Mouse & Dragon[]
Chapter One
The delm is the face and the voice of the clan, representing the interests of the clan to the world and solving those problems presented by the members of the clan. The clan's whole honor and melant'i reside with the delm.
--Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
Chapter Two
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The Learning Module utilizes intense, direct-brain stimulation to impart pre-programmed information. Direct-brain stimulation is painful, even dangerous, to some individuals. Always run a compatibility test before logging into a full Learning session.
In no case should a Learner undertake more than one six-hour session of moderate intensity within one twenty-eight-hour period. Cerebral vesication may result from overuse of a Learning Module.
—From the manual for Learning Module No. X5783
Chapter Three
On average contract-marriages last eighteen Standard Months, and are negotiated between clan officials who decide, after painstaking perusal of gene maps, personality charts and intelligence grids, which of several possible nuptial arrangements are most advantageous to both clans.
In contrast, lifemating is a far more serious matter, encompassing the length of the partners' lives, even if one should die. One of the pair must leave his or her clan of origin and join the clan of the lifemate. At that time the adoptive clan pays a "life-price" based on the individual's profession, age and internal value to the former clan.
Tradition has it that lifemates share a "bond of heart and mind." In view of Liaden cultural acceptance of "wizards," some scholars have interpreted this to mean that lifemates are "psychically" connected. Or, alternatively, that the only true lifematings occur between wizards. There is little to support this theory. True, lifematings among Liadens are rare. But so are life-long marriages among Terrans.
—From "Marriage Customs of Liad"
Chapter Four
In the absence of clan, a partner, comrade or co-pilot may be permitted the burdens and joys of kin-duty. In the presence of kin, duty to partner, comrade or co-pilot must stand an honorable second.
—From the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
Chapter Five
It must be the ambition of every person of melant'i to mold individual character to the clan's necessity. The person of impeccable melant'i will have no goal, nor undertake any task, upon which the clan might have reason to frown.
—Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
Chapter Six
The number of High Houses is precisely fifty. And then there is Korval.
—From the Annual Census of Clans
Chapter Seven
Home is where the heart is.
-- Terran proverb
Chapter Eight
Each clan is independent and each delm law within his House. Thus, one goes gently into the House of another clan. One speaks soft and bows low. It is not amiss to bear a gift.
—Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
Chapter Nine
The heart keeps its own Code.
—Anonymous
Chapter Ten
The Guild Halls of so-called "Healers"—interactive empaths—can be found in every Liaden city.
Healers are charged with tending ills such as depression, addiction and other psychological difficulties and they are undoubtedly skilled therapists, with a high rate of success to their credit.
Healers are credited with the ability to wipe a memory from all layers of a client's consciousness. They are said to be able to directly—utilizing psychic ability—influence another's behavior; however, this activity is specifically banned by Guild regulations.
—From "The Case Against Telepathy"
Chapter Eleven
A scholar is illuminated by the brilliance of her students.
-- Liaden proverb
Chapter Twelve
If honor be your clothing, the suit will last a lifetime.
—William Arnot
Chapter Thirteen
Each one of a Line shall heed the voice of the thodelm, head of that Line, and give honor to the thodelm's word. Likewise, the thodelm shall heed the voice of the delm, head of the clan entire, and to the delm's word bow low.
Proper behavior is that thodelm decides for Line and delm decides for clan, cherishing between them the melant'i of all.
—Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
Chapter Fourteen
He found it in a desert, so he told me—the only living thing in two days' walk. A skinny stick with a couple leaves near the top, that's all it was then.
I don't remember the name of the world it came from. He might not have told me. Wherever it was, when his Troop finally picked him up, Jela wouldn't leave 'til he'd dug up that damned skinny stick of a tree and planted it real careful in an old ration tin. Carried it in his arms onto transport. And nobody dared to laugh.
—Excerpted from Cantra yos'Phelium's Log Book
Chapter Fifteen
Melant'i —A Liaden word denoting the status of a person within a given situation. For instance, one person may fulfill several roles: Parent, spouse, child, mechanic, thodelm. The shifting winds of circumstance, or 'necessity,' dictate from which role the person will act this time. They will certainly always act honorably, as defined within a voluminous and painfully detailed code of behavior, referred to simply as 'The Code.'
To a Liaden, melant'i is more precious than rubies, a cumulative, ever-changing indicator of his place in the universal pecking order. A person of high honor, for instance, is referred to as "a person of melant'i," whereas a scoundrel—or a Terran—may be dismissed with "he has no melant'i."
Melant'i may be the single philosophical concept from which all troubles, large and small, between Liad and Terra spring.
—From "A Terran's Guide to Liad"
Chapter Sixteen
Be aware of those actions undertaken in your name. . .
—From the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
Chapter Seventeen
A room without books is like a body without a soul.
