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Glossary of Terms
Jao terms
- Ata:
- suffix indicating a group formed for instructional purposes.
- Az:
- Jao measurement, slightly longer than a yard.
- Azet:
- Jao measurement, about three fourths of a mile.
- Bau:
- A short carved baton, usually but not always made of wood, issued by a kochan to those of its members it considers fit for high command. The bau serves as an emblem of military achievement, with carvings added to match the bau-holder accomplishments.
- Bauta:
- An individual who has retired from service honorably and has chosen to relinquish his automatic kochan ties.
- Bodyspeech:
- Postures, used to communicate emotions.
- Bodystyle:
- individual kochan's style in bodyspeech
- Dehabia:
- Traditional soft thick blankets used for lounging.
- Dry-foot:
- dry-footed, as in incapable of swimming, insult
- Early-light:
- The period between dawn and early morning
- Emerged:
- officially released from one's childhood (as in natal pool)
- First-Mate:
- first sexual partner in one's marriage group
- First-light:
- dawn
- Formal movement:
- Codified postures, taught to young Jao.
- Fraghta:
- An older and experienced batman/valet/advisor/bodyguard assigned to young Jao of high kochan status.
- Framepoint:
- A stargate, the means for interstellar transit.
- Hai tau:
- Life-in-motion.
- Heartward:
- Right.
- Jinau:
- Sepoy troops recruited from conquered species.
- Jints:
- huge lumbering land animals native to Mannat Kar, one of the Krant homeworlds, notable for their awkwardness
- Kochan:
- Jao clan. The term is used also to refer to "root clans" or "great kochan."
- Kochanata:
- Instructional group taught in the kochan.
- Kochanau:
- The leader of the clan, at any given time, chosen by the elders. The office is neither hereditary nor permanent, although some kochanau retain it for long periods of time.
- Kroudh:
- Outlawed, officially severed from one's clan.
- Last-sun:
- Yesterday.
- Late-dark:
- Midnight or after.
- Late-light:
- Afternoon.
- Lurret:
- A large herbivore found on Hadiru, a Dano world. Specifically, an old rogue male, notorious for its belligerence and unstable temperament.
- Mank:
- sea creature that inhabits Mannat Kar, about the size of a manatee, very strong swimmer, not aggressive
- Medician:
- combination of doctor and medical technician
- Mirrat:
- Small finned swimmers on Jithra's homeworld.
- Namth camiti:
- To be of highest ranking in an emergent generation, sometimes referred as "of the clearest water." Loosely equivalent, in human terms, to graduating first in the class from a military academy.
- Natal compound:
- Where one was born.
- Naukra:
- assembly of all the kochan called to deal with a specific issue
- Next-sun:
- Tomorrow.
- Ollnat:
- Conceiving of things-that-never-were, or what-might-be, lies, imagination, creativity, etc. It is a quality mostly lacking in Jao, except in a frivolous manner.
- Oudh:
- In charge, having official authority in a situation.
- Pool-sib:
- children born during the same season of mating so that they are raised together: they may or may not be born of the same parents: the relationship is equally close, either way
- Sant jin:
- A formal question requiring a formal answer.
- Smoothface:
- An insult, implying no incised bars of rank or experience. Roughly equivalent to such humans expressions as "wet behind the ears" or "greenhorn."
- Stub-ears:
- insult
- Tak:
- Woody substance burned for its aromatic scent.
- Taif:
- A kochan-in-formation, affiliated to and under the protection and guidance of a kochan.
- Timeblind:
- Having no innate sense of time as the Jao do.
- Timesense:
- Innate ability to judge the passage of time and sense when something will happen.
- Vai camiti:
- The characteristic facial pattern by which one may often recognize a Jao's kochan; faint vai camiti are considered undesirable, a mark of homeliness.
- Vaim:
- Traditional Jao greeting between two who are approximately equal in status. Can also be used as a compliment by a higher status Jao to a lower. The literal translation is "We see each other."
- Vaish:
- Traditional Jao greeting of inferior to superior. The literal translation is "I see you."
- Vaist:
- Traditional Jao greeting of superior to inferior. The literal translation is "You see me."
- Vithrik:
- Duty, what one owes to others, the necessity of making one's self of use.
- What-is:
- Reality.
- What-might-be:
- Something imagined.
- Windward:
- Left.
- Wrem-fa:
- A technique of instruction through body-learning in which nothing is explained, laid down in the brain too deep for conscious understanding. Also, in a broader sense, used to refer to life experience.
Lleix terms
- Boh:
- ancient guardian spirits, left behind during the exodus
- Children's Court:
- home for youth before they are released for the Festival of Choosing that takes place in their fifteenth year; if they are not chosen, they must live thereafter in the dochaya
- Dochaya:
- unskilled laborers' living area at the far edge of the city, a slum
- Elian:
- social and occupational grouping; similar to a human caste, except members are selected, not born into it
- Han:
- meeting of all the most senior elders of the elian
- Last=of-Days:
- long foretold time when the Ekhat will finally exterminate the Lleix
- Newest:
- term of low age-rank
- Oyas-to:
- shunning, not-seeing, disciplinary mode for being disharmonious and flaunting social order
- Sensho:
- the correct manner of behavior which includes order in the Han and elian according to age-rank
- Shortest:
- term of low age-rank
- Unassigned:
- those without an elian who must live in the dochaya
- Vahl:
- black cosmetic stick with which to emphasize the upswept lines of the eye
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