Carryx

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CARRYX ALIEN DESCRIPTIONS -- THE MERCY OF GODS (James S.A. Corey)
Comprehensive compilation of every description in the text
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1. BODY PLAN / PHYSICAL STRUCTURE
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"Twice, he'd seen the massive creatures that seemed to be in control of
everything. Dafyd's mind tried to make them into giant shrimp or unthinkably
vast cockroaches that bent up at a right angle in the middle, and then gave up
trying to find an analogy."
-- Chapter 9

"one of the big aliens -- the Carryx -- arrived, hauling itself along on two
massive forelegs while four others on the abdomen hurried along behind and two
thin arms near its face manipulated a small black box."
-- Chapter 9

"The ones that look like big lobsters?" Campar said. "Four legs in the back,
two in the front, and a pair of feeding arms?"
-- Chapter 10

"The part where they chose one out of eight of us at the start? It's just
they're the only one with eight limbs. I wonder if they have eight fingers on
those small feeding arms."
-- Chapter 10

"This Carryx had the same form, though: a back section with four legs and a
broad, flat abdomen like an insect, an upright thorax and head supported by two
much larger legs, and then two mantis-like forearms at the front."
-- Chapter 12 (first full description of the librarian)

"It gave Tonner the eerie sense that the Carryx was two different animals at
once."
-- Chapter 12

"the Carryx librarian squatted in its niche -- legs folded under its abdomen,
fighting limbs set against the deck, and feeding limbs moving through the
streams of the dactyl's signal transfer"
-- Chapter 14

"The two of them had reared up in the open plain by the birthing creche, their
fighting arms spread wide, and flailed their adolescent strength into each
other's bodies."
-- Chapter 14

"The notch-headed Carryx spread out its legs -- four from the abdomen, the two
thick, dark ones from its thorax. Even the pair of pale feeding arms. Eight
limbs spread."
-- Chapter 27

"'Look at them. The physiology and size. Classic aquatic markers. But something
drove them out of the sea at some point in their past into the high-oxygen
atmosphere of this planet. It's the only thing that allows a creature of that
size to--'"
-- Chapter 29

"'They're huge, strong, and difficult to kill. That seems like a good start.'
'Guns and explosives solved the large-animal problem on Anjiin centuries ago.
And this is a spacefaring species. The least dangerous thing about them is that
they're big and strong.'"
-- Chapter 23


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2. SIZE
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"Dafyd's mind tried to make them into giant shrimp or unthinkably vast
cockroaches"
-- Chapter 9

"The librarian seemed huge, though it was smaller than the others of its species
that Tonner had seen."
-- Chapter 12

"The prime, the highest of the subjugator caste of their dactyl, lowered itself
to the deck in ritual abasement as Ekur-Tkalal entered its niche. Even pressed
down, the prime was almost as tall as the librarian. When it rose, it towered."
-- Chapter 14

"The huge, overwatered bulk of the soldier was repulsive in one way, endearing
in another."
-- Chapter 14

"The regulator-librarian was easily twice its size, more in keeping with the
scale of a soldier than a librarian."
-- Chapter 24

"At the center of the dais, with a dozen Carryx soldiers on either side, was
the largest Carryx that Dafyd had ever seen. Twice the size easily of the
bone-pale one they'd been presented to when they'd first arrived."
-- Chapter 34

"The Sovran sat, her vast legs tucked beneath an abdomen sheathed in filigree
and pulsing with light."
-- Chapter 34


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3. COLOR / SURFACE / SKIN / SHELL
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"A new, unfamiliar being trotted down the stairs from the hospital looking equal
parts goat and cuttlefish, and one of the massive green-and-gold overlords
lumbered behind it."
-- Chapter 9

"A dozen Rak-hund boiled forward, making a barrier between the transports and
the huge green-gold carapaced one -- the Carryx -- with their bodies."
-- Chapter 9

"Dark holes appeared in the green-and-gold shell, and some dark liquid -- blood
or oil -- gouted out."
-- Chapter 9

"On the etched plain, six of the Carryx stood. Three had shells or armor or
uniforms the same green and gold as the invading force on Anjiin. The fourth was
easily half again as large, and bone white."
-- Chapter 12

"The green-and-gold shells were gone. They'd been armor or clothing or the mark
of a different gender or clade. This one had flesh that was somewhere between
purple and beige and two pairs of black eyes large enough to almost look
childlike."
-- Chapter 12

