Who’s who in Foreigner books
A list of characters, places and others from C. J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series (sourced from the original database) and the creator’s comments on C. J. Cherryh’s blog.
| cno | cname | group | book1 | book2 | change | job | household | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 137 | Adams town | Location | 01. Foreigner | Human city, on Mospheira. | ||||
| 109 | Adjaiwaio | People/Clan | 01. Foreigner | Glossary: a remote atevi population. | Remote eastern association, where historically people believed in a different philosophy (midei/dahemidei; believers are called midedeni), which is now generally considered a heresy, though this divergent belief still lingers in the countryside of Adjaiwaio. | Quotes from Jago: “Midedeni believe luck and favor reside in people. It was a heresy, of course.” “Oh, half of Adjaiwaio still believes something like that, in the country, anyway – that you’re supposed to Associate with everybody you meet.” Adjaiwaio is a remote Association; the midedeni were all eastern. | ||
| 78 | Agricultural Association | 01. Foreigner | Commerce | Company (or Guild?), owns one of the major central buildings in the urban sprawl of Shejidan, visible from the air. | ||||
| 102 | Ajuri clan | People/Clan | Deliberations | Deliberations | Ajuri clan is central to the Northern Association. Ajuri hate Tatiseigi personally, as an Atageini-Ajuri marriage had gone very bad, years before Deliberations. The minor daughter of that marriage spent a few seasons with Tatiseigi, which seemed to patch the feud, but went back to her father’s Ajuri clan in a huff. As Tatiseigi sides with Ilisidi, this causes Ajuri to align with Tabini, in the perceived upcoming struggle. | Ajuri | A Northern association clan whose man’chi is not very reliable. | |
| 60 | Algini | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | After the assassination attempt on Bren’s life, his assigned servants Moni and Taigi are (nominally) replaced by Algini and Tano, who seem rather glum. | Bodyguard, Assassin | On the surface his man’chi is to the aiji; secretly to the Master of the Assassins’ Guild. | Algini and Tano are one of the best teams from the Assassins’ Guild. Algini is an explosives expert. He’s a very private man, with a difficult past, no family, and no attachments except to Tano. Later in the series, he grows attached to Bren and his aishid; his man’chi changes to go to Bren, and through Bren to Tabini. Foreigner Glossary: glum servant’s name, security agent. |
| 55 | Alujis river | Location | 01. Foreigner | Brominandi is governor of Entaillan province, a very boring speaker, involved in a contentious issue (already running 50 years with suits and countersuits): Alujis river rights, 2 upstream provinces against 3 downstream which relied on its water for irrigation. | ||||
| 147 | Alujisan | Location | 01. Foreigner | Airport | An airport where a small jet plane can refuel, en route between Wigairiin and Shejidan. Runway is longer than at Mogaru. | |||
| 171 | Antaro | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | 09. Deliverer | Antaro and her brother Jegari accompany Cajeiri everywhere, and act as unofficial bodyguards for him, though they aren’t in Guild training yet. She tries to protect Cajeiri when he gets kidnapped, but is left unconscious at the foot of the secret stairs in Ilisidi’s residence in the Bu-javid. | Bodyguards-in-training, aishi for Cajeiri | Cajeiri’s household within the aiji’s household. | Nickname = Taro. Jegari and Antaro are brother and sister, a few years older than Cajeiri (about 16 and 17 years old), from Taiben. Their parents are fairly high in the hierarchy of the group which picks up Bren and company after they land from space, but not at the top. Antaro, the girl, is the elder of the two. They became attached to Cajeiri on his return from space (man’chi), and followed him to the Bu-javid. They have trained as rangers in the woods, but not in the Bu-javid, and aren’t in Guild training yet. They try to act as Cajeiri’s protectors, and help him when they can: their loyalty is strong. |
| 121 | Artur | Human | 07. Destroyer | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Young associate of Cajeiri on Phoenix during the return from Reunion Station where he was born. | ||
| 176 | Aseida | Atevi | 14. Protector | 15. Peacemaker | Arrested at Asien’dalun for complicity in attack on Tirnamardi, and assassination attempt on Tatiseigi. Attack endangered Cajeiri, Ilisidi, Bren, Jase Graham, Artur, Gene, and Irene (children from Reunion). Kaplan and Polano (Jase’s ship security detail on planet) participated in arrest in which Haikuti was killed. | Lord of the Kadagidi, most likely figurehead for Haikuti. | ||
| 128 | Asicho | Atevi | 05. Defender | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Female member of Bren’s household staff. | Bren. | ** Check book with first appearance** |
| 103 | Atageini | People/Clan | Deliberations | Atageini clan is central to the Padi Valley Association, the most powerful and central association within the Western Association. Taiseigi is head of the Atageini, and has an association with Ilisidi. He is uncle to Damiri, Tabini’s wife. Atageini has feuds with Ajuri (from the Northern Association), and with his Padi Valley neighbors the Kadagidi, as well as a still not officially ended war with his other neighbors, the Taibeni. | Atageini | |||
| 161 | Atevi | People/Clan | 01. Foreigner | Ateva (singular), atevi (plural): name of species. Large human-shaped people, generally head and shoulders taller than humans usually are, stronger than humans. Skin and hair are true black, eyes are yellow, glow in the dark, and they have much better night-sight than humans. Hearing is a bit better than human too. Sight in bright noon light may be a bit less than human sight in those conditions. Atevi tolerate and need alkaloids in their diet that would poison humans. Strongest instinct is man’chi: a very strong attachment to a leader, “a primary loyalty to association or leader” (glossary). Size comparisons: Bren isn’t short for a human, but compared to Banichi he is about the size of a 10-year-old to an adult man. When Cajeiri is 8 years old, he is as tall as Bren. From the examples we’ve seen, females may generally be a bit smaller than males, rather like the human size-ratios: Ilisidi is diminutive, about the size of Cajeiri at nine years old; Jago is smaller than Banichi (who is quite large, even for an ateva: he and Cenedi are among the 4 largest in the group of Ilisidi’s guards when escaping from Malguri); and I think Damiri is a bit smaller than Tabini ? Human and ateva can be sexually compatible, but interbreeding is not possible. Parallel evolution: the shapes are similar, but the underlying genetics are different. The same goes for biological instincts and necessities, like man’chi which is a biological imperative for atevi and always flows upwards toward a leader, versus the human ties that are less absolute and more bi-directional and differentiated, like love, friendship, loyalty. Atevi do have attachments other than direct upward man’chi; they seem to group them all under ’association’ (except perhaps close family or sexual attachments: these may be in separate categories, but are almost never talked about), and associations can be formed across man’chi borders, though this can cause a lot of trouble (e.g. two young people from different households falling in love, though their clans are at odds). Teammates, partners, and a leader’s closest group of supporters (his aishid) do have a strong mutual bond – but if it comes to a choice, man’chi to the leader will always win out over these other bonds: that is not a choice an ateva can make, it is a biological imperative. | ||||
| 111 | Babsidi (Babs) | Mecheiti | 01. Foreigner | Mecheiti herd leader at Malguri; Ilisidi’s. | Ilisidi’s favourite mecheita, leader of her herd at Malguri. He is very dark, larger than a horse, with formidable teeth, capped rooting-tusks, with a prehensile overshot upper lip, wrinkled and coming to a point between the tusks, and a little lump of bony plate on its nose, bare and gray and smooth. If you press on that, a mecheiti always throws up his head, pushing back hard and suddenly. His head is as long as Bren’s arm from shoulder to fingertip, he flicks his ears, nostrils opening and shutting when getting the scent (which they can do on the run, from the ground and the air); the tongue is rough and file-like. Babsidi means ’lethal’. Mecheiti can go more than 50 miles in one long day, breakfast to mignight, if the heaviest men trade off on unridden animals. They hunt by scent, in groups; man’chi to the group leader is very strong. If part of a group is ridden out, the other mecheiti are turned loose to go with them: they cannot be kept behind because they’ll break down the stables to go with their leader. Larger herds, consisting of smaller herd-groups each with their own mecheit’-aiji can be broken up into the component herd-groups. | |||
| 148 | Bairi-magi | Location | 01. Foreigner | A place with an airport and a train station, a 3-hour train ride from Maidingi and 2 hours from Fagioni and Wigairiin (in the East). | ||||
| 37 | Baji and naji | 01. Foreigner | Philosophy | Fortune (baji) and Chance (naji), the wiggle-room in the rigid numbers of the atevi universe. | ||||
| 7 | Banichi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Banichi and Jago become attached to Bren Cameron as bodyguards. | Bodyguard, assassin | The aiji’s household, seconded to the paidhi | Assassins’s Guild, partnered with Jago. One of the best Assassins’ Guild’s teams. Banichi of Dajoshu township of Talidi province. Physical description: large, tall. |
| 58 | Barbara (Barb) | Human | 01. Foreigner | In the confrontation Bren has with the atevi, he also has to confront himself, and he re-evaluates his relationship with Barb. He starts to distance himself emotionally, and it wasn’t a very close relationship even before that. | Attached to Bren, his mother and his brother. | Bren’s girlfriend at the start of the story, she loves the glamour and exitement of his short visits to Mospheira. Mospheiran. Quote from Bren’s thoughts: “No questions, no commitment, no unloading of problems, a fairy-tale weekend of fancy restaurants and luxury hotels ... he didn’t know what Barb really thought, he didn’t know what Barb really wanted, he didn’t know her in any way but the terms they’d met on, the terms they still had. It wasn’t love. It wasn’t even close friendship.” | ||
| 192 | Barbara (Barb) | Human | 01. Foreigner | 07. Destroyer | Barb has become attached to Toby (and vice versa), and lives with him on his boat. She helps him run the boat. She still enjoys making Bren uncomfortable, and at one point seems to make a bit of a play for him – while on the boat surrounded by Toby, Jago and others: it looks more as if she just enjoys making trouble. Bren wants to keep her at a distance, but will do nothing to jeopardize his bond with his brother. | Toby’s girlfriend | Toby’s | |
| 118 | Barjida | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Aiji (historical) | Aiji of the Western Association who brought an end to the War of the Landing | Quote from Bren: “... you almost had rail at the time of the Landing. If we’d thrown air travel into Shejidan immediately, it might have provoked disturbances among the outlying Associations. Not everyone believed Barjida-aijii would share the technology. And better steam trains were a lot less threatening.” Foreigner glossary: aiji of Shejidan during the War. | ||
| 132 | Barnhart | Human | 05. Defender | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. Built and raced toy cars during return trip. | Engineer | ||
