Makaar
The gryphons’ vicious counterparts, cold-blooded flying beasts created by Ma’ar. They were designed to have short lives so that their breed would cycle through generations fast, enabling their creator to weed out defects quickly and experiment with new variants sooner. Makaar are completely obedient to their masters, and have no free will, no joy in life, and few emotions other than killing rage. They are faster than gryphons and have more endurance, but less intelligence. Even as they fought them, the gryphons pitied them. (Gryphon, Storm)
Makke
An elderly Haighlei servant assigned to the k’Leshya embassy from White Gryphon. She became very friendly with Zhaneel and the gryphlets. She was also a key source of information about the Haighlei Empire. (Gryphon)
Malcus
The official cobbler of Errold’s Grove. known as Old Man Makus, he was one of the victims of the barbarian invaders. (Owl)
Mala
One of Tarma’s Sunhawk scouts, she was wounded by an arrow while on patrol and taken to the company’s Healer barely in time to save her life. (Oath)
Malcam
The dyheli stag Keisha rode on the northwestern expedition. (Owl)
Malken (Herald-trainee)
A nine-year-old Herald-trainee, Malken was Chosen by his Companion Hayke while very young. His powerful Gift of Foresight had awakened early, nearly driving him insane. After consultation with his Companion and the Colleglum’s specialist in Foresight (Herald) Evan, it was decided to block the boy’s Gift until he was older. (BB)
Mandatory Education Law
A law passed during King Randale’s reign that required thar every child in Valdemar, highborn or low, was to be taught simple reading, writing, and numbers. Classes were to be held in the Temples in the mornings during winter, from harvest until first planting. This act made it the duty of each Lord Holder to ensure that the law was faithfully carried out. It signaled significant change in the lives of all Valdemarans. King Randale was able to get this law passed because of the panic that resulted after the death of Queen Elspeth. Randale’s argument was that an informed population that could read official proclamations would not be likely to panic. (LHM)
Manifestation
The term for an Adept mages sorcerous image. Kethry’s was a twenty-foot tall golden hawk with fiery wings. The enemy Adept she confronted in The Comb had a Manifestation of a winged snake, with scales and wing membranes glistening in shades of green and blue. The term is also used to describe the appearance of a deity or a deity’s avatar. (Oath, Storm, Winds)
Manor-keep
The habitation of a local lord that usually includes a walled village and its surrounding farm fields and pasturages. (Oath)
Mara Yveda
A former schoolmate of Kethry’s, Mara left the White Winds establishment in frustration, convinced that her fellow mages-in-training were hiding a talisman which would give its user complete mastery of sorcery. When Tarma and Kethry encountered her years later, she had gained the ability to shapechange into a bear, but at the cost of her sanity. She attacked Kethry, and Tarma killed her. (Oath)
Marak (Herald Lord Marshal)
The Lord Marshal’s Herald during the reign of King Theran, he was badly injured during the initial battles on the Karsite front. Though expected to live, it was likely he would be out of action for a long time and might lose a leg, so he was replaced by Herald Turag. (BB)
Marble Office
Urtho’s headquarters in his Tower. (Gryphons)
Mardic (Herald-Mage)
The protege of Herald-Mage Savil, Mardic was lifebonded to Herald-trainee Donni. Both Mardic and Donni were victims of a Karsite necromancer. In a desperate attempt to save a village under attack, Mardic and Donni called the lightning generated by the mage to themselves, knowing it would result in a painful death. (LHM)
Margan
One of Tremane’s mages posted outside Shonar. After the first Mage-Storm, he reported that circular pieces of land two and three cubits in diameter had been instantly transported from elsewhere: circles of desert, swamp, and forest now were in completely different locations. (Storm)
Margret (Housekeeper)
Savil’s servant at Haven, she tidied up the Herald-Mage’s rooms and was remarkably calm in the face of fallout from magic-working. (LHM)
Mariwell (Squire)
A very elderly Hardornen citizen who had intended to make an informal pledge and participate in the seisin ceremony with Tremanc at Shonar, but had to delay his journey because of the hard winter. (Storm)
Marlina
