Glossary

The setting of our sword & sorcery game/story is developed with “just in time” principles – we make it up as we go, in other words. This glossary/index exists mostly to keep the authors straight on minor setting continuity and spelling, but if you’re the sort of reader who likes an index of weird made-up words as a window on imaginary cultures, then here you are. Nobody in particular is responsible for the glossary being up to date and factual, so caveat emptor and all that; insofar as the story has a canon, the glossary is not part of it, being rather a matter of secondary record-keeping and head-canon speculation upon minor tidbits. Anything may be overwritten at will.

Locations

Jeweled Swamps
The Karst
Paisvien the Beautiful
Scarlet City

Miscellaneous Entries

Jeweled Swamps

A distant, forgotten corner of a vast equatorial jungle, home to ancient secrets and horrors unknown to civilized man. The Jeweled Swamps lie in a great river valley far in-land along the course of river the Great.

Geography
Armen
An exotic tribal kingdom on the shores of a distant sea
Bitter Side
The expanse of unnatural mangrove woods in the north of the jeweled swamps, near the cliffbreak Kenath
Kenath
One of the great escarpments criss-crossing the jungles of Kiho and Armen
Kiho
A colonial city-state in the estuary of River the Great
Lamorak
One of the great escarpments criss-crossing the jungles of Kiho and Armen
Rivergap
Tumultuous rapids in river the Great form where the escarpments of Kenath and Lamorak meet
River the Great
The great river of Kiho, perhaps the greatest in the world
Strait and Sea
A Maricite saying denoting the colonial sphere of Scarlet City interests, beyond the great gulf
People
Boikol
Troop elder of the Dhole-Men
Boikolo Rai
A scout of the Dhole-Men and a companion of Derak; son of Boikol and grandson of Pale
Pushka
A village chief of the Dhole-Men, victim to a foul curse
Kurava
A Dhole-Man hunter foully murdered
Culture
Dholes
Local species of canines akin to fox or wolf.
Bejeweled Fern
The titular plant of the Jeweled Swamps, the fern carries large berries that are easily mistook for jewels
Gorals
A species of wild goat native to this area.
Emblem of Wrath
A magical chant that causes despair and fear in its victims
Mayugita
Ancient nihilistic priesthood that manipulates true entropic magic. Real magic destroys, and by the act makes possible real transmutation.
Pulaka
A type of savoury potato or turnip usually grown in pits dug on the bitter shore of river the Great.
Shalmali
Ancient hedonistic priesthood that focuses on the craft of soul and flesh. Theirs is a magic of crafting and cunning, shaping and melding.
Syncopatic Ward
A specialized magical ward against certain Shalmali sapientia

The Karst

A land-poor, mountainous coastal region west of the Magocratic Plainsdom. The rain trapped by the mountains has eroded the bare bedrock into a maze of cliffs, inlets, outlets and a carnival of other rocky landforms. The inhabitants are in the main poor sheep-herders.

