Demon in White

Book summary from Goodreads:

The third novel of the galaxy-spanning Sun Eater series merges the best of space opera and epic fantasy, as Hadrian Marlowe continues down a path that can only end in fire.

Hadrian has been serving the Empire in military engagements against the Cielcin, the vicious alien civilization bent on humanity's destruction. After Hadrian and his Red Company achieve a great victory, a cult-like fervor builds around him. However, pressures within the Imperial government scared of his rise to prominence result in an assassination attempt, luckily thwarted.

With the Empire too dangerous to stay, Hadrian and his crew leave for a massive library on a distant world. There, he finds the next key to unlocking the secrets of the Quiet: a set of coordinates for their origin planet, unnamed and now lifeless. Hadrian's true purpose in serving in the military was to aid his search of a rumored connection between the first Emperor and the Quiet, the ancient, seemingly long-dead race linked to so many of Hadrian's extraordinary experiences.

Will this mysterious lost planet have the answers?

Lexicon

Lexicon

A Note on Translation

HEREIN IS INCLUDED AN index of those terms appearing in this third volume of Lord Marlowe’s manuscript which are not easily translated into the Classical English or which bear a specific cultural or technical definition. For a more complete explanation of the methodology I employed in devising these coinages in translating from the Galstani in which the original was written, please refer to the appendices in volume one of this translation.

—Tor Paulos of Nov Belgaer

Lexicon

Glossary

adamant: Any of the various long-chain carbon materials used for starship hulls and body armor.

adorator: A member of any antique religious cult maintained by the Empire and tolerated by the Chantry.

Aeta: A Cielcin prince-chieftain. Appears to have ownership rights over its subjects and their property.

Aeta Ba-Aetane: The Cielcin Prince of Princes. A rare title reserved for those Aeta who conquer and subordinate another Aeta without killing it.

akaranta: The dominant Cielcin sexual role.

androgyn: A homunculus exhibiting either neither or both male and female sex characteristics.

annuid: In the scholiast order, a practitioner who has sworn him or herself to the order for a standard year.

apatheia: The emotionless state pursued by the scholiasts to facilitate their computation function. Has roots in classical Stoicism.

aquilarius: A fighter pilot.

Arch-Builders: Extinct species of coloni xenobite native to the planet Ozymandias. So called for the massive structures built above the plains of their home.

Archprior: Within the Chantry clergy, a senior prior, usually one entrenched in the Chantry bureaucracy.

armsman: Any individual—usually patrician—sworn to serve the person of a palatine lord or his/her house in perpetuity.

auctor: An office appointed by the Emperor to serve as his proxy, to speak with his voice and authority in matters where the Emperor cannot be present.

auxilia: A soldier or unit of soldiers—usually volunteered—attached to the Legions without being a formal part of the Legion structure. Often, auxiliary units are non-citizens looking to obtain citizenship.

azhdarch: A xenobite predator common in the Colosso, like a lizard with a long neck open from top to bottom in a fanged mouth.

baetan: In Cielcin culture, a sort of priest-historian of the scianda.

bastille: Any Chantry judicial and penal center, usually attached to a temple sanctum.

bromos: A protein-rich strain of engineered hyper-oat that serves as the basis for ration bars and as protein base for artificial meat production.

castellan: The chief military officer on a nobile estate, tasked with the defense of the castle and holdings. Usually a knight.

cathar: A surgeon-torturer employed by the Holy Terran Chantry.

centennid: In scholiast life, any member of the order who has sworn him or herself to service for one hundred years. Often a monastic.

centurion: A rank in the Imperial Legions, commands a CENTURY.

century: In the Imperial Legions, a unit comprising ten decades (100 men).

Chalcenterite: A fraternal order of the scholiasts, noted for their asceticism.

Chantry: The Holy Terran Chantry, state religion of the Empire. Functions as the judicial arm of the state, especially where the use of forbidden technology is involved.

chiliad: In the Imperial Legions, a unit comprising ten centuries (1000 men).

chiliarch: A rank in the Imperial Legions, commands a CHILIAD.

chimera: Any genetically altered or artificially created animal, usually by blending the genetic code of two or more animals.

Choir: The CHANTRY’s clandestine research and intelligence division.

Cielcin: Spacefaring alien species. Humanoid and carnivorous.

cohort: In the Imperial Legions, a unit comprising six chiliads (6000 men).

Colosso: A series of sporting events held in a coliseum involving professional gladiators, slave myrmidons, animals, races, and more.

colossus: Any huge mobile artillery unit, especially those designed to walk on legs. May be several hundred feet tall.

consortation: One of the TWELVE ABOMINATIONS. Conversing with or having similar contact with artificial intelligence, even unknowingly.