One of the kestra’cherns who assisted with preparations for evacuating the noncombatants from Ka’venusho. (Gryphon)
Marsh-fever
An illness marked by bone aches and headaches. (LHM)
Master Bards
The most experienced Bards in the land, they are often members of the Bardic Circle. Along with their task of creating and preserving the musical heritage of the land, Master Bards write short dissertations on the derivation and meaning of popular songs, later used as teaching materials. Their writings were responsible in part for the suppression of the knowledge of magic in Valdemar. (Winds)
Master Dark
The name his hirelings gave their overlord Leareth. (LHM)
Master Spell
The spell cast by a self-testing mage of the White Winds School. It calls upon the Greater Wind of Air and Water, which are known as the Mutable Elements, and are much more difficult to control than the Stable Elements of a Journeyman’s Spell. A Master Spell demands the ability and will to form the energy into mage-shapes named the Cup and the Mill. Its wind comes from all directions and enfolds the mage with a shell of force and shifting, opalescent light. (Oath)
Masters of Portals
The collective title of the Empire’s mages. However, after the Mage-Storms began, they had great difficulty building and sustaining the Portals they were named for. (Storm)
Masters’ Room
Presided over by Magister Henlin, it’s where the Master Artificers meet and dine. Located in the Compass Rose Inn, it is separated from the main area by a curtain. (Storm)
Mavelan
The ruling family of Baires, a clan notable for its high number of mage-gifted members. Their leader is Lord Vedric, brother of Ylyna. Ylyna was given to Deveran Remoerdis of Lineas in a marriage alliance because she had no mage potential, and the Lineans abhor magic. After the massacre in the Linean palace, Vanyel’s investigations led him to conclude the Mavelan Clan was behind it, wanting the Lineas lands so much that they risked a war with Forst Reach to obtain them. They were wiped out by their own assassination trap, which was meant to kill the entire Remoerdis family. (LHM)
Mavry (Herald)
Skif’s year-mate at the Collegium. (Arrows)
Mayhew (Father)
He had passed along a warning to the boys and men of the village that the new Priestess Healer coming there knew how to defend herself. (Oath)
Ma’ar
Also known as the Mage of Black Fire, his full name is Kiyamvir, Urtho’s mortal enemy, and his only equal in magic. Even as a youth, Ma’ar lusted for power, particularly over people. He united dozens of warring tribes, calling them his Superior Breed, and used them in his ruthless conquest of one realm after another. Defeated and about to be destroyed, he boasted that he had found a way to survive death, and would return again to torment Urtho’s successors. He died in the explosion of his tower, which, together with the explosion of Urtho’s Tower, caused the Cataclysm. Ma’ar came back by usurping the bodies of his descendants, continuing his vendetta against gryphons and their ailles. Two of his reincarnatlons were the Dark Mage Leareth and Mornelithe Falconsbane. (Gryphon, LHM, Storm, Winds)
Medren
The servant of Herald-Bard Jadus, he invited his master and Talia to share the staffers’ Midwinter Eve celebration (Arrows)
Medren Ashkevron (Bard)
Mekeal Ashkevron’s bastard son by Melenna, Lady Tre
esa’s maid. When Vanyel discovered that Medren had the Bardic Gift, he convinced Mekeal to send the boy to the Collegium for training as a Bard. Medren spent his Journeyman period in the wild northlands and returned to Haven by qualifying as Journeyman in the shortest time ever. Discovering Stefen’s Wild Talent for singing away pain, Medren brought the young man to Vanyel in hopes Stefen’s Gift could help the chronically Ill King Randale. (LHM)
Meeren
The hertasi who adopted Darian and Kelsha. (Owl)
Megan
The Garthhold village girl who brought tea to the Adepts while they were recovering from fighting the colddrakes. (LHM)
Megrarthon Jadrevalyn (King)
Son of Prince Stefansen and Lady Mertis. He was a baby when Kethry and Tarma first saw him at Herald Roald’s hunting lodge. Later, when Megrarthon became King of Rethwellan, he asked Tarma to train his youngest son, Darenthaills, in weaponry and warcraft. Megrarthon entered three state marriages, two of them loveless, and had a large brood of children, including eight daughters. His eldest son and heir, Faramentha, caused no trouble. Nor id the youngest son, Darenthallis. But the middle son, Karathanelan, was a spoiled bully who delighted in hounding Daren; Megrarthon was concerned that if the two remained in close proximity, sooner or later something serious, perhaps fatal, would happen to Daren. (Sword)
