"I don't know what you are or what you think you're doing, but it ends now," Baka growled. By a slight glint at his throat and the distortion of his voice, Inro realized he wore strings. A Dynast wearing strings struck Inro as absurd for a moment, but the fresh memory of Ruja banished such thoughts instantly.

  "I'm Inro," he replied, wiping hard at the Limn paint on his face so Baka could tell it was him. "Returned from involuntary exile to set things to rights."

  "Inro?" Baka shouted, then laughed. "Involuntary? Thought you holed up in Sunset on purpose. Then thought you were dead."

  "I thought so as well many times since the fall of Sunset."

  "You came a long way to die then," Baka said, glancing at the battle raging across the Second Tier. "Rega always said you'd have to die when we took over. Thought we'd already gotten that crossed that off the list, but time to do it again I guess."

  "I never thought you were warrior enough to be worth the trouble," Inro said quickly as the thrumming began to build up in Baka's throat.

  The sound died with Baka's mirth. A desultory came across Baka's face as he look up and down Inro's naked, painted form. "I'm not stupid enough to face you in combat with that shadowblade of yours in play."

  Inro unstrapped his belt and held it high for Baka to see it then slowly set it down as he backed away from the base of the ramp. "I'll put it down if you take off those strings. You've tried to take my place here in Ziggurat as High Commander of the Legions, but all I've heard in Sunset is rumors of your incompetence. Can't imagine your skill in battle fares much better."

  Baka growled, ripped the strings from his throat, and tossed them aside. As he stormed down the ramp, a frail-looking, braille-dotted, shaven-headed man in robes followed close behind him. "What orders, Dynast? We can dispatch a wyre to Rega and the others to be sure-"

  "Tell them I'm about to kill Inro again. Tell them he'll stay dead this time, Svalius." A cheer went up among the beleaguered Legionnaires as they saw Baka descend the ramp. He motioned for stillness and Inro called for the same in the language of the Origin. Within a few moments, the fighting died down and both sides formed an uneasy circle about the two Dynasts.

  Arca stepped to Inro's side with his sword bared and bloody, but Inro planted a hand on his friend's chest.

  "This one is for me."

  With only a slight pause, Arca nodded, flicked the blood from his precious sword, and handed it back to Inro. "Need this to fight that then."

  Realizing what the sword meant to his friend, Inro squinted back tears as he took it. "Thank you, my brother."

  "Anyone interferes, I kill you myself," Baka shouted to his men.

  "Tell everyone this is between me and him," Inro echoed to Arca, swinging the sword about to loosen up his shoulders.

  "One Tribe should finish battle now. Winning. Wait lets more gather to fight at gates."

  Though Baka played the dumb brute, Inro was sure the point Arca just brought up went into the giant Dynast's calculation to throw away his strings. The man had to have seen the effectiveness of their sling stones; holing up in the First Tier would likely simply turn it from tower to tomb as they focused their explosive attention on it. Perhaps he'd seen how Ruja had fared against them as well and decided against tempting the same fate.

  "We kill him, we don't need to fight at the gates. And if I fall, all the forces here will be amassed at the Second Tier gates while our forces come up from behind. Gave orders for Hadrien's men at the Third Tier to destroy the gate mechanisms there so they can't close it on us."

  "Kill this one quick, either way," Arca said, placing his hands lightly on Inro's shoulders so as not to smear his Limn.

  Inro nodded as Arca stepped back, only to have Cairin step in front of him.

  "How many painty tribals do you need to kiss and snuggle before we can do this?" Baka whined.

  Stolen story; please report.

  "Madness," Cairin said, her eyes boring into his with ferocious intensity. "We just kill now. Win. Over."

  "No," Inro said. "I told him I would face him without shadow blade. So I said, so thus must I face him."

  "Flesh lasts. Words die the moment they born."

  "Not these ones," Inro said, gently pushing her aside. "I need to do this alone. I gave my word of honor."

  "Inro's word, not Cairin's," Cairin said, storming off. "Inro genius and idiot both."

  "True," Inro said wryly as he looked at the sheer mass of Baka.

  "We ready finally?" Baka said, yawning exaggeratedly.

  "Let's end this,"

  The scribe Savalius returned to Baka's side. "I think we should dispatch- Yaa!"

  Baka picked Savalius up with one hand and hurled the man at Inro with the same motion. Caught off-guard, Inro failed to move from the path of the wailing scribe. They crashed into the ground. Limn helped absorb the impact, but the blow still rattled Inro. Struggling to disentangle himself from the flailing man proved difficult and, ultimately, unnecessary.

  With a roar, Baka leapt into the air and swung his axe spike down. The metal blade punched all the way through the scribe and deflected off Inro's Limn. Even with the paint on Inro's torso flaring and negating the worst of the blow, Inro still felt like he'd been kicked in the chest. The now-screaming Savalius became Baka's issue to deal with while Inro scrambled free and found his sword.

