The Hermetic Millennia (63 page)

Behemodont
—His pet

Moord scion Elwe
—His maker

Asvid of Nettles
—His patron

Ormvermin
—The watchworm of Asvid

Crile scion Wept and Gload scion Ghollipog—Two Hormagaunts (Gload,
A.D.
7520; Crile
A.D.
7810)

Short Iatrocrats:

Prissy Pskov and Zouave Zhigansk—two Iatrocracy Burghers (Clade dwellers)

Toil, Drudge, Drench—three Iatrocracy organ-donors

Locusts

Crucxit, Axcit, and Litcec of Seven-Twenty-One North Station (between
A.D.
7480 and
A.D.
10000)

Blue Men (Simplifers)

Illiance—A Locust Inquiline of the Order of Simplified Vulnerary Aetiology (the Simplifiers, aka the Blue Men); his false-mother-name is Lagniappe (
A.D.
8800)

Ull—his Mentor

Orovoy, Naar, Yndelf, Yndech, Ydmoy—Preceptors of Blue Men

Saaev, Aarthroy, Unwing—Blue Men of lower dignity: an Invigilator, a Docent, a Bedel

Aanwen—A Blue Widow; her dignity is Preceptrix

Their Followers

Eie Kafk Ref Rak—One of the Followers, a canine Moreau (Irish Wolfhound)

Ee-ee Krkok Yef Yepp—A Follower (a stately Doberman Pincer)

Ktatch-Ee Yett Ya-Ia—Another Follower (a Collie)

Rirk Refka Kak-Et—Another Follower (a Great Dane)

Linderlings

Keir and Keirthlin (
A.D.
8866)

Melusine

Alalloel (
A.D.
10100)

Elders

Joua Ja Gomez
—Also styled George Washington, sold Cheyenne Mountain to the Order of Malta

RACES OF THE DRAMA

Note on Languages

Noted here are only the dominant or most common languages spoken by the persons of the drama. This does not reflect the demographic distribution of speakers: so, for example, Spanish is listed as the dominant language of the world in the time of the Concordat, even though there were more Sinospherics (who spoke Chinese) than Hispanospherics (who spoke Spanish or Portuguese).

Hospitaliers—Latin

Hermeticists—Spanish and English

Scholars—Korrekthotspeek (an English dialect)

Savants—Merikan

Sylphs—Spanish/Nipponese/Merikan pidgin

Giants—Anglatino

Witches—Virginian

Chimerae—Chimerical, albeit the lettered classes spoke Virginian, at least in the western hemisphere before the Social Wars

Nymphs—Natural, also called Nymph; there is no written form of the language

Hormagaunts—Iatric, albeit an earlier form of the language is called Leech

Locusts—Intertextual; this language is still in use by the Blue Men and the Linderlings

The language used by the Followers or dog things is not called by name, but it is described as sounding like barking

Melusine—Although not mentioned in the text, the language is called Verbal (a spoken version of Glyphic, based on Monument symbol logic sets)

Note on the Theory of Intelligent Design

It is commonly regarded that the several subspecies of man arising during the Hermetic Millennia were created by the special intervention of posthuman beings called the Hermetic Order or Hermeticists, albeit the widespread destruction of all forms of electronic record during the Ecpyrosis (
A.D.
2525) makes confirmation difficult.

Among the Witches it is taught that mankind was created by the bones of the men of the previous world of the “Sixth Sun” recovered from the netherworld of Mictlan by venture of the archimage Houdini. Both textual and archaeological evidence favor the Witch theory, but the Intelligent Design theory is given here for reasons of completeness. The Chimerae teach that they were created by the genetic sciences of the Witches as Moreaus are. The Nymphs do not make theories. Hormagaunts not only favor the Intelligent Design theory, but their ancestor lists are also carefully forged to put the Red Hermeticist, Pastor, at the head of each. The Locusts believe a variant of the theory, but list the Locust scientist Seir as the creator of the race. How the Locust race can be created by a Locust is a mystery best left to theologians to explain.

