• “Behold us, fair Phaea, lady of the larder. Behold our love and our need for thee. Feed us, O Phaea!” (III, chap. 6, 226).
• “Behold us, fierce Sphigx, woman of war. Behold our love and our need for thee. Lead us, O Sphigx!” (III, chap. 6, 226).
• Probably this quote: “When neither our fellows nor our gods spoil our plans, we spoil them ourselves” (IV, chap. 15, 327).
• Probably all or part of the Aeneid, based on the quote “O soror neque . . .”
(which see).
cities there are a couple hundred cities in the Whorl (II, chap. 9, 223) including: Gens, Sedes, Trivigaunte, Ur, Urbs, Viron, and Wick.
Civet, Major “the officer who killed Dr. Crane while trying to free Silk” (III, list; III, chap. 2, 73).
Zoology: family of nocturnal mammals (including the mongoose), cat-like but not true cats.
Clock Street a Vironese street where Silk’s mother bought the music box (II, chap. 1, 25).
coadjutor Remora’s job title as assistant to Quetzal. In ecclesiastic law, a fellow helper or assistant; particularly applied to the assistant of a bishop.
cold ones frozen embryos of humans and animals, stored in the landers. Apparently adventurers in the tunnels find landers and loot them of computer chips and cold ones. Caldé Tussah bought one, which turned out to be Silk. Blood bought a few, first Mucor, then the lynxes she bore.
Coypu “young middle-class man from Viron, husband of Chervil” (II, list; II, chap. 6, 162). He and his wife buy Silk a drink and try to dissuade him from making a pilgrimage to the lake shrine, telling him of how Coypu, in a strange daze, had nearly walked off a cliff, which would have killed him. Doctor Crane, who happened to be there, assisted Chervil in treating Coypu, presumably seeing it all in mundane medical terms (165–66).
Zoology: aquatic rodent of South America.
Crane, Doctor “Blood’s private physician, a small fussy man with an iron-gray beard” (II, list). Holding this position at Blood’s villa for four years, he is actually a master spy from Trivigaunte (I, chap. 7, 166). (His Trivigaunti name is “Sigada.”) Crane gathers information through Chenille at Orchid’s and Hyacinth at Blood’s. Chenille carries his secret messages (in wooden statues of Sphigx) to a trader at the market. His last message (in which he boasts of giving Silk the azoth as a way of destroying him later, if necessary; yet plays coy about the chalking; and the most secret part has to do with bringing down a Flier) was not delivered (II, chap. 5, 120).
In addition to routine checkups on the prostitutes, he performed cosmetic surgery on Hyacinth, giving her enlarged breasts.
While it is possible that Crane himself does the high chalking of “Silk for Caldé,” presumably by standing on top of a litter or on top of Blood’s floater, still, this seems too public for him.
On 30 Nemesis Crane is accidentally killed by Civet when Silk is “rescued” from a military group that secretly supports him. His death launches the Trivigaunti invasion, since they had implanted a heartbeat monitor within Crane in the belief that, should he die, all his secrets would have been discovered by Viron. The airship arrives in about 21 hours.
Zoology: a large bird having a long neck, a long bill, and long legs with which it wades.
Crassula one of Orchid’s girls, formerly possessed by Mucor (I, chap. 11, 289). Not on lists.
Botany: name applied by the medieval herbalists to some species of Sedum, especially Orpine; but now limited to a genus of succulent plants, chiefly South African, the type of the N.O. Crassulaceae, which includes the Stone crops, House leeks, Echeveria, etc.
Commentary: note the link of “crassula” to “orpine.” It suggests that Mucor was closing in on Orpine.
D
Dace “skipper of the fishing boat commandeered by Scylla” (III, list) when she possessed Chenille (III, chap. 1, 34). Later in the tunnels he is killed and partially eaten by Gelada.
Zoology: there are a number of species of small fish, including the Common Dace, Leuciscus leusiscus.
Dahlia “a student of Marble’s, long ago” (III, list); “a student at the palastra on Sun Street long ago” (IV, list). Marble thinks her face used to look like Dahlia’s (II, chap. 11, 276); like Dahlia, or Teasel, or Nettle (III, chap. 10, 364). Presumably the old woman Mint meets on the last day of the story, a refugee along with her unnamed husband (IV, chap. 16, 358).