  By the time Inro rose to his feet with weapon in hand, Savalius' body was crashing into a watching press of Legionnaires and Baka's axe hurtling towards Inro's head. Inro ducked the blow and lunged in to stab with his sword, but it scraped harmlessly off Baka's armor. The huge Dynast didn't bother to block or recover from his swing, instead driving his plated knee into Inro's ribs.

  Savalius blood must have smeared some of the paint away from where Baka struck, for this time it felt more like being pummeled by a sledgehammer. Inro's blade scraped across Baka's armor again as he flew back and rolled to his feet, but his cut merely drove a bright scratch across the polished steel.

  "You follow this pathetic old Dynast?" Baka shouted at the One Tribe, pointing at the blood-splattered, gasping Inro with his axe. They all stared back, silent and blank-faced. "You deserve to be slaughtered when I'm done with him!"

  Inro's panting was overplayed to hopefully create just such an opening. Mid-gasp, he launched into a sprint to cover the few paces between him and Baka, feinting towards the man's exposed face then redirecting towards an exposed bit armored only in leather at the knee. Not only was Baka huge, but he was fast and trusted his heavy armor implicitly. A quick pivot scraped Inro's sword across Baka's greaves instead of drawing blood, then he was ducking the axe again.

  They went back and forth for what felt like an hour, Inro using every trick he knew. He couldn't land a single, telling blow anywhere that might do real harm. Like Baka, he'd trained with his heavy armor, learned to trust it to take blows then counterattacking while the enemy was overextended. While the Limn was lighter and allowed him to move faster, it cushioned the impacts differently and, for all its advantages, he'd spent centuries training with a different kit and fighting style.

  As blood, sweat, and repeated impacts began to wear the Limn off his body, Inro knew he'd have to end it soon or he'd be naked truly, then dead shortly after. While Baka bled from a cut to the cheek and a shallow gash across the ankle, the giant seemed not to have noticed.

  In a desperate gambit, Inro snatched up a broken spearhead left lying nearby from the earlier battle, hurtled it Baka's head, and rushed towards him. Rather than dodge, Baka simply dropped his chin. The spear clattered off his helm. Inro was already committed, driving his sword full force towards Baka's hip. This time Baka deflected it with his axe haft, the redirection driving Inro's whole body aside. The axe's butt whipped around, came up, and caught Inro under the chin where the beading sweat had smeared away most of the Limn.

  Inro landed flat on his back. Training and the Limn helped soften the fall, but did nothing for the spinning, ringing that was his world. A moment later, immense weight planted on his chest. He groaned as Baka put all his weight on the foot planted on Inro's chest.

  "You trained and prepared for all those centuries to die like this?" Baka snorted.

  Inro tried to move, but the weight was too much. He couldn't breathe much less remove the giant's leg from his torso.

  "Over now," Baka said, whipping his axe up with one hand.

  All those years preparing. All that certainty that he would prevail, come down to this. Faces of all those who had died under him flashed through Inro's mind as the axe descended, then suddenly pieces of Baka's face splattered on him as Baka's head exploded.

  The huge corpse fell backwards like a felled tree, the axe arm tumbling free as shoulder and head disappeared in a shattering, rocky explosion.

  Inro gasped for air as the weight lifted. He sat up slowly, his eyes falling on Cairin. Her sling whipped about her hand, already loaded with another Limn-painted stone.

  "Not my words," she said, glaring at him as if daring him to say something. "And Inro not alone. Not have to do anything alone again. One Tribe, not one man."

  "One Tribe," Inro agreed, groaning as he rose to his feet. Locating his sword, he toed it towards a grinning Arca, then turned to the mute Legionnaires standing in wary ranks looking at their fallen Dynast with dismay. Shouting and sounds of combat rang from the gate house.

  "I raised dozens of Legions during the Reclamation. Led more soldiers than I can even remember since." He looked among them as he spoke, wiping sweat from his head with one hand. "I suppose we could keep fighting and dying for nothing here or we could end this war against each other and do something about the true enemies of the Book. The Aj and Imminent who, together, murdered my mother, holy Ebon."

  He picked up his belt, drew the shadowblade, and waved its faint wispy form about for a moment.

  "Well?"

  Next chapter: Aida takes the fight to Jaxe's backyard.

  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. Accidentally killed by Jaxe in the One-Eighth.

  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. Impaled on a broken spear by Wretches in the One-Eighth.

  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. Killed by Cairin and company in Ziggurat.

  Rustrovan/"Rusty": Eth's old, gap-toothed skinscribe. Died of Wretch Plague.

  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. Killed by Baka in Ziggurat.

  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