| 69 | Bergid range | Location | 01. Foreigner | Mountain range hazily visible in the distance from Bu-javid balconies. Not as tall as the continental dividing range, which tops 30,000 feet. The Observatory is set in the Bergid range. Cajeiri’s young bodyguards come from there. | ||||
| 122 | Bjorn | Human | 07. Destroyer | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Young associate of Cajeiri on Phoenix during the return from Reunion Station where he was born. | ||
| 187 | Boji | Animal | 13. Intruder | Introduced as a pet when Cajeiri is eight years old. | A monkey like creature called a parid’ja used for hunting. | A “pet” for Cajeiri. | Noisy, eats eggs, scares Damiri, an escape artist, a pet kept in a wrought iron cage in Cajeiri’s quarters and travels with him to Tirnamardi and back during Protector and Peacemaker. Responsive to Cajeiri and seems to have bonded (similar to man’chi). | |
| 134 | Braddock | Human | 06. Explorer | 07. Destroyer | Arrives at Atevi space on Phoenix. Mentioned, not seen. | Former Reunion Station Master. Former head of Pilot’s Guild on Reunion Station. | ||
| 193 | Braddock | Human | 06. Explorer | 07. Destroyer | Overthrown and taken into custody. | Reunion Stationmaster | ||
| 30 | Bretano, Ian | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Stationer kid (not Guild or crew), part of the “downstairs crew”, the first colonists. Father is Patton Bretano (politician for the stationers), mother is Joy. | Young colonist and explorer? Bretano is the first human to make contact with atevi. Twenty-five years later, after the War of the Landing, he becomes the first paidhi. | The Movement, stationers/colonists who want to settle on the atevi world. | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 33 | Bretano, Patton and Jill | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Father and mother of Ian Bretano. Patton is a prominent politician for the stationers and in favor of the Movement. | Station administrator and politician (Patton) | The Movement, stationers/colonists who want to settle on the atevi world. | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 53 | Brominandi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Brominandi sides with the (Eastern) rebels, against Ilisidi and Tabini; he takes Wigairiin airstrip before they arrive. They capture Ilisidi and Cenedi, and want the access codes for Bren’s computer. | provincial governor | head of his own household, head of his own province, subject to the aiji | Brominandi is governor of Entaillan province, a very boring speaker, long-winded. Colours are blue and red. He has black hair shot through with white, hands sparkling with rings both ornamental and official. Contentious issue (already running 50 years with suits and countersuits): Alujis river rights, 2 upstream provinces against 3 downstream which relied on its water for irrigation. |
| 41 | Bu-javid | Location | 01. Foreigner | Attention: in Deliberations this is written as Bujavid, but in Foreigner it is Bu-javid. | Center of government for the Western Association (and thus, the whole atevi world). | Citadel and government complex, built on a hill as one large building-complex, in the atevi capital city Shejidan. Residence of the aiji and the primary center of government. Contains residential areas (both for lords and ladies, and for minor government functionaries and service personnel like cooks and the paidhi), government offices, public halls and service areas, and a train station underneath. Space is at a premium on the hill. | ||
| 120 | Cajeiri | Atevi | 04. Precursor | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. ** Add more late** | None. He too young to work. | Tabini & Damiri’s son. Ilisidi’s Great-grandson. | ||
| 1 | Cameron, Bren | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Bren’s role as a minor functionary in the atevi court changes dramatically, when after a failed assassination attempt Tabini chooses to send him to Ilisidi at Malguri. | Paidhi; primary translator, interpretor and diplomat. | Head of his own household, which is attached to the aiji’s. | Bren’s world gets turned upside down when the supposedly long-lost human spaceship returns to the atevi world, where it causes social upheaval for both atevi and humans, which Bren tries to mediate and guide in positive directions. Appearance: brown hair (Foreigner book 3 chapter 1). He is of a similar age as Tabini, who is 28 in Foreigner. Family: mother, father (estranged), brother Toby. |
| 162 | Cameron, Bren | Human | 01. Foreigner | Invitations | Invitations : Bren’s first day on the job as paidhi in the Bu-javid. He needs to find his way, decide how he will interact with the atevi court and with Tabini aiji. He also gets Moni and Taigi assigned as his servants. | Paidhi: translator | Tabini’s, as a minor Bu-javid official | His predecessor Wilson didn’t speak with the atevi, wrote everything down, had a very bare room and office, and had no servants – according to Tabini he would have turned down the offer. Tabini sent Wilson back to Mospheira as soon as he became aiji on his 23rd birthday, and the University on Mospheira had to scramble to quickly send Bren as his replacement. Bren hadn’t expected to be chosen, as he was still (in his own eyes) a few years too young for the job. |
| 188 | Cameron, Bren | Human | 01. Foreigner | 15. Peacemaker | Carried Tabini-aiji’s seal into Guild Headquarters to hold open the doors for the retaking of the Assassins’ Guild from the Shadow Guild. | |||
| 23 | Cameron, Neill | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 1, at the dangerous star. Pusher pilot (space tug), thus part of the passengers, not the crew of Phoenix. Likely dead of radiation poisoning at the departure for the atevi star. Partner (husband) of Miyume Little. | Pusher pilot (space tug) | Phoenix (passengers) | Several centuries before the main story. |
| 59 | Cameron, Toby | Human | 01. Foreigner | Medical practitioner (doctor?). Quote: “[Bren’s] mother had taken the community allotment he’d left when he’d won the paidhi’s place and had no more need for his birthright: she’s combined it with her savings from her teaching job, and lent his family-bound and utterly respectable brother the funds to start a medical practice on the north shore.” | Bren’s brother, strongly attached to their mother. | Loves to sail and fish at sea. Married to Jill, with two daughters. --- When Bren returns from Reunion Station, Toby and Jill are divorced, Toby has sold his house and medical practice on Mospheira’s North Shore; he has bought a sea-going boat (yacht) and is living on it, together with Barb (Bren’s ex-girlfriend). Toby picks up an atevi sea-chart and some of the language after ..., and becomes more involved in Bren’s affairs, and apparently has started working for the Mospheiran Foreign Office, reporting on what he picks up from the atevi radio. | ||
| 180 | Casimi | Atevi | 15. Peacemaker | Messenger between Ilisidi and Bren | Assassins’ Guild security for Ilisidi and also assisted Tabini’s and Bren’s houshold with security matters while Banichi was wounded. | Partner is Seimaji | ||
| 196 | Celaso | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | Lord of the Western Association who was assassinated when Murini overthrew Tabini. | ||||
| 86 | Cenedi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Meeting Bren Cameron in person, and testing him, influences his view of humans and how to interact with them in the future. | Bodyguard, Assassin | His man’chi is to Ilisidi. | Ilisidi’s primary bodyguard, gray-haired. A powerful man, high up in the Assassins’ Guild, but at some distance from its politics because of his Eastern extraction and association. Physical description: hair steaked liberally with gray, face lined, build similar to Banichi (large/tall, strong). |
| 96 | Cenedi | Atevi | Deliberations | Deliberations | Will Ilisidi order him to assassinate her grandson Tabini, or will she hand over her power as aiji-regent gracefully? | Bodyguard, Assassin | His man’chi is to Ilisidi | Ilisidi’s primary bodyguard, gray-haired. A powerful man, high up in the Assassins’ Guild, but at some distance from its politics because of his Eastern extraction and association. |
| 49 | Committees, Councils and Ministers | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Minister of Education (a lord, who hopes for more television interviews with the paidhi); Minister of Works (“gentle and long-winded”, but his vanity would be hurt if one didn’t listen to his speech); Research and development council; Water Management. | ||||
| 200 | Cori | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | Ranger of Taiben. | Brother of Deiso. | |||
| 73 | Costain Bay | Location | 01. Foreigner | A place on the human island Mospheira | In Foreigner, Bren wants to propose a computer science center in Costain Bay, where hman instructors could be modem-linked to the students in Wingin, as a start on collaboration between atevi and humans on computer knowledge. | |||
| 85 | Dagina | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Dagina signed the Controlled Resources Development Treaty with Mospheira, and was according to Bren “a canny, hard-headed fellow, who (...) had knocked heads together and eliminated a few highly dangerous, warlike obstacles in ways humans couldn’t.” | Aiji (historical) | Historical aiji of the Western Association, probably at or shortly after the War of the Landing, probably Ragi | Stayed at Malguri at some point, signed the visitor book there. | |
| 154 | Dahemidei | 01. Foreigner | A believer in the midei heresy. | |||||
| 183 | Daimano | Atevi | 15. Peacemaker | One of the Missing or Dead Assassins Guild members who returns to service at the Guild | High level Assassins’ Guild, Member of the Guild Council after Shishogi-deposed. | Volunteers to take on the Office of Assignments upon Shishogi’s demise. | Tabini is in some dismay on hearing that Daimano will be assuming a high level position after defeat of the Shadow Guild Council. Daimano is reputed to be an able administrator and stood by Tabini’s interests (possibly reluctantly) during Murini’s reign. She is expected to impose order and process (which may slow things down considerably). | |
| 91 | Dajdi | Plant | 01. Foreigner | Plant, poisonous to humans (alkaloids), used to make tea by atevi. | A stimulant (alkaloid), which in overdoses can put a human in the emergency room. For Ilisidi, a favorite flavoring in tea; she considers it ’bracing’. | |||
| 152 | Dajoshu | Location | 01. Foreigner | Township of Banichi’s origin, in Talidi province, in the Marid. | ||||
| 177 | Damiri | Atevi | 04. Precursor | 15. Peacemaker | Mother of Tabini’s heir Cajeiri and daughter Seimiro | Aiji-consort and mother of Tabini’s children | Went into labor during Cajeiri’s investiture as heir. Gave birth on same day as Cajeiri’s birthday. Damiri was under misapprehension that Tabini, Ilisidi, or Tatiseigi had been complicit in her father Lord Komaji’s assassination. Bren explained that certain factions in the Assassins’ Guild had acted without family knowledge or consent to place Komaji in his position and then assassinate him when he proved intractable. This disclosure sent Damiri into active labor at the Investiture. Until this diclosure Damiri had hopes of becoming Lord in Ajuri, not understanding that Ajuri clan was complicit in Guild plots against Tabini. | |
| 83 | Deinali province | Location | 01. Foreigner | Eastern province, perhaps historical? Mentioned by Maigi during a tour of Malguri “Given by the aiji of Deinali province on the marriage of the fourth dynasty aiji’s heir to the heir of Deinali, ...”. | ||||
| 198 | Deiso | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | Ranger of Taiben | Mother of Jegari and Antaro, partner of Jeiniri. | |||
