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Doon (novel)
Encyclopedia
National Lampoon's Doon is a parody
of Frank Herbert
's 1965 science fiction
novel Dune
, written by Ellis Weiner
and published in 1984 by Pocket Books
/Simon & Schuster, Inc. (ISBN 0-671-54144-7), and by Grafton Books (ISBN 0-586-06636-5) the following year. In 1988 William F. Touponce noted that the only books which National Lampoon has parodied are Herbert's Dune and J. R. R. Tolkien
's Lord of the Rings.
Dune is set on the dangerous, sandworm
-ridden desert planet
Arrakis
, sole source of the spice melange, the most valuable substance in the universe. The parody follows a similar storyline, wherein rival restaurant-owning families battle for control of Arruckus, which is overrun by giant pretzels and the source of valuable beer
.
Arruckus is also known as "Doon", and is additionally known as the Dessert Planet. Covered entirely in sugars, it is a harsh unforgiving environment, where not an entree can be found; the natives live entirely on whatever they can import, produce from the sugars, or produce from soy protein (the native food experiments known as the Mahn t'Vani)
Duke Lotto accepts the fief, aware that it may well be a death trap but also conscious of the importance of Arruckus's only export, the wide-spectrum intoxicant known as beer
. Found naturally on Arruckus as a result of natural processes and nowhere else, it is the engine on which commerce runs; the Schlepping Guild, who has a monopoly on space travel in the Imperium, will not run without it. Who controls the beer controls commerce.
But soon after arriving on Doon, with his heir and son Pall and his concubine the Lady Jazzica, an adept of the galaxy-spanning sisterhood of chefs and event planners known as the Boni Maroni, Duke Lotto and House Agamemnides fall victim to a scheme originated by Baron Vladimir Hardchargin and implemented by the Duke's own accountant Oyeah, who, without the Duke's knowledge, kept a secret second ledger. When the Emperor called for an audit of the fief, the duplicate ledger made it appear as though House Agamemnides had been cooking the books. In return for this act, Oyeah hoped the Baron would give him a start as a stand-up comic–which he did, but on the Imperial prison planet, Salacia Simplicissimus. Ruined, Duke Lotto's brief reign over Doon is ended and House Hardchargin is reinstated as fief-holders.
Banished to the sugared wilderness, Pall (now head of House Agamemnides) and Lady Jazzica meet with and are eventually accepted by the planet's native population, the Freedmenmen, a process made easier by previous prophecy-seeding by the Missionaria Phonibalonica, via the Great Prophet Phyllis. Indeed, the natives are receptive to the fulfillment of the prophecies even after the revelation that Phyllis's decanonization resulted in her prophecies being discontinued sometime before. Pall, given the Freedmenmen name Assol and taking the secret name Mauve'Bib (after the purple napkin that all Freedmenmen wear about their necks) begins to ascend the power structure of the tribe (as well as the Freedmenmen girl Loni as his lover), realizing that he could use the Freedmenmen to return to a position of power, taking back not only Doon but the Imperium itself. He also realizes what the planet's Imperial Planetologist and liberal economist, Keynes, had puzzled out some time before: the rampaging Giant Pretzels (known as Schmai-gunug) actually produces the beer as a byproduct of its very life-cycle. The Lady Jazzica ascends to the status of Revved-Up Mother of Hootch Grabr, becoming known as Jazzica-of-the-Weirdness. During her ascension, while getting drunk on the beer, she realizes that she carries Lotto's daughter. Her intoxication opens her foetal daughter to the thousands of years of Boni Maroni culinary history; the result is Nailya-the-Truly-Weird, a toddler who spouts recipes as though she were an adult.
During this time, he knowingly positions himself as the Kumquat Haagendasz (the result of a generations-long breeding program so secret that the Boni Maroni have actually forgotten the point) and the Mahdl-t, the long hoped-for Freedmenmen messiah, "he who will drive us to Paradise and Back", who will finally bring the entrees the Freedmenmen have hungered for. By this route, he assumes and consolidates his power over the natives, not only making them his allies, but his fanatic followers.
Meanwhile, back in power, Baron Vladimir Hardchargin has his own problems. Converting the fief into the Shadvlad Rendezvous, the galaxy's premier lounge planet, is a relative success, even though the Freedmenmen remain a chronic problem and the Giant Pretzels remain at large. He is hungry for more success, though, and has plans to muscle out his silent partner (the Emperor) and play the Imperial House against the Boni Moroni, the Schlepping Guild, and the interstellar development cooperative NOAMCHOMSKI using his control of beer as leverage, thereby becoming the true power in the galaxy, and franchising the Shadvlad across the Imperium.
