by Ian Irvine
Gatherer: See Profane Tears.
Ghâshâd (also Whelm): The ancient, mortal enemies of the Aachim, they were a race born to serve unquestioningly. They were corrupted and swore allegiance to Rulke in ancient times, but when he was imprisoned in the Nightland they took a new name, Whelm, and served Yggur for a time. When Rulke escaped, they became Ghâshâd again, but upon his death swore to take no master ever again. However they subsequently broke that oath and went to the Tower of a Thousand Steps to serve the Numinator. Their nominal leader is the sorcerer, Zofloc.
Ghorr: The corrupt former Chief Scrutator of the Council of Scrutators, and Flydd’s bitter enemy, now dead and in the shadow realm.
Gilhaelith: An eccentric, amoral geomancer and flawed tetrarch, he died by self-crystallisation at the end of the lyrinx war.
God-Emperor: The title assumed by Jal-Nish Hlar some time after he took control of the world using the Profane Tears.
Gothryme: An impoverished manor near Tolryme in Bannador, on Meldorin Island. In the Time of the Mirror it belonged to Karan. Colm is now the nominal heir but his family fled during the war and it was occupied by people in the favour of the God-Emperor.
Great Library: Founded at Zile by the Zain in the time of the Empire of Zur, it lasted for thousands of years but disappeared from the Histories during the lyrinx war. Its greatest librarian was the sage, Nadiril, who died two hundred years ago.
Great Tales: The greatest stories from the Histories of Santhenar. A tale can only become a Great Tale by the unanimous decision of the master chroniclers. In four thousand years only twenty-three Great Tales were made, the twenty-third being acclaimed by many as the greatest – Llian of Chanthed’s Tale of the Mirror. More tales were written during the lyrinx war but they do not have the same standing, as they were written as propaganda at the Chief Scrutator’s behest.
Histories, the: The vast collection of records which tell more than four thousand years of recorded history on Santhenar. The culture of Santhenar is interwoven with and inseparable from the Histories and the most vital longing anyone can have is to be mentioned in them. Families and clans also keep their personal Histories.
Human species: There were four distinct human species: the Aachim of Aachan, the Faellem of Tallallame, the old humans of Santhenar, and the Charon who came out of the void. All but old humans could be very long-lived. Matings between the different species rarely produced children (see Blending).
Hundred, the: The one hundred surviving Charon who escaped from the void, led by Rulke, then took Aachan from the Aachim and held them in thrall for thousands of years.
Irisis Stirm: A heroine of the lyrinx war, and Nish’s lover at the end of the war, she gave her life to try to save him from his father’s vengeance. She has been dead for ten years but her perfectly preserved body is held in a crystal coffin at Morrelune.
Jal-Nish Hlar: Nish’s father. He suffered massive injuries from a lyrinx attack during the war and begged to be allowed to die, but Nish and Irisis saved his life. Now hideously maimed and unable to repair himself even with the power of the stolen Profane Tears, he controls the world as God-Emperor and plays malicious games with his enemies, though he has long had a secret fear that the world is under threat, once again, from the void. This fear was proven right when Stilkeen appeared at the Range of Ruin, took him hostage and demanded chthonic fire in return.
Karan: During the Time of the Mirror, two centuries and more ago, she was a young woman of the house of Fyrn, but with blood of the Aachim from her father, Galliad, and old human and Faellem blood from her mother. This made her triune, though she did not know it. A sensitive whose home was Gothryme, Karan was the heroine of the Tale of the Mirror and wedded Llian at the end of it. She is now reviled as Karan Kin-Slayer, for killing Llian and her children, then herself, though no one can understand why.
Kandor: One of the three Charon who came to Santhenar, and dwelt at Katazza, in the Sea of Perion. He was killed at the end of the Clysm.
Klarm: The former Dwarf Scrutator is a great mancer and a handsome, cheerful, brave man. He was one of Flydd’s greatest allies during the lyrinx war, but after Jal-Nish became God-Emperor, Klarm took service with him and became such a trusted ally that Jal-Nish made him a general, and even entrusted him with the tears after being captured by Stilkeen. Klarm and Flydd are now bitter enemies.
