TERMS, PHRASE AND PLACE SO FINTEREST

From the Notes of Loremaster Rothfaust

Aish Kalumm (the City of Mothers): Zeerani river fortress

Akari (Akari Sun Dragon): according to legend, Akari is a draik (a male dragon) who flies across the sky bringing life and light to the world as he seeks to rouse his sleeping mate, Sajani the Earth Dragon

aklashi: a game played while on horseback. It involves a sheep’s head and quite a lot of noise

Arachnist: a human mage, who worships and does the bidding of the Araids

Araid: massive, intelligent spiders that live deep in the abandoned cities of Quarabala

Atualon: a western kingdom founded upon the shores of Nar Bedayyan; home to the Dragon Kings

Atukos (City of Dreams, City of the Sleeping Dragon): dragonglass fortress of the Dragon King, named for the living mountain into which it is built

atulfah: sa and ka combined to create the song of creation

Ayyam Binat: a period of time in the spring during which young Zeerani women vie with one another for the sexual favors of men

Baidun Daiel (also known as the Sleepless, or Voiceless): warrior mages who serve Ka Atu

Baizhu: a religious order of Sindanese monks

Bayyid Eidtein: trading town near the mouth of the Dibris, a known den of miscreants and rogues. The southernmost trading post along Atualonian-maintained roads

Beit Usqut: the Youths’ Quarter in Aish Kalumm

bintshi: a winged greater predator with the ability to immobilize and lure prey using psionic song

Bohica: patroness divine of soldiers

bonelord: one of the greater predators, bonelords are massive carnivorous creatures that rely on camouflage, speed, and mind-magic to capture prey

bonesinger: Dzirani sorcerer

Bones of Eth: an ill-reputed ruin or monument in the Zeera, formed of a rough circle of tall, twisted pillars of red and black stone

churra (pl. churrim): a hardy desert omnivore prized by the Zeerani as a pack animal, and seen as a suitable mount for outlanders

craftmistress/master: Zeerani women and men who have been trained in and work at their particular craft— blacksmithing, painting, building, weaving, etc.

Dae: a race of magically gifted people who reside in the Twilight Lands

daeborn: of Dae descent

Daechen: half-Dae, half-human Sindanese warrior caste (male)

daemon: commonly used to describe any wicked thing (also daespawn)

Daeshen: half-Dae, half-human member of the Sindanese imperial family

Daezhu: half-Dae, half-human Sindanese ruling class (female)

Delpha (Big Sister): one of two moons; has a twenty-eight-day cycle

Dibris: a river that runs through the Zeera, supporting a wide range of life

Didi (Little Sister): one of two moons; has a fourteen-day cycle

Dragon King: Ka Atu, the monarch of Atualon (currently Wyvernus)

Draiksguard: elite military unit assigned to guard members of the Atualonian royal family

Dreaming Lands: see Shehannam

dreamshifter: Zeerani shaman who can move through and manipulate Shehannam

Dzirani: clan of wandering storytellers, healers, and merchants

Dziranim: members of the Dzirani clan, known for their forbidden magic of bonesinging

echovete: one who can hear atulfah

Edge, the: the geographical and socioeconomic fringes of Quarabala

ehuani: Zeerani word meaning “beauty in truth”

Eid Kalish: trading town, a stop on the Great Salt Road, known for its thriving black market and slave trade

Eth: Quarabalese destruction deity, he whose breath creates the darkness between stars

Great Salt Road: trade route that stretches from the edge of the Quarabala in the west to the easternmost cities of Sindan

Hajra-Khai: Zeerani spring festival

hayatani: a Zeerani girl’s first consort

hayyanah: Zeerani couples who are pledged to one another and remain more or less monogamous

herdmistress/master: responsible for the health and well-being of a pride’s horses and churrim

Illindra: Quarabalese creation deity, an enormous female spider who hangs the stars in her web of life

Iponui: Quarabalese runners, messengers, and warriors

Issuq: twilight lords and ladies who have a clan affinity for the sea and can shapeshift into sea-bears

istaza/istaz: youthmistress/master of the Zeerani prides

Ja’Akari: Zeerani warrior, responsible for keeping all the pridelands safe from outside threats

Ja Akari: Zeerani phrase meaning “under the sun”; loosely translates to being completely open and honest, hiding nothing

Ja’Sajani: Zeerani warden, responsible for maintaining order and security within his local territory

Ja Sajani: Zeerani phrase meaning “upon the earth”; loosely translates to being present in the moment

Jehannim: a mythical hellish place of fire and brimstone; also the name of a mountain range west of the river Dibris and east of Quarabala

jiinberry: a water-loving berry that grows along the banks of the Dibris during the flooding season

ka: that half of atulfah which is known as the breath of spirit. It manifests to most as an expanded awareness of one’s surroundings

