-Da / 1n-

  Your Dynasty is aberrant.

  Humans merge

  with everything.

  -Aj / 102-

  I had noticed.

  Observing them for

  these millennia,

  they are a most

  resourceful Dynasty.

  -Da / 1n-

  I thought the invasion

  of the 33 Dynasty

  six-odd centuries ago

  would have ended it.

  Instead, they proliferate more.

  -Aj / 102-

  The 'White Kiss'

  they call it.

  And no.

  They do not even know

  what the do.

  The Sect.

  Ink.

  Rotters.

  They call the Dynasties

  they know are different.

  Most they find ways to merge with

  and call the results "mancers."

  Most powerfully,

  a breed of them

  has integrated the

  21Dynasty.

  The results of the pairing

  rule the rest.

  They call them

  'The Dynasts'

  or

  'The Black Court'.

  -Da / 1n-

  What of the ones they call

  Imminent?

  Seericides?

  I have searched

  and cannot find

  the point in their history

  where they merged with

  the 3√4 and 7√3 Dynasties

  to produce them.

  Though the way the x√y Dynasties

  swim within the dimensions

  of time

  makes such locations difficult.

  -Aj / 102-

  Aj has interacted with them

  through its agents

  among the 102th Dynasty.

  They know of the Real

  and the doom that threatens

  to end All and Real both.

  -Da / 1n-

  If they travel through time

  in different directions than

  the rest of

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  the Mon

  the Ascen

  the 2 x 7 x 13

  the Dynasties

  then perhaps they can find

  the time we lack

  to save everything.

  -Aj / 102-

  Aj will try

  to find a way

  to connect with them.

  For the Aj's

  god-slaying

  verse-ending

  slowing of the Construct

  cannot keep pace

  with its ravenous

  expansion.

  Aida had only visited Ryk's training ground a few times, but it consisted of a variety of low, crudely-constructed platforms, shallow trenches, pits, and patches of thick greenery scattered about where most of it lay trampled flat. On taller platform stood on the far side, lashed together from vines, rope, and logs. More obstacle course than battlefield, with Ryk racing from one area to the other, jumping pits, pausing here-and-there for a second at a time, and lashing constantly out with his spear.

  As Aida, Ghille, Ryk, and Eth came out of the narrow footpath through the tangle and onto the training ground, they found it populated by dozens of versal soldiers in Jaxe's purple livery. Beyond the tabards draped across their chests and backs, the warriors lacked any uniformity of weaponry, armor, dress, or hair style. Some wore heavy bronze breastplates and helms, others simple leather vests and caps. A few hefted large round or rectangular bronze-rimmed shields with spears or long bronze blades, while others carried just the spear or blade. A scattering among them carried bows or crossbows while a handful drew leather slings and polished stones or readied javelins as they came into sight.

  A dozen Ferals carried the full panoply of arms, their eyes rising and weapons coming to hand as they turned to face Aida and her companions.

  They barely caught Aida's attention, however, as she locked on to the three figures lounging at the heart of the grounds: the broad-shouldered, albino Jaxe. The long-haired, pretty, haunted Clef Hand, and the handsome, grief-wracked Alerestro.

  "So he did send you," Aida said bitterly as she saw him.

  "Yes," Alerestro spat. "And sent messengers to keep him appraised of your doings besides. Should the order have come through, we would have slit your throat in the midst of an erotic distraction, or at least initially. Until your barbaric sorcery won over Viviana and led her to her doom."

  "Your doom now." Aida pointed a finger at him, her rage cold. She growled, then clutched at her neck. Without the strings she felt naked.

  Alerestro laughed. "I filed at your strings subtly once when you took them off to bathe. I had hoped they would fail in combat when you needed them most, but this will do as well."

  "Enough reminiscing with the help, Mother of Shitholes," Jaxe said, tossing the immense steel blade he'd cut Broadaxe in half with from hand to hand. He waved his arm at her. "Oopsie, it works again."

  "Not for much longer," Aida promised. "When I'm done with you, there won't be enough left to grow back."

  Jaxe laughed loud and hard. Wiping at his eyes, he grinned at her. "I see why all the menials and Wretches love you. Outnumbered twenty-to-one you still have the guts to make threats."

  "Paragons are never outnumbered," Ryk said, his voice rich and confident.

  "The hundred-odd warriors with me might care to correct that," Jaxe said, looking among his men. "If any of them knew there numbers enough to count to a hundred, that is."

  "I know your count by heart," Ryk said, stepping forward and rolling his shoulders. He leaned his large square shield on the ground and rested his long spear across his shoulders as he met each of their eyes in turn. "I've watched and rehearsed each of your deaths my whole life. You there, you die with on a wooden stake through your foot and another through your chest. You with the shaved head, a spear through the heart and you with the beard, you catch it through the neck. You, in the back, I but finish off after an unexpected party joins the fray. You there, ponytail, you I kill with my sandal."

