Associated state.

States existing in free association with another sovereign state can be considered constituent states of a constitutional entity, depending on circumstances. For example, the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Niue constitute the three constituent countries of the Realm of New Zealand, united under a single head of state: the King or Queen of New Zealand.

Confederated state.

Constituent states united in a confederal union under a confederal government are more specifically known as confederated states. Some of the most notable historical examples of constituent states within a confederation are the United States under the Articles of Confederation, the States of the German Confederation and States of the Confederate States of America. In modern political practice, notable examples are Cantons of Switzerland or Entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Federated state.

Constituent states united in a federal union under a federal government are more specifically known as federated states. There are numerous historical examples for constituent states within various federations. In modern political practice, among most notable examples are U.S. states and constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Other forms of constituent states.

Administrative units that are not federated or confederated but enjoy a greater degree of autonomy or self-government than other territories within the same country can be considered constituent states of that country. This relationship is by some authors called a federacy. Autonomous republics like Karakalpakstan in Uzbekistan

Political status of breakaway states.

The concept of a "constituent state" is also used in political processes and negotiations regarding the status of various breakaway states. It is often proposed as a compromise solution or an alternative to formal recognition of a secessionist state that has unilaterally declared independence, and whose "de jure" sovereignty remains in dispute.

The Caucasus.

The South Caucasus region consists of a number of breakaway and autonomous republics in addition to the states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia recognised by the United Nations.  The breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have effectively maintained independence since declaration, are considered constituent republics of Georgia by the majority of world governments. The Republic of Artsakh, which is also independent in effect, is considered by the United Nations to be a constituent entity of Azerbaijan.

Cyprus.

The country of Cyprus is divided between two independent political entities: the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus in the south, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognised as a sovereign state only by Turkey. Both entities are given the title of constituent state of Cyprus by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Annan Plan for reuniting Cyprus consistently used the term constituent state to refer to each entity.

Kosovo.

The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from the Republic of Serbia in February 2008.

Proposal for Palestine.

The term constituent state has also been used to label both states in proposals for federal solutions to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. It can also describe the region of Palestine at present, which is divided between the governments of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Somalia.

Because of the ongoing war in Somalia, the Somali country is now divided into a number of constituent states with varying degrees of independence from the Transitional Federal Government.  The breakaway republic of Somaliland in the north, which maintains "de facto" independence over its territory, is still regarded by member states of the United Nations as a constituent state of Somalia despite its declaration of independence in 1991. The states of Puntland and Galmudug in central and northeastern Somalia retain control over their own territories with little to no oversight from the federal government, which is based in Mogadishu in the south. The administrations in these states have stated that, unlike Somaliland, they do not seek outright independence from Somalia, and are merely maintaining stability until such a time when the government can effectively implement a permanent constitution for the country.  In the south and in opposition to the central government are regions administered by various Islamic insurgent groups, most notably Hizbul Islam and al-Shabaab, both of which seek to establish Sharia law within the country.

Other administrative entities.

Myanmar.

Like Palau, the government of Myanmar, or Burma, presently operates as a unitary state, with sovereignty confined within the central government. Myanmar is divided into a number of regions, zones and states with constitutionally defined levels of autonomy. Both regions and states can be described as ethnically defined; while the Bamar are the dominant ethnic group within regions, the states are mostly dominated by various minority groups, such as the Shan (Shan State), the Rakhine (Rakhine State) and the Karen (Karen State), among others.  In terms of politics, the use of the term "state" in this context is largely historical, with a number of these states having been united in various federal unions during the British colonial period. At present, most states are afforded a greater degree of autonomy than other divisions. Political separatism in many states is rampant, and territory controlled by the central government in these cases is limited. In these cases, jurisdiction within a state is mostly confined to its respective regional government.  In addition, various proposals have been made for instituting federalism in Myanmar, which would allow these states to implement individual constitutions.

Palau.

Palau is divided into sixteen administrative divisions termed "states", which were before 1984 called municipalities. The change in terminology reflects the fact that these divisions are afforded a larger degree of autonomy than before, with each state having its own constitution. As a unitary republic, however, the Government of Palau is centralised and these divisions exist solely to establish regional government; they are not united in a federal union.

Other uses.

The term "constituent state" is sometimes also used to refer to member states of an international organization.  Member states of the European Union are occasionally referred to as "constituent states" by pro-European politicians and activists within the European Union, especially those in favour of further internal integration and federalisation.  It is also used to refer to sovereign states in bilateral negotiations or agreements between two or more states.

A constituent state is a state entity that constitutes a part of a sovereign state. A constituent state holds regional jurisdiction over a defined administrative territory, within a sovereign state. Government of a constituent state is a form of regional government. Throughout history, and also in modern political practice, most constituent states are part of complex states, like federations or confederations. Constituent states can have republican or monarchical forms of government. Those of republican form are usually called "states" or autonomous states, "republics" or autonomous republics, or cantons. Those that have a monarchical form of government are often defined by traditional hierarchical rank of their ruler (usually a principality, or an emirate).


Early life.

Bender was born in Butte, Montana, to parents John Oscar Bender and Katherine Irvine Bender. Bender had a difficult time in school when she was young and had to repeat the first grade three times. She often reversed her letters when reading and writing which led people to believe she had some form of mental retardation. Her father helped her overcome her dyslexia and she often credited him for making her a strong individual Her family moved often and she attended high school in Los Angeles where she graduated as valedictorian of her high school class.

Education.

Bender earned a B.A. in 1922 and M.A. in 1923 from the University of Chicago. She completed her M.D. at State University of Iowa Medical School in 1926, and this is where she wrote her first scientific publication, "Hematological studies on experimental tuberculosis of the guinea pig". After graduation, she spent some time studying overseas, completed an internship at the University of Chicago and conducted research at Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Bender completed internships and residencies at Billings Hospital of the University of Chicago, the Boston Psychopathic Hospital, the University of Amsterdam, and the Johns Hopkins University Hospital, held a Rockefeller Traveling Fellowship that took her to Holland. When she returned to the United States she worked at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital.

Personal life.

Bender met Paul Schilder M.D., Ph.D. (1886–1940) at Johns Hopkins Hospital while writing a publication with him. Schilder was a psychoanalyst from Vienna at the same time as famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. While working together, Bender and Schilder fell in love. Schilder was already married and eleven years older than Bender. In 1930 Bender moved to New York with Schilder. They were married in 1936 after Schilder was divorced. Bender and Schilder had three children together before Schilder was hit by a car and killed. After his death, Bender continued to translate and publish his work. Bender did not remarry until the age of 70 to Henry B. Parkes, Ph.D. Parkes was a history professor at New York University. He died in 1973, five years after their marriage.

Career.

Bender began working at Bellevue Hospital in 1930 after she relocated there with Schilder. In 1934 she was awarded the position of senior psychiatrist at the Children's Psychiatric Division in 1934. She was in this position for 21 years. Bender was not trained as a psychologist even though her work is used in psychology today. She was a psychiatrist and neuropathologist. Most of her work was in diagnosing mental disorders in children. She occasionally worked with certain therapies and used these in her diagnoses. Most of her work involved abandoned children or children whose parents felt that there was something wrong with their child. During the Golden Age of comic books in the post-war period of the 1940s and 1950s, she worked as an advisor of National Comics (now DC Comics) earning $150 per month. In 1954, she testified on National Comics behalf to defend the industry as a medical expert of children.

Bender and race.

Unlike many other psychiatrists and psychologists at the time, Bender spent little time considering race as a factor for differences in mental abilities. It was a common belief that African American people were at a lower level of evolution than their Caucasian counterparts. Some of Bender's writings seem to contradict each other; some state that there were significant racial differences, and others state that there is little to no difference in race among children. It is believed, however, that the publications she released regarding the races being evolutionarily different were actually her late husband's work and that she left them unaltered as a form of respect. There is some evidence that even though she rarely wrote about race and racial differences, she may not have ruled out racial primitivity.  At this time, Bender was considered an expert in the psychology of African American children because the majority of the children at Bellevue were African American. Although she documented race when conducting her research, she often divided the differences in race into two categories; Functional (significant differences that influence behavior) and Non-functional (differences have no significant impact on behavior). In short, she believed that there were differences in the races, and some made a difference while others did not. Bender used the word "primitive" to describe French Guinean natives and used the term "civilized" to refer to African Americans. Describing African Americans as "civilized" was not the norm at the time. Bender explained that "primitive" did not mean intellectually different, and that to her it described those who were not exposed to the same education and culture as those she considered "civilized". Even though Bender was not considered a Gestaltist, she had many standpoints that related to this belief. She believed that all people are made up of a sum of their parts, and that race was only one factor in what made a person who they are.

Experiments and therapies.

