by Black, Jake
That night, despite his own public protestations, Bishop Peregrino attended the Speaking. He was surprised to see the level of honesty Ender portrayed in his Speaking of the late Marcão Ribeira. He also felt that the truths Ender revealed were ultimately gifts for the family—helping them see who their father and their adulterous mother really were.
Lusitania’s planetary charter was revoked, and Bishop Peregrino met with the other leaders of the Lusitania colony to discuss what course of action to take. He, along with the other leaders, decided to rebel against the Starways Congress’s orders, and cut off ansible communication. He hoped this would open the door for conversion of the planet’s native life—the pequeninos—to Catholicism.
In this process, Bishop Peregrino developed a grudging respect, bordering on friendship, for Ender. He learned that Ender had been baptized Catholic, and was not as devious as he’d once thought.
Bishop Peregrino took the governor of the colony to the forest where they learned that a treaty had been signed between humans and the pequeninos. He celebrated the treaty, knowing that it afforded him the opportunity to take the piggies the gospel.
He performed a celebratory mass later that morning, noting that Ender Wiggin sat with Novinha and her family. Bishop Peregrino also performed the marriage of Ender to Novinha a short time later.
Nearly thirty years later, as the Lusitanians waited for the fleet to arrive to destroy their world, Bishop Peregrino was still the leader of the church on the planet. He was very old, but equally revered by his parishioners.
When Ender’s stepson Quim, who had been ordained as the priest to the pequeninos, decided to go on a mission to the heretical piggies that believed the deadly Descolada virus to be the Holy Ghost, Bishop Peregrino supported it. He defended the missionary effort to the mayor and Quim’s family, stating that they had a responsibility to maintain the welfare of the piggies’ souls. There was great risk, to be sure, but the bishop admired Quim’s willingness to go.
Quim was killed by the pequeninos, and many of the citizens of Lusitania rioted. They burned much of the piggies’ forest, killing many pequeninos in the process. Bishop Peregrino pleaded with the people for calm, and chastened them as their spiritual leader for committing the murders they had in the forest. But he also took personal responsibility for not doing anything to stop the murders, either.
Bishop Peregrino participated in another meeting of colony leaders when a plan was presented to test a new theory of faster-than-light travel. The theory went over his head. He didn’t think it was funny when Quara joked that God had made Outspace as an answer to the prayers of the faithful on Lusitania as they awaited their destruction. He thought it might even have been true.
Pequeninos/Piggies (SD, XN, CM)
Pequeninos, or piggies as they’d been nicknamed because of their animallike appearance, were the native life-forms on the planet Lusitania. They were the only nonhuman sentient life that had been discovered in the galaxy. They had padded paws and hooklike claws on the back of their lower legs.
The piggies established strong relationships with the human settlers on Lusitania. They performed many rituals, including planting trees in their most revered citizens after death.
They carried the Descolada virus, which actually gave them their ability to live. It was fatal to humans and all other life. Working with human scientists like Ender’s stepchildren, the pequeninos were able to rid themselves of the Descolada and continue to live.
The pequeninos had a unique form of reproduction where a wife or a mothertree would accept the sap of a fathertree, and the pequeninos would grow in the trees until they were born.
Their language was complex. They could speak Stark, the variation of English Common among humans, but spoke to each other in several different languages.
Phet Noi, General (SH, [SG])
General Phet Noi was a low-ranking general in the Thai army after Ender Wiggin’s victory over the Formics. While the rest of the generals with whom he associated discounted Bean’s theories that the serial killer Achilles Flandres was threatening Thailand to allow China to take over Asia, he was sympathetic. Phet Noi used his army to help Bean launch an offensive against Achilles and his forces in India.
Phet Noi had been held captive by the Chinese when they took over Asia, but was released and immediately began work as a military adviser to Peter Wiggin and his staff in the newly created Free People of Earth, a confederation of nations unified into an ever-growing world government.
