neo-chimpanzee — uplifted chimpanzees; humanity’s first clients. Fully uplifted neo-chimps can speak; the “unfinished” variety that accompanied humans to Jijo are mute.

Neo-dolphin — uplifted dolphins; clients of humanity.

Nihanic — another pre-contact human language, derived from a hybrid of Japanese and Han Chinese.

Noor — bright, dexterous, but mischievous otterlike creatures. Noor cannot be tamed, but the patient and good-natured hoon are able to employ some noor beasts on their ships. Noor are considered pests by the other sooner races.

Oailie — third-stage uplift consorts and “step-patrons” of the Jophur, and fanatical members of the Obeyer Alliance. As expert gene crafters, the Oailie reworked traeki biology and psychology by the addition of master rings, transforming them into Jophur.

Oakka — a planet containing the regional headquarters of the Institute of Navigation, where Streaker barely escaped entrapment and betrayal.

Parrot ticks — a peculiar Buyur-engineered insect that can memorize and recite short phrases. The first humans on Jijo doubted their sanity when they kept “hearing voices.”

Passen — Jijo’s smallest moon.

Path of Redemption — goal of orthodox religious factions of Jijo, who believe the sooner races should devolve to presapience. Only thus can they escape punishment for colonizing a fallow world, offering a second chance at uplift. Glavers have already trod the Path.

Patron — a Galactic race that has uplifted at least one animal species to full sapience.

Phuvnthus — six-legged wood-eating vermin on Jijo.

Pidura — six-to-the-seventh-power duras, or approximately four days.

Polkjhy—Jophur battleship that landed on Jijo in search of the Streaker.

Poria Outpost — the Danik headquarters, where a small human population serves Rothen lords.

Primal Delphin — semilanguage used by natural, nonuplifted dolphins on Earth.

Progenitors — legendary first spacefaring race, who began the cycle of uplift two billion years ago.

Rewq — quasi-fungal symbionts that help the Six Races “read” each other’s emotions and body language.

Rift — a branch of the Midden located at the southern end of the Slope.

Rimmers — a mountain range marking the eastern boundary of the Slope.

Sacred Scrolls — texts of enigmatic origin, the only written matter on Jijo between the departure of the Buyur and human introduction of paper books. The scrolls taught the g’Kek and later colonists about the need for concealment, planetary care, and “redemption.”

Sept — a race or sapient clan of Jijo, e.g., the g’Kek, glavers, hoons, urs, traeki, qheuen, and humans.

Sooners — outlaws who attempt to colonize worlds designated fallow by the Galactic Institute of Migration. On Jijo, the term means those who try to make new illegal settlements, beyond the confines of the Slope.

Spectral Flow — a forbidding desert region in the southcentral area of the Slope, thought to be uninhabitable. Covered with sheets of luridly colored, psi-active volcanic stone and outcrops of photoactive crystal.

Streaker — a neo-dolphin-crewed Terran starship. The Streaker’s discoveries led to unprecedented pursuit by dozens of Galactic factions, each seeking advantage by possessing the dolphins’ secrets.

Stress atavism — a condition found among newly uplifted species, when individuals lose their higher cognitive functions under stress.

Tabernacle—the sneakship that brought human sooners to Jijo more than 200 years ago.

Tarek Town — the largest town on the Slope, where the Roney and Bibur merge. Headquarters of the Explosers Guild.

Terragens Council — ruling body of humanity’s interstellar government, in charge of matters affecting relations between Earthclan and Galactic society.

Toporgic — a pseudo-material substrate made of organically folded time.

Torgen — one of Jijo’s moons.

Transfer point — an area of weak space-time that allows faster than light travel for vessels entering in precise ways.

Uplift — the process of turning a presapient animal species into a fully sapient race capable of joining Galactic society. Performed by patron race.

Urchachka — the urrish homeworld.

Urchachkin — urrish clan that gave refuge to human females and horses in the Spectral Flow.

Vlenning — a rare form of traeki reproduction, in which a small, complete stack is budded from an adult.

Wolfling — a derogatory Galactic term for a race that appears to have uplifted itself to spacefaring status without help from a patron.

Wuphon’s Dream—the bathyscaphe built by Pincer-Tip, with the help of Alvin, Huck, and Ur-ronn. Outfitted by Uriel the Smith.

Xi — a meadowland in the midst of the Spectral Flow, home of the Illias.

Year of Exile — the epoch that began when the first sooner race arrived on Jijo.

Zang — a hydrogen-breathing race resembling huge squid. They live in the atmospheres of gas giants. Jijo’s entire galactic region has been ceded to hydrogen breathers by the Institute of Migration; oxygen-breathing sapients are supposed to stay out for a long fallow period. Zang patrol globes are a rare but feared visitor to Jijo.

Zhosh — the qheuens’ patron race.

Zookir — servant animals bred by the g’Kek, able to memorize and recite messages, but not as bright as neo-chimpanzees.