Catmen

The Catmen are the primary antagonists in The Spell Sword and feature in a number of the short stories. In The Spell Sword, Bradley describes them as carrying short, curved swords, capable of coordinating attacks against the humans, and able to use laran and starstones. The Catmen also featured prominently in several of the short stories, including David Heydt's I'm a Big Cat Now from Towers of Darkover; Linda Frankel and Paula Crunk's Blood Hunt from The Other Side of the Mirror; and Judith Sampson's To Serve Kihar from Domains of Darkover.

Chieri

The Chieri are a race of six-fingered, tall, telepathic humanoids who have no permanent gender.^[6] Extremely long-lived, with life-spans reaching into the tens of thousands of years, they are described as gray or golden-eyed and with long, silvery-white hair. They will change sexes as the situation warrants for mating purposes. The World Wreckers describes the Chieri as the last, dying remnants of a space-traveling people whose abilities have dwindled with their fertility and ambition.^[7]

Chieri and humans are similar biologically and are able to interbreed. These hybrids exhibit some of the Chieri characteristics of coloring and physiology. They also have psychic gifts, and their descendants become the Comyn. In Star of Danger, the Chieri who aids Kennard Alton and Larry Montray, tells them that the Chieri share common ancestors with the Trailmen and the Kyrri, though not with the Terrans.^[8]

The Chieri feature prominently in The World Wreckers, The Planet Savers, Star of Danger, and in the long-lived, half-human/half-Chieri characters, Robert Kadarin and Thyra Scott, who appear in The Heritage of Hastur and Sharra's Exile.

Cralmac

The Cralmac are semi-intelligent beings, artificially bred by humans during the Ages of Chaos, from Trailmen altered with human DNA.^[9] They usually feature in the Darkovan novels as the servants of laranzu'in working in the towers, with the explanation that theirs is the only touch humans in the hyper-sensitive state of the matrix worker can bear.

The Cralmac feature prominently in Patricia B. Cirone's Victory's Cost from Towers of Darkover.

Forge-Folk

The Forge-Folk are not particularly well defined, though they are described as about the same height and build as the Trailmen. Walter Breen's The Darkover Concordance describes them as a cross between humans and non-humans, who speak an ancient variant of the Hellers dialect.^[10] They are Darkover's primary miners and metalworkers. The Forge Folk worship the Sharra matrix, and appear to be the only creatures on Darkover capable of handling Sharra without causing catastrophe.

The Forge-Folk feature prominently in the conclusion of The Winds of Darkover, and are mentioned in several of the Sharra stories.

Kyrri

The Kyrri are humanoid bipeds with grey or silver fur, simian faces and glowing green (or dark) eyes. Perhaps they are the result of genetic engineering during the Ages of Chaos, or they may be a native species from the pre-history of Darkover. In Sharra's Exile, Book Two, Chapter 5, Regis Hastur speculates that even tower workers do not know the origins of the Kyrri.

Kyrri generate a bioelectric field and sometimes give painful but non-lethal electric shocks when excited or threatened. The Kyrri appear in The Bloody Sun, Star of Danger, and The Sword of Aldones, and also in Sharra's Exile, the replacement for the latter book. They are used primarily as servants in the Towers because they can pass through the barriers that non-telepathic humans cannot. In The Bloody Sun, one is a servant in the Alton townhouse in Thendara.^[11] Although the Kyrri can understand human speech, they do not speak themselves, and in Sharra's Exile Regis Hastur wonders how the message he gave one would be delivered.

Trailmen

The Trailmen are described as social herbivores who dwell in arboreal communities and live in extended family clans. Unattached females form bands of ronin who wander the forests attacking travelers. These Trailmen-human cause the cross-species transmission of a 48-year cyclic illness known as Trailmen's Fever, which is mild in Trailmen and often fatal in humans.^[6] The Chieri call the Trailmen a word that means "The Little Brothers Who Are Not Wise".

The Trailmen feature prominently in the novels, The Planet Savers and Star of Danger, and in Diana L. Paxson's short story, The Place Between, from Snows of Darkover.

Ya-men

The Ya-men are a mountain-dwelling bird-like race, of questionable intelligence, who are susceptible to the effects of "ghost winds".^[12][13] Though they are mentioned as a background element in many of the books, the Ya-men are a critical plot element in Two to Conquer, The Winds of Darkover, and Cynthia McQuillin's The Forest from The Keeper's Price.

In A Darkover Retrospective, Bradley says, "... I have no idea what the Ya-Men were — or are — like. I only know that they are very terrible indeed, with plumes and talons and shrill yelping cries ..." This is a conscious decision; she thinks that monsters should not be described in too much detail, lest they lose their horror.^[14]

The Comyn

Comyn is the term used for aristocratic members of Darkover society who are gifted with the psychic abilities commonly called laran. Comyn women may be referred to as Comynara, especially by commoners.

