“You really are a hero,” Kiya said with one of those admiring looks that made him feel like a superman. “Everything turned out just perfect! Gregory will join the Watch and help you make Travellers less asshatty, Sunil will have his body back, Dalton is alive again, Mrs. Faa is going to tell all the other Travellers that we’re not stinky and untouchable, and your uncle and bastard cousin will get what they have coming to them.”
She leaned back against him, a solid presence that gave him more pleasure than he had ever thought possible.
“Yes,” he said into her hair, giving himself up to the wonder that was this new life. “Everything is perfect.”
TRAVELLERS
From the Otherworld Encyclopedia, your source to all things beyond the mortal world
The Travellers are a mortal race that possesses immortal abilities. They live predominately in Europe, the Americas, and Australasia, and can trace their ancestry back to 500 AD.
TERMINOLOGY
Travellers are most often confused by the mortal world as being Romany (and thus frequently given the exonym of Gypsies), but that is a misconception that in part owes its origins to the shared term “Traveller” as a descriptor for both groups. We shall henceforth refer to the mortal beings as “Romani” and “Rom” in order to avoid any confusion.
Although it is unknown at what point the Travellers began to refer to themselves by that name, they have long claimed that the term is used to distinguish themselves from indigenous peoples, since their sense of cultural identity is strong, and thus it is very important to delineate which people were members of their societal structure (Travellers), and which were outsiders (gadjos).
There is speculation that classifying individuals has less to do with culture and more to do with identifying suitable prey, but modern-day Travellers dismiss this idea.
ORIGINS
While it is true that Travellers and the Rom share an origin in the Indian subcontinent around 500 AD, the two peoples separated early in their respective developments. Where the Romany people spread out from India to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa, the Travellers migrated in waves toward eastern and central Europe. It is believed that by 800 AD, the Travellers had completed their separation from the Romany peoples, in large part due to the Travellers’ discovery of abilities concerning the manipulation of time.
Certainly by 900 AD there are mentions in early Otherworld journals of “travaillour theofs” being prosecuted for thefts committed upon various members of the newly formed L’au-dela, as seen in this translation of an entry by the Dresden Watch dated 28 January 909:
The lord Albert Camus did bring charge of full thievery unto Mercallus Dickon, travaillour, and did rightly so demand the penalty for loss of time worth three marks. Master Dickon was found guilty and sentenced to flogging, but escaped he with his skin intact before said punishment could be enacted.
SOCIETY AND TRADITIONAL CULTURE
One reason why many mortals confuse Travellers with Romany people is the similarity of their mobile lifestyle. Travellers seldom settled in any one location until recent times, preferring instead a nomadic life, one in which they were not bound to any land or country.
This insistence on retaining autonomy naturally has led to strong familial ties, to the point where gadjos—outsiders, or nonfamily—are excluded from all but the most trivial of matters.
This sense of familial containment is frequently accompanied by ostracism by both mortals and immortals alike, the former because of their incorrect belief that Travellers are Gypsies, and the latter because of an awareness of the Travellers’ abilities. Outright persecution against all Travellers within the Otherworld is a thing of the past, but recent records of the L’au-dela Watch indicate that a higher percentage of Travellers are convicted of theft than any other ethnic group within the Otherworld.
With regard to their culture itself, Travellers favor the color red, as it is perceived of being the color of luck. The concept of luck is most vital to Travellers, since they believe it influences their temporal abilities in either a positive or negative capacity. As the traditional Traveller proverb says, “All I need is good luck. With luck I would not mind sitting on two horses at once that were walking on a bent road.” Scholars have long debated what such a confusing proverb means, with theories varying from a reference to the long-suspected Traveller ability to be at two places at once via time manipulation, to the more commonplace belief that this proverb, like all other known Traveller proverbs, is an inside joke intended to confuse and bewilder outsiders.
Travellers have an almost dragonlike fondness for gold, although they hold little value for other precious metals, feeling that anything but gold is unlucky. They are also reportedly believers in a unique form of karma, and believe that to take time from another without paying for it will result in much bad luck, the degree of which varies depending upon the quantity of time taken. The payment for time is usually made in silver, not gold, as silver is considered suitable only for gadjos.
TIME MANIPULATIONS
Travellers have long been thought of as “time thieves,” but that term is considered by most Travellers as a misnomer. The Travellers claim that their ability to extract amounts of time from willing or unwilling targets is not so much a theft as it is a manipulation, a rechanneling of existing time from one individual to another, conducted on a subatomic level. Although most victims of such manipulations refer to the phenomenon as having “lost time,” in fact the time is not lost; it is simply gained by the Traveller, who may then use it in any number of ways.
