Suffering
Printed pages 1–5. Records documented in this chapter; later article sections may include subsequent events.
Showing introductory records. Switch to Full archive above to include later names and revelations.
Camp Skadi
Camp Skadi is a Flaxen prison and forced-labor camp commanded by Colonel Jaakobah Flint. Its inmates endure hunger, disease, overcrowding, violence, and the threat associated with the red circles.
Damien Scenery
Major Damien Scenery is a Flaxen officer serving under Colonel Jaakobah Flint at Camp Skadi. He is openly hostile toward the camp’s human and mixed-ancestry prisoners.
Flaxen military
The Flaxen military wages war on United Earth and administers occupied territories, including forced-labor camps. Its officers enforce strict hierarchy and species-based laws.
Flaxens
The Flaxens are the people of Venus who claim a separate and superior identity to humans. Their state wages a campaign of conquest on Earth.
Flaxus
Flaxus is the title of the supreme Flaxen ruler. The office is invoked in the military salute, ‘For Flaxus’.
Humans
Humans are the people descended from Earth whose civilization spreads to Mars and Venus. The Flaxens claim to have surpassed them and deny their own humanity.
Human–Flaxen hybrids
Human–Flaxen hybrids are people with both human and Flaxen parentage. Some possess unusual mental abilities that contemporary United Earth uses in intelligence work.
Hut seven
Hut seven is a prisoner dwelling within Camp Skadi. Serilda Corazon, Megan, and numerous sick or injured inmates live within its thin metal walls.
Jaakobah Flint
Colonel Jaakobah Flint is the Flaxen commandant of Camp Skadi. He exercises authority over the camp’s guards and its imprisoned population.
Lillet Corazon
Lillet Corazon is Serilda Corazon's human mother. She recognizes her daughter's mental abilities during childhood and keeps them secret.
Megan
Megan is a human prisoner in Camp Skadi and Serilda Corazon’s closest companion. Seriously weakened by the camp’s conditions, she depends on Serilda’s care and shares her concern for their fellow prisoners.
Mental gifts
Mental gifts are unusual abilities displayed by some people of mixed human and Flaxen ancestry. Contemporary United Earth employs several gifted hybrids within its intelligence agencies.
Red circles
The red circles are a feared presence associated with death among Camp Skadi's prisoners. Megan and the children ask whether the circles will glow or threaten them.
Serilda Corazon
Serilda Corazon is a woman of human and Flaxen parentage imprisoned at Camp Skadi. She cares for her friend Megan and the other occupants of hut seven while strange visions of a starship trouble her sleep.
Zoons
Zoon is the dehumanizing term Flaxens apply to humans and captives of mixed ancestry. Its use reflects the occupiers' belief that non-Flaxens are inferior beings.