While conducting her research, Bender implemented several experimental procedures and used many therapeutic methods. Some of these experiments and therapies, as well as her diagnoses, may be considered inaccurate and unethical by today's standards. However, the zeitgeist of the times was much different than that of today, and many of the procedures used by Bender were being used by others around the same time.  During the 1930s and the 1950s, when Bender was working at Bellevue Hospital, there was little knowledge in the realm of mental disorders. Many childhood psychiatric disorders were attributed to bad behavior or unsatisfactory upbringing. Bender was one of the first to propose that there was something neurologically impaired with these children. Bender diagnosed many children with "childhood Schizophrenia", and sought to treat these patients. It is important to note that with more knowledge, clinicians today would most likely diagnose these children with developmental or behavioral disorders.  In an attempt to treat those patients diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia, Bender employed electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) after finding that the practice was successful in other applications. ECT was used in an experiment in Paris on children and adolescents in 1940 and showed positive results. In 1947 Bender conducted ECT on 98 children diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia under the age of twelve years. Although only a few of the patients were considered to be in remission of schizophrenia, Bender considered the treatment overall beneficial to all but two or three of the other patients.  Bender considered art as an effective way to diagnose childhood disorders. She employed this technique to better understand the psyche of the child. A child's art work was a medium in which a child could express their anxieties and aggression, and allowed the clinician to gain insight into the child's mind. This belief was supported by several case studies, one of which was a study on a six year old African American female who was abandoned by her parents, and later sent to Bellevue Hospital in 1943. The child expressed many feelings and past experiences in her artwork. Later it was revealed through her art that she had been sexually abused before she was abandoned. After extensive art, talk, and dream interpretation session the child was placed into a foster home and was considered to make an impressive recovery.  In another study, The Body Image of Schizophrenic Children Following Electroshock Therapy, Bender incorporated ECT and a child's self-image. This study used fifteen schizophrenic children over the age of six. The children were asked to draw portraits of themselves before ECT, immediately after ECT, and fifteen minutes after ECT. The children were exposed to ECT every day, for a mean total of twenty treatments. After each treatment the patients completed the visual motor gestalt performance test. Patient were followed up after the treatments had ended. It was observed that the children became more anxious after the treatments had ended, and this was reflected in their drawing; which became more primitive after each ECT treatment. Verbal body image distortions also occurred well after the ECT treatment for that day.  In an attempt to alleviate schizophrenic symptoms in children, Bender also used lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD 25). Many psychiatrists at this time were experimenting with LSD as a way to treat schizophrenia, as there were no psychotropic medications invented at this time. An example of another controversial treatment for schizophrenia during this time was called Insulin-Shock and Metrazol treatments. Patient were given large amounts of Insulin in order to induce insulin shock, then given Metrazol to induce epileptic convulsions. The use of ECT in psychiatric treatment became less and less after the invention of psychotropic medications.

The Bender-Gestalt Test.

This test began as being called the Visual Motor Gestalt Test and was published in 1938. The basis of this test is that the world as a whole, and what we perceive are made up of many smaller parts that are not immediately recognized when experiencing the whole. The test was developed by Bender to evaluate the maturation of children four-eleven years old and measured how the children responded to the stimuli as a whole. The principles measures in the test are; "(1) Vortical movement, biologically determined in the optic field, gives rise to the most primitive visually perceived forms, such as circles and loops. (2) Movement, always present, is directional—"clockwise or counterclockwise—"or on a horizontal plane—"dextrad or sinistrad. (3) By controlling or inhibiting this action-pattern, globes, circles, and arcs are constructed. (4) This organizes the visual field into foreground and background. (5) Boundaries between objects are delineated. (6) Verticalization arises concurrent with body-image maturation as the postural model shifts in the infant from the prone to the upright position. (7) Crossed lines, diagonal or slanting relations, and angle formations are a later level of maturation, usually occurring at about 6 to 8 years of age". Bender believed that the lower aged or more primitive abilities were signs of childhood schizophrenia, brain damage, or learning disabilities.

Other contributions to psychology.

Bender was a forerunner in proposing that childhood disorders were not always due to poor up-bringing. She helped develop the idea that children may have a mental diagnosis contributing to their symptoms. She also believed that there was no one answer to why a child is the way they are; multiple factors much be taken into consideration. Although she did not consider herself a Gestaltist, she made several contributions to the field.  Bender also conducted extensive research on autism. She believed that autism is a type of schizophrenia, and was often one of the first signs. The lack of ability to communicate one's experience of being autistic (due to age) would cause them to be quiet and withdraw, and this was one of the signs of early schizophrenia. Bender was one of the first to extensively observe and document the behaviors of autism, some of which we attribute to those with autism even today. Steve Silberman, the author of "Neurotribes", is sharply critical of Bender's therapeutic approach to children with autism. In the 1950s and 1960s, he told an interviewer from "The Sun" magazine, "autistic kids were often subjected to seclusion, restraint, and physical punishment by clinicians who did not understand their condition. The head of children’s psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, Lauretta Bender, administered electroconvulsive therapy to autistic patients and also insulin-shock therapy — administering overdoses of insulin to put them into a short-term coma. She gave them antipsychotic drugs like Thorazine. She also tried giving autistic kids LSD every day for nine months or more, but decided they were becoming “more anxious.”  Lauretta Bender also opposed Freudian views of childhood disorders. According to Freud and others, childhood anxiety stemmed from early hostility and aggression. Bender observed that childhood anxiety, aggression, and hostility was often caused by frustration or developmental issues, either physically or environmentally.  During the time before psychotropic medications and limited understanding of mental disorders, Bender sought to understand childhood disorders. Her attempts were intended for the betterment of the child and the family at a time when the mentally ill were often sent to asylums. Although much of Bender's experimental work cannot be considered entirely beneficial to psychology, there are many other ways in which she succeeded in changing the view of childhood mental disorders and how we understand them.

Lauretta Bender (August 9, 1897 – January 4, 1987) was an American child neuropsychiatrist known for developing the Bender-Gestalt Test, a psychological test designed to evaluate visual-motor maturation in children. First published by Bender in 1938, the test became widely used for assessing children's neurological function and screening for developmental disorders.


The quartets.

The set of quartets includes the following (in order of Haydn's own catalog [""]):  No. 5 in F minor No. 6 in A Major No. 2 in C major No. 3 in G minor No. 4 in D major No. 1 in E major

Composition.

Haydn was 40 years old when he composed the opus 20 quartets and was already well-established as one of the leading composers of Europe. He was Kapellmeister to the Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, a great lover of music. Haydn presided over the busy musical life of the court, producing operas, oratorios, and symphonic and chamber concerts, and writing a steady stream of new music for the prince's amusement.  Nikolaus had eight years prior to this date built the Eszterháza palace southeast of Vienna (in Hungary), where the court resided for most of the year. While the palace itself was one of the most splendid in Austria, and was dubbed the "Hungarian Versailles", it was built over a large swamp; it was humid throughout the year, with a "vexatious, penetrating north wind" from which Haydn and the other musicians in the court suffered. Moreover, it was far from Vienna, and the musicians (Haydn, as Kapellmeister, excepted) had to leave their wives and families behind for many months. Consequently, there was much discontent among the musicians, and Haydn, like the others, suffered from bouts of depression and illness.  This atmosphere found its expression in the opus 20 quartets. "The designation "affettuoso" found twice in the directions for the tempo of slow movements can be applied to the whole opus," writes Geiringer. Haydn chooses minor keys for two of the quartets, unusual in a time where the minor was rarely used for this ensemble. In particular, the fifth quartet is in the unusual key of F minor, "a key that predisposes even Haydn to sombre thoughts," writes Cobbett. But the sodden air of Eszterháza was not the only influence on the emotional character of the quartets. It was a time of ferment: new ideas that were to spur the Romantic movement in another 30 years were taking root. Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau expounded a philosophy of human freedom and a return to nature. Poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller espoused the new "Sturm und Drang" movement, that "exalted nature, feeling, and human individualism and sought to overthrow the Enlightenment cult of Rationalism". For Haydn, this meant the rejection of the galante style, the courtly, simplified, somewhat slender musical style prevalent at the time. Analysts trace specific musical choices in the opus 20 quartets to these new ideas. For example, the minuet movement of the D major quartet (number 4) is replaced by a frenetic gypsy air titled "alla zingarese", full of offbeat rhythms. "Rousseau's 'back to nature' movement resulted in a general reawakening of interest in national folk music. Haydn showed himself in complete sympathy with this tendency," writes Geiringer. Three of the six quartets have fugues as finales. Counterpoint, the densely complex style of the Baroque, had fallen out of favor with the galante composers. "To emphasize his rejection of rococo lightness, Haydn reverted to Baroque features," writes Geiringer.  The opus 20 quartets were the third set of quartets Haydn wrote at Eszterháza. His dedication to the string quartet form is something of a mystery; there is no record of a string quartet concert performed at the palace during this period. The set became known as the "Sun" quartets, because of the picture of a rising sun that graced the cover of an early edition The first known publication of the quartets was in 1774 by Louis-Balthazar de La Chevardière in Paris and later (undated, probably in the 1780s or 1790s) by Artaria in Vienna. The most commonly used Urtext edition is by Eulenburg, published in the 1880s.

Opus 20 and the development of the string quartet.

When Haydn published his opus 33 quartets, ten years after the opus 20, he wrote that they were composed in "an entirely new and particular manner". But, if the opus 33 was the culmination of a process, opus 20 was the proving ground. In this set of quartets, Haydn defined the nature of the string quartet – the special interplay of instruments that Goethe called "four rational people conversing". Many of the compositional techniques used by composers of string quartets to the present day were tried out and perfected in these works.  "This cannot be overstated," writes Ron Drummond; "the six string quartets of Opus 20 are as important in the history of music, and had as radically a transforming effect on the very field of musical possibility itself, as Beethoven's Third Symphony would 33 years later". And Sir Donald Tovey writes of the quartets, "Every page of the six quartets of op. 20 is of historic and aesthetic importance... there is perhaps no single or sextuple opus in the history of instrumental music which has achieved so much".  Here are some of the innovations of the quartets:

Equality of voices.

Prior to opus 20, the first violin, or, sometimes, the two violins, dominated the quartet. The melody was carried by the leader, with the lower voices (viola and cello) accompanying. In opus 20, Haydn gives each instrument, and particularly the cello, its own voice. An outstanding example of this is the second quartet in C major. The quartet opens with a cello solo, accompanied by the viola and second violin. This was virtually unheard of in Haydn's time. Another example is in the slow movement of the fourth quartet, in D major. This movement is a set of variations, written in D minor; the first variation is a duet between viola and second violin, and the third variation is a solo for cello.

Structural innovations.

