by S L Farrell
Vambrace Armor protecting the lower arm.
Vatarh [VAH-ter] “Father.”
Verzehen [Ver-ZAY-hehn] Tehuantin term for a telescope.
Ville Colhelm [VEE-ah KOHL-helm] A town on the border of Nessantico and Firenzcia, at the River Clario.
War-teni Teni whose skills in Ilmodo have been honed for warfare.
Zink A wind instrument similar to a cornet, but curved rather than straight.
HISTORICAL PERSONAGES:
Falwin I [FAHL-win] Hirzg Falwin of Firenzcia led a brief, unsuccessful revolt against Kraljiki Henri VI, which was quickly and brutally put down.
Henri VI [OHN-ree] First Kralji of the ca’Ludovici line (413-435), from whom Marguerite I was descended.
Kalima III [Kah-LEE-mah] Archigos from 215-243.
Kelwin [KEHL-win] First Hirzg of Firenzcia.
Levo ca’Niomi [LEHV-oh Kah-nee-OH-mee] Led a coup in 383 and was Kraljiki for three days. Forcibly removed, he would be imprisoned for almost two decades in the Bastida, and there would write poetry that would long survive his death.
Maria III Kraljica of Nessantico from 219-237.
Misco [MEEZ-koh] The legendary “founder of Brezno.”
Pellin I [PEH-Lihn] Archigos of the Faith from 114-122.
Selida II [Seh-LEE-dah] Kraljiki of Nessantico. Finished building the city walls and the Bastida d’Drago.
Sveria I [seh-VERH-ee-ah] Kraljiki of Nessantico 179-211. The Secession War occupied nearly all his reign. He finally brought Firenzcia fully into the Holdings.
SNIPPETS FROM THE “NESSANTICO CONCORDIA”
(4th Edition, Year 642)
Family Names in the Holdings:
Within Nessantico, lineage follows the matrilineal line. A husband might, in rare cases, retain his own family name (especially if it were considered higher in status than his wife’s), but the wife can never take his name. In the vast majority of cases, however, the husband will legally take on his wife’s family name, thus becoming a member of that family in the eyes of Nessantico law-the husband will continue to bear that name and be considered to be part of that family even upon the death of his spouse, unless and until he remarries and thus acquires his new wife’s name. (Divorces and annulments are rare in Nessantico, requiring the signature of the Archigos, and each divorce is a special situation where the rules are sometimes fluid.) Children are, without exception, given the mother’s family name: “One always is certain of the mother,” as the saying goes in Nessantico.
The prefix to a family name can change, depending on the relative status of the immediate family within Nessantico society. The prefixes, in order of rising status, are:
• none
• ce’ (keh)
• ci’ (kee)
• cu’ (koo)
• ca’ (kah).
One of the functionary roles of the Kralji was to sign the official family rolls every three years wherein the prefixes are recorded, though the Kraljiki or Kraljica rarely determined any changes personally; that was the role of the bureaucracy within Nessantico known as the Gardes a’Liste.
Thus, it is possible that the husband or wife of the ci’Smith family might gain status in some manner and be awarded a new prefix by the Gardes a’Liste. Husband, wife, their children, and any surviving maternal parents thus become cu’Smith, but brothers, sisters, and any cousins would remain ci’Smith.
Royalty Succession Within The Holdings:
Various countries within the Holdings, not surprisingly given the variance of customs, have various rules of succession within their societies. This is especially true when those countries are independently ruled. For instance, in East Magyaria, the closest male relative of the previous ruler who is also not a direct child of that ruler is named as the successor. However, with the ascension of Nessantico and the Holdings, those countries within Nessantico’s influence tend to follow the lead of the Kralji.
For the royal families of Nessantico, title succession is normally to the Kralji’s children by birth order regardless of gender. However, it is possible for the Kralji to legally designate a favorite child as the heir and bypass earlier-born children, if the Kralji deems them unfit to rule, or if, for some reason, they fall out of favor. This is an uncommon occurrence, though hardly rare throughout history. For the Kralji, it means that his or her children will tend to curry favor so as to remain in good graces or perhaps to unseat one of their brothers or sisters from being named the a’Kralj.
