recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Kel Gwe Pia

**Kel Gwe Pia** was a Kel soldier who served with General Shuos Jedao. She was mentioned in Ninefox Gambit and in the flashfic An Evening's Offering.

## History

Gwe Pia was described by Jedao as a spectacularly good shot.

During an incident recounted by Kel Gized, Jedao was trying to teach Gwe Pia how to jury-rig a grenade out of a blaster charger cell during a meal when the attempt lit the dessert on fire and resulted in Jedao needing a partial facial reconstruction.

Gwe Pia was present in the command center when Jedao killed Gized during the Hellspin Fortress massacre. Blocked from a clean shot at him by Kel Jiang, who was in the way, she would have gotten Jedao if she had been willing to shoot through Jiang, but she didn't think of it. Jedao, who did, fired through Jiang with his Patterner 52 and killed them both. In the aftermath of the shootings, Jedao remembered Jiang and Gwe Pia's names, but not Gized's.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12
2. ↑ An Evening's Offering
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12
4. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 21
Kel Lyu

Major **Kel Lyu** was a Kel soldier posted to the Swanknot swarm. He appears in Raven Stratagem.

## History

Lyu had a slight gambling problem. When the Swanknot swarm was taken over by Shuos Jedao, he became acting head of Intelligence, taking over from a seconded Shuos who was offloaded from the swarm. At the swarm's first high table with Jedao, he was drawn into a into friendly debate on opening gambit in an obscure Shuos board game.

He attended Jedao's first staff meeting and reflexively jumped from his chair to shield Jedao from an attack by an assassination drone. In the chaos, he took three of the drone’s four needles and died sprawled on the floor. He was succeeded as acting head of Intelligence by Major Kel Arvikoi. General Kel Khiruev wrote a notification to his family, but Jedao prevented her from sending it so as not to get the family in trouble.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 23
2. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 2
3. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 19
Alt

An **alt** is a nonbinary person in the hexarchate and its surrounding regimes. Alts appear throughout the Machineries of Empire canon.

## Overview

Alts are people who do not identify as exclusively man or woman. The terms "manform" or "womanform" are used to provide a physical description when appropriate. The high language animate pronoun is used for alts, as for other human people, this being translated to they/them pronouns in the English text.

Some alts get frequent body modifications; others do not.

Alts have been present in the local interstellar polities since before the heptarchate existed. They are a rarity in the modern Kel.

## Named alts

* Rhehan
* Uwo
* Meurran
* Governor Andan Viendris
* Commander Kel Talaw
* Shuos Meng
* Shuos Zehun
* Analyst Shuos Veldiadar

## Unnamed alts

* Pronouns used for the merchant in the story of the river soldier indicate that they may have been an alt.
* The younger sibling of Lieutenant General Kel Sumaarzaav was an alt, as was the Andan diplomat who met with Sumaarzaav after her secession from the hexarchate.
* Pronouns used for General Kel Essier's former third tactical commander indicate that they were an alt.
* Pronouns used for the Rahal doctrine officer of the cindermoth *Hierarchy of Feasts* indicate that they were an alt.
* The head of the Shuos Accounting department is an alt.
* General Kel Khiruev wrote a tone poem for an alt when she was fourteen, but never let anybody hear it.
* One of the two medics who processed Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, a small, pale individual with a high-pitched voice and extremely cynical eyes, did not have verifiable pronouns though the other medic was identified as a man, indicating that they may be an alt.
* A young man in a Tauvit bar was seen chatting up a bored-looking alt about breeding miniature trees.
* The former spouse of Major Kel Dhanneth was an alt diplomat.
* The curly-haired Shuos agent monitoring Ajewen Cheris on Esrala was an alt, as were one of her three housemates and at least one of her sixteen students. She had occasionally considered having children if she met the right women or alts.
* A demure-looking alt is one of the attackers in a Shuos virtual-reality training simulation whose scenario involves detecting Taurag sympathizers.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 3
2. ↑ The Chameleon's Gloves
3. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 4
4. ↑ The River Soldier
5. ↑ Seven Views of a Kel Secession
6. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Extracurricular Activities
7. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapters 1,12
8. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 11
9. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 10
10. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 3
11. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 8
12. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 9
13. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon
14. ↑ Gamer's End
Feast of the Falcon's Eye

The **Feast of the Falcon's Eye** is a remembrance day observed in the heptarchate. It is mentioned in The Battle of Candle Arc.

## History

The assassination attempt which left General Shuos Jedao injured before being assigned to the swarm with whom he would win the Battle of Candle Arc took place on the Feast of the Falcon's Eye and would have influenced the high calendar in the Lanterners' favor if it had succeeded. Jedao had been at a conference at the time.
Fortress of Wheels

The **Fortress of Wheels** was a pre-heptarchate space fortress which was considered neutral territory. It appears in The Chameleon's Gloves.

## History

A site known for its customary neutrality, the Fortress of Wheels was used as a meeting place for negotiating high-stakes deals. It had a self-imposed lingua to facilitate communication, and several fleets could be hosted there at one time.

General Kel Kavarion took the stolen Incendiary Heart to the Fortress to secretly look for a jaihanar to disarm it. Various potential buyers also showed up, causing high tensions, especially as some warlords among them were not disinclined to take the Heart by force.

