Flenser

Part of the difference was superficial: Flenser doctrine forbade idle decoration on boats.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992

Up in those dour towers, the original Flenser had done his experiments, written his essays ... and schemed to rule the world.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992

"She's no more the Flenser than I am," said Peregrine.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992

In the early years, King Woodcarver was hated almost as much as Flenser was three centuries later.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992

His pitiful advisors -- and sometimes even the Flenser Fragment -- were still intimidated by the ship from the stars.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992

They raced around the central floor, poked at the radios, shouted to Steel and the Flenser Fragment.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992

He spoke in Samnorsk, making more sense to the Flenser Fragment than the human child had.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992

Instead, Flenser had been allowed to take exile ... to create things like Steel, and they to create their own monsters, ultimately to build this hierarchy of madness.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992

These could only be opened from within; they led to the maze that Flenser had built within the solid rock of the castle's walls.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992

Flenser had been assassinated in the Republic six tendays earlier.

A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992