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Rys Lin pen'Chala

His Names[]

Rys Lin pen'Chala - his names
  • Rys Lin pen'Chala. (Liaden, clan name?)
  • Senior Field Agent, Agent of Change, Dept of Interior.
Two had broken the Department’s training— himself [Val Con], and Rys Lin pen’Chala, who had also been a Senior Field Agent. [1]
  • He has several call names with The Bedel including Rys Newman[2] Rys Dragonbait[3] Rys Dragonwing[4] Rys Silvertongue[5]
  • Rys Golden-hand — “he heard Eyoti the Gamester call for a beer for Rys Golden-hand” [6]
  • Brother - Val Con yos'Phelium calls him “brother”[7]

His Clan[]

Grew up on one of the Liaden Worlds. His clan of winemakers [8]is not named, but they were not High House:

"His clan had been off-world, and nothing like High House."[9]
Yxtrang bombed his vineyard home. He is the only survivor. [8] Is this the bittersweet edge of The Luck?

Description[]

He’s Liaden, with the typical smallish form and golden skin. Fast and fierce. He’s small (to the Bedel), graceful, and light on his feet with dark curly hair.

Hand & Leg[]

When his right hand is smashed by street thugs, he is given a hydraulic “work glove” — designed by Pulka and forged of copper and other metals by Rafin, artificer of the The Bedel.

"A glove to which hundreds—thousands!—of golden scales had been meticulously adhered by some art that was beyond him—the whole being wondrously light. . ."[10]
“Rys held out his gleaming golden hand, the rock resting in the palm, closed his fingers, and opened them. Dust sullied his palm.” [11]

For his broken leg, he was given a brace, super-strong yet lightweight, powered by gyros and micro engines, designed by Pulka and forged of refined bintamium by Rafin

"It was a thing of beauty and elegance. Ink blue with a subtle silver stripe, it snapped close ’round his shattered leg, an exoskeleton that transformed ruin into beauty. “It is . . . a jewel,” Rys murmured. “Rafin, this is art!”[12]
Rafin showed him how he might call for more energy from the brace, by pumping his foot up and down and engaging the hydraulics to do more. “But use it with care! You will spin in circles if you give one side more power than the other.” [12]

Skills & Training[]

  • Tending vines and making wine with his clan [8]
  • Piloting - he worked as one of the pilots on tradeship Momma Liberty [4]
  • Tactical, assasination:
Where had those thoughts come from? he asked himself. The detailed series of moves that would end a man’s life, framed in a clarity as hard as crystal. [13]

Life Summary[]

Rys is Liaden. He grew up on one of the Liaden Worlds, learning to tend the grapevines and make wine alongside his entire clan, until they discovered he had a knack for piloting:.

"He recalled his grandmother straightening his collar and abjuring him to be clever for Master Pilot pin’Epel. And he recalled the feeling of bewilderment upon learning that he had somehow qualified for pilot training, and that the season just commenced would be his last among the vines."[8]

He is the only survivor of an Yxtrang raid that wiped out his whole clan in SY 1387[8]

“Yxtrang target Liaden worlds. There is nothing new in that.”[8]

With his clan dead and the vineyard a crater, he found work as a young pilot on Momma Liberty[4] but at Moleria he was sold by Jasin Bell’s duplicitous brother Vern to Agent lar'Adrin of the The Department:

“Rys Lin pen’Chala, come with me,” the pilot said, in the mode of greater to lesser. “Your contract has been purchased by the Department of the Interior.” [14]
Rys Lin on the cover of Necessity’s Child

Rys Lin goes into hiding in warehouse attic

In time, Rys advanced to Senior Field Agent, and was sent to Surebleak to arrange a strike against Korval at their party.[15] [16] Afterwards, he made camp up in the attic of an abandoned warehouse -see cover art Necessity’s Child. [17] Outside, he was brutally attacked by a gang of Streeters and left there to die.[18]

He was rescued by Udari of The Bedel[19], nursed back to health by the Bedel and then adopted by them. He took on the name Rys Newman of the Bedel[2]