Knoblaggie: A magical device with the appearance of three brass balls partly fused together. It has much the same function as a wizard’s staff or wand.
Lauralin: The main continent on Santhenar.
League: About 5000 paces, three miles or five kilometres.
Lilis: A street urchin in Thurkad at the Time of the Mirror who was taken on as an apprentice librarian by Nadiril at the Great Library.
Liett: A lyrinx with unarmoured skin and no chameleon ability; a talented mancer and brilliant flier who has a turbulent relationship with Ryll. She became Matriarch of the lyrinx as they went to Tallallame.
Llian: An ostracised Zain, he was a master chronicler, a teller of the Great Tales, and one of the heroes of the Tale of the Mirror, which he wrote and which became the twenty-third Great Tale. He is now reviled as Llian the Liar, the master chronicler who dared to corrupt the histories and write a Great Tale that wasn’t true.
Lyrinx: Massive winged humanoids, some of whom are great mancers, who escaped from the void to Santhenar at the end of the Time of the Mirror. See also Lyrinx War.
Lyrinx War: The one-hundred-and-fifty-year-long war between the winged lyrinx and the peoples of Santhenar, which ended ten years ago when the lyrinx were defeated and were given the alien-infested world of Tallallame for their own.
Maelys Nifferlin: A shy, demure girl of nineteen at the beginning of the tale, one of the last of her clan, who was compelled by her mother and aunts to rescue Nish (whom she has idolised since childhood because he was a hero of the war) and get pregnant to him, so as to restore the clan. Maelys has little experience of any kind of action but is very determined, brave and loyal. She did rescue Nish, and accompanied him on many adventures, though he, still obsessed with his beloved Irisis, repudiated her tentative advances and Maelys was so mortified that she was not game to try again. She then accompanied Flydd on various journeys, met Emberr in the Nightland, they made love and she unwittingly caused his death. Now Yalkara and the Numinator are both pursuing Maelys in case she became pregnant to Emberr.
Maigraith: An orphan brought up and trained by Faelamor, she was a master of the Secret Art. She became Yggur’s lover, briefly, and at the end of the Time of the Mirror she fell for Rulke and became pregnant to him not long before he died. It has recently been revealed that Maigraith became the Numinator.
Malien: An Aachim, and once one of their leaders, she was a heroine of the Time of the Mirror and an ally of Flydd and Yggur during the lyrinx war, but has not been seen since it ended.
Mancer: A wizard or sorcerer; someone who is a master of the Secret Art.
Mazurhize: The most brutal prison in the empire. Nish was held in its deepest and dankest cell for his ten-year sentence.
Mendark: A great mancer from the Time of the Mirror, he took renewal on many occasions but was killed at the end of the Time of the Mirror.
Mimemule: A small wooden object, shaped like several intergrown balls, which can be used to create something else by mimicry. It was a great treasure left to Karan by Faelamor, in reparation for her crimes.
Mirror, Mirror of Aachan: A powerful and capricious ancient artefact (aka the twisted mirror) which held a deadly secret, and gave its name to the period of history ending two hundred and twenty years ago (the Time of the Mirror), and also to Llian’s Great Tale (the Tale of the Mirror).
M’lainte: Flydd’s mechanician from the lyrinx wars, the genius who built the first air-floater.
Monkshart: The name taken by Jal-Nish’s former ally and friend, Vivimord, after renouncing his allegiance. He was a charismatic zealot and mancer, but corrupt, and attempted to use the D
eliverer to bring down the God-Emperor because Vivimord believed that for any man to take such a title was blasphemy. Vivimord was convicted of murder in Gendrigore (in a trial by ordeal), where he was taken by a sea leviathan and has not been seen since, though the leviathan died soon after, rather ominously.
Morrelune: Jal-Nish’s palace, near the prison of Mazurhize and not far from Fadd in eastern Lauralin.
Nadiril: The greatest librarian of the Great Library; he died two hundred years ago.
Nightland: A place, distant from the world of reality, where Rulke was kept prisoner for a thousand years. Tensor made a portal into the Nightland to revenge himself on
Rulke, but only succeeded in letting him out, and shortly the Nightland collapsed into nothingness, or so it was believed, until Flydd, Maelys and Colm ended up there recently. In fact, the Nightland was recreated before its total collapse by Yalkara, because her son Emberr was born there and could never leave.