Geography
Lunar Citadel
A mysterious lichen-covered ruin on the Saur Rock, home to little but puffins and great blocks of stone. Once the Lunar Citadel was home to a fearsome magical lore that resisted even imperial ambition, yet today little remains.
Saur Rock
A peninsula on the outer coast, in the middle of the Karst. Mostly formed by a large, singular rock that rises out of the sea to a level higher than the mainland next to it.
Tramellin
The most prominent of the Karst trading towns, and the only one with a decent harbour.
People
Besnik
A soap-maker living in Tramellin. Lucie met him in a chance encounter and befriended the poor craftsman.
Bungisngis
The One-Eyed Poet or The Mad Poet was the official imperial poet of Empress Hadracia, a dozen centuries ago.
Bungisgan
An old man of a thousand sleepless nights, and a deadly foe to Lucie Martlet. A kind of a reincarnation of Bungisngis the Mad.
Dreamer
The mysterious denizen, last living survivor of the Lunar Citadel. His original name was Abanir Loth, but that is just one of the many things he has given up.
Harshrat
A Karst Bogatyr of poor manners and boorish personality. He got into personal conflict with Lucie when she first arrived in Karst.
Natric Kryfis
An influential elder of a robber clan in Tramellin. Natric has an old grudge with Besnik, and thus comes to the orbit of Lucie as well.
Padav
A friend Lucie made on the way to the Karst. She’s a caravan trader apprenticed to her own father.
Samet
A friend Lucie made on the way to the Karst. She’s an excess daughter of a family of sharecroppers in the Plainsdom, traveling to the Karst to seek a husband in a marriage contest.
Culture
Bogatyr
A type of landless knight or thug in the Karst and outer coasts in general. They are expected to live on their horse and die by the sword.
Eitagon
Lit. “in the origins of Eita” or “despite Eita”, a common exclamation or curse among the Basal peoples. Its meaning has been stripped by the march of time, but “Eita” apparently was a god old even in the preimperial times, worshipped by the Basal genus.
The First Law of Magic
As stated by Lucie: “True Magic operates from meaning, not nature”, and another time: “That’s all there is to True Magic, true reasoning on the precepts of magical thinking.” The Law is not a restriction upon magic, but rather a description: magical action is wrought with rites and ideas full of cognizant meaning, while the bare laws of nature are essentially meaningless to it. In other words, magic works because it’s working expresses a powerful idea, and fails because so failing expresses an even greater one.
Kryfis
One of handful of illicit robber clans of Karst. Kryfis has far-ranging membership numbering in the hundreds or thousands all around Karst, and engages in various sorts of predatory exploitation as opportunity warrants, often at the expense of the common villein or manorial knight. Basically, a Karstite mafia. Manor-holders and their knights are generally antagonistic to Kryfis, but its members are more capable of holding their own than your average serf, particularly as joining a robber clan is not an uncommon career move for a bogatyr.
Order of the Lunar Heresy
A fanatical sect that was established to remove even the idea of Lunar Citadel from existence. They worshipped Hadracia as a god manifested in human form and have followed their grisly task from the past in the shadows.
The Last Law
Or, the Third Law of Magic. It may be that nobody in the world knows its true nature. However, we do know that some masters of the arts both think that it exists and that it is the last one. “Perhaps there is naught to it, no limit but the Will.” “It all comes to an end, eventually.” For glossary purposes, consider this: change in the universe is a constant, yet the most powerful magic, the most powerful Meaning, is unchanging. Something has to give.
The Other Law
Or, the Second Law of Magic. It is ill-known to the world, and held so obvious by the elevated individual who masters a True Magic that he hardly conceives of it in words. For glossary purposes, this is how we know the secret: True Magic begins where humanity ends, and its use is inherently dehumanizing. In what way, that depends on the magic, but it is necessarily, tautologically true that any magic held by the mind of what we consider Man is not the True Magic, but rather part of the human condition and therefore a lesser craft.
Otherwhere
A dream world inside dream. The Dreamer argues that it was created by him and his fellow denizens of the Lunar Citadel centuries ago. By his words it is a paradise of equality, peace and prosperity, a world of wonder equal to baseline reality in all respects. We know that it is a world rich and complex, with natural laws and no magic in it, for the keepers of the dome made it thus to prevent the entrance of elder secrets that would ruin the world. We, the denizens of Otherwere, thank them for it.
The Veil
An old occult concept related to the theory of magic, common cosmological inheritance to various older mystery cults. Two possible meanings: first is that whatever it is that separates the world from the transcendent is the “Veil”; the other, of concern to the practicing magician, is that whatever it is that prevents the Will from bending the world to do its bidding is the “Veil”. Either way, the Veil stands between the man and the ultimate. As to its actual nature, the occult world has little agreement; we do not know why the world and the One are separate. The Veil tends to have various names, e.g. the Dreamer seems to call it the “moonscape”.
The Real Dream
A dream world consisting of the combined knowledge and ideas of all the dreamers of the world. It is an Akashic reality, drawn upon by the poets, mediums and madmen.
Vacuous Triumph
The name used at the Lunar Citadel for their victory against the Golden Empress. It was a water-shed moment, for her exertions against the Citadel forced a choice upon the unique civilization dwelling within.

Paisvien the Beautiful

An old imperial province that has benefited from a rich, largely peaceful mixture of cultures and a transition to a feudal rule. Childhood home of Lucie, a land of rich agriculture and brisk trade. Rich as well in wealth and justice compared to many parts of the world.