| 114 | Didaini province | Location | 01. Foreigner | An Eastern province visible from Malguri (glossary). The elderly tourist couple at Malguri have a son named Fedi, who is a farmer in Didaini province. Their grandchildren are called Nadimi and Fari and Tabona and little Tigani, who had just cut her first teeth. | ||||
| 153 | Dimagi | Plant | 01. Foreigner | An intoxicant (glossary). | ||||
| 82 | Djinana | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Servant (atevi, man) who takes care of the historical rooms within Malguri, and of Bren Cameron when he stays at Malguri. Maigi is his partner. | Caretaker (historical conservation), working for the Preservation Commission. Also serves as servant for visiting dignitaries. | Djinana and Maigi’s primary man’chi is to Malguri itself, the historical building. | |
| 66 | Edi Archipelago | Location | 01. Foreigner | The Edi Archipelago was not originally part of the global civilisation that existed before humans came to the atevi planet. (The same is true for the tribals in the remotest hinterlands.) Quote: “ ... [Atevi explorers] found the Edi, and damned little else but a volcanic, troubled chain of islands, not advanced, not culturally up to the assault of the explorers from the East and the explorers from the West, who’d immediately laid claim to everything in sight ... ” | ||||
| 101 | Edi, the | People/Clan | Deliberations | The Edi live on the same peninsula as where Bren Cameron later gets assigned an estate. They are represented by Geigi, a Maschi lord living at Kajiminda. During the coup, they help Bren’s estate to survive, and work against the usurper as best they can. | A tribal group of atevi, originally living on the island of Mospheira, with the Edi. Mostly fishermen, sometimes wreckers and pirates. These clans are culturally distinct from the mainland atevi, venerating ’grandmother stones’, and old women hold positions of great authority. After the War of the Landing, the Gan were displaced to the north coast, where there are rich fishing grounds, to make way for ceding Mospheira to the humans. In these new ’tribal lands’ they “could practice whatever they pleased” – they didn’t have to assimilate into the dominant Ragi culture. The Ragi atevi ceded land for them to settle on, and organised the deal, thereby gaining a strong position of power and (supposed) neutrality in the aisidi’tat. The Edi and the Gan are seen as ’backward tribal peoples’ by the continental atevi. The live within the aishidi’tat, but aren’t part of it: they are represented by coastal lords who are part of the aishidi’tat and have representation in the hasdrawad and the tashrid (the Maschi lord of Kajiminda represents the Edi, Dur represents the Gan). The Marid sees them as an obstruction to its ambition to take over the entire west coast. The coastal lords are, on the one hand, protected from Marid incursions by the resettled Edi and Gan, but on the other hand weren’t very happy to get them as neighbors, both as competition for the fishing and considering their reputation as occasional shipwreckers. | |||
| 95 | Eidi | Atevi | Deliberations | Deliberations | Eidi is the major domo assigned to Tabini when he was young, by his grandmother and regent Ilisidi. Originally Ilisidi’s man, Eastern, when Tabini reaches his majority and there is doubt whether Ilisidi will hand over the aijinate without a struggle, he’ll have to decide where his man’chi now lies: if he will stand with Tabini or side with Ilisidi. Tabini doesn’t doubt it: he trusts Eidi, as he always has. | Major domo for Tabini | Tabini’s | |
| 185 | Eisi | Atevi | 14. Protector | Servant assigned to Cajeiri | Valet and general factotum | Cares for Boji the parid’ja as a special duty | ||
| 54 | Entaillan province | Location | 01. Foreigner | Brominandi is governor of Entaillan province, a very boring speaker. Contentious issue (already running 50 years with suits and countersuits): Alujis river rights, 2 upstream provinces against 3 downstream which relied on its water for irrigation. | ||||
| 32 | Estevez, Julio | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Stationer kid. Friend and classmate of Ian Bretano. One of the “downstairs” crew / colonists. A life systems engineer who within 2 months of being on-world develops an allergy to something in the environment, and who flinches from the day sky (a bit of agoraphobia?) | Young colonist, scientific explorer? | The Movement, stationers/colonists who want to settle on the atevi world. | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 143 | Fagioni province, township | Location | 01. Foreigner | A place in the East, bordering Wigairiin province, and a bit farther from Malguri. At the foot of Wigairiin Height lies Fagioni province, where the railhead is – that is a soft border. Near those two is open country, 300 miles of wilderness, with plenty of game on the reserve, but no cover from the air. | ||||
| 167 | Farai | People/Clan | 09. Deliverer | (First appeared needs to be adjusted, was before book 9). The paidhi’s appartment in the Bu-javid is on loan from the Maladesi. During their expedition to the second station the appartment was occupied by the Farai, a clan of diffucult man’chi, claiming to be distant relatives of the Maladesi. They were instrumental in getting access to that floor during the aiji’s return, since they had taken out political rivals, supporters of Murini’s regime, in the process. So the aiji had not found it politic to toss them out of the residence, leaving Bren without his own living quarters in the capital. | ||||
| 115 | Fedi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Farmer | Didaini? | The elderly tourist couple at Malguri have a son named Fedi, who is a farmer in Didaini province. Their grandchildren are called Nadimi and Fari and Tabona and little Tigani, who had just cut her first teeth. | ||
| 150 | Foreign Office | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Human government department that the office of the paidhi reports to. | ||||
| 116 | Gabriel | Location | 01. Foreigner | A moon or planet in the atevi solar system? The only mention is in this quote: “[in the night sky] one could see Maudette aloft, faintly red, and Gabriel’s almost invisible companion, a real test of eyesight, on Mospheira.” | ||||
| 100 | Gan, the | People/Clan | Deliberations | A tribal group of atevi, originally living on the island of Mospheira, with the Edi. Mostly fishermen, sometimes wreckers and pirates. These clans are culturally distinct from the mainland atevi, venerating ’grandmother stones’, and old women hold positions of great authority. After the War of the Landing, the Gan were displaced to the north coast, where there are rich fishing grounds, to make way for ceding Mospheira to the humans. In these new ’tribal lands’ they “could practice whatever they pleased” – they didn’t have to assimilate into the dominant Ragi culture. The Ragi atevi ceded land for them to settle on, and organised the deal, thereby gaining a strong position of power and (supposed) neutrality in the aisidi’tat. The Edi and the Gan are seen as ’backward tribal peoples’ by the continental atevi. The live within the aishidi’tat, but aren’t part of it: they are represented by coastal lords who are part of the aishidi’tat and have representation in the hasdrawad and the tashrid (the Maschi lord of Kajiminda represents the Edi, Dur represents the Gan). The Marid sees them as an obstruction to its ambition to take over the entire west coast. The coastal lords are, on the one hand, protected from Marid incursions by the resettled Edi and Gan, but on the other hand weren’t very happy to get them as neighbors, both as competition for the fishing and considering their reputation as occasional shipwreckers. | ||||
| 129 | Geigi | Atevi | 02. Invader | 07. Destroyer | Meets the travelers on the station when they return. Helps with the travel plans. **expand this** | Atevi leader on the space station in Atevi space. | Atevi lord. | |
| 124 | Gene | Human | 07. Destroyer | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Young associate of Cajeiri on Phoenix during the return from Reunion Station where he was born. | ||
| 138 | Giri | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Giri takes care of Bren when he’s chilled through on Ilisidi’s breakfast balcony. Later the same morning, Giri is one of the 3 men killed by explosives thrown from planes while they are escaping from Malguri. | Bodyguard, Assassin (Eastern guild) | One of Ilisidi’s guards, at Malguri. | |
| 19 | Goldberg | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 1, at the dangerous star. Probably second shift second pilot. Likely dead (or very sick) of radiation poisoning when they have to leave for the atevi star. | Starship pilot | Phoenix (crew) | Several centuries before the main story. |
| 139 | Goseniin | Animal | 01. Foreigner | Fictional animal for the atevi, from the human story of the goose that lays the golden eggs. The human story has been adopted into atevi culture so strongly, that atevi are convinced that somewhere else in their world an egg-laying kind of animal exists which is called Goseniin. | ||||
| 125 | Graham, Jason (Jase) | Human | 02. Invader | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. Now respected as a Captain by Captain Sabin and the crew. | Captain, Starship Phoenix. | Captain, Starship Phoenix, in charge of Reunioners. | |
| 18 | Greene | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 1, at the dangerous star. Second shift first pilot, sick when they have to leave for the atevi star (likely radiation poisoning). | Starship pilot | Phoenix (crew) | Several centuries before the main story. |
| 105 | Guilds | Deliberations | Government | Guilds that have been named so far are: Assassins’ Guild, Commerce, the Craftsmen, the Engineers, the Kabiuteri, the Messengers, Trade, the Treasurers. | ||||
| 179 | Haikuti | Atevi | 14. Protector | 15. Peacemaker | Haikuti’s role as Tactician in Shadow Guild affairs continues to unroll in Peacemaker, although he was introduced and died in Protector. | High level Assassins’ Guild operative and tactician for the Shadow Guild | Was the power behind the curtains in Kadagidi Clan especially propping up Murini and Aseidi and manipulating affairs in the Padi Valley. | It is believed that he was the operative who sanctioned Lord Komaji’s assassination and the assassination attempt on Tatiseigi at Tirnamardi in Protector. |
| 68 | Hanks, Deana | Human | 01. Foreigner | Paidhi substitute/runner-up | Human Heritage party | Bren considers her a hot-headed woman, “a take charge and go ahead type”. Deanna’s father is a leader of the human Heritage party. She and they have done all they can to manoeuvre her into a position where she can influence human-atevi interactions in a way to benefit the interests of their human-centric party: she didn’t reach her position as runner-up to Bren Cameron on her own merits. She doesn’t understand atevi, is clumsy in her atevi speech, and goes by her preconceptions in her interactions with them. | ||
| 46 | Hasdrawad | 01. Foreigner | Government | Lower of the two houses of the legislature of the Western Association (the other is the tashrid); consists (mostly?) of elected commoners, representing their towns or districts. | ||||