Megwyn (Companion)
One of Yfandes’s foals. (LHM)
Meiline
A Karsite measurement of distance. For example, the Temple of Vkandis at Sunhame was four hundred meiline south of Haven. (Storm)
Melania
The White Winds Adept who taught Kethry to use magic. (Oath)
Melenna
She was Lady Treesa’s maid, and determined to seduce Vanyel. When that failed, and after he had left Forst Reach for Haven, she became involved with Vanyel’s brother Mekeal, and bore him a bastard son, Medren. Years later, after she failed to win Vanyel a second time, she was appointed chatelaine of Tashir Remoerdis’ palace at Highjorune in Lineas and eventually married Armsmaster Jervis. (Arrows)
Melidy
Elspeth’s original nurse, she had suffered what the Healers called a brainstorm, or stroke, two years before Talia’s arrival at Haven. While Healers believed the elderly woman had completely recovered, Talia suspected Melidy had been left vulnerable. She discovered Hulda was dosing Melidy’s medicine with powerful sleeping potions and reinforced those with sly suggestions, giving Hulda complete access to the Heir. (Arrows)
Melles (Baron, Emperor)
A wealthy Baron at the Eastern Empire Court, titled but owning no lands. A ruthless, amoral, powerful Adept, Melles was both treacherous and merciless. A former chief Imperial assassin known as Emperor Charliss’s Executioner, Melles had held a grudge against Grand Duke Tremane for decades, because when they were both army cadets, Tremane reported Melles’ criminal behavior to their Colonel, getting him thrown out of the corps. Years later, both were candidates for the Emperor’s Successor. Tremane was chosen and given the task of successfully completing the stalled conquest of Hardorn, but was abandoned in Hardorn along with a large contingent of the Imperial Army when the Mage-Storms struck, and Melles was named High Lord Heir. Using his unique and terrible talents, Melles assured his rapid ascension as the twentieth Emperor to sit on the Iron Throne. (Storm)
Melly (Herald)
Instructor at the Collegium who taught History and Literature and also tutored the trainees who were having difficulties in those subjects. (BB)
Melody
A chestnut filly, the granddaughter of Vanyel’s mare Star, the Herald-Mage’s favorite mount before he was Chosen by Yfandes. Vanyel made presents of Star’s children to kin and friends, and Melody was his gift to Bard Stefen. (LHM)
Menfree
A graceful Garthhold woman who found Vanyel after he had saved their small community from the colddrake queen. (LHM)
Menmellith
A small buffer zone between Rethwellan and Karse, it is located in a small valley surrounded by protective steep mountains. The area was granted semi-autonomous status by King Megrarthon shortly after his son Daren was born. After constant harassment by raiders from Karse, the Menmellith Council hired four mercenary Companies, one of which was the Skybolts, to eradicate these bandits. (Arrows, Oath)
Meralis and the Werebeast
A cautionary fable Tarma and Kechry used to convince the new bride Darthela that she was lucky to have a sensible husband like Sir Skolte. (Oath)
Mercenary Code
A code of ethics and behavior enforced by the Mercenary Guild that all honorable mercenaries follow. The tenets of the Mercenary Code Include: the terms of a contract will be honored by both parties; bonded Companies must not pillage in their employer’s country, and may pillage while in enemy territory only with a hirer’s permission; bonded Companies cannot switch sides in mid-contract; promise not to instigate a mutiny against an employer; and won’t fight for a suicidal cause. If a bonded Company or one of its members surrenders, they are permitted to leave the battlefield and retire to a neutral point to be ransomed by the Guild, with the amount it takes to ransom them to be deducted from their accumulated Guild dues. The Mercenary Code also includes the ritual of Oathbreaking and Outcasting, which requires a priest, mage, and honest man, all of whom must have suffered personal, irreparable harm at the offender’s hands. One of the oldest parts of the code involves the right of a Company that has lost more than half its officers and a third of its fighters to put the Captaincy to a vote from the ranks. When Kerowyn resigned, the Skybolts exercised that right, voting Ardana out and replacing her with Kerowyn. (Oath, Sword)
