Voices of Blaze (Volume 5 of The Fireblade Array)
Page 43
Fate’s School of Warriors – A sword school, based in the Sunidaran city of Hestavos, where promising recruits are trained for roles in combat. Most graduands find places in the Sunidaran Army.
Form (Blaze) – A structure made with Blaze Energy that will produce a specific weapon, shield, light or piece of matter. Forms are altered by defining the speed, vibration and shapes of Blaze Energy that make it. Once
constructed, most forms can be deconstructed or unravelled, but the time required is dependent upon the complexity of the form.
Ghar-en – An amplifying tool for reinforcing or enlarging existing Blaze forms. Only a few of these are known to have been made, and most have become lost through time.
Gar-sira – An object to which a Blaze form can be anchored, thereby impeding any kanaala’s or wielder’s efforts to
deconstruct it. Gar-siras are usually objects that can be smashed or destroyed to remove the form.
Ghar-ten –An object designed to hold Blaze energy for later use, or to enable a kanaala to wield without the aid of a female wielder.
Kahr–A male heir of royal blood in the central and eastern areas ofthe Sennefhal continent.
Kahriss – A female heir of royal blood in the central and
eastern areas of the Sennefhal continent.
Kanaala –A man who can manipulate (i.e. wield) Blaze forms or deconstruct them. Kanaala are the male counterpart to wielders, and they cannot access Blaze Energy independently. A kanaala can control The Blazes through a wielder, and he can access her fires before her power is fully matured. He also has the ability to permanently quench a wielder
of her power, although it has been observed that not all quenching is permanent.
Kanaala are graded according to their ability, with most falling between grades three and five. A kanaala graded ten is considered to be very powerful indeed.
Kanaala are the only men who can safely sleep with wielders, though this is dependent upon their grading. For example, a kanaala graded
four will almost certainly die if he lies with a wielder graded five, and this is due to his limited capacity for her power.
A kanaala can detect the presence of a wielder. The more powerful either one is, the greater the distance at which they can sense one another. Kanaala can only detect other kanaala through skin-to-skin contact.
Kanaala are born with their full potential already reached, and do not mature into their
abilities as wielders do. Prospective parents fear giving birth to kanaala, since the child's arrival will always result in the mother's death, unless she has access to Gialdin’s Cave of Light. The same is not true of wielders unless the child has the potential to be especially powerful. It is thought that this difference has something to do with the child's latent Blaze abilities at birth. Blaze abilities are often inherited, but have been known
to spontaneously appear in families where it has previously been absent.
Kefruit – A hand-sized, yellow tree fruit with mottled peel. Its sweet flavour makes it popular in desserts.
Kusuru Assassins – A group of seven individuals who, at some point before the Era of Floods, were trained in sword fighting, wielding and espionage. They are reputedly the most deadly fighters ever to have lived. Each
member was specially selected for their ability with Blaze and each was vanha-sielu. Their training was said to be so tough that they would regularly die as a result of it, but were recruited again once they were reborn. It was hoped that they would form a force to protect the world through history, and that one of them would eventually be instrumental in preventing the demise ofthe known world. Their members were: Artemi (The Fireblade),
Dorlunh (The Reader), Khasha (The Puzzler), Mirel (Ice-Kill), Tallyn (The Hunter), Romarr (The Hammer) and Vestuna (The Silent Knife).
Nalka –The physical pain suffered by lovers upon being separated from each other. It usually manifests about ten days after their last engagement in sexual intercourse and is complete within four days of the first pains.
The affliction is usually fatal to those who suffer it before the age of twenty, and so it is not advised that lovers enter into a sexual relationship before they're old enough to withstand the separation.
It represents the termination ofthe bond between partners and their potential to procreate. However, lovers are able to have children subsequently, but only if they are able to maintain a sexual relationship without undergoing
nalka for nine years.
In spite ofthis phenomenon, brothels and whore houses are prevalent across much ofthe world.
Partition (Blaze) – A Blaze form that masks wielding from any nearby kanaala or wielders. The construction of most Blaze forms gives off heat, and a partition will impede any further dispersal ofthat heat.
Pinh – A black, poisonous liquid which prevents wounds
from healing. If enough poison is ingested by an individual they will suffer pinhatar death, where the blood becomes too saturated with the substance to perform its proper function. Scars that result from wounds are generally caused by the presence of pinh. Sarkha – A tube-like implement with a plunger and reservoir at either end, used to clean pinh-saturated wounds that are too deep to be washed any other way. One reservoir is filled
with water and the flexible, middle section ofthe tube is inserted into the wound. Once the water reservoir has been emptied into the injury, the second reservoir can be used to withdraw the diluted poison.
Stasis – The body’s method of preserving itself in times of drought or famine. Sufferers will fall into a death-like, comatose state and will be unrousable. They will wake, on average, once per decade and search for
nourishment. If a sufferer is unable to find food or water in order to break the stasis cycle, they will eventually succumb after one-to-two-hundred years have passed.
Swift – An orange, groundcreeping flower, native to mountainous regions. Its distilled nectar can aid healing when an individual’s ability to recover from wounds is exhausted.
Tanno – A juicy, purple berry with a slightly acidic taste. It is usually skinned, pressed and fermented to make wine.
Vanha-sielu – An old term for an even older group of people, meaning "repeated life." These individuals are born again within two weeks of their deaths, ad infinitum. In each life they carry an identical appearance and are inevitably given the same name by their parents or guardians.
Occasionally, their own fame in previous lives causes
them to be named after themselves.
Until the age of 23 they are unaware of their deep past, although several aspects oftheir character will manifest in the same way through childhood. If memories are forced upon a vanha-sielu before their mind is ready to accept them, it can lead to death or madness. However, familiar faces and objects do not seem to trigger this in young vanha-sielu, which implies that a
certain set of words are necessary in order to initiate premature recall.
It is currently unknown how the phenomena of vanha-sielu came about, and new ones do not appear to have been created in recent times.
Wielder – A wielder is able to control Blaze Energy and access The Blazes independently. Wielders are exclusively female, born with the potential to reach a certain level ofability, but they
can only access their powers independently once they reach the age of twenty. Until then they must employ the aid of kanaala to help them wield.
A wielder can detect the presence of another wielder. The more powerful either one is, the greater the distance at which they can sense one another. Wielders can only detect kanaala through skin-to-skin contact.
Wielders are graded according to their ability, with
most falling between grades two and four. A wielder graded ten is considered to be very powerful indeed.
They were previously banished from Calidell and any discovered in the country, or found to be wielding, were immediately executed. During the reign of King Morghiad of House Jade’an, however,
this ban was repealed.
Wielders must choose their bed fellows carefully, as they
have the potential to burn their lovers alive. For this reason, most wielders will marry kanaala or remain celibate.
About the Author
H.O. Charles was born in Northern England, but now resides in a beige house in
Suffolk.
Charles has spent many years at various academic institutions, and really ought to get on with
writing a PhD, but frequently becomes distracted by writing fantasy fiction instead.
Hobbies include being in the sea,
being by the sea and eating things that come out ofthe sea.
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