Motif · from book 5
The Nebulars
A religious team of hunters — the Nebular Sin Patrol on the hunters' map, camped at Alucarda with a claim on Carl, bishop hats and a Ballad of Survival ('violence breeds chaos') — whose priests die in the street at Alucarda, caught between Carl's explosives and the mantises. Pacifists outside the dungeon, Drick says.
First appears: Book 5
Series arc
As of book 7. Worshippers of the centre system's stable AI, per Mordecai in book 6; in book 7 Formidable's contagion theory is theirs, Agatha's kind are 'in line with' them, and a colony's mass suicide is on the news as the book ends.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The Aryl system went dark when the button was pressed | B7 ch. 41 | open — Formidable's crew pressed a dead button; at that nanosecond the previous crawl's system lost its tunnel node, which has never happened; its AI had gone silent during the sixth floor. Three cycles until anyone knows if the star is there. |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 5
Through book 6
Like the Reavers, several biological races enhanced with machines (B6 ch. 21); Sister Ines's sponsor and patron, her Book of Rhymes (B6 ch. 55); Mordecai's briefing — worshippers of the centre system's stable AI, pacifist genocide, a nun to convert or make an example of (B6 ch. 64); Pontifex Shine's Ysalte, 'reading the fine print' (B6 ch. 66, B6 ch. 72).
Through book 7
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade | 6/78 | Ch. 15, Ch. 33, Ch. 34, Ch. 35, Ch. 36, Ch. 37 · the book's own page |
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 7/74 | Ch. 9, Ch. 21, Ch. 51, Ch. 55, Ch. 60, Ch. 64, Ch. 66 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 6/89 | Ch. 28, Ch. 31, Ch. 34, Ch. 69, Ch. 73, Ch. 88 · the book's own page |
By book
The Nebulars in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade
The Nebular Sin Patrol on the hunters' map, hunting Prepotente and Miriam Dom (ch. 15); camped at Alucarda and claiming the right to hunt Carl in their territory (ch. 33); at war with the mantids long ago, and, per Uptown Hal, they got what they deserved for squatting in a hive system — bishop hats and a Ballad of Survival (ch. 34). Their priests' magic missiles and fireballs slam the tavern, and ten die in the burning pub (ch. 35); Carl gets Hunter Killer boxes for three nebs (ch. 36); Mordecai thinks Lucia's exploit was meant to capture them (ch. 37).
The Nebulars in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
In the audience of the first mock battle (ch. 9); like the Reavers, several biological races enhanced with machines (ch. 21); Quasar's jab after the Residual speech (ch. 51); Sister Ines's sponsor and patron, her Book of Rhymes (ch. 55); the cult explained — the centre system's stable AI, pacifist genocide, a nun as an example (ch. 64); Pontifex Shine's Ysalte (ch. 66); reading the fine print (ch. 72).
The Nebulars in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
One of the parties tangled up in the floor, in Carl's list with the council, the two kinds of residuals, the Apothecary, the Plenty, the Open Intellect Pacifist Network and Odette (ch. 28); the mercenaries look more robotic than them (ch. 31). King Rust calls Princess Formidable's theory of contagious insanity a crackpot theory that began with the Nebulars (ch. 34). Agatha turns out to be the rarer kind of residual, more in line with the Nebulars, who worship the Eulogist (ch. 69) — where Carl first heard the word, as a religious cult (ch. 73); the epilogue's news carries the mass suicide of one of their colonies (epilogue).