-Da / 1n-

  'I met with all the

  2 x 7 x 13

  to repeat again

  what you have learned.

  To tell what you do

  and have done

  and why.'

  -Aj /102-

  'Aj

  has performed correctly?'

  -Da / 1n-

  'The future

  ever snarls

  in tangles of complexity.

  We shall see.'

  Aida and Ghillie reached the Neck just as the first two men cleared the guidelines. A burst of sound hurtled one backwards off the shell while another rushed towards Ghillie. She reached into her Ghillie suit and threw her hand towards him. He flinched to the side before realizing her hand had been empty. The real needle flew true, piercing the side of his neck. He crumpled bonelessly mid-stride.

  The archer covering behind a bony fin leaned out and loosed an arrow at Ghillie. She sprawled out as it flew, then sprang back to her feet as it caromed off the shell behind them. Three men rushed across the final span with reckless abandon. Aida rushed towards them, hoping to catch them before they cleared it, the resonance building greater in her strings with every passing second.

  Later, she pieced together what she'd done, but in the moment it all happened at the level of instinct and reaction. She reached the guide line anchor points just as one of the men hurtled himself towards her with a knife in hand. At the moment she began to unleash a blast of sonic fury to hurl him back, she saw caught the archer aiming at her, drawing his bow, and releasing in a fast motion. In a burst of panic, she amplified the resonance and skewed it to not only include the ruffian leaping towards her but also the archer and arrow both.

  She'd learned she could unleash a few waves of the building sound-energy and conserve the rest, but in split second of reactionary indecision she threw everything she had and more in a single, radiating blast.

  Ghillie crashed to the ground at her side, hands clamped over her ears as Aida's piercing cry turned the man into a reddish mist, disintegrated the arrow, and took care of the archer. Took care of him, that is, by shattering the first few neck vertebrae. The whole massive turtle shell lurched a half-a-meter as the bony bridge leading to the turtle skull tore free. Vertebrae lower in the chain twisted, sheared, cracked, and all came down in a thundering mass of yellowed bone and torn rope.

  Stupefied by her own accidental power, Aida nearly fell after it in her bewildered state. Fortunately, Ghillie yanked her away and dragged her back as screams and shouts echoed from below. A billowing cloud of bone dust swirled up, engulfing everything.

  When it cleared, Aida walked slowly to the shell's lip, peering over. Futilely, it turned out, as everything below still swirled in dust. She clutched the choker strings, part exultant, part horrified.

  "Told you it would be better if we handled it," Ryk said, grinning as he strode towards her. A few swings of his spear flicked most of the blood clean from its long, bladed point. A glance at the shell's mouth revealed a few crumpled bodies and the last traces of figures fleeing into the dark interior.

  Aida wrapped Ryk up in a hug, shaking as the adrenaline rush washed away and the realization that not only had a couple dozen dudes come to the One-Eighth to kill her - or worse, were recruited locally - but that she'd accidentally wrought massive destruction. Again.

  Flashbacks to Optimime's on Jadeye thundered through her. The toppling tenement. Terrified bellows of the falling royal strider. People's screams of pain and fear. A thousand shattering glass panes. She hadn't though about any of it in weeks, yet the sounds and images hit her as if it had just happened. When the worst of it passed, a wave of guilt over all the people she'd hurt or killed back then settled in its place.

  "Join the crowd," she mumbled, visions of the burning Wicker Way, battle carnage at the collapsing Thorn Cupola, and flu-desiccated, emaciated corpses piling up at the Crowmen's pens around the far side of the turtle poured an extra thousand helpings of guilt into her guts.

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  Ryk pulled her away and held her at arms length, looking her over critically. Aliasara, Viviana, and Alerestro stood a short distance away, looking between her and her destructive handiwork. Aliasara regarded her with awe, Viviana a glowing approval, while Alerestro stroked his chin and stared vaguely past her as though running calculations in his head.