Philote (See also Philotic Web) (SD, XN, CM)
Philotes were the spark of life. They are contained in every living thing. They exist in Outspace, where thoughts become reality. They travel from Outspace into new life in regular space/time when the scientific elements are in place, and the thought is had that they should come.
Philotic Web (SD, XN, CM)
The Philotic Web is the network that connects all things together. Since all matter has a philote, all matter is connected. “Love” is thought to be the communication between philotes, for example.
Ansible communication, faster-than-light travel, and sentient computer networks such as Jane all rely on the maintenance of the Philotic Web.
Pig List (EG, WG, ES)
The pig list was a list the teachers at Battle School kept of problem students. It was made public in the hopes that the humiliation of having one’s name on the list would correct problematic behavior.
Pinehead (XN)
Popular fairy tale among the Hundred Worlds, similar to Pinocchio.
Pinual ([EG])
Pinual was a student at Battle School prior to Ender Wiggin’s arrival. He committed suicide there, leading to a thorough investigation by Graff and Anderson in an effort to determine how the International Fleet’s screening tests had missed Pinual’s suicidal tendencies. Over the course of the investigation, Graff came to determine that the suicide was actually a reaction to the war with the Formics itself as opposed to the unwinnable nature of the Giant’s Drink game, which many thought had been the impetus for Pinual to take his own life. Pinual considered his suicide a statement against the war, while Graff viewed it as a casualty of war.
Pio, Archcardinal of Baía (SD)
Archcardinal Pio was a well-respected Catholic leader of the Hundred Worlds.
Pipinho “João” (SD)
Pipinho was the eldest son of Pipo, the xenologist. Pipinho was born on the planet Lusitania.
Pipo (See Alvarez, João Figueira “Pipo”)
Planter (XN)
Planter was a pequenino, or piggie, the native sentient life on the planet Lusitania. He was a son of Human, the piggie that had become a fathertree at the hands of Ender Wiggin. Planter and Ender had become very good friends. He was a well-known pequenino scientist, and as such had become a close colleague to Ender and his family, who were all scientists on the planet. He particularly enjoyed being assigned duties that involved human technology.
When Ender and Ela developed a hypothesis that the Descolada was actually created by a third party to control and manipulate Lusitania, Planter confirmed that he had also thought that was the case. He volunteered to be the test subject for the hypothesis.
He would allow the Descolada to be purged from his system, and then be observed to determine if he still had a mind and self-awareness. If he did, then the pequeninos were their own beings. If he did not, then it would confirm that they were the slaves to the Descolada and its creator, who had used them to maintain the Lusitanian ecosystem without their knowledge.
The study was painful. He hurt as he slowly died from lack of the Descolada. He would often chant or sing the legends of his fellow pequeninos. He did this to show that he still had his mind up until he died.
Ender’s stepdaughter Quara went to visit Planter shortly before he died. He angrily told her to share the information she had on the Descolada with Ela and Miro. Quara didn’t want to give the information, because she didn’t want the virus to be eradicated. She thought doing s
o was xenocide. But Planter did a good job of convincing her. She shared the information, and Ela and her team were able to develop a new virus, in theory, that would stop the Descolada.
Despite having the theory, though, they were not able to manufacture the new virus. Planter died, saying good-bye to his friends. The other pequeninos planted him in their forest near the fathertrees, Human and Rooter, but it was too late. Planter did not have enough of the Descolada in him to become a fathertree. He grew into the most noble of the brothertrees, and was nonetheless revered by his people for his sacrifice to free them from the virus that controlled them.
Plikt (SD, XN, CM)
Plikt was a native of the planet Trondheim. She was the daughter of human settlers to the planet and was raised with the traditional Icelandic and Calvinist traditions of her people. Ender Wiggin taught a university class on the planet under his real name, Andrew. He was a Speaker for the Dead, and Plikt wanted to learn from him—to follow in his footsteps. She was a bright student whose intelligence often annoyed the rest of the class.
