Laterrans

Not to be confused with Jules Verne Durand, sometimes referred to as “the Laterran.”

Laterrans are the people of Laterre, one of four worlds linked to the visiting Geometers. Accounts from a Laterran informant place a community of roughly ten thousand Laterrans aboard the starship Daban Urnud, living within the vessel’s clustered “orbs” (the Orbstack). Officially, four orbs are assigned to Laterre, and one of these houses a school for Laterran children. Education is emphasized, and skills such as linguistics are treated as strategic assets.

Within the Orbstack, four spheres—numbered Nine through Twelve—are designated for Laterran habitation. By convention, the lowest-numbered of these houses higher‑ranking Laterrans, and the Core nexus where Orbs One, Five, Nine, and Thirteen connect serves for leadership‑level movement and meetings. At this forward nexus the other communities’ head orbs also meet: Urnudans at One, Troäns at Five, and Fthosians at Thirteen.

Laterrans currently aboard the Daban Urnud are described as split between two political tendencies: the Fulcrum and the Pedestal. The Fulcrum is associated with opposition to the Pedestal’s approach; Laterre itself is said to be internally divided between the two sides.

Biologically, Laterrans can ingest foods from Arbre but gain no nutrition from them; they rely on provisions compatible with Laterran physiology. This has been observed directly when a visiting Laterran consumed Arbran bread for comfort while turning to Laterran rations for sustenance. During a low‑orbit approach toward the Daban Urnud, a Laterran participant was initially weak from limited compatible food and more affected by ascent stresses, but recovered with assistance.

Additional observations aboard the Daban Urnud describe differences in atmospheric composition between Laterran environments and those of Arbre. Unacclimated visitors can experience effects like high‑altitude exposure—shortness of breath, wooziness, and impaired thinking—when breathing “Laterran air.” Shipboard medics treat such cases with supplemental oxygen, and one account describes an Arbran patient being cooled and oxygenated until safe to awaken. According to an explanation given on board, acclimatization over a week or two increases red blood cell counts and reduces these symptoms. Some inhabitants who rarely leave their home orb have difficulty in common areas where the air is a mixture, while others are accustomed to it; a Fthosian astronomer recognized the warning signs in arriving Arbrans and raised an alarm at an observatory vertex.

Notable Laterrans - Jules Verne Durand: a linguist from Laterre who revealed himself during protected discussions and later traveled with avout and allies. He has provided descriptions of life aboard the Daban Urnud and context about Laterran perspectives. In low orbit, he briefly drifted and was towed by Suur Esma and then tended by Suur Vay before resuming work alongside the cell as payloads were consolidated under cover.

Status and Activities - Presence on and around Arbre is primarily through envoys and specialists participating in dialogues and logistics connected to the visitors’ mission. - Aboard the Daban Urnud, Laterrans live on houseboats over waters within their assigned orbs, growing food on rooftops; pressurized corridors connect the orbs. - A Laterran interlocutor has characterized the prospect of disabling a major onboard weapon (the World Burner) as an “inconceivable nightmare” for the Pedestal, underscoring the depth of factional tension. - During covert entry via an observatory vertex, a Laterran guide described the dome as a giant airlock and noted that the telescopes are controlled remotely on the Reticulum. - The same guide objected to introducing Everything Killers onto the Daban Urnud, while expressing unalloyed support for the World Burner’s destruction. - Shipboard authorities have initiated multilateral talks involving the Pedestal, the Fulcrum, and the Magisteria, with medical staff and supplies present to support visiting Arbrans. - Within the Laterran orbs, daily life is organized on densely linked houseboats and terraces under fruiting bowers; an optical‑fiber “sun” and a painted “sky” provide daylight, with light also piped to indoor beds so that crops can grow around the clock—supporting city‑like population densities from local production. - Medical facilities observed in the Laterran orbs include a hospital situated near the portal between Orbs Ten and Eleven, with rooftop gardens and terraces used as recuperation areas. - Movement across the houseboat mats makes use of roof‑level public rights‑of‑way and cable‑chair lifts up to the portals; heavy goods are moved on deep‑draught gondolas that travel in narrow watercuts beneath vegetative canopies. - At opening ceremonies held around an elliptical pool in an Urnudan orb, Laterrans took part alongside Urnudans, Troäns, and Fthosians; a Laterran singer led part of the rite, and Orth translation was provided from a booth above the Laterran pavilion by Jules Verne Durand.

Language and Culture - A Laterran speaker has used the interjection "zhoost" to express approval. - A Laterran comparison likened trained decision‑making to complex board games played on Laterre, noting that successful human players rely on whole‑board pattern recognition rather than enumerating all possibilities. - Laterran envoys demonstrate cross‑language training; one conversed in Fthosian with an astronomer at an observatory vertex to enable orderly entry during shipboard operations. - Roof‑level etiquette in the orbs favors giving way and avoiding eye contact as others pass along public rights‑of‑way; greetings are returned politely, and schools and domestic life are interwoven with the gardened terraces.

Notes - Numerical estimates (such as “ten thousand Laterrans” and “four orbs”) and the description of internal political divisions derive from statements by a Laterran witness during ongoing events. - A Laterran has affirmed that a widely shared interior model of the Daban Urnud developed on Arbre matches the vessel’s layout in essentials. - Atmospheric and acclimatization details above are characterized in‑world by shipboard participants and medics during recovery and orientation activities. - One Arbran account suggests that roughly half of the Laterrans aboard align with the Pedestal during this period, which colors attitudes toward off‑world visitors following recent losses.