"False Prophet Semon," the Inviolate said, trotting closer on her strider as Versal hoplites surrounded Semon. Archers stood watch at a distance, ready to feather anyone who might try to come to his rescue.

  The Inviolate's short black hair revealed a single pierced ear. The grip on the long knives on her hips looked worn from use. A long, white scar ran from the edge of one eye straight to her jaw line on the left side of her face. Combat veteran. Unmarried and thus likely entirely devoted to her work. Semon rubbed his own single stud and the long-healed-over piercing in the other. If he had just managed to stay married and settled down in Jadeye, he wouldn't be in this predicament.

  The Inviolate lifted her light-absorbing Vial as though her distinctive black uniform wasn't identification enough. When she spoke, only the right side of her mouth moved and her voice came out as though crushed out of gravel.

  "False Prophet Semon, I am Inviolate Taesal. You stand charged with inciting revolt, treason, heresy, blasphemy, and other charges too numerous to recount here. Bring the rebelling menials back into the fold, recant, and forswear the Mother publicly and I've been authorized by a Tribunal of Ancients to grant you a quick, painless death." The woman shrugged and glanced at the hideous, distended woman looming over the Versal troops. The malproportioned mancer clicked her teeth against each other loudly. "Refuse and I can promise you nothing."

  Semon breathed deeply and shook his head. How would it due for the Mother's First Disciple to die on his knees? He rose slowly , lifting his head high. The steady calm of his voice projected far stronger and carried far more resolve than he'd expected it would. "I never asked the menials to revolt, I simply gave them a hint of something they'd never tasted before: hope. I cannot recant for all I am is the Mother's Voice. Since I do only her will, only if she wishes silence can I cease speaking her words. Thus, I cannot forswear her. Without her light, my world would grow too dim to sustain me any further. No death you can inflict could possibly match the agony of hope extinguished. To live forever in the dark after seeing the sun is more than this old man could survive."

  He looked to the Versal troops about him, making eye contact with several before they began looking away. "Know the Mother welcomes and forgives all. No servants, no slaves abide her presence for their are no lords nor masters. No Dyanst nor Verser stands above, no menial or Wretch below her. All stand as equals, all worthy of her. All free to live, love, leave or stay, speak or hold silent, and, most importantly of all, to choose. You here, too, can choose."

  Reaching into a pouch, he produced his rope of 'nails. "Follow me out of the fearful, smothering shadows cast by the Black Court and you'll see the path laid to the Mother."

  None of the warriors would meet his eye. A few glances flickered towards the Inviolate, but then fell to the dirt.

  The Inviolate sighed and shook her head.

  "Nice try, heretic," the Manser snarled, stepping over the troops. As she extended one hand, the fingers elongated, the skin peeled away, and the bones fused into sharp, knobby claws. "Rega and Asta wants you alive, but you don't need that other eye or all those fingers to live, do you?"

  Semon closed his eyes and lifted his arms wide. "Mother, help me find the way to serve you better through my death as I did in life."

  He felt the mancer leaning close. Smelled the stench of her breath and felt her too-long tongue brush across his cheek. "You're not going to die here quickly or cleanly, old man, just wish you had."

  "Hey!" a small voice shouted.

  Semon's eyes snapped open and his head whipped towards the sound. Mud-mouth stood at the edge of the nearest rice paddy. He waved at Semon. "I found-"

  A bowstring twanged and an arrow punched him out of sight. The other archers cheered and congratulated his shooter as they directed their strider over to see if they'd killed him. The Mancer took Semon's hand with her normal limb and held it in her mouth, peering into his eyes with a look full of madness. She seemed desperately hungry for his reaction. He felt only sadness that he couldn't have done more.

  "What's that?" "Wait!" "Shoot it, shoot it!" the archers called as a slithering blue light blurred out of the paddy, weaving about too quickly and erratically for the archers to draw a clean bead on whatever it was. It hurtled between their strider's legs, spooking it. The beast half-pranced, half-stumbled sideways. They loosed a few wild arrows, then a roaring eel-like god exploded out of the water. Its crimson and gold scales gleamed. Teeth long as knives bared as it hurtled through the air and crashed into the archer's strider.

