by Davis Ashura
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Steven Ridley: Father to Jake and John Ridley. Married to Helen Ridley.
THE WOVEN
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*All beings who are created through the work of lorethasra and lorasra are collectively known as ‘woven’. In addition, most woven have an instinctual understanding of the Elements that asrasins lack. However, once a task is identified, it is often the asrasins that accomplish the deed. For instance, in the founding of Arylyn, once the dwarves and elves showed what was needed, it was the magi who performed the work.
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Dwarves: Mountain dwelling woven. They live in large matrilineal villages, which they name a settling. Their ability to bring calm and peace—a skill they share with those around them—extends to the dragons who often share a mountain range with them. Shet has a special hate for dwarves.
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Elves: Live in large groups they call sithes. Generally smaller than humans but swifter. Arrogance is often an adjective associated with them.
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Holders: Magavenes woven into assassins meant to kill other asrasins, specifically mahavans. Their greatest weapon is the Wildness, an ability to impart energy into their weapons and render them capable of cutting through nearly any weave or substance.
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Landon Vent: He is the merged consciousness of Landon Wilde, William’s older brother, and Pilot Vent, the holder who became Kohl Obsidian.
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Necrosed: Monstrous woven created thousands of years ago by Shet at his fortress, Clarity Pain. They were meant to be the antithesis of dwarves, bringing fear rather than calm and death rather than peace. Since holders were assassins meant to kill asrasins—specifically mahavans—Shet wished to turn their power on the magavanes. Thus, he captured a large group of holders and tortured them until he created the first necrosed, Grave Invidious. Shokan, though, placed a curse upon the necrosed, such that they are in a continual state of decay and rot.
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Necrosed can enter long periods of catatonia, measured in decades, before cycling to awareness, and when they do, an insatiable hunger for flesh and lorethasra fills them.
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The exact number of necrosed is unknown but it is likely small. Nevertheless, all woven and asrasins fear the necrosed, and it is believed that no one except a holder can kill one of the undying monsters.
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KNOWN NECROSED:
Kohl Obsidian: He was once a holder named Pilot Vent but was transformed into a necrosed by Sapient Dormant, the Overward of the Necrosed. Kohl would go on to kill William’s family, thus setting him on the road to becoming an asrasin.
Sapient Dormant: Overward of the necrosed. Created by Overlord Shet. He was born in Clarity Pain.
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Trolls: Powerful, intelligent woven. They are universally massive and have horned heads. Throughout history, they have served as Justices, possessing an ability to see to the heart of the matter and render a judgment that can never be unknown. It is a power all asrasins respect. Of interesting note, they procreate by parthenogenesis.
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KNOWN TROLLS:
Travail Fine: He is a young troll, only about 200 years old. He was tricked into coming to Sinskrill by a prior Servitor, and with his fear of open water, he was trapped there. As a result, he has a deep and abiding hatred for Sinskrill and all mahavans. Like all trolls, he is massively built, quiet and solitary, and a Justice. In addition, he was William’s and Jake’s protector and teacher during their time on Sinskrill, and they love him for his friendship. Fiona Applefield was once his bishan and has always acted in his best interests, although on Sinskrill they kept their friendship secret.
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Unformed: Shape-changing woven. They can take on the form of nearly any animal, regardless of size. They generally live in small tribes of 40-50, which are led by a Prime—either male or female. Each Prime is supported by a Secondus, a powerful ally who can later become a threat.
They have a first name and a last name, the latter of which is that of their tribe.
However, their surnames frequently change since unformed move about quite often. Their allegiances shift from tribe to tribe, whose territories also tend to rapidly change. As a result, unformed don’t bother remembering their lineage. It is unimportant. For unformed, nothing is truly fixed.
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One bite from a Prime can transform nearly any other woven into an unformed. Only asrasins, holders, and necrosed are immune.
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KNOWN PRIMES:
Jeek Voshkov
Arcus Elder
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*An interesting aside:
Most of the dangerous animals on Sinskrill, such as wolves, are actually unformed. In addition, the bears who come over from Amethyst, are also unformed. The unformed were brought to Sinskrill long ago by a Servitor whose name was intentionally forgotten.
