A Note on Translation

THERE WAS SOME DIFFICULTY rendering this text into Classical English from the Anglo-Hindi of Galactic Standard, as there exist many words in Galstani whose coinages postdate the death of English as a living language. Several of these, such as sakradaas (anagnost) and hauviros (centurion), I have elected to render in words borrowed from ancient Greek and Latin. To the English-speaking ear, these are steeped in a tradition comparable to that which these terms—themselves steeped in seventeen thousand years of Imperial tradition—enjoy for those reading Lord Marlowe’s alleged autobiography in its original form. In other cases, such as with groundcar and cryoburn, I have cobbled together portmanteaus in Classical English which I feel approximate the looser feel of these more contemporary, plebeian terms. The names of certain living creatures—many of which were undiscovered or unmade during the Classical English period—I have substituted for mythic coinages or for names derived from scientific nomenclature (e.g. azhdarch and congrid respectively).

Proper names, such as the names of persons or planets, I have maintained exactly as Lord Marlowe recorded them, including those of the Cielcin xenobites. However, I should note that these names were transliterated using Marlowe’s own system and not the systems codified by the Petersonian Order or the Legion Intelligence Office. As such, these spellings may differ from official spellings found both in scholiastic and official records.

References made to ancient, classical, and contemporary literature are precisely as written in the original and have not been modified to better communicate symbolic connections for a modern audience. Lord Marlowe has an especial fondness for the Late Golden Age writings of the second and third millennium, old calendar, for which we must credit our brother Tor Gibson of Nov Acor, a classicist by all accounts.

Please find appended a list of the special terms relevant to this first volume of Lord Marlowe’s account. I am deeply grateful to those of my brothers and sisters who have aided in my exploration of this text and pray that in time we may be sure of its authenticity.

—Tor Paulos of Nov Belgaer