GLOSSARY
NAMES (MAIN CHARACTERS IN ITALICS)
Aachim: The human species native to the
world of Aachan, once conquered and enslaved by a small force of
invading Charon (the Hundred). The Aachim are great artisans and
engineers, but melancholy or prone to hubris and arrogance. In
ancient times, many were brought to Santhenar by Rulke in the
fruitless hunt for the Golden Flute. The Aachim flourished on
Santhenar, but were later betrayed by Rulke and ruined in the
Clysm. They then withdrew from the world to their hidden mountain
cities. The ones remaining on Aachan gained their freedom after the
Forbidding was broken, when the surviving Charon went back to the
void. Two hundred years later, violent volcanic activity broke out
on Aachan, threatening to destroy all life on the planet, and the
Aachim sought desperately for a way of escape.
Alie: A servant at Nyriandiol.
Barkus: Deceased master crafter of
controllers at the manufactory, uncle of Irisis.
Cloor: Chief Miner at the manufactory
mine.
Coeland: Matriarch (Wise Mother) of the
lyrinx in Kalissin.
Colm: A resourceful boy who befriends
Nish in the refugee camp.
Cryl-Nish Hlar: A
former scribe, a prober in secret and a reluctant artificer,
generally known as Nish.
Dandri: A senior miner and team
leader.
Eiryn Muss: Halfwit; an air-moss grower
and harmless pervert, he turned out to be the scrutator’s prober
(spy) in the manufactory, and vanished.
Faellem: A long-lived human species who
have passed out of the Histories, though some may still dwell on
Santhenar.
Fistila Tyr: An artisan in the
manufactory.
Flammas: A kindly, forgetful mancer.
Ullii spent years in his dungeon.
Fley: A mute servant at Nyriandiol.
Gurtey’s husband.
Fransi: Younger sister of Colm.
Fusshte: A treacherous member of the
Council of Scrutators.
Fyn-Mah: The querist (chief of municipal
intelligence bureau) at Tiksi.
Ghorr: The Chief Scrutator and Flydd’s
enemy.
Gilhaelith:
An eccentric geomancer and mathemancer who
dwells at Nyriandiol and whose obsession is the great game of the
earth.
Gir-Dan: Captain at the manufactory; he
has been sent there for ‘evaluation’.
Guss: Gilhaelith’s foreman
Gyrull: Matriarch of the lyrinx city at
Snizort.
Haani: Tiaan’s adopted sister,
accidentally killed by the Aachim in Tirthrax.
Halie: A scrutator on the council and
supporter of Flydd.
Hila: Flydd’s air-floater pilot.
Inthis: Vithis’s clan of Aachim, first
of the Eleven Clans (First Clan).
Irisis:
Crafter, in charge of the controller artisans
at the manufactory; niece of Barkus.
Jal-Nish Hlar: The
perquisitor for Einunar; Nish’s father.
Joeyn (Joe): An old miner, Tiaan’s
friend, killed in a roof fall.
Jym: One of Flydd’s guards.
Ketila: Elder sister of Colm.
Klarm: Scrutator for Borgistry; a
dwarf.
Liett:
A lyrinx with unarmoured skin and no chameleon
ability; a talented flesh-former.
Liliwen: Daughter of Troist and Yara,
twin of Meriwen.
Luxor: A conciliatory Aachim clan
leader.
Lyrinx: Massive winged humanoids who
came out of the void to Santhenar after the Forbidding was broken.
Highly intelligent, they are able to utilise the Secret Art, most
commonly for keeping their heavy bodies in flight. They have
armoured skin and a chameleon-like ability to change their colours
and patterns, often used for communication (skin-speech). Some
lyrinx are also flesh-formers; they can change small organisms into
desired forms using the Art. In the void they used a similar
ability to pattern their unborn young so as to survive in that
harsh environment. As a consequence, they are not entirely
comfortable in their powerful bodies.
