Zero's Return (90 page)
Authors: Sara King
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Science Fiction, #Adventure, #Post-Apocalyptic
Aulds of the
Spyre: The Sheet Charmer ~ Sara King
Aulds of the
Spyre: Form and Function ~ Sara King
Outer Bounds:
Fortune's Folly ~ Sara King
Mini
Glossary
(i.e. the So-You-Don’t-Lose-Your-Mind Tiny Version)
--
CONTAINS SPOILERS
TO ZERO 1 & ZERO 2–
Glossary –
Dhasha Terms
Glossary –
Human Terms
Glossary –
Huouyt Terms
Glossary –
Jahul Terms
Glossary –
Jreet Terms
Glossary –
Ooreiki Terms
Glossary –
Places
Glossary –
Universal Terms
Glossary –
Species
Glossary –
Measurements
Glossary –
Ranks
Dhasha-specific:
Itch
(alternately: Bagan itch)– a nuisance/pain in the ass. To add ‘Bagan’ to the
front indicates it’s a huge pain in the ass, as the Baga are known for their
painful pranks, infuriating intelligence, and general gleeful sabotage when
bored.
Ka-par (ka-par)
– The predatory game of wills that older Dhasha play with worthy prey creatures
or other ancient Dhasha. A stare-down until one contestant submits.
Ka-par inalt
(ka-par in-alt) – ‘I submit.’
Ka-par
rak’tal. (ka-par rak*tal) – ‘duel accepted.’ *is used to denote a
guttural, back-of-throat, almost hacking sound.
Leafling – As
the Dhasha are carnivores, as are their Takki and their greatest threats,
‘leafling’ is used to describe anyone who is utterly useless for anything but
food.
Leafmunch –
Used by the Dhasha to describe herbivores with disdain. Generally indicates derogatorily
peaceful and physically weak beings. Alternately used with ‘peacemunch.’
Mahid ka-par
(ma-heed ka-par) – ‘may it begin.’
Mothers – The
four mythic beings who weave the lives of all creatures into a tapestry upon
which the Trith can gaze. Considered the Dhasha gods by many.
Peacemunch –
See leafmunch.
Slavesoul –
Derisive word for anyone unworthy for anything but slavery. A Very Bad insult,
and when used on another warrior is cause for a fight to the death to appease
the insulted party’s honor. Much worse than saying ‘coward.’
Vahlin
(vah-lin) – the legendary leader of the Dhasha, prophecized to be ‘dark of
body’ and lead them to independence from tyranny.
Ailo - A derogatory
word coined on Earth after it was conquered by Congressional forces, used to
describe a person unlike oneself; i.e. an outsider. Derived from ‘alien’
during the resentful days of the occupation.
Huouyt-specific:
Breja
(bray-shjah) – the quarter-inch long, downy white cilia covering a Huouyt’s
entire body. Extremely painful to be pulled or mutilated, as it is
basically raw nerves.
Ze’laa –
(zay-lah) – one of the most powerful Huouyt families in Congress. Both Jer’ait
Ze’laa, the current Peacemaster, and Rri’jan Ze’laa, the last Huouyt
Representative, were from this wealthy family.
Zora (zoh-rah)
– the red, wormlike, many-tentacled appendage that exits a Houyt’s
forehead. Much like a fleshy form of coral in appearance when fully
extended. It is the zora that allows a Huouyt to digest and analyze
genetic material to take a new pattern.
Oozing furg –
dumbass. Someone who’s young, stupid.
Sivvet
(siv-et)– the sensory organs within a Jahul’s head that allows it to sense the
emotions of other sentient creatures.
Beda’s bones –
used alternatively as a curse or exclamation of surprise. Beda ga Vora,
who was originally Beda ga Welu. A great warrior who led Congressional
forces in a heroic multi-species civil war, but who was abandoned by his own
people for falling in love with a Voran, only to be saved and claimed by the
Vorans as the only gray-scaled (Welu) clan-member in history, one who was
eventually held in such high esteem that he was given breeding
privileges.
(See Beda and Shael)
Considered the epitome of a
Jreet warrior.
Skulker – one
of the strongest insults in the Jreet vocabulary. Suggests a creature too
afraid to fight, one that hides in the shadows rather than facing his enemies.
Softling –
Someone who is too weak or weak-willed to fight. Another word for coward.