Notwithstanding, tradition names the creator of each of the subspecies as follows:

Giants
—Menelaus Montrose

Albeit many traditions give the creator’s name as Thucydides Montrose, or as His Holiness Sixtus VI. The notable features of Giants are their posthuman level intelligence, vast cranial capacity, and great size.

Witches
—Melchor de Ulloa

The females enjoy greatly expanded life spans, as well as neural modifications in those brain areas associated with intuitive thought, pattern-seeking, and dreaming.

Chimera
—Narcís D’Aragó

The Chimerae have animal DNA spliced into their code. Despite the popular error, Chimerae look like human beings to the unpracticed eye, and do not have beastlike faces or fur or tails. The Chimerae are disease resistant and hardened to endure levels of radioactivity lethal to unmodified human beings. Note that the Kine, who retain Witch atavisms, are longer lived than their masters.

Nymphs
—Sarmento i Illa D’Or

The Nymphs are bred for exaggerated sexual allure and response both in male and female, as well as sensitivity and vulnerability to a wide array of pharmacological stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens. The pleasure centers of the brain are enlarged.

Hormagaunts
—Father Reyes y Pastor

The Hormagaunts are modified to have voluntary control over their bodily tissue rejection mechanism, and to write and edit captured genetic material into their sperm by means of microscopic viral and nanotechnological manipulator cells. This enables them to add captured organs to their bodies, and to absorb and copy genetic information by ingesting samples. The Hormagaunt race has no fixed phenotype. A variant called Clades do not have so wide a range of variation, but manifest an allergy-causing mechanism to drive away persons of alien genetic arrangement; i.e., non-twins. It is not commonly recognized that the Locusts and Hormagaunts occupied the world at the same time, in competition with each other for most of their existence that ranges from vicious to ferocious to genocidal.

Locusts
—Jaume Coronimas

Locusts have extensive neural modification, which allows them to use their brain matter as a neural emulator. Neural connection and calculation speed are similar to Giant brain structures. They posses a primary and secondary heart, as well as finer nerves with higher neural transmission speeds than humans. Most notably are the two golden tendrils that allow the Locusts to exchange subjective neural information radiotelepathically. Despite the popular error, Locusts cannot only not read human minds, who do not have broadcast organs of this type, but they also cannot read the minds of any Locust whose nervous system is not precisely organized to the same mental form and format. Despite the popular error, not all Locust races are dwarfish and bald: this applies only to variant races after the time of the Fifth Configuration, circa 8000–8700.

Inquilines
—Not a separate race. Inquilines are Locusts who lack radiotelepathic tendrils. Their creation is credited to a Nymph scientist named Elton Linder. An older tradition credits a figure from Witch necromantic legend called the Judge of Ages, perhaps because Linder was preserved in biosuspended hibernation from an earlier era.

Melusine
—Ximen del Azarchel

Melusine are radiotelepathically linked gestalt minds occupying five or seven bodies: a main whale-like body consisting mostly of brain mass; a dolphin or post-dolphin body or both; a Locust body modified to amphibianism; a human or posthuman land-dwelling body or both.

Note on Orders and Periods

Listed below are the races of the First Human Species found during the period known as the Hermetic Millennia, with the formal name of the Order representing their most prominent advocates, hence popularly associated with them. In the text, the distinction between (1) a genetically differentiated race or subspecies of
Homo sapiens
and (2) an Order devoted to the Darwinian expansion of that race is problematical, due to the ease of genetic modification. The words are used interchangeably.

Also listed are the periods of their world predominance or hegemony.

Humans (First Human Race or “Elders”): (circa 80000
B.C.
to
A.D.
2700)

Hermeticists—Hermetic Order, also the Hermetic World Concordat (
A.D.
2360 to 2401)

Scholars aka Psychics—Order of Psychic Evolutionary Advocates (
A.D.
2370 to 2525)

Savants aka Slaves of the Machine—Order of Transhumanitarian Emulation Advocates. Their human kenosis or donators are called Savants. Their Xypotech apotheosis emulations are called Ghosts or Iron Ghosts (
A.D.
2476 to 2525)

Sylphs aka Floaters—Order of Limited Infinite Ratiotechnical Emulation Adoration (
A.D.
2500 to 2700)