The Comyn are the surviving laran-gifted families of Darkover who are ruling at the time of recontact with the Terran Empire. It is suggested in Darkover Landfall that they are the descendants of human-chieri pairings, who have learned to use native matrix stones to focus their laran powers. The Comyn, however, have their own mythology, recited in the Ballad of Hastur and Cassilda: they are the descendants of Hastur, son of Aldones, Lord of Light, who fell to earth, fell in love with Cassilda, and (perhaps) became mortal. Cassilda bore Hastur seven sons who founded the seven Domains.

Each Comyn family controls part of Darkover's landmass, known as a Domain, but strategic inter-marriage and feudal land issues result in fluctuating domain borders. Each Comyn family has a gift — a family-specific laran power, though in reality, not every member of the family has the family gift. Also, a member of a family may have another family's gift, in whole or in part. The gifts may skip generations. Of particular note is that twins often have differing amounts of the family gifts. One twin usually has more of the gifts than does the other twin.

Walter Breen cites Christopher Gibson for the observation that comyn is derived from the Gaelic word, comhionnan, meaning equal, and appears to refer to the communal origins of Darkover.

A Comyn family frequently fosters a child from another Comyn family, at least for a few years. This results in a Comyn adult having "foster-brothers" and "foster-sisters". One example of this is Regis Hastur and Lew Alton. Regis lived at Armida during part of his childhood.

The Comyn families are:

• Hastur of Hastur
  • Gift: Living matrix
  • Device: A silver tree on a blue background
  • Colors: Blue and silver
  • Other names associated with this domain: Di Asturien, Syrtis
• Hastur of Elhalyn
  • Gift: Ability to see all possible outcomes from every decision or choice. This gift can be very useful if it can be controlled. It awakens in Regis Hastur in The Planet Savers and he nearly goes mad.
  • Device: A crowned silver tree on a blue background
  • Colors: Blue and silver
  • The old line of Elhalyn died out, and the Hastur domain divided to re-establish it.^[15]
• Alton
  • Gift: Ability to force rapport; "command voice" to force a person to obey
  • Device: An eagle perched upon a tor
  • Colors: Green and black
  • Other names associated with this domain: Castamir, Lanart, Leynier
• Ardais
  • Gift: Catalyst telepathy (awakens laran that is latent in a person, who may not realize that he has it)
  • Device: A hawk^[15]
  • Colors: Black and silver
  • Pronunciation: In Thendara House, Jaelle says the name is pronounced are-dayze
• Aillard
  • Gift: Never mentioned in any of Bradley's novels and short stories, except that it manifests only in women. In the Clingfire trilogy, it is mentioned that Aillard males capitalized on their recessive Aillard Gift, making them better Keepers in a working circle of telepaths. According to The Darkover Concordance, the Aillard gift is extinct.
  • Device: Red and grey feathers^[15]
  • Colors: Red and grey
  • Other names associated with this domain: Lindir
  • The leadership or rule of this domain runs in the female line.
  • Pronunciation: Ale-lard, with a long "A" in the first syllable and the accent on the second.^[16]
• Aldaran
  • Gift: Ability to see into the future, sometimes to see multiple future possibilities; weather forecasting and ability to change the weather or control winds.
  • Device: A two-headed eagle
  • Colors: Red and black
  • Other names associated with this domain: Darriell, Delleray, Hammerfell, MacAran, Rockraven, Scathfell, Storn
  • Notable for: Aldaran is not a formal member of the Comyn Council, because they never ratified the Compact, and were the first domain to interact with the Terrans. In the early Ages of Chaos, Aldaran was responsible for The Cataclysm, the destruction of the original Hali tower using a laran weapon that created the heavier-than-air, cloud-filled, Hali Lake.^[17]
• Ridenow of Serrais
  • Gift: Empathy and the ability to sense and communicate with non-human intelligences
  • Colors: Green and gold
  • Notable for: During the Ages of Chaos, Serrais was overrun by a Dry Town clan, the Ridenow, who intermarried with the Serrais women (probably against their will). This rejuvenated the strain, and allowed the Serrais gift to survive in the Ridenow bloodline.^[18]

Commoners

Commoners are the population of Darkover that are not members of a Comyn clan or family. In general, they are portrayed as less educated than the Comyn, hard-working, shrewd and honorable, although some are members of bandit gangs. Some of them are fairly wealthy, owning lands and raising crops or animals, or having successful businesses, such as tailoring and dressmaking, leatherworking and other crafts, milling and cheesemaking, or inn-keeping. They form their own councils and petition the Comyn for changes in policy or for assistance.

In The Bloody Sun, Chapter 9, a group of Darkovans calling themselves the Pan-Darkovan Syndicate meets with Danvan Hastur and the members of the Arilinn Tower, and raises objections to the decision of the Comyn to limit trade and imports from the Terran Empire. Their spokesperson, Valdrin of Carthon, says they want some of the advantages that come with being a part of the Empire. Hastur states that the decision of the Comyn was to preserve the Darkovan way of life and not become another satellite state of the Empire. Valdrin counters that Terran technology needs to be adopted since Darkover's matrix technology has been declining and Terran technology can replace it, or Darkover might sink into another Age of Chaos. This is a major plot point, as Arilinn Tower then engages to do a mining survey faster and better than the Terrans.

