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R
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- radial: radial, radials
- the City, and most of the smaller cities such as Monford, are constructed on a radial plan. Circular streets, formally called ringways or rings, center on a vertical axis on each level, with straight streets, called rays or radials, radiating from that axis to the city periphery. In addition, the levels are joined by sets of graded spiral-helical streets, called the Turnings. Each set of Turnings consists of four streets which begin at the four compass points on one level at the periphery and wind inward either up or down until they arrive at the central axis to meet in a domed chamber. Teshill Slope is on a Turning.
- Raffina
- an insurrection officer, friend of Ezzar, working for Torre.
- ragass
- term of contempt, aimed usually at someone who is poor.
- railless
- the great airshafts of the City have spiral stairs in them. The stairs run from the bottom of each shaft all the way to the top, in some cases over a mile. Each stair has a landing at each level it passes, with an access tunnel to the understreets of that level; but no stair has a handrail. The steps, frequently slimy with algal, fungal and bacterial growth, open at their inner edge onto the shaft‘s abyss.
- Raina
- Jeddin‘s boss at ArCorp.
- Ramanujan
- the famous Indian mathematician of ancient Earth, a man with a completely natural understanding of number and number theory.
- Ramoya
- Ramoya Reisso Parín, Incarnastar country woman.
- rand shak
- a MuTou playing shak that lets the anj moves unpredictably based on the throw of the quandarr.
- rank
- the ordering of command in the regional militia, the city police and militia, and the colls.
- Rashua
- a woman in Thringe‘s band, partner to Naudi. Rashua plays the dark syntrell.
- Rask
- a woman owner of a production plant and distribution system for pyro.
- ratfodder
- slang term, used here in reference to the scrip issued to people being relocated out of the City. The scrip has no value except in the relocation storage depots, where it can be used to buy food and other goods. The depot goods are of uniformly poor quality. See also reloc.
- Raul
- Andrew‘s youngest brother, after Martin and Norwell.
- ravel: ravel, ravels
- a linguistically-patterned series of sounds which, when overlaid with a second such series, creates a message in the hearer’s mind. The ravel was researched and devised by scientists of Tarnus who had been researching the pre-Colonist era.
- ray: ray, rays
- see radial.
- reactive: reactive, reactives
- beam weapons can be used to trigger chemical reactions between gases mixed in heated air. These gases are called reactives.
- rebel: rebel, rebels
- any of the individuals and colls in or joined with the Coll Union group, allied to fight for increased rights and power against the Regional and city governments, and against the corps.
- Rebel Detachment
- rebuilt: rebuilt, rebuilts
- slang term for humans, once badly maimed, and then pieced together again with synthetic and biological parts.
- reclaim
- to collect human remains for recycling.
- recursion: recursion, recursions
- term used to describe a musical pattern in which rhythms or melodic figures contain copies of themselves in compressed form. Thus a composition with a three-beat meter might contain a recursion period in which each beat is tripled, and sometimes tripled again. This describes part of the metrical pattern of the sandrukha dance form.
- red branch: prune a red branch, pruning a red branch, red branch, red branches
- an Arcus Coll term describing a family member who has betrayed family or coll interests and laws. Such betrayals are punishable by death, and such a punishment is termed ‘pruning’.
- reentrant
- describes a brain enhancement which allows controlled self-reinforcement of selected thought patterns.
- refreezer
- during a starship journey, things go wrong, and automated repair and compensation systems can’t always address the problems properly. In such crisis conditions, designated passengers must be brought up from cryosleep to attempt to resolve the crisis (or crises) so the ship can continue safely to its destination. These workers must then be restored to cryosleep to finish the journey. The refreezers perform that restoration in the same way it was done on Earth at the journey’s start, taking the worker down through all the stages to cryosleep on an automated basis.
- regen
- regeneration’ refers to the biological mode of rebuilding a human being’s body, usually in a tank similar to the andro farm tanks.
- regen tank: Hole, regen tank, regen tanks, regeneration tank
- also called the Hole, a regen tank serves to heal wounds and rebuild missing body parts for anyone immersed in it. The regen tank contains a macrofluid bath of nutrients, medicinal fluids, and other active molecular, nano, and microbial agents that synthesize new tissues for an immersed body.
- Region
- an area of Tarnus usually spanning a geographically-cohesive body of land and water. There are seventeen regions altogether on the planet; the City, and Monford City, and other lesser cities such as Durrisbro, are all in Fourth Region, the largest.
- regionals
- refers to the regional militia and military commands.
- reincarnalize: reincarnalize, reincarnalized
- an example of the improvised language of Winjilles Thringe, the composer and singer. Here she apparently means “restored to a fleshly form”, as if some piece of a person, replaced by a mechanism, were somehow made into a genuine part of that person again. Such themes were, and are, commom in her work.
- reinnervate
- to replace and heal the nerve tissues of the body and brain.
- reloc: reloc, relocs
- the relocation, often forced, of families and larger groups of people, usually out of the City and the smaller cities into outlying agricultural and mining regions. The reloc is a political tool used to forestall unrest, maintain control and obtain labor for the less-popular ecological rebuilding projects and energy-supply systems. The participants (more properly, the victims) of relocation are offered many free inducements — medical care, food assistance, housing, and other things — but these benefits are more than offset by the hardships of service. See also SRD.