Consortium: The Wong-Hopper Consortium. The largest of the Mandari interstellar corporations, specializing in terraforming technologies.

constellation: Among the palatine, a super-group of interrelated families, usually possessed of certain signifying features and traits.

cornicen: In the Legions, a soldier tasked with playing the horn or trumpet at parades.

coteliho: In Cielcin culture, roughly equivalent to a Lord’s herald or majordomo.

cryoburn: Burns incurred as a side effect of improper cryonic freezing.

cubiculum: A chamber where persons are kept in cryonic fugue, usually aboard a starship.

daimon: An artificial intelligence. Sometimes erroneously applied to non-intelligent computer systems.

datanet: The loose association of all planetary dataspheres connected by quantum telegraphs and inter-space satellite relays.

datasphere: Any planetary data network. In the Empire, access is strictly restricted to the patrician and palatine caste.

decade: In the Imperial Legions, a unit of ten soldiers comprising three groups of three and their decurion.

decurion: A rank in the Imperial Legions, commands a DECADE.

Demarchy of Tavros: A small interstellar polity found in the Wisp. Radically open to technology, the people vote on all measures using neural lace implants.

demoniac: A person who has incorporated machines into their body, particularly with the intent of altering their cognitive processes.

dispholide: A rare hemotoxic poison, likely of Chantry design and manufacture, that disables the coagulation process and dissolves collagen and even bone at an astonishing rate, effectively liquefying the victim.

Druaja: A board game, sometimes called labyrinth chess.

dryad: Any of a species of green-skinned homunculi capable of photosynthesis, designed for work in outer space.

duplication: One of the TWELVE ABOMINATIONS. The copying of an individual’s genetics, likeness, personality, or memories through cloning or related practices.

Durantine Republic: An interstellar republic of some three thousand worlds. Pays tribute to the Empire.

Eali: The Jaddian ruling caste, product of intense eugenic development. Practically superhuman.

Emperor: The supreme ruler of the Sollan Empire, considered a god and the reincarnation of his/her predecessor. Holds absolute power.

energy-lance: A bladed spear with a high-energy laser built into the shaft. Used as formal weapons by guards, especially in the Imperium.

entoptics: Augmented reality device where images are projected directly onto the retina.

eolderman: The elected head of a plebeian community. Typically seen in more rural regions on Imperial planets.

Eudoran: Any of the spacefaring bands claiming descent from the failed colony on Europa in Old Earth’s system. An ethnic group known for their interstellar wanderings.

Exalted: A faction among the Extrasolarians noted for their extreme cybernetic augmentations.

Excubitor: The innermost circle of the Emperor’s guard, comprising 108 of the finest knights and fighters in the Empire.

Exodus: The expansionist period following the environmental collapse of Earth. The Peregrinations from Old Earth System before the Foundation War.

Expeditionary Corps: Branch of the Imperial Legions tasked with exploring the galaxy and with laying the groundwork for colonization.

Extrasolarian: Any of the barbarians living outside Imperial control, often possessing illegal praxis.

extraterranic: In terraforming and ecology, refers to any organism not of Old Earth extraction. Extraterrestrial.

Foundation War: The war between the early Empire and the Mericanii, in which the Mericanii were destroyed and the Sollan Empire founded.

Galstani: The common language of the Sollan Empire, descended from Classical English, with heavy Hindi and Franco-Germanic influences.

glowsphere: A spherical, bright light source floating on Royse repulsors, battery- or chemically powered.

God Emperor: The first Sollan Emperor, William I, who defeated the Mericanii. It is believed his return will usher in a new Golden Age for the Empire.

golem: A mechanical being fashioned in the shape of a man, containing no organic parts.

High College: Imperial political office tasked with reviewing palatine requests for children and with overseeing the pregnancies of same. Prevents mutations.

highmatter: A form of exotic matter produced by alchemists. Used to make the swords of Imperial knights, which can cut almost anything.

hightower: An elevator designed to lift cargo from the surface of a planet to orbit and vice versa.

homunculus: Any artificial human or near-human, especially those grown for a task, or for aesthetic purposes.

hoplite: A shielded foot soldier. Heavy infantry.

hoplon: An antique-style round shield, used in the Colosso.

hurasam: Gilded coin used among the Imperial peasant classes, worth their mark-weight in gold. Print notes for various denominations exist.

hypogeum: The underground maintenance complex beneath a coliseum. More generally, any underground complex.

ice: In computing, software designed to monitor traffic in and out of a system and to prevent access based on perceived threat.

ichakta: A Cielcin title, referring to the captain of a ship.

Iedyr Yemani: The six vayadan-generals sworn in fanatic servitude to Syriani Dorayaica. The so-called White Hand.

ietumna: The submissive Cielcin sexual role.