Nish: See Cryl-Nish Hlar.
Nodes: Rare places in the Three Worlds where the Secret Art worked better because the node was surrounded by a field from which power could be drawn by a mancer or certain enchanted objects. The Profane Tears were formed by the destruction of a node. All nodes were destroyed by Tiaan at the end of the lyrinx war.
Numinator, the: A mysterious figure who dwells at the Tower of a Thousand Steps, on the Island of Noom in the frozen south, and secretly controlled the Council of Scrutators. The Numinator turned out to be Maigraith, who for more than a hundred and fifty years had manipulated the whole world for her breeding program, seeking to breed people together to create quartines, a new species, as a perpetual memorial to her dead lover Rulke. She is Yalkara’s granddaughter and Tulitine’s estranged grandmother.
Old Human: The original human species on Santhenar and by far the most numerous; the only short-lived human species, they typically have the meagre life-span of around seventy-five years.
Phrune: Monkshart’s acolyte, healer and perhaps lover, a sadistic killer whom Maelys slew at the Cursed Flame. Vivimord’s black arts gave Phrune life from death for a while, but Maelys forced him into a column of chthonic fire at Mistmurk Mountain. He came back as five Phrune spirits, then was drawn into the shadow realm.
Portal: See Gate.
Profane Tears: Two grapefruit-sized, tear-shaped objects made from nihilium, a quicksilver-like substance which holds the print of the Art more tightly than any other material. The tears were created by the implosion of a node of power thirteen years ago and stolen by Jal-Nish, who has poured all his knowledge of the Art into them, but corrupted them and turned them into the Profane Tears. Gatherer is a collector of information and coordinates all Jal-Nish’s spies and spying devices. Reaper is used to enforce Jal-Nish’s will, for it longs to bring ruin upon all it touches.
Quartine: See Tetrarch.
Reaper: See Profane Tears.
Regression Spell: A dangerous and painful spell to make oneself temporarily younger, though the after-effects are extremely unpleasant.
Renewal: A mighty and desperately dangerous self-administered spell through which a mancer may replace his old body with a new one, though more mancers die during the attempt than succeed.
Revenants: Stilkeen’s severed spirit aspects, now trapped in the shadow realm.
Reversion: A dangerous and difficult spell employed to turn back the effects of another spell, even long after it has been used.
Rulke: A Charon and the greatest of The Hundred. In ancient times Rulke was imprisoned in the Nightland until a way could be found to banish him back to Aachan. When Tensor opened a portal into the Nightland, Rulke was able to escape into Santhenar, but he was later killed by Tensor. He was the father of Emberr.
Ryll: A once ostracised wingless lyrinx; a hero of the war and an honourable male, he rose to become Patriarch of the lyrinx as they went to Tallallame.
Santhenar, Santh: The least of the Three Worlds, home of the old human peoples.
Secret Art, or Art: The use of magical or sorcerous powers (mancing). An art that very few can use and then only after considerable training. The Art was greatly weakened ten years ago, after Tiaan destroyed all the nodes of power, thus concentrating virtually all mancery in Jal-Nish’s sorcerous Profane Tears.
Shadow realm: An uncanny, and very deadly, place where spirits and other non-mortals dwell after death. Stilkeen’s revenants are trapped there.
Shazmak: The forgotten city of the Aachim, in the mountains west of Bannador. It was sacked by the Ghâshâd after they were woken from their long years as Whelm and is now only partly occupied by the Aachim Clan Elienor.
Skeet: A large, vicious bird used for carrying messages long distances.
Snizort: A locale in eastern Lauralin where there are vast underground tar deposits and seeps. The lyrinx had an underground city there during the war, and the destruction of the Snizort node led to the formation of the Profane Tears.
Span: The distance spanned by the stretched arms of a tall man. About six feet, or slightly less than two metres.
Spying Devices: The God-Emperor has many spying devices, such as wisp-watchers, loop listeners and snoop-sniffers, all relaying information back to the Profane Tear called Gatherer.