"one of the Carryx skittered with its hind legs and plodded with the front,
accompanied by four Soft Lothark. This one looked different from the librarian.
It had a lighter coloration, almost yellow, and one of its massive forearms was
banded by white in three places, like scars or tattoos."
-- Chapter 16

"The regulator-librarian was complex. Its skin was a filigree of silver over
bronze."
-- Chapter 24

"as the Carryx's white-green battle shells cracked"
-- Chapter 14

"One of the Carryx guards came out from the cathedral as he was heading in. Its
shell was a brilliant green, its forelegs thick and paler than the average"
-- Chapter 21

"The Carryx that lumbered out of the room was large, but also weirdly graceful.
The feeding arms tucked into its body were darker than usual, and the huge
fighting forelegs had streaks of red on them as vibrant as a butterfly's wings."
-- Chapter 21

"He kept looking between the alien bodies -- Rak-hund, Soft Lothark, and the
lumbering, enameled bulk of Carryx soldiers"
-- Chapter 21

"It was a little larger, its flesh was darker and more purple, and it had
streaks of bright red along its massive forelegs."
-- Chapter 34

"It was large, but no larger than the other soldiers. Its shell was a vivid
green."
-- Chapter 34

"The subtle pattern on the floor where the dust gathered along the lines of some
magnetic field. The dark ring on the librarian's pale foreleg, like an old scar."
-- Chapter 32

"The scars on its fighting arm showed where the break had been, and that it had
failed was proof that it had deserved to fail."
-- Chapter 24

"The librarian noticed for the first time that the soldier's fighting arms had
stripes of red much like its own."
-- Chapter 14


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4. EYES
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"two pairs of black eyes large enough to almost look childlike"
-- Chapter 12

"The wide, dark eyes clicked to him and away and back again."
-- Chapter 21

"the large-eyed Carryx was squatting in the middle of the space, manipulating a
series of glowing, floating cubes with its thin forearms. Its wide black eyes
locked onto Dafyd."
-- Chapter 16

"But where soldiers were simple in their design -- with broad, undifferentiated
arms, and eyes that all focused on the same thing like a child's -- the
regulator-librarian was complex. [...] Its eyes shifted in the image, as if each
was responding to a separate brain."
-- Chapter 24

"The Carryx shifted its eyes from one to the other of them. Dafyd couldn't tell
if it was identifying each of them or watching for signs of an attack or lost
entirely in its own thoughts."
-- Chapter 35

"The librarian shifted its weight, its dark eyes clicked from one position to
another like it was watching half a dozen things at once, and Dafyd couldn't see
any of them."
-- Chapter 32

"Her hundred eyes shifted with a glorious independence"
-- Chapter 34 (the Sovran)


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5. FACE / MOUTH / FEEDING ARMS
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"Below the eyes was a small, thick beak in the center of a mass of muscular
folds that Tonner assumed was its face."
-- Chapter 12

"two thin arms near its face manipulated a small black box."
-- Chapter 9

"Ekur-Tkalal's feeding limbs twitched, fingers plucking at each other as it
thought."
-- Chapter 14

"The pale Carryx shifted. Its feeding arms were as thick as a human's, and
longer. Its fingers were spidery and it didn't have thumbs."
-- Chapter 16

"The thing's fingers plucked at each other"
-- Chapter 16

"The smaller, pale arms next to its mouth gestured at the cases."
-- Chapter 29

"The librarian let out a series of sharp ticks and its thin, pale feeding arms
plucked at each other like it was grooming itself. Or fidgeting. It was the most
recognizably insectile thing Dafyd had seen the Carryx do."
-- Chapter 32

"Its feeding arms plucked at each other, and its eyes moved from one to the
other of them where they sat in the common room"
-- Chapter 35

"its pale feeding arms unfolded, its clawed hands interleaving in something like
prayer."
-- Chapter 35

"Her feeding arms -- each as thick as the librarian's fighting limbs -- were
tucked elegantly against her thorax."
-- Chapter 34 (the Sovran)


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6. FIGHTING ARMS / FORELEGS
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"hauling itself along on two massive forelegs"
-- Chapter 9

"the two massive forelegs lifted and spread out. It reminded him of a spider
raising its front legs or a bear hoisting itself upright. A threat display."
-- Chapter 9