| 9 | Ilisidi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Ilisidi meets Bren Cameron, Tabini’s paidhi, who helps her decide to side with her grandson Tabini, instead of the Eastern Association, over the matter of the human spaceship returning. | Aiji of the Eastern Association, grandmother of the aiji of the Western Association (Tabini), and the link keeping the East within the aishidi’tat. | Head of her own household, comprised mostly of capable young men, and an important political influence. | A diminutive (for an ateva: about Bren’s size), commanding and very powerful old lady. Lady of Malguri, likes tradition and historical things, and surrounds herself with capable young men. The only Eastern aiji to have Assassins’ Guild bodyguards, chief of whom in Cenedi. May be behind the deaths of her husband and son, the two previous aijiin of the Western Association. Physical details: Small for an ateva (wizened, little, wrinkled, thin hands), white in her black hair (at first meeting Bren), pale yellow eyes ( a family trait, Tabini has the same colour). Age: in her eighties or late seventies at the start of the story? Quote: “She’d fallen, riding in the hunt, at seventy-two. Broke her shoulder, broke her arm and four ribs, got up and rode through the rest of the course, until they’d caught the quarry. Then she’d attacked the course manager with her riding crop, for the lost hide on her precious, high-bred Matiawa jumper – as the story went.” Her favourite riding mecheiti is named Babsidi, he’s a male and the leader of her mecheita herd. Mecheiti can go more than 50 miles in one long day, breakfast to mignight, if the heaviest men trade off on unridden animals. |
| 14 | Ilisidi | Atevi | Deliberations | Deliberations | Ilisidi has been regent for her grandson Tabini until he reaches his majority. Now, on the eve of his birthday, she will have to hand over the aijinate. | Regent for the aiji of the whole aishidi’tat. Aiji of the Eastern Association. | Head of her own household, of which Tabini’s young household has until now been a subsidiary. | Even her grandson, an ateva who has grown up with her, cannot guess her man’chi. She has an ice-cold resolution; she can show temper, but never out of control. More information on Ilisidi’s background, from Deliberations: Her marriage to the Western aiji was a marriage of state. She was her grandfather’s successor as aiji of Malguri, and “aiji of the East, with no legislature, no other government to consult. Then the new aiji in Shejidan, never having met her, sent her a proposal of marriage – to bring the two halves of the continent into agreement...” Her husband has a temper, and doesn’t respect her opinions. They have a lot of arguments, but “When he grew intransigent, and attempted to order her regarding Malguri, and her son – her husband had fallen ill, and died, thereafter, not quickly. He had been insensible most of the last season of his life.” She takes over his role in ruling, but when he dies after 4 months, there is a fuss in the legislature. They appoint her regent for 5 year old Valasi, but won’t allow her to take him to Malguri. She is strict with the humans, and follows a conservative line. She wants the Edi and Gan to be assimilated into the aishidi’tat, which comes to nothing but upsets those people. The liberals, the Taibeni (his grandmother’s clan), the north and the mountains all court Valasi, who is an impulsive and willful man, with far too keen an interest in willing ladies, and at 27 years old he takes over peacefully from her regency, and sends Ilisidi back to Malguri. In the first year he marries a Taibeni and installs three mistresses, upsetting the conservatives and the Taibeni, and created a crisis with the humans. After Tabini’s birth, his mother goes back to Taiben in high offense over the 5 mistresses in Shejidan (one Kadagidi, one underage Maschi). He pressures Wilson-paidhi, until the humans release a flood of technology (airplanes, television, frozen foods) in return for Valasi giving them all the mineral resources they want. When he has to promise that his mistresses won’t get access to his son and heir, he sends the infant Tabini to Ilisidi at Malguri – Tatiseigi and the Kadagidi lord come to check up on him. Valasi dies after only fifteen years of rule, when Tabini is fourteen, and still being raised at Malguri by Ilisidi. She brings him back to Shejidan, and tries again to be appointed aiji, with him as heir. Instead the legislature again appoints her as aiji-regent for him, until his majority in eight years time. Age: see the timeline in the notes of War of the Landing. At the start of Foreigner book 3, Tabini has reigned for several years after assuming power at 23: maybe 4-8 years. Ilisidi is in her late seventies or early eighties, and as she broke bones racing mecheiti at 72, I tentatively assume that was after handing over power to Tabini & going back to Malguri, at approximately 71. As this makes her 20 at her wedding, already established as aiji of Malguri (taking over from her grandfather), this is the youngest she could be; but otherwise she’d have to have taken the risks of mecheiti-racing as ruling aiji-regent, long enough before Tabini’s 23rd birthday there is no mention of this, or the remaining aches of broken bones, in Deliberations). |
| 17 | Inoki | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 1, at the dangerous star. Second pilot, first shift. Badly hurt, likely dead soon after exit from hyperdrive malfunction. | Starship pilot. | Phoenix (crew) | Several centuries before the main story. |
| 123 | Irene | Human | 07. Destroyer | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Young associate of Cajeiri on Phoenix during the return from Reunion Station where he was born. | ||
| 144 | ironheart | Plant | 01. Foreigner | A kind of bush or tree, growing on the hills near Wigairiin. | ||||
| 29 | Jadishesi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. The only astronomer who correctly predicted that the ’new star’ would bring changes. | Astronomer | Gan? Mospheiran Association? | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 38 | Jago | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Assassins’ Guild, partnered with Banichi. One of the best Assassin Guild’s teams. When Tabini sends her and Banichi to guard Bren Cameron, while sending him into danger with Ilisidi, she has to evaluate her opinion of Bren. She develops some asociation with him, while deploring his un-atevi instincts for going back for his friends/bodyguards under fire. | Bodyguard, Assassin | Tabini’s household, detached to Bren’s household as his bodyguard | Banichi’s daughter and Assassin/bodyguard-team partner: one of the very best Assassins’ Guild teams loyal to Tabini. She’s fascinated by Bren’s brown hair; she’s well-read, and (according to Banichi) witty company. |
| 170 | Jegari | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | 09. Deliverer | Jegari and his sister Antaro accompany Cajeiri everywhere, and act as unofficial bodyguards for him, though they aren’t in Guild training yet. He tries to protect Cajeiri when he gets kidnapped, but jumps out of the van taking them to the airport to get the news out to security, leaving Cajeiri behind because he was unconscious. He then accompanies the dowager and Bren on their rescue mission. | Bodyguard-in-training, aishi to Cajeiri. | Cajeiri’s household within the aiji’s household. | Nickname = Gari. Jegari and Antaro are brother and sister, a few years older than Cajeiri (about 16 and 17 years old), from Taiben. Jegari, the boy, is the younger of the two. Their parents are fairly high in the hierarchy of the group which picks up Bren and company after they land from space, but not at the top. They became attached to Cajeiri on his return from space (man’chi), and followed him to the Bu-javid. They have trained as rangers in the woods, but not in the Bu-javid, and aren’t in Guild training yet. They try to act as Cajeiri’s protectors, and help him when they can: their loyalty is strong. |
| 201 | Jeichido | Mecheiti | 14. Protector | From Chapter 12 in Protector: Cajeiri looked at the paper, and found a name: Jeichido, daughter of the second Babsidi and Saidaro. | Cajeiri’s mecheita | |||
| 199 | Jeiniri | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | Ranger of Taiben. | Father of Jegari and Antaro, partner of Deiso. | |||
| 127 | Jeladi | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Man of all duties | Bren’s | ** check first appearance book.** |
| 131 | Jerry | Human | 05. Defender | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. Built and raced toy cars during return trip. | Engineer | ||
| 107 | Kadagidi | People/Clan | Deliberations | A central Padi Valley clan, traditional. Neighbors to the Atageini, with whom they have an on-again, off-again kind of quarrel. Opposed to the Taibeni, who are neighbors from the hills instead of the Padi Valley. Attention: their name is sometimes written as Kadigidi. In Deliberations it is Kadagidi. | Kadagidi clan | Historically, there have been aiji of the Western Association who came from the Kadagidi. They have lost power (after the War of the Landing?), and now the aiji come from Ragi clan. | ||
| 135 | Kaplan | Human | 04. Precursor | 07. Destroyer | Returned from Reunion Station to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Member of Capt. Graham’s staff. | Phoenix Crew | |
| 94 | Keigan | Atevi | Deliberations | Deliberations | Originally Ilisidi’s men, trained in the Eastern Assassins’ Guild. When Tabini reaches his majority and there is doubt whether Ilisidi will hand over the aijinate without a struggle, they have to decide where their man’chi now lies: if they will stand with Tabini or side with Ilisidi. | Bodyguard, Assassin | First Ilisidi’s, now Tabini’s. | Nochidi and Keigan are the senior pair of bodyguards assigned to Tabini when he was in his infancy, by his grandmother (and later regent) Ilisidi, as soon as she had dismissed the Taibeni clansmen his Taibeni mother had tried to attach to him as bodyguards. |
| 130 | Kroger, Virginia (Gin) | Human | 04. Precursor | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Robotics expert. Chief Engineer of the group that went on rescue mission to Reunion Station. | Engineer | |
| 181 | Kusha | Atevi | 15. Peacemaker | First appearance by name | Tailor | Master Kusha is tailor to Tatiseigi’s household and a rival of Master Neithi | Provided by Tatiseigi to provide black and gold suit for Cajeiri for the Investiture and also outfits for Gene, Artur and Irene. | |
| 20 | LaFarge | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 1, at the dangerous star. Senior Captain, hardnosed and uncompromising. Survives the dangerous star and is still senior captain at the time Phoenix goes to the atevi star. Human. Likely a leader of the Pilot’s Guild. | Starship captain | Phoenix (crew), Pilot’s Guild. | Several centuries before the main story. |
| 87 | Lawton | Human | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. One of the “downstairs” crew, a colonist, a scientist, probably (plant) biologist or maybe agricultural expert. | Scientist, explorer, colonist | The Movement, stationers/colonists who want to settle on the atevi world. | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. | |
| 31 | Lenoir, Renaud | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Stationer, scientist. Argued strongly for not using Earth names for atevi flora and fauna. | Biologist (hydroponics) | The Movement, stationers/colonists who want to settle on the atevi world. | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 186 | Liedi | Atevi | 14. Protector | Introduced | Valet and servant to Cajeiri | Cares for Boji, the parid’ja | In Protector he is called variously Liedi and Lieidi. In Peacemaker he is consistenely Liedi.Partner is Eisi | |
| 24 | Little, Miyume | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book1, at the dangerous star. Partner (wife) of Neill Cameron, passenger on Phoenix. | Phoenix (passengers) | Several centuries before the main story. | |
| 89 | Madara | 01. Foreigner | Calendar | Name of an atevi ’month’ (in spring?). Quote: “The last time ... [Bren flew home] ...was the 28th Madara.” | ||||