Mercenary Guild
This guild regulates licensed and bonded mercenaries. A bonded Company posts a surety bond with the Guild on top of each members’ individual dues. The bond guarantees the entire Company will follow the Mercenary Code. Violations allow an injured party to collect damages, which are taken out of the bond. The Guild then exacts its own punishment, up to and including fines and a penalty forbidding an offender to hire bonded fighters again for at least a year. Guild members wear a Guild badge to advertise their afliliation and make sure that their rights are recognized and honored. Karse, during the reign of one of the Sons of the Sun, kicked the Guild out and failed to honor the Guild Code. Under Solaris, the Guild is slowly reintegrating itself into the country. (BV)
Mercenary Guild Company
A registered and bonded commercial fighting outfit such as Idra’s Sunhawks or Kerowyn’s Skybolts. (Oath, Sword)
Merchants’ School
A school created by the Merchant and Craft Guilds to educate their children, with a curriculum unique to the Guilds’ needs: for example, in-depth geography lessons with emphasis on the major trade routes and sociology lessons with emphasis on the needs and wants of different cultures. Parents paid the school well and expected professional supervision and instruction in career choices. Instead, the schoolmaster and his subordinates ignored their charges and allowed the Sixth Form bullies to dominate the establishment. After the fatal accident involving Lavan Chitward, Heralds took over the school in the name of the Crown, reorganized the faculty, and reopened it with instructors and staff capable of fulfilling the charter of the school. (BB)
Meree
The dyheli Keisha rode from Errold’s Grove to k’Valdemar Vale, and who exchanged information with her on herbs and healing. (Owl)
Merili
Ten-year-old daughter of Archduke Tilden, and Kira’s twin, she is gifted in languages, a graceful dancer, an accomplished needleworker, and has a strong interest in herbalism. Thought of by the boys at school as “Little Princess,” she is already semi-engaged and life-bonded to Prince Albayah, the eldest son of Jkatha’s Queen. (Oath)
Mero
The Collegium’s Cook during Queen Selenay’s reign, he was a good-hearted taskmaster whose kitchen helpers always got the best part of the daily meals. Mero came from Three Rivers and was a monotheist, very fond of quoti
ng homilies from the famous Book of the One. (Arrows)
Merthin
One of Vanyel’s many cousins. (LHM)
Mertis (Lady, Queen)
Prince Stefansen’s wife and the mother of Megrarthon, his first son, she truly loved her husband and was a skilled and intelligent helpmate to him in regaining his rightful place on the throne. (Oath)
Mertun
One of Melles’ secretaries, he was assigned to organize requisitions of beasts of burden and vehicles after the Mage-Storms began to worsen. (Storm)
Messenger birds
Brightly-colored avians with small, plump bodies and a noisy cry. They were excellent mimics, and could repeat a message exactly as the sender gave it to them. They were used as messengers in the enormous camp surrounding Urtho’s Tower and by the Tayledras. (BV)
Midsummer Gathering
A celebration among the Northern Clans where they all assemble once a year under a flag of truce. It is an opportunity for all the tribes to trade, learn from one another, and meet potential mates from other tribes. It was called off after the Summer Fever struck, and resumed only after the cure Keisha discovered became widely available. (Owl)
Midsummer’s Eve
Usually associated with a day of ribald celebration, it is also Talia’s birthing day. Among the Holderkin, Midsummer’s Eve is associated with taboo and arcane things. Keldar Firstwife thought Talia’s birthing day was a possible explanation for the child’s intractable behavior. (Arrows)
Midwinter Fairs
These begin the day after Midwinter Feast, and run for the next seven days. (BB)
Midwinter Feast
One the winter solstice, a large feast is traditionally held for friends and familles. (BB)
Midwinter Festival
Also known as Midwinter Holiday, the winter solstice is celebrated throughout most of Valdemar with gift-giving and parties. The revelry at the Palace lasts three months, with Colleglum classes suspended and family visits arranged. The actual festival takes place for two weeks in the middle of the general period of rejoicing. (BV)
The Valdemar Companion Page 36