Appendix
Glossary
Names and terms used throughout this book, with pronunciations where the setting gives them and alternate spellings found in the sources.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Aether | The dimension that binds reality together as a web of threads. Arcane magic. More |
| Aetherian | An arcane caster who works the aether web directly. Scholars study, naturals are born to it. More |
| Aetheric Nexus | Usmon's most powerful artifact, kept in the Council of Arcanum's vault. More |
| Aostre [ȯ-strā] | God of light, dawn and growth. |
| Ascetic | An unarmed warrior trained at Peltragow's monastery, whose blows break steel. Eldriloch's monk. More |
| Ashborne City | The capital of Ethon, beside the Fiend's Chasm. Also written Ashborne. |
| Ashen [ash-en] | A humanoid who let an exspiratis inhabit their body. More |
| Autonomation | The union of aether and engineering through fibrolite. |
| Brynghar [brin-gär] | God of courage, soldiers and the shield wall. More |
| Celestial Covenant | The holy order that worships all the gods and oversees flux. |
| Dark Sunder | The runekar teleportation disaster that opened the Fiend's Chasm. Also the Sundering. |
| Device | A single-use aetheric gadget an engineer readies each day. Anyone can trigger it. |
| Draisine | A small floating platform that runs on the runekar rail. |
| Elastiquery | An artifact orb that can listen in on renderer conversations. |
| Engineer | A class that builds devices, firearms, artillery and mechanoids. More |
| Entertainer | A performer who is really a thief, spy or assassin. Replaces the bard. More |
| Esriya [es-rē-ə] | Goddess of the sea, voyages and safe return. More |
| Ethon [ē-thən] | The battle-born nation of warriors and fibrolite. |
| Exspiratis [ˈek-spir-ē-tis] | Ethereal beings from a broken reality who need hosts to touch the world. |
| Fibrolite [fi-brō-līt] | The crystal that stores aetheric patterns and powers every machine. |
| Fiend's Chasm | The lava-and-ice wound left by the Dark Sunder. |
| Flesh-grafting | Fusing aether-infused machinery to living flesh. Also forge-grafting. Its practitioners are fleshgrafters. More |
| Flux | The power to change the flow of life. Divine magic. Human only. Claiming it works without the gods is heresy. |
| Forbidden spell | A harmful flux spell (marked †). Covenant flux users who cast one risk losing flux. More |
| Freeborn | A person of the Open Reaches, outside the divide between Sovereigni and Sullied. More |
| Glim (gl) | Cracked fibrolite that can't hold a pattern, used as money everywhere. The standard currency, worth 10 slivers or 100 grit. More |
| Graft socket | A brass-and-fibrolite port in the flesh that a fleshgrafter primes implants through. |
| Grit (gr) | Glim dust, sold in paper twists. 100 grit make a glim. More |
| Heretic | To the Covenant, anyone who uses flux outside its rules. Also the votary subclass that wields offensive flux. More |
| Implant | A stored spell-like ability a fleshgrafter primes into a graft socket. |
| Itira [ē-tir-ə] | Goddess of mercy, sorrow and remembrance. More |
| Justicar | A two-blade knight of Usmon, trained at Runswick by the High Tribunal of Blades. A prestige class. More |
| Kendaunt [ken-dȯnt] | God of law, oaths and judgment. More |
| Khareus [ˈker-ē-əs] | God of hunting and tracking. |
| Malumtene | Runekar twisted by dark aetheric rituals. |
| Mechanoid | A soulless construct that follows simple instructions. |
| Mourning, the | A petrifying storm. A coming event, not part of the present day. More |
| Nib | A six-legged mechanical guardian. |
| Nylshyra [nil-shir-ə] | Goddess of night, dreams and secrets. More |
| Odien [ō-dē-ən] | God of passage, the soul pool and rebirth. More |
| Open Reaches | The open sea and high air, where no nation rules and no class divides. More |
| Pattern | An aetherian spell. Patterns are cast with spell points. |
| Peacekeepers | Regnant Sovereigni Gilirak's military police. |
| Razorspine Mountains | Mineral-rich, deadly mountains. Also spelled Razerspine. |
| Regnant Sovereigni | The title of a nation's ruler. Never leave it off. |
| Renderer | A stone for long-distance, mind-to-mind conversation. |
| Runekar | The aether-sighted people who caused the Dark Sunder. |
| Runner | A scout, smuggler or thief, named for the Veil's runners. Replaces the rogue. More |
| Selphail [sel-fāl] | Goddess of hearth, harvest and community. More |
| Shroud | An assassin of the Registry, named for the torn cloth on its coin. More |
| Skitz | An animal possessed by a lesser exspiratis. |
| Sliver (sv) | A tenth of a glim. More |
| Snoot | A Sullied insult for a Sovereigni, much like calling them a snob. Common behind closed doors. Nobody is brave enough to say it to a Sovereigni's face. |
| Solcharr [sōl-chär] | God of the noon sun, truth and vigilance. More |
| Souldriven | A thinking machine with a soul held in fibrolite. |
| Sovereigni | The ruling class and its culture: rulers, their families and the most prestigious engineers. More |
| Staerhiel | The largest nation, ruled by Gilirak. Also spelled Staerheil. |
| Sullied | Everyone who isn't Sovereigni, which is nearly everyone. Once an insult, now worn with pride. More |
| Unbound | What heretics call themselves: flux users who know flux needs no god. More |
| Unlit, the | The monastery's secret ascetics: spies and killers for the Council of Arcanum. Officially, they don't exist. More |
| Veil, the | Zinrie's underground resistance in Staerhiel. Its scouts are Veil Runners. |
| Votary | A flux priest and healer, Covenant-ordained or heretic. More |
| Wardens | The flux-channelling knights and enforcers of the Celestial Covenant. More |