  Simultaneously, Strygen sprinted out of the elder's house. The heel-length silver wire he called hair coiled into killing points that punched through the unarmored backs and necks of the nearest Versal troops as he darted between them. Unprepared to face a god and a furious dusa at the same time, the remaining Versal troops pulled back to form a phalanx. Cheering villagers charged in from all sides with threshing poles, nets, hunting spears, and simple clubs. Hurled darts, rocks, and the odd fishing spear flew into their ranks. The miniature phalanx dissolved as the villagers crashed into it.

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  Fire roared in the Seamery, casting burning silken threads aloft. They drifted through the mist, setting it alight like a thousand dim, floating candle wicks. Larger bits landed on huts and quickly set them ablaze, filling the air with an even thicker smoky, spark-traced haze.

  The god had bitten the strider cleanly in half. It swerved to swallow an archer whole then bit the top half of another clean off, weaved, chomped, and swung its bone-crushing, hut-leveling body about erratically. It maimed soldier and villager indiscriminately. A charge of the other strider plunged two spears into its sides, but it simply snapped them off and slithered madly after the strider as it galloped full-tilt off into the bamboo, the lancers on its back holding on for dear life.

  The Mancer and Strygen entered a furious duel, the dusa's hair darting, feinting, deflecting, thrusting, and enwrapping limbs while the mancer shifted killing forms with terrifying fluidity and ferocity. Tendon whips, bone blades and talons, a shield of layered ribs, muscles bunched in one arm for scything blows or coiling in her legs to launch her at Strygen with impossible speed and distance. The shape of her violence shifted form as quickly as the dusa's hair did.

  Chaos reigned in the village.

  Amidst it all, the Inviolate slowly and deliberately dismounted then walked towards him. As she reached him, it struck Simon that the two of them formed a surprising locus of calm amid the maelstrom of death and violence. She stopped close enough to stab him, but instead she smiled ruefully. "This didn't turn out as planned."

  "Things rarely do I find."

  "You were supposed to be captured, forced to recant, then 'escape'," she said, pausing for a moment before 'escape'.

  Semon quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? Escape to where?"

  "Anywhere. Or almost. I bring a gift from Rega."

  "Rega, the Ancient, offers a gift?"

  "Is there another Rega you know of?"

  "Doubtful. I was questioning the gift not the name." Semon smiled and glanced towards where the shrine and barracks would be through the blinding fog and smoke. "Is it the third figure you rode with? An old Disciple of mine? One of the imitating Mother's Prophets springing up in my wake?"

  "Nothing so mundane," the woman said. As the smoke thickened, they seemed to be alone in a flickering swirl of shouts, cries, crackles, splashes, and clashes. "Give me your word that I go unharmed from this and I'll give you a Valeer."

  Now that surprised Semon. "A Valeer? A healthy, functional Valeer?"

  "As much as those two words apply to them, yes."

  "Why would Rega do that?" Semon laughed, in part at simple relief to still be alive and intact, in part at Rega's audacity. "Ah... I don't suppose the Valeer knows the way to any Ancient Thorns, does he?"

  Taesal smiled with what over her lips could perform the expression. "There may have been some oversights in her slavanting."

  "But I'm sure she can find Fraction and Isolate verses fine," he said as it dawned on him why they were going to let him live.

  "Please. They call themselves Resistance Against the Grevious Ancient Coup now."

  Semon sighed and shook his head. "Idiots."

  "Agree there. Do we have an agreement otherwise as well?"

  He looked out at the raging, confusion of battle. "I can't make any promises you won't get eaten by the god."

  "I can't make any promises Jegga doesn't gobble a few bits of you regardless of the orders I give her either. I'd recommend leaving before we find out."

  "Sounds like we're about even then," Semon said. He held his right hand out, palm extended. "Deal."

  "Deal." Taesal held her palm against his for several seconds. "Come to the shrine tomorrow when this is all calming down and you can 'kidnap' our Valeer."

  She turned to leave, but he grabbed her shoulder. Her eyes flicked down to his hand, then rose to a level look at him. He quickly released. "Ah, well, I don't suppose I could ask one favor?"

  Something large splashed in the nearest paddy, spraying them with fine mist. Taesal glanced the direction of the sound and put a hand on her knife, then laughed gruffly.