Botany: a plant cultivated for its showy flowers of various colors.
Dark Son of Thyone a minor god, a god of wine (IV, chap. 8, 146).
Myth: (Greek) Dionysus, god of wine, is the son of Thyone and Zeus. See THYONE.
Desmid “one of Potto’s spycatchers, now dead” (IV, list). The man who brought Spider into the business (IV, chap. 6, 115).
Botany: (Greek “bond”) one of the classes of green algae phylum Gamophytes is Desmidioidae (the Euconjugate is the other).
Commentary: unusual case where a male seems to have a female name (then again, in this context any “Bond” is hard to pass up). See also CAMPION, MURTAGON.
dreams a collection of dreams in the text:
• Silk dreams “his donkey was lost . . .” (I, chap. 9, 219).
• Silk dreams “he had thrust his arm . . .” (II, chap. 1, 28).
• Silk dreams he “drove the deadcoach” (II, chap. 4, 104).
• Silk falling asleep in tunnels (II, chap. 8, 204).
• Silk dreams “a steep hillside . . .” (II, chap. 8, 208).
• Marble dreams and Rose dies or has died (II, chap. 11, 275–278).
• Silk dreams while unconscious through torture (II, chap. 11, 278–280).
• Dream interpretation (IV, chap. 6, 94–97)
Dreoilin “Iolar’s favorite daughter” (II, list; II, chap. 6, 143).
Irish: [dro-LEEN] sparrow.
E
Echidna “a major goddess, consort of Pas, mother of the gods, and chief goddess of fertility. Particularly associated with snakes, mice, and other crawling creatures” (II, list). She forbids sex for augurs and sibyls (I, chap. 10, 246). She led the rebel gods to kill Pas decades before (III, chap. 4, 156). She looks like Medusa, with snakes for hair (III, chap. 3, 91). At her theophany at Sun Street, Echidna makes Mint “the sword of the Eight Great Gods” and orders that the ruling council be cast out and the Charter restored. She tells them to pull down the Alambrera. After she finishes, the long sun goes out briefly and then restarts, giving a glimpse of her continuing war against Pas. Then Echidna possesses Rose/Marble and sacrifices Musk to herself (100). She asks Silk for Auk, meaning the boy Villus, presumably to sacrifice him as well (101). (It seems likely she has learned Auk is an agent of Tartaros.) Silk refuses.
Her children, in birth order, are Scylla, Molpe, Tartaros, Hierax, Thelxiepeia, Phaea, and Sphygx.
Myth: (Greek) daughter of Ceto, with the head of a beautiful nymph and the body of a serpent. By Typhon she gave birth to a number of monsters, including Cerberus, the Chimaera, the Hydra, and the Sphingx.
Eft, Sergeant “Mattak’s chief subordinate” (III, list). In the tense stalemate on Gold Street he kills Patera Moray in the jeweler’s store just prior to Mattak being struck down by an inhumu (III, chap. 6, 249).
Zoology: young newt (so either son of Councillor Newt or relative of same).
Eland “one of Urus’s convict crew; he tamed and trained two tunnel gods” (III, list), the creatures also known as bufes (IV, chap. 10, 184). Eland was not a thief but “a horse trainer who had killed his employer in a fit of rage” (IV, chap. 13, 275). He is killed at the Grand Manteion by an assassin who mistakes him for Spider (IV, chap. 12, 247).
Zoology: large African antelope with spirally twisted horns.
Elodia “Gelada’s former mistress” (III, list; III, chap. 3, 120).
Botany: Elodea (Greek “marshy”), a member of a small genus of aquatic plants, belonging to the family Hydrocharidaceae and native to temperate America.
Ermine “owner of the highest-priced hotel in Viron” (III,
list). Silk wonders if he is still alive.
Zoology: a weasel with brownish fur that turns white in winter. The fur of this animal has been highly prized since medieval times at least.
Ermine’s Hotel a five story establishment on the Palatine. From Ermine’s to the Grand Manteion is “two streets north and one west” (IV, chap. 11, 226). For its location on a map, see PALATINE.