| 75 | Maidingi Air, Maidingi Power | 01. Foreigner | Maidingi, Malguri (category: Commerce) | Airline (atevi, Eastern), and power company (utility?), linked to Ilisidi’s domain. | ||||
| 71 | Maidingi Lake and Maidingi Township | Location | 01. Foreigner | The lake, and the town with an airport set at the lake, in the province of Maidingi, which belong to Malguri. Part of Ilisidi’s domain, on the Eastern side of the continental dividing range. Tourist spiel calls Maidingi Lake “ the Mirror of Heaven”, and Maidingi town “Jewel of the Mountains”. | ||||
| 136 | Maidingi province | Location | 01. Foreigner | The province of Maidingi, which belongs to Malguri, lies in the mountains and contains the town, lake and airport of the same name, as well as Malguri castle. Part of Ilisidi’s domain, on the Eastern side of the continental dividing range. | ||||
| 81 | Maigi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Servant (atevi, man) who takes care of the historical rooms within Malguri, and of Bren Cameron when he stays at Malguri. Djinana is his partner. Djinana and Maigi’s primary man’chi is to Malguri itself, the historical building. | Servant and caretaker (historical conservation) | Djinana and Maigi’s primary man’chi is to Malguri itself, the historical building. | |
| 166 | Maladesi | People/Clan | 09. Deliverer | (First appeared needs to be adjusted, was before book 9). The paidhi’s appartment in the Bu-javid is on loan from the Maladesi. During their expedition to the second station the appartment was occupied by the Farai, a clan of diffucult man’chi, claiming to be distant relatives of the Maladesi. | Maladesi | |||
| 70 | Malguri | Location | 01. Foreigner | Ancient castle and estate, high in the continental dividing range, on the Eastern side: the gateway to the East. Set overlooking Lake Maidingi. Building: Foundation date of the first fortress on the site was 2000 years ago built to hold the valuable water resource of Malguri for the lowlands and prevent the constant raiding of the hill tribes on the villages of the plain. The second, expanded fortress, including the present walls, dates from the 61st century. Some servants/conservators have man’chi specific to this building, set on preserving this historic heritage: Maigi and Djinana). Public tours once a month, confined to the lower hall. Importance: The railway connecting West and East crosses the mountain through Malguri lands. Malguri controls the overland trade between East and West, and has long been an important power in the Eastern Association. Owner: Ilisidi is lady of Malguri, and aiji of the Eastern Association. She took over this position from her grandfather, who was the one to welcome some of the Guild into the East, and set up a Guildhall for the Eastern Assassins’ Guild. This meant he had a lot more trained Assassins/bodyguards than the other eastern aijiin, which strengthened his position as aiji of the East. Tabini lived at Malguri most of the time, as Ilisidi’s grandson, growing up from a (very) young age until he turned 14 and his father died; and he still likes to visit there in autumn. | ||||
| 27 | Manadgi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Young atevi man, born on Mospheira, goes to observe the strange ’moon men’ who have fallen from the sky, and makes first contact with Ian Bretano. | Explorer, first contact? Or just a curious boy/young man? | Gan ? | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 197 | Maodi | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | Chief of the Assassins’ Guild serving the Kadigidi. | ||||
| 99 | Marid | Location | Deliberations | The Marid is the territory of a group of central south coast clans, with ambitions to take over the whole western coast, which were thwarted by settling the displaced tribal clans from Mospheira (the Edi and the Gan) on the west coast. The Marid clans together are also refered to as the Marid. | Quote: “..., the Marid, who had always wanted to slaughter the coastal lords and take the whole territory. Now Marid ships, too, were being wrecked by people deliberately tampering with warning buoys.” | |||
| 106 | Maschi, the | People/Clan | Deliberations | An atevi clan living near the south-to-middle west coast, just to the north of the Marid. Neither a large nor a powerful clan. The Maschi lord of Kajiminda represents the Edi in the aishidi’tat. On the other hand, their Marid neighbors are strongly opposed to the Edi settlements on the west coast, who occasionally wreck their ships, and who are a block to their expansionist policies on that coast. The Maschi are caught in the middle. | Maschi; they are not Ragi, but are a part of the Western Association. | Lord Geigi is Maschi. As the lord of Kajiminda, he represents the Edi in the aishidi’tat. An underage Maschi lady is one of Valasi’s mistresses, which was a scandal in itself. One servant-mistress tried to assassinate Valasi and failed: this was not the Maschi girl. | ||
| 74 | Matiawa | Mecheiti | 01. Foreigner | A type of mecheita, a “high-bred Matiawa jumper” (said of Ilisidi’s mecheiti when she was 72). Mecheiti can go more than 50 miles in one long day, breakfast to mignight, if the heaviest men trade off on unridden animals. | ||||
| 25 | Maudette | Location | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Human name for the 4th planet from the sun (a bit like Mars to the atevi earth). | Planet, 4th from the sun, airless and waterless. | Atevi solar system | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 16 | McDonough | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner, book 1, at the dangerous star. | Navigator, first nav. The only one who can communicate slightly with Taylor. | Phoenix (crew) | Several centuries before the main story. |
| 21 | McEwan, Karly | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 1, at the dangerous star. Second navigator, first shift. | Starship navigator | Phoenix (crew) | Several centuries before the main story. |
| 160 | Mecheiti | Animal | 01. Foreigner | Mecheita = riding animal (singular), according to the Foreigner glossary. Large 4-footed species of pack animals, omnivores(?): they mostly eat grass but sometimes they’ll hunt things down. Used by atevi as riding and pack-carrying animals. Colour is usually dark (brown to black), larger than a horse, with formidable teeth, capped rooting-tusks, with a prehensile overshot upper lip, wrinkled and coming to a point between the tusks, and a little lump of bony plate on its nose, bare and gray and smooth. If you press on that, a mecheiti always throws up his head, pushing back hard and suddenly. Their heads are as long as a human arm from shoulder to fingertips, they flick their ears, nostrils opening and shutting when getting the scent (which they can do on the run, from the ground and the air); the tongue is rough and file-like. Mecheiti can go more than 50 miles in one long day, breakfast to mignight, if the heaviest men trade off on unridden animals. They hunt by scent, in groups; man’chi to the group leader is very strong. If part of a group is ridden out, the other mecheiti are turned loose to go with them: they cannot be kept behind because they’ll break down the stables to go with their leader. Larger herds, consisting of smaller herd-groups each with their own mecheit’-aiji can be broken up into the component herd-groups. | ||||
| 65 | Meduriin | People/Clan | 01. Foreigner | An atevi people, part of the Western Assiciation. Quote: “... eastward and deeply inland, where there was never that easy familiarity with humans, where ethnic and historical differences between Ragi and Niseby and Meduriin could only find humans more different and more suspect than they found each other.” | ||||
| 168 | Mesi, lord | Atevi | 09. Deliverer | 09. Deliverer | Lord Mesi, a neighbor of Ilisidi’s in the Eastern Association, dies of poison at the start of book 9. | Lord of an Eastern clan, neighbor of Malguri. | Eastern clan aiji. | Killed as part of the Eastern plot, to make way for a clan leader more inclined to work with Murini. |
| 90 | Midarga | Plant | 01. Foreigner | Plant, poisonous to humans (alkaloids), used to make tea by atevi. | A stimulant (alkaloid), which in overdoses can put a human in the emergency room. Used by atevi as a flavoring (harmless to atevi). Not the one Ilisidi accidentally poisons Bren with! | |||
| 108 | Midei, dahemidei, midedeni | People/Clan | 01. Foreigner | Heretical philosophy of a remote eastern association, and the people who believe in this (midedeni). | Quotes from Jago: “Midedeni believe luck and favor reside in people. It was a heresy, of course.” “Oh, half of Adjaiwaio still believes something like that, in the country, anyway – that you’re supposed to Associate with everybody you meet.” Adjaiwaio is a remote Association; the midedeni were all eastern. Midei = a heresy regarding association. Midedeni = a supporter of the midei heresy. Dahemidei = a believer in the midei heresy. | |||
| 26 | Mirage | Location | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Human name for the 2nd planet from the sun (a bit like Venus to the atevi earth). | Planet, 2nd from the sun, not habitable. | Atevi solar system | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 151 | Mogari-nai | Location | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Messenger’s Guild | Large satellite dish installation on the west coast of the atevi continent, capable of listening and talking with the space ship, the station an Mospheira. | ||
| 146 | Mogaru | Location | 01. Foreigner | Airport | An airport where a small jet plane can refuel, en route between Wigairiin and Shejidan. Runway is shorter than at Alujisan, a bit short for a jet plane. | |||
| 39 | Moni | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Partnered with Taigi. Servant assigned to Bren Cameron while he lives in the residential area of the Bu-javid assigned to minor government officials. After the assassination attempt on Bren’s life, Moni and Taigi are not assigned to Bren anymore by Bu-javid security. They are replaced by Algini and Tano. | Servant | The Bu-javid servant staff; generally assumed to be (loosely?) the aiji’s. | |
| 165 | Moni | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Invitations | Partnered with Taigi. Servant assigned to Bren Cameron while he lives in the residential area of the Bu-javid assigned to minor government officials. This assignment starts on his first full day in office – the day and first night of Bren’s arrival he gets no assistance, but the next morning Moni and Taigi appear and take over the ordering of his small appartment and wardrobe. | Servant | The Bu-javid servant staff; generally assumed to be (loosely?) the aiji’s. | |
| 189 | Moni | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 08. Pretender | Moni and Taigi appear in Ilisidi’s appartment, saying they wish to return to Bren’s service. Bren is uncertain of their man’chi and alarmed by this, and warns Cenedi and Jago, who take them away. In book 9, Deliverer, when Bren contacts his coastal estate, he is told that Moni and Taigi had quit the employ of his estate some lengthy time ago. He has ordered them released, to go where they liked. Where they are now is a matter his staff knows, and Bren hasn’t asked, but their man’chi is in doubt. Bren still feels an obligation to them, to see them settled somehow, if he could get the resources to do a reasonable investigation, as they had served him well, years ago. | Servant (and spy or infiltrator?) | Unknown | |
| 43 | Mospheira | Location | 01. Foreigner | Large island on the atevi world, presently settled by humans. The resident atevi were relocated after the War of the Landing, and the island ceded to humans, who became a part of the Western Association. At the start of Foreigner about 4 million (4,300,000) humans live on Mospheira. This is 200 years after the War of the Landing, and 223 years after humans first landed on the planet (after first building the space station, and having families there for 122 years). The human language is called Mosphei’ by atevi. | ||||
| 72 | Mospheira Technology Commission | 01. Foreigner | Government (human) | Debates and decides which piece of human technology and knowledge will be released to the atevi next, and in which way. | ||||
| 67 | Mount Allan Thomas | Location | 01. Foreigner | Human name for the tallest mountain on Mospheira, where humans have built ski resorts and go for sporting holidays. Bren loves skiing there. The mountain used to be sacred to the Gan people who lived on Mospheira before the humans. Ilisidi remembers it by its atevi name, .... in ..... | ||||
| 172 | Murini | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | 09. Deliverer | Murini was lord of the Kadagidi. With support from the south (the Marid) he staged a coup when the Phoenix left for the second station. On their return he was ousted and fled to the Marid. He tried to politic with some Eastern lords, getting them to kidnap Cajeiri. When he comes east to retrieve the boy, Bren shoots him dead. | Clan aiji, usurper, fugitive | Kadagidi | |
| 191 | Najida | Location | 09. Deliverer | Many treasures from Bren’s appartement in the Bu-javid were saved by his servants during the coup, who took them to Najida for safekeeping. Now these are being returned. The estate people also keep in touch with Toby on his boat in the strait between Mospheira and the mainland, and did so during the coup, keeping lines of communication open, and mutually supporting Lord Geigi’s people against encroachment from the usurper’s people. | House, local lordly manor, though not very large for an estate. | Bren’s | Bren’s coastal estate, on the west coast, on a peninsula mostly inhabited by Edi people (displaced from Mospheira after the War of the Landing), and close to Lord Geigi’s estate at Kajiminda. This is the place Bren thinks of as home, a lodge with his boat at his own anchorage, and nearby a fishing village that is part of the estate. The economy of the district is partly dependent on the manor, and the income the servants and local people get from maintaining it. | |
| 119 | Narani | Atevi | 04. Precursor | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Majo Domo/chief of Staff Bren’s Household | Paidhi’s | |
| 145 | Negiran | Location | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Rebel city (Eastern?), provincial capital in rebel territory, in the rebellion against Ilisidi and Tabini triggered by the return of the hman spaceship and distrust of the Treaty. Brominandi wants to take his captives there. | |||
| 182 | Neithi | Atevi | 15. Peacemaker | First appearance | Master Tailor | Master Neithi is tailor for Damiri, and provides Cajeiri with a black and red formal outfit for the Investiture at Damiri’s behest. Master Neithi is a rival to Master Kusha. | Cajeiri is caught between Tatiseigi and Damiri in which outfit to wear. He elects to wear the outfit commissioned by his mother although he prefers the black and gold, because the numerologists/kabiutera had reckoned on the black and red in their calculations. | |
| 62 | Nisebi | People/Clan | 01. Foreigner | Atevi people, meat preservers and traders. | Not attached to the Ragi, may or may not be a part of the Western Association | An atevi people, living “down south” who follow a different philosophy of kabiu than the Ragi and the rest of the Western Association, in which it is allowed to preserve meat out of its season. The Mospheiran humans trade with them for preserved meat. The paidhi has to try and persuade the humans to stop eating (preserved) meat out of season, to comply with the prevailing philosophy / rules of society of the Western Association. | ||
| 155 | Nisebi province | Location | 01. Foreigner | Province in the south that allows processed meat, and trades it to humans. | ||||
| 194 | Noburanjiru | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | “Grandmother of Snows” Atevi name for Mt. Adam Thomas on the island of Mospheira | ||||
| 93 | Nochidi | Atevi | Deliberations | Deliberations | Originally Ilisidi’s men, trained in the Eastern Assassins’ Guild. When Tabini reaches his majority and there is doubt whether Ilisidi will hand over the aijinate without a struggle, they have to decide where their man’chi now lies: if they will stand with Tabini or side with Ilisidi. | Bodyguard, Assassin | First Ilisidi’s, now Tabini’s. | Nochidi and Keigan are the senior pair of bodyguards assigned to Tabini when he was in his infancy, by his grandmother (and later regent) Ilisidi, as soon as she had dismissed the Taibeni clansmen his Taibeni mother had tried to attach to him as bodyguards. |
| 112 | Nokhada | Mecheiti | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | One of the mecheiti of Ilisidi’s herd, at Malguri. A relatively placid mount, she will follow Babsidi everywhere, no matter what. When Bren rides her, his relatively light weight gives her ideas, and she tries to get closer to Babsidi, maybe even in front of Cenedi’s mount. | Her man’chi is to Babsidi, the leader of Ilisidi’s herd. | Nokhada means feisty. | |
| 36 | O’oi-ana | Animal | 01. Foreigner | fauna species | Small nocturnal animal (quasi-lizard) that lives in the Bu-javid gardens and likes vines. Call: click-click, as harbinger of rain. | |||
| 133 | Ogun, | Human | 02. Invader | 07. Destroyer | Phoenix Captain who has been in charge of the crew living on the space station during the rescue mission to Reunion Station. | Senior Phoenix Captian | Phoenix | |
| 84 | Padigi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Historical aiji of Malguri | Quote form Djinana on a tour of Malguri: “The aiji Padigi had it installed in 4879.” (on the continual water action Accomodation). | |||
| 88 | Pagioni | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Aiji (historical) | Maybe Eastern? | Well-known historical aiji, stayed at Malguri and signed the visitor’s book. | ||
| 173 | Pahien | Atevi | 09. Deliverer | 09. Deliverer | A female servant in Ilisidi’s household in the Bu-javid at the start of the book. Cajeiri doesn’t like her “that woman who always smiles at him and makes smiling look like a chore”, both he and Bren find her overzealous. She turns out to work for the Eastern lords who kidnap Cajeiri. | Servant | Servant in Ilisidi’s Bu-javid household, but is a traitor: she works for another Eastern lord. | |
| 34 | Pardino | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Part of the early “downstairs” crew of colonists, the one who has to tell Patton Bretano his son has gone off with the alien after making first contact. | Radio communicator? | The Movement, stationers/colonists who want to settle on the atevi world. | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 195 | Parigi | Atevi | 07. Destroyer | Lord of the Western Association who was assassinated when Murini overthrew Tabini. | ||||
| 76 | Patinandi Aerospace | 01. Foreigner | Commerce | Company, owns one of the major central buildings in the urban sprawl of Shejidan, visible from the air (their administrative offices). | ||||
| 149 | Phoenix | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Space ship that brought humans to the atevi world, hung around for about 122 years while the space station was built, disappeared for about 223 years (after the first colonists landed) to ’look for Earth’, and then returned to cause upheaval in the social situation in atevi society & between humans and atevi. | ||||
| 117 | Polanski | Human | 01. Foreigner | Military general (historical) | Polanski generalled the standoff on Half Moon Beach during the War of the Landing, the one that had kept atevi reinforcements off Mospheira – he’s a hero to the humans on Mospheira. Bren Cameron’s father is Polanski’s descendant several illegitimate generations down the line. | |||
| 63 | Ragi | People/Clan | 01. Foreigner | The aiji’s clan. | The clture to which Tabini belongs; eats game only, and only in its season. The Ragi (the aiji’s ancestors, 4 generations ago) gave up their (thinly settled) coastal lands to the displaced atevi people of Mospheira (the Edi and the Gan), when that large island was ceded to the humans after the War of the Landing. They became the hereditary ruling family of the Western Association, as they are the only clan trusted not to favour their own regional interests above the interests of others, because they don’t have long-standing regional ties in a specific location. | |||
| 156 | Ragi Association | Location | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner glossary: Tabini’s area, also known as the Western Association. | ||||
| 77 | Registry (public) | 01. Foreigner | Government | Owns one of the major central buildings in the urban sprawl of Shejidan, visible from the air. | ||||
| 126 | Sabin, Captain | Human | 04. Precursor | 07. Destroyer | Returned to Atevi space on Phoenix. | Second Captain on starship Phoenix. Senior Captain on return trip. | Phoenix | |
| 184 | Seimaji | Atevi | 15. Peacemaker | First appearance? | Assassins’ Guild | Security for Ilisidi | Partner to Casimi | |
| 178 | Seimiro | Atevi | 15. Peacemaker | 15. Peacemaker | Born on Cajeiri’s birthday and investiture as Tabini’s heir | Daughter of Tabini and Damiri, younger sister to Cajeiri | ||
| 42 | Shejidan | Location | 01. Foreigner | Capital city of the Western Association, primary center of government for the atevi world, and seat of the aiji (in the Bu-javid). | City of the Ragi Association. The old city is a maze of red-tiled roofs, with the high hill of the Bu-javid rising above it. It is large and crowded, and has a train station and an airport. | |||
| 79 | Shejidan Steel | 01. Foreigner | Commerce | Company, owns one of the major central buildings in the urban sprawl of Shejidan, visible from the air. | ||||
| 51 | Shigi township | Location | 01. Foreigner | Shigi was in the weather report Bren hears on the television news, for a storm moving in. | ||||
| 175 | Shishogi | Atevi | 14. Protector | 15. Peacemaker | Deceased. High up Officer of Assassins’ Guild 42 years in Office of Assignments, Ajuri clan, grand uncle of Damiri. | In charge of the Office of Assignments in the (corrupted) Assassins’ Guild. Known as the chief Strategist. Never a field operative or Tactician (see Haikuti). Held a position in Assignments for 42 years. | Recommended uniformed and plain-clothes (servants.valets, cooks, doorkeepers) units for assignments (temporary, short-term, and long-term). Appointed investigator who served the Guild Council | Tenth individual to hold Office of Assignments, in his position Shishogi managed to prevent computerization of records. He took the long view and assigned persons where they would be the correct person perhaps a decade later. Probably authorized or directed assassination of Damiri’s father, Lord Komaji. Characterized as a “little old man” |
| 140 | Spires, the | Location | 01. Foreigner | A rendez-vous point during the escape from Malguri. A place on the west road from Malguri; not a village but a natural feature (near rocks on a hillside). | ||||
| 8 | Tabini | Atevi | Deliberations | Deliberations | Tabini reaches his majority and becomes the aiji on his 23rd birthday. | Aiji, head of the Western Association (and thus, head of the whole atevi planet) | Head of the aiji’s household | Tabini’s father Valasi died when Tabini was 14, and Ilisidi has been regent for him ever since. |
| 13 | Tabini | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | When the supposedly long-lost human spaceship returns to the atevi world, it causes social upheaval for atevi, who suddenly don’t know if they can trust the humans anymore. Tabini decides to send his paidhi Bren Cameron, the sole human translator/diplomat on the atevi continent, to his grandmother Ilisidi, for her to find this out – and see how the consequences shake out in all the atevi associations. | Aiji, head of the Western Association (and thus, head of the whole atevi planet) | Head of the aiji’s household; aiji of the Ragi | Tabini is 28 in Foreigner (book/part 3); he has ruled for 5 years after reaching his majority at 23, when Ilisidi again lost the election in the hasdrawad and he became aiji. |
| 163 | Tabini | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Invitations | Tabini meets Bren for the first time. | Aiji | Aiji of the Western Association. | Tabini has just reached his majority at 23, when Ilisidi again lost the election in the hasdrawad and he became aiji. Immediately after becoming aiji, he sends Wilson-paidhi back to Mospheira and gets a new young man to work with as interpreter: Bren Cameron. |
| 28 | Tachi | People/Clan | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Name of atevi clan which lives in the western mountains of Mospheira, where humans first landed. A herding community. | Atevi clan | Belongs within the Mospheiran Association | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. |
| 113 | Tadiiri | Location | 01. Foreigner | Historical | Historical ruin of a fortress called Tadiiri (the Sister), which was demolished after a falling-out with Malguri, whose cannon now adorn Malguri’s front entrance. | |||
| 92 | Tagisi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Malguri? (historical) | “Tagisi of Maidingi township, of Polgini clan, Carditi-Aigorana house” is the author of the book “Annals of Maidingi”, full of historical details and colour plates of the guest appartment Bren is staying in, in Malguri. | |||
| 57 | Taiben | Location | 01. Foreigner | Man’chi is to the aiji. | The aiji’s hunting lodge, a place where Tabini can relax. It’s forested lands border the Atageini. | |||
| 56 | Taibeni | People/Clan | 01. Foreigner | Man’chi is to the aiji. | The Taibeni are the clan living at Taiben. They are the aiji’s most loyal people, and very experienced hunters. A reclusive, suspicious clan that had been too stubborn to settle a peace with their neighbors the Atageini for 200 years. Hills people, hunters, good at stalking, good with mecheiti and guns. Repeatedly related to the aijinate over the past few generations, on the distaff side. Valasi’s western grandmother was Taibeni, and so was his wife (both mentioned in Deliberations): Tabini-aiji’s mother was Taibeni. Cajeiri lived at Taiben from infancy, until he was sent to live with uncle Tatiseigi of the Atageini at six years old. | |||
| 40 | Taigi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Partnered with Moni. Servant assigned to Bren Cameron while he lives in the residential area of the Bu-javid assigned to minor government officials. After the assassination attempt on Bren’s life, Moni and Taigi are not assigned to Bren anymore by Bu-javid security. They are replaced by Algini and Tano. | Servant | The Bu-javid servant staff; generally assumed to be (loosely?) the aiji’s. | |
| 164 | Taigi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Invitations | Partnered with Moni. Servant assigned to Bren Cameron while he lives in the residential area of the Bu-javid assigned to minor government officials. This assignment starts on his first full day in office – the day and first night of Bren’s arrival he gets no assistance, but the next morning Moni and Taigi appear and take over the ordering of his small appartment and wardrobe. | Servant | The Bu-javid servant staff; generally assumed to be (loosely?) the aiji’s. | |
| 190 | Taigi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 08. Pretender | Moni and Taigi appear in Ilisidi’s appartment, saying they wish to return to Bren’s service. Bren is uncertain of their man’chi and alarmed by this, and warns Cenedi and Jago, who take them away. In book 9, Deliverer, when Bren contacts his coastal estate, he is told that Moni and Taigi had quit the employ of his estate some lengthy time ago. He has ordered them released, to go where they liked. Where they are now is a matter his staff knows, and Bren hasn’t asked, but their man’chi is in doubt. Bren still feels an obligation to them, to see them settled somehow, if he could get the resources to do a reasonable investigation, as they had served him well, years ago. | Servant (and spy or infiltrator?) | Unknown | |
| 157 | Taimani | Location | 01. Foreigner | A province visible from Malguri. | ||||
| 141 | Tali | Mecheiti | 01. Foreigner | Man’chi to Babsidi, the leader of Ilisidi’s herd. | Cenedi’s mecheiti; in competition with Nokhada over who gets second place, closest to Babs (but only when Bren is riding Nokhada). | |||
| 158 | Talidi province | Location | 01. Foreigner | A southern province (in the Marid), containing Dajoshu township, where Banichi was born. | ||||
| 22 | Tanaka, Kiyoshi | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 1, at the dangerous star. Medic on the bridge at entry after hyperdrive malfunction. | Medic? | Phoenix (crew) | Several centuries before the main story. |
| 61 | Tano | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | After the assassination attempt on Bren’s life, his assigned servants Moni and Taigi are (nominally) replaced by Algini and Tano. | Bodyguard, Assassin | His man’chi is to the aiji. | Algini and Tano are one of the best teams from the Assassins’ Guild. Tano is a communications and electronics expert. Tano is a pleasant man; for an ateva he is open and cheerful, when he feels at home with people. In Foreigner, Jago states that Tano is “not licensed”: he’s licensed and trained enough to carry a gun for defense, but not licensed by the Assassins’ Guild for using one in a public place. So Bren thinks Tano likely came from Tabini’s house guard. |
| 47 | Tashrid | 01. Foreigner | Government | Higher of the two houses of the legislature of the Western Association (the other is the hasdrawad), consisting of lords and ladies (like the British House of Lords?). | ||||
| 104 | Tatiseigi | Atevi | 01. Foreigner | Head of the Atageini clan, and a leader of the Padi Valley association | Taiseigi is head of the Atageini, and has an association with Ilisidi. She stayed with him for a time, when she was estranged from her husband the aiji, after the birth of Valasi. He is very traditional and kabiu. His niece Damiri has married Tabini. Their son Cajeiri stayed with him for about a year, when he was 6 years old, and upset him with his childish pranks. Still, he sees the link to power as great-uncle to the future aiji, and hasn’t quite written Cajeiri off. | |||
| 15 | Taylor | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 1, at the dangerous star. Pilot of Phoenix, gets her out of hyperdrive malfunction to the dangerous star but is badly damaged by the physiologic changes (his body continuously makes the hyperdrive chemicals). Almost unable to communicate at the human level (except sligtly with the navigator). Manages to get Phoenix on to the atevi star, as the other pilots are dead or sick. Human, but physiologically adapted to jump after the accident (aware in hyperspace). | Starship pilot | Phoenix (crew) | Several centuries before the main story. Origin of the idea of ’Taylor’s Children’, children born of the gene-banks left behind by the people who died at the dangerous star. |
| 169 | Tirnamardi | Location | 09. Deliverer | Padi valley house of lord Tatiseigi, country seat of the Atageini clan. Its security system is not up to date. High hedges surround the entire large grounds, some of them damaged by the Taibeni to get theough and give aid during the fight with Murini’s supporters. Neighbor estate belongs to the Kadagidi, who supported the usurper Murini. Needs extensive repairs, to the famous porcelain lily frieze in the hall among other things, after the fighting there in book 8. The only artist who can make those repairs is temperamental, so Ilisidi needs to accompany Tatiseigi home as a buffer between them. | Cajeiri once rode a mecheiti across wet cement when a terace was being laid, when he was about six years old. | |||
| 50 | Transmontane Highway (Project) | Location | 01. Foreigner | Incompleted, and will remain so. Proposed highway across the 30,000 feet high continental dividing range mountains. | Uncompleted. Vetoed 18 times in committee by the previous paidhi, Wilson. Now become moot, since the railway connection to the East has been completed and air travel is growing. Some atevi interests wanted to build a road through the Continental Dividing Range, to facilitate trade between East and West. There are some hints this trade historically went either on mecheiti-paths or footpaths through the passes at Malguri, or by ship via the Isles (including the Edi archipelago?), but given the lack of good harbors in the East, and the trouble with dangerous storms in those seas, this trade was very limited untill the advent of the railway connection to Malguri (which was brokered as a condition of Ilisidi’s marriage to the Western aiji). The East is rich in (mineral) resources, but has limited manufacturing capability, so increased trade would be profitable in both directions, but the paidhiin have always seen highways as very disruptive to atevi society, and so kept on vetoing this project. | |||
| 97 | Valasi | Atevi | Deliberations | Deliberations | Valasi was Tabini’s father, and son of Ilisidi, and died in an assassination 8 years before the start of this story. Trade with humans increased markedly in Valasi’s time. He bullied Wilson-paidhi into releasing a lot of new technology, like television and aeroplanes, that shake up the traditional atevi society, threaten the kabiu way of life, and put more profits into the hands of some human politicians. | The previous aiji of the Western Association | Head of his own household, Ragi atevi. | Valasi was aiji of the Western Association, and an intemperate man. He kept a lot of mistresses in the Bu-javid, to the distress of his Taibeni wife. Ilisidi was given little influence in his upbringing, and wasn’t happy with the result: one reason why she has spent a lot of time on rearing her grandson Tabini and great-grandson Cajeiri the way she has. At the death of his father, the legislature appoints Ilisidi as aiji-regent for her 5 year old son Valasi, but won’t allow her to take him to Malguri. He is a rowdy, willful youngster who grows into a handsome man with far too keen an interest in willing ladies. The permissiveness of his tutors encouraged his bad tendencies toward unbidled temper. The liberals, the Taibeni (his grandmother’s clan), the north and the mountains all court Valasi, and at 27 years old he takes over peacefully from her regency, and sends Ilisidi back to Malguri. In the first year he marries a Taibeni and installs three mistresses, upsetting the conservatives and the Taibeni, and created a crisis with the humans. After Tabini’s birth, his mother goes back to Taiben in high offense over the 5 mistresses in Shejidan (one Kadagidi, one underage Maschi). He pressures Wilson-paidhi, until the humans release a flood of technology (airplanes, television, frozen foods) in return for Valasi giving them all the mineral resources they want. When he has to promise that his mistresses won’t get access to his son and heir, he sends the infant Tabini to Ilisidi at Malguri – Tatiseigi and the Kadagidi lord come to check up on him. Valasi dies after only fifteen years of rule, when Tabini is fourteen, and still being raised at Malguri by Ilisidi. Ilisidi brings Tabini back to Shejidan, and tries to be appointed aiji, with him as heir. Instead the legislature again appoints her as aiji-regent for him, until his majority in eight years time. |
| 35 | Vordict | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Foreigner book 2. Prominent politician for the crew party of the stationers, favoring the Cause, he way the Pilot’s Guild secretly tries to steer the developments in favor of them and the crew keeping their power. Strongly opposed to Patton Bretano and the Movement, stationers/colonists who want to settle on the atevi world. | Politician, possibly (secretly?) Pilot’s Guild? | The Cause, the Pilot’s Guild? | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. Upon arrival at the Atevi solar system, the Pilot’s Guild had decided to build a space station for a base, and go and search for resources at the next likely star – the non-crew technicians and construction workers didn’t get a voice in that decision. This expansion into space, searching for resources for the ship and for a way to find where they are in the universe, or how to get home to Earth, is still the Cause that the Pilot’s Guild says it’s working for. |
| 64 | War of the Landing | 01. Foreigner | Historical event | Several centuries before the main story, first human colonists make first contact with atevi, 122 years after Phoenix arrives at the atevi star and starts to build the space station. 21 years after this first contact, when humans are starting to venture onto the mainland and all seems to be going well (from the human point of view), the atevi rise up to get rid of the humans. This is called the War of the Landing. The atevi have superior numbers and determination, it is their planet; the humans have a lot more advanced technology. In one year, humans are driven off the Ragi coastal lands and attacked in the valley they held as secure territory. The war is brought to an end before the humans are wiped out, by the diplomacy of the first paidhi, Bretano. Likely this is Ian Bretano, the young man who made the first contact. He negotiates the Treaty, whereby the humans get Mospheira and a cease-fire. In return they will slowly release all their technology to the atevi, through a single point of contact between the species, the paidhi: a human interpreter and diplomat who lives in the aiji’s court. At the start of Bren’s story, the Ragi aiji who negotiated this settlement is said to have been Tabini’s fourth-removed predecessor; and the displacing of the Gan and Edi people from Mospheira to make way for the humans was 200 years ago (as stated in Deliberations). The sequence of aijiin since the war goes like this (going backwards from the present): Tabini -> Valasi (his father, assassinated) -> his grandfather, Ilisidi’s husband (unnamed) -> Dagina -> Barjida. Dagina signed the Controlled Resources Development Treaty with Mospheira, and according to Bren was “a canny, hard-headed fellow, who (...) had knocked heads together and eliminated a few highly dangerous, warlike obstacles in ways humans couldn’t.” Barjida got better steam train technology from Mospheira as a result of the Treaty, and shared it with the rest of the aishidi’tat; according to the Foreigner glossary he was aiji of Shejidan during the War. Timeline from the start of Foreigner to the War of the Landing: 1.(-5) Tabini has reigned for 5 years after assuming power at 23: he is now 28. Bren is of a similar age. Ilisidi is in her late seventies or early eighties, and as she broke bones racing mecheiti at 72, I tentatively assume that was after handing over power to Tabini & going back to Malguri, at approximately 71, which would make her 76. 2.(-13) Ilisidi as regent for Tabini for 8 years, from when he was 14 (and she approximately 63). 3.(-28) Valasi for 15 years, from age 27 to 42. 4.(-50) Ilisidi as regent for Valasi for 22 years, from age 5-27; she is about 26-48. 5.(-56/65?) Ilisidi’s husband, who dies when their son Valasi is 5. No age or name is given, nor anything said about how long he had been aiji before the marriage, except that he is referred to as the new aiji of the West at his proposal. If Valasi was born a year after the marriage (not certain as Ilisidi considers delaying the birth of an heir as a possible pressure point on the West), Ilisidi was about 20 years old at the wedding, at -56 years on the timeline. That’s fairly young to have been aiji of Malguri (succeeding her grandfather) for long enough to be secure in her power, even when staying in the west for decades. 6.(-130???) Dagina -> if both statements are true, that it’s been 200 years since the Gan and Edi problem was created by moving them off Mospheira at the end of the war, and that there were 4 aijiin between Tabini and the war, then both Dagina and Barjida need to have had very long reigns (approximately 70 years each). 7.(-200!) Barjida As the aiji whose war is not going well might be assassinated, Barjida may have come into the aijinate near the end of the war. Considering that Dagina and Barjida would together have ruled for approximately 140 years since the end of the War, it doesn’t seem likely for him to have had many years in power before the war, unless atevi can become much older than humans – and stay powerful enough to rule the world into their old age. | ||||
| 45 | Weinathi Bridge | Location | 01. Foreigner | The site of an infamous airplane accident, a crash caused by a failure to file flight plans; the reason flight plans are mandatory within the aiji’s domain. Since then, Ragi planes don’t crash into bridges anymore. Foreigner glossary: bridge in the city, site of air crash (-> city = Shejidan?) | ||||
| 44 | Western Association | 01. Foreigner | Atevi nation, Government | Political entity, an agglomeration of associations, ruled by the aiji and the 2 chambers of the legislature (the hasdrawad and the tashrid), which contains within it the entire atevi world (and the space station, after atevi develop shuttles). | ||||
| 80 | Western Mining and Industry | 01. Foreigner | Commerce | Company, owns one of the major central buildings (a spire) in the urban sprawl of Shejidan, visible from the air. | ||||
| 48 | Whispering Port | Location | 01. Foreigner | Location within the Bu-javid, close to the aiji’s public audience chamber. | ||||
| 110 | Wi’itkitiin | Animal | 01. Foreigner | Dragonettes, scaled and feathered, who nest on cliffs and tall buildings with sloping sides, at Malguri and in Shejidan, where houses near the park have slanted walls to give them purchase for climbing back up. Singular = wi’itkiti. They make a sound resembling their name. They dive down from the cliff on membranous wings (with wing-claws which they use in climbing), catch prey in their claws, and crawl back up the cliff to their nest unless they’ve managed to stay aloft: they can’t fly up from level ground. The mecheiti hate them. | ||||
| 142 | Wigairiin Height, province, township | Location | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Wigairiin has an airstrip, and decided at first to side with Ilisidi instead of with the two rebel lords, so they flee there (north and west) from Malguri. From their first rest-stop, to the south-west of Malguri, it’s still 50 miles to Wigairiin: a distance the mecheiti can do in one long day, from breakfast to midnight. Once there, they send the mecheita back north and east to Malguri. (Geography questions -> The mecheiti go all the way around the lake? Does the lake lie to the north between Malguri and Wigairiin?) | A place in the East, bordering the hilly country of Malguri on the north-west. The house is a 17th century villa, with a gravel road down to Fagioni; on the south it has an ancient wall with an historic and functional iron gate, that cuts off the approach to Wigairiin. It has an airstrip (for which a 14th century defense wall ws knocked down by de aiji of Wigairiin). The aiji of Wigairiin decided to side with Ilisidi instead of with the two rebel lords. The Wigairiin airstrip is short, single runway, takeoffs and landings right out over a cliff and past a steep rock. At the foot of Wigairiin Height lies Fagioni province, where the railhead is – that is a soft border. Near those two is open country, 300 miles of wilderness, with plenty of game on the reserve, but no cover from the air. | ||
| 98 | Wilson | Human | 01. Foreigner | Deliberations | Paidhi to Valasi-aiji. Deeply distrusted by Ilisidi and Tabini. A dour and emotionless man, “strange and so short-fused the Board had talked about replacing him against Valasi’s expressed refusal to have him replaced” (quote from Foreigner), unable to connect with anybody – perhaps due to the pressures he has lived under as Valasi’s paidhi, for 15 years, followed by 8 years as paidhi to Ilisidi, who doesn’t trust him at all, and won’t even look at him or speak a word to him that isn’t necessary. Trade with humans increased markedly in Valasi’s time. He bullied Wilson-paidhi into releasing a lot of new technology, like television and aeroplanes, that shake up the traditional atevi society, threaten the kabiu way of life, and put more profits into the hands of some human politicians. Valasi sees Wilson as weak and timid, easily bullied. Ilisidi and Tabini see him as devious and clever, responding to Valasi’s threats by giving him technology that will destroy atevi traditions and way of life – though flight and television have proved useful as well, when carefully handled. When Ilisidi becomes regent for Tabini, she puts very strict limits on what she will allow humans: she raises environmental issues (smoke pollution of the Gan north coast) that humans havee to comply with, and limits the metal-resources humans were getting almost unrestricted from Valasi. | Paidhi to Valasi (15 years), and twice to Ilisidi as aiji-regent (22 years? + 8 years). | His loyalty is not to Valasi, but to humans, and maybe to the Treaty. | The aijiin he may have been paidhi for: Ilisidi’s husband (died fairly young of a suspicious lingering illness); Ilisidi as aiji-regent for Valasi from age 5 to 27 (22 years); Valasi for 15 years (27-42, assassinated); Ilisidi as aiji-regent for Tabini from age 14 to 23 (8 years). Considering that Wilson, when sent home right after Tabini’s accession to the aijinate, gets a post teaching at the university of Mospheira, it seems likely that his tenure started no earlier than somewhere during Ilisidi’s first reign as aiji-regent. |
| 159 | Wilson | Human | 01. Foreigner | 01. Foreigner | Bren’s predecessor as paidhi, a distant and difficult man. | Teaches at the Mospheiran University ; was paidhi to Valasi (15 years), and twice to Ilisidi as aiji-regent (22 years? + 8 years). | Human university lecturer (to language/alien culture and history/paidhi-track students). | See the notes in the Deliberations entry for Wilson! |
| 174 | Wilson, Edward P. | Human | 01. Foreigner | 15. Peacemaker | Wilson is listed as the retired translator and author of “The Assassins’ Guild” from the Emeritus Lecture Series #133, The University of Mospheira Press in Peacemaker Prologue | Translator, retired | Wilson’s explication of the Assassins’ Guild Rules is read and referred to by Bren in Peacemaker Chapter 1. | |
| 52 | Wingin | Location | 01. Foreigner | A place where roof tiles were damaged by a storm “before it went roaring over the plains”, in a weather report Bren hears on television in Shejidan. In Foreigner, Bren wants to propose a computer science center in Costain Bay (on Mospheira), modem-linked to the students in Wingin (on the mainland), as a start on collaboration between atevi and humans on computer knowledge. |
2:35 PM Wednesday, 21 November 2018
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