The Burning White (157 page)

Green Forest:
A collective term for Blood Forest and Ruthgar during the years of peace and unity between the two territories—in contrast to when the same territory was called the Blood Plains, after Vician’s Sin incited the Blood Wars.

Green Haven:
The capital of Blood Forest, on the far side of Lach Lána.

Greenwall:
The massive, living, defensive wall surrounding Dúnbheo, still known to outsiders as the Floating City, though it long ago adjoined the shores of Lach Lána.

grenado:
An explosive clay flagon full of black powder with a piece of wood shoved into the top, with a rag and bit of black powder as a fuse. Can also be made with luxin and can be hurled at an enemy along an arc of luxin or in a cannon. Often filled with shot/shrapnel, depending on the type used.

Guile palace:
Family palace on Big Jasper, distinct from their residence on Jaks Hill in Rath. The Guile palace was one of the few buildings allowed to be constructed without regard to the working of the Thousand Stars, its height cutting off some of the light paths.

Harbinger:
Corvan Danavis’s sword, inherited when his elder brothers died.

haze:
A narcotic. Often smoked with a pipe, it produces a sickly-sweet odor.

hellhounds:
Dogs infused with red luxin and enough will to make them run at enemies while lit on fire.

Hellmount:
A snow-capped peak far to the southwest, near the

Atashian border.

hellstone:
A superstitious term for obsidian, which is rarer than diamonds or rubies, as few know where the extant obsidian in the world is created or mined. Obsidian is the only stone that can draw luxin out of a drafter if it touches her blood directly.

hippodrome:
A large oval stadium, dedicated primarily to races among horses, chariots, or athletes. Often serves as a public gathering place for executions and other important state functions. They are most common in Ruthgar and Paria.

hullwrecker:
A luxin disk filled with shrapnel, designed by Blackguard Nerra. It has a sticky side so that it will adhere to a ship’s hull and a fuse to allow the attackers to flee before it explodes, punching a hole in the ship’s hull and spraying shrapnel in toward the crew.

Idoss:
An Atashian city, now under the control of the White King’s armies.

incarnitive luxin:
A term for luxin when it is incorporated directly into one’s body. See also Appendix, ‘On Luxin.’

Jaks Hill:
A large hill in the city of Rath overlooking the Great River, notable for its wealthy estates. Castle Guile dominates the area.

Jaspers, the:
Two small islands in the northwestern corner of the Cerulean Sea. The Chromeria is on Little Jasper. Legend has it that the Jaspers were chosen for the Chromeria by Karris Shadow-blinder after the death of Lucidonius because they were part of no satrapy, and therefore could be for all satrapies.

javelinas:
Nocturnal animals in the pig family, often hunted. Giant javelinas are rare but can reach the size of a cow. Extremely dangerous and destructive, giant javelinas have been hunted to extinction in all satrapies except Tyrea.

ka:
A sequence of movements to train balance and flexibility and control in the martial arts. A form of focusing exercise or meditation.

Keffel’s Variant:
A set of rules for Nine Kings to make the game especially quick.

Kelfing:
The former capital of Tyrea, on the shores of Crater Lake in the southern end of the satrapy.

khat:
An addictive stimulant, a leaf that stains the teeth when it is chewed, used especially in Paria.

kopi:
A mild, addictive stimulant, a popular beverage. Bitter, dark, and served hot.

lacrimae sanguinis:
A mysterious and singularly deadly Braxian poison.

Ladies, the:
Four statues that compose the gates into the city of Garriston. They are built into the wall, made of rare Parian marble and sealed in nearly invisible yellow luxin. They are thought to depict aspects of the goddess Anat, and were spared by Lucidonius, who believed them to depict something true. They are the Hag, the Lover, the Mother, and the Guardian.

Laurion:
A region in eastern Atash known for its silver ore and massive slave mines. Life expectancy for the enslaved miners is short and conditions brutal. The threat of being sent to the mines is used throughout the satrapies to keep slaves obedient and docile.

league:
A unit of measurement, six thousand and seventy-six paces.

Lightbringer, the:
A controversial figure in prophecy and mythology. Attributes that most agree on are that he is (will be? was?) male, will slay or has slain gods and kings, is of mysterious birth, is a genius of magic, a warrior who will sweep, or has swept, all before him, a champion of the poor and downtrodden, great from his youth, He Who Shatters. That most of the prophecies were in Old Parian and the meanings have changed in ways that are difficult to trace hasn’t helped. There are three basic camps: those who believe that the Lightbringer has yet to come; those who believe that the Lightbringer has already come and was Lucidonius (a view the Chromeria now holds, though it didn’t always); and, among some academics, those who believe that the Lightbringer is a metaphor for what is best in all of us.

