Read Under the Moons of Mars Online
Authors: John Joseph Adams
Unlike many other Martians [See
Races of Barsoom
], the Green Martians are a completely different species. They grow as tall as fifteen feet, are hairless, have huge tusks rising from the corners of their mouths, and have six limbs. When they wish to run as fast as possible they use four limbs as legs, rather in the fashion of Earthly centaurs. At other times they stand upright on their two hindmost legs and use four limbs as arms. The Green Men rule the dead sea-beds of Barsoom. When
John Carter first arrives on Barsoom he is imprisoned by a horde of Green Men, eventually befriending several of their leaders. There are many tribes or “hordes” of these beings, the most important being the Tharks and Warhoons. Some historians of science fiction have suggested that the famous “little green men” of pulp fiction were inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs’s description of the Green Men of Barsoom. However, Burroughs’s Green Men are hardly little—they can stand as tall as fifteen feet.
[See
Units of Measurement
]
One of the lesser cities of the Heliumite Empire.
Actually two cities located some seventy-five miles apart, Helium is the center and pinnacle of Martian civilization. Each of the two cities is surmounted by a great tower a mile high. The Heliumites are a cultured, technologically advanced people. Helium is ruled by a jeddak, Tardos Mors, grandfather of Dejah Thoris.
A genetically engineered synthetic body, into which brains are transplanted. [See
Ras Thavas
]
A very ancient Martian city, once a great center of technology, learning, and culture. It now stands mostly in ruins, but is still occupied by white Orovars. The Orovars live in the supposedly impregnable Citadel of Horz. They are extremely hostile to outsiders, and kill anyone who wanders into their city.
The alleged Goddess of Death and of Life Eternal, Issus is an amazingly old woman even by the lengthy Barsoomian lifespan. Barsoomians often reach the age of 1,000 but Issus is 5,000 years old! She ruled as Queen of the First Born [See
Races of Barsoom
], exploiting credulous Martians for her own power and enrichment. She was served by a constantly replenished supply of beautiful female slaves. She would typically use her slaves for a year, then have them thrown to the white apes to be killed. She was eventually overthrown by an invading force of Tharks and killed by her own disappointed followers.
This is the Barsoomian name for Earth, just as Mars is our name for Barsoom. If John Carter’s travel to Barsoom involved crossing not merely millions of miles but also millions of years, then the Barsoomian astronomers of ancient times might have observed the Earth before the appearance of the first humans: a world teeming with huge creatures, steaming jungles, flying reptiles, insects the size of helicopters, aquatic behemoths compared to which modern whales would be the size of minnows, and monsters seen today only in the reconstructions of paleontologists.
A military rank, equivalent to a chieftain or minor king. [See
Military Titles
]
A military rank, equivalent to a great king or emperor. [See
Military Titles
]
Designation bestowed upon John Carter. [See
Military Titles
]
A military rank, equivalent to queen or empress. [See
Military Titles
]
A military rank, equivalent to a general of generals, or a warlord. [See
Military Titles
]
A popular game on Barsoom, often referred to as “Martian chess.” It is played on a board of one hundred squares. The front row of “chess men,” instead of pawns, are thoats and panthans. The back row, instead of being rooks, knights, bishops, king, and queen, are warriors, padwars, dwars, fliers, chiefs, and princesses. While most Martians play the game on convenient boards with beautifully carved pieces—John Carter is known to carry a miniature Jetan set with him—in the city of Manator the game is played on a giant field by live “pieces.” In Manator, when a piece seeks to “take” another, they actually fight to the death.
A captain in the Confederate Army. After the American Civil War (1860–1865) he made his way westward. Trapped in a cave by fierce Indian warriors, he was miraculously transported to Barsoom (Mars). He appears to be thirty years old, but in fact has lived for centuries, always appearing to be of the same age, and always a skilled swordsman and courageous warrior. In any situation, no matter how hopeless the odds, he fights on, uttering his personal motto, “I still live.” Because Mars is a smaller planet than Earth and has lighter gravity, John Carter is capable of leaping to great heights and performing other amazing feats. Upon arriving on Mars, John Carter is a stranger in a strange land, but becomes a Jeddak (warlord) and eventually
the Jeddak of Jeddaks, in effect, the emperor of an entire planet.
A slang name for a soldier of the Confederate (Southern) army during the American Civil War. The term referred to the fact that the eleven Confederate States were in a state of rebellion against the United States.
The Earthman hero of
The Moon Maid
, who travels to the moon to do battle with the Va-gas and Kalkars. [See
Moon Maid, The
]
These are surely the strangest of all Martian creatures. Really little more than a brilliant brain housed in a soft skull, Kaldanes also possess clawlike organs through which they can attach themselves to creatures called Rykors. Rykors look very much like normal human beings, but instead of having heads, their necks end in a set of openings through which Kaldanes insert their claws, thereby forming a double creature.