Geography
Sarenom
Lucie’s family home, a manor house near Tolosa.
Sectarian Lyceum
A major school in Tolosa, originally established by the Duke in the aftermath of the religious wars. One of the very greatest institutions of learning of the modern world, comparable to the Vicenza library.
Tolosa
The greatest city in the Paisvien, at one time home to Lucie.
People
Johanne
Lucie’s Lady Mother, of the house of Tressam. An overbearing matriarch committed to the ancient ways of Paisvien, and as full a follower of the flamine creed as there are this day.
Marcheline
Lucie’s aunt, whom Lucie ever only knew as a catatonic family heirloom, a living reminder of the dangers of occlusion.
The Wanderer
A male perfectant whom Lucie met in her youth. She learned about transcendental philosophy from him, and hasn’t been the same since.
Culture
Argestic
The language spoken in Paisvien is usually called “Basal”, as in other formerly imperial lands, but it’s actually a language separate from that spoken in the Marical Valley; scholars and travelers generally call the language “Argestic Basal”, in contrast to other varieties. Argestic is a high literary language, one of three Basal varieties alongside Maric and whatever closely related dialect they speak in the Magocracy.
Gresal
An occult name used to signify the immanent transcendent – the supernatural being made material – in certain old-empire philosophies. The concept has become popular lore in the Paisvien and similar old empire territories. The full name is often quoted as gresal apeiron, the “infinite fount”.
Inner Speculum
A cognitive concept utilized by the so-called “flamine arts” of uterine nobility in Paisvien. We would call it “conscious introspection”, except the Speculum seems to involve a meditative aspects as well. Lucie does this all the time, thinking to herself about her emotions and mien or both; “I am being angry” or such. The women of the uterine culture use this and similar methods in self-discipline and to train courtly behavior.
Lares
Elves, gnomes, minor spirits, particularly those of the house and hearth. A belief originating in the imperial times. More of a rural superstition.
Mien
A concept of courtly behavior in Paisvien. The “mien” in Tolose is the behavioral mask that a person chooses to project from moment to moment. Gentle society expects particularly women to control their behavior in public, such that every gesture or expression is in fact presumed to be intentional, even when delivered with a mien of spontaneity. In those conditions the mien becomes stylized, developing both ironically self-referential and obfuscatory levels, formalizing to such degree that different miens may have their own names apart from the feelings and attitudes they portray.
Occlusion
A mental disease relatively common among the Uterine nobility, particularly women. Similar to autism. The flamine creed claims that occlusion is caused by wrong practice of the flamine arts.
Perfectant
A local type of mage, philosopher or friar in the Paisvien region. The perfectants dress in white, travel in pairs and perform miraculous deeds, empowered by a strict ascetic regimen.
Serpina
An illicit goddess figure from Paisviennese folklore; she is the mistress of the Moon, blood and magic. Not actively worshipped anymore, but known in fairy tales and myths for an intimate association with the Gresal.
Self-reflection
A type of meditation or self-hypnosis practiced in the flamine arts. The flamine girls learn at a young age to put themselves under. Self-reflection is the state in which flamines work on the passive aspects of their discipline, teasing apart strands of their own identity and weaving them together again. It is not that different from real-world meditation practices, truly.
Uterine Nobility
Also called “ancient nobility” or “flamines”, the uterine families form the elder part of the Paisviennese aristocracy, tracing their roots to a priesthood influential in the imperial province of old. They are the most respected, yet not necessarily the most powerful of the Paisviennese elites, for their influence comes mainly from tradition and land ownership. The true defining difference between an uterine family and the “new men” of nobility is matrilinear descent practiced by the uterines. It is a source of legal difficulty.

Scarlet City

The great city of trade and intrigue; home to Derak of the East and a motley variety of traders, assassins, scholars and priests. The Serene Scarlet, as it is also known, lies in the lush Marical Valley, on the shore of the great Inland Gulf, greatest among the cities of the valley.

