The Authorized Ender Companion (31 page)

“Rackham,” Pahu Rangi (Actual last name unknown; Rackham used for con ve nience) (MP)

Mazer Rackham’s son. Unable to find someone to marry, he did not appear in the visual message sent to Mazer in the solitary courier ship. Pahu had been born after Mazer left for the war, and as a result, never met or saw his father. He was an adult when the message was sent to Mazer, and joked that someday he’d learn to read and write.

Rackham, Pai Mahutanga (MP)

The fair-haired daughter of Mazer Rackham, Pai was the first of the family to communicate with him in a visual message over the ansible in Mazer’s courier ship following the Formic invasion, but years before Ender Wiggin’s victory. She was the mother of Mazer’s grandchildren Mirth, Glad, Mazer, and Struan. She was loyal to the Hegemony, adhering to the new population rules.

“Rackham,” Pao PaoTe Rangi “Glad” (Actual last name unknown; Rackham used for con ve nience) (MP)

Mazer Rackham’s granddaughter. Proud of her Maori heritage, given to her through Mazer, she went by the English nickname “Glad.” She appeared in the ansible message Hyrum Graff arranged.

“Rackham,” Struan Maeroero (Actual last name unknown; Rackham used for con ve nience) (MP)

The youngest of Mazer Rackham’s grandchildren, and expected to be the last because of the Hegemony’s new population rules. He appeared in the visual message sent to Mazer in his courier ship, arranged by Hyrum Graff.

Rajam, General “Andariyy” (SG)

General Rajam, who had given himself the nickname “Andariyy,” meaning strong rope, was the leader of Muslim forces that occupied India and much of Asia during Peter Wiggin’s rise to power as the Hegemon after Ender’s victory over the Formics. He abused his authority, allowing (even praising) violent abuse of innocent Indian civilians.

His actions caused Virlomi, the most influential woman in India, to call on Alai, a Battle School grad and Caliph of the Muslim world, to denounce the soldiers’ actions in India.

Alai traveled to India where he brought Rajam before the soldiers in what seemed would be a public award ceremony, but ended up being Rajam’s execution on orders from the Caliph. Alai sent a message that violence against
innocents would not be tolerated and that he was the true leader of all Muslims in the world.

Ramen (
See
Hierarchy of Alienness)

Ramon (GB)

A soldier in the Formic War, Ramon was close to Sel Menach, and presumably helped found the colony which Sel was a part of after the war on a former Formic world.

Randi (EE, SG)

Randi was a disciple of Achilles Flandres’s. Married to an average grocery store owner named Bob, she fell in love with Achilles, and believed he was the savior of mankind. She was the surrogate for an embryo Achilles told her was his and his mysterious wife’s, though it actually belonged to Bean Delphiki and Petra Arkanian. Randi left Bob to have what she believed was Achilles’s son. It was her mission to raise the boy, whom she named Achilles II, to fulfill his father’s destiny and become the leader Achilles was to have been, but was murdered by Bean.

She took on a new identity as Nichelle Firth to protect Achilles II from being taken away by the Free People of Earth. She even sought to leave Earth and go to a new colony.

She was in awe of her son’s apparent intelligence, and amazed at how easy the premature birth process had been. He was tremendously undersized at birth and born months early.

Randi did not know that her son had the genetic mutation called Anton’s Key within him. This caused his premature birth, small size, and intelligence. It would also cause him to grow to be a giant and die at a very young age.

Under her alias Nichelle Firth, Randi traveled with her son to the human colony on the planet Ganges. Obsessed with Achilles, and determined that her son would follow in his footsteps, Randi repeated his name over and over again. The governor of Ganges, Virlomi, was concerned about this and kept a watchful eye on Randi and her son.

As Achilles II grew to be a teenager, Randi taught him about his supposed father. Randi tried to get her son to kill Ender Wiggin when he visited Ganges, but Achilles II would not. Ender told Achilles II that his real parents were Petra Arkanian and Bean Delphiki. Randi refused to believe this, and her relationship with her son ended because of it.

Rav, Captain (SD)

Captain Rav was a ship captain on the planet Trondheim. He taught Valentine Wiggin how to run ships, and taxied Ender Wiggin to the spaceship that would take him to another planet, Lusitania.