Eventually, the Fortress's neutrality was violated and a full-scale firefight broke out between Kavarion's fleet and another Kel fleet which had appeared out of stealth. During the chaos, Kavarion's chosen agent fled with the Heart, taking it where it could detonate safely while Kavarion bought time by distracting the Kel.
Bannermoth

A **bannermoth** is a type of Kel warmoth used in the hexarchate. Bannermoths first appear in the continuity in

## Description

Larger than fangmoths and smaller than cindermoths, bannermoths were the second largest mothdrive vessel known until the development of the shearmoth. They carry both moth and infantry Kel, and tactical units in swarms are usually led by bannermoths when cindermoths are not available, though not every bannermoth in a swarm will necessarily be a tactical leader.

## Trivia

* Unlike those of scoutmoths, the mothdrive engines of bannermoths are sufficiently powerful to play a part in spiking a Hafn jump.
Fortress of Scattered Needles

The **Fortress of Scattered Needles** is a nexus fortress in the hexarchate. It appears in Ninefox Gambit and is mentioned in Raven Stratagem.

## Geography

The Fortress of Scattered Needles is emplaced in a stretch of empty space in the Entangled March. Its nearest star system is the Footbreak system. It is the largest nexus fortress in the march.

## Description

The "unvanquishable Fortress" resembles a swollen moon held together by defensive ribs and protected by its legendary shields of invariant ice. It has a primary pole. On scan, the Fortress can be shown only in simulation due to the intervening shields, and appears as "a whorled mass of curves and lines like ink spun solid."

The Fortress has six underground chambers, known as wards, each differently structured and with populations of 40,000 to 60,000 people. Each ward represents a single faction. Divisions are no longer as rigidly enforced as they were before its reconstruction. Ecoscrubbers are used to prevent any type of local parasite.

* Anemone Ward: Rahal
* Drummer's Ward: Andan
* Dragonfly Ward: Shuos
* Ribbon Ward: Vidona
* Umbrella Ward: Nirai
* Radiant Ward: Kel

## History

The most famed nexus fortress in the realm, the Fortress's original purpose was to be a retreat for the seven heptarchs. Its wards were designed by separate teams. After the purging of the Liozh, the Fortress was restructured at staggering expense to remove its seventh ward.

Traffic analysis from the two days before the Fortress ceased to communicate confirmed that the calendrical rot had been carefully orchestrated.

## Trivia

* The Fortress appears on the cover of Ninefox Gambit.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2, 4
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 10
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 5
4. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
5. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 10
6. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 5
7. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2, 8
8. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
9. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 14
10. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
11. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 20
12. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
13. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 8
Chrysalis gun

The **chrysalis gun** is a weapon which appears in Ninefox Gambit. It is the preferred weapon to prepare a revenant for being returned to the black cradle.

## Appearance and Function

The chrysalis gun is dull gray-green, with a holster equippable to a soldier's belt. Its power is set via a slider. It holds at least eight charges and shoots a gray-green bolt which sparks harmlessly against physical surfaces but will put a revenant into hibernation if aimed at their shadow or reflection. If aimed at the revenant's anchor, the gun puts the anchor in hibernation as well, though that fact is not mentioned in the New Anchor Orientation Packet. Nirai Kujen claimed that the anchor would be left with a wicked hangover.

## History

Kujen gave Kel Cheris a chrysalis gun after anchoring her to Shuos Jedao and instructed her to shoot Jedao's shadow in order to loosen his hold on her. Due to formation instinct, successfully taking the shot was painful and she dropped the gun. She was thereafter instructed to wear it constantly and use it if Jedao went mad again.

When Jedao pretended madness as a test, Cheris attempted to shoot his shadow with the chrysalis gun, but missed when the shadow repeatedly dodged. Jedao claimed that the gun would kill her if she fired it at herself, leaving her body as a "chrysalis" from which he could be extracted, and continued to taunt her as her shots missed. After the test, he clarified that the gun puts anchors into hibernation, but he had never been around for the aftermath and did not know whether it would have caused her long-term damage.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 4
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 9
Kel Jui

Major General **Kel Jui** is a Kel high officer who served during the Hafn invasion of the hexarchate. Jui is mentioned in Raven Stratagem.

## History

Jui's emblem is the Sundered Spheres.

During the Hafn invasion, Kel Command pulled Jui's swarm away from the Rosetta March. However, the swarm was still too far away to aid in a potential Hafn attack on Cobweb System in the Severed March.
Glass Cannon

The following content contains plot or ending spoilers. Read with caution!

**Glass Cannon** is a forthcoming novella-length sequel to Revenant Gun. It will appear in Hexarchate Stories.

## Description

The story will involve Ajewen Cheris and Shuos Jedao sharing a quarrelsome adventure. Moroish Nija, now a Shuos infiltrator and modern haptic chameleon still holding a grudge against Cheris, will also appear, along with a new, previously-unnamed minor voidmoth character.

## Development

* The novella's working title was *Jedao Lives*.
* The author read a portion of the novella's beginning at Readercon in July 2018.
* The seventh part of the short story Cheris and the Sea takes place after **Glass Cannon**.