The Ilmodo and Spellcasting:
Some people have the ability to sense the power that exists all around us: the invisible potent energy of the Second World. In the Nessantico-controlled regions of the world, usage of magic has always been linked to religious faith, all the way back into prehistory. The myth of Cenzi extends deep into the historical mist, and it is the followers of Cenzi who have always possessed the power to manipulate the “Ilmodo” through chants and hand motions.
The chanting that binds the power of the Ilmodo is the “Ilmodo language” that all acolyte teni are taught. The Ilmodo language actually has its linguistic roots in the speech of the Tehuantin language, though neither those of the Concenzia Faith nor the Numetodo realized that for centuries. The Tehuantin of the Westlands also take power from the Second World via the instrument of religion, though through a different god and mythology, and they have their own name for the Ilmodo: X’in Ka.
The Numetodo have taken the most recent path to this power: not through faith at all, but essentially by making a “science” of magic. The cult of the Numetodo first arose in the late 400s, originally from the Isle of Paeti, and spread mostly west and south from there, sometimes reacting violently with the culture of Nessantico and the Concenzia Faith.
However the power is gained, there is a necessary “payment” for spell use: using spells costs the wielder physically; the greater the effect, the higher the cost in exhaustion and weariness for the caster.
Different paths have resulted in different abilities-for Concenzian teni, there is no “storage” of spells-their spells take time to cast and once prepared, they must be cast or they are lost. However, the teni of the Faith have the advantage of being able to cast spells that linger for some time after the casting (see “The Lights of Nessantico” or “The Sun Throne of the Kralji”). Teni who cast spells quickly and effectively are unusual, and have in historical times been suspected of heresy.
The Numetodo, in contrast, have found a way to cast their spells several turns of the glass earlier (though such spells can’t be stored indefinitely). Like all users of this power, they “pay” for it with exhaustion but hold the power with their minds to be released with a single gesture and word. Their spells are generally longer and more arduous to create (even more so than that of the teni), but do not require “faith”-as is required by both the path of Concenzia and the Tehuantin. All they require is that the spellcaster follows a “formula.” However, any variation from the formula, even small, will generally ruin the spell.
The Tehuantin, following what they call X’in Ka, must perform the chants and hand gestures much like the teni, but they can also “enchant” an object with a spell (something neither teni nor Numetodo can do), so that the object (e.g.: a walking stick) manipulated in a particular way (e.g.: striking someone) can release a spell (e.g.: a shocking jolt that renders the struck person unconscious).
In all cases and whatever the path of the spellcaster, the spells of the Second World tend to be linked to elementals in our world: fire, earth, air, and water. Most spellcasters have an ability sharply stronger in one element and much weaker in the others. Rarely does a spellcaster have the ability to handle two or more elements with any skill; even more rare are those who can move easily between any of the elements.
The Ranks of Teni in the Concenzia Faith:
The teni are ranked in the following order, from lowest to highest:
• Acolyte -those who are receiving instruction to become one of the teni-generally, the instruction requir
es tuition be paid to Concenzia by the students’ families. The Concenzia Faith brings in both male and female students to become teni, though realistically the classes tend to be largely male, and there are fewer women than men represented in the higher ranks of the teni. (There have been only six female Archigi in the long history of the Faith.) During the acolyte period (typically three years), the students serve within the Faith, doing menial tasks for the teni, and also begin to learn the chants and mental discipline necessary for Ilmodo, the manipulation of the universe-energy. Typically, only about 10% of the acolytes receive the Marque of the Teni. There are schools for acolytes in all the major cities of Nessantico, each presided over by the a’teni of the region.
• E’Teni -the lowest teni rank for those brought into the service of the Faith. The acolytes who receive their Marque are, with exceedingly few exceptions, awarded this rank, which denotes that they have some small skill with Ilmodo. At this point, they are generally tasked with menial labor that requires the magic of Cenzi, such as lighting the city lamps, and expected to increase their skill and demonstrate their continuing mastery of the Ilmodo.
