Glossary

Belinda Tement

This glossary of terms is intended to allow residents of Earth to understand the exode and the lives of humans who reside on other planets such as Hemmal. -John
 

Ario

Ario - one of the pek at Demon Lodge; recruited by Parthney to be a member of his megepi.

Belinda Tement - name used on Earth by the Overseer who captures Parthney.

Boswei - Father of Izhiun.

bothet - Bothets are pek who serve in a formal capacity in traditional Buld midnight temple ceremonies that facilitate Buld reproduction, an otherwise remarkably inefficient process.

Buld Clan - The largest human Genesaunt group outside of the Prelands. The Bulds were designed to function as colonists, traveling from star to star on multi-generation space craft.

Change - The "Change" is a normal part of Buld reproduction. Usually a new Buld embryo becomes highly aggressive and spreads its cells through the body of its mother, over the course of weeks completely replacing the parental cells. In the Pla, the process of cell replacement does not go to completion and is called "partial change". See also: taiuoro.

conitorium - the part of a Buld temple that is devoted to the thrice daily feeding ritual.

D'hab

Creators - A term used on planets like Hemmal to refer to the assumed creators the Prelands. Less religious and more scientific Genesaunts use the term "Huaoshy".

D'hab - One of the temple pek at Demon Lodge; recruited by Parthney to be a member of his megepi.

Demon Lodge - A small community among the Pelis Kel. Named for the fuming springs and caverns on the south flank of Kel Stoen. Local legends suggest that there were cave-dwelling animals, possibly similar to bats, in the area when humans first arrived. See kel.

Ek'col - one of the experimental human variants designed and crafted by the pek.

Ephkru - one of the temple pek at Demon Lodge.

exode - a term used to refer to the process by which humans have been taken from Earth and settled on other worlds.

false - As used by the Buld to refer to people, 'false" has no easy translation. Mutant, freak, outcast, and deviant might capture the correct emotional overtones. Technically, the term implies that the individual has an abnormal humanoid phenotype. Usually, phenotypic difference are of little social consequence, but in some cases the "mutant" individual might be almost incapable of existing and functioning withing Buld society.

Fru'wu - a sapient lifeform that developed in Earth's galaxy with interference from the Nereids and the Huaoshy. They became involved in altering the course of human development on Earth and on other planets.

Fru'munu - the code name for the secretive Fru'wu contact who assists Pla'kau and Pla'mak keep Lendhalen functioning as an Interventionist training base.

Gwyned

Genesaunt - A term used by the Huaoshy to refer to members of a species that have been taken away from their original planet and cultured on other worlds or at space stations.

Gwyned Iwedon - Born on Earth, but teleported to the Koly star system.

Hemmal - The planet where Kach and Parthney were born.

Huaoshy - An alien lifeform from beyond our galaxy. Seldom seen by humans, the Huaoshy have been present in this galaxy for many millions of years.

Interventionists - A small group of Genesaunts who take a special interest in planets like Earth.

Kach as a student.

Izhiun - Son of Boswei

Kach - A false human female from Pelis Kel.

Kac'hin - one of the experimental human variants designed and crafted by the pek.

kan - Roughly translates as "musician". Among the Buld, kanship almost exclusively involves singing. Musical instruments are almost unknown, although brief ceremonial drumming is part of some traditional songs.

kel - mountain, hill or other area of elevated land. Example: Kel Stoen is the volcanic mountain that rises above Demon Lodge.

Klyz - an Interventionist base run by the Fru'wu.

Leymaygn

Koly - Hemmal and Oib are part of the Koly star system.

Leymaygn - A Buld at Lendhalen who along with Vozgrow and Gwyned trains Parthney for his mission on Earth.

Lendhalen - The secretive community in the Koly star system where people live without nanites.

lisden - Roughly translatable as "scholar".

Luk'ru - The planet where Izhiun was born.

megepi - A group of kanen who sing together.

meonuck - A special type of pek that was designed for integration into Buld Clan social structure on board Buld colony ships. A meonuck typically takes the form of small pet or companion of an individual or a small group of Buld.

Muchlo

Muchlo - The pek companion of Kach.

nepot - An imprecise term indicating a genetic relationship between an elderly Buld and a younger Buld. Given the long lives of the Buld, the relationship could be several generations removed.

Nereids - A humanoid species of the Andromeda Galaxy.

Oib - The closest planet to Hemmal. Inhabited by members of the Buld Clan.

Overseers - the Overseers function as a kind of police force to enforce the Rules of Observation on Earth.

pana - The inverse of nepot. Roughly "ancestor", but sometimes used in a way similar to "grandparent" or to indicate a more distant genetic relationship.

Parthney

Parthney - A false human male from Pelis Kel. He uses various names while on Earth including "Henry Montpellier".

pek - From an ancient language of the Buld Clan, approximately meaning "robot". The pek are a form of artificial life, based on nanoscopic nanite structural components, provided to the Buld and Prelands by the Huaoshy.

Pelis Kel - the mountains on Hemmal where a Buld colony lives.

Pla - a group of Buld who, with assistance from the Fru'wu, were able to free their brains of pek nanites.

Pla'va

Pla'va - the Pla who flew Parthney from Hemmal to Oib.

Pla'kau

Pla'kau - the junior Pla co-director of Lendhalen when Parthney is in residence at Lendhalen.

Pla'kau becomes devoted to trying to prevent the closure of the Observer Base on Earth's Moon, fearing that in the absence of Overseers technological change will be too rapid on Earth.

Pla'mak

Pla'mak - the senior Pla co-director of Lendhalen when Parthney is in residence at Lendhalen.

Preland - Most human Genesaunts are Prelands. Prelands are of several types, designed for functions such as solving terraforming problems for unstable ecosystems and inter-species diplomacy and communications. The Prelands on Hemmal are devoted to acting out their heroic epics, stories that, unknown to them, are based on Earth history. The Prelands are well on their way to becoming a new species, designed to replace humans on Earth.

quadalia - the four traditional daily religious ceremonies of Prelands.

Reginal

Reginal - one of the temple pek at Demon Lodge; viewed by Parthney as a bothet; recruited by Parthney to be a member of his megepi.

Rules of Observation - the set of rules that guide the Overseers. Most importantly, the people of Earth are not allowed to know that Earth was visited by the pek seven million years ago and the course of human evolution has been guided by the aliens.

Sophis - the keeper of Demon Lodge.

Steph - the pek companion of Boswei.

taiuoro - the Buld religious ritual of transformation. See also: Change
 

Thorklet

thon - "thon" is as a gender-neutral pronoun used to refer to people who are not male or female. Thon laughed - I called thon - Thons eyes gleam - That is thons - Thon likes thonself.

Thorklet - The port master who welcomes Parthney to Oib.

Unetic Clan - the traditional name for the earliest Preland residents of Hemmal.

Vozgrow

Vozgrow - A Buld at Lendhalen who along with Leymaygn and Gwyned trains Parthney for his mission on Earth.

Yandrey

Yandrey - a Buld who has lived on Hemmal for more than 15,000 years.

Zja'na - the mythical Mother of Humanity in the legends of Hemmal.

Exode is copyright John Schmidt, but the text of the story is  licensed for sharing under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license.