  "What of me, Paragon? How does this Dynast die?" Jaxe said, snorting derisively as he looked among his worried-looking men. "Come, fools, he's but one man, Paragon or no. Your weight in currency to whomever brings me his head."

  Eth stepped close to Ryk, rising on tiptoes to speak softly in his ear. Aida barely caught her words, but they clenched her heart.

  "For love."

  "For love," Ryk said, mechanically. "And for a death no one will ever forget."

  "Ryk," Aida said, taking a step towards him. He was already in motion, however, sprinting towards a cluster of warriors near the edge of the training ground. Ten paces from them, he suddenly threw his spear through the neck of the man he'd told a minute earlier would die exactly so. The man gurgled and thrashed, crashing into and clutching at the man beside him. The other fellow tried to disentangle him so he could take aim with his bow.

  Ryk spun his shield with both hands to knock the spear completely from another man's grasp then continued the spin to hurl the shield straight into the teeth of a second. Before his shield had even touched the ground, Ryk dived and rolled away from two others, their swords scything through empty air. Ryk came up with spear in hand, the haft swinging to shatter the ankle of one of the swordsman, then darting in and anchoring against a tree behind Ryk to bear the brunt of the other's charge. Bloody steel erupted from the second swordsman's back with the force of his charge and he fell lifeless as Ryk slid his spear free and charged the archer.

  The rest of Jaxe's warriors stood dumbfounded at the sudden violence until Jaxe roared at them, pointing first at Jaxe as he slew the archer, retrieved his shield, and disappeared into the Tangle, then to Aida. "Your weight in currency for him and the same for her."

  He took a step forward himself, but when Ghillie stepped before Aida, he halted to stare at her hatefully.

  Get out of sight, Ghillie signed to Aida with one hand as she drew half-a-dozen red-tasseled needles with the other. The Feral leapt, rolled, and came up hurling a need as an arrow and a couple sling stones whistled past.

  "Come," Eth said, tears streaming down her face. "Nothing we can do but get in their way."

  "There's too many," Aida said, watching as dozens of soldiers rushed towards where Ryk had disappeared while a dozen-odd closed on Ghillie. Unexpectedly, a flurry of arrows flew from the jungle where Ryk had gone, each striking lethal blows to eye, throat, or armpit.

  Eth grinned ferociously in spite of her tears. "You underestimate us. What do you think we were doing this whole time out here? That's not a training ground, it's a death trap."

  Aida let Eth lead her into a thicket, out of sight but still able to see most of what went on. A dozen warriors in a rough line charged towards Ghillie, crunching through a layer of stacked dead branches cleared from the training ground. Suddenly, most of them were falling over, clutching at their feet and shrieking more as they hit the bushes. One managed to stand up after, hopping a few paces on his good leg while he struggled to pull a sharpened wooden spike out of his sternum.

  "Sharpened bits all over under those branches," Eth said. "Took forever to whittle them all down and plant them."

  The few who managed to avoid the spikes hidden among the branches fell limply with Ghillie's needles jutting from them. A dozen others on the far side of the bushes crashed into each other in their sudden halt to avoid a similar fate, splitting into two groups to circle around the swathe of fallen branches and their moaning fellows while Ghillie vanished into the Tangle.

  A group of archers, slingers, and javelineers, meanwhile, climbed the tallest platform at the far edge of the training ground, seeking a height advantage over their elusive prey.

  "Three... four..." Eth muttered as they scaled it.

  "Waiting for something?" Aida said, scanning the area around the training ground for sign of Ryk. She heard shouts and cries from somewhere in the Tangle along with little snatches of movement as Jaxe's troops pursued him, but she couldn't see anything clearly.

  "We built that platform to barely hold under the weight of five. There's five. Six. Seven."

  "So it's going to..." Aida didn't have a chance to finish her sentence before the platform groaned, cracked, and collapsed in a heap of splintering planks and shearing logs. The men atop it screamed, a few leapt clear, but most went down with it.

  Jaxe, meanwhile, ground his teeth together and glared at the spot where Aida and Eth hid. Muttering to himself, he began to walk slowly towards her. Alerestro stood beside him, looking among the rapidly-increasing body count with alarm. Cleft Hand seemed more excited than concerned, rubbing his good hand over his maimed one then pointing to where Eth and Aida hid while bumping Jaxe with his elbow.

  "I know where they are, you cretin," Jaxe roared, shoving the man away hard enough that Cleft Hand crashed into the Tangle.

  The half-dozen who had circled to Aida's right around the booby-trapped branches had disappeared into the tangle. Their shouts and curses implied they were having as poor a go of it with Ghillie as the others were with Ryk. Those who has circled around the other side, however, glanced back at Jaxe as the Dynast shouted and pointed towards the grove where Eth and Aida hid.

  "Crap," Aida muttered. "What the hell are we going to do? Don't suppose you hid some strings here somewhere since you know all this was coming?"

