Jonathan
asked:
I'm half way through the book, thought I was over theinitial confusion on language. I still can't figure out what a "decade" is whenever discussing ships. Eg: "Each decade held twenty lieutenants and its decade commander, but Esk was now my lowest occupied deck." from Chapter 12's opening. What's a decade? A troop of soldiers? Actually I still don't know what "Esk" means.
To answer questions about
Ancillary Justice,
please sign up.
Cherie
My understanding of the Radtch universe is this:
Each ship is either a Justice, Mercy, or Sword, depending on their role in the conquering of new systems.
Each Justice class ship (the type Toren is) has decks with names such as Bo, Esk, Var, etc. These names come from their religion of opposites (except for Amaat, who is a god, I believe). Esk is opposite from Var, etc. I don't remember which book details this. So, a Commander may have ten human Lieutenants, and each Lieutenant has ten ancillaries at their disposal. I think only the Captain of a ship has twenty ancillary crew, with ten on duty at a time.
In the book you're referring to (if I remember correctly), the system they are in is past the invasion phase, so the crew members (ancillaries) of some of the decks (Var, at least) have been put back in storage and the decks powered down so that these three instances of Anaander can operate onboard without any human crew suspecting.
Each ship is either a Justice, Mercy, or Sword, depending on their role in the conquering of new systems.
Each Justice class ship (the type Toren is) has decks with names such as Bo, Esk, Var, etc. These names come from their religion of opposites (except for Amaat, who is a god, I believe). Esk is opposite from Var, etc. I don't remember which book details this. So, a Commander may have ten human Lieutenants, and each Lieutenant has ten ancillaries at their disposal. I think only the Captain of a ship has twenty ancillary crew, with ten on duty at a time.
In the book you're referring to (if I remember correctly), the system they are in is past the invasion phase, so the crew members (ancillaries) of some of the decks (Var, at least) have been put back in storage and the decks powered down so that these three instances of Anaander can operate onboard without any human crew suspecting.
Jonathan
Oh, after crafting this question I read the prior paragraph again. I think the following is right, please let me know if others agree:
1. the Esk, Amaat, Toren, Etrepa, Bo — ships! these are living-ship/AI names
2. decade — the hull/body of the ship that floats in space
3. "Justice of [name]" — refers to the being/AI of ship [name]
1. the Esk, Amaat, Toren, Etrepa, Bo — ships! these are living-ship/AI names
2. decade — the hull/body of the ship that floats in space
3. "Justice of [name]" — refers to the being/AI of ship [name]
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more