Medusae are mentioned as a faction of Sylphs, but they do not form a separate order nor a separate subspecies (
A.D.
2700 to 3000)

Giants aka Thucydideans—Consensus Advocacy (
A.D.
2500 to 3100)

Witches aka Wise—Delphic Acroamatic Transhumanitarian and Longevitalist Order (aka Delphic Acroamatic Progressive Transhumanitarian Order for the Study of Longevity) (
A.D.
3300 to 4900)

Chimerae—Eugenic Emergency General Command of the Commonwealth of Virginia (
A.D.
4500 to 5900)

Nymphs aka Naturals—The Natural Order of Man (
A.D.
6000 to 7000)

Hormagaunts—The Configuration of Iatrocratic Clades (
A.D.
7000 to 8000)

Locusts—Noöspherical Cognitive Order (
A.D.
7500 to 8500 or to 9500)

Blue Men aka Simple Men or Simplifiers—Order of Simplification aka the Locust Inquiline group, the Order of Simplified Vulnerary Aetiology (
A.D.
8500 to 8900)

Gray Men aka Linderlings or Tendrilless Locusts—The Locust Inquiline group, Linder Confraternity; also, the Sixteenth Configuration (
A.D.
8800 to 9500)

Melusine—The Final Stipulation of Noösphere Protocols, or the Finality (
A.D.
9500 to unknown)

Second Humans (or “Swans”) (
A.D.
10000 to unknown)

Hospitaliers—The Sovereign Military Hospitalier Order of Saint John, of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, of Malta, and of Colorado

Note that the Hospitaliers are not an Order, even though they are called so, because they do not advocate a particular subspecies to dominate or extinguish the others, despite that this is the clear Darwinian mandate.

Instead they advance a peculiar theory that man did not evolve from a lower condition but fell, due to a primordial catastrophe, from a higher, dimly remembered in the legends of all peoples. Instead of achieving evolution to a higher state by means of ruthless competition to exterminate all rivals unto extinction, their theory holds that this higher state of superhumanity or posthumanity or New Man is a resumption or restoration achieved by mystical acceptance of self-sacrificing love by a posthuman being, and the consequent ability and necessity to treat others universally with similar self-sacrificing love, rather than only those others of genetically related clans, clades, or bloodlines: the mere opposite of the Darwinian racialist imperative as commonly understood.

Note also that no Order is held in more contempt and enmity by the others than this: Hermeticist, Witches, Chimera, Hormagaunts, Locusts, and Melusine all regard the Knights Hospitalier and the theory and world-system they propagate with inexplicably exaggerated hostility; but, also inexplicably, each for a differing reason.

Only Sylphs and Giants maintain friendly or neutral relations. The Knight Hospitalier are famous for their exploits in the King’s Crusade, guarding pilgrims seeking the Holy Land, and also in service to the Judge of Ages, guarding the Tombs that held the pilgrims seeking the future.

TOR BOOKS BY JOHN C. WRIGHT

The Golden Age

The Phoenix Exultant

The Golden Transcendence

The Last Guardian of Everness

Mists of Everness

Orphans of Chaos

Fugitives of Chaos

Titans of Chaos

Null-A Continuum

Count to a Trillion

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JOHN C. WRIGHT
is the author of
Count to a Trillion
, the space opera trilogy The Golden Age, and the Orphans of Chaos trio of fantasy novels. He lives in Centreville, Virginia.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE HERMETIC MILLENNIA

Copyright © 2012 by John C. Wright

All rights reserved.

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Wright, John C. (John Charles), 1961–

   The Hermetic millennia / John C. Wright.—1st ed.

       p.  cm.

   “A Tom Doherty Associates Book.”

   Continues author’s Count to a trillion.

   ISBN 978-0-7653-2928-8 (hardcover)

   ISBN 978-1-4299-4830-2 (e-book)

 1. Human-alien encounters—Fiction. 2. Interstellar travel—Fiction. 3. Cryopreservation of organs, tissues, etc.—Fiction. I. Wright, John C. (John Charles), 1961– Count to a trillion. II. Title.