When told his Loop’s call-back phrase, he was recaptured mentally. However, he was eventually able to resist his Loop Program Mandate and win free. Heroically, he saved the schoolchildren at the expense of his hand, arm, and golden glove.[20]

"…his arm peaceably at his side, the empty sleeve neatly pinned up and out of the way."[7]

Anthora yos'Galan determined that his soul was truly free and he was adopted by Val Con yos'Phelium as a brother. He lives and works with the Bedel.[7]

Kin[]

  • an outworld Liaden clan of vintners: "Rys was many years from the vineyard, though wine must run in his blood, so long had his clan tended the vines."[21]
  • his clan and vineyards were destroyed by invading Yxtrang
    • Ifry pen'Chala, elder sister [21], killed in the Yxtrang raid that wiped out the whole clan exept Rys Lin[8]
  • Jasin Bell, Rys Lin's ex-lover, first mate and later Captain on Momma Liberty where Rys Lin worked as pilot[22]
  • Udari of The Bedel[19], "Brother" to Rys Lin (Udari found Rys dying and brought him to Silain), street name: Nathan, [23]
  • Rafin of the Bedel — well-muscled a d fierce-tempered, he keeps the forge. Artificer, "Brother" to Rys Lin[13] [24]
  • Pulka of the Bedel — bald and plump, an excellent mechanical designer, “There is no one in the kompani who can match or come near Pulka’s designs!” [13] Brother to Rys
  • Kezzi of The Bedel, street name Anna, young sister [19]
  • Silain, Luthia, Grandmother of all Bedel, and thus also Rys Lin' "Grandmother"[25]
  • Memit of the Bedel — gardener, street name Mary.
  • Droi of The Bedel is pregnant with his daughter Maysl, named after his grandmother[26]
  • Val Con yos'Phelium Clan Korval, "Brother"[7]

Excerpts[]

"Rys sat on the rug, as neat and quiet as a cat. His face was delicate, a flower framed by the stormclouds of his curls. His nose, not so emphatic as a Bedel nose, had been broken with the rest of him, and was bent slightly to the left. His hand, that Rafin had made him, gleamed like molten gold in the hearthlight."[27]

———————

"He and Memit built the arbor to support the fragile tendrils. He had still half expected the fruits to kill the vines. That they had managed a harvest at all was notable, and Rys suspected that one harvest was all the engineered plant was capable of producing.

"Grapes," he said now, "are difficult. I told you how my clan grew row upon row of grapes, halfway up the side of a mountain. They were a special grape we had nurtured, that loved the mountain soil, and the cooler air...The wine that came from our vineyard was as red as heart's blood and as sweet as love."

Memit had turned to look at him, a soft smile on her thin, hard face. "Our Rys bids fair to become a poet."[28]

References[]

  1. Dragon in Exile, ch 1
  2. 2.0 2.1 Dragon in Exile, chapter 18
  3. Necessity's Child, ch 17
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Necessity's Child, ch 27
  5. Dragon in Exile, chapter 14
  6. Accepting the Lance, Six of Us, Jenarian Station
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Necessity’s Child, epilog
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Necessity's Child, ch 15
  9. Necessity’s Child ch 29
  10. Necessity’s Child, ch 23
  11. Dragon in Exile, ch 30
  12. 12.0 12.1 Necessity’s Child, chapter 30
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Necessity's Child, ch 19
  14. Necessity's Child, ch 33
  15. Ghost Ship, ch 34
  16. Necessity’s Child, chapter 2
  17. NC ch 25
  18. Necessity's Child, ch 8
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 Necessity's Child, ch 7
  20. Necessity’s Child, ch 37
  21. 21.0 21.1 Dragon in Exile, ch 11
  22. Necessity's Child, ch 12
  23. Necessity's Child, ch 21
  24. Dragon in Exile, ch 6
  25. Necessity's Child, ch 1
  26. Dragon in Exile, ch 29
  27. Dragon in Exile, chapter 21
  28. Dragon in Exile, chapter 14
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