Geography
Crook District
One of the city districts of Scarlet. Crook is situated on the north bank of the Marical estuary, in the “crook” formed by the bank as the river opens into the bay. It was the last city district established, coming into existence as a foreigner’s quarters at first. New expansive docs were built in the district to better serve Hillside, which in time became a defining characteristic for the area.
Cytheral House
A high-class house of pleasure, situated in the Hillside.
Docs Road
A major street in Scarlet, starting from the Vineyard Gate and continuing through Hillside and into the Crook, ending at the Docs Market therein.
Delmassa
A narrow yet longish strip of shoreline where the mountains meet the gulf, about a day’s sailing from Scarlet. The land is mainly arboreal, occupied with fruit-growing and sheep-herding. The denizens are of Marical-speaking barbarian stock. Delmassa is considered integral territory for Scarlet, and the city’s most important holding outside its immediate terrestrial environment.
Estuary District
One of the city districts of Scarlet, situated literally on the islands of the river estuary. The few larger islands hold some great houses and government functions, while the smaller ones mainly anchor docs and float constructs of the lesser folk. At one point the city was reduced to little but the Estuary, and it is still a mixed area with all urban functions more or less represented in miniature.
Filth Alley
A notorious backstreet in the Crook District of Scarlet, known meeting place of the city’s underworld.
Fronesis
The old name of the Scarlet City was “Fronesis Quinto”, the fifth city built as a Fronesian planned city. The actual Fronesis was only intended to encompass the current district of the Old Hill, but organic growth and historical destruction has since eroded much of the old plan. The city’s proper name is still Fronesis, so it might appear on governmental paperworks and such even if the citizens don’t use the name any more.
Fruit Temple
A temple of well-known harvest cult. The high officials of the city tend to favor it and it is said that the networks of the cult are used by the politicians as well as the believers.
Hillside District
One of the city districts of Scarlet, cradled between the Old Hill and the Marical river. Hillside is the oldest proper district of the city, having been occupied since the Hill proved insufficient to the needs of the population early in the city’s existence. After being largely destroyed during the Bitter Years, Hillside has since been rebuilt into the effective heart of urban activity, particularly service industries and middle class housing.
Marical Valley
The expansive watershed area of the Marical river, essentially an important imperial province that has thoroughly lost its political cohesion, being dominated today by a number of city-states. The cultural similarities and a shared language are clear despite the political fractures.
Old Hill
The original site of Fronesis, the city that would become Scarlet in time. The district has its own separate fortifications, but the historically disappointing access to fresh water has sharply limited the habitation; to this day carrying water uphill along the Supply Road is a routine occurrence, waiting for an aqueduct that never seems to happen. There is significant empty land within the Hill walls, but also monumental stonework: the Senate building (old Imperial Quarters), Fruit Temple, some senatorial residences and such.
The Ridges
A mountain system and highlands curtailing the Marical watershed in the northern parts. The lands behind are somewhat remote due to being very much non-accessible by water.
Ruby Dancer
An upscale inn in the Hillside district of Scarlet.
Sheath
A powerful city-state up in the headwaters of the Marical river. In many ways the opposite of Scarlet: significant barbarian heritage instead of an imperial past; firmly continental instead of maritime; strong monarchistic tradition instead of a republic; focus on power politics instead of trade. The conflict between the two over the domination of Marical Valley has long been predicted as the great political story of the new age.
Southside District
One of the city districts of Scarlet, Southside is a long strip of unfortified urbanization on the south side of the Marical. The Southside was resettled after the Bitter years by small crafters escaping the unsuited conditions of the Estuary. It has historically grown in a haphazard manner compared to the northern bank of the city, which has tended to mean a lack of meaningful roads and a preference for minor docks all along the river. Overall Southside would be near impossible to defend in an urban siege situation.
Sunken House
A half-submerged urban manor in the Estuary district. Owned and used as a home by Daag Sit-Fence.
Tabrams
A series of large townhouses – maisons – in new Hillside. Built and owned by one of the City’s rich merchant princes as a stable investment in renting.
Three Lanterns
An upscale tavern – restaurant – in the Hillside district. Owned in sole custody by Miss Lamy, an old acquaintance of Derak’s.
Vicenza
A minor independent city near Scarlet; home to a great library.
Vineyard Gate