The Renunciates

In the introduction to Free Amazons of Darkover, Bradley wrote that her Renunciates have become "the most attractive and controversial of my creations". The Guild of Oath-Bound Renunciates, called Free Amazons and com'hi letzii in earlier books, are women who have opted out of Darkover's traditional gender-based roles, including marriage, obligations to clan, and the expectation of male protection.^[19] In later books, "Free Amazons" is considered to be a misnomer and insulting or opprobrious, but the Renunciates themselves are tolerant of those who use "Free Amazons" out of ignorance.

The origins of this guild during the Hundred Kingdoms era are described in Two to Conquer as the merger between the Sisterhood of the Sword, a military-mercenary guild, and the Priestesses of Avarra, a cloistered order that offered medical and other care to women, primarily abused women. Towards the end of Two to Conquer, Carlina di Asturien comes to believe that the two guilds need to work together for the benefit of all women on Darkover. Bradley acknowledged a Patricia Matthews fan story as the origin of the Sisterhood of the Sword, and described the Priesthood of Avarra as a counterforce.^[20]

Bradley noted that most of the fan fiction she received was inspired by the Renunciates, and that she had met individuals who had taken Renunciate-style names or were attempting to live in women's communes inspired by the Renunciate guildhouses.^[20]

A Renunciate takes an oath, and thereafter is known only by her first name and the name of her mother, with the connecting word "n'ha", meaning "daughter of". The woman who administers the oath is called her "oath-mother". Magdalene Lorne takes the name Margali n'ha Ysabet: Margali is a Darkovan version of her Terran name, Magdalene (she is also called Magda), and her mother's name was Elizabeth. Camilla, born Elorie Lindir, takes the name Camilla n'ha Kyria, because her mother was Kyria Aillard. Had she been legitimate or acknowledged as nedestro, her name might have been Elorie Hastur.

Matrix stones

A matrix jewel or "starstone" provides a focus and a way to magnify laran. In Darkover Landfall, a chieri gives one to his human lover so she can call on him if necessary. A matrix stone can be attuned to one person, who will always carry it with him and cannot lose it because he always knows where it is. If it is forcibly removed from him, he may go into shock and die. As related in The Bloody Sun, a small matrix stone can be attuned to a person and used as a lock on a box, and only the person to whom the matrix stone is attuned will be able to open the box.

Most persons with laran have a matrix stone that they carry in a small bag or pouch made of silk or leather, which are "insulators". Usually, the pouch is worn around the neck as a pendant.

In general, the larger the stone, the more it can amplify the user's laran. Matrix stones can be used to power aircraft or make a person invisible (The Bloody Sun). Trained matrix mechanics can create a "screen" by placing several jewels within glass in a pattern that they determine on an ad hoc basis, depending on the purpose of the screen. This can magnify telepathic powers even more. A screen cannot be managed by a single matrix user. The geological survey conducted The Bloody Sun is accomplished by making and using such a screen; in Sharra's Exile and Two To Conquer, a screen is used to teleport a person from another star system.

In Sharra's Exile,^[21] the Keeper Ashara explains that matrix mechanics, that is, the scientific use of laran amplified by matrix stones, is the first of the non-causal sciences.^{[note 1]}

Towers

The Towers are the centers of the use of laran and schools for those who are learning to use their laran. A designated person is always on duty ("in the relays") to exchange news and requests for help telepathically with other Towers. At least once, the Terrans wonder how news travels so fast on Darkover. Towers are, in theory, independent of any caste discrimination or political influence. Each Tower should have a Keeper, a person to direct both Tower policy and the power of the laran users when they gather together in rapport to work. The Keeper of Arilinn is considered the second most-powerful person on Darkover, after the Hastur regent.

One who goes to a Tower for training advances through degrees of competence: first Monitor, then levels of Mechanic. Each degree requires an oath to do no harm and not abuse laran. First, a trainee learns to set up "barriers" to keep his thoughts from being read against his will, and to keep from "broadcasting" his thoughts and feelings. The next stage of training involves learning how to read one's own physiological symptoms such as heartbeat, respiration and body temperature, and (with permission) to read those of others. Once the trainee is proficient at this, he is qualified to "monitor" other laran workers to ensure that they are not in danger when working, and takes the Monitor's Oath, with the approval of the members of the Tower. A person who is deemed morally or otherwise unfit to work with laran will not be allowed to take the oath and will be expelled from the tower without any more training. This apparently happened to Dyan Ardais.

