Character · from book 6
Tipid
A Crest and former crawler, author of the Cookbook's fourth-edition notes ('It was me or him, and I chose to save myself'), who pilots the Homecoming Queen — a Long Haul garbage freighter converted to carry fifty thousand former crawlers — into Earth orbit as troopers for the Princess Posse. He knows what the bone key costs, because he once faced a similar choice between saving himself and saving another.
Race and class, since book 7: Crest · Liquid Dervish
First appears: Book 6
Series arc
As of book 8. A Cookbook author in book 5, a colonel in book 7, wiped by a nuke's pulse to a game guide's last day. In book 8 he sleeps on the training-room floor with no recognition of Carl, remembers Herot from his guide days as 'a real thorn', knows the holding areas from a season on a site-prep crew, drives the parade and the One Fine Pig truck into the arena, and loses both legs there. Carl: 'Your story isn’t done, Tipid'.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Fifty thousand former crawlers in a garbage freighter | B6 ch. 73 | open · B8 ch. 27 — Lexis: the ship 'is decked out in enhancement-zone weaponry that actually works now that the AI has escaped containment'; the Network took every major ship in orbit in a day. |
| Tipid's memory, wiped to a game guide's last day | B7 ch. 82 | open · B8 ch. 8 — Rosetta: 'Tipid doesn’t even remember him', meaning Justice Light; he remembers Herot from his guide days (ch. 39). |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 6
Through book 7
Through book 8
Asleep on the training-room floor, with no recognition of Carl (B8 ch. 7, B8 ch. 10). He remembers Herot from his game-guide days and cannot sing 'Love Shack' (B8 ch. 39); he knows the holding areas from a season on a site-prep crew (B8 ch. 83). He drives the parade and then the One Fine Pig truck into the arena (B8 ch. 90, B8 ch. 96) and loses both legs there (B8 ch. 98). Carl, to him: 'Your story isn’t done, Tipid' (B8 ch. 93).
In the Cookbook
Author of the 4th edition, known from a note at B6 ch. 16. 2 notes in the text so far: B6 ch. 16, 57. The register of every edition is on the Cookbook.
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 3/74 | Ch. 16, Ch. 57, Ch. 73 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 36/89 | 11–14, 20, 22–24, 28–30, 32–33, 39–41, 46, 48–52, 55–56, 59–60, 65, 69, 78–82, 84–86 · the book's own page |
| 8 — A Parade of Horribles | 25/99 | 1, 7–8, 10, 25–26, 33–34, 39, 53, 58–60, 67, 69, 71, 74, 78, 83, 89–90, 92–93, 96, 98 · the book's own page |
By book
Tipid in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Tipid in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
The scalped, sun-leathered Crest Liquid Dervish whose name knocks Carl into a door: 'We've been watching, and we couldn't watch anymore' (ch. 11). His interlude: a key in bloody hands, Cassio and Horatio dead, a brain the Viceroys repaired for his pension, a chain snapped and thrown away (ch. 11). He puts Boomer in charge of the 106th (ch. 22), explains gondii (ch. 30), the necklace (ch. 32), and the ring's history, holds the FUPA through Operation Ruin (ch. 59), and comes along to the Reaver castle as a bodyguard (ch. 79). The nuke's pulse undoes his repairs: 'Who the fuck are you? And where the hell are we?' — his last memory is his last day as a game guide, and 'I lost my key' (ch. 82). He holds Louis's ribs open anyway (ch. 84). He cannot take a deal now, and stays with the Posse (ch. 86).
Tipid in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles
Asleep on the training-room floor, with no recognition of Carl (ch. 7, ch. 10). He remembers Herot from his game-guide days and cannot sing 'Love Shack' (ch. 39); he knows the holding areas from a season on a site-prep crew (ch. 83). He drives the parade and then the One Fine Pig truck into the arena (ch. 90, ch. 96) and loses both legs there (ch. 98). Carl, to him: 'Your story isn’t done, Tipid' (ch. 93).