"The two heavy forearms were planted on the floor, immovable as granite pillars."
-- Chapter 12

"the huge arms slammed together too quickly for Dafyd's eyes to follow. The lone
soldier dropped to their knees, then folded in a way unbroken spines didn't
fold, fell in a way intact rib cages didn't fall, and slumped to the stone in
an undifferentiated lump. The air around the soldier's body still carried a
faint pink mist, which Dafyd realized was atomized blood."
-- Chapter 9

"one of the two red-armored monsters had lashed out with its arm. It placed the
now bloody end of that limb back on the ground and waited."
-- Chapter 12

"The Carryx lifted its massive forelegs. Its fighting arms. With the clearer
view, Dafyd was almost certain the white bands were scars."
-- Chapter 16

"Its massive forelegs were as thick around as the librarian's chest, and the
thinner, mantis-like arms were folded together before it as if in prayer."
-- Chapter 34

"the librarian's demeanor had changed. The legs on its abdomen had gone still.
The fighting arms of its thorax shifted forward a few degrees."
-- Chapter 32

"with a crack like a whip, its huge arms snapped out and down onto one of the
thin legs of the other Carryx's abdomen."
-- Chapter 27

"The librarian leaned back into the four legs of its abdomen, lifted its massive
forelegs like it was getting ready to embrace the universe."
-- Chapter 34


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7. MOVEMENT / GAIT
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"hauling itself along on two massive forelegs while four others on the abdomen
hurried along behind"
-- Chapter 9

"the massive green-and-gold overlords lumbered behind it"
-- Chapter 9

"And the wide-bodied Carryx themselves, lumbering along on their massive
forearms with their abdomens skittering behind to keep up."
-- Chapter 13

"The librarian shuffled around, surprisingly agile for something as huge as it
was."
-- Chapter 13

"the Carryx skittered with its hind legs and plodded with the front"
-- Chapter 16

"In the passageway, one of the Carryx lumbered past on its massive front arms,
its abdomen scuttling along behind it."
-- Chapter 17

"A wide-bodied Carryx lumbers into view at the end of a corridor, its abdomen
dancing from side to side like it is impatient and wants to go faster than its
thorax."
-- Chapter 24

"The Carryx moved through the crowd with an escort of Rak-hund. Aliens of a
dozen species shifted and jumped to clear its way. Dafyd recognized it by the
way it moved and the colors of its flesh as clearly as if it had had a human
face."
-- Chapter 27

"The librarian moved forward, lumbering with its massive forelegs, its abdomen
hurrying to keep up."
-- Chapter 27

"It moved with a calm grace, its steps so smooth it seemed like it was gliding."
-- Chapter 35 (Ekur-Tkalal as new librarian)

"it lumbered out of the room on its massive red-and-black forearms, its abdomen
gliding along behind like a servant struggling to keep up."
-- Chapter 35

"The librarian turned its back and started off, not bothering to see if the
others followed."
-- Chapter 29

"Its four back legs splayed out like a wrestler lowering their center of
gravity."
-- Chapter 9

"The Carryx lowered its forelegs, settling onto the pavement in repose or
triumph or death."
-- Chapter 9

"The Carryx's back feet shuffled it forward as fast as its enemy was running."
-- Chapter 9


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8. VOICE / SOUNDS
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"the aliens' chittering and wet smacking and deep bass birdsong"
-- Chapter 9

"The monsters or aliens -- he didn't know how to think about them -- walked
among the bodies and around the perimeter, talking to each other in their eerie,
fluting voices."
-- Chapter 9

"When it whistled and chirped, the device made a series of sounds like two
pieces of meat being slapped together"
-- Chapter 9

"One of the green-and-gold Carryx trilled and whistled like a pipe organ
imitating a bird. It gestured at them with its thin feeding arms. The pale beast
made a single, fluting reply"
-- Chapter 12

"The alien chittered, whistled, and a voice came from the black square that hung
around its neck. Not the voice they'd heard on Anjiin or the ships. This was
low, vaguely masculine, and pleasantly reedy, like the alien was a particularly
friendly clarinet."
-- Chapter 12 (the librarian's translator voice)

"Dafyd thought he could hear something harsh and staccato coming from the
Carryx. Not its usual bass birdsong, but a kind of ripping sound."
-- Chapter 16

"It wasn't the reedy, pleasant voice of the translator box, but it was the
peculiar whistle and trill that went with it. And then the other, lower and
harsher."
-- Chapter 21

