recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Minang System

**Minang System** is a star system in the hexarchate. It appears in Raven Stratagem.

## Geography

Minang System is in the Severed March, not far from Cobweb System. The system has inhabited worlds.

Minang Tower is in Minang System.

## History

The Hafn invasion swarm approached Minang's inhabited worlds while traveling through the Entangled March. After feinting toward Cobweb System, they turned and engaged the Swanknot swarm near Minang Tower, where they were routed.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 19
2. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 21
One Card Too Lucky

**This page contains spoilers for Revenant Gun.**

**One Card Too Lucky** was a Kel fangmoth in the heptarchate. It is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit and Revenant Gun.

## History

*One Card Too Lucky* was the command moth of General Shuos Jedao's swarm during actions against the Lanterners.

Kel Gized erroneously thought one action would be straightforward; it was not. When the Lanterners began using their children and medical cases as human shields, Jedao called High General Kel Garit to request clarification of orders, and was told to fire on the Lanterners anyway. Jedao experienced a memory blackout between receiving the orders and carrying them out.

A video of *One Card Too Lucky's* combat record shows Jedao's slaughter of his staff and the moth's crew during the massacre Hellspin Fortress, starting with Kel Gized in the command center and proceeding through the rest of the fangmoth.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 21
2. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 11
Twin Axes swarm

The **Twin Axes swarm** was a swarm of Kel military moths. They are mentioned in The Battle of Candle Arc.

## History

During the Lanterner rebellion, the Twin Axes swarm, totalling 73 moths, was assigned to patrol the Taurag border. So situated, they could have reached Candle Arc in a reasonable amount of time if they departed the border within a few days after the death of General Kel Najhera. However, absent a direct order from Kel Command, the swarm remained on the border so as not to leave a gap in the heptarchate's defenses.

Commander Kel Menowen expected to catch up to the Twin Axes swarm in order to protect the eleven fangmoths left after Najhera's death. Instead, General Shuos Jedao, realizing that the Lanterners couldn't tell benign moths from dangerous ones at long range, requested 73 vessels carrying calendrical lenses to accompany him to Candle Arc, making the Lanterners believe that Twin Axes had arrived to do battle.

After Jedao's spectacular win at Candle Arc, his swarm did join Twin Axes at the Taurag border.
Student Calligraphers' Society

**This article contains spoilers for Revenant Gun.**

> "*Your government's terrible, has anyone told you that?*"
> ― student calligrapher
>
>

The **Student Calligraphers' Society** are a student protest group that uses suicide calligraphy as a means of political protest and social disruption. The group appears in Revenant Gun.

## History

The Student Calligraphers' Society operated in the university district in Tauvit. It was opposed to the Compact and was discussed with High General Kel Brezan in a briefing on protest groups.

One year after the establishment of the new calendar, the society coordinated a demonstration by emplacing one to three suicide calligraphers in every district of Tauvit to wait for Brezan.

One calligrapher, a curly-haired student with olive skin, recognized Brezan in the men's room of a bar. He engaged in conversation, criticized the Compact, and started drinking with him, claiming that the brightening of his facial markings was an expensive mod. Just as Shuos Emio burst in with some bodyguards, the student collapsed and died, his livid markings shining brightly.

Brezan, horrified by the incident, looked up the markings as Emio briefed him on the coordinated demonstration. They comprised a text in a local low language which had also appeared in local graffiti: *As I choose my death, let the people choose their rulers.* Emio advised Brezan not to cover up the incident or blame himself unduly.
Variable-coefficient lubricant

**Variable-coefficient lubricant** was a substance used in machine repair in the heptarchate. It is used in the short story Extracurricular Activities.

## Description

Variable-coefficient lubricant can be programmed to harden a specific amount when activated by an encrypted radio signal. While the manufacturing process and formula were need-to-know, canisters of the lubricant were traded between the heptarchate and the Gwa Reality. The substance cannot be used to cook with and carries a risk of cementing items together if misused.

## History

The crew of Jedao's fangmoth used variable-coefficient lubricant as an emergency sealant when the moth's antimissile defenses glitched, nearly blowing it in half two battles before Jedao was transferred to Station Muru 5.

Jedao later suggested running the lubricant to Du Station as trade cargo in Churioi Haval's group of trademoths. The lubricant was supplied by Muru 5. Haval advised Rhi Teshet not to use the substance as an intimate lubricant. She also implied to Du Station special forces that bribes had been spent to facilitate the cargo's exit from the heptarchate.

Upon arrival, Jedao ordered the lubricant programmed to harden from zero-coefficient flow to full solidity on receipt of a radio signal, and the canisters loaded into the tradeswarm's shuttles. When an escape was needed, the shuttles' contents were launched at the station's defense turret levels, unimpeded by railguns or high-powered lasers. The fluid clogged the defensive emplacements before hardening in place, allowing the tradeswarm to escape.

As the mission wound to a close, Teshet offered Jedao a choice of variable-coefficient lubricant or goose fat for use in a tryst with him. Jedao did not choose the lubricant.
River Full of Stones

**River Full of Stones** was one of seven boxmoths which served in the Kel assault on the Fortress of Scattered Needles. It appeared in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

*River Full of Stones* was commanded by Kel Nhiel.

Due to a formation break by the bannermoth *Starvation Hound* during the swarm's first action against the heretics, *River Full of Stones* was left unprotected by the weakened formation shield and took a crippling dire cannon hit to its engines. Despite the formation's reconfiguring to exclude *Srarvation Hound*, *River Full of Stones* could not be saved.
Six Things...

