Silfen
Names: Silfenelvesfey aliensthe alienselfin folkelven folkwoodland elvesadult Silfen communitythe adult communitySilfen community
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 4 (THREE)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 4Insular alien species, long-lived and widely spread; they claim not to know about the barrier and give oblique answers.
- Ch 5In clan lore, the Silfen saw the bonds the Starflyer placed in Bradley Johansson's mind and cut him free.
- Ch 6Nigel regards the Silfen as not truly alien; the mission may meet truly alien aliens.
- Ch 8Mystics who greeted past gateway openings with laughter and welcome; none appeared on Chelva.
- Ch 9A man Ozzie met on Far Jerusalem claimed the Silfen bodies are chrysalides and a true adult Silfen community exists elsewhere as minds.
- Ch 9The Silfen will not communicate directly with the SI, having no interest in technological artifacts.
- Ch 9The Silfen are slyly amused beings who live in billions on Silvergalde and do not mind sharing land with humans.
- Ch 9Whatever the Silfen use to glitch technology affects only photonic and electronic systems; bioneural chemistry like Ozzie's tattoos and biochips still works.
- Ch 9Silfen are tall, long-limbed bipeds with flat faces, feline eyes, and round mouths with three rings of flexing teeth. They are herbivores.
- Ch 9Silfen wear copper-gold toga robes, braid their hair, and sing wordless harmonious songs in the forest. Their field disables electronics near their forest.
- Ch 9The Silfen never learned any Commonwealth language and are not interested in doing so.
- Ch 9The Silfen speak in cryptic, musical riddles, laugh with a human-sounding warble, and left the clearing running and singing without giving Ozzie a direct answer.
- Ch 12Silfen are fey aliens whose neural type prevents meaningful communication with Ozzie.
- Ch 12Ozzie finds about fifteen sets of triangular, treadless footprints he believes are Silfen boots, some starting beneath trees, and decides to follow them.
- Ch 12The Silfen's worlds disrupt electronics, so Ozzie's handheld array does not work.
- Ch 13The Silfen hunt icewhales, taking tusks and leaving the rest for the Ice Citadel residents to use.
- Ch 15Humans have long lived with the Silfen enigma: electronics fail on their worlds and how they travel between stars is unknown.
- Ch 17The Silfen hunt visits periodically; people escape the Ice Citadel by following it on foot or skis along paths out.
- Ch 17Travelers say time behaves strangely on the Silfen paths, with weeks, months or years lost or gained.
- Ch 17Ozzie suspects the Silfen are damping magnetic fields around the Ice Citadel, and he needs to keep up with them.
- Ch 18The Silfen are tall biped aliens who sing in poetic speech, ride feathered quadruped steeds and hunt icewhales with silver spears and bows.
- Ch 18The Silfen made the paths between worlds, and they bring light, warmth and a party atmosphere to the Ice Citadel.
- Ch 18A Silfen lead rider says that after death what happens to a body does not matter, allowing the humans to take the icewhale bodies.
- Ch 18The Silfen forbid electricity and machines and sing perpetually; they hunt icewhales on foot and horseback with spears, bows and arrows.
- Ch 18Silfen riders throw spears that turn into lightning bolts, driving icewhales out of the crater ice toward the waiting hunters.
- Ch 18The Silfen hunt icewhales with spears and arrows, suffering heavy casualties, and ceremonially eat the organs of the dead beasts, though Ozzie had assumed they were vegetarians.
- Ch 18The Silfen let an exhausted icewhale retreat to its crater, forming an avenue and saluting it, since they see no sport in killing a helpless beast.
- Ch 18The Silfen travel at a punishing pace through the forests, and most human followers fall behind; Ozzie's group follows them in hope of a path off the planet.
- Ch 21Ozzie says the Silfen have an afterlife and are active on this world.
- Ch 21The Silfen in this group are visibly old, with thin gray hair and creased faces, something Ozzie had never seen before.
- Ch 21The Silfen speak in song-like riddles and say they have come to the dead valley to complete their song; soon they will walk no more.
- Ch 21The Silfen watched the planet's destruction in penance but did nothing; Ozzie hates them for it.
- Ch 22Ozzie suspects the Silfen deliberately stopped interfering with electricity on this world.
- Ch 23Ozzie suspects the halo is the Silfen home system, with coral-like lengths holding vegetation orbiting in the gas.
Book 2: Judas Unchained
- Ch 6The Silfen cannot be forced to do anything; the flock ignored Ozzie's flares and left the party without help.
Connections
- friend ofOrionclaims friendship
- has memberNine Sky
- createdSilfen paths
- enemy oficewhalehunt them
- has memberClouddancer
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 9Ozzie debates the SI
Ozzie questions the SI about why it backed the Dyson Pair mission, the aggressor theories, and its capabilities, then tells of a man who lived with the Silfen.
- Book 1 · Ch 9Meeting the Silfen
Orion's pendant glows and the Silfen appear singing. Orion chases them into a clearing, and Ozzie follows and rebukes him. Ozzie speaks Silfen with one he names Nine Sky.
- Book 1 · Ch 9Ozzie questions the Silfen
Ozzie asks Nine Sky where the path leads to the thing the Silfen become. He gets only cryptic replies, though a mention of a cave convinces him he is on the right track. The Silfen then run off singing.
- Book 1 · Ch 12Following the pendant and Silfen tracks
After a bitter night, Orion's pendant indicates the way, and Ozzie finds apparent Silfen footprints which they follow through deepening cold.
- Book 1 · Ch 18Silfen arrive to hunt
A procession of about 250 Silfen reaches the Ice Citadel to hunt icewhales. They party in the central chamber, and Sara secures permission to follow and keep the carcasses.
- Book 1 · Ch 18The hunt departs
At dawn the Silfen ride out chanting, and the covered sleds follow into the crystal tree forest. Tochee's sledge is towed behind Bill's sled.
- Book 1 · Ch 18The icewhale hunt
Silfen riders hurl lightning spears to drive icewhales from the ice crater. The beasts kill over a dozen Silfen; Orion is horrified and Ozzie takes him inside.
- Book 1 · Ch 18Orion breaks down after the icewhale hunt
After witnessing the Silfen hunt, Orion despairs, hurls away his pendant and fears for his parents. Ozzie calms him and pockets the pendant.
- Book 1 · Ch 18Following the Silfen across the ice forest
The group skis after the departing Silfen for hours; Orion tires and they camp. Next day wind and snow erase the Silfen tracks, leaving Ozzie to rely on the pendant.
- Book 1 · Ch 21The Silfen show the planet's last memory
Pushing through the ghostly gale, Ozzie meets elderly Silfen, who lead him to a black globe. It shows imperial starships annihilating the planet; Ozzie feels every death and collapses weeping.