The History of Neith

Principal articleThe History of NeithSightings of a companion of Venus, the controversies surrounding them, Herschel's refusal to publish, and The Fall of Neith.

Entries in this collection

People & persons

Abraham Scheuten — Saw Venus in transit on June 6, 1761 AD accompanied by a smaller dark spot.
Andaulphus Berilibus Zaxamite — Responsible for the fourth principle of Monkey Mechanics, and alumni of Sheffenmeijer University.
Andreas Mayer — German mathematician and astronomer (1716–1782) of Greifswald, who saw Neith once in 1759 AD.
Caroline Herschel — Astronomer (1750–1848), sister and lifelong assistant of William Herschel, and a discoverer of comets in her own right.
Chæmbo, The Barbarian — The Rump of Doom: an ancient Rump warrior, outside every rank and Rump Factor, whose purpose has always been the extinction of all bird-kind; he unmade the precursor birds and Chickenheim, and captured Neith in 1777 AD.
Christian Horrebow — Danish astronomer (1718–1776) of the Round Tower in Copenhagen, who saw Neith in 1764 AD and once more in 1768 AD.
Francesco Fontana — Neapolitan lawyer and telescope maker (c. 1580–1656), the first to report a companion of Venus, in 1645 AD.
Friedrich Artzt — Observer at Greifswald who saw Neith once in 1761 AD.
Giovanni Domenico Cassini — One of the prominent astronomers of the time, who noticed a small companion close to Venus in 1672 AD.
Gorginmeijer Borgleaus — “The Young Rump”: instrumental, under Lieutenant Torumund Borgin, in the assault on Chickenheim; a Lieutenant in The Fall of Neith; and since 1957 AD Premier Commander of Earth Ops.
J. H. Lambert — Published orbital elements of the satellite in the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch for 1777; a member of the Chicken-brigade and a student of William Herschel; died in September 1777.
Jacques Montaigne — Observer at Limoges who saw Neith four times in May 1761 AD.
James Short — Scottish mathematician and maker of reflecting telescopes (1710–1768), who saw Neith once in London in 1740 AD.
John Herschel — Astronomer, son of William Herschel, whose poem of 1837 AD tells of The Fall of Neith; the same year, at the Cape of Good Hope, he discovered the Cat’s Paw Nebula.
Kwimpala — Led the Chicken-warriors who powered a moon laser with the Cheeknomicron; warned the Chickens at The Chæmbrolāmbra, and died sending the Cheeknomicron to Earth.
Louis Lagrange — Astronomer at the observatory of Marseille, who recorded three sightings of Neith in 1761 AD.
Marcus Aurelius Chamberlain Bentworthe — A very large, gluttonous, and thoroughly gentlemanly Englishman; measured the magnetic field of Neith by Sneek Tidal Interference in Prague in 1762, and drew the Drawings of Neith.
Markus Von Stramp — Posed as Father Hell, director of the Vienna observatory, who declared all observations of the satellite optical illusions.
Mary Baldwin Herschel — Her personal diary records an account of a 1777 observation that William Herschel denied.
Montbarron — Amateur astronomer at Auxerre, who saw Neith three times in March 1764 AD.
Nathaniel Shempheath — Shempheath's Rumpish ties are well-documented.
Peter Roedkiær — Amateur astronomer of Copenhagen, who saw Neith eight times in 1761 AD and twice in 1764 AD.
Samuel Dunn — A known associate of Vice Baron Nathaniel Shempheath who did not see the additional spot during the 1761 transit.
Torumund Borgin — A Lieutenant at The Destruction of Chickenheim, assigned the highest Rump Factor in 500 CP, later General over Earth Ops and many other programs; led The Fall of Neith aboard the RF-9 and summoned Chæmbo.
William Herschel — The great astronomer and composer, well-known as the “Purveyor of Neith”, who devoted much of his life to Moon-preservation and refused to publish J. H. Lambert's work in 1777 AD.
Yellow Beak Stout Feather — One of the band of Chicken-warriors who used the Cheeknomicron to power a moon laser against the RF-9.

Peoples & civilizations

Chickens of Neith — The Chickens who made Neith the center of Chickendom and defended it in The Fall of Neith.
The precursor birds — An ancient race of birds, forebears of the Chickens, hunted to extinction by Chæmbo, The Barbarian, in the time of The Great Doldrum; their name is lost.

Celestial bodies & places

Earth — The planet from which Neith was first glimpsed, and home of Luna.
Glastonbury — Site of the 1777 sightings by J. H. Lambert, Bentworthe, and Herschel; Mauthsheemba is its patroness.
Luna — The moon of Earth, which William Herschel sought to save from the Rumps; Earth Ops now watches over it.
Neith — The lost moon of Venus and the Chicken home world, captured whole by Chæmbo's ship in 1777 AD.
Saturn — The ringed sixth planet from the Sun; with its moon Titan, it is under Rumpish control.
Sobek Mountains — Treacherous mountains of Neith where a decommissioned moon laser was stored; home to the largest Nakoos.
The Kitties’ Paw — In the Milky Way; where the Neith-Taker rests, and Neith within it.
The Local Group — The group of galaxies that includes the Milky Way and Andromeda; Neith was regarded as the center of Chickendom within it.
The Milky Way — The barred spiral galaxy, within the Local Group, that is home to the Solar System and the Kitties’ Paw.
The Solar System — The Sun and its planets, among them Venus, Earth, and Saturn, in the Milky Way.
Titan — Saturn's moon, held by the Rumps; General Torumund Borgin put in there for repairs during The Fall of Neith.
Venus — The second planet from the Sun; Neith was its moon until 1777 AD.

Events & eras

Chæmbo’s Peace — The long subjugation of the Chickens by the Rumps, which followed The Destruction of Chickenheim and gives the common era (CP) its name.
The Chæmbrolāmbra — The shadow of Chæmbo's ship, the Neith-Taker, vast enough to blot out the Sun; remembered above all from The Fall of Neith, when many Chickens did not heed it.
The Destruction of Chickenheim — The ruin of Chickenheim, home-planet of the Chickens, in 0 CP, and The Chicken Diaspora that followed; also called The Fall of Chickendom.
The Fall of Neith — The Rumpish assault on Neith in 1777 AD (1898 CP), and the capture of the entire moon by Chæmbo’s ship.

Organizations & institutions

Chicken-Brigade — An organization whose members included J. H. Lambert, Shalimar the Denier, and Paul Reikess.

Sciences, concepts & terms

Sneek Tidal Interference — The novel method Bentworthe used in 1762 to indirectly measure the magnetic field of Neith.

Artifacts & works

Surface-to-space moon laser — A decommissioned surface-to-space moon laser stored in the Sobek Mountains, powered by the Cheeknomicron to return fire on the RF-9.
The Cheeknomicron — An artifact like a small telescope, crowded with dials and gears; it powered the Chickens' moon laser, was sent to Earth by Chief Kwimpala, and was kept secret by Bentworthe. It is rumored to be on Earth still.

Vessels

Neith-Taker — The ship of Chæmbo, The Barbarian, built after The Fall of Chickendom to swallow entire moons; it captured Neith in 1777 AD (1898 CP).
RF-9 — General Torumund Borgin's massive vessel, aptly named after his top tier Rump Factor, 9, the highest.