A Cruel Tale
Page 38
Patskoi Empire—a human state with the capital at the city of Pat. The Emperors of Pat consider themselves the heirs of the Empire of Alatar.
Rimm—a human kingdom located east of the Marble Mountains.
Steppe—the self-designation of the kingdom of the white orcs. Located in the east of Alatar.
Taiir—a dukedom
Tantre—a large kingdom, second largest after the Patskoi Empire, located in the central part of north-western Alatar. Geographically limited by the Marble Mountains and the Northern and Southern Rocky Ridges. Has access to the Eastern Ocean and the Long Sea. Its capital is the city of Kion.
Miscellaneous
Alert-dert—a military rank corresponding to that of captain.
Asgard—in Scandinavian mythology, the heavenly city is the abode of the Aesir gods.
Book of the Guardians—a book in which the dragons recorded the password spells to the interplanetary portals. The guardians are the dragons (true blood mages), who stayed on Ilanta to guard the portals. At the time the events described herein took place, all guardians are thought to be deceased.
Chucker—a magical artifact that allows its user to throw balls of capsulized spells.
Drag—a flying lizard that can be saddled and ridden.
Feather—a junior military group of twelve to fifteen rideable animals.
The Goddesses’ Eyes are what people call the planets Nelita and Helita. Helita, Nelita, and Ilanta make up the system of planets that revolve around their sun.
The Gray Horde—the collective name for all the “gray” orcs residing in the northern coastal steppes; the strongest khanate of the “gray” orcs was also called the Gray Horde.
Gross-dert (gross- leading, dert- wing)—a military rank in the air units of Tantre’s army, corresponding to that of colonel.
Hel—mistress of the world of the dead.
Khirud—the main god in the pantheon of the “white” orcs. Khirud the lightning-armed is the god of warriors and daredevils.
“Knee” Prince-Khan—that is, one who is bent at the knee, living in total vassal dependence on the king, unlike a “belt” prince or khan, that is, one who bows at the waist. Belt khans have a high level of autonomy, can mint silver and copper coins, and maintain personal militias, some of which are comparable to an army. They collect their own taxes independently on their lands, sending one twelfth to the king’s treasury. In the event of war, “belt” princes are obligated to present one third of their troops to the king’s army. “Knee” khans, most likely, are hereditary governors of the lands and take an oath of fidelity to the king.
Loki—the Scandinavian god of mischief
The Lynx clan, the Dragon clan—the strongest clans of the island Norsemen.
Nökürs - elite warriors and bodyguards.
The Northern Alliance—an alliance of Tantre, the Rauu Principalities, and the dwarf kingdoms.
Odin—a Norse deity.
Pound, jang—the currency of the kingdom of Tantre. Pounds come in silver and gold; jangs are a small copper coin.
Rauu—Snow Elves. The first artificial race created by the dragons for battles against the orcs.
Roi-dert—a junior officer’s rank, corresponds to that of lieutenant.
Rune Keys—used for opening portals.
Second-in-saddle—the second rider on a large golden griffon. Usually armed with a bow, rarely with a magical chucker.
Servants of Death—helrats, priests of a cult forbidden in all countries which perverts the very name of the goddess Hel. Hunted dragons and actively promoted human sacrifice.
Severan—a cold northern wind.
Taili-Mother—The deity of the “white” orcs, representing the feminine, analogue of the goddess Nel.
Targ—the dwarf god whose name took on a negative connotation in almost all countries. Occupies the niche of mischief-maker and prankster, analogous to Loki in some sense.
Teg—the polite form of address of a nobleman; grall—to a mage. Teg grall—the form of address of a noble mage. Tain, taina—titles for high-borns, male and female, respectively. Professor/master/mistress [first name] Teg grall (tain/taina) [last name].
True blood—a mage who, unlike others, can work directly with the astral and consciously take mana from it. Other mages can extract mana only from the planet’s magical field.
Snekkja—a row/sailboat of the Scandinavian peoples in the twelfth-fourteenth centuries. Predominantly used for raids. Held up to one hundred people.
Valhalla—a heavenly palace in Asgard for the fallen in battle, a paradise for the valiant warriors.
Wing—a regiment of griffons or drags consisting of one-hundred-twenty to one-hundred-fifty rideable animals.
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[1] Sword fighters from the special division of female orc warriors.
[2] A small military uniting of graduates of the school of combat training of Steppe she-wolves, consists of five rank-and-file members and a commander. Besides all “star” warriors being master swordsmen, two or three of them were also warrior mages and provided magical support.
[3] The unofficial name for the killers of the Steppes’ special execution service.
[4] Ground meat
[5] A citizen of the Patskoi Empire.
[6] A magical ritual of peacemaking and forgiveness wherein all sins are forgotten. In declaring Penkur to the “gray” orcs, the king of Tantre is essentially saying there is to be no more enmity between the peoples, all claims are settled, and their relationship can begin with a clean slate.
[7] See glossary
[8] Burial meals. The funeral feast was a necessary element of the funerary cult. Most of the Icelandic sagas contain information about funerals or funeral feasts, at which the whole region, sometimes several hundred people, gathered. The remains of funerary meals, “straves,” as they were known, in the form of bones of animals and birds, eggshells, etc., are found everywhere in Viking burial mounds. It was believed that the dead were present at the feast along with the living. The dead, as can be determined from the sagas, had an uncommon appetite. Dead soldiers were given bowls of beer, believing that they drink on a par with the living.
[9] Supplying the dead with things was a common phenomenon for pagan rituals: according to “Odin’s covenant,” “all the dead should be burned and […] their property should be put with them in the fire.”
[10] The Vikings considered eggs a symbol of rebirth and resurrection. The shells have often been found in burial mounds.
[11] A set of sacrificial animals has been well documented by Scandinavian sources. All the sacrificial animals, primarily the horse and the cock, were equally related to death, the afterlife, and the cult of fertility. The horse was one of the most common “vehicles” that deliver the deceased to the next world.
[12] Zapag—to tie up, capture, trap in a net.
[13] Imperial—the unit of currency used in the Patskoi Empire.
[14] Snufl—a warty toad
[15] Uncle (Orcish)
[16] Orcs’ nickname for Norsemen.
[17] Whistling arrows.
[18] The largest organizational tactical unit of the orc army, the number of which was usually ten thousand horsemen.