A matrix Mechanic learns to manipulate matter and energy using his laran and matrix stone, and to make and use tools that focus and augment laran. In The Bloody Sun Jeff Kerwin, just beginning his training as a mechanic, notices that the hinge on a door is beginning to rust, and, taking out his matrix, he stops it. Greater skill is required to perform tasks such as refining metals or causing rain to fight a forest fire. Despite all the things that can be done with laran, it is not wise to use it for everything; in The Bloody Sun Rannirl, a Level 2 Mechanic, repairs a leaky roof at Arilinn by climbing onto the roof with materials and tools.

The highest degree is Keeper, but generally women are trained for this arduous position from a young age. Not many young women want to undergo this. A Keeper is the center of a group of laran workers, who accepts the energy ("energons") that they generate and directs it.

There are several Towers. In World Wreckers it is mentioned that there are nine Towers, but only seven Towers are ever named: Arilinn, Comyn Tower, Corandolis, Dalereuth, Hali, Neskaya, and Tramontana. Most of the named towers can be located. Arilinn tower is close to Arilinn town in the Plains of Arilinn across the Venza Hills from Thendara. Comyn tower is in Thendara. Dalereuth Tower is far south at the coast. Hali Tower was north of Thendara at the shore of Lake Hali. Neskaya Tower is in the south-eastern foothills of the Kilghard Hills. Tramontana tower is in the Hellers, about a day or more west of Aldaran. Journeys to Neskaya and Arilinn are described and they appear on the map.

Only the location of Corandolis is never revealed. As the location of the other Towers are known and can be connected with a certain Domain, an educated guess about the location of Corandolis can be made; Elhalyn had Hali right at the lakeshore, Neskaya is less than a day from both Serrais and Armida, Tramontana is close to Caer Donn, Dalereuth is close to Valeron and thus serves Aillard, and both the Comyn Tower and Arilinn would be accessible from the various points of the Hastur Domain. This leaves Ardais alone without access to a Tower, thus it is possible that Corandolis Tower is in the Hellers somewhere beyond Scaravel about a day from Ardais. The location of the remaining two unnamed Towers is unknown.

The importance of the Towers diminished after the Ages of Chaos and by the time the Terrans arrive, there were not enough trained telepaths for all of them to function, and in addition some of the independent Towers did not have a Keeper. Hali Tower was destroyed during the Ages of Chaos. So was Neskaya, but it was rebuilt. Comyn Tower, attached to Comyn Castle in Thendara, was for centuries the home of the Keeper Ashara.

In The Spell Sword, Chapter 7, Damon Ridenow realizes that to supervise two untrained telepaths, Andrew Carr and Ellamir Lanart-Alton, he must function as a Keeper. For many years, perhaps not since Varzil the Good, men have not been Keepers. Damon's realization leads to the formation of The Forbidden Tower and eventually, a civil war among the Comyn.

Afterwards, as related in The Bloody Sun, there are independent matrix workers, not attached to a Tower or a Domain. They perform various services, such as making the matrix locks described above. However, when Jeff Kerwin, possessing his mother's matrix, queries a pair of independent matrix workers about it, they refuse to tell him anything.

Threshold sickness

Some Comyn, as they enter puberty and their laran begins to awaken, have a bad reaction called "threshold sickness". Symptoms include headache, disorientation, nausea, fever and a lack of desire for food. This is sometimes blamed on the breeding programs that fixed the laran Gifts in the Comyn families during the Ages of Chaos. In a severe case, the person may die. More frequently, the afflicted young man or woman must be confined and treated by an experienced laran worker until he or she recovers. Some Comyn have only a slight case of threshold sickness. Others, for example, Cleindori, have had telepathic abilities since they were children and are unaffected.

The Overworld

The Overworld is a laran representation of the real world. A person with laran, especially when using a matrix, can travel at great speeds in the Overworld and communicate as if face-to-face with others who are there. In The Spell Sword, Damon Ridenow searches for Callista Leynier, who is missing, in the Overworld, and encounters a part of the Overworld that is blocked off by a powerful laran presence. It seems likely that Callista is within the inaccessible area. In Exile's Song Marguerida Alton destroys the representation of Comyn Tower in the Overworld that Ashara has maintained for hundreds of years to stay alive. Later she learns that she has destroyed the real Comyn Tower, part of Comyn Castle, as well.

In the Overworld, one may see sleepers dreaming or people wandering aimlessly and lost. When Cleindori (Dorilys Aillard) is a child, she joins a matrix circle of her relatives in the Overworld, and after they tell her that she is too young to be doing that, they ask, "How did you get here?" She replies that she has always been able to get here, and that she used to visit her baby sister here before she was born. The Overworld is where people, at least some people, go after death. In Exile's Song, Chapter 22, Marguerida Alton visits the Overworld again, and meets her mentor in musical studies, Ivor Davidson, who is deceased. He is listening to "the music of the spheres".

In The Forbidden Tower, Damon Ridenow explores "levels" of the Overworld, going back in time to try to discover lost secrets. He calls this "Timesearch". He encounters Varzil the Good from the distant past, who greets him as a kinsman (they are both Ridenow) and warns him that what he is attempting is dangerous.