Today the grandest entrance to the Scarlet City. The gate is part of the new wall connecting the Old Hill ramparts to the river, and thus defining the further extent of the city on the upriver side. The gate’s immediate environ often plays an important part in the civil celebrations of the city, and it features one of the greatest plazas in the city.
People
King Aistulf
The current king of Sheath, a rival city-state upriver from the Scarlet City. Ambitious sort, commonly believed to desire the unification of the Marical Valley. Proud of his title as the King of the Longaxi, even if it is a title with but historical importance today.
Bull the Gladiator
A famous, now deceased gladiator in the Scarlet. He employed an effective fighting technique later called “Sharp-Edged Triangle”.
Calder Abersson
A foreign scholar Lucie met in Vicenza. He helped her, but discovering her interest in the Forbidden Name, came to be her foe.
Chrysal
An independent prostitute living in the Hillside. Chrysal has recently left the protections of the Cytheral House behind, but has landed on her feet reasonably well.
Daag “Sit-Fence”
A criminal fence and mob boss in Scarlet City, with his power-base in the Crook district in particular.
The Four Bravos
Four thugs working for the mad Bungisgan. They are Castelmore (cowardly yet cunning leader); Fere (an elder drunkard); Herblay (religious pervert); Vallon (former soldier, strong yet dumb). The latter three are from Paisvien, but the gang only really came together in Scarlet. Nice people.
Fox
The Girl of a Thousand Blades, a master-assassin rumored to be trained by southern magicians. Used thrown weapons and alchemy. She had a connection with the Cytheral House, and liked the pretense of being a nights-desiree; used the name “Alethea” in that context.
Godry “Limber”
A swift-footed criminal runner in Daag’s service. Getting a bit old for the job, so technically speaking an adult bravo; it’s just that Godry’s rather a coward at heart for all his footspeed.
Miss Lamy
A well-to-do restaurateur in Scarlet, an old acquaintance of Derak’s. Proprietor of the Three Lanterns, a popular genteel destination. She feels some gratitude to Derak for killing an abusive husband a few years back and putting her into a position to run the tavern on her own.
Limahl
A wise woman of the Leper Corporate
Nother Barak
An adventurer of northern stock, joined the expedition to the Jeweled Swamps
Papak Vicente
Derak’s mentor and friend in Scarlet
Phryne
A friend and roommate of Chrysal’s, a younger girl. Phryne works as a shop assistant to a colorist – a maker and seller of paints and dyes – and is a dextrous painter herself.
Yasul
A mad, genious mechanic of eastern origin, who’s slave Derak was earlier. Man who taught Derak his craft with clockworks.
Culture
Barbarian Settlement
Also known as the Settlement of the Sheath. A peace accord conducted in 592 between the invading barbarian peoples and the remnants of the imperial authority in Marical Valley. The Settlement ceded roughly half of the Valley to the invaders in exchange for peace and the freedom for the rest of Marical to organize itself as it would.
Ballo
Literally the dance. The institutional duel of two hard men. A lawless act, yet known social phenomena in the city.
Bitter Years
The years between the retreat of the last emperor from Marical Valley and the beginning of the Barbarian Settlement, roughly 544–592. The era is named thus in Scarlet for the hardships suffered by the city in constant barbarian raids. Much of the population was forced to retreat to the small, boggy isles of the Marical river estuary, where fresh water was in short supply and the salty estuary water was the drink of choice for the poor.
Calendar
Basically derived from the old imperial calendar: the year starts on the day of the spring equinox – the Juvenalia – and is divided into 12 months of 30 days each. Each month has four weeks, with alternating 7 and 8 days in each week, so that weekend (the “nundines” or market day) falls on the 7th, 15th, 22nd and 30th day of each month. The nine first months are “proper months” and the year ends in a ritualistic sense at Midwinter, leaving the last quarter as a kind of an intercalary period; the actual intercalary days are added to the end of the last month while waiting for the spring equinox. Days are usually counted in relation to the closest “calendar day”, the 1st of each month: for days 1–15 of a month it’s the “Nth day of month X” or “N since X”, and for days 16–30 “Nth day before month X+1” or “N before X”. The “calendar day” may, of course, be called the “kalends”, and the 15th–16th (the watershed when the daycount flips) the “ides”.
Coinbiter
A prominent cult/extortion operation in Scarlet; Coinbiter the god (or goblin, rather) may capture a dying person’s soul in certain circumstances, forcing relatives to pay a ransom to the Coinbiter Shrine for a safe release to a more favourable afterlife. For his acolytes it’s a living.
Communism
A democratic political philosophy in Marical culture: communists believe that legitimacy of rule in a city originates in the will of the people. There are many smaller cities in the Marical Valley that became independent during the Bitter Years by declaring themselves as “communes” independent from imperial rule. The Scarlet City is not a commune in this sense despite the empire being long past.
Contortionist Squad
A Scarlet criminal organization often disguising themselves as street performers. Skilled jaunters, acrobats.