Malien:
A venerable but ostracised Aachim living in
Tirthrax; a heroine from the time of the Mirror. Also known as the
Matah.
Marnie: Tiaan’s mother, a prize breeder
of children.
Matron: Woman in charge of the breeding
factory at Tiksi.
Meriwen: Daughter of Troist and Yara,
twin of Liliwen.
Merryl: A human slave who teaches human
languages to the lyrinx. Also known as Tutor.
Mihail: Gilhaelith’s manservant
Minis: A young
Aachim man of high stature and foster-son of Vithis. Also Tiaan’s
dream lover who was forced to spurn her when the Aachim came
through the gate to Tirthrax.
Mira: Yara’s sister who dwells at
Morgadis. She is embittered after the loss of her husband and three
sons in the war. She communicates by skeet with a coalition of
like-minded people.
M’lainte: The mechanician in charge of
balloon construction.
Mounce: A disrespectful sergeant in
Troist’s army.
Munnand: A lyrinx.
Myllii: Ullii’s long-lost twin
brother.
Nish:
Cryl-Nish’s nickname.
Nivulee: The navigator on Flydd’s
air-floater.
Nixx: Gilhaelith’s seneschal
Numinator, the: A mysterious figure
mentioned by Flydd when in his cups.
Nylatl, the:
A malicious creature created by Ryll and
Liett’s flesh-forming. It killed Haani’s aunts and mother and
attacked Tiaan.
Nyrd: Messenger to Gilhaelith.
Oinan: Father of Colm.
Old Hyull: A venerable lyrinx, husband
of Matriarch Gyrull.
Oon-Mie: A cheerful and reliable artisan
at the manufactory.
Peate: A resentful senior miner.
Ranii Mhel: An examiner; mother of
Nish.
Ranii Shyrr: Troist’s envoy.
Rulke: The greatest of all the Charon,
he created the first construct.
Ruvix: Flydd’s sergeant.
Ryll:
An ostracised wingless lyrinx who captured
Tiaan and subsequently used her in flesh-forming. After Tiaan saved
his life, he allowed her to escape from Kalissin.
Seeker: One who can sense use of the
Secret Art, or people who have that talent, or even enchanted
objects. Ullii is one.
S’lound: A soldier who travelled with
Nish in the balloon to Tirthrax. He was killed when it
landed.
Tchlrrr: A young soldier in Troist’s
army.
Tiaan
Liise-Mar: A young
artisan; a visual thinker and talented controller-maker. With the
amplimet, she picked up Minis’s cry for help, fell in love with him
and carried the amplimet all the way to Tirthrax, where she used it
in opening a gate to Aachan, to save Minis and his
people.
Tinketil: Mother of Colm.
Tirior: An Aachim clan leader.
Troist: An ambitious junior officer in
the army destroyed by the lyrinx at Nilkerrand.
Tuniz: A senior artificer from Crandor,
now overseer at the manufactory.
Tyara: A young friend of Minis.
Ullii:
A hypersensitive seeker, used by Scrutator
Flydd to track Tiaan and the amplimet.
Vithis:
Minis’s foster-father; an Aachim from Aachan
and the head of Inthis First Clan. When all First Clan (except
Minis) were lost in the gate, he became bitterness steeped in
bile.
Vunio: A young friend of Minis.
Xervish Flydd:
The scrutator (spymaster and master
inquisitor) for Einunar. He now leads the hunt for Tiaan and the
amplimet and the defence of the manufactory.
Yara: A brilliant advocate, wife to
Troist.
Yorme: One of Flydd’s guards.
Zoyl Aarp: A clever but naïve and
childish artisan.
MAJOR ARTEFACTS, FORCES AND POWERFUL NATURAL PLACES
Amplimet: A rare hedron which, even in
its natural state, can draw power from the force (the field) surrounding and permeating a node.
Occasionally can be very powerful.
Anthracism: Human internal combustion
due to a mancer or an artisan drawing more power than the body can
handle. Invariably fatal (gruesomely).
