Glossary for DESCENDING ROAD

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Da Mai: a brand name for a giant Sinese pharmaceutical combine.

dama dama: The opening to a street invocation to Allashani: “dama dama sijanon, dama dama fayerai, dama dama tilason…", roughly translatable as “give us ourselves, give us fortitude, give us your blessings…"

Dann: a rebel leader, a woman of Novander Wye Coll.

Dannemor: wealthy zone in the upper City.

Dannemora: a top-security prison in upstate New York.

dans: dans, dansi: streetchild word for ‘dance’. Allashani says to Janny: “Tivo dans?” which means “You want dancing?”. See balli.

Darforyn: a poison used in torture along with KPX. Combined in the bloodstream, they generate a toxin, much like ricin in effect, that slowly destroys ribosomal function in the human body.

darj: darj, darjia: the power piece in the game of MuTou. Each player has one power piece. The power pieces are not placed on the playing surface, but are kept visible to all players. Like an anj, each power piece has a heavy base and a mast or basket, holding in this case the player’s complete set of wafers (darjarinn) in play.

darjanka: addarjaki, darjanka: in the game of MuTou, the unit consisting of a single move by a single anj (board piece) in a single turn. One darjarr stacked on a player’s darj (power piece) signifies that the player is entitled to consume one darjanka in moving an anj.

darjarr: darjarinn, darjarr: a wafer placed on the power piece (darj) of a player of MuTou, enabling one or more moves of an anj (board piece) during a single turn. Darjarinn may be stacked.

darkblood: descriptive reference to the blood of certain andro strains whose blood pigments showed indigo-to-blue-violet under oxygen-poor conditions.

darkbloom: darkbloom, darkblooms: the orchid used for producing the fragrant ashes use to write names and memorials on a memwall. The most potent of these fragrances are found in the orchids grown on the surface.

darkgreen: describing an individual or group who supported violent, subversive, and destructive tactics in opposing ecodestruction or other abuses of the environment or society by institutionalized wealth.

Darko Hejj: Darko Hejj, Darko Hejj Coll, Hejj: Andrew‘s coll. Members referred to as Hejj or Hejji. During Andrew‘s father’s maturity, this coll‘s leaders sold its major land claims to the corps, earning the contempt and rejection of the other colls, and that of many of its own members. From tabular data: Darko Hejj refers to one of the collective clans of Tarnus. The names of all the colls are found in the reference table titled COLL NAMES. From tabular data for “Darko Hejj": Darko Hejj refers to one of the collective clans of Tarnus. The names of all the colls are found in the reference table titled COLL NAMES.

Darvelia Ans Kerran: Ans, Darvelia, Darvelia Ans Kerran, Kerran: mother of two children (Nassa and Shellane), she died with them in the march through a North Range mountain pass during Reloc 65.

Daryuz: the uncle of Ezzar‘s mother.

dashpanel: dashpanel, dashpanels: the vertical, flat face of a van‘s instrument panel, facing its front seats from under the forward window or windshield.

databook: databook, databooks: an information repository shaped like a placemat, but rigid, with both finger and voice control interfaces in its rim and surface. Front surface a display window, showing images and text in full color (and UV and IR for andros with those extensions) and three-dimensional perspectives. Local storage equivalent to about ten gigabytes; provides access through comm to the Caldron. Capable of visualization modeling and generated full-speed animation.

databox: a simple write-only archival computing system for logging and permanent preservation of continuous incoming data in any form.

datacard: datacard, datacards: a pocket form of databook, with no comm and about five percent of a databook‘s storage. About palm-size.

datagrabber: a handheld form of databox, easy to connect to a wide variety of sensors and other input systems.

datapad: datapad, datapads: a one-hand version of a databook.

datapanel: datapanel, datapanels: the display and perceptual interfaces of permanently-installed information equipment.

datascreen: datascreen, datascreens: viewscreens with databook capabilities, but on a scale both physically and informationally many times that of a databook. Viewing area about twenty to seventy times that of a databook. Vertically-mounted on stands for group use.

datasheaf: datasheaf, datasheaves: like databooks, but thinner and flexible, and using a write-once storage method that preserves all changes in historical order. Useful in study debate. Their flimsiness requires extra care in handling.

datasheet: datasheet, datasheets: similar to a datasheaf in appearance, much more durable, and having datacard capacity. Used for industrial applications.