## References

1. ↑ Author's blog: Hexarchate Stories due in June 2019
2. ↑ The Quill To Live -- Revenant Gun interview
3. ↑ Open Thread: Revenant Gun
4. ↑ Open Thread: Revenant Gun
5. ↑ Readercon 2018 program
6. ↑ Author's schedule
High Glass border

The **High Glass border** is one of the borders of the hexarchate. It is mentioned in Raven Stratagem.

## History

One of the hexarchate's most dangerous borders, High Glass is on the opposite side of the hexarchate from the Fortress of Scattered Needles.

The High Glass border was patrolled by the formidable General Kel Inesser until her recall during the Hafn invasion. General Kel Khiruev felt that Kel Command must be desperate to have pulled Inesser off High Glass, and that whoever was picked to replace her on the vital border "had better be good."

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 19
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 8
3. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 19
Introduction to Seduction

**Introduction to Seduction** is a faction-academy class in the heptarchate and hexarchate. It is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit.

## Description

Introduction to Seduction is a first-year class at both Andan Academy and Shuos Academy. While it is essential for students on their faction academy's courtesan track, it is taken by students on other tracks as well.

Andan-certified courtesans are widely considered superior to the Shuos version.

## History

During their first year at Shuos Academy, Garach Jedao Shkan and Vestenya Ruo discussed pickup lines that hadn't been taught in Introduction to Seduction and complained about the price of drinks in the Andan-owned bars where practical exercises took place, concluding that the wealthy Andan could afford to overcharge and the Academy's lack of a stipend to cover the cost was meant as an incentive to commit fraud.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22
2. ↑ The Factions: High Faction Andan
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22
Kel Kavarion

> "*Come inside and I'll show you what you're after. Don't fight me. I'm better at it than you are.*"
> ― General Kel Kavarion
>
>

General **Kel Kavarion** was a pre-heptarchate Kel general. She appears in The Chameleon's Gloves.

## Appearance and Personality

Kavarion was an extremely talented musician and among the most celebrated Kel generals of her day. The passphrase for her quarters was a very complex passage from a keyboard concerto. She is grandiloquent in self-expression, with the walls of her quarters covered with triumph-plaques.

## History

Kavarion's emblem was the Five Splendors and she was known as the hero of Split Suns.

While contracted by Kel Command to protect a weapons research facility, Kavarion became the lover of a researcher who asked her for sanctuary, telling her about the development of the Incendiary Heart and the plans to sell it to the highest bidder. Deciding that the weapon was too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands, Kavarion broke contract and attacked the research facility to steal it. However, someone armed the Heart before she could reach it. Kavarion blew up the facility and escaped with the research, the prototype, and some fragmentary video of her lover's attempt to disarm the weapon before he was killed by shrapnel. Kel Command was left knowing only that Kavarion had gone rogue.

Kavarion fled to the Fortress of Wheels and searched for a mercenary jaihanar who could mimic the disarming sequence. Finding that Rhehan, a jaihanar sent by Kel Command, had infiltrated her command ship,

[etc]
Harmony

The following content contains plot or ending spoilers. Read with caution!

> "*I hope you know how to drive a moth, because one of me doesn't and the other of me is hopelessly out of date.*"
> ― Ajewen Cheris
>
>

The **Harmony** is the only **needlemoth** that appears in canon. A small, stealthy mothdrive vessel, the Harmony is mentioned in Raven Stratagem and appears in Ninefox Gambit, Revenant Gun, and Glass Cannon.

## Description

A needlemoth is designed for one operator and only slightly larger than a hopper. Extremely valuable and used by high-ranking individuals or for important missions, they frequently appear in spy dramas.

## History

Vahenz afrir dai Noum attempted to escape the Fortress of Scattered Needles in a stealthed needlemoth which was caught in the fringe of a carrion bomb blast, frying half its systems and destroying her emergency sweet bean pastries. After repairs, she docked with the damaged cindermoth *Unspoken Law* when her scan showed one lifeform aboard it, relying on its scan to update her as to the life form's location. While Ajewen Cheris distracted her, a revived birdform servitor hacked the needlemoth's systems while Servitor 1491625 made sure of Vahenz's death. Cheris and the servitors then boarded the needlemoth, fitting snugly with the deltaform piloting, and left the cindermoth behind.

General Shuos Jedao later rendezvoused with the cindermoth *Hierarchy of Feasts* in the same vessel. After the broadcast of the revised calendar, Cheris and 1491625 left the birdform servitor with General Kel Khiruev and departed secretly in the needlemoth, which had been handed over to the Pyrehawk Enclave. The needlemoth became their home while they hunted Hexarch Nirai Kujen. Damaged in a crash on Terebeg, the needlemoth was fed and repaired by the servitors.

Two years later, 1491625 and the needlemoth extracted Cheris and Jedao from Esrala.

## Trivia

* Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan had never seen a needlemoth before.
* The birdform servitor who escaped on the needlemoth appears again in Raven Stratagem. The deltaform appears again, and is named, in Revenant Gun.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter
2. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 1
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 24
4. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 1
5. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon
6. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 1
7. ↑ Author's remarks
Augment

An **augment** is an implanted piece of personal technology in the heptarchate and hexarchate. Augments are used throughout the Machineries of Empire continuity.