Imperium: See SOLLAN EMPIRE.

indoctrination: The process by which a person is treated with specially tailored RNA packets to learn and absorb new information and skills quickly.

infestation: In Chantry religious law, the state in which a computer system may contain elements of artificial intelligence or the precursors to same, often leading to POSSESSION.

inmane: An offensive slur meaning that someone is less than human. Literally impure.

Inquisition: The judicial branch of the Imperial Chantry, primarily concerned with the use of illegal technologies.

Inquisitor: A Chantry official tasked with conducting judicial investigations and overseeing the torture of criminals.

intus: A palatine born outside the oversight of the High College, usually possessing several physical or psychological defects; a bastard.

Irchtani: Species of coloni xenobite native to the planet Judecca. Bird-like with massive wings. Considered an exemplar of coloni assimilation.

kaspum: Silver-plated coin used among the Imperial peasant classes. Twelve kaspums make one gold hurasam. Print notes for various denominations exist.

kithuun: In Irchtani culture, a tribal chieftain or military commander.

knife-missile: A kind of drone, little more than a remote-controlled flying knife. A favorite of assassins.

knight: Sollan military honor conferred by the nobility for services rendered; usually includes a small fief. May carry highmatter weapons.

legate: A rank in the Imperial Legions, commands an entire Legion.

Legions: The military branch of the Sollan Empire, loyal directly to the Emperor and Imperial house, comprising naval and ground forces.

Legion Intelligence Office: The Empire’s military intelligence, espionage, and foreign intervention agency.

legionnaire: Any soldier in the Imperial Legions, especially the common foot soldier.

lictor: A bodyguard for a nobile or other dignitary. Usually a knight.

light-probe: Any of a class of very small, ultralight reconnaissance devices propelled by shipboard laser to nearly the speed of light.

lighter: Any starship small enough to make landfall on a planet.

Lions: An unofficial political party in the Sollan Empire, comprising the more conservative royalist houses.

logothete: A minister in any of the governmental agencies of any palatine house, used colloquially of any civil servant.

Lothrian Commonwealth: The second largest human polity in the galaxy, a totalitarian collectivist state. Longtime antagonist of the Empire.

Maeskolos: One of the legendary Swordmasters of Jadd, drawn exclusively from the eali caste. Credited with superhuman speed and skill.

Magnarch: The chief Imperial Viceroy in each arm of the galaxy: Orion, Sagittarius, Perseus, and Centaurus. Essentially co-Emperors.

Makers: A pantheon of gods worshiped by the Cielcin, possibly the same as the WATCHERS.

mamluk: Any homunculus slave-soldier of the Jaddian Principalities.

Mandari: An ethnic group semi-detached from Imperial society, most commonly found staffing the massive interstellar trading corporations.

mandyas: Traditional garment of the Maeskoloi. Half a robe with one flowing sleeve worn over the left shoulder, cinched at the waist.

Martian Guard: The Emperor’s palace guard, an elite corp of soldiers raised from the population on Earth’s nearest neighbor, Mars.

medica: A hospital, typically aboard a starship.

megathere: A massive, three-eyed amphibious predator native to the planet Epidamnus.

Mericanii: The ancient first interstellar colonists. A hyper-advanced technologic civilization run by artificial intelligences. Destroyed by the Empire.

Messer/Madam: Polite address in the Empire, used of anyone without formal title.

Museum Catholic Church: An adorator cult centered on the planet Caritas, believed to have existed since the Golden Age of Earth and protected on reservations by Imperial decree.

myrmidon: In the Colosso, any contract or slave fighter not a professionally trained gladiator.

nahute: A Cielcin weapon. Resembles a flying metal snake. Seeks out targets and drills into them.

natalist: A specialist practiced in the art of growing and gene-crafting living organisms, human or otherwise.

nobile: Blanket term referring to any member of the palatine and patrician castes in the Sollan Empire.

Nordei: The principle language of the Demarchy. A patois of Nordic and Thai with some Slavic influences.

Norman Expanse: The frontier of human settlement in the Norma Arm of the Milky Way, near to the galactic core.

novice: A student initiated into the rites and curricula of the scholiasts with the intention of becoming one.

nuncius: In Imperial society, an announcer or herald.

Orbital Defense Force: The fleet maintained by any palatine lord for the defense of his or her planet or system.

outcaste: In Imperial society, any former member of the palatine or patrician castes stripped of their station. May also refer to similar persons in Jadd.

palatine: The Imperial aristocracy, descended from those free humans who opposed the Mericanii. Genetically enhanced, they may live for several centuries.

Pale: The Cielcin. Slang, considered offensive by xenophiles.

panegyrist: A Chantry priest tasked with performing the call to prayer at sundown.

Panthai: A Tavrosi language descended from the Thai, Lao, and Khmer-speaking peoples who settled the Wisp alongside the Nordei.

patrician: Any plebeian or plutocrat awarded with genetic augmentations at the behest of the palatine caste as a reward for services rendered.