With the opus 20 quartets, Haydn moved forward the development of the sonata form. A movement written in sonata form has an exposition, where the themes and motifs of the movement are presented; a development section, where these themes are transformed; and a recapitulation, where the themes are restated. Traditionally, the restatement closely matched the original exposition. But Haydn, in opus 20, uses the restatement to further develop the material of the movement. For example, in the F minor quartet, Haydn embellishes the original theme, and rearranges the original material, adding to the musical tension as the movement moves to the coda. In the G minor quartet, the recapitulation is hardly a recapitulation at all; while all the original materials are included, they are rearranged and transformed.  There are other structural innovations in opus 20. Haydn develops the idea of "false reprise". In the fourth quartet, in D major, for example, Haydn sneaks into the recapitulation of the first movement, treating it dramatically as though it is a continuation of the development. Haydn also experiments with cyclical structure: the reuse of thematic and rhythmic materials in different movements, to give an overall unity to the piece.

Depth of expression.

Haydn experiments with expressive techniques in the quartets. An example of this is the G minor quartet, where Haydn defies the standard practice of ending each movement with a cadence played "forte". Instead, Haydn ends each movement "piano" or "pianissimo". Another example is the F minor quartet; this quartet, writes Tovey, "is the most nearly tragic work Haydn ever wrote; its first movement being of astonishing depth of thought".

Length and symmetry of phrases.

Haydn experiments with asymmetrical phrases and syncopations. The common practice of the time was to write melodies that divided neatly into four- and eight-measure chunks. But the opening phrase of the third quartet, in G minor, is seven measures long, and the minuet of the same quartet has a melody that is divided into two phrases of five measures each.  Indeed, in opus 20, most of the minuet movements are minuets in name only. The minuet was a court dance, through-choreographed, built of four groups of four measures in time. The minuets of opus 20, with the exception of numbers 1 and 6, would be impossible to dance to, as they do not have this formal structure. The minuet of the second quartet in C major is built of tied suspensions in the first violin, viola and cello, so that the listener loses all sense of downbeat. The fourth quartet has the off-beat "alla zingarese" movement. The minuet of the fifth quartet has a first section of 18 measures, divided asymmetrically. So far did Haydn stray from the formal minuet dance structure, that in his next set of quartets, opus 33, he did not call them minuets at all, but rather scherzos.

Use of counterpoint.

The fugal finales of three of the six quartets are Haydn's statement of rejection of the galante. Not only has Haydn rejected the freedom of the rococo style, he has emphasized that rejection by adhering to strict formality and writing comments into the score explaining the fugal structure. "Al rovescio" he writes at one point in the last movement of quartet number two, where the fugal melody is played in inversion. "In canone" he writes in the finale of number 5. The finale of number six is a "Fuga a 3 Soggetti" (a fugue with three fugal subjects).  The fugal finales are not mere formalism, however; Haydn clothes them in a dramatic structure suitable for the "Sturm und Drang". All three movements start out "sotto voce"; as the fugue develops formally, the tension mounts, but Haydn does not increase the volume, until a sudden, startling burst of "forte". "Haydn has, in the quartets of opus 20, a hint of the emotional and dramatic impulse which became so volcanic in Beethoven's fugues," writes Donald Tovey.  Haydn's fugal finales are not the only use of counterpoint in these quartets. Haydn revives Baroque compositional techniques in other movements as well. The opening of the second quartet is essentially contrapuntal, with the viola and the second violins playing countersubjects to the cello's principal melodic line. Haydn also uses more obscure techniques; in the adagio movement of the fifth quartet, for example, he writes at one point "per figuram retardationis", meaning that the melodic line in the first violin lags behind the harmonic changes in the accompaniment. "Enormous importance lies in these fugues", writes Tovey. "Besides achieving in themselves the violent reconquest of the ancient kingdom of polyphony for the string quartet, they effectively establish fugue texture from henceforth as a normal resource of sonata style".

Structure of the quartets.

No. 1 in E major.

While the first movement is in straightforward sonata-allegro form, Haydn nonetheless breaks with the standard quartet model of the period. The second theme of the exposition is presented by the cello, rather than the violin, playing in a high register above the viola accompaniment. Haydn also disguises the return to the recapitulation after the development section of the movement: after only three bars of development, Haydn returns to the theme in the tonic, suggesting the beginning of the recapitulation; but instead, deviates into a series of transpositions, finally sneaking back to the main theme when least expected. Haydn uses this trick of a pretended recapitulation in other opus 20 quartets. The second movement is a minuet, one of two from the set that follow all the rules of the traditional dance (the other is the minuet of number 6). The third movement is marked "Affettuoso e sostenuto", written in A major as an aria, with the first violin carrying the melody throughout. The finale, marked "presto", is built on a six-measure phrase, with extensive use of syncopations in the first violin. In the middle of the movement there is an extended passage where the first violin plays syncopations and the other instruments are playing on the second beat of the bar; no one plays on the downbeat, and toward the end of the passage the listener loses track of the meter, until the main theme returns.

No. 2 in C major.

In this quartet, Haydn develops the equal interplay between the instruments, the quartet conversation. The first movement opens with a cello solo, playing above the accompanying instruments. In the course of the movement every instrument gets to play the solo – even the viola, who, "besides having a vote in the parliament of four... for once [is heard by Haydn] as he hears the cantabile of the 'cello," writes Tovey. The movement is markedly chromatic; the development ranges from C major, to A major, dipping into D major, A minor, F major, and even A major. The second movement opens with a bold "unisono", then the cello states the theme. It is an emotionally charged movement, with dramatic shifts from "pianissimo" to "forte", mixed with "cantabile" passages with a sextuplet accompaniment in the viola. The minuet, like others in the set, defies choreography. In the opening section, all the instruments are tied across the barline, so the sense of downbeat dissipates. The effect recalls the sound of a musette de cour, or other type of bagpipe. This movement, too, is very chromatic, with the melody of the second section built on a descending chromatic scale in the first violin. The finale is a fugue with four subjects. Haydn marks the opening "sempre sotto voce". The fugue ripples along in an undertone, through various learned fugal maneuvers – a stretto, "al rovescio". The texture gradually thins so that only two voices are playing at once, when suddenly the fugue bursts into "forte" and cascades of sixteenth notes lead to the close of the quartet. In the autograph edition, Haydn wrote over this passage, "Laus. Omnip. Deo. Sic fugit amicus amicum" (Praise the Lord. Thus one friend flees another friend).

No. 3 in G minor.

"This quartet is among the more enigmatic pieces in the repertory," writes William Drabkin. "Indeed, the work is in so many respects unusual that it seems in places to defy interpretation". The enigma begins with the opening theme of the first movement: built of two phrases of seven measures each, it defies the "galante" practice of carefully balanced four- and eight-measure phrases. It is almost as if Haydn was wagging his tongue at his contemporaries, violating accepted shibboleths of composition. "Haydn's compositional freedom seems often defiantly at odds with what textbooks have to say," writes Drabkin. For example, Haydn inserts brief "unisono" passages in the major key, as a kind of exclamation mark; but, where such passages would normally be played "forte", he has marked them "piano" for a surprisingly different effect. Haydn continues the odd phrase structure in the minuet, which is built of five-measure units. Aside from its undanceable meter, the minuet is a sombre work, emphatically minor in character. The trio section of the minuet offers a brief respite with a first strain in E major; but the second strain returns to the minor, modulating down through several minor keys. The trio ends with a plagal cadence to G major, for a Baroque-like Picardy third conclusion; but then the minuet recapitulates in G minor. The move from G major back to G minor is so jolting that Drabkin speculates that the trio might possibly have been borrowed from another piece.  The third movement, marked "Poco Adagio", is a long "cantabile" aria in G major, dominated by the first violin and the cello. After the first violin states the theme, the cello takes over with a long rippling line of sixteenth notes. The movement includes a haunting viola solo, unusual in Haydn's quartets, and in quartet writing from that period in general. The finale is marked "Allegro molto". Here, too, Haydn continues to defy accepted practice. Here Haydn makes dramatic use of silence; the opening four-bar theme breaks off suddenly for a half-measure pause. Such pauses recur throughout the movement, giving the movement "a mildly disruptive effect", according to Drabkin. In this movement, Haydn also makes a number of surprising harmonic progressions. He ends the piece in G major, surprisingly, with a descent from "piano" to "pianissimo".

No. 4 in D major.

If the third quartet of the set is the most obscure and difficult to understand, the fourth is the most popular. "... The D major quartet, opus 20 number 4, has met with more public recognition than the other five," writes Tovey.  The quartet opens with a quiet, almost hymn-like statement of the theme. Suddenly there is a burst of arpeggio in the first violin, lapsing immediately back to the quiet of the first motive. The juxtaposition of calm and vigor continues through the exposition, to the statement of the second theme, and a short codetta leading to the development. In the development section, Haydn repeatedly offers false reprises: After a section of development, he presents a dominant arpeggio leading back to the first theme. But this is not the reprise, the development goes on. Haydn does this again, and yet again, then sneaks back into the real reprise in a way that the listener does not notice. The movement ends, like several others of the opus 20, in "pianissimo". The second movement, a set of variations in D minor, is one of Haydn's most profound, a rejection of the shallowness of the "galante". "The poignant second movement "Adagio" moves the string quartet even farther from the concept of courtly entertainment," writes Miller. "In this wonderful movement, we have something of three centuries: the seventeenth century Baroque, the eighteenth century Classical, and the nineteenth century Romantic. Haydn's genius encompasses it all". The movement is distinguished by the concertante writing for each of the instruments: the second violin and viola in the first variation, the cello in the second variation, and the first violin in the third variation.  In the third movement, the "Allegretto alla zingarese", the upper and lower voices play complex, interlocking cross-rhythms, confusing all sense of downbeat. Although the meter is in, the pulse is in two, with the strong beats of the upper voices alternating with the strong beats of the lower voices. The trio section of the movement is a cello solo, marching in perfectly regular time, "the perfect foil to the Menuet alla zingarese".  The fourth movement continues the gypsy style of the third movement. Chromatic melodies, octave leaps, use of the gypsy scale (a minor scale with raised fourth and raised seventh), and flashy virtuoso embellishments in the first violin make this movement "sheer fun for the listener and likewise for the players," writes Miller. The movement ends in pianissimo, "an ending that simply evaporates".