  "Tears?" Ryk said, brushing one from her cheek. "Didn't we just win?"

  "If this is what winning looks like, I can't imagine what we'd be going through if we were losing," she said, wrenching away from him and stepping recklessly-close to the shell's edge. She gestured out over the ragged "town" huddled about the shell. "All these people trusting me to save them only to die from the pandemic I so thoughtfully provided or dying from lack of the food I can't. Then they gather close to me for safety and I drop a few tons of turtle bone on their heads. Who knows how many I just killed or maimed?"

  "Seven," Ryk said, a smile twitching across his lips and crinkling laugh-lines at his eye-corners. God he was gorgeous.

  "Hopefully not including our poor Valeer? Her... home was down there." She'd almost said 'pen' given the state of the living arrangements they'd set up to keep her from wandering off and dying in the Tangle. Who knew the poor old Valeer who'd been garroted by Braid was such a capable specimen? The thought wandered her mind back to the grisly masks Ocyl had gifted her that now sat somewhere with all her other things in her platform palace.

  "Seven who came to kill the Valeer."

  "What?" A hot, sulfurous breeze hit and Aida suddenly realized how close she stood to a drop even a Dynast was unlikely to survive. She moved away to stand closer to Ryk, staring into his pale blue eyes with some vague hope she'd somehow see the futures he saw by looking into them. "Kill the Valeer? What did she ever do to anyone?"

  "Schemes scrawl all across The Book as the Dynasts strive to rip and tear each other's plans wherever they can. The Rags don't have the might or wealth of the Ancients, but they do possess an unnatural collection of mancers. Most of those look normal enough to hide out amid menials." He glanced at the Thorn, sprouting from the turtle's now-slightly-skewed skull. "It's not just us, here, who were targeted. Valeers and 'nail repositories all across the Book became targets of Rag mancer assassins and saboteurs."

  "So those men who just came to kill us up here were just a distraction?" She pressed her hands to her head. "Why did you all pick me again? I'm not cut out for all these grand plans, strategies, ruses, feints, ploys, and whatever. I can barely keep this place running without a thousand other Dynasts interfering much less think about what everyone else is planning!"

  Ryk moved close and wrapped her in his arms. She pulled away not because she wanted to, but because a smear of blood on his bare upper arm wiped on her cheek.

  "Don't worry, it's not mine," he said. He walked towards the corpse of one of the men he'd dispatched while Ghillie and Aida fought at the Neck, ripped a shred of tunic free, and wiped the blood away.

  She followed him, shaking now from a growing feeling of anger alongside the adrenaline. "Was the Valeer among those seven? Did I just kill the poor thing?"

  For the first time, Ryk's smile annoyed rather than delighted. "Of course not. We stuck a female rotter in her pen wearing her sack. The mancer assassin and his cronies thought they pulled their mission off perfectly only to discover to their immediate chagrin that they killed a corpse. They only had a moment to lament it because then you... what was the expression I've heard you use? You completely boned them. Hard."

  "Hilarious. So this complete destruction I caused was just part of your plan? If you knew they were coming, why didn't we just ambush them down at the Valeer's pen?"

  His smile faded as he tossed the bloody scrap to the wind. Watched it flutter down towards the broken heap below that once was the Neck. "The mancer they sent here was incredibly potent. Arcer. Highly trained. It had to be this way or people would die."

  After blinking a few times, she gestured towards the bloody corpse at their feet. "People would die?"

  He shrugged. "People you care about would die. Aside from a couple handfuls of assassins and thugs plus a rotter which was already dead."

  "How far out did you plan this?" Aida said, her mind beginning to race even as her body began to calm. She thrust an accusing finger towards Alerestro and Viviana. "Did you send them to seduce me and keep me here just to be sure we were attacked at the right time? So I would screw up and destroy everything just to kill those assassins? Did you even enjoy yourself or were you just counting down the minutes until we were ambushed?"