Cherillys' Law

This is the first law of matrix mechanics, mentioned in Sharra's Exile, Book Two, Chapter 8, and elsewhere. It states that everything in the universe has one and only one exact duplicate, somewhere in space and time, except a matrix stone. Only matrix stones are each wholly unique, and any attempt to duplicate a matrix will destroy it and the attempted duplicate.

Matrix weapons

In the Ages of Chaos and the Hundred Kingdoms, matrix workers, using screens to amplify their powers, devised powerful weapons of war. In The Forbidden Tower, Chapter 6, they are described as "-- fire-forms, and wind-creatures to tear down castles and whole walls, and creatures from other dimensions walking abroad in the land -- ". Other matrix workers defended against these weapons. The Compact banned matrix weapons.

Language

There are two important languages on Darkover: Cahuenga, spoken generally by everyone, and Casta, usually only spoken by the nobility. There are mountain, lowland and regional accents and dialects. Sometimes Bradley attempts to reproduce a dialect with English contractions and spelling. For instance, in Hawkmistress!, Part 3, Chapter 5, Romilly, the protagonist, realizes "with horror" that her mountain accent has crept into her speech when she says, "... I'm nae servant to the lady; if ye' want her fetched and carried for, me lord, ye' can even do it yerself".

There are, in all, nine different languages on Darkover.^[23]

Although Darkover is a richly realized and detailed world, the two languages are rarely distinguished in the books. They derive, ultimately, from the two languages spoken by the colonists, as described in Darkover Landfall: Celtic, spoken by the communal colonists, becomes Cahuenga, and Spanish, spoken by the officers and crew of the crashed ship, becomes Casta. The two tongues blend and borrow words from each other. Bradley was not as talented a linguist as Tolkien was, with the ability to invent entire languages and explain their imaginary origins, but the basic vocabulary is quite consistent throughout the books.

For much more information about the languages of Darkover, including a discussion of grammar, examples of translation and lists of words, there is the essay by Thorsten Renk.^[23]

Laws and traditions

Dress

In The Spell Sword, Andrew Carr arrives at Armida in clothes that are simply no good any more, as Damon Ridenow says. Carr has survived a plane crash and a blizzard with the help of Callista Leynier. Damon obtains the loan of "the hall-steward's holiday suit" for Andrew, which is:

"... a shirt and knee-length under-drawers of coarse linen; over which went suedelike breeches, flared somewhat from knee to ankle; a long-sleeved finely embroidered shirt with wide sleeves gathered in at the wrist; and a leather jerkin. There were knitted stockings that tied at the knee, and over them low felt boots lined with fur".

That outfit is indoor wear. Outdoor wear is described in The Winds of Darkover, when Dan Barron travels on horseback with three Darkovan men:

All three wore loose heavy breeches, falling in flaps over high, carefully-fitted boots, and laced tunic-like shirts in rich, dark colors. Gwynn and Colryn had thick, fur-lined riding-cloaks, and Lerrys a short loose fur jacket with a hood. All three wore short gauntlets, knives in their belts and smaller knives in pockets at the top of their boots; Gwynn had a sword as well, although for riding it was swung across the crupper of his horse. They all had hair cut smoothly below their ears and a variety of amulets and jewelry.

Men generally carry a sword if they can afford one, which is a weapon that complies with the Compact. Comyn families, unless extremely poor, can afford swords, and the male children are trained in sword-play from a young age. Whether they carry a sword or not, men usually carry a knife or two, as described above.

In The Shattered Chain, Chapter 6, there is a detailed description of the dress of women. Writing of Magdalene Lorne, Bradley says:

She wore the ordinary dress of a woman of Thendara: a long, full skirt of heavy cloth, woven in a tartan pattern, a high-necked and long-sleeved tunic, embroidered at the neck, and ankle-high sandals of thin leather. Her hair was long and dark, coiled low on her neck and fastened with the butterfly-shaped clasp that every woman wore in the Domains. Magda's was made of silver, a noblewoman would have worn copper, a poor woman's clasp would have been carved of wood or even leather; but no chaste woman exposed her bare neck in public.

After hanging the clothes up, Magda rubs "their folds with an aromatic mix of spices; it was as important to smell right as to look right ". Magda wears a riding-cloak when she undertakes a journey into the Hellers.

Renunciates who provide bodyguard services or lead expeditions generally wear a long knife, which by law and custom (established by Varzil the Good, who gave the Renunciates their charter) is not as long as a sword. Renunciates who are midwives or prepare food, etc. generally do not carry a weapon. Camilla n'ha Kyria is an exception. Before she became a Renunciate she posed as a man and lived as a mercenary, and she still wears a sword.