**Six Things Mikodez, Jedao Two, and Jedao Kitten Got Up To** is a "probably-canon" flashfic in the Machineries of Empire universe. It was published by Yoon Ha Lee on his Dreamwidth account, written for Dreamwidth user pengwern, and takes place between Revenant Gun and Glass Cannon.

## Synopsis

A series of six vignettes describes interactions between Jedao and his namesake, Jedao the Calico Cat, as facilitated by Hexarch Shuos Mikodez to the dismay of Shuos Zehun, and complicated by the kitten's mercurial nature and Jedao's unfamiliarity with cats.

## Trivia

* *Six Things...* is the only flashfic in the continuity with a "probably canon" status.

## References

1. ↑ Six Things Mikodez, Jedao Two, and Jedao Kitten Got Up To
2. ↑ Author's remarks
Nran

**Nran** is a city-station in the Gray Marches. It is described in the short story *Calendrical Rot*.

## Description

Nran is a city-station with satellite tributaries which is geographically near to the Khaio system. Its underworld used a criminal calendar to date transactions, made of perfect numbers and criminals' death-days. They had a 30-hour day and a 100-minute hour.

## History

Nran's criminal calendar conflicted unacceptably with the high calendar. A high court judge of the Gray Marches was to sentence the city-station, but was assassinated with a compression gun at exactly 17.23 on the 26th day of the month of the Hawk in the high calendar year 1251, according to Nran's local clocks. However, a discrepancy with nearby Khaio's local clocks caused calendrical rot to set in, breaking every clock and calendrical engine in the Gray Marches at the moment of the judge's death.
Pattern-stones

**Pattern-stones** is a game played in the hexarchate. It is mentioned frequently in the series.

## Description

Pattern-stones is a board game for two players. The black set of stones is the weaker side to play.

New and learning players are advised to get better by constantly playing difficult opponents.

## History

* As a teenager, Garach Jedao Shkan occasionally cut classes to play jeng-zai and pattern-stones.
* Hexarch Shuos Mikodez kept a pattern-stones set in his office. The board displayed a half-completed game the day Mikodez discussed Kel Cheris's profile with Hexarch Nirai Kujen.
* The youngest father of Kel Brezan had a pattern-stones set which was used by his children. Brezan's sister, Miuzan, taught him to play, though she hated giving handicaps and never gave one to him. During a scrying session, Brezan hallucinated Miuzan playing pattern-stones with her twin Ganazan and giving her a three-stone handicap. He also hallucinated a pattern-stones match with General Shuos Jedao in which the stones moved each time he blinked and each time he moved a black stone Jedao shot one of his fingers off.
* A Shuos agent on Esrala pretended to play the game on her tablet while monitoring Ajewen Cheris.
* Shuos Jedao's classroom is full of games, including a pattern-stone set whose cloudwood board had a knife scratch across it and with two bowls for its black and white stones.

## Trivia

* Pattern-stones is based on Baduk, also called Go or Wei Qi, a game frequently played by the author's father.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 12
2. ↑ The Battle of Candle Arc
3. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Silence
4. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
5. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 12
6. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon]]
7. ↑ Gamer's End
8. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Silence (Author's Note)
Lensmoth

A **lensmoth** is a mothdrive vessel which carries a calendrical lens. Lensmoths are mentioned in Ninefox Gambit.

## Description

Lensmoths are dedicated moths which carry calendrical lenses to project calendrical stability. The Rahal guard them jealously and sending one to a system is a strong warning sign to potential heretics. However, lensmoths rely on exotic technologies, making them useless under conditions of sufficiently advanced calendrical heresy.

## History

In the heptarchate, the term "lensmoth" was not used regularly, although mothdrive vessels with mounted calendrical lenses were used by General Shuos Jedao as decoys during the battle at Candle Arc.

During the Siege of the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a task force which included a lensmoth was sent to scour the calendrical rot from the Fortress. The swarm was defeated and then subverted; out of twenty-five moths, the lensmoth was the only one to return. The hexarchs then put the Fortress under an interdict.

The Rahal stationed a lensmoth in the Footbreak system to staunch the calendrical rot emanating from the Fortress. However, as long as the Fortress itself was projecting its heresy, the lensmoth could do nothing but prevent it from spreading further.

Two's proposal to retake the Fortress involved burning out the heresy with a swarm of lensmoths, though they would be a slow solution. Kel Cheris felt this plan showed that the Rahal were desperate, and concluded that it would only be barely workable if carried out by pathologically precise people.

During the Hafn invasion, lensmoths were dispatched to several systems in the general vicinity of Station Tankut Primary which were experiencing civil disruptions, a sign that the Rahal suspected incipient full-fledged heresy.

## Trivia

* Like lensmoths, cindermoths can project calendrical stability.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
2. ↑ The Battle of Candle Arc
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
4. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 5
5. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
6. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 4
7. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
8. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 17
9. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
Amistades peligrosas

Artículo**Imágenes****Voz en off**
***Amistades peligrosas*** es el episodio 7 de *Cuéntame Como Pasó* y el séptimo de la primera temporada. Se emitió el 25 de octubre de 2001.