Ka Atu: the Dragon King of Atualon

Kaapua: a river in Sindan

kahanna: vash’ai sorcerer

Kha’Akari: Zeerani warrior who has been exiled from the sight of Akari

Khanbul (the Forbidden City): home of the Sindanese emperor

khutlani: Zeerani word meaning “forbidden”

kima’a: avatar spirit-beast in Shehannam

kin: intelligent creatures descended from the first races and considered relatives of dragons—vash’ai, wyverns, and mymyc are numbered among the kin

kith: term used to describe creatures that are more intelligent than beasts, but lack the awareness of kin or humans

kithren: Zeerani person bound to a vash’ai, and vice versa

ladies/lords of twilight: Dae lords

lashai: modified half-human servants that wait upon the Daechen and yendaeshi

lionsnake: an enormous, venomous, two-legged plumed serpent that lives in the Zeera

the Lonely Road: in Zeerani mythology, the road traveled by the dead

Madraj: an arena and gathering place of the Zeeranim

Mah’zula: a society of Zeeranim who live a purely nomadic life and abide by the ancient ways of the desert, seeking to return to the glory days of the First Women

Min Yaarif: trading and slavers’ port on the western bank of the Dibris

Min Yahtamu: ancient trading post west of the Jehannim

mutaani: Zeerani term meaning “there is beauty in death”

Mutai Gon-yu (The Mountains that Tamed the Rains): mountain range in Sindan

mymyc: one of the kin, mymyc live and hunt in packs. From a distance, mymyc strongly resemble black horses

Nar Bedayyan: a sea to the west of Atualon

Nar Intihaan: a sea to the east of Sindan

Nar Kabdaan: a sea east of the Zeera and west of Sindan

ne Atu: member of the royal family of Atualon

Nian-da: a ten-day-long festival in Sindan. Any child born during this time is assumed to be fathered by a Dae man during Moonstide, and without exception is taken to Khanbul at the age of sixteen

Night of Sorrows: an historic uprising in Quarabala, brought about via political machinations by the Cult of Eth, which left the populace decimated and the ruling families nearly extinct

Nisfi: Zeerani pride

O’oraid: large, intelligent spiders used in divination by Illindrists

outlanders: term used by the Zeerani to describe people not of the Zeera

parens: heads of the ruling families in Atualon

pride: Zeerani clan. Also used to describe all prides as a single entity

Quarabala (also known as the Seared Lands): a region so hot that humans live in cities far underground

Quarabalese: of Quarabala

reavers: insectoid humans that have been modified by the Araids. Their bite is envenomed

Riharr: Zeerani pride

russet ridgebacks: large spiders that live in underground colonies. Harmless unless they are disturbed. Their eggs are considered a delicacy in the Zeera.

sa: that half of atulfah which is known as the heart of the soul. An expanded sense of empathy and harmony

Sajani (Sajani Earth Dragon, the Sleeping Dragon): according to legend, Sajani is a diva (a female dragon) who sleeps beneath the crust of the world, waiting for the song of her mate Akari to wake her

Salar Merraj: city of the salt miners built upon the shores of a dead salt lake. The Mer family stronghold

Salarians: citizens of the salt-mining city Salar Merraj

Saodan: capital city of Quarabala

sand-dae: shapes made of wind-driven sand

Shahad: Zeerani pride

Shehannam (the Dreaming Lands): the otherworld, a place of dreams and strange beings

shenu: a board game popular in the Zeera

shofar (pl. shofarot): wind instrument made from the horn of an animal

shofar akibra: a magical instrument fashioned from the horn of the golden ram

shongwei: an intelligent, carnivorous sea creature

Sindan: empire that stretches from Nar Kabdaan in the west to Nar Intihaan in the east

Sindanese: of Sindan

Snafu: patron divine of fuckups

the Sundering: cataclysm that took place roughly one thousand years before the events of this story

surdus: deaf to atulfah

Tai Bardan (Mountains of Ice): mountain range in Sindan east of Khanbul

Tai Damat (Mountains of Blood): mountain range in Sindan on the Great Salt Road, north of Khanbul

tarbok: goat-sized herd animal, plentiful near rivers and oases

touar: head-to-toe outfit worn by the Zeerani wardens: head wrap and veils, calf-length robe, loose trousers, all blue

Twilight Lands: a land at once part of and separated from the world of Men; home of the Dae

usca: a strong alcoholic beverage popular in the Zeera

Uthrak: Zeerani pride

vash’ai: large, intelligent sabre-tusked cats. Vash’ai are kin, descended from the first races

Wild Hunt (also the Hunt): deadly game played by the Huntress, a powerful being who enforces the rules of Shehannam

wyvern: intelligent flying kin

yendaeshi: trainer, mentor, and master to the Daechen and Daezhu

Yosh: a hellish place in Zeerani mythology, and of that wicked spirit or deity that rules it. Variously thought to be deep underground, hidden in the Jehannim, or on another plane of existence altogether

youthmistress/master (istaza/istaz): Zeerani adults in charge of guiding and teaching the pride’s young people

Zeera: a desert south of the Great Salt Road, known for its singing dunes, hostile environment, and remote barbarian prides

Zeeranim: people of the desert

Zeeravashani: a Zeerani person who has bonded with a vash’ai