-- Cicero
Chapter Eighteen
In an ally, considerations of house, clan, planet, race are insignificant beside two prime questions, which are:
1. Can he shoot?
2. Will he aim at your enemy?
—From Cantra yos'Phelium's Log Book
Chapter Nineteen
Those who enter Scout Academy emerge after rigorous training capable of treating equitably with societies unimaginably alien, some savage beyond belief.
Scouts are by definition courageous, brilliant, supremely adaptable and endlessly resourceful.
—Excerpted from "All About the Liaden Scouts"
Chapter Twenty
Norbear -- Size: 16 -- 22 cm; Weight: 121 -- 180 g. Furred quadrapedal mammal with a burrowing habit; soft dense coat, ranging in color from gray, brown, black, orange, white and mixed. Herbivore. Fearless and lively disposition, natural empath. Adapts well to domestication. Banned on certain worlds. Check port rules before importing.
--Courier Wildlife Guide, Fourteenth Edition
Chapter Twenty-One
Happy is one who finds a friend on every port.
--Liaden proverb
Chapter Twenty-Two
"Liaden Scout" must now be seen as a misnomer, for to become a Scout is to become other than Liaden. It is to turn one's face from the homeworld and enter a state of philosophy where all custom, however alien, is accepted as equally just and fitting.
We are told by certain instructors that not everyone may aspire to—nor all who aspire, attain—that particular degree of philosophical contrariness required of those who are said to have "Scout's eyes".
For this we must rejoice, and allow the Scouts full honor for having in the past provided refuge for the disenfranchised, the adventurous and the odd.
—Excerpted from remarks made before the Council of Clans by the chairperson of the Coalition to Abolish the Liaden Scouts
Chapter Twenty-Three
The most dangerous phrase in High Liaden is coab minshak'a: "Necessity exists".
—From "A Terran's Guide to Liad"
Chapter Twenty-Four
Love is best given to kin, and joy taken in duty well-done
--Vilander's Proverb's Seventh Edition
Chapter Twenty-Five
The pilot's care shall be ship and passengers.
The co-pilot's care shall be pilot and ship.
--From the Duties Roster of the Pilots Guild
Chapter Twenty-Six
Balance must be maintained in all things. Debts must be paid promptly and in full.
-- From the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nothing is as easy as it looks.
--Terran Proverb
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The guest is sacrosanct. The welfare and comfort of the guest will be first among the priorities of the House, for so long as the guest shall bide.
--Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Friends are a costly necessity.
--Anonymous
Chapter Thirty
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
--Terran Proverb
Chapter Thirty-One
The wages of spite are well-earned.
--Liaden Proverb
Chapter Thirty-Two
A Dragon will in all things follow its own necessities, and either will or will not make its bow to Society.
-- From the Liaden Book of Dragons
Chapter Thirty-Three
Korval is contract-bound to stand as Captain to all the passengers until released by the Council of Clans, the successor to the Transition Committee. I should've written that contract looser, but who knew we'd even survive?
--Excerpted from Cantra yos'Phelium's Log Book
Chapter Thirty-Four
Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.
--Terran Proverb
Chapter Thirty-Five A clan's treasure is its children.
--From the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct
Chapter Thirty-Six
Each person shall provide their clan of origin with a child of their blood, who will be raised by the clan and belong to the clan, despite whatever may later occur to place the parent beyond the clan's authority. And this shall be Law for every person of every clan.
--From the Charter of the Council of Clans,Made in the Sixth Year After Planetfall,City of Solcintra, Liad
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Do not stand between a Dragon and its Tree.
--From the Liaden Book of Dragons
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Al'bresh venat'i
Chapter Thirty-Nine
I have today received Korval's Ring from the hand of Petrella, Thodelm yos'Galan, who had it from the hand of Korval Herself as she lay dying.
My first duty as Korval must be Balance with those who have deprived the clan of Chi yos'Phelium, beloved parent and delm; as well as Sae Zar yos'Galan, gentle cousin, a'thodelm, master trader. There is also Petrella yos'Galan, who I fear has taken her death-wound.
Sae Zar fell while defending his delm. All honor to him.
Chi yos'Phelium died of a second treachery and in dying gave nourishment to her sister, my aunt, who alone of hte three was able to win back to home.
The name of the world which has fashioned these losses for Korval is Ganjir, RP-7026-541-773, Tipra Sector, First Quadrant.
This shall be Korval's Balance: As of this hour, the ships of Korval and of Korval's allies do not stop at Ganjir. Korval goods do not go there; Korval cantra finds no investment there. And these conditions shall remain in force, though Ganjir starves for want of us.
. . .I note that my mother is still dead.
--Daav yos'Phelium, Eighty-Fifth Delm of Korval, Entry in the Delm's Diary for Finyal Eighthday, in the first Relumma of the Year Named Saro
Chapter Forty
To be outside of the clan is to be dead to the clan.
--Excerpted from the Liaden Code of Proper Conduct