## Sinopsis

Octubre de 1968. Toni Alcántara está a punto de convertirse en el primer universitario de la familia. Sus padres y su abuela están rebosantes de orgullo. Inés, la hermana mayor, está resentida; tuvo que dejar el colegio para ponerse trabajar y no ha tenido las oportunidades de su hermano. El pequeño Carlos tampoco comparte la euforia familiar.

Mercedes, además, vive pendiente de la llegada de su primera lavadora automática, aunque la abuela, eternamente opuesta a las innovaciones, insiste en que seguirá lavando a mano.

Lo que debería haber sido un fin de semana de celebraciones familiares se convierte en una pesadilla cuando Carlos descubre el contenido de un paquete que su padre había traído a la casa y que contiene cientos de panfletos antifranquistas. En el clima de temor que se vivía en aquella época, los panfletos son una bomba de relojería de la que Antonio Alcántara no consigue desprenderse a pesar de sus cómicos esfuerzos a lo largo de tres días de creciente paranoia.

## Música

* Nel blu dipinto di blu - Domenico Modugno

## Apariciones

* Antonio Alcántara
* Mercedes Fernández
* Toni Alcántara
* Inés Alcántara
* Carlos Alcántara
* Herminia López
* Don Pablo Ramírez

## Sucesión

***El Día de la Raza***
***Amistades peligrosas***
***Las mejores huelgas de nuestra vida***
Stealth system

A **stealth system** is a system that allows a space vessel to conceal itself from active scan. Vessels with stealth systems appear throughout the Machineries of Empire continuity.

## History

A type of stealth system predated the heptarchate, and was used on stardrive vessels and Kel warships before the development of mothdrive. The Shuos eventually developed the modern stealth technology which is used in the hexarchate. While Shuos shadowmoths are best known for stealth, other types of mothdrive vessels, such as silkmoths and needlemoths, may also have stealth systems.

Stealth systems require a considerable amount of power. While some vessels can launch with stealth already engaged, smaller vessel's other systems, such as weapons and scan, may suffer when going fast while stealthed. As late as 1252, stealth systems took ages to recharge after being dropped for a first attack. However, a stealthed vessel can jettison cargo without unstealthing.

## Trivia

* Tactical situations where it might be preferable for a shadowmoth to unstealth and destroy a target without submitting advance paperwork, a shortcut which preserves the element of surprise but annoys the Rahal, are among the questions referred to by senior Shuos as "Shuos etiquette."

## References

1. ↑ The Chameleon's Gloves
2. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 29
3. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 33
4. ↑ The Chameleon's Gloves; Raven Stratagem, Chapter 17
5. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Hexarchate (And Heptarchate) Timeline
6. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 7
7. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 33
8. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 18
Society of the Flourish

The **Society of the Flourish**, known as the **Eels** in the hexarchate, are a heretical group appearing in Ninefox Gambit.

Fortifications on the planet Dredge.
They call themselves Society of the Flourish. The hexarchate didn't use their name, calling them the Eels because taking away peoples' names denied their power.
Banner: of green fire and grim shadow with a twisting motif.
Matter printer

A **matter printer** is a 3D printing device used to print material objects from raw matter in the Machineries of Empire universe.

## Description

Matter printers use specific raw materials to produce items through a 3D printing process. Due to the tolerances involved, smaller or less specialized matter printers may be unsuitable for particularly rigorous standards of manufacture.

They are used for manufacturing on planets and stations; on mothdrive vessels to print spare components and other necessary supplies; among the military to furnish nonstandard ammunition; and as household appliances for printing household goods such as candlevines.

Protocol may demand bespoke handcrafting instead of matter printers to produce artifacts of significance, such as the banner of a visiting Kel high general.

## History

To the disappointment of Kel Najjad, Station Tankut Primary declined to sell raw materials to the Swanknot swarm, which was consequently forced to rely on the station to print components at an exorbitant price. Najjad grumbled that pirates in dramas were never as short on matter printers as the swarm was in real life.

A matter-printed banner featuring the emblem of Protector General Kel Inesser was featured in her welcome to Isteia Prime, and was not taken amiss though such banners are preferentially hand-woven.

The Mwennin settlement on Esrala was equipped with aging matter printers, a necessary budgeting compromise by Hexarch Shuos Mikodez.

The *Harmony* had a small matter printer on board.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 15
2. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon
3. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon
4. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 15
5. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 9
6. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Irriz the Assassin-Cat
7. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 12
8. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 15
9. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 12
10. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon
Kel drum code

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

The **Kel drum code** is a code used by Kel for communication. It appears in Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, and Revenant Gun.

### Description

The Kel drum code can be communicated with drum beats, taps, or pulses of heat or light. The left arms of infantry Kel are wired for rhythmic heat pulses containing information and chatter in drum code during action and to alert soldiers of incoming communications. The heat pulses are not used by non-infantry Kel and are not part of the information managed by the more common personal augment.

An abbreviated closing sequence is used in combat, while a more formal sequence used outside combat indicates a high officer involved in the communication.

## History

Heron Company made extensive use of heat-pulse drum code to share intelligence and chatter during their ground action on Dredge. Heat pulses were also used to alert her to a communication from Composite Subcommand Two.

A birdform servitor used drum-code by tapping on the wall to communicate with General Kel Khiruev as Khiruev began to learn Simplified Machine Universal.