No. 5 in F minor.

This is the most emotionally intense of the opus 20 quartets. In the opening phrase, the violin sets the tone with a haunting melody. "Haydn, we might imagine, set out to test the limits of what the minor mode could express in this newly serious instrumental combination," writes Roger Parker. The music rolls out almost without interruption; instead of ending each phrase with a cadence before beginning a new phrase, Haydn runs the phrases together, the end of one being the beginning of the next. Throughout the first movement – and, indeed, for almost the entire quartet – the first violin leads with the concertante part. Even so, the texture is not galante, for the other parts play important and independent roles throughout. Haydn in the recapitulation continues developing the melody with new embellishments, and the coda wanders through strange modulations – D major, G minor – before returning to the plaintive F minor conclusion.  The minuet continues the sombre mood in F minor. The character of the minuet is as far from that of a courtly dance as can be imagined. Again, the structure of the minuet is irregular and undanceable. The trio section, in F major, offers a brief respite from the relentless minor, but even this section is subdued in tone. The slow movement is a Siciliana, in F major. The theme cycles throughout the movement, constantly transforming itself, while the first violin plays a concertante descant, floating over the theme, sometimes capturing it, then leaving it again.  The finale is a fugue with two subjects. The main subject is a standard fugal motif, used frequently in the Baroque (it appears, among other places, in Handel's "Messiah"). While constructing a fugue in the strict, learned style, Haydn imbues the movement with an intense dramatic structure; like other fugues in the set, the entire first two thirds of the fugue is "sotto voce". Out of this quiet the first violin suddenly erupts to a "forte", only to fall back into another "piano" section. The texture thins and the tension descends, until a second burst of "fortissimo", with first violin and cello playing the fugal subject in canon, leading to the dramatic finale.

No. 6 in A major.

This, the last quartet as published, but the second of the series as Haydn conceived them, is the most conservative of the set. The quartet has the bright, optimistic character often associated with Haydn's music. The key is A major, a key that highlights the highest and brightest tones of the lead violin. Haydn has marked the first movement "Allegro di molto e Scherzando". Yet, here, too, Haydn is trying out new ideas. Traditionally, the exposition proceeds from a first theme in the tonic key to a second theme in the dominant. In the first movement, Haydn indeed proceeds to the dominant key of E major, but then shifts to E minor for the second theme. But he stays in that key only half a measure, modulating to C major, then to D major, and on, shifting keys relentlessly until he comes back to the dominant E major.  The second movement, marked "Adagio", is a variation on sonata form, modeled after a form developed by Haydn's contemporary, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The violins dominate, with the first violin playing the melody over rippling sixteenth notes in the second, or the second carrying the melody, with the first playing embellishments. The minuet is in strict danceable form. The theme of the minuet is a variation of the first theme of the first movement – one of the most explicit examples of cyclic form in Haydn's work.  The last movement is a fugue with three subjects. Like the other fugal finales in the set, this proceeds "sempre sotto voce" until nearly the end, when it breaks into "forte". Unlike the other fugues, however, this has none of the "Sturm und Drang" drama about it, but is predominantly major and upbeat in character.

Impact of the quartets.

The opus 20 quartets changed forever the way composers would write string quartets. "When we consider the poor condition" of string quartet writing prior to Haydn, writes C. Ferdinand Pohl, "... it is impossible to overrate his creative powers". Many great composers acknowledged their debt to Haydn and to these quartets. "It was from Haydn that I first learned the true way to write string quartets," wrote Mozart. Mozart's "Haydn" Quartets are his explicit acknowledgement of that debt. The immediate inspiration for the quartets is believed to be the opus 33 quartets, written by Haydn 10 years after opus 20; but the earlier quartets were the model in many cases. For example, the fugal finale of the first of Mozart's set (K. 387 in G major) takes after the finale fugues of opus 20. The "Sturm und Drang" character of the second quartet (K. 421 in D minor) recalls the F minor quartet, of Haydn's; not only does the first violin line recall the sombreness of Haydn's quartet, the accompaniment figure of the opening is a close copy of Haydn's.  Beethoven also recognized the importance of Haydn's work. Before embarking on his own first set of string quartets, opus 18, Beethoven studied the scores of the Haydn opus 20 quartets, copying them out and scoring the first for string orchestra. Throughout his life, Beethoven had a love-hate relationship with Haydn: Haydn was one of Beethoven's teachers, and Haydn's criticisms of his early compositions rankled the young composer to the day of the elder composer's death. Yet, in spite of the antagonism, Beethoven spoke of Haydn with reverence. "Do not rob Handel, Haydn and Mozart of their laurel wreaths," he wrote in a letter in 1812, three years after Haydn's death. "They are entitled to theirs, I am not yet entitled to mine".  Brahms was also a devotee of the opus 20 quartets. Brahms owned the autograph manuscript of the quartets, studied them carefully and annotated them. He bequeathed the manuscript to the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, where it is preserved today.

The six string quartets opus 20 by Joseph Haydn are among the works that earned Haydn the sobriquet "the father of the string quartet". The quartets are considered a milestone in the history of composition; in them, Haydn develops compositional techniques that were to define the medium for the next 200 years.


Meteorological history.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Monica originated from an area of low pressure that formed early on 16 April 2006 off the coast of Papua New Guinea. The low quickly became organised, with deep convection developing over the low-pressure centre. Later that day, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert as the system became increasingly organised. Early the next day, the Bureau of Meteorology in Brisbane, Australia declared that the low had developed into a Category 1 cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone scale, with winds reaching 65 km/h (40 mph ). Upon being classified as a cyclone, the storm was given the name Monica. At the same time, the JTWC designated Monica as Tropical Cyclone 23P. Monica tracked generally westward, towards Far North Queensland, in response to a low to mid-level ridge to the south.  Low wind shear and good divergence in the path of the storm allowed for continued intensification as continued westward. Late on 17 April, Monica intensified into a Category 2 Cyclone, with winds reaching 95 km/h (60 mph ). By 1200 UTC on 18 April, the Bureau of Meteorology upgraded Monica to a severe tropical cyclone, a Category 3 on the Australian scale. This followed an increase in the storm's outflow and a fluctuating central dense overcast. Several hours later, the JTWC upgraded Monica to the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale. During the afternoon of 19 April, the storm made landfall roughly south-southeast of the Lockhart River with winds of 130 km/h (80 mph ). At the same time, the JTWC assessed Monica to have intensified into a Category 2 equivalent storm with winds of 155 km/h (100 mph ).  Shortly after making landfall, convection associated with the storm deteriorated and the outflow became fragmented. A shortwave trough to the south caused the ridge steering Monica to weaken, leading to the cyclone moving slower. After moving over land, the storm began to weaken, with the Bureau of Meteorology downgrading the storm to weaken to Category 1 cyclone and the JTWC downgraded the cyclone to a tropical storm. The following day, Monica moved offshore, entering the Gulf of Carpentaria. Once back over water, favourable atmospheric conditions allowed the storm to quickly intensify. Within 24-hours of moving over water, Monica re-attained severe tropical cyclone status. Following a shift in steering currents, the storm slowed significantly and turned north-westward. Steady intensification continued through 22 April as the storm remained in a region of low wind shear and favourable diffluence. Early on 22 April the Bureau of Meteorology upgraded Monica to a Category 5 severe tropical cyclone, the third of the season. By this time, a wide eye had developed within the central dense overcast of the cyclone. Later that day, the JTWC assessed Monica to have intensified into a Category 5-equivalent storm. Cyclone Monica attained its peak intensity on 23 April near Cape Wessel with a barometric pressure 916 hPa (mbar; 27.05 inHg). Maximum winds were estimated at 250 km/h (155 mph ) by the Bureau of Meteorology while the JTWC assessed it to have attained winds of 285 km/h (180 mph ). Using the Dvorak technique, the peak intensity of the cyclone was estimated at T-number of 7.5 according to the Satellite Analysis Branch (), yet the Advanced Dvorak Technique of the CIMSS automatically estimated at T8.0, the highest ranking on the Dvorak Scale. However, since the JTWC, SAB and CIMSS are not the official warning centres for Australian cyclones, these intensities remain unofficial.  On 24 April, the mid-level ridge south of Monica weakened, causing the storm to turn towards the southwest. Following this, the storm made landfall in the Northern Territory, roughly west of Maningrida, as a Category 5 cyclone with winds of 250 km/h (155 mph ). Soon after making landfall, the storm weakened extremely quickly. Most of the convective activity associated with the storm dissipated within nine hours of moving onshore. This resulted in the storm's maximum winds decreasing by 155 km/h (100 mph) in a 12-hour span. After this rapid weakening, the storm turned sharply west moving over the town of Jabiru as a Category 2 cyclone. Within six hours of passing this town, the Bureau of Meteorology downgraded Monica to a tropical low, as the storm was no longer producing gale-force winds. The JTWC issued their final advisory on the storm at 1800 UTC that day. The remnants of Monica persisted for several more days, tracking near Darwin on 25 April before turning south-east and accelerating over the Northern Territory. The remnants eventually dissipated on 28 April over central Australia.

Uncertainty in peak strength.