"The muttering and deep, rolling trills of Carryx voices in the distance was
like hearing an endless wave breaking against a stone beach."
-- Chapter 21

"He thought he caught the bass chirp and trill of the Carryx native tongue"
-- Chapter 27

"The two librarians stood face to face, and from closer in, Dafyd was sure he
heard their rumbling birdsong."
-- Chapter 27

"Its voice spoke at several resonances simultaneously, so it could fit a poem
into a syllable."
-- Chapter 24 (the regulator-librarian)

"Its voice was fluting and deep, a study in undertones. It was almost beautiful.
She felt a surge of hatred for it. How dare it be beautiful."
-- Chapter 17

"The only sound was the low, rumbling babble of Carryx voices and a single high
shriek whose meaning Tonner couldn't guess."
-- Chapter 18

"It wasn't that, though. It was the voices of Carryx. Dozens of them, maybe.
All speaking at the same time."
-- Chapter 16

"The librarian trilled, cooed. The voice box said, 'Yes, yes. I know the one
you mean.'"
-- Chapter 32

"It whistled again, the fluting bass carrying through the room. The translation
didn't come. Whatever the librarian had been calling for, it wasn't meant for
human ears."
-- Chapter 32

"The librarian let out a series of sharp ticks"
-- Chapter 32

"Its trill was higher than Dafyd had heard before, almost in the range of human
speech. Or human song."
-- Chapter 32

"a roll of sound began -- chirping and trilling and humming like deep birdsong.
The voices of a hundred Carryx lifted together. The chorus reached some deep
part of his brain that said predator, and made him want to stay very still."
-- Chapter 34

"The huge Carryx let out a deep, fluting moan unlike anything Dafyd had ever
heard."
-- Chapter 34

"The Carryx whistled and trilled to each other, but no translation came.
Whatever they were saying, the little box around Dafyd's neck didn't think it
was meant for human ears."
-- Chapter 34

"in the distance something made a wide, angry buzzing, like a hornet's nest that
had just been kicked."
-- Chapter 32

"'Come with us now,' the new Carryx said. Its voice box rendered it in lower
tones than the librarian's, and with a flatness of affect that felt like a
threat."
-- Chapter 34

"When it spoke, the voice box translated it with a different voice. Not the
genderless matter-of-fact of the soldiers or the reedy calm of the librarian,
but something more fundamentally threatening."
-- Chapter 35 (Ekur-Tkalal's new translator voice)

"its muttering and chirring weren't being passed on."
-- Chapter 35


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9. BODY LANGUAGE / GESTURES / POSTURE
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--- Threat Displays ---

"Its four back legs splayed out like a wrestler lowering their center of
gravity. The two thin arms at its front folded in and away, vanishing into its
body or its armor or its shell. The thing reared back, and the two massive
forelegs lifted and spread out. It reminded him of a spider raising its front
legs or a bear hoisting itself upright. A threat display. Not a surrender."
-- Chapter 9

"The librarian froze. Its back legs braced the way he'd seen them do in the
plaza on Anjiin, and the powerful forelegs rose off the ground like a prelude to
violence."
-- Chapter 21

"The new Carryx raised up a bit, one of its heavy fighting arms coming up off
the floor. Campar immediately bowed and said, 'I will come with you,' all the
mocking humor gone from his voice. The arm lowered."
-- Chapter 34

"The interrogator-librarian lifted one fighting arm off the floor, and the Sinen
flinched back."
-- Chapter 24

--- Obeisance / Submission ---

"As their librarian approached, the notch-headed one lowered itself, spreading
its dark, powerful arms to the side and pressing its body to the ground. The act
of obeisance and surrender was strange to see in a Carryx body. Like seeing his
father naked or vulnerable."
-- Chapter 27

"Their librarian was chirping and trilling its deep bass. It planted its dark
forelegs and leaned forward until the pale arms reached down to touch the floor,
the back of its neck exposed to the one in silver and emerald."
-- Chapter 34

"When the two guards ushered it into the meeting chamber, its legs gave out at
the joints. It sank to the deck, overwhelmed. Its fighting arms spread against
the cool stone and it pressed its face to the floor."
-- Chapter 34

"the Carryx with black-and-red arms stepped up in front of the larger one,
tucked its legs under it, and lowered its head like it was praying."
-- Chapter 34