Booreah Ngurle (the Burning Mountain): A
large, double-cratered volcano in northern Worm Wood, with a blue
crater lake. It has a strange and powerful double node.
Gilhaelith’s home, Nyriandiol, is built on the inner rim of the
crater.
Clanker (also armoped or thumpeter): An
armoured mechanical war cart with six, eight or ten legs and an
articulated body, driven by the Secret Art via a controller
mechanism which is used by a trained operator. Armed with a
rock-throwing catapult and a javelard (heavy spear-thrower) which
are fired by a shooter riding on top. Clankers are made under
supervision of a mechanician, artisan and weapons artificer.
Emergency power is stored in a pair of heavy spinning flywheels, in
case the field is interrupted.
Construct: A vehicle powered by the
Secret Art, based on some of the secrets of Rulke’s legendary
vehicle. Unlike Rulke’s, those made by the Aachim cannot fly.
Controller: A mind-linked mechanical
system of many flexible arms which draws power through a hedron and feeds it to the drive mechanisms of a
clanker. A controller is attuned to a
particular hedron, and the operator must be trained to use each
controller, which takes time. Operators suffer withdrawal if
removed from their machines for long periods, and inconsolable
grief when their machines are destroyed, although this may be
alleviated if the controller survives and can be installed in
another clanker. The term is used in a more general sense, eg.
construct controller.
Crystal fever: A hallucinatory madness
suffered by artisans and clanker operators, brought on by overuse
of a hedron. Few recover from it. Mancers
can suffer from related ailments.
Field: The diffuse (or weak) force
surrounding and permeating (and presumably generated by) a
node. It is the source of a mancer’s
power. Various stronger forces are also
known to exist, although no one knows how to tap them safely.
Non-nodal stress-fields also occur, though on Santhenar these are
weak and little-used.
Flesh-forming: A branch of the Secret
Art that only lyrinx can use. Developed to adapt themselves to the
ever-mutable void where they came from, it now involves the slow
transformation of a living creature, tailoring it to suit some
particular purpose. It is painful for both creature and lyrinx, and
can be employed only on small creatures, though the lyrinx seek to
change that.
Gate: A portal between one place (or one
world) and another, connected by a shifting trans-dimensional
‘wormhole’.
Geomancy: The most difficult and
powerful of all the Secret Arts. An adept is able to draw upon the
forces that move and shape the world. A most dangerous Art to the
user.
Hedron: A natural or shaped crystal,
formed deep in the earth from fluids that circulate through a
natural node. Trained artisans can tune a
hedron to draw power from the field surrounding a node, via the
ethyr. Rutilated quartz, that is, quartz crystal containing dark
needles of rutile, is commonly used. The artisan must first ‘wake’
the crystal using his or her pliance. If
it is too far from a node, a hedron will be unable to draw power
and becomes useless. If a hedron is not used for long periods, it
may have to be rewoken by an artisan, though this can be
hazardous.
Kalissin: A spire of foamed meteoritic
iron arising from the centre of the meteor crater of Lake Kalissi.
It has a powerful node and is a centre for lyrinx
flesh-forming.
Nennifer: The great bastion of the
Council of Scrutators, on the escarpment over Kalithras, the
Desolation Sink. Nennifer is home to countless mancers, artisans
and artificers, all furiously working to design new kinds of
Art-powered devices to aid the war against the lyrinx
Nigah: A drug used by the army under
extreme conditions to combat cold, fatigue and pain, though
addiction can make users aggressive, paranoid and delusional.
Nodes: Rare places in the world where
the Secret Art works better because of the field surrounding the
node. Once identified, a hedron (or a
mancer) can sometimes draw power from the
node’s field through the ethyr, though the amount diminishes with
distance, not always regularly. A clanker
operator must be alert for the loss and ready to draw on another
node, if available. The field can be drained, in which case the
node may not be usable for years, or even centuries (cf.Torgnadr).