How Travellers first gained the ability to steal time is a subject of much debate, but common Traveller lore indicates that it was a power granted to them by a deity or demigod in appreciation for some unnamed act. Consideration has been given to the aptitude of savant Travellers (so-called because of their ability to acquire more than just a fleeting moment of time here or there, as is common with most Travellers), which manifests itself in the capacity to harness and utilize electrostatic energy, namely lightning, and to a lesser extent small static charges.
There is no evidence that Travellers utilize static energy surrounding them in order to steal time, although it is rumored that all savant Travellers bear “lightning flowers” branded into their skin. Better known to scientists as a Lichtenberg figure, this phenomenon is created when lightning strikes a human, the current of which leaves a feathery reddish pattern along the skin as it discharges. Although the subsequent markings on mortals are in general of a temporary nature, they are permanent for Travellers, frequently bringing attention to the fact that the Traveller is not what he appears. This “branding” has long been viewed as a viable method of distinguishing a Traveller when he attempts to fool his persecutors into believing he is a mere mortal.
Because of the clannish nature of Travellers, scientific proof of the connection between lightning and time theft has yet to be made. Only the Travellers know for sure whether a correlation exists, and if so, to what extent the two things are related.
GLOSSARY
animus: That essence of a being that can live on after the death of the body. In the case of Sunil, his life force (more or less his soul) was bound to Peter by the Shuvani in punishment for wrongful death. Animuses can take many different forms, but Sunil’s naturally sunny nature resulted in his form as a ball of golden light.
gadjo: A Traveller (and Romany) word for outsiders, people who do not share their heritage. It can be merely a descriptive word to indicate someone outside the family, or an insult, depending on the speaker’s intent.
kris: A Traveller tribunal called when judgment is needed to be brought against other Travellers. They are officiated by three krisatora, who make a final decision as to the fate of the accused individual.
krisatora: Three individuals of Traveller blood who preside over a kris.
L’au-dela: The formal name for the Otherworld, the society of people who live beyond mortal laws.
L’au-dela Wa
tch: The police force of the Otherworld, the Watch is responsible for keeping the peace among mortals and immortal beings, as well as protecting the mortal world from abuses by members of the Otherworld.
lich: A person who was resurrected from the dead, a lich looks like a normal person, aside from his black irises. Most liches are bound to the individual who holds their soul.
Lichtenberg figure: The pattern made by an electrical discharge through a soft medium.
Lightning flower: The name for a Lichtenberg figure when made on a human being. The pattern is of a delicate, feathery nature, and is also referred to as a lightning tree. The pattern is most likely caused by the rupture of capillaries as the current passes through. Although lightning flowers are temporary for mortals, they are a permanent brand on Travellers.
mahrime: A Traveller (and Romany) word for those who are deemed unclean. For Travellers, this can mean one who has impure blood (i.e. one non-Traveller parent) or someone who has no Traveller blood whatsoever.
martiya: A spirit of the night. Travellers, like their Romany cousins, have a great dislike for ghosts, and will go out of their way to avoid them.
pollution, idea of: The idea of pollution from outside sources is very important to Traveller society. They fear having their inner body polluted by outer influences, and for that reason avoid contact with non-Travellers. They also believe cats and dogs are polluted (because they lick their outer body, bringing the dirt into their clean inner self), which is why Travellers seldom have pets living in their homes.
porrav: A Traveller word with Indo-Aryan roots, it literally means “to open up” or “blossom.” In Traveller culture, it refers to the joining of a man and woman, and their shared abilities mingling to form something greater than the parts.
puridaj: A respectful way to refer to a Traveller grandmother.
Rehor: an Eastern European version of the name Gregory.
Rom, Roma, Romany: Words describing an ethnic group most commonly referred to as Gypsies. Travellers and the Roma may share a common ancestor since they share a few traits and words. Like the Travellers, the Romany were frequently persecuted for being outsiders.
shuvani: Spirits who hold Travellers accountable for their actions. There are four flavors of shuvani: earth, water, air, and field. A shuvani can be friendly or unkind, depending on his or her nature, but all are charged with punishing Travellers who abuse their abilities.
Travellers: A group of mortal people who possess immortal abilities, can steal time, and have an affinity with lightning.
Vilem: An Eastern European version of the name William.
Look for the next two installments in Katie MacAlister’s Time Thief series:
Time Crossed
a Penguin Special e–short story
featuring Gregory Faa, coming in
August 2013
and
The Art of Stealing Time
Gregory Faa’s novel, coming from
Signet in September 2013
Katie MacAlister, Time Thief: A Time Thief Novel
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