  "Ran two lances through it and didn't even slow it down, what're these little stickers going to do?" She turned back to Semon. "No harm in asking, even if I'm likely to refuse."

  "Any chance you can let these villagers go? They're only doing what I told them to do. If I hadn't come here, none of them would be dying."

  "Wretch Plague would be here soon to kill most of them even if we didn't." She looked at him with something like understanding for a moment, then shook her head slightly. "You know I can't let them live after this."

  He sighed. "I figured not."

  Pursing her lips, she toed a bloody helm lying nearby. "I'll definitely need a couple days to gather more troops though. They'd certainly be too thinly spread after this to track anyone down if they fled into the heart of the bamboo forests."

  He tapped his forehead as he inclined his head towards her. "Thank you."

  A grunt and she was gone in the smoke.

  It took him several minutes to find Mud Eater. The little boy lay with his legs submerged in the rice paddy, his face pale as he clutched the arrow jutting from his gut. Sadar, the strange, shaven-headed kid who'd latched on to them as they fled Heaven's Tread, squatted at his side. Sadar looked up, talking to himself just outside the range of Simon's hearing as he always did. Semon knelt and took the Mud Eater's hand. The boy gripped it weakly. "Did the Mother come?"

  Semon nodded and brushed his fingers across the boy's forehead. "Yes, she's here. Just on her way to see you now."

  "Good. I'm still so hungry," he said and died.

  After holding his hand for a minute longer, Semon stood wearily. Sadar looked at him and his mumbles grew loud enough to be heard, his version of talking. "...and I ask you in return: how many people just died here? One boy, but how many children, grandchildren, and on? One arrow slays dozens spread across centuries. I've just come across Ocyl meeting with an Inviolate near the ugly woman statue. Ocyl is meeting with a who? An Inviolate, don't you listen?"

  There was more, but a waft of oily smoke trail it into a fit of coughing then back to obscure mumbles as the lad continued to talk to himself. Sadar hitched his tunic up to cover his nose and mouth, the boy's eyes as bloodshot as Semon's had to be.

  They stumbled away from the rice patty, eyes stinging in the smoke and coughing.

  "Mother help us all," he muttered. "It all comes apart around us and you are our only hope that something lies on the other side. Guide me, O Mother, that I may help them find their way to you."

  Next chapter: Aida deals with the Sect and faces an unexpected threat.

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a traveling musician. Died of the Wretch Plague in Heaven's Tread.

  Aida: MC. Mother of Exiles. "Ender of Verses?" "Savior of Dynasties?"

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Alerestro: a handsome, multi-talented man from Azure. Partner of Viviana

  Aliasara: servant at Ocyl's villa who befriends Aida

  Anticores: a pair of Sect representatives, off-putting and strange

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Asta: Tertius Dynast of Silk.

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  Baka: Dynast of Ziggurat. Huge, massively strong. Tertius.

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye. His face gifted to Aida by Ocyl.

  Broadaxe: large, axe-and-shield-wielding Feral protecting Aida. Killed by Jaxe in Jadeye

  Cairin: Arca's sister, slinger

  Das: Rega's Immanent

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eonora: a Legion officer in Ziggurat

  Eth: a young Imminent

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Ghulen: Rega's "pet monster", an Inviolate

  Goboro: a fat, amiable scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal. Died killing the Inviolate Rasofi in Jadeye

  Fatma: slaver?

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  Fetriene: Ocyl's soresearer

  Goldilocks: twitchy, spear-and-javelin carrying Feral guarding Aida. Died burning a Wicker Way in Jadeye.

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court, sent by Fractious Fraction

  Hue: Vibrant accompanying Simon

  Huspara: minor bureaucrat in Libriam

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Izbali: a silent tribal shaman

  Janali: Ocyl's elegant Seneschal

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young" (Secounds), wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino). Ancient.

  Johine: crude slave

  Kass/Kassenia: mercenary attached to Adonissian. Died of Wretch Plague?

  Maxem: High Parser from Ink, ambassador to Jadeye

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  "Professor, The": leader of Aida's Wretches

  Rasofi: Inviolate killed by Fallon in Jadeye

  Reck: Dynast of Chalk, "not witty enough to be clever and takes himself too seriously to be ironic". Paranoid, Fractious Fraction. Tertius. Died to a mob of menials in Jadeye.

