Joslyn Musey
Encyclopedia
Joslyn Aaron Musey, known as Jos, is the protagonist
of the science fiction
novel
Warchild by Karin Lowachee
. Jos makes appearances as a minor supporting character
in subsequent novels, Burndive
and Cagebird
.
, Jos was raised until the age of eight by his parents. When he was eight, Mukudori is attacked, boarded and destroyed by a pirate ship, later revealed to be the Genghis Khan
. Among the children kidnapped by the pirates and help aboard their ship, Jos attracts the attention of the Khans captain, Vincenzo Falcone. While the other child prisoners are auctioned off to other pirate ships, Jos remains on the Khan, under Falcone's personal tutelage.
Spending one year aboard Genghis Khan, Jos becomes protégé. Falcone teaches him various skills from table manners to poker
, all the while elaborating that he intends to capitalize on Jos's good looks to soften his clientele. Falcone's teaching methods are obscured by Jos's narration, but his distress is evident. After a year's time, Falcone takes Jos with him on a business excursion to the space station
Chaos. When the station is attacked by striviirc-na aliens and human sympathizers, Jos escapes in the confusion.
His escape on Chaos Station leads to being caught in the crossfire between the striviirc-na and the human soljets, and an injured Jos is rescued by Nikolas S'tlian, a human sympathizer of the striviirc-na, who sided with them when the war between the human EarthHub and the striviirc-na began. Nikolas takes Jos with him to Aaian-na, the striviirc-na planet of origin. Though initially afraid of him, referring to his by the unwanted EarthHub moniker the Warboy, Jos gradually grows to trust Niko, even becoming his student.
When Niko leaves Aaian-na to continue fighting the war against EarthHub, he leaves Jos's training in the hands of his mother and brother. Ash-dan, Niko's brother, teaches Jos to burndive, a technique of hacking
that utilizes a virtual reality
interface
.
Due to the difference in the passage of time between planet
s and deep space
, years pass for Jos before Nikolas eventually returns from his voyage. Bitter about the absence of his favored teacher, and angry because of the tension between himself and Ash-dan, Jos's coldness towards Niko becomes a strain on their relationship. Still ambivalent, Jos nonetheless accepts Niko's request to send him on a dangerous, long-term undercover
mission, posing as a soljet recruit for the deep space carrier ship Macedon.
Aboard Macedon, Jos underwent the harsh training of jets, EarthHub's elite, deep-space Marines
offshoot. He drew the eye of the ship's infamous captain, Cairo Azarcon, because of the year he spent under Falcone's tutelage, and learned about Azarcon's publicized grudge against pirates in general and Falcone in particular. Undercover, Jos went on jet missions, boarding alien vessels and killing striviirc-na and sympathizers, while at the same time reporting on the ship to Niko through his sympathizer contacts on Austro Space Station. During his service as a soljet, Jos reverts to using the pejorative
terms 'strit' and 'symp'.
When sympathizer ships are seen doing business with the pirate ship Shiva
, Jos begins to uncover underhanded dealings between a militant faction on Aaian-na, led by Ash-dan, and the pirate ring led by Falcone. When Shiva is captured and boarded, the crewmembers taken captive include Jos's childhood friend Evan, who had been taken from Mukudori with Jos and then sold. Evan turns to Jos to extract him from Macedon's brig, claiming to have been a reluctant crewmember held captive by Shiva's captain against his will. Jos testifies to Azarcon on Evan's behalf, and Evan is allowed to remain on Macedon in the capacity of a morale
officer.
When Genghis Khan attacks Macedon, Jos is among the jets and other crew captured by Falcone. Falcone attempts to glean information from Jos, and his torture
techniques include revealing to the rest of the captured crew that Jos had been rescued by striviirc-na when he escaped from him, and was now affiliated with them. The revelation causes the brigged crew to turn their backs on him. He is released from captivity when Niko's ship Turundrlar attacks the Khan. Niko communicates to Captain Azarcon, arranging a deal to return the captured soljets, and allowing Azarcon to speak with Jos.