Events come to a head when Pall Mauve'Bib, gone completely native and acquiring the "Eye of the Egad" (the telltale red-on-red eyes, indicating severe beer addiction) challenges the Baron to a bake-off, with a new ingredient: peanut butter, rendered from the naturally-occurring snack mix's peanuts, and debuting his secret weapon – a liqueur
made from beer – Drambrewski. With the support of the Boni Moroni thereon, the promise of an assured supply of beer to the Schlepping Guild (who had been influenced to believe that the Hardchargins have been watering the beer, and are revealed to have the red-on-red eyes of beer addiction), and after dispatching the ShaNaNa-Baron Flip-Rotha Hardchargin in rankout (single insult-combat), Pall Mauve'Bib assumes Imperial control, banishing the Emperor's house to the prison plant Simplicissima Secundus, acquiring the hand of the Emperor's daughter Serutan in a marriage of convenience, and the Freedmenmen woman Loni as his concubine.
, encompassing not only high and sometimes abstruse humor but middle and low as well, through punning references and plays on words designed to either make light of the original characters' names or referencing pop-culture touchpoints.
For example, the galactic development combine CHOAM
in the original Dune
story becomes NOAMCHOMSKI, an acronym which expands to the name Neutralis Organizational Abba Mercantile Condominium Havatampa Orthonovum Minnehaha Shostakovich Kategorial Imperative – a name whose style mocks that of the equally-impenetrable Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles – and is mentioned and expanded on by some characters to the point of compulsion. The Bene Gesserit
litany against fear becomes the litany against fun: I must not have fun. Fun is the time-killer.
Another example is the repeated use of the name Jonzun Fillup, the acclaimed architect whose designs the Baron Hardchargin cribs liberally from to create the Shadvlad. This is a reference to Philip Johnson
, the influential 20th Century American architect whose controversial postmodern design for the then-AT&T Building (latterly, the Sony Building
in New York) included a top reminiscent of a Chippendale bookcase. This too is transferred to the story, as Baron Hardchargin lavishly praises Fillup's Gothic entabulature at the north pole of the Antares Teleport and Telepath's headquarters planet.
Other references, such as the word Mahn-t'vani (a play on the easy-listening music composer Mantovani
) and the name Serutan
(with reference to its famous "Natures spelled backwards" tagline) may seem a bit dated, but there are references to such things as the hokey-pokey and Tito Puente
which still hold currency in modern culture.
Overall, the arc of the story is respected and held closely to throughout. In the style of the original, quotes from the Princess Serutan's works (amongst them, The Portable Mauve'Bib, In My Father's House, In His Room, And Especially Rummaging Through His Junk Drawer, and No More Princess Nice Guy: The Princess Serutan Diaries) lead off each chapter. Dune was a story about spice power; Doon is a story about beer power. Most notable is the successful transition of Herbert's style into comedy, as can be referenced by Pall Agamemnides as he surveys his situation prior to the relocation:
The native population of Doon, the Freedmenmen, are characterized as intense, somewhat overweight beer addicts, steeped in tradition, mysticism, and ritual, with a language of their own–Varietese
, a direct play on the famous signature style of the entertainment-industry newspaper (The famously-misquoted headline, Sticks Nix Hick Pix
, is rendered as an expression of resignation, along the lines of "What can one do?"). The stillsuit of the original story becomes the Freedmenmen sweatsuit, meant to induce sweating to reduce the accumulation of excess body weight brought on by constant beer consumption. The sandworms
(also known as Maker and Shai-Hulud in the original) become giant pretzels, also known by the natives as Brewer and Schmai-gunug, a term the glossary claims is rendered from a Yiddish phrase meaning "to browse and fiddle around and window-shop enough".
An advertisement in the back of the book promised conceptual sequels, including Doon Meshugganah; Men, Women, Children, Pets of Doon; Lord God Help Us, Another Sequel to Doon; The Doon Reference Book, Atlas, and Rhyming Dictionary; and The Doon Catalogue of Quality Menswear for Dad 'n' Lad..
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
's 1965 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 Dune
Dune (novel)
Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
, written by Ellis Weiner
Ellis Weiner
Ellis Weiner is an author and humorist who has previously worked as an editor of National Lampoon and a columnist for Spy Magazine. His humor has also appeared in The New Yorker, Paris Review, and the New York Times Magazine....
and published in 1984 by Pocket Books
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
/Simon & Schuster, Inc. (ISBN 0-671-54144-7), and by Grafton Books (ISBN 0-586-06636-5) the following year. In 1988 William F. Touponce noted that the only books which National Lampoon has parodied are Herbert's Dune and J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's Lord of the Rings.