Twenty years later, Plikt, now a beloved friend of Valentine Wiggin’s family, traveled to Lusitania to be with Ender and to protect the planet from annihilation at the hands of the Starways Congress. Uninvited, she joined Valentine and Jakt when they left their family and ship to join Ender’s stepson, Miro Ribeira, and the sentient computer program Jane on their ship.
During this last leg of their journey from Trondheim to Lusitania, Plikt and her friends learned about the Philotic Web—the foundation of life, matter, and communication—from Jane.
When they finally reached Lusitania, though it had only felt like a month to her, Plikt realized that Ender was an old man. In his late sixties, he was still her hero. She had studied his life while still on Trondheim, and had come to know him as much as a person can through study alone.
She accompanied Ender, as well as Miro and Valentine, to the Formic Hive Queen’s lair on Lusitania. There, Plikt experienced the mind-to-mind communication that the Hive Queen used to communicate with Ender. It was a beautiful, even sacred, experience for her. She knew that she was as close to Ender as anyone ever had been, for he was the link between the Hive Queen and her. Miro—who did not have the same level of emotional closeness as Valentine and Plikt—did not hear the Hive Queen’s words. The experience changed Plikt forever.
She didn’t speak much to the Lusitanians. She was known as the “quiet woman” who had come with Valentine and Jakt.
When Ender accidentally created a new, younger version of his sister Valentine, known as Val or Valentine II, Plikt quietly befriended her. Young Val had been feared and not understood by the people of Lusitania, so Plikt took her into her home so she’d have a friend.
A few months later, as Ender laying dying, his Auía (or, loosely, his soul) being stretch too thin among himself and his “offspring” Valentine II and Peter II, Plikt stood watch at his bedside. She had devoted her life to studying Ender, Speaking, and all that he represented. She loved him dearly, and wanted to be by his side as he passed away.
Her presence was bothersome to Novinha and Valentine, though. It led to a vicious sparring session between the three women, as they fought over who loved Ender the most. Valentine slapped Plikt, promising that she’d never Speak Ender’s death. As Ender grew closer to dying, though, the three women set their differences a bit to the side to support him.
Once Ender’s Auía left his body, Plikt collected a few of his hairs. His body had dissolved, leaving only a few such hairs. Plikt prepared to Speak his death, and realized that while she loved, and even worshipped Ender, she was selfish. She felt relieved and excited when Ender died because she would finally be able to Speak someone’s death.
Coming to terms with her selfish desires, Plikt knew that Ender, if he were to Speak her death, would have noted that her love for Ender was centered on how he benefited her career. Yet, she knew that he would not scold or criticize her. With that, she wrote the words—less than an hour’s worth—that she would say about the man who was both history’s greatest monster as Ender the Xenocide, but also its greatest champion as the Speaker for the Dead.
She delivered her Speaking, and Ender’s remains were buried in the pequenino lands, near the fathertrees, Human and Rooter.
Plower (CM)
Plower was a pequenino on the planet Lusitania. He was friends with Olhado Ribeira von Hesse and his family, and enjoyed picnicking with them in the pequenino land. He was present when Jane’s soul inhabited the mothertrees and produced great fruit from the trees. Plower was the first to taste this fruit, and found it to be more delicious than anything he’d ever eaten.
Poke (ES)
Poke was the nine-year-old leader of a group of homeless, starving children who lived on the streets of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. These kids, her “crew,” looked to her for food and for protection from bullies. She was not particularly good at being a crew leader, often facing violence from the bullies, but she consistently provided at least a little food for her crew.
Poke met, and named, Bean when he was four years old. Bean instructed Poke to find a bully to protect the crew from the other bullies. Although initially against the idea, Poke chose Achilles Flandres for the role. It was a mistake, as Achilles proved more charismatic than Poke, and her crew chose to follow him more than her. Bean was certain that the mistake was even fatal, though Poke refused to believe it.
As Achilles’s control over her crew grew, Poke realized that she was not accepted by the leader. She grew to love and respect him as much as the rest of the crew, but deep down she knew that Achilles hated her. She desperately tried to regain her status as leader of the group, but it was impossible. Furthermore, Achilles sought to alienate her from her crewmates by not accepting her “tax” of bread.