The Bureau of Meteorology uses 10-minute sustained winds, while the Joint Typhoon Warning Center uses one-minute sustained winds. The Bureau of Meteorology's peak intensity for Monica was 250 km/h (155 mph) 10-minute sustained, or 285 km/h (180 mph) one-minute sustained. The JTWC's peak intensity for Monica was 285 km/h (180 mph) one-minute sustained, or 250 km/h (155 mph) 10-minute sustained.  While the storm was active the Bureau of Meteorology's Darwin Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre estimated that Monica, had peaked with a minimum pressure of. However, during their post analysis of Monica, the Darwin Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre estimated using the Love-Murphy pressure-wind relationship, that the system had a minimum pressure of. However, since then the BoM has started to use the Knaff, Zehr and Courtney pressure-wind relationship, which has estimated that Monica had a minimum pressure of. Other pressure estimates include the Joint Typhoon Warning Center's post analysis estimated pressure of and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Advanced Dvorak Technique which estimated a minimum pressure of. The Advanced Dvorak Technique pressure estimate would suggest that the system was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded worldwide as the pressure is below that of the current world record holder, Typhoon Tip of 1979. In 2010, Stephen Durden of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory studied Cyclone Monica's minimum pressure and suggested that the system likely peaked between and strongly refuted claims that Monica was the strongest tropical cyclone on record.

Preparations and impact.

Queensland.

Upon being declared as Tropical Cyclone Monica on 17 April, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a gale warning for areas along the eastern coast of Far North Queensland. Several hours later, a cyclone warning was issued for north-eastern areas as the storm intensified. An estimated 1,000 people were planned to be evacuated in Far North Queensland before officials shut down major highways in the area. Ferry services in the Great Barrier Reef and flights in and out of the region were cancelled. However, no evacuations took place according to the Emergency Management in Australia. An aborigine community of 700, located around the mouth of the Lockhart River, were in the direct path of the storm. The chief executive officer of the community stated that they were ready for the storm, having suffered no losses from Cyclone Ingrid which impacted the same area in 2005.  Little damage was recorded in Queensland, despite Cyclone Monica being a Category 3 cyclone, as the storm impacted a sparsely populated region of the Cape York peninsula. A storm surge of was recorded in Mossman and waves were recorded up to in Weipa. Heavy rainfall was also associated with the storm, exceeding near where Monica made landfall. Wind gusts up to were recorded as the storm traversed the peninsula. Officials reported about 15 percent of the structures along the Lockhart River sustained minor damage. Minor coastal flooding was also reported due to Monica. Three Torres Strait Islanders were rescued after 22 days drifting at sea in the wake of the cyclone passing through the Torres Strait, north of mainland Queensland.

Northern Territory.

Officials closed schools throughout the region in advance of the storm on 24 April and advised people to evacuate. A 10 pm curfew was also put in place to keep people off the streets during the night. Local tours in the territory were postponed or cancelled due to the storm. Several flights in and out of Darwin were also cancelled, as was the Darwin Anzac Day march. Alcan, the world's second-largest aluminium producer, warned customers of potential interruptions to supplies on contracts from its Gove refinery. Rio Tinto's Ranger Uranium Mine ceased operations on 24 April, "as a precautionary measure".  At one point, Monica was forecast to pass directly over Goulburn Island. In response, officials evacuated the island's 337 residents to shelters set up in Pine Creek. Numerous schools in the threatened region, especially in Darwin, were closed ahead of Monica's arrival. Several shelters were opened in Darwin early on 24 April in anticipation of an influx of evacuees. Stores throughout the area reported increased sales for storm supplies, with some reducing prices on specific items. The same day, the Darwin Returned and Services League of Australia cancelled all ANZAC Day services and marches in Darwin that were to be held the next day, to ensure the safety of prospective participants. The Wessel Islands, located off the coast of the region, suffered significant damage from the storm. Mangrove trees were uprooted throughout the islands and sand dunes were destroyed. An outstation located on one of the islands was destroyed by the cyclone. The highest 24-hour rainfall from the storm was recorded near Darwin at. A storm total for the same area was recorded at, surpassing the rainfall record for the entire month of April set in 1953. Although the storm made landfall at peak intensity in Australia's Northern Territory, the impacted areas were sparsely populated. Around the region where Monica made landfall, evidence of a 5–6 m (16.4–19.6 ft) storm surge was present in Junction Bay.  Wind gusts up to felled power lines in Maningrida; 12 homes sustained damage from fallen trees in Jabiru; and extensive damage was reported in Oenpelli. Roughly 1,000 people also lost phone service in the region. Several highways were blocked by fallen trees throughout the area. A resort in Jabiru sustained significant damage and was closed for two weeks following the storm. Insured damages to the national parks amounted to A$1.6 million (US$766,000). According to the Northern Territory Insurance Office, structural damage from Cyclone Monica amounted to A$5 million (US$4.4 million).  The remnants of Monica produced significant rainfall over parts of the Northern Territory several days after the system weakened below cyclone status. Flash flooding was reported throughout the Adelaide River basin as up to of rain fell in a 24-hour span. On 26 April, the remnants of Monica spawned a small tornado near Channel Point; several mangrove trees were snapped and branches were thrown to nearby beaches.

Environmental impacts.

The full-force of Monica's estimated wind gusts were felt in the unpopulated tropical savanna regions of northern Australia. A large-scale windthrow event affected approximately 10,400 km (4,000 mi) of forest, resulting in the damage or destruction of 140 million trees. Damage extended north and south of Monica's centre and progressed inland. The affected areas primarily consist of "Eucalyptus" (namely "E. miniata" and "E. tetrodonta") and "Corymbia" (namely "C. dichromophloia", "C. latifolia", and "C. foelscheana") tree species. Common grasses in the savanna area include "Triodia bitextura" and "Sorghum". Areas near the cyclone's landfall point—Junction Bay—also comprise wetlands and "Melaleuca" swamp forests. The heaviest damage occurred just east of the landfall point, with more than 85 percent of vegetation severely damaged; it spanned 139 km (53.7 mi). In this area, trees were completely defoliated, snapped, and/or uprooted. Within of Junction Bay, 77 percent of all trees were uprooted or snapped at the trunk, while 84 percent suffered total defoliation. In the "Melaleuca" swamps, 60 percent of trees were snapped or uprooted once wind gusts exceeded. Approximately 12.7 million tonnes of vegetative debris was created by the storm.  The Goomadeer River catchment, which flows into Junction Bay, was entirely denuded. The prolific loss of trees led to hydrologic changes in the region, with flood events likely becoming more severe as groundwater flow increased. Farther southwest, the Magela Creek catchment in Kakadu National Park suffered a direct hit from the weakening cyclone. Gusts up to impacted the Ngarradj sub-catchment, destroying 42 percent of the tree canopy cover. Long-term losses in the sub-catchment reached 23 percent. Less rainfall than would normally be expected with such a storm lessened tree loss in the area, with soils largely not becoming saturated enough to allow trees to topple over. The large amount of debris left behind contained approximately 51–60 million tonnes of greenhouse gases—primarily carbon dioxide—or roughly 10 percent of Australia's annual anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. With Monica occurring just before the onset of the dry season, widespread brushfires were anticipated in the affected regions owing to the large amount of kindling. However, analysis of satellite imagery revealed only slightly above-average fire activity in the months following the cyclone.

Recovery.

Within weeks of the storm, the Alligator Rivers Region Advisory Committee began planting seedlings in deforested areas. By August 2006, a review of the growth of the new plants found that 81% to 88% of the seeds had survived and begun growing. To fully restore the South Alligator valley, environmentalists requested A$7.4 million (US$6.6 million) in funds. In a study at Magela Creek a year after the storm, it was determined that between 8% and 19% of the tree canopy lost due to the storm had begun to recover. Additional studies at the Gulungul Creek and the Alligator Rivers region revealed that suspended sediment values in flowing water had temporarily increased in the wake of Monica. The above-average values persisted for roughly a year before the streams returned to pre-cyclone sediment levels. In a study of the Arnhem forests which were devastated by the cyclone, environmentalists reported that it would take over 100 years for the forest to recover. The storm's winds snapped numerous trees, estimated to have been over 200 years old and more than 60 cm (23.6 in) in diameter. It is estimated that it would take several hundred years before trees of similar sizes would flourish in the region.

Aftermath.

The Queensland Government State Disaster Management Group dispatched relief helicopters to remote communities for evacuation of people in flood zones and transport of relief workers. Relief efforts were already underway in relation to Cyclone Larry which caused significant damage in Queensland. The Government of Australia assisted affected business by providing disaster loans up to A$25,000 for severely impacted areas and A$10,000 for less affected areas. Farmers were also provided with up to $200,000 in loans over a period of nine years. Following the impacts in the Northern Territory, two cleanup teams were dispatched from Darwin to assist in cleanup efforts in the hardest hit regions. Despite the minimal damage caused by Monica, the name was retired from the circulating lists of tropical cyclone names for the Australian Region.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Monica was the most intense tropical cyclone, in terms of maximum sustained winds, on record to impact Australia, tied with Cyclone Marcus in 2018. The 17th and final storm of the 2005–06 Australian region cyclone season, Monica originated from an area of low pressure off the coast of Papua New Guinea on 16 April 2006. The storm quickly developed into a Category 1 cyclone the next day, at which time it was given the name Monica. Travelling towards the west, the storm intensified into a severe tropical cyclone before making landfall in Far North Queensland, near Lockhart River, on 19 April 2006. After moving over land, convection associated with the storm quickly became disorganised.


Geography.

Katalla is located within the Chugach National Forest near Controller Bay and the Bering River.

History.