Dune is set on the dangerous, sandworm
Sandworm (Dune)
The sandworm is a fictional form of desert-dwelling creature from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. They first appear in the 1965 novel Dune, considered to be among the classics in the science fiction genre, and are iconic of the Dune series.In the series, the sandworms called Shai-Hulud...
-ridden desert planet
Desert planet
A desert planet is a single-biome planet on which the climate is mostly desert, with little or no natural precipitation. Desert planets are known to exist; Mars is often considered a prime example. Indeed, many terrestrial planets would be considered desert planets by this definition...
Arrakis
Arrakis
Arrakis — informally known as Dune and later called Rakis — is a fictional desert planet featured in the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert. Herbert's first novel in the series, 1965's Dune, is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and it is...
, sole source of the spice melange, the most valuable substance in the universe. The parody follows a similar storyline, wherein rival restaurant-owning families battle for control of Arruckus, which is overrun by giant pretzels and the source of valuable beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
.
Plot
Within the Galactic Empire, a change of fief is occurring. Led by the verbose Baron Vladimir, House Hardchargin, the Great Big House given charge of Arruckus, has been displaced by Shaddap IV, the Padedbrah Emperor, in favor of the up-and-coming House Agamemnides, with Duke Lotto at its head.Arruckus is also known as "Doon", and is additionally known as the Dessert Planet. Covered entirely in sugars, it is a harsh unforgiving environment, where not an entree can be found; the natives live entirely on whatever they can import, produce from the sugars, or produce from soy protein (the native food experiments known as the Mahn t'Vani)
Duke Lotto accepts the fief, aware that it may well be a death trap but also conscious of the importance of Arruckus's only export, the wide-spectrum intoxicant known as beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
. Found naturally on Arruckus as a result of natural processes and nowhere else, it is the engine on which commerce runs; the Schlepping Guild, who has a monopoly on space travel in the Imperium, will not run without it. Who controls the beer controls commerce.
But soon after arriving on Doon, with his heir and son Pall and his concubine the Lady Jazzica, an adept of the galaxy-spanning sisterhood of chefs and event planners known as the Boni Maroni, Duke Lotto and House Agamemnides fall victim to a scheme originated by Baron Vladimir Hardchargin and implemented by the Duke's own accountant Oyeah, who, without the Duke's knowledge, kept a secret second ledger. When the Emperor called for an audit of the fief, the duplicate ledger made it appear as though House Agamemnides had been cooking the books. In return for this act, Oyeah hoped the Baron would give him a start as a stand-up comic–which he did, but on the Imperial prison planet, Salacia Simplicissimus. Ruined, Duke Lotto's brief reign over Doon is ended and House Hardchargin is reinstated as fief-holders.
Banished to the sugared wilderness, Pall (now head of House Agamemnides) and Lady Jazzica meet with and are eventually accepted by the planet's native population, the Freedmenmen, a process made easier by previous prophecy-seeding by the Missionaria Phonibalonica, via the Great Prophet Phyllis. Indeed, the natives are receptive to the fulfillment of the prophecies even after the revelation that Phyllis's decanonization resulted in her prophecies being discontinued sometime before. Pall, given the Freedmenmen name Assol and taking the secret name Mauve'Bib (after the purple napkin that all Freedmenmen wear about their necks) begins to ascend the power structure of the tribe (as well as the Freedmenmen girl Loni as his lover), realizing that he could use the Freedmenmen to return to a position of power, taking back not only Doon but the Imperium itself. He also realizes what the planet's Imperial Planetologist and liberal economist, Keynes, had puzzled out some time before: the rampaging Giant Pretzels (known as Schmai-gunug) actually produces the beer as a byproduct of its very life-cycle. The Lady Jazzica ascends to the status of Revved-Up Mother of Hootch Grabr, becoming known as Jazzica-of-the-Weirdness. During her ascension, while getting drunk on the beer, she realizes that she carries Lotto's daughter. Her intoxication opens her foetal daughter to the thousands of years of Boni Maroni culinary history; the result is Nailya-the-Truly-Weird, a toddler who spouts recipes as though she were an adult.
During this time, he knowingly positions himself as the Kumquat Haagendasz (the result of a generations-long breeding program so secret that the Boni Maroni have actually forgotten the point) and the Mahdl-t, the long hoped-for Freedmenmen messiah, "he who will drive us to Paradise and Back", who will finally bring the entrees the Freedmenmen have hungered for. By this route, he assumes and consolidates his power over the natives, not only making them his allies, but his fanatic followers.
