CHARACTER AND NAME GUIDE
MAIN CHARACTERS
A-KA 阿卡: A sixteen-year-old boy who lives as a slave to machines under Father’s regime.
HEISHI 黑石: A mysterious man whom A-Ka rescues from a sleeping pod that washes ashore.
FATHER 父: The supercomputer who controls the City of Steel and all of the robots, clones, and humans inside.
FEILUO 飞洛: A lieutenant colonel in the clone army. Adoptive father to Percy.
PERCY 派西: A twelve-year-old blind boy who was adopted two years ago by Feiluo.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
DOCTOR CALLAN 卡兰博士: The creator of the clones who grants A-Ka a mysterious power.
GENERAL LIBER 李布尔将军: One of the three generals in the clone army.
GENERAL MACKSIE 麦克西将军: The second of the three generals in the clone army.
GENERAL ANGUS 安格斯上将: The final general in the clone army.
HUIXIONG 灰熊: A friend of Shahuang’s with mysterious connections.
K: The mecha-like robot that A-Ka secretly builds.
KARNA 卡尔纳: A clone from the same production batch as Feiluo.
MORAN 摩兰: A wandering bard who teaches A-Ka and Percy about faith.
SHAHUANG 沙皇: An armorer in Phoenix City who takes in A-Ka and Percy.
THE CREATOR 造物主: The enigmatic giant who created the Astrolabe.
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Mandarin Chinese is the official state language of mainland China, and pinyin is the official system of romanization in which it is written. As Mandarin is a tonal language, pinyin uses diacritical marks (e.g., ā, á, ǎ, à) to indicate these tonal inflections. Most words use one of four tones, though some are a neutral tone. Furthermore, regional variance can change the way native Chinese speakers pronounce the same word. For those reasons and more, please consider the guide below a simplified introduction to pronunciation of select character names and sounds from the world of Astrolabe Rebirth.
More resources are available at sevenseasdanmei.com
NOTE ON SPELLING
Romanized Mandarin Chinese words with identical spelling in pinyin—and even pronunciation—may well have different meanings. These words are more easily differentiated in written Chinese, which uses logographic characters.
A-Kă
A as in ah
Kă as in kahoot
Hēishí
Hēi as in hey
Shí as in shh
GENERAL CONSONANTS
Some Mandarin Chinese consonants sound very similar, such as z/c/s and zh/ch/sh. Audio samples will provide the best opportunity to learn the difference between them.
X: somewhere between the sh in sheep and s in silk
Q: a very aspirated ch as in charm
C: ts as in pants
Z: z as in zoom
S: s as in silk
CH: ch as in charm
ZH: dg as in dodge
SH: sh as in shave
G: hard g as in graphic
GENERAL VOWELS
The pronunciation of a vowel may depend on its preceding consonant. For example, the “i” in “shi” is distinct from the “i” in “di.” Vowel pronunciation may also change depending on where the vowel appears in a word, for example the “i” in “shi” versus the “i” in “ting.” Finally, compound vowels are often—though not always—pronounced as conjoined but separate vowels. You’ll find a few of the trickier compounds below.
IU: as in ewe
IE: ye as in yes
UO: war as in warm