--- Agitation / Fidgeting ---

"It shifted on its back four legs like a dog dancing with excitement."
-- Chapter 12

"The alien's back half capered a little faster for a moment, then calmed. Its
massive forelegs bent a degree."
-- Chapter 12

"The librarian planted its two massive forelegs on the ground, leaning forward
on them to let its hindquarters dance from side to side in agitation."
-- Chapter 13

"The librarian's abdomen shuffled from side to side on its four smaller legs."
-- Chapter 18

"Its abdomen shifted gently from side to side on smaller, graceful, uneasy
legs."
-- Chapter 35

"the huge Carryx trilled and muttered, its forearms tapping together in a
complex pattern that might or might not have meant anything. Its vast abdomen
swayed like a boat on gentle waves."
-- Chapter 34

"The soldiers shifted from side to side in excitement or anticipation."
-- Chapter 34

--- Calm / Settled ---

"The librarian was calm and still when he went in. Only its back legs shifted
back and forth, swaying its body, but gently."
-- Chapter 21

"All six radiated the same air of magisterial calm and power."
-- Chapter 12

--- Other Gestures ---

"'Soon, soon,' the librarian said, patting at the air with one of its
mantis-like forearms. The gesture was eerie because it seemed almost human. Like
the thing had learned how the primates of Anjiin used their bodies well enough
to mimic them but not so well that the movement seemed natural."
-- Chapter 13

"The librarian shrugged its fighting arms and turned up the intensity of the
ultraviolet light."
-- Chapter 24

"The librarian shuddered, a long rising motion that seemed to start at its core
and radiate out."
-- Chapter 21

"It sank down, its legs folding under it, then lifted its two thin feeding arms
like it was about to pluck some invisible fruit from the empty air."
-- Chapter 32

"It shifted its abdomen, folding in its legs, and tilted forward. He couldn't
help but think of it as leaning in to whisper."
-- Chapter 32

"The Carryx planted its massive black-and-red forelegs, leaning its weight onto
them."
-- Chapter 35


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10. SMELL / SCENT
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"The smell of musk and salt, imperceptible until fear and guilt and the stress
of standing at the hinge of history rubbed his senses raw."
-- Chapter 32

"These male guards were red and gold, the scents from their bodies acrid and
floral and full of threat."
-- Chapter 34


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11. DEMEANOR / BEARING / EMOTIONAL PRESENTATION
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"They never seem angry, you know?" Dafyd said. He sounded exhausted. "Even when
they're violent. Even when they're killing people, it all seems so...
matter-of-fact."
-- Chapter 10

"All six radiated the same air of magisterial calm and power."
-- Chapter 12

"The librarian seemed to watch him, but who could be sure with these things? Its
mind could have been on lunch for all Tonner knew. It sure as hell wasn't
expressing contrition or remorse or any of the things that ought to have been
coming out of it. It was like talking to a wall."
-- Chapter 18

"If it was aware of the weapons and fear that had followed it to this place, it
didn't show any sign."
-- Chapter 29

"Their demeanor seemed less like attacker and victim than two workers
commiserating over a cup of coffee."
-- Chapter 27 (after one librarian breaks the other's leg)

"The Carryx soldiers came last, taking their places like warriors lifting up the
reins of their chariots."
-- Chapter 7

"The Carryx watched over these moieties, masters of all."
-- Chapter 7


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12. HOW OTHERS EXPERIENCE THE CARRYX (Psychological / Emotional Impact)
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"He had the sudden, sharp memory of an image from divination cards he'd played
with as a child. A man and woman in chains before a huge and terrible beast."
-- Chapter 12 (the bone-pale Carryx)

"Every alien thing that caught his attention was like looking into the sun. His
mind grabbed at them all, tried to make them into something he knew, something
that made sense. After a while, it felt like a migraine without the pain. Just
looking at them was exhausting"
-- Chapter 18

"Tonner's stomach lurched and he took a breath he seemed unable to exhale. The
black eyes shifted among them. When it trilled, Tonner thought, This is it. This
is how I'm going to die."
-- Chapter 29

"The traffic of a dozen species parted before it, everything from every planet
shifting to avoid its attention."
-- Chapter 29

"When the librarian moved, they all shifted out of its way, just the same as all
the other subject races had."
-- Chapter 29

"Campar watched it like he was watching a lion in a menagerie, like there was
some invisible cage that kept him safe from it."
-- Chapter 35