Free Scholars
A lower class of nobility in Scarlet, generally dedicated to learning and the liberal professions.
Grieving Waters Procession
One of the picturesque rituals of the Scarlet City: the most distinguished leaders of the City, including the Pseudoduke and his Senior Censors, travel through the City on foot and boat, from the Old Hill to the Estuary and back again, showing their piety on various little ways on the way. At the end the Senate assembles at the Fruit Temple for solemn prayer. The Procession occurs in the middle of the so-called festival week, on the day of the Summer Post (summer solstice), the third day of Summer.
The Gurdy
Hurdy-gurdy, a funky string instrument that sounds a bit like the bag-pipe. Popular among the lower classes in Scarlet.
Jaunting
Parkour in Scarlet parlance – a common skill among thieves and assassins.
Juvenalia
A traditional spring festival in the Marical valley, and the date of the new year, as the summer day-count begins. Scarlet City particularly goes bacchanalistic, with the Fruit temple putting real money into it and everybody believing that the city’s continuous prosperity depends on its special Juvenalia rites.
Longax Barbarians
The main tribe of barbarians in the assault on the Marical Valley at the end of the imperial era were the Longaxes. The Marical people nowadays refer to all people of the northern barbarian stock as Longaxes when a distinction from other sorts of foreigners (barbarians) needs to be made. Blonde hair and blue eyes are considered typical of the Longaxes. They live mostly in the upper parts of the Marical Valley, and can be called “Sheathsmen” pretty interchangeably, as Sheath is considered a particularly Longax city.
Leper Corporate
A Scarlet guild/family of lepers, beggars and healers, famous in folk stories for their healing prowess.
Maric
The language of the Scarlet City and its environs, the Marical Valley. Part of the Basal family of languages, and sometimes called simply “Basal” by parochials.
Mask Market
The hidden organization that buys and sells information in the city anonymously.
Mercers
An old trading house from the city of Vicenza. The famous library of the city was established by their patronage.
Pazzine
A common Marical light drink, essentially watered-down wine (for the rich), or at least boilings of vine leaves and such (for the poor).
Planned City
The Planned Cities were a construction experiment of high imperial natural philosophy, sponsored by the Golden Empress in an effort to settle and militarily provision the strained imperial border marches. Most of the cities were built but never occupied, leaving behind peculiar ruins; Scarlet is an exception to the rule. The modern Magocracy tower building art has its origins in the same sort of cult lore.
Pseudoduke
The military leader of the Scarlet City guard. “Duke” has become a common title for the leader of a lesser independent Marical city-state, but Scarlet has none, and is proud of it. Nevertheless the pseudoduke is an important man: appointed by the senate, empowered to organize and lead the combined police and militia of the city. Needless to say, it is a position of great trust. The current Pseudoduke is Leodor Gritti, by all account a capable and trusted man.
Rathin Armsman
One of the Lesser Emperors following the Golden Empress. His greatest achievement was successfully reforming the imperial government and moving the capital to the Marical Valley, bringing central control closer to both the economic and military interests of the empire. The move both revitalized the empire and jump-started the development of Fronesis, the future Scarlet City.
Scarlet Clamp
A vivid symptom of poisoning, as well as the name of the poison popular in Scarlet; created as a side product of the titular red dye produced from the clams harvested in Scarlet.
Sharp-Edged Triangle
A fighting technique where the warrior stands in the middle of the enemy’s attack line, deflects his attack lightly, directing it along an imaginary side of a triangle, then counterattacks from a deadly position. Especially effective against people with stabbing weapons like spears.
Wicker Sect
A short-lived new religious cult in the Scarlet City. The Wicker Sect was a Shalmali religious organization imported and adapted to the City by a number of wealthy citizens willing to use extreme means in advancing their own position. The core concept was that merciless Shalmali teachings might find a safe way to prosper in the immoral environment of Scarlet. The City, however, has the means to defend itself: it wasn’t long before the cult was infiltrated and its key members slain.
Virtuous Senate
The name of the ruling body of Scarlet, whence the legislative, judicial and governmental functions ultimately start from. The senate consists of the “virtuous men” of the city, meaning the ones with the means to buy themselves a seat. Appointment is for life, and the senate holds auctions to expand the franchise when necessary, usually every seven years. The senators generally view themselves as the corporate shareholders of the company that is the city. The virtuous families are expected to retain a seat in every generation, or risk the loss of privilege.
Whitehairs
A Longax street gang in the Crook. Fairly successful in the long term, known for being tight-knit. Kept together by their albinous leader, Albin.