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DEFINITION OF TERMS
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*Brief history of asrasins: It is thought that many of the gods and goddesses of the ancient pantheons, such as those from Sumeria, Babylon, Egypt, and China were actually asrasins of some sort. Those ancient warlords waged horrific wars of conquest, dominance, and enslavement upon the rest of the world, especially normals, those without lorethasra. But when Shokan inspired the magavane servants of the mahavans to overthrow the rule of Overlord Shet, an event known as the Nusrael—the Catastrophe—the asrasin control of the world began to crumble.
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Asra: Magic or more specifically, enchantment.
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Asrasin: General name of the magic practitioners. In ancient times, all children of a single asrasin parent had the potential to become an asrasin. In the modern era, this certainty has been lost. Nevertheless, there are still several ways to become an asrasin. Most commonly, a potential wielder of asra is born within a saha’asra to asrasin parents. Then there are those who have the potential to become asrasins but are born outside saha’asra. These individuals generally lead normal, unremarkable lives, although many mention that experience frequent bouts of ennui, as if they are perpetually unfilled. However, if such an individual is exposed to a saha’asra, their lorethasra stirs to life, and they have to go to a saha’asra that contains a sufficient amount of lorasra to sustain them or face imminent death. The only two such places today are Arylyn and Sinskrill.
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Braid: A magical spell or creation. Also called a weave.
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Clarity Pain: Overlord Shet’s temple stronghold and place where he created the necrosed.
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Council of Magavane: The asrasins who fought to free humanity. They were inspired by Shokan and Sira. Later on, they became the progenitors of the magi of Arylyn. Interestingly, prior to Shokan’s and Sira’s arrival, most who called themselves magavanes were servants of the mahavans. An unsubstantiated rumor states that the magavanes also enacted a plan to slowly drain the world’s saha’asras of power to further erode mahavan dominance.
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Five Elements, the:
Fire: crackles and smells like sulfur.
Air: hisses and pulses as it distorts the air.
Earth: rustles like ivy.
Water: possesses a rushing sound, like a breaking wave.
Spirit: White but with flecks of color that are reflective of an asrasin’s natural moral tendencies.
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Far Beyond, the: the world outside the borders of a saha’asra.
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Great Dying, the: The one hundred and eighty-five year period of time in the Middle Ages when most of the magical races perished. Most historians date the Great Dying to approximately 1209-1394 AD. The cause is unknown but likely due to the ongoing fading of the various saha’asras throughout the world.
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Jaycik Kornavel: Author of the Lore of Itihasthas. He is reputed to have been a magavane and personal frien
d of Shokan and Sira.
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Jayenasra: The Beautiful Art. An ancient word to describe the use of asra. The term has fallen out of use.
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Ley lines: Arterial or root like systems that extend from primal nodes and spread lorasra throughout a saha’asra. They can become corroded or corrupted over time and are maintained through the work of adepts in the Elements of Water, Fire, and Spirit. However, proper repair or installations of new ley lines can only be done by a raha’asra.
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Lorasra: The asra contained within a place. It is a phenomenon that asrasins use to create their braids and weaves. When it is polluted, it is called therasra.
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Lore of Itihasthas, the: Author Jaycik Kornavel. A book written sometime between 6200-5000 BC about the Nusrael and ancient asrasins.
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Lorethasra: The asra or magic contained within a person. Lorethasra rests upon five primeval Elements: Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and most importantly, Spirit. In essence, these are the five Elements of classical Buddhist thought, but what the Buddhists thought of as ‘void’, asrasins recognize as Spirit. All asrasins can bend these Elements to their will, although they are usually adept at two or perhaps three of these forces.
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Magavane: Asrasins who were inspired by Shokan and Sira and came to believe that mundane humanity deserved more than enslavement. They formed the Council of the Magavanes and fought the lords of the Mahavana Axis.
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Magus: Name for those asrasins from Arylyn. They descend from the magavanes.
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Mahavan: The ancient asrasins who once ruled the Earth. The greatest of them was Shet. In their view, all lesser asrasins and woven are fit for nothing but servitude. As for normal humans, those without lorethasra, they were meant for nothing more than slavery. The mahavans eventually formed the Mahavana Axis as a counter to the Council of the Magavanes.