Lightguard, the:
Andross Guile’s personal army, nominally established to defend the Jaspers, answering only to him. Mercenaries, ruffians, veterans, and any others willing to fight for the Red. Primarily washed-up Blackguards and the sons of poor nobles. Their clothing is in contrast to the Blackguards’, white jackets with garish brass buttons and medals.

lightsickness:
The aftereffects of too much drafting. Only the Prism never gets lightsick.

lightwells:
Holes positioned to allow light, with the use of mirrors, to reach the interiors of towers or sections of streets.

Lily’s Stem, the:
The luxin bridge between Big and Little Jasper. It is composed of blue and yellow luxin so that it appears green. Set on the high-water mark, it is remarkable for its endurance against the waves and storms that wash over it. Ahhana the Dextrous was responsible for designing it and engineering its creation.

linstock:
A staff for holding a slow match. Used in lighting cannons, it allows the cannoneer to stand out of the range of the cannon’s recoil.

Little Jasper (Island):
The island on which the Chromeria resides.

longbow:
A weapon that allows for the efficient (in speed, distance, and force) firing of arrows. Its construction and its user must both be extremely strong. The yew forests of Crater Lake provide the best wood available for longbows.

Lord Prism:
A respectful term of address for a male Prism.

Lords of the Air:
A term used by the White King for his most trusted blue-drafting officers.

Luíseach:
A Blood Forest term for the Lightbringer.

luxiat:
A priest of Orholam. A luxiat wears black as an acknowledgment that they need Orholam’s light most of all; thus they are sometimes called a blackrobe.

luxin:
A material created by drafting from light. See Appendix, ‘On

Luxin.’

luxlord:
A term for a member of the ruling Spectrum.

luxors:
Magisterial officials empowered by the Chromeria at various points in its history to bring the Light of Orholam by almost any means necessary. They have at various times hunted paryl drafters and lightsplitter heretics, among others. Their theological rigidity and their prerogative to kill and torture have been hotly debated by followers of Orholam and dissidents alike.

magister:
The term for a teacher of drafting, history, and religion at the Chromeria. It always retains its masculine ending:
magister
, regardless of the instructor’s gender. This is a relic from when all teachers were male, female drafters being considered too valuable for teaching.

mag torch:
Used by drafters to allow them access to light at night, it burns with a full spectrum of colors. Colored mag torches are also made at great expense, and give a drafter her spectrum of useful light, allowing her to eschew spectacles and draft instantly.

Malleus Haereticorum:
‘Hammer of Heretics.’ The title for a luxor commissioned to destroy heresy.

match-holder:
The piece on a matchlock musket to which a slow match is affixed.

matchlock musket:
A firearm that works by snapping a burning slow match into the flashpan, which ignites the gunpowder in the breech of the firearm, whose explosion propels a rock or lead ball out of the barrel at high speed. Matchlocks are accurate to fifty or a hundred paces, depending on the smith who made them and the ammunition used.

millennial cypress:
A tree known for its immense age and ability to grow in damp conditions.

mirror slaves:
Also known as star-keepers, they are highly trained and educated slaves who manage and maintain the Thousand Stars on the Jaspers. The star-keepers are usually petite children who work the ropes that control the Thousand Stars. Though well treated (for slaves), they spend their days working in two-person teams from dawn till after dusk, frequently without reprieve except for switching with their partners.

Molokh:
Pagan god of greed, associated with orange. See Appendix, ‘On the Old Gods.’

Mot:
Pagan god of envy, associated with blue. See Appendix, ‘On the

Old Gods.’

mund:
Mild pejorative for a person who cannot draft.

murder hole:
A hole in the ceiling of a passageway that allows soldiers to fire, drop, or throw weapons, projectiles, luxin, or fuel. Common in castles and city walls.

Narrows, the:
A strait of the Cerulean Sea between Abornea and the Ruthgari mainland. Aborneans charge high tolls on merchants sailing the silk route, or simply between Paria and Ruthgar.

Nekril, the:
Will-casting coven that laid siege to Aghbalu before being destroyed by Gwafa, a legendary Blackguard.

norm:
Another term for a non-drafter, a person who cannot create luxin. Pejorative.

nunk:
A half-derogatory term for a Blackguard inductee. Most nunks will eventually become full Blackguards. (Cf. ‘scrubs,’ those who are trying out to become inductees. Most scrubs will not become nunks but will ‘scrub out.’)

Odess:
A city in Abornea that sits at the head of the Narrows.

old world:
The world before Lucidonius united the Seven Satrapies and abolished worship of the pagan gods.

ora’lem Or’holam:
Old Parian phrase loosely translated to ‘hidden light of God’ or ‘the hidden Lord of Light(s).’

Order of the Broken Eye, the:
A secret guild of assassins and conspirators, originally from the old city/kingdom of Braxos now beyond the Cracked Lands in western Atash. They specialize in killing drafters and have been rooted out and destroyed at least three times. The pride of the Order is the Shimmercloaks, or Shadows, pairs of purportedly invisible, unstoppable assassins.

Orholam’s Glare:
A giant mirror on Big Jasper, set on a platform before the gate to the Lily’s Stem. