Forging Zero (88 page)

Ka-par (ka-par)
– The predatory game of wills that older Dhasha play with worthy prey creatures
or other ancient Dhasha. A stare-down until one contestant submits.

Ka-par inalt (ka-par
in-alt) – ‘I submit.’

Ka-par
rak’tal. (ka-par rak*tal) – ‘duel accepted.’ *is used to denote a guttural,
back-of-throat, almost hacking sound.

Mahid ka-par (ma-heed
ka-par) – ‘may it begin.’

Vahlin (vah-lin)
– the legendary leader of the Dhasha, prophecized to be ‘dark of body’ and lead
them to independence from tyranny.

Huouyt-specific:

Breja (bray-shjah)
– the quarter-inch long, downy white cilia covering a Huouyt’s entire body.
Extremely painful to be pulled or mutilated, as it is basically raw nerves.

Zora (zoh-rah) –
the red, wormlike, many-tentacled appendage that exits a Houyt’s forehead.
Much like a fleshy form of coral in appearance when fully extended. It is the
zora that allows a Huouyt to digest and analyze genetic material to take a new
pattern.

Ooreiki-specific:

Adpi (ad-pee) –
Three ceremonial ruvmestin caps on the tips of the fingers of an Ooreiki’s
right hand that signify an Ooreiki of the yeeri caste. Silver caps laced with
Celtic-type knots. Must be removed in order for a yeeri to join the military.

Ash/soot – a
disgusting, unclean substance

Ashsoul – the
most extreme insult in the Ooreiki language. Also translates to ‘lost one’

Ashy –
shitty/gross/disgusting/awful

Burn/burning –
used much like Human fuck/fucking

Charhead –
dumbass, someone stupid, alternatively: someone with an unclean/dirty mind

Furgsoot –
bull, bullshit, horseshit, crap, yeah right

Hoga (ho-ga) –
An Ooreiki caste, one of 4—yeeri, wriit, hoga, vkala. Hoga are the Ooreiki
upper-middle class. They consist of scribes, scholars, and scientists. The
intellectuals and inventors, second only to the yeeri.

Niish (nish) –
Ooreiki child, also used to describe a form of larvae.

Niish Ahymar
(nish ay-a-mar) - An Ooreiki ceremony to determine caste where a red-hot brand
is pressed into a child’s skin. Vkala do not burn, and are then cast to onen. The
traditional Ooreiki ceremony of adulthood.

Oorei (oo-ray) –
the Ooreiki term for ‘soul.’ It is the name of the crystalline sphere carried
within every Ooreiki and removed by Poenian yeeri priests at their death.
Emotional/psychological experiences throughout life change color of crystal.
Considered to be the highest crime of Ooreiki society to harm an oorei.

Asher – much
like ‘asshole,’ but with an aggressive, fighting connotation

Shenaal
(She-nahl) – Mark of the Pure. The burn left when Ooreiki niish are tested
during the Niish Ahymar.

Sootbag –
someone disgusting, unprepared, unequipped

Sooter –
disgusting, unclean person; bastard, dumbass. Less aggressive connotation than
‘asher,’ though similar use.

Sootwad –
degrading, denotes disrespect, a useless person

Vkala (vah-ka-la)
– Fire Gods, the lowest caste of Ooreiki. Considered unclean, are generally
killed in adolescence during the Niish Ahymar. Some Ooreiki vkala children
survive their bouts with the onen, though never without great scarring, which
forever marks them as the lowest class of Ooreiki. Vkala gained their ill
repute in the formation of Congress on Vora, when the Ooreiki delegates were
genetically modified to withstand fire in order to attend the peace-talks on
the often-fiery Jreet home-planet. All
vkala
are direct descendants of
the original Ooreiki delegation that helped form Congress, and whom returned as
heroes and were offered many breeding opportunities. Unfortunately, the
peace-loving Ooreiki, expecting the formation of Congress to lead to a
permanent end of war, were appalled when their new nation discovered its first
heavy resistance and had to institute the first Draft. Once hailed as heroes,
those who now carry the genetic modification protecting them from fire are despised
as having ancestors who betrayed the Ooreiki race. (See The Legend of ZERO
Additional Materials.)

Wriit (wri-it)–
An Ooreiki caste, one of 4—yeeri, wriit, hoga, vkala. Wriit are the Ooreiki
craftsmen, workers, and artisans; the Ooreiki middle class.

Yeeri (yee-re)
– An Ooreiki caste, one of 4—yeeri, wriit, hoga, vkala. Yeeri are the
Ooreiki’s artists and priests, renowned throughout congress as the creators of
the most magnificent art in the universe. The highest Ooreiki caste, very
pampered and educated. Yeeri are also the priests who attend the oorei in
temples on Poen.

Universal words
:

Akarit
(Ack-are-it) – Expensive, golden ring-shaped signal-scrambling device used by
insurgents and assassins.

Ekhta (ek-tuh)
– Planet-killer. The most destructive bomb in the Congressional arsenal, one
of the many great inventions of the Geuji during the Age of Expansion. Like
all Geuji technology, the manufacture is so complex that it is un-reproducible
by any other mind, and Congress simply follows the steps outlined by the Geuji
to create it. (For more info on the Geuji, check out ‘The Moldy Dead’ and
‘Breaking the Mold’ in The Legend of ZERO Additional Materials.)

Ferlii (fur-lee)
– The massive alien, fungus-like growths covering Ooreiki planets whose reddish
spores turn the sky purple. Used as a unit of measurement: One ferlii-length
is similar to a human mile.

Furg – A short,
squat, very hairy alien that is as ugly as it is stupid. A tool-user, but too
primitive to use anything other than sharpened rocks. Think a stocky,
2.5-foot-tall Neanderthal who breeds fast enough to replace numbers lost to
stupidity. Darwinian law does not apply.

Furgling – A
younger version of a furg. Shorter, hairier, and stupider than its parents.

Haauk (hawk) –
skimmer, the floating platforms used as personal planetary transportation

Jenfurgling –
One of the most blatantly stupid creatures in Congress. An evolutionary
offshoot of furgs arriving on an island where the population underwent a severe
bottleneck and had no predators. They delight in beating their hairy faces
against the ground and playing with their own excrement.

Kasja (kas-jah)
– Highest congressional war-medal. Awarded to a very few, very highly
esteemed.

Kkee (ca-ca-ee)
– yes

Ninety Jreet
Hells – The ninety levels of pain and unpleasantness that a Jreet warrior must
pass through upon death in order to reach the afterlife. (See The Legend of
ZERO Additional Materials.)

Nkjan
(naka-john) – war; also: “Evil”

Nkjanii
(naka-john-ee-ay) – “Evildoer” – battlemaster

Oonnai
(oon-nigh) - hello

Oora (oo-ra) – “Souled
one” - sir

Otwa (Aht-wha)
– A ceremonial rifle that the Ooreiki used to fight the first Jreet invasions,
before the formation of Congress. To the Ooreiki, it represents a time when
they gave up their ideals to survive. Now considered the ceremonial rifle of
Congress, used for important gatherings, presentations, and parades.

Peacemakers-
the governmental, semi-military authorities who are autonomous in judging,
monitoring, and policing the populace. Their main task is to make sure nobody
has seditious thoughts, symbol is an eight-pointed star with a planet balancing
on each tip. Their base planet is Levren, but they also maintain the Sanctuary
on Koliinaat, which is the only place on the planet that is inaccessible to the
Watcher.

Planetary Ops
(also: PlanOps) – symbol is a single sphere, half red, half blue. Tattoo is of
a green, single-moon planet with a headcom, a PPU, and a species-generic plasma
rifle leaning against the debris ring. The tattoo glows slightly, a
cell-by-cell gene modification that causes the tattooed skin to bio-luminesce.

Ruvmestin
(ruv-meh-stihn) – A whitish, extremely heavy metal with a greater density than
gold. The most valuable metal in Congress. Used in Geuji technologies, esp.
nannites, like biosuits and spaceships. Does not oxidize in air. Mined on the
government planets of Grakkas, Yeejor, and Pelipe. Once ruvmestin is
discovered on a planet, Congress immediately claims the planet for the common
good, removing it from the Planetary Claims Board queue.

Sacred Turn –
Time period. 666 turns.

Tribunal – The
three members of the Regency chosen to represent and make judgments for the
whole of Congress. The Tribunal are the power-members of the Regency, usually
occupied by members of the Grand Six. Aliphei is First Citizen, and has
maintained a seat on the Tribunal for the entire duration of Congress. The
symbol of the Tribunal is three red circles inside a silver ring, surrounded by
eight blue circles formed into two sides facing off against each other.

Zahali
(za-ha-li) – I’m sorry

Species:

Dhasha (Dah-sha)
– One of the Grand Six. Very dangerous, violent beasts with indestructible
metallic scales that shine with constantly-shifting iridescence. Big,
crystalline, oval green eyes, long black talons, stubby bodies, sharklike faces
with triangular black teeth. Their nostrils are set beside their eyes. Females
are golden instead of rainbow, males have two layers of scales, indestructible
metallic on top, gold underneath. Gutteral, snarling voice. Laugh by clacking
their teeth together. Grow continuously throughout their lifetimes.

Huouyt (sounds
like: White) – One of the Grand Six. Three-legged, ancestrally aquatic shape-shifters.
Bleed clear mucous.
Breja
- Downy white fluff covering body. Tentacle
legs and paddle-like arms. Cylindrical torso, enormous, electric-blue eyes,
and a triangular, squid-like head.
Zora
- red, wormy gills in upper
center of Huouyt heads that allow them to take the genetic patterns of another
creature. Huouyt have a bad reputation in Congress. They are cunning, sneaky,
adaptable, and excellent mimics. Considered to be psychopathic by most species
in Congress.

Jahul (Jah-hool)–
One of the Grand Six. Sextuped empaths with greenish skin and a chemical
defense system of releasing their own wastes over their skin.

Jreet (Jreet) –
One of the Grand Six. Red, gray, or cream-colored serpentine warriors who
guard the First Citizen and the Tribunal. Have the ability to raise the energy
level of their scales and disappear from the visible spectrum. Believe in
ninety hells for cowards, and that each soul splits into ninety different parts
so they can experience all ninety hells at once. Their rravut within their
teks is the most powerful poison in Congress. Bluish blood. Short,
engine-like
shee-whomp
battlecry. Cream colored bellies.
Diamond-shaped head.
Tek-
the talon protruding from their chests.

Ooreiki (Ooh-reh-kee)
– One of the Grand Six. Heavy aliens a lot like boneless gorillas. Five
hundred pounds on average. Four tentacle fingers on each arm. Big brown
ostrich-egg sized snake-eyes, brown legs, skin turns splotchy when frightened.
Huge mouths. Wrinkle their big faces to smile. Grunting rattle of speech.
Five feet tall on average. Laugh by making a guttural rapping sound in the
base of their necks like a toad croaking. Average age is 400. Outnumber
humans ten thousand to one. Only the Ueshi are a more populous species.

Shadyi (Shad-yee)
– The species of the First Citizen, Aliphei. There is only one surviving
member of this species. Shaggy blue alien, walks on four feet, elephant-sized,
black tusks, red eyes.

Takki (Sounds
like: Tacky) – The ancestral servants of the Dhasha. Reviled throughout
Congress as cowards and betrayers. Purple scales, very dense bodies, upright
humanoid lizards. Crystalline, blue, ovoid eyes.

Ueshi (Oo-eh-she)
– One of the Grand Six. Small blue or blue-green aliens with excellent
reflexes and rubbery skin. Aquatic ancestry. Headcrest.

Measurements:

ST – Standard
Turns 9 standard rotations (1.23 years, 448.875 Earth Days to a Standard Turn)

SR – Standard Rotation 36 standard days (49.875 Earth Days to a
Standard Rotation)

SD – Standard Day 36 standard hours (33.25 Earth Hours to a
Standard Day)

SH – Standard Hour 72 standard tics (55.42 Earth Minutes to a
Standard Hour)

St – Standard Tics (1.299 tics to an Earth Minute, .7698 Earth
Minutes to a Standard Tic)

Standard Dig- approx. 1 foot

Standard Rod- approx. 9 feet

Standard Length - approx. 4,000 feet

Standard March- approx. 9,999 rods (90,000 feet)

Standard Lobe- approx. 2.5 pounds