• O’Teni -an e’teni will be awarded this rank, generally after one to five years of service, at which point they are either put in service of one of the temples, administering to the needs of the community, or they are placed in charge of one of the teni-powered industries within the city. This is where most teni will end their careers. Only a select few will pass this rank to become u’teni.
• U’Teni -u’teni serve directly under the a’teni of the region. An u’teni is generally responsible for maintaining one of the temples of the city, and overseeing the activities of the o’teni attached to that temple.
• A’Teni -the highest rank within the Faith with the exception of that of Archigos. The a’teni each are in charge of a region centered around one of the large cities of the Holdings. There, they generally wield enormous power and influence with the political leaders and over the citizenry. At times this can be a contentious relationship; most often, however, it is neutral or mutually beneficial. In the year of Kraljica Marguerite’s Jubilee, there are twenty-three a’teni in the Faith, an increase of three from the time she ascended the throne. Generally, the larger and more influential the city where they are based, the more influence the a’teni have within the Faith.
• Archigos -the head of the Faith. This is not necessarily an elective office. Often, the Archigos designates his or her own successor from among the a’teni or even potentially a favorite u’teni. However, in practice, there have been “coups” within Concenzia where either the Archigos died before naming a successor, or where the right of the successor to ascend to the position has been disputed, sometimes violently. When that happens, those a’teni who aspire to the seat of the Archigos are locked in a special room within the Archigos’ Temple for the Concord A’Teni. What happens there is a matter of great speculation and debate. One will, however, emerge as Archigos.
The Creation of Cenzi:
At the start of all things, there was only Vucta, the Great Night, the eyeless female essence who had always existed, wandering alone through the nothing-ness of the universe. Though Vucta could not see the stars, she could feel their heat, and when she was cold, she would come to them and stay for a time. It was near one star that she found something she had never experienced before: a world-a place of rocks and water, and she stayed there for a time, wondering and dreaming as she walked in this strange place, touching everything to feel its shape and listening to the wind and the surf, feeling the rain and the snow and the touch of the clouds. She hoped that here, in this strange place near the star, there might be another like her, but there were no animals here yet, nor trees, nor anything living.
As Vucta walked the world, wisps of her dream-thoughts gathered around her like a mist, coalescing and hardening and finally growing heavy from their sheer volume. The dream-thoughts began to shape themselves, a white shroud around Vucta that grew longer and more substantial as she walked, heavier and heavier with each step until the weightiest part of it drooped to the ground and snagged on a rock. Eyeless, Vucta could not see that. She continued her walking and her thinking, and her dream-thoughts poured from her, but now they lay solid where they had fallen, stretching and thinning as she strode away from where they were caught. Vucta, in truth was already growing tired of this place and her search, and she desired the heat of another sun, so she leaped away from the world and the shroud of her dream-thoughts snapped as she flew.
Vucta’s dream-thoughts lay there, all of them coalescing, and when the sun shone on the first day after Vucta’s departure, there was a form like hers curled on the ground. On the second day, the sun’s light made the dream-thoughts stir, and the form moved arms and legs, though it did not know itself. The dream-thoughts that were the yearning of Vucta gathered in its head, and from Vucta’s desire to know the place where she walked, they made eyes in the face.
On the third day, when the sun touched it once more, it opened those eyes and it saw the world. “I am Cenzi,” the creature said, “and this place is mine.” And he rose then and began to walk about.
That is the opening of the Toustour, the All-Tale. In time, as the creation story continues, Cenzi would become lonely and he would create companions-the Moitidi-fashioning them from the breath of his body, which still contained Vucta’s strong power.. Those companions, in turn, would imitate their creator and fashion all the living creatures of the earth: plant and animal, including the humans. The Moitidi’s own breaths were weak, and thus those they created were correspondingly more flawed. But it was Cenzi’s breath and the weaker breaths of the Moitidi that permeated the atmosphere of the world and would become the Ilmodo, which humans through prayer, devotion to Cenzi, and intense study could learn to shape.