When Achilles went into hiding to avoid the rumored vengeance of Ulysses, whom Achilles had seriously injured, Poke found him. The two kissed, and Poke reminded Achilles of a promise he’d made her. Bean witnessed this and realized too late that the promise was that Achilles would never kill him. Instead, he killed Poke. Achilles brutally beat Poke to death, leaving her for dead in the river, and blaming Ulysses. Poke gave her life to protect Bean.
Many years later, Bean built a memorial to Poke in Brazil, where he was living as a member of the Hegemony.
Polemarch (EG, ES, SH, EE)
The office of Polemarch was high in the International Fleet’s Hegemony. Held by a Russian, it became the target of essays by Locke and Demosthenes, who were convinced Russia was preparing for a land war after the end of the Formic conflict. Following the Formic War, the office was given to Chamrajnagar, a former Fleet officer from India.
Polonius (See Hundred Worlds)
Porotchkot, Vladimir “Vlad” Denisovitch (EGS, EG, ES, SH, SG)
A soldier in the unstoppable Dragon Army commanded by Ender Wiggin, Vladimir Porotchkot, or Vlad as he was known, was promoted to command his own army at a very young age, and eventually moved to Tactical School and Command School to train on the simulators alongside Ender and other former Dragons. He commanded a seemingly fictional squadron that turned out to be real when Ender attacked the Formic home world.
Upon his return to Earth, and his home of Belarus, Vlad was one of the members of Ender’s final army who was kidnapped and forced by his captor—former Battle School student and serial killer Achilles Flandres—to play war games. He was taken to Russia and eventually moved to a private location somewhere in that country where he could write to his fellow captives. No other interaction was allowed.
After several months in solitary confinement, Vlad decided to join Achilles’s plans of world domination. He agreed to speak with Petra Arkanian and try to convince her to join, also. He was not successful in swaying her, however.
The next day, Vlad and his fellow prisoners except Petra were rescued by Russian operatives. Achilles didn’t prevent the rescue operations, and Vlad was ultimately not allowed to be on Achilles’s tea
m.
He later defended the decision to join Achilles because he thought Achilles was controlling the “Mother Land” of Russia and only wanted to serve Russia. This was doubted by the real military leaders in Russia, and elsewhere, but Vlad stood by it unwaveringly.
When Bean and Petra helped their Battle School colleague Alai plan a military invasion of China, Bean thought turning to Vlad would be wise. Alai was uncertain, but Bean knew if the invasion was to work, it needed Russia’s help. And Vlad was the key to Russia.
Russia did not play a part in the Muslim occupation of Asia. Instead, it stayed on the sidelines and watched. Vlad, not trusted because of his work with Achilles while kidnapped, was not as influential as he appeared.
Several months later, as India began to push back against its Muslim occupiers, Peter Wiggin sought out Vlad, hoping that he would help Russia be an ally in the impending war in Asia. Vlad did not have authority to make any promises, but that was okay with Peter. He actually made Vlad another offer—which Hyrum Graff had also made—which was to leave Earth and begin a new life in space. Like all of his Battle School colleagues, Vlad refused, but promised to think about it.
As Peter built the Hegemony into the Free People of Earth, Graff again offered Ender’s colleagues the opportunity to leave Earth and govern a planet. It was his fear that Ender’s army would be used in the worldwide conflict, manipulated by whatever political power rose to prominence, and he wanted to prevent that. Every member who received the offer, which did not include Han Tzu, Petra Arkanian, or Alai, said no. The others were already too involved in matters on Earth to leave.
War raged on between China and the combined forces of India and the Muslim world. Russia decided to attack, hoping to capitalize on a weakened Chinese army. They used plans created by Vlad for their attack. Vlad escaped from Russia and was put into the protection of Peter Wiggin’s Free People of Earth. Vlad gave the FPE copies of all of his plans, which were passed on to China, newly aligned with the FPE, to defeat the Russians.
