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A British order of knighthood, part of whose insignia Krantor allegedly
wore, as part of the costume allegedly patterned upon one worn by the
Prince Regent. He wore two items, the first being a silverish,
eight-pointed brooch, set with white stones, with a cross of red stones
covering a hole in its centre, on his left breast; the second was a white
riband worn over his right shoulder, and under his left arm, so that the
crossed ends rested on his left hip.
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The Most Noble Order of the Garter, to give the Order its full name, was
founded by King Edward III of England on 23 April 1349. It was intended to
be an imitation of the society of King Arthur's Round Table, an
international company of heroic knights which would increase its founder's
personal prestige. Edward's motives also included a desire to cement
relations with the knights of his kingdom and to reward loyal service.
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The Order was placed under the patronage of St. George; and 23 April, St. George's Day, is the Day of the Order. Its motto is _Honi soit qui mal y pense_ (Dishonoured be he who thinks evil of it). The banners and coat of arms of the Knights are hung in the Chapel of the Order, St. George's Chapel, at Windsor.
The Order gets its name from the most distinctive part of its insignia: the dark-blue velvet Garters, edged with gold and with the Order's motto in gold, worn by Knights of the Order on the left leg below the knee, and by Ladies on the left arm above the elbow.
Why Edward chose a garter is not known. The story that he picked up a garter that had been dropped by a lady of his court, and when some of those present laughed, said that he would hold it in the highest honour, is probably a scurrilous invention of the French court. A more plausible theory claims that the garter was at the time a part of male dress that had gone out of fashion; so Edward adopted it to give the Order a distinctive appearance. Also, the garter bore a strong resemblance to the device of the contemporary Castilian Order of the Band.
The two items Krantor wore are incorrect. The brooch is supposed to be the Star of the Order; yet the latter, while eight-pointed, is of chipped silver, not set with any stones; and it has a white enamelled medallion bearing the cross of St. George in red enamel and surrounded by a dark-blue enemelled Garter, edged with gold bearing the motto in gold letters.
The riband is, firstly, the wrong colour, and should be Saxon blue; secondly, it is worn without the Lesser George, which is of gold, consisting of St. George slaying the Dragon, surrounded by an oval band bearing the motto; and thirdly, it is worn the wrong way around. The riband of the Order of the Garter is supposed to be worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm, so that the Lesser George rests on the right hip.
Obviously, Krantor's designer got the Order's insignia wrong; and one would hope for his sake that Krantor never discovered this error.
See also JEWELLERY, PRINCE REGENT.
Also these links about the order:
Heraldic Sculptor,
Churchill Society,
mrffriends.
Sarkoff's antique collection included a 20th Century gas mask. The helmets of Federation troops had a cover over the face and a fitting which resembled a gas mask filter, although the exact purpose is conjectural.
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Originally settled as an agricultural world, with settlers sent there to grow
crops and timber, Gauda Prime was subsequently found to have rich mineral
resources. The world was declared an Open Planet to speed up exploitation of
these newly-discovered resources, and the farmers who refused to make way for
the miners were eliminated. Soolin's family was one such example. As
Tarrant observed, the planet "must have been a draw for every crook and
killer in the quadrant".
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At some time after the Intergalactic War, Blake established his new headquarters on Gauda Prime, and if what he told Tarrant is to be believed he brought Jenna with him. It is unclear whether he arrived as a bounty hunter, or exploited the opportunities offered by this role when they arose. The planet was later visited by the crew of Scorpio, all of whom apparently died there along with Blake. Scorpio itself was severely damaged in a crash landing. A blockade was in force around the planet, presumably under the control of whatever authorities had applied for Federation membership, and according to Blake this same blockade was responsible for Jenna's death.
Although the open planet designation had been introduced to displace farmers, timber production was still in evidence over large areas of the planet, Klyn noting that Scorpio had crashed in Plantation-5.
See also OPEN PLANET
Practor referred to Servalan as having been killed in the rear-guard action at Geddon, with no further details. Geddon may or may not have been a planet.
| A genetically engineered servant of the Lost, her aging processes being halted once she had grown to maturity. Like her "brother" Novara, she was under the constant control of Saymon's combined mental powers. She tortured Avon with a spear-like energy weapon, and "died" when the Decimas destroyed the power systems in the complex on UP-The Web. |  |
An instrument used to detect and measure the level of radioactivity, named after the physicist Hans Geiger (1882-1945 AD). Cally used a Geiger Counter, or an instrument performing its function, to establish that four of the Liberator's crew had 'absorbed heavy doses of radiation', the result of staying down too long on the surface of Cephlon.
Penultimate casualty of the first expedition to Virn. Realising what the sand was doing, she committed suicide, leaving Don Keller alone. The sand then killed him. By inference, Gena was the only woman among the 25 people in the expedition - a report from Keller cited 20 dead and 3 sick, leaving Gena and himself unaffected: any other women would also have been untouched by the sand.
Rank within the Federation. The only General seen was on Helotrix, in charge of the garrison there. He had previously led a unit of Helots and was quick to praise their fighting spirit, especially in the hand-to-hand department. He died fighting Dayna, and was never referred to by name.
Means of transporting a large, unborn, population on long space flights, usually in association with brood units. Genetic banks were carried on the cryogenic capsule brought aboard the Liberator in Time Squad, and on the chemical rocket watched over by Meegat on Cephlon. Avon described the latter as more sophisticated than the former, though this might have been an educated guess on his part. When Servalan destroyed Auron a potential 5,000 offspring in what Franton called "gene stocks" were rescued from the bioreplication plant and taken to the planet Kahn.
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The Decimas on the unnamed planet in The Web were artificially created
by the Lost, as were Geela and Novara, and Blake referred to such
experimental work being banned "centuries ago". The Lost had left Auron to
continue such work in secret.
|  Geela and Novara |
The race memory amongst the people of Keezarn was said to be genetically engineered into them, forcing them to gather every 35 generations at the City at the Edge of the World and seek to find someone who could open the vault.
Clinician Franton on Auron introduced or enhanced psionic ability in cloned individuals, which implies some degree of genetic manipulation.
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The Federation research team on Bucol-2 cross-bred human deserters with
unspecified creatures to make intelligent animals which could act as shock
troops in a highly radioactive environment. The research was initiated six
years before the Intergalactic War and abandoned in the war's closing stages,
although Justin continued to work alone on the project, intending to use the
results for peaceful purposes.
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