Extrasolarians

The Extrasolarians are hierarchically organized with the Exalted as their most radically modified and powerful subgroup, commanding Sojourner-class vessels and controlling access to Vorgossos. The Exalted recognize only strength as a basis for authority or mercy and sail in black-masted ships. The Exalted almost never leave their ships and keep the planet's location an exclusive secret. Individual Extrasolarians operate throughout the Veil as arms dealers, salvagers, and merchants, trading in nuclear ordnance salvaged from abandoned Imperial and Norman bases, smaller arms, starships, terraforming hardware, and daimons of artificial intelligence. Vorgossos's ruling structure comprises Kharn Sagara at the apex, served by the android majordomo Yume, an army of SOMs (Surrogate Operating Media — remote-controlled human bodies), and bonecutter specialists including the Exalted geneticist Father Calvert.

Father Calvert is the Exalted guardian of Kharn Sagara's clone nursery on Vorgossos, which he refers to as the Garden. He was formerly a researcher at the Imperial High College and later at the Holy Terran Chantry's Choir before becoming Exalted — a transformation that has persisted for approximately four thousand years. His primary body is an enormous mechanical chassis of eight black legs with a rotating boom arm and an oblate armored head-turret; his biological core is a withered near-skeletal human torso and head on jointed black metal limbs, capable of ejection from the chassis. His adamant armor is proof against highmatter blades except at exposed steel joint connections. He tends cloned replacement bodies for Sagara's palatine clients and harvests genetic material for research.

The underground installation at Vorgossos is layered over infrastructure assessed as predating even Sagara's habitation. Hadrian theorizes that the Exalted constructed the original domed settlement and infrastructure back when the Sollan Empire was young — before Jadd and before Tavros — and that the current installation was built upon that pre-existing foundation. Kharn Sagara added his inverted pyramid throne room and other elements to an already existing base. Beneath the palace, at the level of an underground sea, resides Brethren — an ancient Mericanii artificial intelligence whose founders were originally built in San Francisco before the Foundation War. After banishment from Earth by William of Avalon, surviving Mericanii descendants found Vorgossos and grew anew there, incorporating human neuronal tissue as processing substrate. Brethren claims the ability to perceive time as another kind of space and to predict potential futures. It identifies itself as both Sagara's captive and his master.

March Station and seventeen other Extrasolarian outpost locations constitute a wider network operating across the Veil. March Station orbits just above the ecliptic plane of a cold blue supergiant star whose accretion disk is still forming planets, rendered essentially invisible by faint infrared and ultraviolet emissions. Antonius Brevon of Brevon Imports maintains a commercial office there, brokering passage to Vorgossos in exchange for payment.

The Extrasolarians are descended from the Mericanii, the ancient defeated enemy of the Sollan Empire following the Foundation War. Their primary stronghold Vorgossos is ruled by Kharn Sagara, known as the Undying, who is over fourteen thousand years old and has traded with the Cielcin for five hundred standard years across three clans: Otiolo, Hasurumn, and Dorayaica.

Within the Sollan Empire, Extrasolarians serve as a figure of public fear exploited in political propaganda. Alistair Marlowe falsely accused Gibson of plotting to deliver Hadrian to Extrasolarian hands to maximize fear at a public punishment. Grand Prior Ligeia Vas brands the Extrasolarians 'demoniacs,' 'traitors,' and 'apostates' for allegedly consorting with the Cielcin.

The Meidua Red Company under Hadrian Marlowe tracked the Extrasolarian network from the Painted Man's terminal to March Station, then to an audience with Kharn Sagara on Vorgossos. There Hadrian presented the Cielcin prisoner Tanaran to Sagara and requested that Sagara broker contact with the Cielcin prince Aranata Otiolo. Sagara agreed but retained Tanaran as an inducement and held Hadrian's party in captivity.

During the captivity, Hadrian and Valka descended into the deep levels of the Vorgossos installation, where they discovered Brethren in the underground sea. Brethren identified itself as a surviving Mericanii artificial intelligence and provided Hadrian with prophetic visions, instructing him to proceed as a soldier. Father Calvert, Sagara's Exalted geneticist, subsequently imprisoned Hadrian and Valka and extracted blood samples from both.

The Imperial fleet — led by Captain Bassander Lin aboard the ISV Schiavona — eventually located Vorgossos after Hadrian's companion Switch leaked the location to the fleet. Lin arrived at Vorgossos's throne room and struck an accord with Sagara: in exchange for the return of the fugitives, Sagara would arrange an introduction between the Empire and the Cielcin. Kharn Sagara declared it the first time in fifteen thousand years of his rule that Imperial forces had approached Vorgossos. The Cielcin introduction was agreed as payment, with both parties to rendezvous with the ISV Obdurate in deep space. Sagara's personal ship, the Demiurge — an enormous vessel rivaled only by Cielcin worldships in size — carried the party to the rendezvous.

Kharn Sagara, the Undying, is the absolute ruler of Vorgossos, estimated at over fourteen thousand years of age, commanding its SOM forces, android servants, and bonecutter operations. He controls the android majordomo Yume and operates SOMs throughout the installation as remote surveillance and control instruments. The Exalted are the ruling warship caste, commanding Sojourner-class vessels and serving as gatekeepers to Vorgossos. Father Calvert is an Exalted geneticist who has served Sagara for approximately four thousand years, guarding the clone nursery on Vorgossos and conducting genetic research; formerly a researcher at the Imperial High College and the Chantry's Choir. Nazzareno is an Exalted pilot-customs officer aboard the Enigma of Hours. Antonius Brevon of Brevon Imports is an Extrasolarian merchant at March Station who brokers passage to Vorgossos. Yevgeni Cento is a Lothrian bonecutter at March Station. The Painted Man was an Extrasolarian arms dealer killed by Hadrian Marlowe on Rustam. Samir was a plagiarius on Rustam who served as intermediary for the Painted Man.