datavaulted: stored in a write-only, write-once data repository for safekeeping and possible retrieval for resolution of legal or judicial issues.

datawafers: datawafer, datawafers: near-transparent and tissue-thin sheets used to store and display large volumes of permanent data. The contents of a sheet can be selectively retrieved and displayed on any usable nearby surface using coherent light directed accurately through the sheet from a computer-driven source.

daytube: daytube, daytubes: understreet lights shaped like fluorescents, but giving a strong, sunlike light.

deadcock: deadcock, deadcocks: a curse and threat, in one word.

deathmaker: deathmaker, deathmakers: information guards operating in the archives as roving intelligences to censor the outflow of Archive content.

decatrophinyl: a strongly addictive illegal drug. Produces feelings of shame and fear and intense pleasure at the same time; its users want others to do degrading things to them.

decelerant: slowing a starship at its destination takes not quite as much energy as bringing it up to speed does. The decelerant engines slow the ship down from its cruising speed, which is in a range around 800 kilometers per second. Since the ship’s mass has been reduced by the mass lost during acceleration, not as much energy is needed to bring it to rest by the time it reaches its destination.

Deen: Marra‘s companion, sister, and long-time friend.

deepcity: refers to the lower levels of the City, beginning at about the middle of Sobi Zone and extending downward to the limits of the inhabited areas.

Deimos: the smaller of the two moons of Mars.

deleparine: a paralytic drug deliverd by needle, powerspray, or jector.

demic: epidemic.

demorphin: a powerfully-addictive drug generated by ribosomal changes in the host’s body. Such changes are usually caused by

Den Farrel: an andro at Engrammatic Inn.

Deneb: the well-known star, by its name given on ancient Earth.

Deng: a City scholar and researcher employed by the University to study the street inscriptions predating the Colonist arrival.

Deng Yi: an instructor for starship passengers and crew, responsible for post-arrival training.

Denzari: the uncle of Ezzar‘s father.

Derain: a woman employed by Arlen.

derinone: one of Arlen‘s drugs, used in pacifying its recipients.

Derizan: father of Ezzar, Derizan Alumaras Uni Junusium.

Descending Road: DESCENDING ROAD, Descending Road: n., an Archive dream.

Desdemona: one of the small inner moons of Uranus, fifth nearest to the planet.

desertside: into the Western Desert, which lies south of the plains west of the City, and north of the Great South Fall.

devilberry: a small, red-orange type of fruit, bred from an indigenous Tarnus plant and some genes of ancient Earth, renowned for its fluctuating effects on the eater. At first extremely spicy, then milder, then sweet, then spicy again in a repeating cycle, the devilberry provides a great accent for dishes with a salty base.

dey: streetchild word for ‘they’.

di: streetchild word for ‘say’ (“Daddy di bye-bye”), or for ‘god’ (“Oua di no jomay fin’ you”), depending on context.

Diallo: a friend of Miriam‘s on Earth.

Diamann: an Arcus Coll elder.

Diaspora: the name used to refer to the starship migrations of the 2300-2400 era, coined by those still on Earth after the starship departures.

Dibarr: the name, in CLang, of the first (resting) day of the eight-day week of the City Calendar. From tabular data: Dibarr is day number 1 in the City Calendar‘s eight-day week. The days of the week are listed in the reference table titled WEEKDAY NAMES. From tabular data for “Dibarr": Dibarr is day number 1 in the City Calendar‘s eight-day week. The days of the week are listed in the reference table titled WEEKDAY NAMES.

Dierdosan: a Zeus-like character in the mythtales of Tarnus, who traveled from star system to star system, impregnating various life-forms with his mostly-human seed. Many of the stories from ancient Earth are attributed to his doings.

Dimani: the name, in CLang, of the fourth day of the eight-day week of the City Calendar. From tabular data: Dimani is day number 4 in the City Calendar‘s eight-day week. The days of the week are listed in the reference table titled WEEKDAY NAMES. From tabular data for “Dimani": Dimani is day number 4 in the City Calendar‘s eight-day week. The days of the week are listed in the reference table titled WEEKDAY NAMES.

disaffective: disaffective, disaffectives: Metarbor is an example of this class of drug, reducing emotional attachment or repulsion without dulling intellectual or sexual focus.