The conversation, and Niko's safe return of Macedons crew, leads to a partnership between Macedon and Turundrlar in hunting down both Falcone and Ash. Falcone is captured and held in preparation for being extradited
to EarthHub for trial. Nikolas-dan, being a ka'redan or striviirc-na assassin
-priest
, handles Ash-dan's betrayal in accordance with the traditions of his caste
, by assassinating him.
Once the rogue ships are handled, Macedon and Turundrlar dock at Chaos Space Station to initiate peace talks between EarthHub and Aaian-na, the original purpose of Jos's mission among the soljets. When Falcone is brought off the ship for extradition, Jos attacks him with his ka'redan knife and kills him. Azarcon chooses not to sanction him, but instead asks him to serve as translator
for the peace talks.
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Warchild by Karin Lowachee
Karin Lowachee
Karin Lowachee is a Canadian author of speculative fiction.Lowachee is the author of four novels, Warchild , Burndive , Cagebird and The Gaslight Dogs . Warchild is noteworthy for its use of second-person point of view for the first several chapters of the novel. This book won the Warner Aspect...
. Jos makes appearances as a minor supporting character
Supporting character
A supporting character is a character of a book, play, video game, movie, television or radio show or other form of storytelling usually used to give added dimension to a main character, by adding a relationship with this character...
in subsequent novels, Burndive
Burndive
Burndive is a science fiction novel by Karin Lowachee. It was first published in 2003 by Warner Aspect. Burndive is the second book in Lowachee's Warchild Universe.-Plot summary:...
and Cagebird
Cagebird (novel)
Cagebird is a science fiction novel by Canadian author Karin Lowachee. It was published by Warner Aspect in 2005, as the third book in the Warchild Universe...
.
Warchild
Born on the merchant spaceship MukudoriStarling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent...
, Jos was raised until the age of eight by his parents. When he was eight, Mukudori is attacked, boarded and destroyed by a pirate ship, later revealed to be the Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
. Among the children kidnapped by the pirates and help aboard their ship, Jos attracts the attention of the Khans captain, Vincenzo Falcone. While the other child prisoners are auctioned off to other pirate ships, Jos remains on the Khan, under Falcone's personal tutelage.
Spending one year aboard Genghis Khan, Jos becomes protégé. Falcone teaches him various skills from table manners to poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
, all the while elaborating that he intends to capitalize on Jos's good looks to soften his clientele. Falcone's teaching methods are obscured by Jos's narration, but his distress is evident. After a year's time, Falcone takes Jos with him on a business excursion to the space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
Chaos. When the station is attacked by striviirc-na aliens and human sympathizers, Jos escapes in the confusion.
His escape on Chaos Station leads to being caught in the crossfire between the striviirc-na and the human soljets, and an injured Jos is rescued by Nikolas S'tlian, a human sympathizer of the striviirc-na, who sided with them when the war between the human EarthHub and the striviirc-na began. Nikolas takes Jos with him to Aaian-na, the striviirc-na planet of origin. Though initially afraid of him, referring to his by the unwanted EarthHub moniker the Warboy, Jos gradually grows to trust Niko, even becoming his student.
When Niko leaves Aaian-na to continue fighting the war against EarthHub, he leaves Jos's training in the hands of his mother and brother. Ash-dan, Niko's brother, teaches Jos to burndive, a technique of hacking
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
that utilizes a virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
.
Due to the difference in the passage of time between planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s and deep space
Deep Space
- Star Trek :* Battle of Deep Space Nine, the first major battle of the Dominion War* Deep Space Nine , space station in the fictional Star Trek universe* Deep Space Nine relaunch, number of novels released since 2000...