Though her augment had been damped, Kel Opaira received updates on swarm action during an incarceration via heat-pulse drum code, later explaining the pulses to Shuos Jedao. Jedao later used finger-tapped drum-code for surreptitious communication with Major Kel Dhanneth.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 4
2. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 14
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 1,2
4. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter
5. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 14
6. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
7. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 1
8. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
9. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 26,27
10. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 14
11. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 22,27
Tsegai

**Tsegai** was an analyst who supported the Liozh heresy on the Fortress of Scattered Needles. She is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

In reporting to Liozh Zai about analysis of Kel objectives on the Fortress, Vahenz afrir dai Noum mentioned not having reassigned Analysis Team Two to the situation despite Tsegai's mathematical credentials, citing Zai's more important need for Tsegai's skills as the team's best grid diver.
Voidmoth

**Voidmoths** are a type of deep-space biological organism bred for use as biomechanical interstellar vessels. They appear throughout the Machineries of Empire continuity.

## Lifecycle

Voidmoths originally flew free in interstellar space, moving by pulling themselves across the weave of spacetime. They are normally a solitary species. Genderless while alone, they can manifest mutually compatible reproductive organs during their rare encounters with other voidmoths to increase chances of a successful breeding cycle and propagate their species through the birth of mothlings.

To a certain extent, voidmoths can self-repair and are functionally immortal. Burrowers, which can create biological airlocks in the hulls of moths and stations, were engineered from voidmoth parasites.

Voidmoths communicate with one another through mind-song. Fragmented old songs passed down among them describe a distant space, empty of humans, where moths flew freely.

## Modern Use

The first voidmoths were harnessed by the Nirai under the direction of Nirai Kujen and Heptarch Nirai Esfarel, who caused the entire known population of free moths to be captured for the mothdrive breeding program. Kujen was aware that voidmoths were sapient, but chose to put the heptarchate's need for faster interstellar vessels above the moths' rights, needs, and lives.

Modern voidmoths are bred and raised in mothyards. An immense amount of expensive resources are required to raise mothlings to adulthood, and systems holding such resources are prized. Servitors do much of the manufacturing associated with constructing a mothdrive vessel, and can communicate technologically with their voidmoths.

As the moths grow, they are equipped with mothdrives, exotic engines which operate under specific calendrical terrain, and invariant drives, which are much slower but can be used under any calendar. The moths are harnessed to control their behavior and fitted with weapons, variable layout, stealth technology, and other hardware.

Numerous different configurations of moths are bred for use as every possible kind of interstellar vessel. Voidmoths are generally bred for size, as they become useless as vehicles below a specific size threshold. Nonetheless, Kujen did extensive research on dwarf moths, leading to the creation of dwarf moths with specific human forms.

## Culture

Voidmoths are a fully sapient species, having language and culture of their own and caring for their offspring despite their solitary nature. While they have passed down fragments of old songs describing the lives of free moths, they do not believe any escaped from Kujen.

Kel warmoths have been known to absorb Kel notions of hierarchy, answering to their formation leader.

## Trivia

* Despite being called "moths," voidmoths do not have a larval form, hatching or being born as miniature moths.
* The *Revenant* is the largest voidmoth to be bred by the Nirai, and the only one to have achieved freedom.
* A version of Shuos Jedao is a bioengineered dwarf voidmoth.
The Candlevine Gardener

**The Candlevine Gardener** is a flashfic set in the Machineries of Empire universe. It was published by Yoon Ha Lee on his Dreamwidth account as a 2019 holiday gift to his readers.

## Synopsis

The story describes an unnamed, immortal individual who moved to a dark, deserted planet and lives there as a gardener of candlevines. Nurturing blighted ones with the same care as those which flourish, he allows each visiting traveler to take one with them on departing, and will remain at his task "until the last star goes black."

### World

The gardener's world lies at the edge of known space. Its sun, once catalogued and used for navigation, dwindled into insignificance after its death, and its peoples left it long ago. A charred, dreary rock, the planet lacks charm and holds only a thin, tenuous atmosphere. Still, it can be located by determined travelers.

### Gardener

The gardener is from a distant civilization, now scattered beyond its bounds and name, unrelated to those who once inhabited the planet. Once an infamous traitor and murderer, he and his own name are now forgotten, with none left who know to fear his features. He requires some tools and materials for survival but has a potentially infinite lifespan, needing no atmosphere to breathe and taking little nourishment "except in the way of ghosts and shadows."

Patient and impartial with his vocation and courteous to travelers, the gardener tends all his vines with equal care, though few travelers choose to leave with a blighted one. When questioned, he smiles and remarks that even the dimmest and ugliest vine is still a provider of light.

## Trivia

* While the gardener remains nameless, his history, immortality, unchanged face, and penitent labors imply that he was once Shuos Jedao, setting the story at an extreme of distant future after the dissolution of the hexarchate. If so, this is the first appearance of the dim, distant planet that lies so far from his former haunts.
* Candlevines made their first appearance in Ninefox Gambit.

## Links

Full flashfic on the author's Dreamwidth account.

## References

1. ↑ The Candlevine Gardener
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
Stabglass March

The **Stabglass March** is an area of space in the hexarchate. It is adjacent to the Entangled March and across the hexarchate from the High Glass border.

The Citadel of Eyes is in the Stabglass March.

Devenay Ragath raised a militia in the Stabglass March during the Hafn invasion of the hexarchate.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 8
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
3. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 3
Liyeusse

> "*If they blow us up, a lot of people are dead anyway. Including us. We might as well take the chance.*"
> ― Liyeusse
>
>

**Liyeusse** was an art thief who lived before the heptarchate. She is Rhehan's partner and appears in the short story The Chameleon's Gloves.