- remaker: remaker, remakers
- a hair-and-clothing stylist.
- Rennie
- Ezzar‘s name for Grendel.
- Repair Suit
- sentine working as emergency repair suit guide for starship Tompuso
- Reshlind
- one of Frintar‘s subordinate officers.
- resuss
- resuscitation.
- reticulo-neutrino: reticulo-neutrino, reticulo-neutrinos
- nearly-massless, electrically-neutral subatomic particles, calibrated in their speed and emission volume so as to help determine the operating status of certain specialized detection equipment.
- Rez Techs
- workers specializing in bringing passengers out of cryosleep aboard starship Tompuso
- RG
- short for Regional Government. See Region.
- Rhin
- one of Arlen‘s rivals and associates, owner of RhoCorp.
- RhoadWays: CrudWays, RhoadWays, RWN
- the RhoCorp sensi feed. From tabular data: RhoadWays is the RhoCorp corporate supplier. Most of the sensi sources are described briefly in the reference table titled SENSI SUPPLIERS. Ordinary people refer to RhoadWays in private conversation as the CrudWays. From tabular data for “RhoadWays": RhoadWays is the RhoCorp corporate supplier. Most of the sensi sources are described briefly in the reference table titled SENSI SUPPLIERS. Ordinary people refer to RhoadWays in private conversation as the CrudWays.
- RhoCorp
- Rhin‘s corp.
- Riandar
- an inspector from the City‘s Genetics Agency.
- riaviti
- the tiny, many-colored, birdlike flyers of the western coast of Muathen. They nest in the chisernari trees.
- ribosomes: ribosomal, ribosome, ribosomes
- tiny intracellular molecular engines that build proteins on the basis of DNA translation.
- Riders
- tiny creatures bioengineered to serve as human sperm and egg storage and delivery systems.
- Riem
- the deceased mate of the woman who became Portaluce.
- rillet: rillet, rillets
- like little streams, the conductors of light and electricity in the circuit panels of optoelectronic equipment.
- ringstreet: ringstreet, ringstreets
- See ringway.
- Ringville
- A surface settlement in the mountains west and north of the City.
- ringway: ringway, ringways
- one of the City‘s circular understreets, with its center at the City‘s main vertical axis. See also radial.
- Rion
- Cortevail‘s lover, and intelligence agent for the insurrection, with a cover job working for Arlen.
- roboarm: roboarm, roboarms
- a large, vehicle-mounted robotool.
- roboneedle: roboneedle, roboneedles
- a long, very thin, sharp probe with fiber sensors to help the user guide the probe deep into human tissues, particularly the nervous system and brain.
- robos
- large materials-handling robots activated at starship arrival points to disassemble, reposition and refasten the heaviest starship components to be used in the landers.
- robotool: robotool, robotools
- much like oversized waldoes, these allowed a worker’s hands to tackle jobs requiring much larger and trickier manipulation of metal parts than the hand with normal tools can accomplish.
- rockfall: rockfall, rockfalls
- a manually-triggered rockslide, sometimes operated by remote control, directed at travel routes and communication and power links.
- rockmuncher: rockmuncher, rockmunchers
- see stoneshaper.
- Rockswell
- a narrow street off the upper end of Teshill Slope.
- Rodie
- one of the streetchildren following Mama Bones.
- ROFI
- the official Regional Government sensi feed. It is generally regarded with extreme mistrust by most City dwellers, due mostly to its heavy propagandizing of relocations and other social disruptions.
- Rolfar
- a common name for a man.
- roomlight: roomlight, roomlights
- the chambers of a home in the depths of the City are lighted dimly at all times by efficient electric lamps centered on the ceiling of every room. Stronger light is used only where needed, for reading or detailed work. The roomlights brighten and dim according to the daily cycle of sunlight on the surface.
- rootweb
- the thickly-interwoven and strongly-interconnected root system of the longrunner vines.
- Rosalind
- one of the small inner moons of Uranus, eighth nearest to the planet.
- rotcock: rotcock, rotcocks
- slang for ‘useless’.
- rouch: rouch, rouched, rouching
- to eat voraciously and quickly in big bites.
- Rubid
- tall bluecop in the City, Sharr‘s partner.
- rubigris
- the color and sense of human blood as experienced by the Zashinhalh. It gives the sense of a patina of rich red, over a heavier metallic shine. See the dictionary definition of verdigris.
- Rujan
- the name of Marande‘s man.
- Rumchi
- a zone of the City, adjacent to Sobi Zone, with Poly Town occupying a buffer area between the two at some middle levels. Deen and Marra‘s early home, Andrew‘s home in his childhood, Engel‘s home.
- Rumchi Shopkeeper
- Rumi
- thirteenth-century Persian poet (Earth).
- runtcock: runtcock, runtcocks
- a self-explanatory expletive.
- Ryo
- one of two men attempting to rescue Carrie Annakouri.
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