Stilkeen, The: An immortal shapeshifting being, originally composed of physical and spirit aspects (revenants) bound together by chthonic fire. For half an eternity it roamed the eleven dimensions of space and time, until Yalkara stole its chthonic fire. Now Stilkeen is trapped in one physical form, and is in great pain, especially in the physical worlds. It yearns desperately to be reunited with its revenants, which are in the shadow realm, and burns for revenge for the mortal insult done to it, but before it can do either it has to have its chthonic fire back.
Talent: A native skill or gift, usually honed by extensive training.
Tallallame: One of the Three Worlds, once the world of the Faellem. A beautiful, mountainous world covered in forest but now, in a cosmic irony, infested by alien creatures from the void, though the ferocious lyrinx are gradually exterminating them.
Taphloid: A small egg-shaped object made from yellow metal which was given to Maelys by her father, and which protects her by concealing the aura created by her untapped gift for the Art. It has other, unknown powers and is said to contain an important secret.
Tears: see Profane Tears.
Teller: One who has mastered the ritual telling of the tales that form part of the Histories of Santhenar.
Tensor: The proud, flawed leader of the Aachim for thousands of years, he let Rulke out of the Nightland. Tensor was killed at the end of the Tale of the Mirror.
Tetrarch: A person bearing the blood of all four human species, and (hopefully) free of their individual frailties. The Numinator’s great breeding project aims to create tetrarchs but after two hundred years all her efforts have failed. Also called quartine.
Thapter: A flying construct. Tiaan and Malien created the first one during the war.
Three Worlds: Santhenar, Aachan and Tallallame.
Tiaan: A brilliant but troubled artisan who became a heroine towards the end of the lyrinx war, but she could not bear to see all the ruin brought about by mancery and destroyed all the nodes of power at the end of the war, taking most of the world’s Arts with it. This had the unintended consequence of allowing Jal-Nish, who held the Profane Tears, to seize ultimate power.
Time of the Mirror: The interval spanned by the Tale of the Mirror, roughly 224 to 220 years ago.
Tower of a Thousand Steps: The Numinator’s tower on the frozen Island of Noom, in the far south. It was made of ice, but she recently destroyed it in an explosion of distilled chthonic fire after Emberr died, and Flydd and his allies escaped through a portal.
Triune: A double blending – one with the blood of all Three Worlds, three different human species. They are extremely rare but may have remarkable abilities. Karan and Maigraith were triune.
Tulitine: A mysterious old woman, healer and seer, who helped to
bring together the Defiance, and then encouraged and aided Nish on the way to the Range of Ruin, even using the perilous Regression Spell on herself so she could reach him to tell him that he had been betrayed. She is the Numinator’s granddaughter but has been repudiated by her.
Vivimord: See Monkshart.
Void, the: The endless space between the real worlds. A Darwinian place where life is more brutal and fleeting than anywhere. The void teems with the most exotic life imaginable, for nothing survives there without remaking itself constantly, and everything there longs to escape to one of the real worlds.
Vomix, Seneschal: Jal-Nish’s seneschal in Fadd. A vicious brute who destroyed Maelys’s clan because of something she said about him as a child. He pursued Nish and Maelys relentlessly after Nish’s escape, until she nearly destroyed him with the touch of her taphloid, which gruesomely inverted his aura.
War, the: See Lyrinx War.
Whelm: See Ghâshâd.
Xervish Flydd: A great mancer, former scrutator (i.e. spy-master and master inquisitor) and military commander during the lyrinx war, and one of the architects of the peace that ended it. Flydd went into hiding after Jal-Nish took over at the end of the war, and ended up trapped by old age and infirmity at the top of Mistmurk Mountain for nine years, until Nish and Maelys found him there. Maelys convinced Flydd to take renewal so they could try to find the antithesis to the tears, but the renewal went wrong. He is slowly recovering but seems colder, harder and less trustworthy. Subsequently, fleeing from the God-Emperor and Vivimord, he discovered the chthonic fire and used it to make a portal and escape, though they ended up in the Nightland. After visiting a cave in Elludore, where Flydd obtained the mimemule, he took Maelys to the Tower of a Thousand Steps in search of the antithesis, precipitating the fall of the tower, Maelys’s second visit to the Nightland, and finally their escape with Yggur and others to the Range of Ruin.