The Lusitans
The human colonists of the planet Lusitania.
The human colonists of Lusitania live in Milagre, a Brazilian Catholic colony founded on the planet in 1886 S.C. and the main setting of Speaker for the Dead. The planet is also home to the Pequeninos, a sentient species of forest dwellers.
Quick Facts
- First appears
- Speaker for the Dead
- Location
- Lusitania System
- Primary species
- Humans
- Pequeninos
- Formics
- Key conflict
- Descolada Virus
- Notable visitor
- Ender Wiggin
Lore & Background
The colony is fenced in and strictly regulated: contact with the Pequeninos is limited to a handful of scientists, and sharing human technology or culture with them is forbidden. Shortly after its founding many colonists died of the Descolada virus, until the xenobiologists Gusto and Cida von Hesse created a treatment before succumbing to it themselves. Ender Wiggin arrives in 1970 S.C. as a Speaker for the Dead. When Starways Congress orders the colony disbanded, its leaders agree to rebel, severing their ansible connection and deactivating the fence.
Reader's Guide
In Xenocide the rebel colony looks to Ender as an unofficial leader while he helps Novinha protect the humans from the descolada, which is fatal to humans but essential for the Pequeninos' life and reproduction. Ender plants the Hive Queen's pupa on the far side of the planet and tries to keep the peace between the three species. Bosquinha is governor of Lusitania and mayor of Milagre.
More in Factions & Groups
Elsewhere in Ender's Game
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