by Ava D. Dohn
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SirionSandevar’s Letters in Defense of Love, written not long into the King’s War, discloses the earlier history of Terey and her role played in the making of an empire:
During the First Age, the Age of Peace, Terey had busied herself in the study of language. Although only one language was spoken among all the children, the original vocabulary was basic and limited. As need arose, people would coin words to describe new things. This method worked fine while all the children lived in reasonable proximity to each other. When exploration into the stars became common and colonies grew in number at distant locations, people could be isolated from their mother planet for hundreds or even thousands of years. Over time, each colony might develop a myriad of different words for their local vocabulary. Not only this, but words tend to acquire altered meanings. Although two people from separate locations would speak the same language, the meanings of the words might be totally different. Terey took it upon herself to deal with the problem.
For thousands of years, Terey traveled to all the major colonies and many smaller ones. Over the course of time, she recorded a massive encyclopedic dictionary of words and their meanings as understood in various parts of the galaxy. Through exhaustive effort, she developed what came to be known as the ‘universal tongue’. She defined word segments and root word concepts, explaining their meanings and uses in all aspects of written and spoken language.
Terey redefined the common theory of speech, placing more importance on using a series of root segments to invent a new word than creating a new word by itself. She undertook the task of designing a simple alphabet, so that a few letters could replace the many hundreds of characters used in standard writing. This contributed to the mass printing of literature, thus creating quick and easy access to all varieties of written material, including Terey’s. Her printed volumes on language became the foundation for all official and scientific writing.
After the attack on Mihai, Terey went into a serious depression. Her nervous disorder made her physically sick, something at that time unheard of. Eventually the depression ended, but her physical sickness continued to dog her. She remained sensitive to many foods and her hands would often tremble. Persons thinking this weakened her ability to fight often paid a high price for such foolishness. She was a cunning strategist.
Terey also had a constitution of iron and her sickness did not slow her down. In fact, she was one of the best fighter pilots in the entire navy. During the Great War, she had flown as Mihai’s wing pilot on several occasions. Only outstanding pilots were able fly with Mihai’s squadron because they flew a TKR-17, commonly called by other pilots the ‘dancing corkscrew’. An upgraded design of the TKR-14, it was a difficult craft to fly and inexperienced pilots were afraid of it. But, in the hands of a highly skilled person, it was one of the most deadly ships ever built.