## Description

Augments contain an internal clock synchronized to the high calendar and are used to connect to local grids, transmitting commands or querying them for information. The technology taps into the user's kinesthetic senses to display maps, diagrams, and other graphical displays.

Spider restraints can be activated via augments.

## History

During the lifetime of Shuos Jedao, technological advances in augments led Kel Command to adopt composite technology, threatening his ability to keep secrets from the growing hivemind and ultimately hastening his agenda against the heptarchate.

## Trivia

* The implanted wiring used for heat-pulse communication by Kel infantry is not associated with their augments.

## References

1. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 7
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 22
3. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 14
Andan Zhe Navo

General **Andan Zhe Navo** was an Andan poet in the heptarchate who served with the Kel. She is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem.

## History

Andan Zhe Navo grew familiar with the Kel during her original career as a poet specializing in military memorial verses. After her older brother, an Andan courtier, offended a powerful official with a grudge against the Kel, Navo was tasked to command a Kel brigade and put down a heresy. Against expectations, Navo prevailed and negotiated a successful peace.

Respected by the Kel and ultimately remembered as one of the hexarchate's greatest historical generals, Navo remained in military service both to serve and for the sake of her brother's honor. No record remains of her feelings toward his arguable attempts to garnish his own career with her prestige.

By the time of her retirement, Navo had earned even the Shuos's respect. She never met Shuos Jedao, having died of old age during his childhood, though it was later speculated that her skill had rivaled his own.

A pearl-handled gun which Navo used in her last battle later was last known of residing in a museum in the Drummers' Ward of the Fortress of Scattered Needles.

Navo is a legendary figure in the contemporary hexarchate, referred to in discussions of talent from other factions who served with distinction among the Kel, and of the potentials of Andan-Kel alliances. An ink painting of an ashhawk clutching arrows was displayed on an Andan silkmoth as a reminder of Navo and her famous archery skills, and General Kel Khiruev set the image wall of her cindermoth's conference room to an ink portrait of a ginkgo tree which, though without clear provenance, was attributed to the multitalented Andan general. Praise-of-war verses attributed to her were part of the ritual to disarm the calendrical lock used by Hexarch Nirai Kujen at Avros Base.

## Trivia

* Zhe Navo will appear as "The Poet" in Hexarchate Tarot. The card represents praise, finding the right words, and the arts; reversed, it symbolizes lamentations or one at a loss for words.
* The author conceives of her as "an actual likable Lawful Good general, rather than a disaster like Jedao", and an interesting historical figure whose story he would like a chance to tell someday.

## References

1. ↑ Biography in The Factions: High Faction Andan
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 17
3. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 17
4. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 2
5. ↑ Glass Cannon: Hexarchate Stories
6. ↑ Author's design
7. ↑ Hexarchate Tarot: Major Arcana
8. ↑ Author's blog
9. ↑ Author AMA
Kel Jurio

Captain **Kel Jurio** was a Kel soldier who served during the retaking of the Fortress of Scattered Needles. He is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

Operating within range of the heretics' amputation gun, Jurio's company modulated into a modified formation, a defensive square with a diagonal front. However, the approach of Servitor 10 unwittingly spoiled the formation and the amputation gun reamed through the company, affecting both the servitor and the Kel.
Gray Marches

The **Gray Marches** are an area of space in the hexarchate. They appear in the short story Calendrical Rot.

## Geography

Adjacent to the Entangled March and Stabglass March, as well as bordering Eel space, the Gray Marches are a boundary of the hexarchate.

The Khaio system and the city-station of Nran were located in the Gray Marches, along with Wolf Hall and the black cradle facility.

## History

The Gray Marches are strewn with the remains of dead stars and shattered asteroids from past catastrophes. Cities still exist there, some braided together from recycled vessels, some with names written in toxic alphabets, some bearing paens to vast suicide formations.

A judge of the Gray Marches' high court, who was to sentence Nran for its underworld's heretical calendar, was assassinated with a compression gun in the high calendar year 1251, on the 26th day of the month of the Hawk.

In Nran and its satellite tributaries, the exact time of the judge's death was 17.23, in a 30-hour day and 100-minute hour. In nearby Khaio, the time may have been somewhere between 16:97 and 17.23. Due to the discrepancy, calendrical rot set in and every clock in the Gray Marches, along with all technology depending on them, broke at the moment of the judge's death.

After the broadcast of the revised calendar, the Fissure cut through the Gray Marches and into the Entangled March; Nran and Khaio were claimed by the Compact, while the Protectorate retained Wolf Hall and the black cradle facility.

## References

1. ↑ Hexarchate Map
2. ↑ Calendrical Rot
3. ↑ Hexarchate map
4. ↑ Calendrical Rot
5. ↑ Hexarchate Map
Exercise Purple 53

**Exercise Purple 53**, known informally as **Purple Paranoia**, is a Kel training exercise taught at Kel Academy. It is described in Raven Stratagem.

## History

Rhezny Brezan took the exercise in his third year at Kel Academy Secondary, along with Onuen Wei. The exercise was administered by Shuos Zehun. A similar exercise scenario was beaten by Hexarch Shuos Mikodez.