, years pass for Jos before Nikolas eventually returns from his voyage. Bitter about the absence of his favored teacher, and angry because of the tension between himself and Ash-dan, Jos's coldness towards Niko becomes a strain on their relationship. Still ambivalent, Jos nonetheless accepts Niko's request to send him on a dangerous, long-term undercover
Undercover
Being undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...
mission, posing as a soljet recruit for the deep space carrier ship Macedon.
Aboard Macedon, Jos underwent the harsh training of jets, EarthHub's elite, deep-space Marines
Marine corps
A marine is a member of a force that specializes in expeditionary operations such as amphibious assault and occupation. The marines traditionally have strong links with the country's navy...
offshoot. He drew the eye of the ship's infamous captain, Cairo Azarcon, because of the year he spent under Falcone's tutelage, and learned about Azarcon's publicized grudge against pirates in general and Falcone in particular. Undercover, Jos went on jet missions, boarding alien vessels and killing striviirc-na and sympathizers, while at the same time reporting on the ship to Niko through his sympathizer contacts on Austro Space Station. During his service as a soljet, Jos reverts to using the pejorative
Pejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
terms 'strit' and 'symp'.
When sympathizer ships are seen doing business with the pirate ship Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, Jos begins to uncover underhanded dealings between a militant faction on Aaian-na, led by Ash-dan, and the pirate ring led by Falcone. When Shiva is captured and boarded, the crewmembers taken captive include Jos's childhood friend Evan, who had been taken from Mukudori with Jos and then sold. Evan turns to Jos to extract him from Macedon's brig, claiming to have been a reluctant crewmember held captive by Shiva's captain against his will. Jos testifies to Azarcon on Evan's behalf, and Evan is allowed to remain on Macedon in the capacity of a morale
Morale
Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group, is an intangible term used to describe the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others...
officer.
When Genghis Khan attacks Macedon, Jos is among the jets and other crew captured by Falcone. Falcone attempts to glean information from Jos, and his torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
techniques include revealing to the rest of the captured crew that Jos had been rescued by striviirc-na when he escaped from him, and was now affiliated with them. The revelation causes the brigged crew to turn their backs on him. He is released from captivity when Niko's ship Turundrlar attacks the Khan. Niko communicates to Captain Azarcon, arranging a deal to return the captured soljets, and allowing Azarcon to speak with Jos.
The conversation, and Niko's safe return of Macedons crew, leads to a partnership between Macedon and Turundrlar in hunting down both Falcone and Ash. Falcone is captured and held in preparation for being extradited
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
to EarthHub for trial. Nikolas-dan, being a ka'redan or striviirc-na assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
-priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, handles Ash-dan's betrayal in accordance with the traditions of his caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
, by assassinating him.
Once the rogue ships are handled, Macedon and Turundrlar dock at Chaos Space Station to initiate peace talks between EarthHub and Aaian-na, the original purpose of Jos's mission among the soljets. When Falcone is brought off the ship for extradition, Jos attacks him with his ka'redan knife and kills him. Azarcon chooses not to sanction him, but instead asks him to serve as translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
for the peace talks.
Burndive
When Ryan Azarcon moves onto Macedon at his father's behest, Captain Azarcon assigns Jos to be Ryan's guide, and puts him in charge of his weapons training. Initially, Ryan displays the same prejudices Jos himself showed to Niko, calling striviirc-na "strits" and sympathizers "symps", his suspicion of Jos, and the sympathizer cause by extension, lessens gradually the more he gets to know them. During his stay on Macedon Ryan starts calling Jos a friend.Appearances
- Protagonist of Warchild, which is written entirely from his first personFirst-person narrativeFirst-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
perspective. - Appears in BurndiveBurndiveBurndive is a science fiction novel by Karin Lowachee. It was first published in 2003 by Warner Aspect. Burndive is the second book in Lowachee's Warchild Universe.-Plot summary:...
as a supporting character. - Several cameo appearances in CagebirdCagebird (novel)Cagebird is a science fiction novel by Canadian author Karin Lowachee. It was published by Warner Aspect in 2005, as the third book in the Warchild Universe...
.