Katalla was at the center of the now-abandoned Katalla oil field. This was the first discovery of commercial quantities of oil in Alaska (1902). The town reportedly had a population of 5,000 in 1907-1908.  This was the result of the announcement that the Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW) was going to use the town's location as its access to the Pacific Ocean and the Bering River coal fields. Violent storms in the fall of 1907 destroyed the jetty being built and it was decided to move the railroad's terminus to nearby Cordova.  The famous "ship of gold" "SS Portland", ran aground and sank at Katalla in November 1910, during one of these autumn storms. The town's population continued to depend on the small oil field for income until December 25, 1933 when fire damaged its refinery and operations ceased. The town's post office closed in 1943 and the town site was abandoned.  The oil and gas extraction rights for the Katalla area were granted to the Chugach Alaska Corporation by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Before that, however, at least some of the rights to the field were owned by the California-Mexican-Alaska Holding Company, which dissolved and sold its assets to the Alaska Coal, Oil & By-Products Company in 1929.  A Korean coal mining consortium resurrected potential interest in Katalla after they did coal exploration in the Bering River coal fields in the early 1980s. Interest waned as the coal reserves did not appear economically viable, and a haul route to Katalla would by necessity have to cross areas subject to slope instability and periodic glacial dam outbursts from Bering Lake.

Demographics.

Katalla first appeared on the 1910 U.S. Census as an unincorporated village. It continued to report until 1940, after which it was abandoned.

Katalla (pronounced "KA-tell-ah") is a ghost town in the Valdez-Cordova Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, southeast of Cordova. The name of this town was sometimes spelled Catalla. It is now abandoned.


History.

On September 21, 1177, Alfonso VIII of Castile, "The Noble", defeated the Moors after a nine-month siege and conquered the city of Cuenca. The city was made a diocese in 1183, and work began to build the cathedral on the foundations of the main Muslim mosque.  Like several other cathedrals built in Castile in the same period, Cuenca Cathedral is said to have been inspired by Eleanor Plantagenet of England, wife of King Alfonso VIII and daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor's Norman influence left its mark on the building, one of the earliest Gothic cathedrals of Castile along with the cathedral in Avila.  French stonemasons began work between 1182 and 1189, with work continuing in the 13th century. The cathedral was consecrated in 1196 by Saint Julian of Cuenca, second bishop of Cuenca, when only the "chevet" had been built. The high altar was consecrated in 1208 by Bishop Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada.  On April 13, 1902, the Giraldo tower (seen to the left of the facade in early photographs) collapsed after a direct lightning strike which also destroyed much of the facade. Several children were killed. Initial restoration of the facade was done in the neo-Gothic style. There are plans to restore the destroyed sections.

Characteristics.

Romanesque features of the cathedral date from its origins in the late Romanesque period. Characteristic of the Romanesque style, there were initially five staggered apses, a single transept and three naves in the main body of the building. 13th century developments include the clerestory, with moulded windows, statues of angels and an oculus. The Anglo-Norman architectural influence can be seen, among other places, in the cathedral's sexpartite rib vaulting. The temple is of great dimensions, has a length of 120 meters and 36 meters of height, in its internal central area, occupying an area of 10,000 square meters. In the 15th century, the eastern end was rebuilt to create a double ambulatory. In the 17th century, the cathedral chapter retained architect Ventura Rodríguez to build the altar of Saint Julian, also known as "el Transparente" for the stained glass illuminating and decorating the background of the altarpiece. It rivalled altarpieces with similar features by Narciso Tomé in Toledo Cathedral. A new altar was built in the eighteenth century, with altarpiece statues by Italian sculptor Pasquale Bocciardo. The collapse of Giraldo tower in 1902 caused widespread damage to the cathedral. The reconstruction of the facade by architect Vicente Lampérez, completed in 1910, partially repaired the damage. Most recently, the 16th century cloister has been fully restored.

Iconography.

The iconography of Cuenca Cathedral is largely fantastical, with mythological and human figures interspersed amongst plant leaves, stems, fruits and meandering streams. Cuenca Cathedral is distinguished from many other cathedrals by sculptures representing animals unknown to the West, such as the armadillo, puffer fish or turtle, in its Gothic arches dating from the late 15th century, a period in the history of its construction that coincided with the European colonization of the Americas after 1492.  From readings of the Book of Revelation and the "Centuries" in "Les Propheties" by Nostradamus, the scholar and architect Rodrigo de Luz concluded that the Holy Grail was saved and preserved in this cathedral. As a consequence, Cuenca Cathedral and all those who take refuge within it would be spared in the final revelation. He identifies the cathedral with the description of the New Jerusalem of the Book of Revelation, on the strength of its 12 gates in shape of bows, each with 12 angels. Each stone angel has a sombre expression and holds a book with the exception of one, who is smiling and holding a goblet. This is interpreted as a hidden reference to the legend of the Holy Grail.  It has been claimed that there are other hidden messages in the iconography of the cathedral and of the City of Cuenca, including a coat of arms featuring a cup with an octagram or eight-pointed star, symbol of the Knights Templar.

Cuenca Cathedral is a Gothic cathedral in the city of Cuenca, located in the Province of Cuenca in the Castile-La Mancha region of south-eastern central Spain. The building is one of the earliest Spanish examples of Gothic architecture, built at a time when the Romanesque style predominated in the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the cathedral is characteristic of the Norman and Anglo-Norman architecture of the 12th century, of which Soissons Cathedral, Laon Cathedral and Notre-Dame de Paris are representative examples.


Summaries.

"Guthlac A".

"Guthlac A" begins by reflecting on the transience of the goodness of creation, dwelling on the idea that humans are getting weaker in piety by the generation, and that those who uphold the laws of God are lessening in number. Furthermore, it is recognized as the tendency of the young man to forsake spirituality for earthly pursuits, while as an older man, he would be more aware of his mortality and turn to God. Those who serve their own earthly interests will mock those who strive towards higher heavenly grace, but those who forsake themselves for that grace are sacrificing worldly pleasures in anticipation of the divine satisfaction to come.  Guthlac started out as a more worldly man who focused on material pursuits instead of pleasing the Lord. One night, an angel and a devil have a fight over his soul, with the angel trying to pull Guthlac toward serving God, and the devil trying to assure Guthlac of the promises of material pleasure and violence. After a long fight, God declares the angel to have won Guthlac's soul.  Guthlac is now living alone in a mountain dwelling, a place that is infested with demons who seek still to win Guthlac over. It is here that Guthlac is tempted and threatened by these demons, but he has the protection of an angel on hand. This angel comforts him and helps him stand up to the demons, while he commits to an ascetic lifestyle, denying himself of all bodily pleasures.  Guthlac is given a glimpse of the world by the demons, which include the wayward lifestyles of those who are building up treasures and material comforts in the monasteries when they are supposed to be serving God.  Even though the demons drag him into hell, Guthlac continues to sing his worship to God. When the demons tell him that he is not good enough for heaven, Guthlac assures them that he will accept the torment of hell and still sing God's praises, if that is God's wish. Guthlac assures the demons that they will always be the wretched way that they are, and suffer misery for eternity, because they will never know God.  Finally, a messenger from God, the Apostle Bartholomew, orders the demons to free Guthlac and return him to his wilderness dwelling unharmed. The demons have no choice but to obey, and Guthlac once again praises God. Guthlac is eventually given a place in heaven with God as his protector, and in moral-tale fashion, the same is assured to those who revere the truth and please God. The poem has made the conflict between good and evil its main purpose, assuring that the events are for all times.

"Guthlac B".

"Guthlac B" is more of a conversational exchange piece. Although the first poem's dialogue is mostly between Guthlac and a set of demons, the second is between Guthlac and another person. It has less action and more discourse. Death is portrayed, not as the eternal doom of humanity, but as the ultimate freedom for Guthlac from the hardships that have been endured in his life.  The focus is on Guthlac's death, on the destiny that was meant for him and the rest of humankind since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. The poem first reflects upon this ultimate human tragedy, where the onslaught of Original Sin made it so that nobody descended from humanity would be free from sin and death.  Guthlac, after having spent several years in the wilderness, is now afflicted with a disease that came to him in the night and will only get worse. Guthlac sickens for days in care of his servant Beccel, and he knows his time of earthly departure will be near.  Despite being sick, Guthlac finds the strength to preach movingly, as if being angelic, from the Gospel on Easter. However, he only grows more ill, and is heard arguing in the night. When asked about it, Guthlac tells his servant that he has been speaking to an angel in the final days of his sickness, and that the servant is to tell Guthlac's sister Pega that he will see her in heaven later, and to claim and bury his body. Then Guthlac opens his mouth to release a sweet, honey-like odor that gives comfort to his servant to breathe. Guthlac tells the servant that it is now time to carry the message of his passing to his sister. Then Guthlac dies, with angels carrying his soul to heaven.  The servant travels quickly to Pega by ship, dutifully and broken-heartedly obeying his master's last wish. The poem ends there, with the servant conveying the extent of his suffering at the loss.

Sources.

Early editors posited that one or both of the poems could have been composed by the poet Cynewulf, but neither poem is numbered among that writer's compositions today.  "Guthlac B" is certainly based primarily on Felix's Latin life of St. Guthlac, the "Vita Sancti Guthlaci", written sometime between 730 and 740. The relationship between "Guthlac A" and the "Vita Sancti Guthlaci" is, however, less clear. Some recent scholarship concludes that the Old English poem is based directly on the Latin, but other work finds a more complex relationship. An Old English version of the life can be found among the Vercelli Homilies, and a text like this may have been the source for at least some of "Guthlac A".

Guthlac A and Guthlac B are a pair of Old English poems written in celebration of the deeds and death of Saint Guthlac of Croyland, a popular Mercian saint. The two poems are presented consecutively in the important Exeter Book miscellany of Old English poetry, the fourth and fifth items in the manuscript. They are clearly intended to be considered two items, judging from the scribe's use of large initials at the start of each poem.


Playing career.

As a youth, Sarault played in the 1985 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.  Sarault was drafted 61st overall by the Canadiens in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. From July 18, 2008, he played for German team ERC Ingolstadt in DEL after previous spells with EHC Basel, SC Bern, Genève-Servette HC and HC Davos in the Swiss NLA league from 2002 to 2008. Sarault has also participated for Team Canada in the Spengler Cup.  After initially starting the 2009–10 season with lower professional league team Rivière-du-Loup CIMT in the LNAH, Sarault left for Europe on December 16, 2009, signing for the remainder of the season with Vienna Capitals of the Austrian Erste Bank Hockey League. After returning to Rivière-du-Loup for a further two seasons, Sarault was traded at the draft to fellow club the Cornwall River Kings for the 2012–13 season on June 17, 2012.  In the off-season Sarault lives in Moncton, New Brunswick and plays occasionally with the Moncton Puck Wackers hockey club in the city's summer men's league, with his son Chris.