Tek (tehk) – the
appendage sheathed within their chests that extrudes poison instantly deadly to
any other species in Congress—but not Jreet. Can produce several thousand
lobes of pressure in a single strike. The tek’s sheath is also commonly
used as a storage area for Jreet to carry things like credit stubs and ovi,
usually in a leather carrying case.
Lesthar
(less-tar)
–
the favored intoxicating drink of Voran Jreet. Smells
like burning tires. Small sips will kill most other species.
Melaa (may-lah)
– Large, blubbery herd animals that are a Jreet’s favorite food item.
Ovi – the
transparent, razor-sharp, glasslike knife that is used in every important Jreet
ceremony. If a Jreet dies and his body cannot be returned to his clan, it
is expected that his tek be removed with his ovi and carried back to his clan
for burial.
The Ninety
Hells – The ninety levels of pain and unpleasantness that a Jreet warrior must
pass through upon death in order to reach the afterlife. (See The Legend
of ZERO Additional Materials.)
Rravut – the
poison extruded by a Jreet’s tek. The most powerful poison in
Congress. Causes instant death in all living creatures except other
Jreet, who only get numbed or drunken from it.
The Black Jreet
– The Jreet version of a prophet. Considered by all Jreet to be sacred, an
embodiment of one of the Sisters. Only one is born or is in existence at a
time, tekless, and she grows much faster than all other Jreet, becoming several
times larger than the largest prince over the course of her lifetime. She sees
and interacts with the future in a shamanic manner. Guarded by retinue of
special/highly esteemed female Jreet warriors who agree to drop their teks in
order to spare the Black Jreet from intrusion of any male presence/possibility
of impregnation.
Ash/soot – a
disgusting, unclean substance
Asher – much
like ‘asshole,’ but with an aggressive, fighting connotation
Ashsoul – the
most extreme insult in the Ooreiki language. Also translates to ‘lost
one’
Ashy –
shitty/gross/disgusting/awful
Burn/burning –
used much like Human fuck/fucking
Charhead –
dumbass, someone stupid, alternatively: someone with an unclean/dirty mind
Furgsoot –
bull, bullshit, horseshit, crap, yeah right
Niish Ahymar
(nish ay-a-mar) - An Ooreiki ceremony to determine caste where a red-hot brand
is pressed into a child’s skin. Vkala do not burn, and are then cast to
onen. The traditional Ooreiki ceremony of adulthood.
Oorei (oo-ray)
– the Ooreiki term for ‘soul.’ It is the name of the crystalline sphere
carried within every Ooreiki and removed by Poenian yeeri priests at their
death. Emotional/psychological experiences throughout life change color
of crystal. Considered to be the highest crime of Ooreiki society to harm
an oorei.
Shenaal
(She-nahl) – Mark of the Pure. The burn left when Ooreiki niish are
tested during the Niish Ahymar.
Sootbag –
someone disgusting, unprepared, unequipped
Sooter –
disgusting, unclean person; bastard
Sootwad –
degrading, denotes disrespect, a useless person
Aez – the fallen
Jreet clan of the Aez’s destroyed homeworld.
Der’ru – a
lush, sub-tropical Huouyt planet that rebelled on the 15th
th
Turn,
860
th
Age of the Jreet. Joe fights there for two turns.
Jeelsiht – the
staging-planet for the war on Neskfaat.
Kaleu – An
Ueshi pleasure-planet known as a vacation destination. Any request will
be accommodated.
Koliinaat – The
artificial planet conceived of by the Geuji and funded by the Ooreiki one and a
half million years ago, to celebrate the 100
th
Age of the
Ooreiki. Is the home of the Regency, the Tribunal, and the
Sanctuary. It is manned, in its entirety, by the artificial sentient
life-form called the Watcher, also a Geuji construction, who conducts all
Koliinaati affairs with supreme precision.
Levren – the
Peacemaker planetary headquarters. Also home of the Space Force Academy.
Rastari – A
rebel planet where Joe fought Jikaln, Hebbut, and Dreit after giving up his
Corps Directorship to return to the front lines in the mid 11
th
Turn, 860
th
Age of the Jreet.
Regency – The
sphere-shaped center of Koliinaat, where all the Representatives of Congress
gather to discuss new laws or political conflicts.