Meanwhile, back in power, Baron Vladimir Hardchargin has his own problems. Converting the fief into the Shadvlad Rendezvous, the galaxy's premier lounge planet, is a relative success, even though the Freedmenmen remain a chronic problem and the Giant Pretzels remain at large. He is hungry for more success, though, and has plans to muscle out his silent partner (the Emperor) and play the Imperial House against the Boni Moroni, the Schlepping Guild, and the interstellar development cooperative NOAMCHOMSKI using his control of beer as leverage, thereby becoming the true power in the galaxy, and franchising the Shadvlad across the Imperium.
Events come to a head when Pall Mauve'Bib, gone completely native and acquiring the "Eye of the Egad" (the telltale red-on-red eyes, indicating severe beer addiction) challenges the Baron to a bake-off, with a new ingredient: peanut butter, rendered from the naturally-occurring snack mix's peanuts, and debuting his secret weapon – a liqueur
Liqueur
A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...
made from beer – Drambrewski. With the support of the Boni Moroni thereon, the promise of an assured supply of beer to the Schlepping Guild (who had been influenced to believe that the Hardchargins have been watering the beer, and are revealed to have the red-on-red eyes of beer addiction), and after dispatching the ShaNaNa-Baron Flip-Rotha Hardchargin in rankout (single insult-combat), Pall Mauve'Bib assumes Imperial control, banishing the Emperor's house to the prison plant Simplicissima Secundus, acquiring the hand of the Emperor's daughter Serutan in a marriage of convenience, and the Freedmenmen woman Loni as his concubine.
Comedic style
The story uses a style typical to many parodies and spoofs of the genre, most notably Bored of the RingsBored of the Rings
Bored of the Rings is the title of a paperback parody of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. This short novel was written by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney, who later founded National Lampoon...
, encompassing not only high and sometimes abstruse humor but middle and low as well, through punning references and plays on words designed to either make light of the original characters' names or referencing pop-culture touchpoints.
For example, the galactic development combine CHOAM
CHOAM
The Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles is a fictional universal development corporation in Frank Herbert's Dune universe, first mentioned in the 1965 novel Dune...
in the original Dune
Dune (novel)
Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
story becomes NOAMCHOMSKI, an acronym which expands to the name Neutralis Organizational Abba Mercantile Condominium Havatampa Orthonovum Minnehaha Shostakovich Kategorial Imperative – a name whose style mocks that of the equally-impenetrable Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles – and is mentioned and expanded on by some characters to the point of compulsion. The Bene Gesserit
Bene Gesserit
The Bene Gesserit are a key social, religious, and political force in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. The group is described as an exclusive sisterhood whose members train their bodies and minds through years of physical and mental conditioning to obtain superhuman powers and...
litany against fear becomes the litany against fun: I must not have fun. Fun is the time-killer.
Another example is the repeated use of the name Jonzun Fillup, the acclaimed architect whose designs the Baron Hardchargin cribs liberally from to create the Shadvlad. This is a reference to Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson
Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an influential American architect.In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and later , as a trustee, he was awarded an American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the first Pritzker Architecture...
, the influential 20th Century American architect whose controversial postmodern design for the then-AT&T Building (latterly, the Sony Building
Sony Building (New York)
The Sony Tower, formerly the AT&T Building, is a tall, 37-story highrise skyscraper located at 550 Madison Avenue between 55th Street and 56th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It was designed by architect Philip Johnson and partner John Burgee, and was completed in 1984...
in New York) included a top reminiscent of a Chippendale bookcase. This too is transferred to the story, as Baron Hardchargin lavishly praises Fillup's Gothic entabulature at the north pole of the Antares Teleport and Telepath's headquarters planet.
Other references, such as the word Mahn-t'vani (a play on the easy-listening music composer Mantovani
Mantovani
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani known as Mantovani, was an Anglo-Italian conductor and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book British Hit Singles & Albums states that he was "Britain's most successful album act before The Beatles .....
) and the name Serutan
Serutan
Serutan was an early fiber-type laxative product which was widely promoted on U.S. radio and television from the 1930s through the 1960s. It was manufactured by the J. B. Williams Co., which was founded in 1885 and bought out by Nabisco in 1971....
(with reference to its famous "Natures spelled backwards" tagline) may seem a bit dated, but there are references to such things as the hokey-pokey and Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
which still hold currency in modern culture.