Coaching career.

He joined the staff of Swiss club Lausanne HC as an assistant in 2014 and was promoted to the head coaching position during the 2017-18 season after the sacking of Dan Ratushny. On February 8, 2018, Sarault was relieved of his duties after five straight losses.

Personal life.

His daughter Courtney Sarault is a short track speed skater who made her World Cup debut in 2018, earning a silver medal in her first race final.

Yves Victor Sarault (born December 23, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Sarault ended his career playing with the Cornwall River Kings of the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey. He previously played in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Ottawa Senators, Atlanta Thrashers and the Nashville Predators.


History.

VPLP design is a French-based naval architecture firm founded by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost. These two French nationals first met at Southampton College of Higher Education both having enrolled to study Yacht and Powercraft Design.  During their years at college Marc and Vincent forged a friendship that was later to be the catalyst for VPLP. The company was formed in 1983 and first opened its doors in Marseilles with a focus on developing racing trimarans, which was a burgeoning niche market in the early 80’s.  VPLP’s initial project was to design a racing trimaran commissioned by skipper Vincent Levy for the 1984 OSTAR, (otherwise known as the English Transat). This foiler baptized Gerard Lambert was the first in a long line of racing trimarans that created a name for the firm and established the young designers as innovators in the field of naval architecture. VPLP designed their first cruising catamaran in 1984 for Lagoon, which was then a division of Jeanneau Techniques Avancées. The Lagoon 55 was the first in more than 240 cruising catamarans designed by VPLP. Lagoon is now part of the CNB division of Groupe Bénéteau and has produced more than 2000 catamarans with worldwide distribution. VPLP are the principal designers for the Lagoon fleet of sailing catamarans.

Evolution.

The offices moved to Paris, Bastille in 1985 to be closer their network of international clients.  In subsequent years, VPLP have structured the organization into three divisions to focus on separate sectors of the yacht market:  In 1996, VPLP opened a Racing Division in Vannes for proximity to many offshore racing teams. In 2008 VPLP opened a Refit and Brokerage Division in La Ciotat, which is a large service center with many shipyards catering for superyachts operating in the western Mediterranean sea.  In 2007 VPLP cooperated with French yacht designer Guillaume Verdier to penetrate the competitive IMOCA racing circuit. The performance of their first interactions "Safran" and "Groupe Bel" earned the VPLP-Verdier consortium a growing orderbook for racing monohulls.

Racing prototypes.

Racing prototypes and results.

Since 1990, All of the VPLP boats are still undefeated at the Route du Rhum.

Cruising.

Production yachts.

VPLP worked on several serial production boats programs, including the Lagoon range from the beginning, The Outremer 5X and the power monohul dayboat Smartboat.

Annexes.

Waterworld.

In 1994 VPLP designed the racing trimaran made famous by the movie Waterworld starring Kevin Costner. Two trimarans were built at Jeanneau’s racing division (Jeanneau Techniques Avancées), one a conventional trimaran capable of speeds in excess of and a second boat with unconventional features that allowed it to transform for certain scenes in the movie and was used for most of the onboard and special effects scenes. This second boat, although used for many of the close up scenes, was able to sail but was not capable of the speeds of the conventional trimaran.

Hydroptère.

In 1994 plans for an experimental Hydrofoil prototype was commissioned for Alain Thebault. The first Hydroptère was a trimaran. In the following years four additional evolutions were built. In 2006 "HYDROPTÈRE 5" was launched. This was the first boat to cross the barrier (51 knots speed record set in 2009).

Groupama 3.

Groupama 3 and Franck Cammas<br> The prime design consideration for Groupama 3 was for a multihull which can be manipulated by a crew of ten people and not to make then LOA a defining characteristic thus Groupama 3 is not a maxi multihull!. It's a trimaran, which is also heavily inspired by Groupama 2, the ORMA : with the adoption of foils and the installation of three rudders, with a wide, open cockpit and a proportionally moderate sail plan. As a result, we opted for a relatively small boat which is rather light, progressive and very reactive. The deck plan enables the crew to manoeuvre faster in order to adjust the sail area to changes in condition and hence permanently exploit the trimaran's potential.  As the record programme included above all the Jules Verne Trophy, it was necessary to take into account the `Southern ocean' parameter: the foils are far forward so that the boat is nose up, the freeboard is high to prevent the bow from burying, the height of the mast limits the trim changes. The balance when sailing is considerably safer than on a Orma."  Groupama 3 was reconfigured for Franck Cammas to enter the 9th edition of the single handed Route du Rhum 2010 which started 31 October 2010. Groupama 3 was the first to finish in 9 days, 3 hours, 14 minutes and 47 seconds. The Route du Rhum takes place once every four years, is a single-handed race across the Atlantic starting in Saint-Malo, France and finishing in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.

Maxi Banque Populaire V.

Banque Populaire V, the largest ocean racing trimaran in the world, was launched in August 2008 in Lorient (Brittany – France). Built at sites in Cherbourg, La Rochelle and Lorient, the construction of the maxi trimaran took 250 000 man hours of work, utilising a total workforce of some 170 people. Under the leadership Pascal Bidégorry, skipper of the Banque Populaire trimarans since 2004, the crew of the Maxi Banque Populaire V has embarked on a campaign to beat some of the most prestigious ocean racing records.  For VPLP, the challenge consisted of designing a fully crewed, no compromise multihull, which is totally versatile but very high-performing, suitable for a mixed programme, which is always seaworthy but cutting edge and progressive, but which always preserves the safety of the crew on board. At 40-metre (131 ft) trimaran, Maxi Banque Populaire V is, to date the largest ocean racing trimaran ever designed and built.  Pascal Bidégorry and his associate Ronan Lucas, the Director of the Team Banque Populaire, sought a design centred on a very specific idea:  “We wanted a big boat which would be able to sail fast safely but with a range of speeds, all that we knew we could master from a technological point of view”. Pascal Bidégorry skipper of Maxi Banque Populaire V.

BMW Oracle BOR 90.

BMW Oracle winner America's Cup 33 - Deed of Gift<br> The 33rd America's Cup was held under a strict Deed of Gift rules: The first team to win two out of three races is the winner of the 33rd America’s Cup. It was specified by the cup holder SNG that the match be sailed in yachts by, and so the Golden Gate Yacht Club developed their trimaran "BMW Oracle Racing 90", whilst the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) have opted for a giant catamaran, "Alinghi 5". When it was proposed that the 33rd edition of the America's Cup would be contested with multihulls, BMW Oracle team immediately signed VPLP to their core design team  "BMW Oracle Racing 'BOR 90", sailed as "USA 17"' the American challenger, representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club, won the 33rd America’s Cup Match in Valencia, sweeping past the Swiss defender, Alinghi, to a 2-0 victory.  Race one, a windward - leeward course with legs, saw BMW Oracle Racing's trimaran winning by 15.28 minutes. In race two, a triangle, with legs, the Challenger crossed the finishing line ahead by 5.26 minutes.

Multi One Design MOD 70.

An one-design multihull designed to create a new class of oceangoing racer. When compared to its predecessor the ORMA 60. the is longer, narrower, carries less sailarea with a shorter rig and higher crossbeam clearance. The design concept was to sacrifice some of the ORMA 60's extreme performance for reduced cost, reliability and safety.

VPLP design (Van Peteghem Lauriot-Prévost) is a French-based naval architectural firm founded by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot-Prévost, responsible for designing some of the world's most innovative racing boats. Their designs presently hold many of the World Speed Sailing records.


List of The Belgariad and The Malloreon characters

Protagonists.

Note: These characters are the main protagonists to the story. There are many other minor and supporting protagonists, including some royalty.

Antagonists.

Note: This section includes the three disciples of Torak, along with other major antagonists in the story.

Deities.

Gods.

Aldur.

Aldur is the eldest of the seven gods. He is worshipped by no race of people, but has a number of disciples: Belgarath, Beldin, the twins Belkira and Beltira, Belzedar (formerly), Polgara, Belmakor (deceased), Belsambar (deceased), Belgarion, Beldurnik (formerly Durnik, admitted in the Malloreon), and Poledra, as mentioned in "Polgara the Sorceress". His totem animal is the owl; this is never mentioned in the primary story (though the owl is commonly associated with his disciples), but appears in the Rivan Codex.  After Aldur and his brothers create the world in which the stories are set, Aldur refuses to take a seventh part of mankind to worship him, leaving the ancestors of the Ulgos, Dals, Morindim, Karands, and Melcenes Godless. Instead, he takes disciples, prepending "Bel-" to their names. Polgara and Poledra are also counted among the Disciples, as is shown by the prefix "Pol-" being the feminine of "Bel-". At one stage, Aldur also names Polgara as his "Beloved daughter", although this may be connected to the title "Ancient and Beloved", given to her father Belgarath. The Disciples all at some time take residence at the Vale of Aldur, where each disciple has its own tower, apart from Poledra and Polgara who inhabit a cottage at the far edge of the Vale. Aldur also possesses a tower, wherein furniture may appear or disappear as he wishes.  The "Belgariad"'s MacGuffin is the Orb of Aldur: a sentient stone polished into a roughly spherical shape by Aldur, and seized by Torak.

Belar.

Belar is the youngest of the seven gods. He is the god of the Alorns, and his totem animal is the bear. Belar is closely allied with Aldur in the War of Destinies, and is also described as being close to Mara. When he maintains a physical presence in the world, he appears as a young man, and is known for drinking and feasting with Alorn warriors, and for lavishing his attentions on young women. In "Guardians of the West", he is identified as an incessant speaker.