Comyn women carry a small dagger for personal protection, or perhaps to use on themselves if they are captured and in danger of rape or some other humiliation.^[24]

Relations between the sexes

The Shattered Chain has much information about sexual mores, traditions and prohibitions on Darkover. Also, repeatedly throughout the series, women's thoughts (seldom expressed aloud) are concerned with being "brood mares"; e. g. "I was of no value; the daughters I bore him at risk of my life were of no value; I was nothing but an instrument to give him sons" (Kindra, speaking in The Shattered Chain, Chapter 2). In Darkover Landfall, it is made clear to the colonists by the ship's officers that for the colony to survive, the women must bear as many children as possible, with as many male partners as possible for genetic diversity. This led to women having an inferior social position to men.

In Comyn society, a formal marriage is di catenas (evidently derived from Spanish "de cadenas", meaning "of chains"). In the ceremony, the married couple submit to locked wrist bracelets that are connected with a chain. Later the chain is removed but the symbolic wrist bracelets traditionally remain. In the Dry Towns, a woman remains chained all her life, but to herself. The "bracelets were connected with a long chain, passed through a metal loop on her belt, so that if the woman moved either hand, the other was drawn up tight against the loop on her waist".^[25]

A less formal marriage is called "a marriage of freemates". This is the typical form of marriage for lower classes, although the Comyn enter into freemate marriages as well. There may or may not be a ceremony of some kind, such as a feast. Renunciates are forbidden by their oath to enter into any other kind of marriage. This sort of marriage can be ended by mutual agreement, although it is not uncommon for it to last for the lives of the partners. In the Hellers, a freemate marriage may be established by mutual agreement and the sharing of "a bed, a meal, and a fireside". Lew Alton and Marjorie Scott observe this tradition in The Heritage of Hastur.

The culture of the Comyn tolerates homosexuality in men and women to some extent. The chieri, from whom the Comyn are descended, change from male to female, or vice versa, when it is appropriate to the individual. Some of the Comyn are permanently neither male nor female in a physical sense. In Sharra's Exile, Chapter 9, after Lew Alton meets his young daughter Marguerida, he learns from Rafael Scott that Thyra, Marguerida's mother:

was ... like the chieri. Emmasca; no one was really sure if she was boy or girl. I can remember her like that, when I was very small, but only a little. Then Kadarin came -- and very soon after, she began to wear women's clothing and think of herself as a woman... that was when we began to call her Thyra... before that, she had another name.

The sex-changing chieri drive the plot of The World Wreckers to its conclusion. Bradley needed to deal with the issue of homosexuality to write the book. Bradley claimed that she was the first science fiction author to do this.

Among commoners, male homosexuals are called embredin (evidently derived from bredin) or "sandal-wearers" (chaireth) to mock them or equate them with women.

Female homosexuality is sometimes believed, even by Comyn, to be a characteristic of the Renunciates. In The Shattered Chain, Chapter 5, Lady Jerana Hastur says:

"... I have always heard that the Free Amazons are eager to find pretty young girls whom they can convert to their unnatural way of life, turning them against marriage and motherhood, making them haters of men and lovers of women".

This may be an example of Bradley's ironic social commentary. Everyone except Jerana Hastur is offended by this speech.

Various customs and music

Darkovans celebrate midsummer and midwinter with gift-giving, feasting and dancing. As noted above, Darkover's weather has extremes. At Midwinter, travel may be impossible, but at Midsummer, there may be days without snow or rain when it is possible for people to gather together and have a celebration.

A typical midsummer gift from a man to a woman is a basket of fruit and flowers, left anonymously at her door. A midwinter gift, when fruit and flowers are unavailable, may be candy and preserved food. Women sometimes leave gifts for men (especially spouses), and Renunciates give seasonal gifts to one another. Members of a family exchange gifts.

At Comyn Castle in Thendara, there is an elaborate celebration on both holidays with tables of food and drink. There is organized social dancing: ring dances, traditional dances by soloists, and dances with chosen partners.

Religious traditions of Darkover

On the whole, the inhabitants of Darkover are not particularly religious and do not celebrate any obvious religious rituals. However, all the castles of the Domains, and Comyn Castle as well, have a "chapel" that has seating and murals (or statues) of the gods and goddesses. Also present are murals depicting scenes from "The Ballad of Hastur and Cassilda". Formal marriages (di catenas) may be conducted in the chapel, or a person may retreat to it for solitude and meditation.

Darkovans believe in four deities: Avarra (goddess of birth and death), Evanda (goddess of life and warmth, and hence marriage), Aldones (lord of light), and Zandru (lord of the nine hells). Each of Zandru's hells is colder than the one above it, because Darkovans, living on a freezing planet, conceive of a cold hell. Hastur, the mythological progenitor of the Comyn, is supposedly the son of Aldones. In Thendara House and City of Sorcery Magdalen Lorne hears the "calling of crows", a sign that Avarra is present.

These entities are believed to have power in the world, but no particular interest in individual persons. However, at least one of them canonically exists: in The Shadow Matrix, Evanda is physically present, tends the fire and prepares food at the marriage of Mikhail and Marguerida. In Sharra's Exile, when Regis Hastur is fighting Sharra using the Sword of Aldones, a "damnable" face appears in the sky, presumably Aldones himself.