Overall, the arc of the story is respected and held closely to throughout. In the style of the original, quotes from the Princess Serutan's works (amongst them, The Portable Mauve'Bib, In My Father's House, In His Room, And Especially Rummaging Through His Junk Drawer, and No More Princess Nice Guy: The Princess Serutan Diaries) lead off each chapter. Dune was a story about spice power; Doon is a story about beer power. Most notable is the successful transition of Herbert's style into comedy, as can be referenced by Pall Agamemnides as he surveys his situation prior to the relocation:
This realization focused within him in a sudden sparkflash computation, and in the clear brilliance of that illumination, the boy Pall understood a profoundness. His life, hitherto a child's plaything, devoid of direction–seemingly! Or had there in fact always been a plan–a plan within a plan within a plan (whatever that meant (whatever that meant (whatever that meant)))?–was now encompassed by a terrible purpose. He knew the meaning of the word terrible, and he knew the meaning of the world purpose. And therefore he understood deeply the meaning of "terrible purpose" Unless he, in the solitude of his deeply brain-filled mind, misunderstood this revelation, and was in fact confronted with a "terrible papoose."
What could that mean?
The native population of Doon, the Freedmenmen, are characterized as intense, somewhat overweight beer addicts, steeped in tradition, mysticism, and ritual, with a language of their own–Varietese
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, a direct play on the famous signature style of the entertainment-industry newspaper (The famously-misquoted headline, Sticks Nix Hick Pix
Sticks nix hick pix
STICKS NIX HICK PIX was a headline printed in Variety, a newspaper covering Hollywood and the entertainment industry, on July 17, 1935, over an article about the reaction of rural audiences to movies about rural life...
, is rendered as an expression of resignation, along the lines of "What can one do?"). The stillsuit of the original story becomes the Freedmenmen sweatsuit, meant to induce sweating to reduce the accumulation of excess body weight brought on by constant beer consumption. The sandworms
Sandworm (Dune)
The sandworm is a fictional form of desert-dwelling creature from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. They first appear in the 1965 novel Dune, considered to be among the classics in the science fiction genre, and are iconic of the Dune series.In the series, the sandworms called Shai-Hulud...
(also known as Maker and Shai-Hulud in the original) become giant pretzels, also known by the natives as Brewer and Schmai-gunug, a term the glossary claims is rendered from a Yiddish phrase meaning "to browse and fiddle around and window-shop enough".
An advertisement in the back of the book promised conceptual sequels, including Doon Meshugganah; Men, Women, Children, Pets of Doon; Lord God Help Us, Another Sequel to Doon; The Doon Reference Book, Atlas, and Rhyming Dictionary; and The Doon Catalogue of Quality Menswear for Dad 'n' Lad..
House Agamemnides and retainers
- Duke Lotto Agamemnides, head of house
- Pall Agamemnides, son of Lotto and heir (or "shanana-Duke"), and Messiah (or "Mahdl-T") to the Freedmenmen
- Lady Jazzica, Boni Moroni adept, concubine of Duke Lotto
- Safire Halfwit, Mantan and Chief Character Assassin
- Gurnsey Halvah, House Agamemnides' troubadour-jester-torpedo
- Oyeah, Certified Imperial Accountant and traitor to House Agamemnides
- Nailya-the-Truly-Weird, Daughter of Lotto and Jazzica
House Hardchargin, retainers and allies
- Baron Vladimir Hardchargin, head of house
- Flip-Rotha, shanana-Baron and heir
- Peter DeVries, Mantan
The Imperial House and allies
- Shaddap IV, Padedbrah Emperor
- Serutan, princess and incessant author
- Revved-up Mother George Cynthia Mohairem, Boni Moroni truth-consequencer and tester of shanana-Duke Pall Agamemnides
Freedmenmen and others
- Spilgard, Nabe (leader) of Hootch Grabr (a "Hootch" is a Freedmenmen settlement)
- Dr Keynes, Imperial Planetologist and liberal economist, Freedmenmen ally
- Loni, young Freedmenmen girl, Pall's concubine
- Caramello, Revved-Up Mother of the Freedmenmen of Hootch Grabr, who Jazzica succeeds.
- Janis, Freedmenmen Hootchmember whom Pall defeats in single insult-combat (rankout)
- Harrumf, Janis' wife, who becomes Pall's half-wife for a year after Janis' self-sacrifice post-rankout
- Great Big Houses, the holders of large planetary fiefs. This are mentioned in passing in the story, and include House Pancakes, House Seven Betty Grables, House Rising Sun, and House Dressing.
- The Schlepping Guild. Cognate of the Spacing Guild, the Schlepping Guild are characterized as beer-besotted long haul truckers who speak in a tongue not too different from that of the stereotypical truckers of the 1970s as seen in movies and television series popular at the time.