| Discription | Person, Place, or thing |
| The protagonist is the Oceanographer and Shepherd officer... | |
| She bears a strange resemblance to the 'ancient martyr...' | |
| ...who dies in the novel's opening scene, in the arms of her doomed lover... | |
| Their suffering is both religious inspiration and sadistic turn-on to the deeply disturbed... | |
| ...who comes from the factory world of... | |
| He and his grifter friend... | |
| ...try to sneak into the ocean world of... | |
| ...where they are captured by Xue's executive officer... | |
| ...who later becomes the type case of a combat stress syndrome called... | |
| ...which is analyzed by the Shepherd Doctor General... | |
| | Discription | Person, Place, or thing |
| ...who is also treating the schizophrenic former Fast-Lister... | |
| ...one-time crew-mate of the extremely 'Scourge of the Joints...' | |
| ...who is the lover of both her childhood friend, Chort, and her Shepherd comrade... | |
| Hearth is a convert to a religion that holds Eve and Farukh to be gods, called... | |
| ...which is invented by the one-time Six-school teacher... | |
| ...whose teachings imply that Xue may be divine, along with her son... | |
| ...whose father is the philandering former president of the Joint Worlds... | |
| Monitor's life is saved by the sacrifice of the 'storytimer...' | |
| ...whose body is sent off into oblivion along with her still-living murderer, | |
| ...who is mistaken for Farukh by his delirious final victim... | |
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