Royo was a geographer on Shakespeare.[1] He was first introduced in "Governor Wiggin".
History[]
Early Life[]
Royo was a grandchild of the International Fleet soldiers who fought the Formics in the Third Formic War. He grew up with Clara, another grandchild of the Fleet. They both knew that they each carried the Sleepless Gene, a genetic disease banned from propagating by the Ministry of Colonization.[1]
Governor Wiggin[]
Around the year 43 AX, Clara and Royo had fallen in love as they both worked on a team finding ways to extract iron on the metal-deficient planet of Shakespeare. Despite the ban on propagating their genetic disorder, they conceived a child together. When they found out that it had the Sleepless Gene, Royo performed an abortion on Clara. When they eventually found a Formic nursery with iron scraps, Luton Trey went to fetch the Governor of the colony, Ender Wiggin.[1]
When the reached the nursery, Ender asked the Xenologer Clara and geographer Royo about the findings at the nursery, and asked if they had checked with Zhang Fakhry, who had investigated the other nurseries. At dinner, Ender, Royo, Clara, Luton, Anwar and the metallurgist Munk had a traditional "completely unscientific specfest" where they would speculate on the things they found from the Formics to eventually discover what they were.[1]
The next morning, Ender talked with Royo and Clara about the Sleepless Gene issue. They told Ender that they had already ran their compatibilities, and that they knew they had the gene. They protested and cited that 3/4 of the colony could vote to exempt them, but Ender said that he and others would argue strongly against it. Ender proposed a hypothetical that Earth was destroyed and Shakespeare, lacking iron from Earth, eventually lost medical knowledge and let the gene run rampant in the colony. Ender inferred that they had previously gotten pregnant, found that it had the gene, and Royo being an EMT aborted it, and Clara wept. Ender told them that since they conceived a child they would have to be prosecuted. He gave them a few days to decide what to do, and told them to resume their work at the Formic nursery. Royo lashed out at Ender, saying that all he knew how to do was kill children, and left. Clara stayed, still crying.[1]
Ender stayed with the iron team for another day, but by then it was clear that Luton had things well in hand, as they had found a way to extract iron from the cave walls. In the weeks after this, Royo and Clara broke up. A month later the iron team returned to the capital of Miranda victorious. Ender did not get to talk to Royo until another month had passed, where Royo told him that he had gotten a reversible vasectomy but was going to go to Earth where the gene policy did not apply, leaving Clara behind. Royo sulked for about six months, but then he immersed himself in another project and seemed to have some kind of romantic involvement there, and when it came time for Royo to get aboard the next Earthbound ship, he did not apply for passage. Royo never had his vasectomy reversed, and even after he married his romantic interest, his wife did not get pregnant.[1]