The hotel has a large anteroom, fronting on the sellaria. To the right of the sellaria is the Club, a bar, and to the left of the selleria is the Glasshouse, containing a garden and the fishpond where Thelxiepeia looks into a hand mirror (III, chap. 7, 257). This pond seems like a real shrine.
The so-called “rooms” of the hotel are actually suites. The room “seven nine” is a double room located at the top of the Grand Staircase on the right (IV, chap. 11, 212–13). It is also known as the Lyrichord Room, since that is the instrument in its music room. This is the room where Generalissimo Siyuf falls asleep with Chenille and wakes up with Violet.
The room where Silk and Hyacinth stay, seemingly a single room, is located one floor above the Lyrichord Room and two floors above the fish pool. The number is not given, but if it follows the same pattern, it would probably be seventeen or nineteen (directly above) or eighteen or twenty (above and across the hall).
Commentary: within the rich mythology of the Whorl, the number nine is the number of Sphigx, and the number seven is that of her sister Thelxiepeia. Thus it seems significant that Siyuf, a warrior from Sphigx’s city, is paired with a partner who “transforms” as if by Thelxiepeia’s magic. Not quite a “Mars and Venus” tableau, but very close.
The room for Silk and Hyacinth, as nineteen, would be Pas (1) and Sphigx (9), which is plausible, but as eighteen it would be Pas and Phaea, the pig goddess. This strikes an amusing chord when Hyacinth sees herself in the monitor mirror as being an ugly sloppy mess (IV, chap. 12, 236–37).
Erne, Brigadier “the commander of the Fourth Brigade of Viron’s Civil Guard (formerly the Caldé’s Guard)” (III, list; IV, chap. 1, 23).
Zoology: European gray sea eagle, Haliaeetus albicilla.
Exmour a dying person Silk comforted in the past (II, chap. 12, 294). Not on lists.
Zoology: perhaps “Ex moor,” the name of a district in Somerset and Devon, used to designate particular breeds of ponies and sheep that it produces.
F
families and names in Vironese naming conventions, where boys are named after animals (like “wolf”) or animal parts (like “gene”), and girls are named after plants (like “rosemary”), there are suggestions that a name contains hints of the individual’s parentage, and that names link up in units larger than a single family line, amounting to a semi-hidden tribe or clan.
The text reveals that Silk is the secretly adopted son of Caldé Tussah, who is himself named after a type of silk. The sons of Horn are Sinew, Hoof, and Hide, all having names of cattle parts. Even Blood’s adopted daughter Mucor has a name that links to him by way of humors. So it follows that the nominal father of Bustard and Auk must be a flightless bird.
On the larger scale, it seems as though a “clan” of people named after prosimians (Lemur, Loris, Potto, and Tarsier) has taken over the Vironese government.
Therefore, within the text a name gives clues as to a character’s parents and alludes to other family members, perhaps even allegiance to larger factions. This being the case, it seems that listing names by various groupings could lead to the discovery of hidden relations between characters.
Plants
• Algae: Desmid.
• Fiber: Flax.
• Flowers: Aster, Bellflower, Chenille, Dahlia, Gayfeather, Kingcup, Orchid, Petal, Rose, Violet.
• Food plants: Cassava, Ginger, Lime, Olive.
• Fungi: Mucor, Scleroderma.
• Garden plants: Pricklythrift, Salvia.
• Grasses: Moorgrass.
• Herbs: Aquifolia, Chamomile, Chervil, Crassula, Milkwort, Mint, Moly, Orpine, Salvia.
• Lilies: Asphodella, Hyacinth, Lily, Murtagon (as Martagon).
• Medicinal plants: Aloe, Mezeron.
• Narcotic plants: Betel, Bittersweet, Poppy.
• Shrubs: Holly, Kerria, Mezeron, Milkwort, Shrub.
• Trees: Arolla, Maple, Milkwort, Mockorange, Pine, Wood.
• Vines: Liana.
• Water plants: Elodia.
• Weeds: Nettle, Teasel.
Mammals
• Apes: Gelada, Mandrill.
• Cats: Cat, Chenille (“cat with burning tail”), Civet, Gib, Linsang, Lion, Pard, Serval, Tiger.