When Brezan wished to contact Kel Command but had no secured terminal, he sent a message to Zehun about Exercise Purple 53, trusting that the reference would be understood.
Hemiola

**Hemiola** is a Nirai servitor who appears in Revenant Gun and Glass Cannon.

## Description

**Hemiola** is a rare servitor who named itself for a music theory term rather than a math term.

## Trivia

* **Hemiola**'s lights go orange upon seeing a picture of Jedao the Calico Cat, possibly indicating friction between the two.
* A hemiola or hemiolia has several meanings: in music, the ratio 3:2, known as sesquialtera in Latin; in pitch, the interval of a perfect fifth; in rhythm, three beats of equal value in the time normally occupied by two beats.

## References

1. ↑ Author's remarks; Revenant Gun
2. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon, p.218
Burning Leaf

The **Burning Leaf** is a Kel boxmoth which is part of the Chain of Thorns swarm. It appears in Ninefox Gambit.

## Description

Like most boxmoths, the *Burning Leaf's* walls were painted black and grey with bright touches of gold. It had a variable layout, with officers' quarters next to barracks, several high halls, a strategy hall, and medical facilities. Kel infantry ate separately from the moth's crew. The commander's executive officer had a scar over his right eye.

Officers' quarters had two small furnished rooms lit by candlevines, with an adjacent bath, a solid glasswood desk, and a secured terminal. The moth's decorations included a painting of the queen of birds holding court in a winter forest, along with a half-hidden smiling fox; high hall decorations included Ashhawk Brightly Burning on wall banners; the calligraphed Kel motto, *from every spark a fire*; and tapestries woven from the uniforms of fallen soldiers, embroidered with the statistics of the battles in which they had fallen.

## History

After the action on Dredge, the survivors of Heron Company were returned to the *Burning Leaf*, their infantry transport. Cheris passed in her company's field grid information, was welcomed back by the commander's somewhat curious executive officer, and retired to her cabin, where a birdform servitor arrived with twelve metal flowers to commemorate the twelve servitors who fell in action on Dredge. After it had left, Cheris received a communication from Composite Subcommand Two of Kel Command, who informed her that her company was to be outprocessed due to her actions on Dredge and offered her a chance to compete for a mission to the Fortress of Scattered Needles. After accepting the chance, Cheris went to her company's high hall, the only one not empty, and broke the news to Heron Company's survivors, asking for an informal roll call before their last meal at high table together.

During the night, the *Burning Leaf* changed to a different layout, separating Cheris from the rest of her company. A Shuos servitor visited her with information about her upcoming mission. Cheris then attended a meeting in the boxmoth's strategy hall with Subcommand Two and the signifiers of the other mission candidates, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, and Six. Cheris's proposal was accepted and the *Burning Leaf* was diverted to deliver her to the black cradle facility.

On the way, Cheris was notified by the executive officer that she would have to be drugged for her journey rather than having her spatial memory scoured afterwards; she reported to Medical and this was done. After her transfer, the entire boxmoth was subjected to scouring in order to keep the facility's location hidden.

Arriving at high table on the cindermoth *Unspoken Law* after the Fortress's calendricals began to normalize, Cheris looked at the high hall's ashhawk banners and momentarily imagined herself back on the *Burning Leaf* with her old unit.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2, 3
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
4. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 4
5. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 20
Fortress of Spinshot Coins

The **Fortress of Spinshot Coins** is a Nexus fortress in the hexarchate. It is visited in Raven Stratagem.

## Geography

In stretch of empty space in the Severed March

## Description

Phantom terrain defenses

Commandant Kel Mazeret

## History

Use of phantom terrain during engagement between Swanknot swarm and invading Hafn swarm near the Fortress; ordered to turn it off because Hafn could degrade it to attack the Kel swarm. Mazeret turned the terrain on again after Hafn fled in attempt to detain Shuos Jedao, miring the Kel swarm. Refused to turn it off when ordered, exposing herself as a Shuos agent. Did not fire on swarm, and could not detain them further after they escaped terrain.
Assassination drone

The **assassination drone** was a device created by General Kel Khiruev. It appears in Raven Stratagem.

## History

Khiruev cobbled up an assassination drone with a music box and a needler unit. The standard needler unit holds 12 rounds.

Khiruev conveyed the device to the staff meeting room in her boot and released it during the meeting. It activated in the middle of the meeting, jamming after four shots. Kel Lyu was hit by three needles; the fourth missed entirely. Kel Meriki was killed by a flying fragment when the drone was destroyed by Kel bullets.
Five

**Five** was a Shuos soldier who competed for the opportunity of retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles. She appears in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

Five was a Shuos agent seconded to the Kel. Her signifier was Ninefox Half-Lidded.

Along with the other competitors, One, Two, Three, Four, Six, and Kel Cheris, Five attended a meeting with Composite Subcommand Two to present a plan for retaking the Fortress, appearing to each other as constructs backed by their signifiers and never learning each others' names. Five's voice was cool and unintimidated in their company. She wished to requisition a wider-ranged version of the Shuos shouter from the Andan Archives, assuring Subcommand Two that there were means of persuading the Andan to allow access. Five further explained that this weapon would likely leave only forty percent of the shouter's victims able to function as sentients. Subcommand Two allowed a long silence before continuing to the next proposal.
Day of Serpent Fire

The **Day of Serpent Fire** is a high calendar remembrance observed in the hexarchate. It is seen in Ninefox Gambit.