Dismarch Harren: store in the City, in Sobi Zone, belonging to Nexi Harren and his family.

disnamed: refers to the people whose names and identities were erased from public records by oppressors in an attepmt to conceal ethnic cleansing and other large-scale cultural crimes.

disruptor: disruptor, disruptors: N-disruptor (neural disruptor) grenades. In Angie‘s words: "[the grenade] explodes and emits a coherent train of electroacoustic pulses of extremely short duration and high amplitude. These pulses disrupt certain neuropeptide bonds in both humans and alien soldiers, triggering a metabolic cascade yielding significant amounts of motor paralytics. Humans die in seconds, alien soldiers in minutes.”

Distant: from the eye of the soaring tononnsar, much can be seen.

Diusin: the name, in CLang, of the sixth day of the eight-day week of the City Calendar. From tabular data: Diusin is day number 6 in the City Calendar‘s eight-day week. The days of the week are listed in the reference table titled WEEKDAY NAMES. From tabular data for “Diusin": Diusin is day number 6 in the City Calendar‘s eight-day week. The days of the week are listed in the reference table titled WEEKDAY NAMES.

Doctor: a city doctor called to investigate anomalous behavior in street people.

Dodi: girl in Mama Bones' group of children.

Domaro: n., a doomed andro man who was a friend of Jeddin.

domehall: domehall, domehalls: the twelve domehalls are central meeting places in the City. The Upper South Domehall is one of four at the level of the spaceport; four others are twenty levels below them, and four more are twenty more levels down.

donro: the female leader of the Astran women’s council for a zone or area.

Doodah Parade: Doodah, Doodah Parade: n., brand name for an andro beverage frequently served as a psychedelic complement to Weltschmerz, preserved in the title of an old song popular among mining andros: “One Doodah, One ‘Schmerz, One ‘Squeer.” Also used in the expression “doodah, doodah, doodah…", often muttered in anjive during stressful and turbulent situations that occur far too often, as if the speaker has ingested a bit too much unreality.

Door Guard: apartment tower guard in Cape Town area

doorwatch: a device for authenticating a visitor to a dwelling.

dopants: chemical and radiological agents used in processes for making sponge steels and other spongemetals.

Dorlon Bushidil: Bushidil, Dorlon Bushidil: a breakaway clan of the Kai Ren Hau coll. Often blamed for initiating schisms among colls.

Dornseuz: Aswar Dornseuz, Dornseuz: one of the major intersections in Upper Salvo Zone, Aswar Dornseuz, where a lively community of members of different colls formed and developed. This group was well-known for several centuries for its artistic innovations in everything from music to hair styles.

doubleshafter: doubleshafter, doubleshafters: slang term used to describe a person who takes advantage of both sides of a confrontation, playing the opposite sides against each other to his or her advantage.

Doug: Doug, Doug Macnee, Douglas, Douglas Macnee, Macnee: Douglas MacNee, humanitarian, prisoner and, starship construction worker.

downcity: downward, the city zones in the lower levels.

Drain: an underworld sensi feed.

Drasstar: bandmember and lover of Winjilles Thringe.

Dreckin: leader of a mercenary military unit attached to ArCorp‘s military command in the mountains south of the City.

Dree: a sentine assembled on Earth before the Colonist departures, arriving at Tarnus with Jeff Harkness.

Drevill: small settlement east of Engrammatic Inn. A mining center.

Drhoinhfigh: Refers to one of the three children of Anhmharh by qaqanhialh: Mharhthail, Fanhlhaothim and Drhoinhfigh. Also a term in an alien inscription in Arlen‘s possession. See also orhghailhash.

Drin: Andrew‘s oldest brother, Wranmar Luce‘s first son.

droid: droid, droids, repair droid, repair droids, repair-droid, repair-droids: on Tarnus, generally derogatory term for andros. Aboard the Colonist starships, droids are artificial repair mechanisms driven by low-grade artificial intelligences. In this frame of reference, droids have no biological components.

drughole: drughole, drugholes: city gathering place, specializing in psychoactive chemicals of varying effects. See barhole.

drygrass: an indigenous strain of grass living in the desert areas of the world, capable of sustaining itself and spreading under drought conditions and extreme heat. Common throughout the Western Desert, especially along the southern rim, where the desert ripples up into a tropical mountain range.