Miscellaneous Entries

Ataraxia
A tranquil state of mind sought by many religions but attained only by few. The Atarax is the hypothetical individual possessing this perfection.
Bagsea
The furthest of the inner seas in the Basal mediterranean – the known world. The Jeweled Swamps apparently lie somewhere beyond the coasts of this far-away in-land sea.
Basal
A group of languages descending from old imperial speech; locals often describe their own tongue simply “Basal”, but there is enough variety to make the more far-ranging dialects practically incomprehensible. Some of the more important proper languages in the family, with distinction as literary languages, are Maric (spoken in the Marical Valley, obvs) and Argestic (spoken in Paisvien). The Magocracy has its own Basal language as well (closely resembling Marical), which is the basis of the dialect in Karst.
Cat Eye Powder
Extract that is taken from the tall brown grass that can be found around the Endless Moors. Drinking it will improve the vision in dim lighting.
Dark Crystal
Mysterious dark crystals house Mayugita spirit entities. For some reason they seem to be associated with Shalmali holy places. The fate of Derak the Puppet seems to be rather entangled with them.
Endless Moors
Vast moors that mark the resting place of the kings of an ancient civilization. All that is left, are the hillforts that can be found from this vast area.
Hadracia
The Golden Empress, the most famous and powerful of the rulers of the imperial era. Her ruthless reign included almost the entire continent.
Koralian
An exotic kingdom that resides in the far north. The conditions for living are too extreme for humans, but the people are said to dwell inside massive caverns heated by vulcanic activity.
Magocracy (Plainsdom Magocracy)
A post-imperial bureaucratic confederation that lives on the vast plains east from the cities of Vicenza and Scarlet, based upon high towers that allow the eponymous wizards to observe their domains. The Magocracy has been a decline for centuries, the modern mages being little more than petty kings and hustlers, their collective government moribund.
Merrakush
The fabled City of Rats, a former capital of an empire lost to the sands. Living an endless decline, the denizens have little craft but robbery of the tradeways; it is quite literally a town where the thieves pay taxes.
Sear Worm
A man-eating large worm that infests the Red Desert, south of the plains of the Plainsdom Magocracy.
Spider-wenches
A sect of women living in the kingdom of Koralian. They are said to grow huge spiders as pets and collect their web, from which they weave the strongest ropes the world has ever seen.
True Magic
An occult concept, same as “high magic” or “deep magic” etc. Concerns the differentiation between trivial, material tricks such as alchemy and psychology on the one hand, and transcendental, self-enlightening paradigmatic magic on the other. To common knowledge True Magic no longer exists, as the such as Mayugita and Shalmali have long passed from the pages of the histories to the mists of legend. Practical differentiation against common magics is made by observing various hard limits of magic that are generally thought to hold true, yet may purportedly be broken by True Magic – “unlimited by toil, distance and age”.
Yulilies (The Flower)
A half-mythical mountain flower from the Far-East. The dried and powdered flower causes a drunken stupor when inhaled. Even a small amount is very effective. It is very rare and expensive.