The Forge-Folk worship the "form of fire", known as Sharra, who appears as a fiery, chained, red-haired female figure, a manifestation of the Sharra matrix, or perhaps a being from another dimension. Bradley offers multiple conflicting explanations for Darkover's native deities, perhaps deliberately leaving the answers open to interpretation.

Some Darkovans also follow a Terran-originated belief system. These are the Cristoforos, whose beliefs derive from the work of a Catholic monk, Father Valentine, who accompanied the original expedition. Cristoforo is a corruption of St. Christopher of Centaurus, and the central figure of the belief system is the Bearer of Burdens.^[27]

These two belief systems operate side by side. A Darkovan may believe in one or the other, or frequently both, without difficulty.

Kireseth

Kireseth is a plant that produces blue bell-like flowers which when covered with pollen appear to be golden. The plants bloom when very warm weather lasts for more than a day or two, a rare weather event on Darkover. The kireseth flowers release large amounts of hallucinatory pollen, creating what is called a "ghost wind." Humans and animals that inhale the pollen exhibit strange behavior, sexual activity, and violence.

The original colonists had no knowledge of this plant or its effects. The first known ghost wind resulted in a human woman becoming impregnated by a chieri, an orgy, and a massacre. Later, the Darkovans learned to distill substances from parts of the kireseth plant to either enhance telepathic ability or inhibit it.

Kireseth is important in the mythology of Darkover; the Blessed Cassilda, ancestor of the Comyn, is depicted in paintings as holding a bouquet of flowering kireseth. In The Forbidden Tower, Damon Ridenow and his circle fit together the mythological pieces and prove to themselves that a female Keeper need not be a virgin, or even chaste, to act as the center of a telepathic circle, if she uses kireseth. They are seen as rebels, and have to fight a telepathic battle to keep their circle and the "forbidden" tower they have created in the overworld. Their use of kireseth is viewed as blasphemy by many (ironically, since this use is portrayed in religious art) and when Damon's daughter, Cleindori (Dorilys Aillard) attempts to use this knowledge as the Keeper of Arilinn, a legitimate tower, she and her followers are hunted and killed. Cleindori means "Golden Bell" and is a nickname connoting her blonde hair with the appearance of the kireseth flower.

Resin Tree

The resin tree is found on the slopes of all the mountains surrounding the inhabited parts of Darkover and down into the lowlands. It is apparently a kind of evergreen conifer that forms thick forests. Dry weather and summer storms with lightning create a great danger of these forests catching on fire, which the Darkovans combat in various ways. Small fires are fought by fire crews; no one is exempt from fire duty. Large fires may need to be put out by telepathic weather-workers who create a rainstorm.

Spicebush

A "spiky" weed that grows in the desert near the Dry-towns, where nothing else grows. However, in The Shattered Chain, Chapter 3, it is described as "fluffy".

Rhowyn

A tree with a six-petaled flower (Traitor's Sun, chapter 18). It is used as a nickname for the six-membered cells of the Sons of Darkover, a somewhat subversive organization. The name sounds like Rowan but the flower is different.

Fiberpods

This plant produces "pods" that after they are soaked in water can be unraveled to produce a useful fiber. There may be several kinds of plants that do this to protect their seeds from the elements. As some colonists discovered in Darkover Landfall, the chieri spin these fibers and create cloth from them using a loom. Andrea Closson, in The World Wreckers, upon finding a partly unraveled pod, starts to make thread out of it, out of habit.

The Trailmen build their cities from this fiber by stringing it between the trees like a suspension bridge and weaving a floor.

Herbs and vegetables

It is clear from Darkover Landfall that some food plants were brought to Darkover by the colonists. Whether the ones mentioned in the chronologically later books are the same is not clear. Of course, the original stock may have been subject to selection to adapt to a redder sun and colder temperatures. Also, it appears from several of the books that the castles and great houses of the Comyn have greenhouses for the growing of vegetables and herbs. In The Forbidden Tower, Chapter 7, Damon Ridenow says that plants on Darkover have adapted by evolution to flower in winter, if there are a couple of warm days. He says that "ice-melons" cannot be grown on the plains of Armida: "It's too warm -- they're a plant of the glaciers".

However, apples grow in Armida. Damon and Andrew, after eating lunch, plant their apple cores in the ground and Andrew says: "Some day, Damon. our children will eat apples from these trees" (The Forbidden Tower, Chapter 7).

Snap-beans are mentioned in Traitor's Sun, chapter 17, when Domenic volunteers to help in the kitchen of an inn, and he is shown how to "string" them. He is told the cook "fries them with bacon" implying that there are pigs on Darkover.

Sleepweed: supposedly able to put a person into a sleep for ten days, although this may be an exaggeration (Traitor's Sun, chapter 16).

Goldenflower: Used to make a tea that eases menstrual cramps (City of Sorcery, Chapter 12).