Raymond, Dick; Mr. and Mrs. (SP)

When Achilles Flandres attempted to take over Peter Wiggin’s position as Hegemon of Earth, the Wiggin family sought temporary sanctuary on the orbiting space station, the Ministry of Colonization. In order to not arouse suspicion, the family was given aliases. John Paul and Theresa were Mr. and Mrs. Raymond, and Peter was “Dick.”

Recolada (XN)

Recolada was an altered form of Descolada that allowed human life exposure to the disease.

Reitveld, Fillipus “Flip” (WG)

Flip was a contemporary of Ender Wiggin’s at Battle School. Flip was close to Dink Meeker, his toon leader in Rat Army. Both boys had come from Holland, and it was to Flip that Dink secretly gave a traditional holiday gift. The present, a goofy poem, led to a serious problem at the Battle School as Christian zealot Zeck Morgan encouraged a mutiny demanding that if Dink’s celebration of a holiday went unpunished, all religious displays should, too.

Ren (EGS)

Ren was a soldier in Ender Wiggin’s Dragon Army. As with many of his fellow soldiers in the army, he was promoted to commander of his own army after Dragon’s undefeated record in the Battle Room.

Reykjavik (
See
Hundred Worlds)

Rhemis (
See
Hundred Worlds)

Ribeira, Marcos Maria “Marcão” (SD)

Marcão Ribeira was a child born on the planet Lusitania. He was the same age as Libo and Novinha, two prominent children in the colony, but was not well liked. He was a surly boy with no friends. One day, when he’d been accused of a violent misdeed against his schoolmates, Novinha defended him. He fell in love with Novinha for her act of kindness, and even married her.

Although married in a traditional Catholic culture, Novinha and Marcão could not conceive children. He had a congenital disease that sterilized him, caused him extreme physical agony, and would someday kill him. Novinha remained married to Marcão, but had a sexual affair with Libo, her childhood friend. Libo gave her six children, whom Marcão raised as his own. But, he took to a life of drinking.

He was abusive to Novinha and her children because they were not his children—though that was not known to them. He died in a bar, and two of Novinha’s children called for a Speaker to Speak his death. Ender Wiggin, who was coming to Speak another death on the planet (one called for and canceled by Novinha), arrived and Spoke.

When Ender spoke Marcão’s death, he revealed to the people of Lusitania the dark secrets of Novinha’s adultery. In many ways, the Speaking cleared Marcão’s name in the eyes of the colonists at Lusitania.

Ribeira von Hesse, Ekaterina Elanora “Ela” (SD, XN, CM)

The daughter of Libo and Novinha, Ela grew up on the planet Lusitania believing that her father was actually a man named Marcão. When he died, Ela, with her brother Miro, called for a Speaker to Speak his death. Ender Wiggin answered the call, and arrived at their home planet Lusitania to perform the Speaking.

When Ender did arrive, Ela was concerned, as he’d come many years earlier than expected. She’d called the Speaker because she wanted her abusive father’s evil acts exposed, but it was too soon after his death to be comfortable.

During Ender’s first visit to the Ribeira household, Ela greeted him coldly at first, but as she got to know him, she began to trust him. In fact, they became friends. After Ender had been on the planet for a few days, Ela met him at the river near their homes and confided that she wanted to be a scientist with full credentials. Her mother refused to let her because she feared Ela would die like the planet’s xenobiologists Pipo and Libo had. Ela explored all of her mother’s research anyway, and came to determine that there was a link between the disease known as the Descolada and the native life on the planet, the pequeninos.

Ela was a mother figure to her siblings, caring for them and encouraging them to help Ender in his duties as the Speaker. This caused dissension with her brother Quim, but was something she felt very strongly about.

She attended Ender’s Speaking for her father. She was at first disappointed that he seemed to be excusing Marcão’s abusive actions, but was shocked to
learn that Marcão was not her real father, and that a man named Libo was. Her mother was an adulteress. Novinha seemed to hate Libo and had forbidden Ela from seeing her once-best friend, Libo’s daughter China.