An evil humanoid race that lives inside Earth’s moon, alongside the Va-gas. [See
Moon Maid, The
]
A Red Martian, Kantos Kan was a padwar in the aerial navy of the City of Helium. Involved in a war between Helium and Warhoon, Kantos Kan was captured and imprisoned along with John Carter. The two men, one of Earth and one of Mars, became close friends. They managed to escape their prison together, and remained friends for many years, Kantos Kan rising through the ranks of Helium’s navy.
The most common form of Martian greeting. Although roughly translated as “Hello,” the Martian word is sometimes used in a very emphatic, emotional manner. While uncounted different languages have developed on Earth, several hundred of which are still in use, there is apparently a single language used throughout Barsoom. Perhaps “Barsoomian” is the only language that ever developed on Mars and spread through the entire planet, or perhaps many languages were invented separately and merged into Barsoomian.
[See
Units of Measurement
]
While not truly lost, Korus has shrunk since ancient times. It remains above ground at the South Pole of Mars, directly over the Sea of Omean. This very peculiar configuration is unique on Barsoom, and as far as is known, is unlike any other body or water on Mars or Earth.
The granddaughter of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, daughter of Tara of Helium and Gahan of Gathol. This young woman’s beauty attracted an eager suitor named Hin Abtol, a Jeddak of the Panars. Alas, Llana doesn’t care for Hin Abtol, but he won’t take no for an answer so he kidnaps her. Llana is rescued by her grandfather, John Carter, and the warrior Pan Dan Chee, only to become involved in a battle, get captured and rescued again and again, for a total of at least five breathtaking imprisonments and rescues. Llana’s adventures are described to Edgar Rice Burroughs by John Carter in person, when Burroughs as an elderly man is living in Hawaii and John Carter returns to Earth for one of his periodic visits.
Once a great seafaring people, the Lotharians retreated to a beautiful, peaceful valley when the great oceans of Mars dried up. They enjoy a very lengthy lifespan and have great mental powers including the ability to create food so real that it is nourishing and weapons so effective they can kill their enemies. However, with the passage of many centuries, all female Lotharians have died, leaving an all-male society that is doomed to disappear when its present members reach the end of their lives. The lovely Thuvia becomes a prisoner of the Lotharians, but is rescued by Carthoris, son of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, and eventually becomes Carthoris’s bride.
The combination of Barsoom’s light gravity and that planet’s thin atmosphere would have a questionable influence on the evolution of flying creatures. The Malagor was a huge bird, capable of flight probably as a result of its light weight, achieved in part by the development of hollow bones like those of Earthly birds, and its huge wings. After a lengthy period of extinction, the Malagor was restored to the Barsoomian biosphere by the brilliant scientist Ras Thavas, again, as Earthly scientists hope someday to recreate extinct species by cloning preserved DNA.
An ancient city of Barsoom, surrounded by such rough, inhospitable terrain that it has had little or no contact with the rest of Martian civilization for many centuries. However, the game of Jetan is of such ancient origins that it is known in Manator where it is played on a gigantic board with live “pieces.” Criminals in Manator are sentenced to become Jetan pieces for anywhere from one to ten games, and when a Jetan piece is “taken” in Manator, this means that he has literally had to fight for his life—and lost. [See
Jetan
]
A Martian plant that can thrive with almost no water, thus giving it a high survival value on the very dry surface of the planet. The mantalia produces a flavorful and nourishing sap, rather like maple syrup, but more milky in appearance, and is highly prized as a source of sustenance.
High priest of the Holy Therns, his own title being Holy Hekkador. He was the brother of the high priestess Issus. When the false religion of the Therns was exposed and its corrupt leaders exposed, Matai Shang succeeded in kidnapping Dejah Thoris of Helium and Thuvia of Ptarth and fleeing to remote cities where he felt he could still exert his authority. John Carter eventually rescued Matai Shang’s captives.
The political structure of Mars is fairly primitive, a combination of military hierarchy and royal dynasties. The military ranks of jedwar (general of generals, or warlord), odwar (general), dwar (captain), and padwar (lieutenant) all have rough equivalents in Earthly armies. They are probably based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s experience as a soldier in the cavalry of the United States Army. Panthans are mercenaries. Jeds are chieftans or minor kings. Jeddaks are great kings or emperors. Jeddaras are queens or empresses. Princesses, however, are referred to simply as princesses. The ultimate title on Mars was won by John Carter, and was rendered as either Jeddak of Jeddaks or simply, the Warlord of Mars.
While not exactly part of the Barsoom series,
The Moon Maid
is connected nonetheless. According to this novel, which is regarded by some critics as one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s very
best efforts, the events begin in the year 2024, although they are told to Burroughs in 1967, then transmitted telepathically by the author to his more youthful self for publication in 1923. In the novel, a spaceship is built on Earth in 1924. It is named the
Barsoom
and sets out for Mars, but instead crash-lands on the moon, which turns out to be hollow and inhabited. Survivors of the crash encounter a number of species and nations, most notably the Kalkars, who eventually conquer the Earth, leading to a rebellion. The Moon Maid of the title is the beautiful Nahee-lah. The Earth hero, Julian, rescues her from assorted perils.