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Mahavana Axis: The enemy of the Council of the Magavanes.
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Nomasra: Any object imbued with lorasra.
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Nusrael: “The Catastrophe”. The ancient war among the asrasins the beginning of which was heralded when Shokan inspired the magavanes to fight for freedom.
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Overlord Shet (Set as Egyptians called him): The greatest and most powerful of all mahavans. At one point, he was the acknowledged, unchallenged ruler of the world. For now, he resides on Seminal and is still the god of the mahavans of Sinskrill.
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Primal Nodes: Nomasras that are repositories of lorasra. From a primal node, lorasra extends into a saha’asra through ley lines, which can variously be likened to an arterial or root system. Primal nodes can only be created by a raha’asra or a skilled adept in Spirit.
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Raha’asra: A type of asrasin who can create lorasra. Such an individual is often quite powerful.
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Saha’asra: Places of magic.
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Seminal: A mythical world where Shet is said to have fled following his defeat at the hands of Shokan and Sira. Little is known about the world except that lorasra is said to be unconstrained there. Somehow, it is perpetually made, and the plants and creatures of this world have adapted to it in their own fashion. However, the lorasra is so potent that it can be too much for even an asrasin to safely use. There are said to be lakes of lorasra in Seminal that are deadly to all creatures.
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Shokan: The great enemy of Shet. The Lord of the Sword. Husband to Sira, the Lady of Fire.
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Sira: The great enemy of Shet. The Lady of Fire. Wife to Shokan, the Lord of the Sword.
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Thera’asras: Asrasins who are masters of all Elements. However, their control of Spirit isn’t at the same level as a raha’asra’s.
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Theranom: Special nomasra vessels specifically designed to contain therasra, which would otherwise pollute the environment.
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Therasra: Lorasra that has become polluted from use. It can easily destroy the environment by distorting trees, bushes, plants and even animals and people.
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Undefiled Locus: Overlord Shet’s sword. The weapon was somehow turned against him during his final battle with Shokan and Sira, thus leading to his defeat. Shet left Undefiled Locus within the heart of Clarity Pain, guarded by Grave Invidious, the greatest of his necrosed, until the god’s return.
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Woven, the: Magical races created by asrasins.
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SHEVASRA
*The ancient mother tongue of the asrasins. This is a partial list of some of the surviving words from that language.
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Asra: Enchantment.
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Asrasin: General name of practitioners of Jayenasra.
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Bishan: Young master. The term has fallen out of favor in Arylyn but is still used in Sinskrill.
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Hastha: The past.
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Iti: That
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Itihasthas: That which has happened.
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Isha: Masterful instructor, meant to convey teacher in the ways of life. The term has fallen out of favor on Arylyn but is still used in Sinskrill.
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Jayen: Beauty made alive.
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Lor: Secret. Hidden.
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Loreth: Within.
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Maga: Servant of greatness.
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Maha: One who wields greatness.
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Mayna: Someone of interest.
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Nome: That which is malleable.
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Nusrael: Catastrophe.
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Raha’asra: Builder/creator
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Rashasra: Most High. God.
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Saha’asra: Place of magic.
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Sahar: Place.
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Shev: To submit.
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Shevasra: The language spoken in ancient times. Translated as submission to asra.
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Shevela: Submission.
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Shill: Incompetent person with potential. The term has fallen out of favor on Arylyn but is still used in Sinskrill.
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Thera: One who wields power.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Davis Ashura resides in North Carolina and shares a house with his wonderful wife who somehow overlooked Davis' eccentricities and married him anyway. As proper recompense for her sacrifice, Davis unwittingly turned his wonderful wife into a nerd-girl. To her sad and utter humiliation, she knows exactly what is meant by 'Kronos'. Living with them are their two rambunctious boys, both of whom have at various times helped turn Davis' once lustrous, raven-black hair prematurely white. And of course, there are the obligatory strange, strays cats (all authors have cats—it's required by the union). They are fluffy and black with terribly bad breath. When not working—nay laboring—in the creation of his grand works of fiction, Davis practices medicine, but only when the insurance companies tell him he can. Visit him at www.DavisAshura.com and be appalled by the banality of a writer's life.