## Description

Liyeusse has a cap of curly hair and a quirky sense of humor. She likes to keep cool and can identify a ship's drive model by listening to it. She teases Rhehan's lack of culture and mercenary instinct.
Rahal Hwan

> "*You may as well be seated. This will take a while.*"
> ― Inquisitor Rahal Hwan
>
>

**Rahal Hwan** is a Rahal inquisitor. She appears in Raven Stratagem.

## History

An imperturbable, curly-haired woman in full-formal plain grey Rahal robes, Hwan headed the hex of Rahal inquisitors who scried Kel Brezan to determine the truth of his statement about the takeover of the Swanknot swarm, arriving thirteen days after Brezan was taken into custody.

Like the rest of the hex, Hwan's scrying was already active, sheening her eyes bronze, upon arrival. She and the other inquisitors greeted Brezan in an archaic form of the high language; she then introduced herself, speaking a very pure form of the language and not taking offense at Brezan's weakened condition, and advised him to be seated, as the scrying might take a while. She then began to ask questions as the hex threw Brezan into a dreamspace and analyzed his mind.

The scrying continued for some time, during which the six Rahal fasted, although Brezan was offered water. Eventually, having determined the truth of his claims, they left.
Servitor Overgroup Three 13610

**Servitor Overgroup Three 13610** is a Kel servitor who served during the infiltration of the Fortress of Scattered Needles. It appears in Ninefox Gambit.

## Appearance and Personality

13610 is a snakeform. It is not afraid of enclosed spaces, has occasionally wondered what burrowing feels like, and finds the Kel obsession with explosives endearing.

## History

13610 was loaded into a canister to infiltrate the Fortress of Scattered Needles.
Kel Shiang

> "*Make Jedao a tactician again. Make him suffer as he serves the Kel.*"
> ― High General Kel Shiang
>
>

High General **Kel Shiang** was part of Kel Command after Shuos Jedao had been placed in the black cradle. She appears in Raven Stratagem.

## Appearance and Personality

A tall, tawny, broad-framed woman with forceful movements, Shiang was both naturally and intentionally intimidating. She claimed to have read Nirai Kujen's reports about Jedao's progress, but had not read them thoroughly. She is vengeful and Kujen noted that her smile resembled his own during his lifetime. Her demeanor intimidated Kujen's naturally retiring anchor, Uwo.

## History

Shiang knew Jedao during his lifetime, remembering him as a "cocksure bastard" who had won a high bet that he could take his army through the Battle of Spiral Deluge with under 10% casualties. She had a niece who had been serving under Jedao at Hellspin Fortress at the time of his massacre there.

Shiang was appointed as Kel Command's liaison to Nirai Kujen after the death of High General Kel Anien, with authority to make decisions pertaining to the revenant of Jedao. Upon questioning Jedao at the black cradle facility and finding him perfectly compliant, incapable of rudimentary tactics, and unable to explain his behavior at Hellspin, she complained to Kujen that he was of no use to the Kel without his former tactical genius. Angry that Jedao seemed at peace and could be made either compliant or useful but not both, she ordered Kujen to break him instead, restoring his tactical ability but also making him suffer for his treason. When Kujen mocked her, she threatened to send fangmoths to blow his work to bits -- "You know us Kel, we're great at breaking shit" -- unaware the Kujen had manipulated her into giving the orders he wanted.
Wolf Hall

**Wolf Hall** is the headquarters of the Rahal. It is mentioned in Raven Stratagem.

## Geography

Wolf Hall is a space fortress near the border of the Gray Marches.

## History

Hexarch Rahal Iruja said she would remember Hexarch Shuos Mikodez's offer of handmade soap "if Wolf Hall ever has a soap shortage."

## Trivia

* Wolf Hall is named for the Rahal insignia, the scrywolf. The Rahal are often referred to as "wolves" for the same reason.

## References

1. ↑ Hexarchate Map
2. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 25
Juana Andrade

**Juana Andrade**, es la exmujer de Toni Alcántara, madre de su hijo Santiago. Trabaja como fotógrafa para el diario *El Pueblo*.

Es interpretado por la actriz Cristina Alcázar.

## Biografía

Juana es originaria de un pueblo, aunque nació en Madrid, siendo de la misma quinta que Toni Alcántara. Su padre, conocido como Andrade es un prestigioso policía del régimen franquista, de la brigada Político-Social, por lo que nunca tuvo muy buena relación de él. Juana se enamora de Toni, aunque él desconfía de ella, porque piensa que está delatándolo a la policía, ya que la ve con su padre. El mismo día de la muerte de Franco, el padre de Juana se suicida.

La relación con Toni prospera y finalmente se casan por lo civil en Gibraltar. Juana conoce a Marta, y a raíz de los encuentros entre Marta y Toni Juana empieza a sentirse insegura acerca la relación, pues Toni niega y oculta sus quedadas.

Finamente la preparación de una boda por la iglesia y un aborto acaba con la relación tres años. Poco después de su separación, Toni y Juana se acuestan, y Toni no vuelve a saber nada de Juana hasta pasados dos años y medio, cuando se encuentran en el Congreso de los Diputados, Toni de periodista y Juana como parte del equipo de Tierno Galván.

Unos días después se vuelven a reencontrar en una manifestación a favor del divorcio. Allí ella lleva un bebé, hijo de ella y Toni, pero le dice a Toni que quiere criar al niño sola y que no quiere que haya un encuentro entre padre e hijo.