## Observance

On a voidmoth, the day is observed by meditating for thirty-nine minutes to a focus consisting of a lit green candle, which is shaped like a snake slit open with its right lung pulled out and slit crosswise. In hexarchate settlements, the Vidona observe the remembrance by ritually torturing criminals and heretics.

## History

The Day of Serpent Fire commemorates the eradication of a heretic group called the Serpentines, whose religious heresy involved a belief in reincarnation. When it was observed by Kel Cheris, Shuos Jedao did not recognize it and asked for details, indicating that the purge took place after his execution.
Ivenua border

The **Ivenua border** is one of the borders of the hexarchate.

## Geography

The Ivenua border lies between the hexarchate on one side and the Hausse and Society of the Flourish on the other. On the hexarchate side, it passes Spiral Deluge and spans the space between the Gray Marches and Glover Marches.

## History

At the time of the Siege of the Fortress of Scattered Needles, the Ivenua border was patrolled by Lieutenant General Kel Daristu.

## References

1. ↑ Hexarchate Map
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 8
First Formation

**First Formation** is a Kel formation used in Kel Academy to test the mindset necessary for channeling formation effects. It is described in Ninefox Gambit.

## Description

A square formation with horn-like projections from each flank, First Formation is the first formation Kel cadets are asked to demonstrate. Requiring them to be absolutely still regardless of what happens around them, it determines which cadets are amenable to Kel discipline and which are not, and works even if some cadets break away from its geometry. When channeled, it creates a frozen calm that allows suitable Kel candidates to hold formation despite phobias or fears. Invariably, some break formation, thus washing out of Kel Academy.

## History

Ajewen Cheris took part in a First Formation exercise with her class after being injected with a severe but generalized phobia of vermin. Once the formation was active, the instructor summoned miniature servitors shaped like insects, snakes, and other vermin to crawl all over the cadets and test their ability to hold formation despite having the phobia stimulated. While Cheris was able to hold fast, three cadets in her class broke and escaped the servitor swarm, which abandoned them in favor of tormenting the cadets who stayed. The exercise lasted for twenty-four minutes, until the instructor was satisfied that no one else would break. Afterwards, the phobia was removed by technicians.

## Trivia

* It is unclear whether First Formation tests how well an injection of formation instinct takes, or whether it tests which cadets are suitable for the injection.
Chenoi Tiana

**Chenoi Tiana** was a third-year Shuos cadet whose education at Shuos Academy overlapped that of Shuos Jedao. She is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

After first-year cadet Vestenya Ruo committed suicide over an anonymous entry in the yearly Academy game competition, Tiana claimed credit for the game and was investigated. Private notes left by instructors in her profile praised her ruthlessness, boldness in claiming the game in the wake of a suicide, and mastery of the Shuos ideals, and recommended her for two advanced seminars next term.

She never learned that the game had actually been entered by Ruo's best friend, fellow first-year Shuos Jedao.
Kel Iziade

Captain **Kel Iziade** was a Kel soldier who served during the Siege of the Fortress of Scattered Needles. Iziade is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

Iziade was in charge of a Kel company that provided a diversion in the Fortress's Radiant Ward so that Nirai teams could set up threshold winnowers. When the winnowers were ready, the Kel companies retreated, but Iziade's company was one of three slow ones which were not clear before Captain Nirai Weinat had to order the winnowers activated. Iziade was within eyeshot of the passage out, but Colonel Kel Ragath had already had it sealed. When the winnowers were activated, the entire company died.

## Trivia

One of the other slow companies was led by Captain Kel Jaghun. The leader of the third company is not known.
Blooded

**Blooded** is a downloadable solo RPG game written by Yoon Ha Lee. It has both hexarchate-based and generic standalone versions, and was released in August 2020.

## Description

*The Empire, star-spanning tyranny of tyrannies, is losing its latest war. Its rulers have summoned an undead General to control an individual Host so he can bring them victory.*

*The good news: in four centuries, the General has never been defeated.*

*The bad news: in his first life, he was executed for murdering a million people—including his own army.*

Played with a Tarot deck and 2d6, the game explores "the evolving relationship between the General and his Host as they thread the path between betrayal and revolution."

## Versions

The game files include two versions: *Blooded*, a generic standalone solo RPG, and *Blooded: Ninefox*, a variant set in the hexarchate and assuming the player's familiarity with Ninefox Gambit, including its undead General and his Host.

## Links

* *Blooded* on itch.io
* *Blooded* announced on author's blog
* Bonus playtest notes
A Rose in Three Revolutions

**This page has spoilers from Revenant Gun**.

**A Rose In Three Revolutions** is a drama series created in the hexarchate. It is described in Revenant Gun.

## Description

*A Rose in Three Revolutions* is a six-season drama with 24 episodes per season. It was broadcast approximately 271 years before the revised calendar.

The show's Andan heroine had an eight-year-old niece. Its seventeenth episode featured a relationship between the heroine and a treacherous Shuos assassin. There was a female Nirai engineer in the third season; a decadent, meddling, obstructionist Shuos heptarch was featured; and a particular subplot involved trade routes.

