Rijel Betta was a dark lady ruling an alternate world within the world of Gary: a tyrant posing as liberator, holder of a tower and a gate of the moon. She was executed; her sword was displayed as proof.
| Type | Character |
| Other names | Richard Betta, Rachel Betta, “Beta” |
| Spanish entry | Rijel Betta |
Description
A dark-skinned woman “of some strange race related to spiders”, and beyond it: “she is no longer a woman, she is something else”. She wore “a whole cybernetic armor, black”. Her face is carved in the caverns below; in one image “Richard Betta is here in the background, but here Richard Betta is not”.
Lineage and hierarchy
She is once called “the daughter”, possibly of Nancy, who “came and used the technology”. Her arachnid nature is linked to the cult of “An—”, a name cut off in the records. In the chain of command she is “Beta”, who “has to speak with Alpha”. Her name worked “as if it were a code”.
Rule
She had a tower, a gate of the moon, avatars holding Maryville, and kidnapped companions. She led an empire of women, “especially Black women and other oppressed races and ethnicities”, called from outside “a definitely communist terrorist faction”, promising “a supposedly freer world” under her own tyranny. She kidnapped a youth who had worked for the Foundation, to attempt a ritual. The Foundation offered 50,000 for her alive.
Fall
Her gate of the moon could tip the balance of power. A gesta (campaign-cycle) was declared “to finish Richard Betta and her dominion”, and she was killed. Her post passed at once to the Russian military specialist who killed her. She had been “guardian of this place” alongside her declared rival, Clara Kling.
Conflicting accounts
- Her name is recorded seven ways; the convention fixes Rijel Betta, a woman despite the masculine-sounding variant.
- “Woman” versus “something else”: her final state is not fixed.
Open questions
- How many gates of the moon exist; what Alpha is.
- The ritual, and whether it was completed.
- Her tie to Nancy; what “the technology” was; what she and Clara Kling guarded.