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast of Monopolis. Septemius

  Riccaro: majordomo of Ocyl's estate. Hung by a looting mob in Heaven's Tread.

  Rustrovan/"Rusty": Eth's old, gap-toothed skinscribe

  Ryk: "the most beautiful man Aida had ever seen", a Paragon

  Sadar: odd boy traveling with Semon

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Savalius: Grand Quartermaster of the Legions

  Semon "Goldtongue": white-haired, one-eyed master of cults. First Disciple of the Mother.

  Stiller: serving boy at Ocyl's estate. Rendered mute by psychological or head-trauma

  Strygen: a dusa traveling with Semon

  Taesal: one of Rega's other Inviolates, axe scar to face

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Tyrs: many-pierced Secundus Dynast of Forge

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  Vanyen: A crippled young woman who created the Cult of the Mother. Martyred Prophet of the Mother. Murdered by Semon Dynastic Assassins.

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Viviana: gorgeous, multi-talented ex-slave from Berujat. Partner of Alerestro.

  Wake: Dynast of Graves, marries even though they all die. Quintus. Isolate.

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  Adventures of Bubo, The: popular kids story

  All, The: All the verses, even those beyond The Book.

  Ancients: a major Dynastic Chapter, an "elite number", "own Ziggurat" and "run the great bank that is Monopolis"

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails.

  Anticore: Sect creature which "wears convincing human skins" with "swarming insects... beneath the skin"

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves?

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Audits/"Diggers": Libriam internal affairs

  Autumn: verse rich in gold?

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Azure: A verse?

  Berujat: "fleshmarkets"; primary seat of slave trade and home of most Lineage Masters, owned by Fraction.

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Black Court Tribunal: localized Black Court authority?

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "The Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Calms: periods when ever-blowing winds die down in Berujat

  Canyon of Cages: cliff where slaves are held in Berujat

  Cave Dwellers: tribes that live in the underground in Origin, keep others out until "the Return"

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chalk/"Vistas": verse entirely made of chalky cliff, belongs to Reck

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Inoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease, "Mudra of Cleansing"

  Chapters: power groupings among the Dynasts of the Book: predominantly The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, and Isolates.

  Circular Sea: an ocean abutting the Jadeye segment of Heaven's Tread

  Clock Priest: priests from Gears who track and tell time religiously

  Commu: chewed drug/herb?

  ConMach: convoy? courier? "ConMach drains the very life from the Directory's verses". Supply "ConMach machines"

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins? "harder than currence"? "Solid current forms currence." Currence melts to watter.

  Currency: money, gold coins once held currence inside to give value, now debased

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"? "Solid current forms currence."

  Directory: "the Directory to Ink is like the Dynasty to the Book", dominating rulers of Ink

  Donative, The: Black Court taxes, taken by Legion if not offered. Don't pay, no Partaking every century.

  Dusa: people with manipulable hair of silver wire, from Gears

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynast's Tower: a massive tower at the peak of Ziggurat.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebon Saga: the tale of Ebon's foundation of The Book and Dynasty

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  El: semi-insubstantial snake/remora-like creatures that follow gods (and sometimes Dynasts) around

  "Emperor of Everything": popular kids story about Inro turning down becoming emperor, then crushing those who elevated a different Dynast

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  Fetalist: Imminent faction who believe the future is unchangeable

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Forge: verse ruled by Tyrs with much metalworking

  Fractious Fraction/"DissatisFaction"/"The Renewal": a major Dynastic Chapter who "hate everyone including each other", "entice every freemancer and Lineage Master" ... "to Berujat". For those with "verses deficient in maor ways."

  Gates, The: Inter-verse travel method created by Ebon. Opened with Limn

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  God-touched: those who have physically touched a god (and lived)

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Gons: self-sustaining organs capable of living outside a host

  Graves: a verse "Made of the dead by the dead for the dead".

  Groves: a forest verse

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  High Parser: officials from Ink

  Imminent: seers advising Dynasts and shaping course of The Book

  Imminent Prophecy: something about a barbarian Dynast, Ender of Verses and/or Savior of Dynasties?