After the Speaking, Ender approached Ela, needing her help. Starways Congress had revoked Lusitania’s charter and was going to evacuate the planet. Ender was going to lead a rebellion against the Congress, but needed the information on the Descolada that Novinha had kept hidden. Ela agreed to approach her mother and find it out so they could protect their planet and particularly Miro, who faced criminal accusations in the evacuation.

Ela was able to convince Novinha to explain the Descolada to the leaders of the planet/colony. With this information, the leaders decided to rebel against Starways Congress. The Descolada had infected all life on Lusitania, and as such all were carriers and couldn’t leave the planet.

When it was learned that her brother Miro had been injured near the pequeninos’ land outside the city, Ela went with Ender and the leaders of the town to save him. She, Ouanda, and Ender crossed the deactivated fence and went to speak to the pequeninos’ leaders—the “wives.”

Ela was fascinated by the pequeninos’ mating rituals, which she learned from the wives. She was a witness as Ender negotiated a treaty with the pequeninos. Ever the scientist, Ela insisted on observing Ender perform the “Third Life” ritual, where a pequenino is killed, a tree planted in its corpse.

The next morning, she attended mass with her family, Ender sitting in the place reserved for her father. He had, after all, become a father figure to her.

She continued to study the Descolada, and with Ouanda discovered properties of daisies that could allow the Hive Queen to flourish on Lusitania without being exposed to the virus. However, the Descolada evolved, and Ela, with her mother, worked tirelessly to protect the flora and fauna human beings had imported for their own sustenance from the disease. It was a losing battle, though, as the disease continued to evolve and infect.

Over the next thirty years, Ela and her family rose to greater prominence on Lusitania. They were the planet’s scientists. Novinha and Ela created new strains of potatoes, trying to find a way to make a foodstuff that would be resistant to the Descolada. It was a difficult assignment, one that seemed impossible as the virus continually evolved.

In her late forties, Ela developed a theory that would allow the human scientists on Lusitania to selectively eliminate certain aspects of the Descolada, while preserving the parts of the virus that the native Lusitanian life needed to survive and reproduce. The theory was a contentious issue between Ela and her sister, Quara, who felt the virus was actually a living, sentient creature.
Despite their differing views, both Ela and Quara continued their respective research paths, trying to determine what would be best for all the life on their home planet.

Ela and her family greeted Miro’s ship when it returned from its mission to rendezvous with Valentine Wiggin’s vessel. It was Ela who greeted her brother Miro the most warmly, and was able to mostly look beyond the thirty years that has passed between them. Because of relativistic travel, Miro had not aged, but the rest of his siblings had. It made for a subtle awkwardness at his return.

Ela was called into a meeting at the mayor’s office where the problem of the pequeninos was discussed. A faction of pequeninos had decided to leave the planet, spreading the Descolada to other worlds. Ela was working on the antivirus version of the Descolada, which was still an extremely contentious issue between her and Quara. She was ordered to continue her research by the leaders of the colony, despite Quara’s objections.

Quara responded by trying to communicate with the Descolada molecules and warn the virus of her sister’s research. She tried to transmit Ela’s research directly to the virus. Ela informed Ender, asking what should be done about the leak. But it was Novinha who reacted.

Angrily, Novinha screamed terrible insults at Ender and informed Ela that she, as the head xenologist, would stop Quara from sending the research. She also threatened Ela that if Ela ever spoke about scientific matter to Ender or anyone again, she would cut off Ela’s access to the lab and research.

Ela tried to smooth things over with Novinha, even though she thought more of Ender and thought he deserved to know what was going on.

A short time later, when her brother Quim was killed by the pequeninos, Ela joined her family at their home to hear the news. When Miro informed everyone that Quim was dead, he was slapped by Novinha. The rest of the family, including Ela, rebelled against her, leaving her alone. Ela felt badly for speaking terrible words to her mother as she left, but was unable to reconcile with her. Novinha entered the religious school, the Children of the Mind of Christ.

Ela tried to return to her research, but did not have access to the lab without Novinha’s passwords. Novinha told Ender to have Jane get the passwords, and give them to Ela.

In the aftermath of Quim’s death, many citizens of Lusitania rioted, burning a large portion of the piggies’ home forest, including the mothertrees and fathertrees. Ela was there to see the results of the fire, and to study how the pequeninos would rebuild from a devastating loss.