Dumiv: one of Arlen‘s scientists.

duogripper: duogripper, duogrippers: a mechanized tool for clasping objects at some distance from the user. Controlled by a glove cabled to the tool itself, which consists of a pair of handlike grippers mounted on a self-propelled crawler. Remote eyes on the grippers give the user close-up vision.

duragraph: a writing medium consisting of specialized bacteria capable of converting certain metals to hard white carbonate forms impervious to most attacks by solvents.

DurCorp: the corporate entity controlled by Durlow.

durekosh: durekosh, khaiterya: in “S durekosh n’ Arlen khaiterya", spoken by Arlen‘s Trenzil.

Duren: a woman Arlen loaned to Parthren for Parthren‘s entertainment.

Duretan: the name, in CLang, of the fourth month of the Lulith Calendar. From tabular data: Duretan is month number 4 in the 14-month Moon Calendar. You can find all the month names in the reference table titled MOON CALENDAR MONTH NAMES. From tabular data for “Duretan": Duretan is month number 4 in the 14-month Moon Calendar. You can find all the month names in the reference table titled MOON CALENDAR MONTH NAMES.

Durgin: Durgin Crevasse, an open abyss into which one of the City‘s Shafts leads at several points in its vertical descent.

Durinnal: a sensi journalist who popularized the first major MuTou tournaments in the great City, Gran Dar, through her determined efforts to bring the game to wider public attention. She wrote an introductory booklet called “Ten Days of MuTou", and that thin work, for most City dwellers, constitutes their sole source of information about the game, augmented only by sensi broadcasts (usually through FiberShank) of the tournaments held each year during the lull in street festivals. Whether one appreciates Durinnal‘s hard work, or condemns her superficiality, she has done more to vitalize and popularize MuTou than all of its traditionalists have ever done.

Durlow: one of Arlen‘s corporate colleagues, controlling his own large network of companies.

Durrisbro: a biological research facility, constructed in a small city underground after the inhabitants had been relocated elsewhere.

Durunixa: an entity encountered by Diamann during his flight to Sirathen.

duryaSR: an andro name for a color in the five-octave andro color spectrum. duryaSR is in the far ultraviolet range (95-187 nm), and its name refers to a multiple of the human color red. In relation to neighboring colors in a musical scale with red at A, this would be A. Pronunciation of sounds written as SR (*) or ZK (+) as spoken in anjive is described briefly in Andro Notes. From tabular data: duryaSR is the name of a color in the spectrum visible to andros. duryaSR is in the Far Ultraviolet (95-187 nm). In the five ‘octaves’ of the andro color spectrum, duryaSR equates to a musical A, and is in the same place in the octave as Red. More information is available in the reference table titled ANDRO COLOR NAMES. From tabular data for “duryaSR": duryaSR is the name of a color in the spectrum visible to andros. duryaSR is in the Far Ultraviolet (95-187 nm). In the five ‘octaves’ of the andro color spectrum, duryaSR equates to a musical A, and is in the same place in the octave as Red. More information is available in the reference table titled ANDRO COLOR NAMES.

dustmice: dustmice, dustmouse: robotic sweeper/cleaners, about palm size; a more-sophisticated form of cleanercritter. Used in the upper City levels among the well-off.

Dynasty: Dynasties, Dynasty: any of the periods of greatest stability and achievement of the peoples of the world. Four dynasties mark the history of Tarnus since its colonization over ten thousand years before the time of the story. See First, Second, Third, Fourth Dynasties.

dynimage: dynimage, dynimages: work of art based on a single picture, using active, continuing transformation rules to alter the picture’s appearance in different ways.

dzoijin: an andro name for a color in the five-octave andro color spectrum. dzoijin is in the near ultraviolet range (187-375 nm), and its name refers to a multiple of the human color blue-green. In relation to neighboring colors in a musical scale with red at A, this would be E. From tabular data: dzoijin is the name of a color in the spectrum visible to andros. dzoijin is in the Near Ultraviolet (187-375 nm). In the five ‘octaves’ of the andro color spectrum, dzoijin equates to a musical E, and is in the same place in the octave as Blue-Green. More information is available in the reference table titled ANDRO COLOR NAMES. From tabular data for “dzoijin": dzoijin is the name of a color in the spectrum visible to andros. dzoijin is in the Near Ultraviolet (187-375 nm). In the five ‘octaves’ of the andro color spectrum, dzoijin equates to a musical E, and is in the same place in the octave as Blue-Green. More information is available in the reference table titled ANDRO COLOR NAMES.