  Inevitables; faction of Imminent who believe it is their sacred duty to ensure the future comes to pass as seen

  Ink: home verse of the Skeinry, Keens, Directory, and "the Faded People"

  Innoculist: doctors who teach chants "brought from Logos" to cure disease

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption" with "unlimited, undisclosed, and untraceable budgets"

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Isolates: a major Dynastic Chapter with a "unified stand for independence", "cheat the Donative, stockpil[e] currence and watter" "hire Keen mercenaries" "raise own private Legions in secret"

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jar: Name of a "gold" coin now made of brass. Once held currence within.

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin

  Jutland Reach: a verse with guns?

  Green People: tribes that live in the jungles of Origin

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it. "Tank knights"

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast, most desperately trying to reach 100 so they can Partake

  Kiss, The: disease that wiped out "hundreds of verses", also name for the time period when Aj became active last and destroyed 100s of verses before halting in Sunset

  Lambent ram: animal whose wool glows?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Libwe: tribe possessing the "holy" Limn clay bed.

  Limn: "infused clay" bearing some sort of internal power, used by Ebon to found the Dynasty

  Lineage: a line of mancers taught by a Master

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Lizard Hunters: Arca's people, walkers of the wastes of Origin

  Logos: "the thought realm"

  Machine Curse: something that stops machines from working between verses?

  Mancers: "no mancers arc (could) affect it", people with abilities beyond human normal, usually trained/implanted by a Master.

  Master's Markets: primary slave market in the Book in Berujat

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: "the Outsiders". "exist only to destroy the Book" with their "demonic and monstrous children" from "the Hells beyond"

  Monopolis: the "City of Currency", bank verse ruled by Rega

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Mune: someone from the Collective on Dost?

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Preserve: a garden "beyond the Circular Sea" in Heaven's Tread?

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One Tribe, The: Arca's new tribe incorporating the Libwe and whomever else is conquered or enticed to join.

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer

  Origin: the First Verse, from which Ebon originated, containing the "Cities Below". The "first page of The Book"

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty. Alternately, albinism

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  Phero: Lineage whose scent creates overwhelming attraction

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Porcelain Guard: Ocyl's white-masked Ferals

  Pure Priest of the Ascen/Blind Priests: priests praising the Ascen and back the Black Court

  Rags: derogatory name for alliance of Isolates and Fractious Fraction. Call themselves "Resistance Against the Grevious Ancient Coup."

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Reconquest: time four-hundred years ago when Inro "drove [tribals] back into civilization's fold at spear point"

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seericide: seers capable of Knowing everything as they die

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Shale: a verse famous for its expensive stone

  Shore Striders: tribes that live along the oceans of Caves

  Shackle Pens: slave pens near Master's Market in Berujat?

  Shrineway: religious section of Jadeye "brailled prayers along the walls ... [and] cobblestones"

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Silk: verse owned by Asta where all of verse's silk originates

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago when "half the legions rose up". Put down by Baka

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinlife: living tattoos

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: individuals capable of "healing" by cauterizing wounds with their hands

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing"

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Stone Walkers: tribes that live in the cold of Origin

  Subterrane, The: inter-verse travel route accessed by Ebon via Limn

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons" holds mad Dynasts, monsters and demons... vaults of dangerous relics.

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Swirl: A verse. "The pleasure barges of Swirl"

  Syphon: machine ConMach uses to "drain the very life" and color from a verse to "fuel... machinery"

  Tangle, The: the jungles of the One-Eighth

  Terminus: "Gates End", a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Tribunal: group of three Dynasts coming together to make ruling or pass judgment

  Twine: "one soul threaded through two bodies"

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Vale Walkers: discoverers of verses

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Venger: muscle man?

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Vibrant: color-changing individuals from Ink?

  Watter: an energetic liquid. "Currence melts to watter. Watter's current dissipates over time, leaving water."

  Weeping Falls: Jadeye Iris flowing with waterfalls

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  Wiz of Berujat: multi-minded?

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wretch Plague/Dynast's Plague: the flu. A horrific disease spread by Wretches.

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between. A giant Ziggurat