But the relationship between Cenzi and his offspring would always be contentious, marred by strife and jealousy. Cenzi had given his creations laws that they were to follow, but in time, they began to change and ignore those laws, flaunting themselves over Cenzi. Cenzi would become angry with his creations for their attitudes, but they were unrepentant, and so they began to war openly against Cenzi. It was a long and brutal conflict, and few of the living creatures would survive it, for in that past there had been many types of creatures who could speak and think. Cenzi’s throwing down of the Moitidi as they wrestled and fought would cause mountains to rise up and valleys to form, shaping the world which had until then been flat, with but one great ocean. The final blow that destroyed most of the Moitidi would fracture the very earth, tear apart the land, and create the deep rift into which the Strettosei would flow.
After that immense blow that shook the entire world, those few Moitidi who remained fled and hid and cowered. Cenzi, though, was haunted by what had happened, and he wished to find Vucta and speak with her, whose dream-thoughts had made him. Only a single speaking and thinking species were left of all of Cenzi’s great-children, and he made this promise to them, our own ancestors: that if they remained faithful to him, he would always listen to them and send his power back to them, and that one day, he would return here and be with them forever.
With that promise, he left the world to wander the night between the stars.
In the view of the Concenzia Faith, Cenzi is the only god worthy of worship (Vucta being considered by the Concenzian scholars to be more an all-pervading spirit rather than an entity), and it is His laws, given to the Moitidi, that the Faith has codified and now follows. The gods worshiped by other religions within and without the Holdings are those cowardly Moitidi who came out of hiding when Cenzi left and have deceived their followers into thinking they are true gods. The surviving Moitidi remain in mortal fear of Cenzi’s return and flee whenever Cenzi’s thoughts turn back to this world, as they do, reputedly, when the faithful pray strongly enough.
The truth of this is shown in that the laws of humankind, wherever they may live and whomever they may claim to worship, have a simi
larity at the core-because they all derive from the original tenets of Cenzi.
The Divolonte:
The Divolonte is a loose collection of rules and regulations by which the Concenzia Faith is governed, the majority of which derive from the Toustour. However, the Divolonte is secular in origin, created and added to by the various Archigi and a’teni through the centuries, while the Toustour is considered to be derived from Cenzi’s own words. The Divolonte is also a dynamic document, undergoing slow, continual evolution through the auspices of the Archigos and the a’teni. Many of its precepts and commands are somewhat archaic, and are ignored or even flaunted by the current Faith. It is, however, the Divolonte that the conservative element within the Faith quotes when they look at the threat of other faiths, such as that of the Numetodo.
BETWEEN THE BOOKS:
YEAR 521 (the events of A Magic of Twilight): This is Kraljica Marguerite’s Jubilee Year-under her half century of rule, Nessantico has flourished. However, in the spring, Kraljica Marguerite is assassinated. Kraljiki Justi (her son) takes the Sun Throne. Archigos Dhosti dies; Archigos Orlandi becomes head of the Concenzia Faith. Hirzg Jan leads the army of Firenzcia into the Holdings, intending to take Nessantico. Archigos Ana becomes head of the Concenzia Faith after Archigos Orlandi defects to Hirzg Jan at Passe a’Fiume. The Firenzcian forces attack Nessantico. Allesandra, daughter of Hirzg Jan of Firenzcia, is taken as hostage by Archigos Ana and Kraljiki Justi. The Firenzcian forces retreat.
522: Orlandi formally declares himself Archigos in Brezno-the Concenzia Faith is sundered. A son, Fynn, is born to Hirzg Jan and Greta ca’Vorl. Hirzg Jan refuses to pay ransom for Allesandra, declaring Firenzcia independent of Holdings. Semini cu’Kohnle marries Francesca ca’Cellibrecca, daughter of Orlandi
523: Envoy Karl ci’Vliomani of the Isle of Paeti is elevated to Ambassador and given the rank of cu’. The Numetodo influence begins to grow within the Holdings. Sesemora secedes from the Holdings and allies with Firenzcia-the first country within what will be known as the Coalition of Firenzcia. Hirgina Greta ca’Vorl dies under “suspicious” circumstances; the Numetodo sect is blamed.