  "No," Eth said, distracted. She rose, grabbed Aida's hand, and pulled her along with her towards a cluster of boulders randomly clustered inside the grove. "We know what happens this way; you getting another set of strings right now could mean we win easily now and lose everything later."

  "So Ryk has to die out there just because you don't want to chance it?" Aida half-snarled, half-sobbed.

  "Exactly," Eth shot back, her glare hot. "I love him too, remember? You think this is how I want it to go? Everything gets tighter as the weave narrows down to the final point. One small step out of place or time now and we don't have the margin of error to try to correct. That step could carry us off the path and into the abyss."

  "They're going to find us here, we should go. And I don't see why-" Aida began, taking a step towards the back of the grove.

  Eth grabbed her tightly and dragged her to back to where they'd been standing before. She adjusted their positions minutely for reasons Aida couldn't begin to fathom, but she knew better than to argue.

  "Ho there, found them!" one of Jaxe's troops called, ducking under a vine and coming to a halt ten meters from them. Thrashing and rustling in the growth around them for a moment, then the half-dozen who'd come after them were there, arrayed in a rough arc around Eth and Aida. They looked them up and down appraisingly. At first Aida thought the looks were sexual evaluations, but she realized they were more likely a scan for weapons.

  Eth, however, seemed to take the first interpretation. She took a small step forward and lifted her shirt to show a bit of midriff. "No need to rush out there and get killed by my Paragon. We could have a bit of fun here first."

  "What the fuck are you doing?" Aida hissed behind her.

  "Stay there. You move, we die," Eth hissed back at her before turning back towards the warriors whose looks had definitely shifted away from weapon appraisal.

  The one who'd found them first grinned and looked among his fellows. "Wouldn't hurt to get some bonus pay out of this."

  "You first then," Eth said, inching her shirt a bit higher. She pointed towards the boulder nearest the man. "You can take me right there."

  "It's an Imminent trick," one of the others said, stepping pointedly away from the indicated boulder. "Can't never trust them."

  The first one shook his head, leaned his spear against said boulder and began to tug down his skirt. "What trick? Six of us against two unarmed women. They even want it."

  "One is a sorcerous Dynast and the other sees the future," the other said again, putting on of the other boulders completely between him and where Eth and Aida stood. He pointed his spear at them. "I ain't doing nothing they say."

  "Alerestro said he wrecked that one's strings so she's been clipped. And the Imminent wants it."

  "I do," Eth practically purred, taking a step towards him. "Want to have us right there on that boulder? Could take turns."

  The first smiled and sketched a crude bow. "Right here, my lass."

  He slapped the top of the turtle shell with his hand and lost a leg.

  It took a few seconds after, staring and shaking amid the gore and screams for Aida to realize what happened.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. Ryk's hundred keeps counting.

  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. Assassinated by the Rags.

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

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

  Balmos: Venger working for Ghulen

  "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

  Cleft Hand: malcontent in the One-Eighth, maimed hand due to Ryk

  Das: Rega's Immanent

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

  Dels: Dynast of Azure

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eonora: a Legion officer in Ziggurat who defected with the Rogue Legions Mother's Militant

  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.

  Festrin: Seneschal of Monopollis, father of Fallon

  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.

  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, impaled on a tree in the One-Eighth

  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, a Twine. Killed by Kass in Libriam.

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Savalius: Grand Quartermaster of the Legions

  Semon "Goldtongue": white-haired, one-eyed master of cults. First Disciple of the Mother. Killed by Ghulen in Libriam.

  Sephily: diminutive Arborist from Groves

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

  Strygen: a dusa traveling with Semon. Killed by Kass and Balmos in Libriam.

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

  Three Bracelets Left: "Leader" of the Mune collective

  "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. Fed into one of his own forges by the Rags.

  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. Killed by the Vale Legion in Berujat

  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. Burned to the ground by the Rags.

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

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves

  Arcers: a type of mancer able to summon blades of energy

  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: An oceanic verse with blue beaches ruled by

  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

  Bubo's Tale: Story of an ancient dyast who explored a mythical land called "Christendom" with his rats

  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"

  Construct: some great machine draining reality via black holes to create the All.

  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".

  Green People: A tribe of jungle dwellers from Origin

  Groves: a forest verse, home to Arborists

  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 verses of the Skeinry, Keens, Directory, and "the Faded People". Drained of color and drained.

  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?

  Gates: previous travel method before Thorns and the Kiss, opened by painting Limn on an arch in one verse and another in Terminus

  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". The same race as the Ascen but objectors to the creation of the All.

  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"

  Mother's Faith: the relgion based on Aida created by Semon

  Mother's Militant: Formerly the Rogue Legions led by Eonora, now pledged to protect the people of the Book

  Mune: a utopist collective from Dost who mask their identities and share everything communally

  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: the verse from which the Gates all opened, hub of the Book before The Kiss and now mostly abandoned.

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries. The 2√3 Dynasty.

  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