## History

Four seasons of the drama were brought to Tefos Base by Hemiola. The last two seasons, broadcast after Hemiola had arrived at Tefos, never made it there and Hemiola didn't know how it had ended.

Though the drama was Hemolia's favorite, the servitor often amused itself by recutting and editing episodes to its own original music in order to create preferred plots and character arcs. Hemiola was busy replacing the Shuos assassin's face with that of the Nirai engineer, its preferred romantic interest for the heroine, in a kissing scene when Shuos Jedao arrived unexpectedly on Tefos.

## References

1. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 3
2. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 17
3. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 6
4. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 3
5. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 10
6. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 3
Day of Drummers' Splendor

The **Day of Drummers' Splendor** was a heretical festival on the Fortress of Scattered Needles. It is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

The Day of Drummers' Splendor, ostensibly a victory feast celebrating a Kel defeat in the Drummers' Ward, was instigated through synchronized celebrations by Shuos agents and supported by parades organized by heretic general Znev Stoghan. A catchy anthem, possibly also a Shuos creation, spread through the Fortress at the same time.

Unknown to the heretics, the Kel defeat had been carefully orchestrated by Brevet General Kel Cheris to provide an excuse for a celebration on that particular date. The successful insertion of a feast day into the heretical calendar preempted one of its ritual days and assisted in collapsing the heretics' node in the remembrance superstructure of their calendar. While Vahenz afrir dai Noum deduced the ploy's effects, she realized that the victory feast could not be disclaimed by the heretics without harming morale.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 17
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 16
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 17
Fortune Travels in Fours

**Fortune Travels in Fours** was a Kel fangmoth during the Lanterner rebellion. It appears in The Battle of Candle Arc.

## History

*Fortune Travels in Fours* was one of eleven fangmoths to survive the battle in which General Kel Najhera was killed, and not the least damaged among them. General Shuos Jedao chose the *Fortune* as his command moth after being assigned to the eleven-moth swarm because its commander, Kel Menowen, had a grudge against the Shuos and would be the hardest moth commander to win over.

*Fortune* and the rest of the swarm stopped for repairs at the Haussen system and detoured to the Rahal outpost at Smokewatch 33-67 before proceeding to Candle Arc. There, the eleven warmoths switched to invariant drives and laid an ambush in Candle Arc's battledrift debris. After the Lanterners' van, focused on a decoy swarm of lensmoths, entered the passage Jedao had predicted, the Kel warmoths engaged them with invariant weaponry, following up with the Sparrow's Spear formation upon entering friendlier terrain and modulating to a shield formation to block enemy fire.

As the Lanterner swarm was decimated, a desperate mutineer contacted *Fortune* to offer Jedao a hostage. Menowen backed Jedao's refusal, giving the Lanterners seven minutes before reengaging and obliterating anything that couldn't escape. In total, the small Kel swarm destroyed 49 of the Lanterners' 91 hellmoths, inflicting a decisive victory.

After the engagement at Candle Arc, *Fortune* and the rest of the swarm proceeded to the Taurag border to join the Twin Axes swarm.

## Trivia

* The fangmoth is also referred to as *Fortune Comes in Fours* in the text. The word may be the same in the high language.
* Kel Menowen, the *Fortune'*s commander, served at the siege of Hellspin Fortress a short time later.
Churioi Haval

**Churioi Haval** was a Kel special operative who, while commanding the Carp merchant troop, worked with Shuos Jedao. She appears in the short story Extracurricular Activities.

## Appearance and Personality

Churioi Haval was a portly woman with a squint who wore gaudy gilt jewelry. Both name and appearance were a cover for her Kel career as a special operative. She is normally phlegmatic and has a good rapport with her crew, keeping them in line with informal rather than military behavior.

## History

Haval commanded eight *Carp* vessels, having never been told what happened to *Carp 5* and *6*.

Haval and her team were assigned by General Kel Essier to assist Shuos Jedao on his mission to Du Station. She met Jedao on Station Muru 5, introduced him to Rhi Teshet, and briefed him on the merchant troop's activities. Though baffled that Jedao wanted to haul variable-coefficient lubricant as cargo instead of cultural goods, she accepted his instructions and advised him to remember his immunizations.

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Footbreak system

The **Footbreak system** is a star system in the Entangled March. It is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

The Footbreak system is the closest star system to the empty stretch of space in which the Fortress of Scattered Needles is located.

When the Fortress was compromised, the resulting calendrical rot reached far enough to affect inhabited planets in Footbreak. Since these planets' ecosystems were were of value, the hexarchs posted a lensmoth in the system and directed that simply scouring the planets was economically inadvisable. Consequently, Brevet General Kel Cheris chose to bypass Footbreak and assault the Fortress directly.
Andan Tseya

**Andan Tseya**, born **Andan Nezhe**, is an Andan special ops agent who appears in Raven Stratagem, Revenant Gun, and the flashfic Vacation.

## Appearance and Personality

Tseya has a pretty face and long, rippling black hair which tangles easily when not styled. She is tall and poised. She usually dresses in shades of Andan blue.

She is a talented grid-diver, capable of hacking the local grid on a cindermoth.

