Moonscatter

EARLY BIRD BOOKS

FRESH EBOOK DEALS, DELIVERED DAILY

BE THE FIRST TO KNOW—

NEW DEALS HATCH EVERY DAY!

Moonscatter

Jo Clayton

Once upon a time a sorcerer soured on life and challenged it to a duel—in other words, this is

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE

A master of many sorceries secured for himself what amounted to immortality—a cessation of the processes of growth and decay within his body—and in so doing, promoted himself to the rank of noris. For several centuries he enjoyed himself collecting knowledge, honing his skills, dueling with other adepts. But as time passed he grew bored, monumentally, disastrously bored.

After fretting and starting to feel old and useless, he realized that he could beat his boredom by extending his control of change and decay beyond the narrow confines of his body and imposing it on the world beyond the Sorcerers Isles. He could make for himself a new game. To make the game worth playing, he needed an opponent worth playing against. He found his opponent in She whom men called variously Maiden, Matron and Hag, She who was implicit in the alternation of death and birth, in the cycling of the seasons, the complex circling of the moons, She who was phoenix continually reborn from her own ashes, She who sometimes used as a vessel of her presence Reiki, janja to a tribe of the pehiir.

In
Moongather
, the challenge is issued, the pieces are selected, the game is begun.

T
HE
P
IECES

(who act without knowing they are pawns in a power game)

S
ERROI

used by both players—Ser Noris and Reiki janja.

misborn of the windrunners, preserved from death by burning by Ser Noris, taken to his Tower, raised and taught by him, her gifts used by him until she is twelve.

abandoned in a desert east of the mijloc when she becomes useless to him.

walks out of the desert to a tribe of pehiir whose wise woman is Reiki janja, spends several months with her.

makes her way finally to the Biserica, where she lives in peace for a number of years, studying and learning the skills of a meie. On her second ward—this time a guard to the women's quarters of the Plaz and the Domnor's wives, Floarin and Lobori, and his assorted concubines—she and her shieldmate learn of a plot against the Domnor; her shieldmate is killed and she runs.

when her panic dissipates, she returns to Oras, acquiring a companion called Dinafar, meeting the Gradin family on the way.

(She is disguised as Dinafar's brother.)

played in the game as Reiki janja's piece, she thwarts the plot against the Domnor, though only partially because he is driven from power by his wife, Floarin, with the aid of a norit and forced to flee for his life.

she returns to the Biserica, taking the Domnor and Dinafar with her.

H
ERN
H
ESLIN

Fourth Domnor in the Heslin line since the original Heslin united the mijloc.

is nearly yanked out of his skin and replaced by a demon at the Moongather, but Serroi and a poison knife along with a small horde of rats and roaches introduce a little healthy havoc to the scene, and he escapes with her after a sword fight and some spectacular magic.

his role in the game seems minimal at first but gradually grows in importance.

M
INOR
P
IECES

Moved by Ser Noris: the plotters who think they're the instigators of the plot, assorted Sleykynin, Plaz guards, demons, a temple keeper of some importance and others.

Moved by Reiki janja: creata shurin (small brown intelligent teddy bears, sort of), Coperic, rogue and spy for the Biserica, the fisherfolk, the Gradin family, and others.

In
Moonscatter
, the game continues, shifting into a new phase. Ser Noris applies pressure wherever he can put his thumb. Reiki janja seems to be losing, though she is fighting hard, but there are small things that begin to disturb the noris.

SOME WORDS

AGLI

A norid with religious aspirations, a taste for sniffing tidra and for watching folk make fools of themselves.

BISERICA

An idea.

A structure at the north end of the Valley of Women.

Training school for shrine keepers, meien, healwomen.

Refuge for girls who find it painful or impossible to live within the bounds of their cultures.

Girls everywhere, a flood of girls, girls chattering, laughing, impatient, sullen, cheerful, glowing, lazy, bubbling with nervous energy. Tie girls, tarom's daughters, city girls from Sel-ma-carth and Oras, girls from distant peoples whose names and locations would be a catalog of the countries of the world. A culling of girls, the rebellious, the restless, the pleasure-loving, the pious, some fleeing repression, some seeking whatever it was the Biserica seemed to offer.

Sometimes the refuge is temporary, sometimes permanent. An ancient order whose origins are lost in misty before-time.

FOLLOWERS OF THE FLAME

Those dissatisfied with Maiden worship, those who find much more support for self-worth in a male image with aspects of control, strength, order, power, those who want to make sure everyone acts in a way they consider proper.

HOUSE OF REPENTANCE

Brainwashing bureau.

MAIDEN

Aspect of Her honored in the mijloc.

MEIE

Weaponwoman.

Sent out from the Biserica on three-year wards.

Fees are paid to the Biserica for the services of a meie pair and these are given an additional fee for themselves.

Generally serve as bodyguards, guards of womens quarters, escorts for women traveling in caravans or on board ships, as aides to merchants and in other miscellaneous duties that require integrity, intelligence, agility, skill with assorted weapons.

Up to the present, meien were welcomed and respected everywhere but in Assurtilas.

NEARGA NOR

1. All sorcerers currently living.

2. The council of adepts.

3. Ser Noris (since the most powerful adepts left alive jump when he says hop).

NOR

General term for sorcerers when rank is not in question.

NORID

Lowest rank of sorcerers, little more than tricksters performing in the streets.

NORIT

The classy types. Not a lot of them around, perhaps a thousand scattered about the world. Their abilities and power are limited when compared to the great nor, but much beyond those of the rather pitiful norids.

NORIS

The highest rank. The immortals. The survivors. Four left, one of whom is Ser Noris.

SHAWAR (The Silent Ones)

The heart of the Biserica. A circle of women Elders who are greatly talented in magic and whose gifts are devoted to the service of the Maiden and the forces of life. Very little is known about them beyond the above.

SLEYKYN

Weaponmen.

They hire out to provide services; fees are paid both to the individual and the order.

They serve as bodyguards, assassins, torturers, muscle for ambitious lordlings, raiders, spies.

SOÄREH

Lord of light, his aspects are reason, logic, control, power, force, order.

He is eternal and unchanging.

STENDA

Mountain dwellers whose holds are united by a common culture and a great deal of intermarriage.

Very loosely affiliated with the mijloc, nominally under the rule of the Domnor.

Independent, arrogant, rigid in their interpretation of custom, xenophobic, deadly fighters, terrible soldiers.

TAR

A big chunk of land held by one family, a glorified farm.

TAROM

Owner of a tar, head of a family.

TAROMATE

Landowner's council, more or less runs things in its area.

Usually organized about a town or a village.

TIE

A person born on a tar, not legally bound to the land, but in practice that's what it amounts to.

As taroms inherit land, ties inherit jobs.