Blackthorn: Used to make a bitter tea that is used to treat altitude sickness (City of Sorcery, Chapter 19). Perhaps the same as black thornleaf, used in poultices to treat frostbite by "draw[ing] the blood to the limbs and back to the heart"; also given in tea for frostbite (The Forbidden Tower, Chapter 6).

Mushrooms

Raising mushrooms is common in the hills and mountains. A kind of mushroom grows naturally on dead trees; harvesting requires only a knife and a sack.

Horse

The history of horses on Darkover is ambiguous. In Hawkmistress! (during the Ages of Chaos) there is a battle in which the opposing sides charge at each other on horseback. However, in books that are historically later, it is said that horses were unknown until Terrans brought them. The Altons became known for raising them, especially after the Terran Andrew (An'ndra) Carr married into the family (as depicted in The Spell Sword and The Forbidden Tower). By the time of Exile's Song horses are common, and there are also mules.

Butterfly

Apparently Darkover has native species of butterflies. They are mentioned both in descriptions of nature and in references to the "butterfly clasp" used by women to hold hair in a way that covers the back of the neck. For a woman to expose the back of her neck is considered indecent.

Hawks and vultures

Hawks exist and are domesticated using ancient hawking techniques, which can be enhanced by laran. In several of the books, e. g. The Bloody Sun, people go hawking, and it appears to be a form of recreation common among the Comyn. The hawk "Preciosa" domesticated by Romilly MacAran in Hawkmistress! is called a verrin hawk. Smaller hawks are said to be more suitable for ladies by a Comyn lord, who says it is "disgraceful" that Romilly is allowed to fly a verrin hawk (Hawkmistress!, Part 1, Chapter 5). It is not clear how many kinds of hawks there are.

The kyorebni is a kind of vulture. The presence of water holes in the Drylands can be inferred by kyorebni circling over them (The Shattered Chain, Chapter 4). A larger species of vulture is called a "sentry-bird" and can be used for aerial surveillance in wartime (Hawkmistress!, Parts 2 and 3). The kyorebni is called a "Lammergeier" in Terran Standard (City of Sorcery, Chapter 11).

Chervine

The chervine is an animal native to Darkover. It is apparently similar to a deer in its general appearance and has horns, but it has been domesticated and is used for riding and as a pack animal. It is also used for food.

Rabbithorn

The rabbithorn is native to Darkover. It is considered to be very good eating, even a delicacy. In Traitor's Sun it is mentioned that the inn, The Crowing Cock, keeps them in cages. In Darkover Landfall the colonists discuss raising them domestically for their fur. Rabbithorn (the plural and singular are the same) may be stuffed and roasted, placed on a platter and served with mushrooms, other vegetables and a savory or sweet sauce. They are also made into a stew.

This animal is never clearly described. It may be partly a joke based on the Jackalope or the Wolpertinger.

Ice-Rabbit

The ice-rabbit lives in the mountains and is an important prey of banshees. The ice-rabbit population increases and decreases according to the availability of food. When there are plenty of ice-rabbits, the banshees stay above the snow-line, but when the ice-rabbit population crashes, the banshees start to hunt lower down and are a greater danger to travelers (City of Sorcery, Chapter 19).

Scorpion Ant

The scorpion ant is an insect-like organism with pincers and a potentially deadly sting that lives in colonies. In Darkover Landfall a member of an expedition steps on a nest and arouses the inhabitants, leading to his painful and sudden death.

Banshee

The banshee is a large, flightless, blind, bird-like predator that lives in the mountains, commonly above the line of permanent snow. It apparently hunts by seeking warmth, and it will attack any warm-blooded animal. It catches its prey by screaming to paralyze it and then disemboweling it with a stroke of one of its clawed feet or by a bite of its huge beak. It is mentioned in nearly all the novels, and a few characters hear its scream, or actually see the banshee and have a narrow escape.

There are several speculations about the banshee's paralyzing scream in various books. The scream may be so terrifying that its prey is afraid to move. Alternatively, it has been suggested that banshees have a laran that can take over the mind of another and leave him vulnerable.

Dragon

The dragon is an extinct, perhaps mythical creature on Darkover. Marion Zimmer Bradley, in the introduction to "Coils" by Patricia Shaw Mathews in the anthology Red Sun of Darkover, says that she has "always thought of Darkover as a place of which one might say, 'Here there be dragons'". There are two canonical references to the dragon: The "Ballad of the Death of the Last Dragon" as described in Two To Conquer, and the proverb, "It is wrong (or "ill done") to keep a dragon chained to roast your meat". Various characters speculate on the meaning of this saying:

• It would be dangerous to make a dragon work for you.
• Something powerful and dangerous should not be used for a trivial purpose.
• It would be right to keep a dragon chained to render him harmless, but a dragon has no use.
• Dragons cannot be chained, at least not for very long.
• Dragons do not exist, and the saying is humorous.