Jack Sawyer asked Michael McCloskey:

This question contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

Michael McCloskey Thanks for reading my books.

Names don't translate between radically different languages unless they are based upon literals ("fast runner" or something like that).

In order to reflect that the names don't translate, to really bring forward the alien-ness of Shiny, and to differentiate his point of view, there are two sets of names: those coined by the Terrans, and those used in occasional chapters from Shiny's POV.

To Shiny, his name is Kirizzo and his home planet is Gorgala, and the aquatic aliens who hunted him are the Bel Klaven.

To Terrans, he is of course called Shiny, his home planet is called Vovok, and the aquatic aliens are the Quarus.

Of course, I'm only Terran, and I probably slipped these up somewhere among the 8 books I've written so far.

There are only a few hints given about the Quarus until late in the series, and they are often referred to as the Destroyers, the name given to their war machines.

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