Rali

Sekhut cuneiform was created by the Leng’gui to allow human civilizations to communicate with their species and is a tiny fragment of its mother tongue which has more in common with celestial languages than most other corporeal forms of communication. One particular word, Rali (pronounced “Ra lay”), is a good example of the flexible and often metaphysical nature of the Leng’gui thought and communication process. Rali is a word that describes emotional and spiritual connection, similar to what humans call “love” and is conveyed as a root for words like:

  • geor’rali – Storge is a bond to a family
  • georsh’rali – Phileo is a bond to a sibling
  • gakli’rali – Eros is a bond to a mate
  • goornat’rali – Pragma is a bond to a series of tasks
  • goy’rali – Philos is a bond to a friend
  • gaor’rali – Thelema is to bond to a vocation or aim to do a thing
  • gi’rali – Agape is a bond to the Creator

Unlike many human languages, Rali can be attached to almost any other subject to mean the emotional and spiritual bond that a living soul endows to that subject. The fluid nature of Leng’gui treatment of love also hints at one reason that their culture has a strong distaste for prestige and title. According to the Leng’gui the tasks, vocation or relationship to a thing does not itself have meaning as a static label. Rather, it is the living essence of the one who does or relates to a thing that gives value and definition to the subject of that thing. Being reduced to a label, implies that the person can be summed up simply and that the soul gains value by the titles it possesses, but to Leng’gui exactly the opposite is true. Love therefore is the act of lending one’s own intrinsic value to the thing it acts upon or describes, not the other way around.

One side-effect of this approach is both enlightening and confusing because it literally means that love can be attached to a person directly. For example, Mary-Love or Mary’aurali is not merely the objective love of that person. Rather it is the love shared by bonding to Mary and only Mary. It is both unique and impossible to reproduce even if the connection itself can be moved. As a consequence of this pattern Galatians who apply to work with the Leng’gui consulate are at first shocked and overwhelmed by the initial requirements to spend no less than five years among those working on any Leng’gui project. However, after only a few months the reasons for this restriction become clear to recruits as it is often necessary to learn numerous words, phrases and expressions unique to only one team on one project before they can be effective at representing any part of that group.

Pajong Gai

These tasty fish with the tails of seals are not only a major food source on the moons of Huan’Hai, such as Miseo, but also the namesake for Lake Pajong Gai, on whose shores rest several small villages and legendary sites. The chief among these sites is Aerishael, which is conveniently located near a large enclave of these creatures. Like fish, Pajong Gai spawn huge populations quickly, and their egg clusters are also, in some locations, considered a delicacy. Even though these creatures spend most of their time swimming through lakes and bays, they are also capable of extended stays on rocky outcroppings, where they sunbathe and warble, mimicking the sounds of birds, other wildlife, or even machines nearby.

Pajong Gai are not particularly intelligent, and if their populations are left unchecked, they can become a nuisance. They have no sense of personal space and are drawn to cluster in, on, or near almost any form of artificial structure or body that gives off heat. To control their populations, fishing of them is encouraged, and their meat is sweet and tender, making them a popular main course for everything from soups and fillets to sandwiches and caviar.

Zatcha – Zed’Chi Weaponry

The Galatian Empire, like most of its peers, is peaceful. However, the Fell Wars that split one-third of heaven forced the creation of some truly terrifying weapons. Few advancements demonstrate this more clearly than what common folk refer to as “Zatcha” weapons, like the Zatcha pistol and Zatcha blade.

The name “Zatcha” is a mispronunciation of the original Leng’gui terms “Zed” and “Chi,” meaning Chemical Spirit. This translation does not adequately describe the extraordinary threat of this brand of heaven’s arsenal. Based, in part, on Leng’gui technology designed to provide safe and harmless travel of the soul to and from alternate dimensions, weapons built on these principles separate the soul from its targets. Advanced forms of these tools, which are highly restricted, are capable of trapping that soul within Chi Dasa stones for transport or virtually indefinite storage.

A select few among the highest officials in the Leng’gui Consulate and Galatian Navy believe that Zatcha technology might be used to erase a soul from existence – a crime so dire that it is both sacrilege and blasphemy against the Creator to use it. Research into such knowledge is forbidden at the highest levels, and any semblance of such a tool or research being conducted is met with fierce and swift response by heavenly forces. Recently, however, lay persons in Galat and Li have whispered rumors that this technology was being researched on Sigma 95 and may have something to do with the reason the moon of Gethsemane around Huan’Hai has been quarantined by angelic forces since the Huan’Hai Incident.

Gobesh Tablets

A replica of the original tablets found on the moon world of Miseo was recently moved to the Museum of Li Antiquities on Galat 5 as a testament to the extraordinary events collectively known as the Huan’hai Incident. Remarkably, the original tablets showed extensive corrosion and aging, although the story of their recent creation defies conventional explanation. The originals, once in the possession of the Leng’gui Consulate, contained a record that was a guarded secret, but is now revealed as a journal of the hasty flight that led to the miraculous reemergence of living, populated moons in the Li system. Visitors to the museum on Galat 5 who stop by this exhibit are left scratching their heads in bewilderment at the paradox represented by the age and story of these artifacts.

The chief author of the tablets, Averil Whey, lives on Miseo and tells of the harrowing escape by members of the Storge’s crew from a bizarre, collapsing time bubble. His story, filled with details about ships and crew thought lost thousands of years ago due to a catastrophic failure of critical systems aboard the ancient freighter, SS Thelema, remains stunning proof of a fantastic universe of possibilities.