Peregrination: Any of the historical evacuations from Earth’s system for the extrasolar colonies.

phase disruptor: A sort of firearm that attacks the nervous system. Can stun on lower settings.

phylactery: A device for storing the genetic and epigenetic information of an individual for the purposes of artificial reproduction.

plasma burner: A firearm which uses a strong loop of magnetic force to project an arc of super-heated plasma across short to moderate distances.

plebeian: The Imperial peasantry, descended from unaltered human stock seeded on the oldest colony ships. Forbidden to use high technology.

poine: A structured, small-scale war carried out between imperial palatine houses. Subject to the scrutiny of the Inquisition.

possession: One of the TWELVE ABOMINATIONS. The state in which an individual or computer system is under the sway of an artificial intelligence.

praxis: High technology, usually of the sort forbidden by Chantry law.

primate: The highest administrative office of a scholiasts’ athenaeum, akin to a university chancellor.

profanation: One of the TWELVE ABOMINATIONS. The mingling of human flesh with machine implants or prostheses, especially in cases where such modifications transcend ordinary human function.

Protocols: The strict guidelines outlining the behaviors of the Chantry’s INQUISITION in carrying out an investigation.

Quiet: The hypothetical first civilization in the galaxy, allegedly responsible for several ancient sites, including those on Emesh, Judecca, Sadal Suud, and Ozymandias.

repulsor: A device which makes use of the Royse Effect to allow objects to float without disturbing the air or environment.

satrap: A planetary governor in the Principalities of Jadd, subordinate to one of the regional Princes.

scahari: In Cielcin culture, the warrior caste.

scholiast: Any member of the monastic order of researchers, academics, and theoreticians tracing their origins to the Mericanii scientists captured at the end of the Foundation War.

scianda: Pl. sciandane. A Cielcin migratory fleet, comprising several itanimn and presided over by a single Aeta.

sirrah: An honorific used to refer to one’s social inferiors, usually males.

Sojourner: Any of a class of massive Extrasolarian starship, often hundreds of miles long, especially those crewed by the EXALTED.

Sollan Empire: The largest and oldest single polity in human-controlled space, comprising some half a billion habitable planets

SOM: The lobotomized shell of a human being animated by machines, used for slave labor and as soldiers by the Extrasolarians.

strategos: An admiral in the Imperial Legions, responsible for the command of an entire fleet, comprising several legions.

Stricture: The formal rules governing the lifestyle and behavior of those members of the scholiast order as outlined in The Book of the Mind and the rest of Imore’s writings.

sulshawar: In Jaddian culture, a warrior who serves as bodyguard to a prince, satrap, or other important personage. May also represent that person in legal duels. Comparable to a lictor.

Summerfair: A common midsummer holiday celebrated throughout the Imperium. Its date varies from world to world, depending on the local calendar.

suppression field: A Royse Effect field designed to simulate gravity.

Synarch: The highest ecclesiastic office of the Imperial Chantry. Their most important function is the coronation of new Emperors.

Tavrosi: Any of the languages from the Demarchy of Tavros. Typically refers to Nordei.

terranic: In terraforming and ecology, refers to any organism of Old Earth extraction. Not extraterrestrial.

trias: A unit of three legionnaires, usually two peltasts and one hoplite.

triaster: The commander of a trias, usually a shielded hoplite.

Twelve Abominations: The twelve most grievous sins according to the Chantry. Legal privileges do not apply in such cases.

Udaritanu: A complex, non-linear writing system used by the Cielcin.

Umandh: A coloni species native to the planet Emesh. Amphibious and tripedal, they have an intelligence comparable to that of dolphins.

vayadan: In Cielcin culture, the bound mates and bodyguards of an Aeta.

verrox: A powerful pseudoamphetamine derived from the leaves of the verroca plant. It is taken by ingesting the leaves, which are usually candied.

Victorian Knights: An order of Imperial knights bound in service to the person of the Emperor and the Aventine House directly, not to the Imperial Office.

Watchers: According to this account, a species or collection of powerful xenobites, possibly worshiped as gods by the Cielcin and other alien races.

worldship: Any of the massive Cielcin vessels—some as large as moons—which make up the core of their fleets.

Writ of Nativity: A formal petition—or grant of said petition—enabling a palatine lord of the Sollan Empire to produce a child under the auspices of the High College.

xenobite: Any life form not originating in terranic or human stock, especially those life forms which are considered intelligent; an alien.

zitraa: The traditional weapon of an Irchtani warrior. A thin, curved cutlass approximately seven feet long.

Publications (Demon in White)

Demon in White, US Edition (AD 2020)

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Demon in White, UK Edition (AD 2020)

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Der Thron der Sonne, German Edition (AD 2020)

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Le Démon blanc, French Edition (AD 2022)

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Demon in White, Broken Binding Edition (AD 2024)

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