Juana estaría en Chernobil, cuando el accidente, cubriendo la noticia y escapando justo a tiempo antes de que la radiación le afectase.

Juana conoce a un hombre en Londres y se va con él, coincidiendo con la marcha de Toni a Londres, allí empezará a recibir malos tratos por parte de su nuevo novio, por lo que vuelve a España y se enamora de Samuel Díaz, compañero de Toni.

En un libro sobre las Guerras Yugoslavas que está repasando Toni Alcántara en 2020, Juana aparece en una página con el año 2001 como el de su fallecimiento "Juana Andrade 1951-2001". Aunque se desconoce la causa exacta de dicha muerte, lo más probable es que muriera mientras era corresponsal de guerra, bien en el Conflicto del Sur de Serbia (1999-2001) o en el Conflicto de Macedonia de 2001.

## Véase también

* Andrade
* Toni Alcántara
* Santiago Alcántara
Teia

**Teia** was the wife of Garach Rodao and the sister-in-law of Shuos Jedao. She was mentioned in Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, and the flashfics Hunting Trip and A Belated Blessing.

## History

Teia married Rodao while his brother, Shuos Jedao, was away on a military mission. The couple received a gift of fancy chocolates shaped like Old Eshpar from Jedao, who later painted traditional Shparoi fertility-and-happiness blessings on their hovercar during a family gathering. As creche births were becoming popular in the heptarchate, she and Rodao discussed whether to bear children bodily or by way of a creche. After their children were born, Jedao often visited and sent them presents.

On the first anniversary of the massacre at Hellspin Fortress, Rodao shot Teia and their three daughters in their sleep, killing himself afterward.

## References

1. ↑ A Belated Blessing
2. ↑ Hunting Trip
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 8
4. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 10
Shuos Sereset

> "*Hell of a long shot, but you never know. Go topple the heptarchate for me. Make my death mean something.*"
> ― Shuos Sereset
>
>

**Shuos Sereset** was a Shuos assassin who served during the Kel action against the Axers. He appears in Ninefox Gambit.

## History

Sereset went to Shuos Academy with Shuos Jedao, who remembered him as being quiet, smiling a lot, having reasonably good marks, and liking to work with finicky equipment. Jedao later regretted knowing so little about Sereset. For his part, Sereset felt Jedao always planned too hard, trying to have the perfect answer prepared.

During the action against the Axer rebels, Sereset and Jedao were assigned to Shouter Team 5 to assassinate the Axers' general and then position a Shuos shouter in the field by hand. The assassination was easy, but after the shouter had been placed, Sereset was hit in the leg by a stray Kel tunneler bullet. His amputation failsafes reacted too slowly, and though the leg was amputated, Sereset was mortally wounded. He was stranded in the battlefield along with Jedao for ten hours after their transport was supposed to arrive.

Though unable to do anything else for Sereset, Jedao covered him with his coat against the battlefield's chill. Sereset, enunciating clearly despite considerable pain, made conversation, eventually drawing Jedao into a dangerous discussion of the war's stupidity. Jedao, believing that they would both die there, confided his desire to overthrow the heptarchate, mentioning the black cradle as a way to cheat death and see out a plan longer than a human lifetime.

Shortly after sunset, as the two huddled for warmth, Shuos Lharis contacted them to pick them up along with their shouter. Sereset, realizing that Jedao couldn't leave him alive in case of later betrayal, insisted -- despite Jedao's protests -- on dying at his hand, asking him to bring down the heptarchate and make his death mean something. Finally agreeing, Jedao kissed Sereset's forehead and then smothered him with his coat, later reporting that Sereset had been killed by the stray bullet.

Sereset's death led to Jedao eschewing close personal relationships from then on, never willingly confiding his treasonous plan again during his lifetime.
Six Towers Six Banners

**Six Towers Six Banners** is a Kel formation. It is described in Ninefox Gambit.

## Description

Listed in Lexicon Secondary for its weakness, Six Towers Six Banners is a visually impressive defensive formation occasionally used in parade flybys.

## History

The null swarm used Six Towers Six Banners to test the shields at the Fortress of Scattered Needles.
Swordfish 2

**Swordfish 2** was a transport vessel which docked at Station Ayong Primary. It appears in Revenant Gun.

## History

While approaching Ayong, *Swordfish 2* was contacted by a bored voice from Ayong Primary Control about staying steady for another 17 degrees of movement. The transmission was picked up on a stealthed needlemoth, where Hemiola pointed it out to Ajewen Cheris, who waved it off on the grounds that the needlemoth was not *Swordfish 2*.

## Trivia

* Given the heavy traffic around Ayong, it is not known whether *Swordfish 2* was a mothdrive vessel or an invariant transport.
Shparoi

The **Shparoi** were a culture in the heptarchate. They are mentioned in Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, and the short stories Omens, Honesty, Bunny, Silence, A Belated Blessing, and Extracurricular Activities.

Notable Shparoi include Shuos Jedao and his immediate family.

## History

The Shparoi homeworld is Eshpatan. The original colony on the planet, Old Eshpar, has a significant place in Shparoi tradition. Sweets in the shape of the colony are gifted on special occasions, and small items commemorating it are sold and kept as mementos.

After Eshpatan became part of the heptarchate, some parts of Shparoi culture, such as the Shadow Theater, were preserved by the Andan to sweeten the transition.