Chaldan.

Chaldan is the god of the Arends, and his totem animal is the bull. Chaldan emphasises pride and militaristic tradition as virtues; therefore sermons at funerals are not concerned with the comforting of the bereaved, but with vengeance. Chaldan does not play a significant role in the stories.

Issa.

Issa is the god of the Nyissans. His totem animal is the serpent. Though physically present in the world, Issa spends long periods sleeping, disguised as a large statue behind the royal throne of Nyssa. When all the gods save Torak left the world, he gave the governance of his people to his high priestess, Salmissra, but neglected to prolong her life. A long line of subsequent Salmissras ruled in her stead, each chosen by their resemblance to the original, and also given the ability to summon a physical incarnation of Issa. The last Salmissra is eventually changed into a snake and made immortal by Polgara.

Mara.

Mara is the god of the Marags. His totem animal, never mentioned except in the Rivan Codex, is the bat. Known as the "weeping god" for his long mourning after the Tolnedran massacre of the Marags, Mara is surrounded by the ghosts of his dead people, so that few could enter his domain without being driven mad. The exception is the monastery at Mar Terrin, where Tolnedran monks attempt to comfort the spirits of the Marags. He is found always howling in the ruins of Mar Amon, his capital, until the restoration of the Marags.

Nedra.

Nedra is the second-oldest of the seven gods. He is the god of the Tolnedrans, and his totem animal is the lion. Nedra instills the values of thrift and wealth into his people: as a result, Tolnedrans are often associated with avarice, materialism, and deceit. Their culture thrives on enterprise and commerce.

Torak.

Torak is the third of the seven Gods. His people are the Angaraks, and his is the only totem animal counted among the monstrous races (perhaps due to Torak's vain attempts to enhance the creature): the dragon. The left side of his body, most notably his face and hand, are maimed by the Orb of Aldur; and his left eye (called 'the Eye that Was Not') perpetually burns with the Orb's blue fire. Beldin therefore referred to Torak as "Old burnt-face"; this reference hints at Beldin's true identity when he is in disguise, as he is the only one to use it.  Alone among his brothers, Torak served the Dark in the War of the Gods, caused by himself; and when almost defeated, he forced the Orb to create a new ocean, with his worshippers on one side and their enemies on the other. As the head of a theocratic military culture, Torak drove the Angaraks to dominate their neighbors the Dals, Karands, and Melcenes, and conquered much of the western continent. Like many fantasy villains, Torak almost achieves domination of the world, only to be vanquished in a great battle, and re-appears, after a long absence, in the central story, wherein he is slain by Belgarion.  After Belgarion slays Torak, the Orb restores his face.

Eriond.

Eriond, originally called Errand, was a spirit originally meant to be the God of the Angaraks until a 'Great Accident' (the misplaced explosion of a star) caused Torak to exist. Eriond thereafter persisted in spirit until Zedar began his search for the Orb of Aldur. Errand then appeared as a child to Zedar, who used him to seize the Orb. The name "Errand" is not derived from "Eriond", but is simply the only word that he, in his child form, was able to remember for many years. In this form, Errand was raised as Polgara's ward; and in his adulthood, accompanied Belgarion to the 'High Places of Korim', to achieve his own apotheosis. It is stated, though not seen in the stories, that upon apotheosis, he would eventually replace all the other Gods. He takes no totem animal, but is frequently accompanied by an unusual stallion (a stillborn colt revived by Belgarion), simply named Horse.

UL.

UL is the mysterious god of the Ulgos, who originally were a tribe of people without a god of their own. He is not counted among the traditional seven, and theologians of their religions are ambivalent in their treatment of him. At the end of The Belgariad, it is revealed that he is the father of the seven gods, and omnipresent as well. He is also god of the monstrous beasts rejected by his sons. UL is served by a High Priest, who is always called Gorim. The successive Gorims, although not immortal, live as long as UL requires them to serve. The successor of the Gorim is identified as having violet eyes. Poledra also served UL for many years, and so may be considered his disciple as much as Aldur's. In the War of Destinies, he is generally seen on the side of Light, often working closely with Aldur. Due to his appearance as one in "The Seeress of Kell", his totem may be an albatross. David Eddings mentions, in the Rivan Codex, that the spelling of UL in capital letters was a typographical error permitted to stand.

Other characters.

These are characters in the Belgariad and the Malloreon that influence the story, but do not fit into any of the other categories.

The Prophecy of Light.

The Prophecy of Light is the positive main driving force of the protagonists, six of gods, and Eriond. Often called the "dry voice" in Garion's mind, to whom (and occasionally through whom to others) it offered guidance.

Cyradis.

Cyradis is the Seer chosen to appoint Light or Dark as the dominant moral force of the story's world in the final meeting between the rival prophesies. She first appears to Errand at the Vale of Aldur; later to the other protagonists at Rheon; and is shown as a slight girl with dark blonde hair and a blindfold over her eyes. She is escorted by the mute Toth. During the final Choice, Polgara removes her blindfold, to assist her decision; and Cyradis chooses Eriond (Light) over Geran (Dark), but loses her second sight. She is married to Zakath at the end of the series.

Senji.

Senji is an Alchemist and Sorcerer whom Beldin, Belgarath, and Garion meet in Melcene during "Sorceress of Darshiva" after they followed Zandramas' trail there. He is identified as 'the Clubfoot' by Cyradis and is around 3900 years old. He leads the sorcerers to a museum where the Sardion once rested and gives Belgarath a copy of the Ashabine Oracles. His power is weaker than theirs because of lack of practice due to his focus on transmutation of metals through alchemy.

Races.

Humans.

Alorns.

Alorns are the people of Belar, that occupy the north-western part of the western continent. Divided into several nations to better protect the Orb of Aldur, but retaining strong military and economic ties.

Angaraks.

Angaraks are the people of Torak. In Mallorea, they are the dominant people in the northwest, and are common throughout the Empire as soldiers and administrators. In the west, they occupy the southern half of the continent, and the lands east of the Escarpment in the north. They are divided into distinct castes, as shown below:

Arends.

Arends are the people of Chaldan, inhabiting Arendia on the western continent and the island of Perivor off Mallorea. The Arendish nobility emphasize pride, honor, and military prowess, while the serfs form the downtrodden masses, with little variation in their conditions across the country. For most of its history, Arendia was embroiled in civil wars among the three major duchies of Asturia, Mimbre, and Wacune.

Marags.

Marags are the people of Mara. They are generally thought to be extinct at the time of The Belgariad, after a genocidal war waged by the Tolnedrans. It is later revealed that Tolnedrans sold Marag survivors to Nyissan slavers who in turn sold them to the Murgos, and that some still lived in the slave pens under Rak Cthol.  Most details about Maragor come from Belgarath the Sorcerer, wherein it is stated girls were born 8 to 9 times more often than boys. As a result, Marag women controlled society. The governing body was a group of nine elder women known as the "Council of Matriarchs". Marriage was relatively unknown, and sexual promiscuity was common. In general, a Marag male's role in society was reduced to athletic contests or military service.

Nyissans.

Nyissans are the people of Issa. The state of Nyissa is situated on the swampy equatorial west coast of the western continent. The head of state is the high priestess Salmissra, who is chosen for physical resemblance to her long-dead namesake. Most Nyissan people shave off their hair, because the insects native to the swamps of Nyissa like to nest in it. The use of drugs and poisons is common in politics.

Sendars.

Sendars are a people of primarily Alorn and Arendish descent, located north of Arendia on the coast of the western continent. The land that is now Sendaria was once the Arendish Duchy of Erat, owned by Polgara the Sorceress. Tolnedran Emperor Ran Horb II worked successfully to establish the independent Kingdom of Sendaria, to prevent Arendia from becoming more influential than Tolnedra. Practicality and a strong work ethic are intrinsic to the Sendarian national identity, and a lot of food eaten in the west is grown in Sendaria. Sendars are unusual in that they elected their first king, Fundor the Magnificent, who was originally a rutabaga (and cabbage) farmer.

Tolnedrans.

Tolnedrans are the people of Nedra, dwelling in the Empire of Tolnedra in the subtropical north of the western continent. Tolnedrans are known for their obsession with trade and money (which they are said to have invented). Tolnedra is ruled by one of the five major families: the, the, the, the, and the. The Belgariad and The Mallorean take place during the reign of Ran Borune XXIII and his successor Varana (later Ran Borune XXIV). The primary military force of Tolnedra are the numerous Legions: a heavy infantry similar to the Roman legionaries. They are also unusual in their complete rejection of, and disbelief in, the concepts of magic and sorcery, on the basis of principles.

Ulgos.

Ulgos originally were Godless, but after years of pleading on the top of a mountain, their leader convinced the god UL to rule and protect them and the animals and beasts that the other gods did not. After UL renamed their leader Gorim, he returned to his people but only a minority of the group believed him. Angered by their flippant disregard for his years of dedication, the Gorim cursed the remaining so they would have no children, and he left with his followers. The Ulgos live in a city in an extensive cave system under the mountains of Ulgoland, where the forementioned beasts live. The Ulgos continually remember their godless state, and thus are ever thankful to UL and are extremely religious. They played a major role in the Battle of Vo Mimbre as they swept from the mountains onto Torak's forces and diminished their size dramatically.

Godless Ones.

Other human races are descended from the Godless Ones: ethnicities chosen by no god (Aldur abstaining from selection) at the beginning of the human race. They are widely spread across both continents and have physical diversity comparable to the other races.

This is a list of "The Belgariad" and "The Malloreon" characters. "The Belgariad" and "The Malloreon" are two parts of a fantasy epic written by David Eddings. Note: All of the statements (deceased, married) are written from the current information by the end of the series.