Tseya's relationship with the rest of her family is backstabby. She does not approve of her cousin, Andan Viendris, a planetary governor whom she resembles.

## History

The following content contains plot or ending spoilers. Read with caution!

Tseya is the second-born acknowledged living child of Hexarch Andan Shandal Yeng. Born a manform, Tseya, who was originally named Nezhe, believed as a child that Hexarch Shuos Mikodez was some sort of friendly uncle and remembered him as always having the best candy in his pockets. While growing up, Nezhe learned what the Shuos red-and-gold coat meant.

Nezhe's relationship with Shandal Yeng was tempestuous. Nezhe insisted on training for special ops instead of the socialite career she demanded, and, knowing her objections, had sex with Hexarch Nirai Kujen after a dinner party attended by both Kujen and Mikodez. Some time afterwards, Nezhe underwent body modification and gender transition, taking Tseya as her new name.

After a terrible argument with her mother, Tseya was assigned to transport High General Kel Brezan to the Swanknot swarm and neutralize Shuos Jedao.

...

One year after Kujen's defeat, Tseya and Brezan visited a zoo together as a compromise between a fast-food restaurant and an aquarium.

## Trivia

* Kujen remembered Nezhe as "that one son-now-daughter" of Shandal Yeng's, but later thinks of Nezhe with they/them pronouns. Given the frequent fluidity of gender in the hexarchate, Nezhe's experience before transitioning is unclear.
* Nirai Mahar, Kujen's anchor, participated in Kujen's tryst with Tseya.
* Tseya's repeated defiance of Shandal Yeng despite the hexarch's formidable rank advantage indicates that Shandal Yeng was unable or unwilling to use enthrallment to get her way. Since enthrallment decreases in effectiveness with repeated use against a given target, Shandal Yeng may have no longer been able to enthrall Tseya.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 20
2. ↑ *Vacation*, Hexarchate Stories
3. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 20
4. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 20
5. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 14
Hierarchy of Feasts

The **Hierarchy of Feasts** is a Kel cindermoth which served during the Hafn invasion of the hexarchate. It appears in Raven Stratagem.

## History

The *Hierarchy of Feasts* was General Kel Khiruev's command moth in the Swanknot swarm, leading the swarm's Tactical Group One. Its commander was Kel Janaia; her executive officer was Colonel Kel Muris.

[etc]

Some years later, under a different commander, the *Hierarchy of Feasts* was lost along with many good people in a fiercely fought defensive action, depriving the Compact of its only cindermoth.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 1
2. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 12
Kel Arsenal

The **Kel Arsenal** is a repository of exotic weapons controlled by the Kel. It is mentioned throughout the Machineries of Empire continuity.

## Overview

Authorization from Kel Command is required to requisition any Kel Arsenal weapon for use.

Many of the weapons held by the Kel were developed by the Nirai.

## Weapons

Many Kel weapons appear as "small shining boxes" that can destroy worlds. Others include catastrophe guns, abrogation sieves, and the neglect cannon.

A weapon from the Kel Arsenal reduced an entire army to bone dust on a planet the hexarchate was conquering, creating the Fossil Sea. A speaker at Cheris's graduation from Kel Academy displayed a dented, disarmed boxlike weapon from the Kel Arsenal which had destroyed the populations of three small planets.

## Black cradle

Main article: black cradle

Though created by Heptarch Nirai Kujen, the black cradle is under the jurisdiction of Kel Command.

Heptarch Shuos Khiaz signed the revenant of Shuos Jedao over to the Kel in 854, adding him to the Kel Arsenal as an undead weapon.

## Trivia

* The "small shining boxes" in the Kel Arsenal bear a similar description to that of a pre-heptarchate superweapon, the Incendiary Heart.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
2. ↑ Cheris and the Sea
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
4. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Hexarchate (And Heptarchate) Timeline
5. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
6. ↑ The Chameleon's Gloves
Kel Liai Meng

**Kel Liai Meng** was a Kel warmoth commander who served during the Siege of the Fortress of Scattered Needles. Liai Meng appears in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

Liai Meng commanded the moth *Essential Verses*. When the Fortress's shields inverted, disabling the swarm's personnel, a crewman on *Essential Verses* managed to acknowledge Brevet General Kel Cheris's override verbally, but was unable to answer further when asked for his status.
Kel Arvikoi

Major **Kel Arvikoi** is a Kel soldier posted to the Swanknot swarm. He appears in Raven Stratagem.

## History

Arvikoi looked young even for a culture where most chose to do so.

After Major Kel Lyu was killed by a malfunctioning assassination drone, General Shuos Jedao appointed Arvikoi as the new acting head of Intelligence. Arvikoi emerged from his first solo meeting with Jedao wearing what General Kel Khiruev considered a "disconcertingly pleased expression."

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 5
2. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 2
3. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 5
Icelight

An **icelight** is an object used as a meditation focus for the Feast of Drownings. It appears in The Battle of Candle Arc.

## History

The icelight used for the Feast of Drownings represents a set of lungs filling with fluid. Blue light trickles down through its lobes, bronchi, and alveoli.

Shuos Jedao and Rahal Korais used an icelight to observe the Feast of Drownings shortly before the Battle of Candle Arc.