Eshpatan was lost to the Hafn in a border dispute about 300 years before the current Hafn incursion, and passed out of the hexarchate's control. Shparoi is now a dead language in the hexarchate.

## Culture

Shparoi folklore includes jackalope chorales and dawn fortresses shattered by archaic cannons.

It was not in accordance with Shparoi culture to name children after living parents, and it is considered extremely improper to investigate whether one's noncustodial biological parent had other children.

## Language

The language, like the culture, is called Shparoi. Part of Jedao's original Shparoi name, Shkan, was impossible to spell in the high language because its consonant cluster doesn't occur. "Jedao" itself derives from a root meaning "honesty."

Unlike the high language, the Shparoi language recognizes parental relationships even for noncustodial parents.

Jedao can barely speak Shparoi anymore. Mikodez keeps interpreters on hand who speak every language Jedao ever knew, including Shparoi. Unusually for someone not from Eshpatan, Shuos Meng spoke Shparoi even as a cadet.

## References

1. ↑ A Belated Blessing
2. ↑ Omens
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 6
4. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter
5. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 6
6. ↑ Omens
7. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 20
8. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 10
9. ↑ Author's remarks
10. ↑ Honesty; Ninefox Gambit, Chapter
11. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter
12. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 20
13. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 9
14. ↑ Extracurricular Activities
15. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Honesty (Author's Note)
Pir's Fan

**Pir's Fan** is the shortened name of a Kel formation. It is described in Ninefox Gambit.

## Description

Pir's Fan is a wedge-shaped formation with the primary pivot at the van held by the ranking officer. For convenience, the shortened version of its name is used in battle. Under the high calendar, Pir's Fan sheds weather effects without subjecting them to additional transformations, and has a side effect of shifting surrounding colors to blue and blacks to gray. It is normally not as effective as relying on weather-eaters, but serves in their absence.

## History

Pir's Fan was used by Captain Kel Cheris on Dredge to protect her infantry troops from a directional storm generator. When the formation began to fail due to the interpolation of the generator's heretical calendar, Cheris modulated it into a different formation which worked under the new conditions.
Wicker's End

**Wicker's End** is a planet in the hexarchate. It is mentioned in Raven Stratagem.

## History

Wicker's End was an isolated place which experienced an insurrection and became the focus of a Kel military campaign. General Kel Khiruev, who served at Wicker's End, taught the citizens to organize themselves and carry out a guerilla campaign against the entrenched heretics to buy time until reinforcements arrived.

The techniques worked and Khiruev ultimately won the campaign, but was reprimanded for her actions, ostensibly because her methods were not sufficiently compatible with Doctrine. She barely escaped a demotion and was reduced to half-pay for four years. She later reflected that Kel Command did not want citizens to realize that similar tactics could be used against the hexarchate.

## References

1. ↑ Hexarchate Map
2. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 5
3. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 15
4. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 5
5. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 15
Tapestry

> "*Beloved, that's my decision. I'm a woman grown, you know.*"
> ― Tapestry
>
>

**Tapestry** is the high language nickname of a statistician in the hexarchate. The lover of Lieutenant General Kel Sumaarzaav, she appears in Seven Views of a Kel Secession.

## Appearance and Personality

Tapestry went by a nickname, a reference to her weakness for the fiber arts, because her given name was as hard to pronounce as Sumaarzaav's. She used to tie her luxuriant hair, which reached the floor, in a different style each day, wore unflattering glasses which Sumaarzaav secretly liked, and was the only person allowed to make crude jokes about Sumaarzaav's limp and prosthetic. Her favorite tea included lavender and rose petals. She enjoyed volunteer work and tying her partner up in bed.

## History

Tapestry joined Sumaarzaav's volunteer work at Vidona orphanages around the time the two moved in together, becoming long-term lovers.

When Sumaarzaav was promoted to brigadier general after coincidentally losing most of her right leg in a flitter accident, Tapestry convinced her to wear a prototype prosthetic to the promotion ceremony. Tapestry was the only person with access to the toy arrow which lent its name to *The False Arrow*, Sumaarzaav's new emblem.

Tapestry was aware that Kel Command's new prisoner-of-war policy weighed heavily on Sumaarzaav, but was unaware of her plans. When Sumaarzaav approached her in distress, unsure of how to tell her of what was about to happen, Tapestry was appalled, believing that Sumaarzaav had found someone else. After Sumaarzaav explained that she was about to commit high treason and did not want to drag her partner down with her, Tapestry responded that it was her own decision to make and chose to stay with Sumaarzaav. The following day, exactly a year after the policy was instituted, Sumaarzaav and her allies seceded from the hexarchate.

The Andan delegate sent to treat with Sumaarzaav had been modified to resemble Tapestry, though without the glasses or Tapestry's privately crude sense of humor about Sumaarzaav's amputation.

After Sumaarzaav died of medical complications at an old age, Tapestry inherited the toy arrow and carried it out of recorded history.
Stardrive

**Stardrive** is a form of propulsion used by spacefarers before the development of mothdrive. It is described in The Chameleon's Gloves.

In contemporary use, the term sometimes appears as a synonym for mothdrive.

## History

Pre-heptarchate stardrive was almost certainly a type of invariant drive. Early stardrive produces a distinctive just-out-of-tune hum audible within a starship. Some people can identify the drive's model from its sound.