Mancers have long sought the secret of drawing on the far greater
power of a node itself (cf. Power, Nunar’s General Theory of Power) but so far it has eluded
them (or maybe those who succeeded did not live to tell about
it).
There are also anti-nodes where the Art does not work at all, or is dangerously disrupted. Nodes and anti-nodes are frequently (though not always) associated with natural features or forces such as mountains, faults and hot spots.
Nyriandiol: Gilhaelith’s home, fortress
and laboratory on top of Booreah Ngurle. The entire building is a
geomantic artefact designed to protect him and enhance his
work.
Patterner: A semi-organic device
developed by the lyrinx to pattern torgnadrs and other artefacts used in their Art.
The patterner essentially copies a particular human’s talent into
the growing torgnadr, thereby greatly enhancing the talent and
allowing it to be controlled by a lyrinx who is skilled in the
Art.
Pliance: A device which enables an
artisan to see the field and tune a
controller to it.
Port-all: Tiaan’s name for the device
she makes in Tirthrax to open the gate.
Power: A mancer, Nunar, codified the
laws of mancing, noting how limited it was, mainly because of lack
of power. She recognised that mancing was held back because:
- Power came from diffuse and poorly understood sources.
- It all went through the mancer first, causing aftersickness that grew greater the more powerful the source. Eventually power, or aftersickness, would kill the mancer.
- The traditional way around this was to charge up an artefact (such as a mirror, a ring) with power over a long time, and to simply trigger it when needed. This had some advantages, though objects could be hard to control or become corrupted, and once discharged were essentially useless.
- Yet some of the ancients had used devices that held a charge, or perhaps replenished themselves. No one knew how, but it had to be so, else how could they maintain their power for hundreds if not thousands of years (for example, the Mirror of Aachan), or use quite prodigious amounts of power without becoming exhausted (Rulke’s legendary construct) ?
Nunar assembled a team of mancers utterly devoted to her project (no mean feat) and set out to answer these questions. Mancing was traditionally secretive—practitioners tried (often wasting their lives in dead ends) and usually failed alone. Only the desperate state of the war could have made them work together, sharing their discoveries, until the genius of Nunar put together the Special Theory of Power, which described where the diffuse force came from and how a mancer actually tapped it, drawing not through the earthly elements but via the ultradimensional ethyr.
The ultimate goals of theoretical mancers are the General Theory of Power, which deals with how nodes work and how they might be tapped safely, and, ultimately, the Unified Power Theory, which reconciles all fields, weak and strong, in terms of a single force.
Secret Art: The use of magical or
sorcerous powers (mancing).
Snizort: A place in Taltid with a potent
and concentrated node, near the famous tar pits and seeps.
Strong forces: Powerful planar fields
that are speculated to exist at nodes, though no mancer studying
them has survived to prove their existence.
Thapter: Tiaan’s name for the flying
construct she and Malien created in
Tirthrax.
Torgnadr: Also called node-drainer. A
device patterned by the lyrinx to drain a field dry, or to channel power from the field for
their own purposes. Torgnadrs are extremely difficult to pattern and most attempts fail, though some result
in weak devices such as phynadrs which can draw small amounts of
power for a particular purpose.
Well of Echoes, the: An Aachim concept
to do with the reverberation of time, memory and the Histories.
Sometimes a place of death and rebirth (to the same cycling fate).
Also a sense of being trapped in history, of being helpless to
change collective fate (of a family, clan or species). Its origin
is sometimes thought to be a sacred well on Aachan, sometimes on
Santhenar. The term has become part of Aachim folklore. ‘I have
looked in the Well of Echoes.’ ‘I heard it at the Well.’ ‘I will go
to the Well.’ Possibly also a source; a great node.
The Well is symbolised by the three-dimensional symbol of infinity, the universe and nothingness. A Well of Echoes, trapped in Tirthrax, is held there only by the most powerful magic.