  His glanced took in the tent which hosted their amorous adventure, then Alerestro, Viviana, and finally back to Aida. "Those things aren't mutually exclusive."

  She crossed her arms and leveled her coolest look on him. "Now I'm going to wonder every time we're having sex if your there for me or if you're just setting a trap for my enemies. If we have sex again, that is."

  Innocence writ across his features as he held his arms wide towards her. "Everything I do is for you, my love. I die for you, remember?"

  "Argh! I can't hear that right now." She raised her hands towards him and looked away. "That's dirty fighting, bringing up your death while I'm pissed off at you."

  "It's true."

  "Maybe it will be true, but it isn't yet." She stepped close to him and looked deep into his eyes. "Are you a Fatalist or a Inevitable? Are you doomed to die or are you martyring yourself for the sake of some precious, horrible future?"

  "Please don't say what you're about to say." He tried to hug her, but she stepped away. Anger clashed with a bizarre feeling of anxiety cross with sorrow.

  "If we're all so certain you're going to die, what's the point? Wouldn't it just make everything easier if we just ended it here? Go out together like Romeo and Juliet?" She realized belatedly he'd have no idea who they were, but figured he'd get the point.

  He did. It hit him hard, even though he clearly knew in advance what she was going to say. "Everything I do and have done is for you. You are my one love and the Savior of Dynasties besides. Either would be worth dying for, are worth dying for, but I'd rather focus on the living now than the dying later."

  "Then why did you bring it up?"

  They stood facing one another, both heaving with welters of conflicting emotions. Her vision blurred through a smear of tears.

  "Ahem. Dynast Aida," Alerestro finally said.

  Aida jumped and turned, having completely forgotten in the intensity of the past few minutes that the other three were there. "What Alerestro? You have something to interject into our relationship? See if you can't make it more confusing than it already is?"

  Vivianna slepped towards her, but Aida stepped away, stumbling over a corpse and half-crashing into Aliasara. Her friend wrapped her arm around Aida's shoulders and held her tight, humming the old lullaby that Aida loved.

  "Never, Dynast. We seek only to bring you comfort, aid, and succor," Alerestro said, shaking his head. He pointed towards the turtle skull and the slowly-enlarging Thorn atop it. "Someone comes."

  Aida groaned and buried her head in Aliasara's shoulder. For a long moment, she just focused on breathing as Aliasara stroked her hair and hummed. Then she took a deep breath, kissed Aliasara on the cheek, flashed her a quick, grateful smile, and turned towards the nets running down from the shell. At least they seemed to be still intact and well-anchored.

  "Hopefully these are whole the whole way down," she said, tugging at one of them. "Good thing Dynasts don't need to sleep 'cause there's never a goddamn minute to rest."

  She turned to Ryk. "This an invading Legion, gaggle of assassins, or just the usual desperate, sick, starving horde coming here to die?"

  "None of those," Ryk said, taking a tentative step towards her and raising an arm. "Something better. Hopeful."

  Her raised hand stopped him. "Nope. Not right now. Got to figure some shit out before I talk to you again. Do I die if I try to climb this?"

  "No," he said, face falling. Their age difference usually didn't cross her mind much, but he looked so much like a heartbroken college kid at that moment, she suddenly felt like a cradle-robber.

  "Fine," she said, grabbing the rope and scrambling down much faster than was probably safe. "With how good that last few have been, can't wait to see what sort of surprise comes next."

  Next chapter: Inro tries to convince the Green People clans to join his crusade into the Book.

  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

  Godge and Ardina: Primary Small Masters in Berujat

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

  Fatma: weakest Small Master of Berujat

  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

  Ijran: Multi-minded wiz, Small Master of Berujat

  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.

  Ruja: Dynast of Berujat

  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

  36th Dynasty: A Dynasty the Anticores have met?.

  100th Dynasty: The Dynasty ruling the Book.

  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, capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously

  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