"a roll of sound began -- chirping and trilling and humming like deep birdsong.
The voices of a hundred Carryx lifted together. The chorus reached some deep
part of his brain that said predator, and made him want to stay very still."
-- Chapter 34

"If she had commanded it to die, the librarian would have ceased to be without a
second thought."
-- Chapter 34 (the Sovran's effect on a Carryx)

"Even before it spoke, Ekur-Tkalal was overcome by a rush of awe at its
magnificence. Deep in its own brain, chemicals released that suppressed
Ekur-Tkalal's sense of self and opened it to the will of its species."
-- Chapter 24 (the regulator-librarian's effect on a Carryx)

"Seeing the animal's complex eyes and facial appendages sent a cascade of
disgust rippling through the Carryx librarian, as it always did."
-- Chapter 14 (how a Carryx experiences the Sinen)

"Aliens of a dozen species shifted and jumped to clear its way."
-- Chapter 27


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13. ARMOR / CLOTHING / ADORNMENTS / EQUIPMENT
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"Three had shells or armor or uniforms the same green and gold as the invading
force on Anjiin."
-- Chapter 12

"The green-and-gold shells were gone. They'd been armor or clothing or the mark
of a different gender or clade."
-- Chapter 12

"It was flanked by two more in armor of dull red, and their massive front arms
were nearly twice the size of the others'."
-- Chapter 12

"It wore a mesh of silver and emerald, and its abdomen was encrusted with a
complex of fine wire that seemed to pulse with a life of its own."
-- Chapter 34 (the grand Carryx / Sovran)

"Two only slightly less massive Carryx stood at its sides in carapaces of
crimson and gold, radiating a sense of menace and barely restrained violence.
Guards, or executioners."
-- Chapter 34

"The Sovran sat, her vast legs tucked beneath an abdomen sheathed in filigree
and pulsing with light."
-- Chapter 34

"More of the Carryx themselves, and more of those with the carapace and larger
build of soldiers."
-- Chapter 34

"two thin arms near its face manipulated a small black box."
-- Chapter 9 (translator device)


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14. CASTES AND VARIATION
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"This one looked different from the librarian. It had a lighter coloration,
almost yellow, and one of its massive forearms was banded by white in three
places, like scars or tattoos."
-- Chapter 16

"One of the librarians had had the same marks, and in the same place. A caste
mark, maybe."
-- Chapter 21

"But where soldiers were simple in their design -- with broad, undifferentiated
arms, and eyes that all focused on the same thing like a child's -- the
regulator-librarian was complex."
-- Chapter 24

"The guards that waited to escort the interrogator-librarian were as tall as
soldiers, but gendered. These male guards were red and gold"
-- Chapter 34

"Another of the Carryx was waiting at the mouth of the Night Drinkers' alcove.
It was broader than the others Dafyd had seen, and a wide chip was missing from
its head, like something had taken a bite out of it when it was young."
-- Chapter 27


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15. METAMORPHOSIS / BIOLOGY
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"The flush of hormones was already cascading through its blood, preparing its
body for the subtle changes that came with its new place within the moieties."
-- Chapter 24

"The dock was like well-turned ground and rain-slaked stone. It was rich and
biologically active. Organs in Ekur's abdomen, long ago shriveled to vestigial
nubs, filled with blood for the first time in decades. The escorts exchanged
looks as they helped guide it down a wide, bright hallway, amused, the librarian
thought, by the ways its steps weaved and stumbled. Its body was changing in
answer to chemical signals it didn't consciously understand, and the sensation
was eerie and intoxicating."
-- Chapter 34

"Ekur-Tkalal felt the organs of its body softening, beginning to liquefy,
preparing to remake itself in whatever form was required of it. Even without
direction, the metamorphosis was underway."
-- Chapter 34

"'It will,' Ekur-Tkalal said, and its flesh shifted and lurched as its body
hurried to accept the changes, becoming again what it was told to become."
-- Chapter 34

"The Night Drinkers' librarian with its broken leg transformed now into a green
soldier on the dais."
-- Chapter 34

"Carryx changed with their social status. Their place in society literally
determining the form of the bodies."
-- Chapter 34