Sanctuary – The
one area of Koliinaat—about the size of a large city block—where the Watcher
has no effect. Was claimed by Peacemakers almost immediately after
Koliinaat’s creation, though it was originally constructed as a place for
delegations of non-members of Congress to gather to discuss treaties, trade,
and other matters of diplomacy. Since Congress has swallowed every society
it has come across, unlike the intent of its original charter, there are no
non-members to require separate quarters.
Telastus –
Ueshi karwiq bulb planet where a minor Huouyt family took over control of
government with lookalike Huouyt plants to skim profits. Joe sent help remove
the Huouyt for three turns, beginning the 21
st
Turn, 860
th
Age of the Jreet.
Torat – a
Congressional Ground Force training planet. It is where PlanOps trains its
operatives.
Vora – The
original Jreet homeworld. Now home to the Voran clan, of crimson scale.
Welu – One of
two Jreet worlds, due to Jreet reproduction rates being so low. Home to the
clan Welu, of gray scale.
Ekhta (ek-tuh)
– Planet-killer. The most destructive bomb in the Congressional arsenal,
one of the many great inventions of the Geuji during the Age of
Expansion. Like all Geuji technology, the manufacture is so complex that
it is un-reproducible by any other mind, and Congress simply follows the steps
outlined by the Geuji to create it. (For more info on the Geuji, check
out ‘The Moldy Dead’ and ‘Breaking the Mold’ in The Legend of ZERO Additional
Materials.)
Ferlii
(fur-lee) – The massive alien, fungus-like growths covering Ooreiki planets
whose reddish spores turn the sky purple. Used as a unit of
measurement: One ferlii-length is similar to a human mile.
Forgotten – a
mythical Geuji mastermind that roams the universe, the last of his kind to
maintain his freedom. Responsible for the fall of Aez, the Jreet rebellion of
Neskfaat, and the Huouyt’s banishment from the Tribunal.
Furg – A short,
squat, very hairy alien that is as ugly as it is stupid. A tool-user, but
too primitive to use anything other than sharpened rocks. Think a stocky,
2.5-foot-tall Neanderthal who breeds fast enough to replace numbers lost to
stupidity. Darwinian law does not apply.
Furgling – A
younger version of a furg. Shorter, hairier, and stupider than its
parents.
Haauk (hawk) –
skimmer, the floating platforms used as personal planetary transportation
Jenfurgling –
One of the most blatantly stupid creatures in Congress. An evolutionary
offshoot of furgs arriving on an island where the population underwent a severe
bottleneck and had no predators. They delight in beating their hairy
faces against the ground and playing with their own excrement.
Kasja (kas-jah)
– Highest congressional war-medal. Awarded to a very few, very highly
esteemed. Usually comes with a three million credit reward.
Kkee (ca-ca-ee)
– yes
Kreenit
(cree-nit) – massive scaly predators that evolved on the same planet as the
Dhasha and share their monomolecular talons and energy-resistant scales, but
not their intelligence.
Nkjan
(naka-john) – war; also: “Evil”
Nkjanii
(naka-john-ee-ay) – “Evildoer” – battlemaster
Non-sent –
colloquial/shortened way to say non-sentient, usually used in a derogatory
manner.
Oonnai
(oon-nigh) - hello
Oora (oo-ra) –
“Souled one” - sir
Peacemakers-
the governmental, semi-military authorities who are autonomous in judging,
monitoring, and policing the populace. Their main task is to make sure
nobody has seditious thoughts, symbol is an eight-pointed star with a planet
balancing on each tip. Their base planet is Levren, but they also
maintain the Sanctuary on Koliinaat, which is the only place on the planet that
is inaccessible to the Watcher.
Planetary Ops
(also: PlanOps) – symbol is a single sphere, half red, half blue. Tattoo
is of a green, single-moon planet with a headcom, a PPU, and a species-generic
plasma rifle leaning against the debris ring. The tattoo glows slightly,
a cell-by-cell gene modification that causes the tattooed skin to
bio-luminesce.
Ruvmestin
(ruv-meh-stihn) – A whitish, extremely heavy metal with a greater density than
gold. The most valuable metal in Congress. Used in Geuji technologies,
esp. nannites, like biosuits and spaceships. Does not oxidize in
air. Mined on the government planets of Grakkas, Yeejor, and
Pelipe. Once ruvmestin is discovered on a planet, Congress immediately
claims the planet for the common good, removing it from the Planetary Claims
Board queue.