A.P.A – Automated Personal Assistant

During the early years of Galatian robotics and expansion into other Galat planets, the need for automated assistants to perform daily tasks became so commonplace that virtually everyone was familiar with, had or used an A.P.A. unit. It was designed to have replaceable appendages that supplemented a wide variety of purposes and was powered by one tiny Aetherite core that needed periodic maintenance about once every six hundred cycles. This mechanical wonder was in use throughout Galatia and served functions both complex and basic such as geological surveyor, lab assistant, and restaurant waiter. Although not tied to the Logos AI mainframes, this bot’s highly trainable but simple-minded intelligence core has made it a valuable tool throughout the empire.

Coming This Winter

In lieu of a nano-stream this week, I have some exciting news for everyone. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been working with Xulon Press to get the first installment of Seven Words into print. I am pleased to report that the manuscript is now undergoing editorial diagnostic review, the first stage in the publication process. So, thank you to all fans, contributors, and visitors of The Potters Clay Life site for allowing me to get this far. I hope to make an official announcement of the publishing date within about a month. This means that if all goes well, books will be available this winter, so stay tuned!

I will return next week with another Nano-Stream story snippet to wet the pallets of my fans and visitors alike. Remember, each story is tied directly to the main series, allowing everyone the freedom to explore a world before purchasing any of the books. So, whether you’re a casual observer or a die-hard fan, enjoy the ride, and God bless you all.

I.L.A.D. Core

Galatian and some Leng’gui propulsion systems allow FTL travel using an advanced piece of technology known as the ILAD core or Interdimensional Luminal Aetherite Drive. Its power source is based on an exotic energy found in naturally occurring aetherite deposits – a rare mineral that is rich in dark matter condensates. This drive is not exactly a form of propulsion on its own; rather, it is a quantum tunneller coupled with an interdimensional quantum mapping system. Together, these tools allow the appearance of faster-than-light travel via the creation of localized wormholes in which space is folded and stretched. In truth, the vessel itself travels at subluminal speeds through the tunnels, always arriving near instantly on the other side of the wormhole once the tunnel path is established.

This technology is, in miniature, what the gate system is for most interstellar travel throughout the kingdoms. However, because of its smaller size, its range is limited, as is the number of destinations that it supports. In the Galatian network, specific destinations and drive systems with more advanced protocols, which enable further travel or interdimensional hopping, are code-locked due to the encryption of these functions for the safety of uninitiated systems and species. These code locks are typically called GAK or Galatian Aether Keys. They must be used to enable the functionality or to override the safety protocols of such systems.

System: Chi

The Chi system is one of the most important star systems to the alliance between the enigmatic Leng’gui and the Galatian Empire. This is because this system exists as a parallel entity in numerous other dimensions and realities, each of which is home to a Leng’gui library of extraordinary significance. Known throughout Galatian space as among the most advanced races, the Leng’gui have hyper-advanced bioengineering laboratories and soul libraries scattered throughout several universes. They are among a very few races capable of terraforming entire star systems at a time and engineering life from raw DNA code all the way to complex ecosystems with spectacularly accurate predictive models revered by all heavenly races.

Chi is the site of a library complex that consists of multiple planets and moons that houses one of the most extensive libraries of life in the Milky Way galaxy. There, the signatures of trillions of lifeforms and their spirits have been stored in advanced underground archives of the special stones capable of storing the life essence of living entities known as Chi Dasa. Admittance to this system is highly restricted, to the point that the technology used to protect its secrets can literally translate the entire star system out of the cluster in which it resides on any given reality.

System: Li

Li, the miracle system, was believed for millennia to be left lifeless by a catastrophic battle and the consequential rupture of the SS Thelema’s ILAD engine core. Home to one hydrogen gas giant, named Huan’Hai, several rocky, inhabitable moons orbit this enormous apricot colored Jovian. Further out in the system’s orbit, a broad asteroid belt is a rich supply of rare heavy metals, ices, and even an unusually high concentration of dark matter.

While today this system is starting once again to participate in trade and integration with the Galatian systems fleets, Li enjoys a storied past that heavily influences this experience. The epic adventure of this system begins with the unexpected recovery of five of the seven ships in the Galatian fleet, each named in a way that expands their overall story. Records recovered after “The Huan’Hai Incident” indicate that the inhabitants of the Jovian’s moons lived within a bizarre, undetected time dilation bubble and believed that only four centuries had passed. Meanwhile, outside the event horizon of this bubble, the universe flowed on for just over 18,000 years!

System: Sol

Just around 18 millennia ago, this star system was severed from direct contact by Galatian Naval forces. Although sporadic encounters in the past with the inhabitants of the only, remaining habitable planet in the system do exist, it has been millennia since direct contact has been made in any official capacity. In the official record, Helel’s forces retreated to this system after being banished from Heaven for his rebellion. In his defeated state, he has chosen out of spite to maintain the petty goal of corrupting the human civilization living there, with only a minimal presence to validate any portion of his own record or history.

Traces of the stories of contact with Heaven have been found encoded in various local literature. Still, since the primary gate was buried in a deluge millennia ago, only ineffectual replicas, ruined remains of ancient temples to falsehood, and sparse evidence of a contingent of observers originally tasked to induct this system into the larger network remain accessible to the living inhabitants of this system’s world. Consequently, humans living in Sol are victims of rumor, conjecture, sporadic intervention, and a plethora of lies regarding these events. A Galatian prophecy, known as the Bloom Prophecy, predicts that the Creator will lead a campaign to retake this system and imprison Helel once and for all. However, for now, the reasons for the structures and legends haunting local myths and religions remain a mystery to the inhabitants until in one cataclysmic war, the truth of the Creator will be revealed.