• Camels: Oont.
• Cattle: Addax, Bison, Hide, Hoof, Horn, Urus.
• Dogs: Feist.
• Deer: Brocket, Goral, Hart.
• Fox: Kit, Vulpes.
• Horse: Exmour.
• Monkeys: Galago, Macaque, Titi.
• Pigs: Babirousa, Pork.
• Rodents: Cavy, Coypu, Hare, Hyrax, Jerboa, Paca, Sewellel, Yapok.
• Prosimians: Lemur, Loris, Potto, Tarsier.
• Sheep: Bharal, Wool.
• Skunk: Zoril.
• Walrus: Oosik.
• Weasel: Ermine, Grison, Kalan, Marten.
• Whale: Mattak.
• Wolverine: Gulo, Ratel.
Non-mammals
• Birds: Aquila, Auk, Bustard, Crane, Erne, Feather, Fulmar, Goldcrest, Guan, Oreb, Quetzal, Rook, Shrike, Swallow, Willet.
• Caterpillars: Caddis, Chenille, Tussah.
• Fish: Bass, Bream, Dace, Feeler (as body part of Carp), Gurnard, Kit, Loach, Moray, Pike, Remora, Scale, Scup, Skate, Xiphias.
• Frogs: Buffo, Peeper.
• Insects: Locust, Feeler, Spider, Tick.
• Reptiles: Eft, Gecko, Newt, Skink.
• Worms: Trematode.
Parts
• Bones: Femur, Gam, Incus, Marrow, Oosik.
• Connective tissues: Sinew.
• Fabric: Chenille, Flax, Hyacinth (Jacinth), Silk, Teasel, Tussah.
• Hair: Feather, Hoof, Horn, Quill, Villus, Wool.
• Humors: Blood, Mucor (as mucus), Musk.
• Meat: Mattak.
• Products: Guan (as guano), Silk.
• Segments: Feist (as fist).
• Skin: Hide, Scale, Skin.
Minerals
• Gem stones: Hyacinth (aka Jacinth), Sard.
• Metallic elements: Magnesia, Molybdenum.
• Metamorphic Sedimentary Rocks: Marble, Schist, Slate.
• Sedimentary Rocks: Marl, Sand, Shale.
(note: military units may be organized by alphabet, since Company “S” has a lot of soldiers whose names begin with “S.”)
Feather “a small boy at Silk’s palaestra” (II, list), the one shoved aside by Horn during the game when Silk was enlightened (I, chap. 1, 10). Last seen in the group heading for the lander (IV, chap. 16, 369).
Feeler, Patera “a proverbial carper” (IV, list; IV, chap. 6, 93).
Zoology: a body part of an insect (antenna). (Or more appropriately, the body part near the mouth of a carp.)
Feist Sand tosses this Assistant Day Manager over a stair railing at Ermine’s (IV, chap. 14, 293).
Zoology: the word “feisty” is said to come from “feist,” a dialectual term for a small dog (American Heritage Dictionary).
Anatomy: fist.
Femur “Incus’s much-older brother” (III, list; III, chap. 6, 219).
Anatomy: thigh bone.
fisc the central bank of Viron (I, chap. 1, 27). An unusual English word meaning “a royal or state treasury” (The New York Times Everyday Reader’s Dictionary of Misunderstood, Misused, and Mispronounced Words).
Flax a dying person Silk comforted in the past (II, chap. 12, 294). Not on lists.
Botany: any of several plants with blue flowers and slender stems from which a fine fiber is obtained.
Fabric: a fabric made from flax.
Fliers the
se “little people” help manage the long sun itself. Ever since the god rebellion cut the communication cable, they have also flown messages from East Pole to West Pole. They are polygamous. See: AER, GRIAN, IOLAR, MEAR, SCIATHAN, SUMAIRE.
floater a vehicle that hovers above the ground on a cushion of air created by fans. Blood has a civilian floater that is like a luxury car; it can clear four cubits (six feet) of vertical height when carrying only a driver (I, chap. 8, 198). Military floaters are like hovering tanks. All floaters have a vector check for North/South travel (III, chap. 9, 317).
Gate of Horn, Book of Silk Page 4