"An animal doesn't choose that. And neither did the Carryx."
-- Chapter 34


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16. KILLING / COMBAT -- PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS
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"A soldier broke free of the tangled mass and sprinted toward the Carryx with
rifle chattering. Dark holes appeared in the green-and-gold shell, and some dark
liquid -- blood or oil -- gouted out. The Carryx's back feet shuffled it forward
as fast as its enemy was running. When they came close, the huge arms slammed
together too quickly for Dafyd's eyes to follow. The lone soldier dropped to
their knees, then folded in a way unbroken spines didn't fold, fell in a way
intact rib cages didn't fall, and slumped to the stone in an undifferentiated
lump. The air around the soldier's body still carried a faint pink mist, which
Dafyd realized was atomized blood."
-- Chapter 9

"She stood shaking her fist in rage for a moment, and then exploded into a spray
of tissue and pink mist that splattered across the platform floor. It happened
so fast that it took Dafyd a moment to realize that one of the two red-armored
monsters had lashed out with its arm."
-- Chapter 12

"with a crack like a whip, its huge arms snapped out and down onto one of the
thin legs of the other Carryx's abdomen."
-- Chapter 27

"The large Carryx in silver and emerald gently placed one of its massive arms on
the librarian's head. The crack when its head was crushed reverberated like a
gunshot across the dais."
-- Chapter 34


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17. COMPARISONS / METAPHORS USED TO DESCRIBE THE CARRYX
================================================================================

"giant shrimp" -- Chapter 9
"unthinkably vast cockroaches that bent up at a right angle" -- Chapter 9
"a spider raising its front legs" -- Chapter 9
"a bear hoisting itself upright" -- Chapter 9
"like big lobsters" -- Chapter 10
"a huge and terrible beast" -- Chapter 12
"a broad, flat abdomen like an insect" -- Chapter 12
"mantis-like forearms" -- Chapters 12, 13, 34
"immovable as granite pillars" -- Chapter 12
"two different animals at once" -- Chapter 12
"a dog dancing with excitement" -- Chapter 12
"a particularly friendly clarinet" -- Chapter 12 (the librarian's translator)
"a pipe organ imitating a bird" -- Chapter 12
"warriors lifting up the reins of their chariots" -- Chapter 7
"giant seafood and centipedes made out of knives" -- Chapter 15
"a wrestler lowering their center of gravity" -- Chapter 9
"like an endless wave breaking against a stone beach" -- Chapter 21
"lumbering, enameled bulk" -- Chapter 21
"a filigree of silver over bronze" -- Chapter 24 (skin)
"streaks of red as vibrant as a butterfly's wings" -- Chapter 21
"like a boat on gentle waves" -- Chapter 34 (abdomen swaying)
"a lion in a menagerie" -- Chapter 35
"like a servant struggling to keep up" -- Chapter 35 (abdomen)
"the great fucking beast" -- Chapter 26 (colloquial)
"like seeing his father naked or vulnerable" -- Chapter 27 (obeisance)
"like a hornet's nest that had just been kicked" -- Chapter 32 (sound)


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18. CARRYX SELF-DESCRIPTION / PHILOSOPHY OF SELF
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"We knew from the moment we knew anything that what can be subjugated, must be.
The species that exist long enough to achieve higher orders of intelligence do so
only by relentlessly out-competing the other species around them. And it is this
endless, iterative testing of ourselves against the universe that drives us
eternally toward greater power and effectiveness."
-- Part Three epigraph

"The Carryx are the bones and nerve fibers of the unconscious universe. We are
the scaffold and mind that shapes the nature and extent of its deterministic
will."
-- Part Six epigraph

"The ones who were victorious were better suited. The ones that failed were
inferior because they had failed. Possibility was an illusion."
-- Chapter 34


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19. SHIPS / ARCHITECTURE (as extension of Carryx presence)
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"Seventeen city-sized objects, broad on one end, and tapering to an almost
crystalline point. The surfaces of the things were faceted and polished, more
like machines than living systems. Despite that, Rickar's mind kept trying to
interpret them as some kind of animal skull."
-- Chapter 5

"an alien ship was waiting. It had the same bronze color as the devices he'd
seen encircling the planet."
-- Chapter 9

"the distant ziggurats of the Carryx, glowing faintly."
-- Chapter 26

"It looks out the window at the wide, blocky structures of the Carryx using new
eyes."
-- Chapter 36

"something wide and dark rose from the top of a ziggurat. A Carryx warship
stretching its wings"
-- Chapter 35


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