Delta Eridani 4 natives
Names: Delta Eridani 4 nativesnativesbeingsDeltansDeltan
First appears in Book 1: We Are Legion, chapter 27 (Bob – April 2165 – Delta Eridani)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: We Are Legion
- Ch 27The natives of Delta Eridani 4 are fire-using beings resembling a bat/pig mashup with long spidery limbs, fur and mobile ears.
- Ch 27The natives live in distinct groups, each with its own fire, nurse their infants, and appear to talk to each other.
- Ch 30Bob names the natives of Delta Eridani 4 'Deltans'; they live in tribes with two genders and loose pairing, much like primitive humans.
- Ch 30Deltans are vigilant, with males patrolling territory armed with clubs, rocks and pointed sticks.
- Ch 35Only 412 Deltans remain at the campfire sites; abandoned camps suggest gorilloids are hunting them to extinction.
- Ch 35Deltans repel a gorilloid attack by bracing sticks like pikes, and one accidentally discovers throwing spears.
- Ch 37The attack leaves thirty Deltans dead and about fifteen injured.
- Ch 39Over forty Deltans died in the gorilloid attack; Deltans bury and mourn their dead.
- Ch 48Deltans have an annual breeding cycle and show basic animism but no religion.
- Ch 48Joined by scattered groups, the migration grows to over five hundred Deltans and crosses a mountain pass.
- Ch 50Almost twenty Deltans die in the raid; the Bobs rescue only about a third of the abductees.
- Ch 55Some Deltans build an altar of buster fragments with torches, worshipping the bawbe.
Book 2: For We Are Many
- Ch 1The Deltans are the first non-human intelligence Bob has met, looking like a bat/pig mashup with large mobile ears and boar-like snouts.
- Ch 1Deltans and humans can only communicate through translation software; Bob gives individual Deltans arbitrary human names.
- Ch 3Deltans are skeptical rather than awed by Bob, and are learning spear-throwing at a practice range.
- Ch 9Deltan remains at the original site were fully consumed, with chew marks indicating something much bigger than a gorilloid.
- Ch 17Bob and Marvin theorize the Deltans fled the flying predator and chose gorilloid territory as the lesser evil.
- Ch 33The last Deltan mating season was more violent than usual, with two deaths and face-offs between hexghi.
- Ch 41A riot among Deltans over dividing a small prey animal leaves seventeen dead and dozens injured.
- Ch 47Nearly a hundred Deltan adolescent troublemakers leave Camelot to repopulate an old abandoned village site, believing it was their own idea.
- Ch 56With fewer gorilloid attacks and lower child mortality, the Deltan population has grown to over eleven hundred.
Connections
- inDelta Eridani 4
- has memberArchimedes
- enemy ofgorilloids
- has memberMoses
- has memberArnold
- has memberHoffa
- led byArnoldmember of the elders' circle
- has memberDiana
- inflint site
- has memberCruella
- enemy ofHippogriff
- related toBobprotector of the Deltans
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 27Discovery of intelligent life
Investigating unexplained fires on Delta Eridani 4, Bob's drones find groups of fire-using intelligent beings, the first non-human intelligence found.
- Book 1 · Ch 35Gorilloid attack
Gorilloids attack a Deltan hearth, killing six Deltans and dragging them off to eat; the Bobs realise the Deltans are being hunted to extinction.
- Book 1 · Ch 35Deltans rout the gorilloids
Armed with Archimedes' sticks, Deltans impale charging gorilloids and drive them off; a lucky throw kills one, introducing spear-throwing.
- Book 1 · Ch 35Invention of the flint-tipped spear
Archimedes ties a flint flake to a spear, making it throwable; after a tense tribal meeting backed by Arnold, he trades spear points for a share of every kill.
- Book 1 · Ch 37Great gorilloid assault
Thirty-one gorilloids attack; Arnold turns Archimedes' axe on them and Bob's buster drone kills one about to reach Archimedes, routing the rest.
- Book 1 · Ch 39Bob prepares to speak to Deltans
Having analysed the Deltan language, Bob creates a Deltan voice and orders speaker drones to communicate directly if needed.
- Book 1 · Ch 44The bawbe appears to the elders
When the elders mock Archimedes, Bob's drone hovers over him, silencing them; a long debate on moving follows, with Moses and Arnold in support.
- Book 1 · Ch 48Deltan migration begins
After preparing preserved food, the tribe sets out for the old flint village, watched by gorilloids and guarded by Bob's drones.
- Book 1 · Ch 48Daytime gorilloid raid
Gorilloids snatch two juveniles; drones distract them and Deltans kill half, but one juvenile dies.
- Book 1 · Ch 48Crossing the mountain pass
Swelled by other groups to over five hundred, the migration crosses the pass ahead of schedule, but disaster looms two days later.
- Book 1 · Ch 50Dawn gorilloid raid on the migration
Dozens of gorilloids attack; busters and Deltan spears repel them, but almost twenty Deltans die and many abductees are lost.
- Book 1 · Ch 50Migration pauses to rearm
Bob persuades the elders to camp for five days while more busters arrive, and ramps up manufacturing.
- Book 1 · Ch 53Migration resumes
With busters replenished, the Deltans resume their march through jungle, enduring three more attacks before reaching the flint site.
- Book 1 · Ch 55Arrival at the flint site
The Deltans reach and settle the old flint site, which is surrounded by gorilloids; busters guard the perimeter and Archimedes and Moses start making tools.
- Book 1 · Ch 55Altar to the bawbe
Marvin shows Bob that some Deltans have built an altar from buster pieces.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Deltans settle into Camelot
The Deltans practice flint-knapping and spear-throwing in their defensible new village, though gorilloids still claim lives.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Hippogriff attack on Camelot
Fourteen hippogriffs attack Camelot; Bob and Marvin's busters kill most, Arnold and the hunters kill one, but three Deltans die.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Hippogriff island destroyed
Bob drops a ship-buster on the hippogriffs' island, wiping it out; the Deltans shelter behind the bluff from the shockwave and falling debris.
- Book 2 · Ch 33Rising violence in Camelot
Bob and Marvin observe growing gang activity and violence in an overcrowded Camelot; the banished Bob chooses not to intervene.
- Book 2 · Ch 41Riot in the village
Deltans fight Deltans in a riot sparked by a dispute over food; seventeen die while Archimedes' family stands armed at the edge.
- Book 2 · Ch 47Troublemakers leave Camelot
Bob's reverse-psychology plan works: Camelot's worst troublemakers march off to resettle an old village, and Archimedes gets the credit.