## References

1. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Extracurricular Activities, Calendrical Rot
Knife cannon

A **knife cannon** is an exotic weapon installed on a shadowmoth. It is used in Raven Stratagem.

## Description

Knife cannons are devastating but slow to recharge, and their use requires the shadowmoth to be unstealthed.

## History

The shadowmoth *Eyes Unstabbed* used a knife cannon to scythe Station Mavi 514-11 and its power core in half, destroying four hexarchs and the seat of Nirai government.
Kel Vaura

Hexarch **Kel Vaura** was the Kel hexarch who preceded Kel Tsoro. She is mentioned in Raven Stratagem.

## History

Hexarch Kel Vaura was 130 years old during the second decade after Shuos Mikodez's ascension to Shuos hexarch. Eight years before Kel Tsoro's ascension, Mikodez had especial trouble getting Vaura to take him seriously, so he challenged the Shuos infantry division, successfully, to steal Shuos Jedao's gun collection from the Kel Arsenal.
Shuos training game

The **Shuos training game** is a post-Liozh board game used by the Shuos for training purposes. It is mentioned in Ninefox Gambit.

## Gameplay

The game is played on a square gameboard, with pieces moving between intersections of the board's grid. Players are divided into several marches, with each march competing separately. Players can gain great advantage from actions which increment a heresy clock, which changes the rules as it increases. The web piece, named after the Liozh mirrorweb, interacts with the heresy clock as "the weapon that saved you even as it poisoned your principles."

## History

While on leave, Kel Cheris played the training game once with Shuos Alaia, but did not retain a record of the moves.

Cheris was later chosen as the Shuos's "web piece" in the competition to be chosen to retake the Fortress of Scattered Needles.

A gamecloth embroidered with an incomplete game, possibly a recreation of a point in the match with Alaia when Cheris had lost a cannon and had been doing badly, was given to Cheris by a Shuos servitor as a way to convey information about the Fortress of Scattered Needles. The metallic gear woven into the gamecloth's back also turned Cheris's mind toward involving Shuos Jedao. The servitor left without the gamecloth, but Cheris did not keep it.

## References

1. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
3. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 2
4. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3
Josete

**Jose Quijo Jiménez**, (Madrid, marzo de 1960) mejor conocido como *Josete*, hijo de Clara Jiménez y Desi, es el mejor amigo de Carlos Alcántara, con el cual ha vivido varios sucesos que le han marcado la vida, alguno de ellos fueron por ejemplo el incendio de *Alcala 20* o el terremoto de San Genaro, o por otra parte las protestas por la huelga general.

Es interpretado por Santiago Crespo.

## Biografía

Josete nació en Madrid en el año 1960, desde siempre ha vivido en el barrio madrileño de *San Genaro*. Se hizo muy amigo de Carlos y de Luis con los que jugaba en el barrio.

Josete desde pequeño ayudó a Carlos y presumió de él cuando se mudó al barrio de Salamanca, cuando Carlos se compró el bar *Fly* Josete ayudó en todo lo que pudo, incluso tocando y cantando en un grupo de música creado por Marcelo, con su gran éxito *Súperamor*, que fue llevado a un programa de televisión. También tocaron en Sagrillas.

En 1981 su padre abrió un videoclub y Josete colaboró a llevarlo.

En 1982 se enfrentó a la muerte de su padre, Desi, además de tener una novia esporádica llamada Patri.

En el año 1983, Josete asistió junto con Carlos y Karina ha la discoteca de *Alcala 20*. En el incendio, Josete quedó atrapado junto con Karina en los baños, por suerte Carlos los oyó y los rescató con ayuda de los bomberos, aunque Josete sufrió menos daño que Karina, Josete estuvo ingresado en el Hospital Clínico de Madrid durante un tiempo.

En 1985, Josete participó en la huelga general, presionando a Olga para que cerrara el Bistrot, Clara intentó defendérla y Josete la empujó.

En 1986 con el terremoto de San Genaro, el local que más daño había recibido había sido el videoclub de Josete, Josete esquivando a los bomberos entro en el local sin protección justo cuando se produjo otro terremoto, en el que el techo se desprendió encima suyo. Miguel lo oyó y pudo rescatarlo.

En 1987, Josete viajó con Amnistía Internacional a África, y presentó un guión escrito por Carlos a la propia organización.

En 1990, Josete abre el bar de San Genaro, ya que permanecía cerrado desde que Olga y Abraham se fueron del barrio. Pero, 'El Bistrot' es algo temporal para el muchacho.

## Véase también

* Clara Jiménez
* Luis Gómez
* Carlos Alcántara
Egg Armor

Egg Armor is the main equipment used by Egg Empire soldiers. It is known to deflect electrical blasts, and take multiple bullets. Its design differs between military rankings. Agent armor is more armed with gadgets and a cool looking cape. Commando armor is a heavy variant of amor that only the strongest troops can wear designed to take many hits
Egman

Egman was a special commando unit of the Egg Empire, until he scarified himself to save his friends from the crabs. He was able to beat the crabs and stole a shuttle to stop the traitor spo0dermen. He was taken back to the Egg Empire to recover. Spooder's speech made him realized he was mistreated by the emperor. And wanted to quit the egg empire and join the AntiFa group but it was already defeated. After the siege of egg empire Egman landed on a unknown planet made of piss. Only him Detroids and Burgerton was able to survive, from there he exlpored the galaxy and created The Dip Nation to combat the tyrannical Poo Ass Nigga Alliance.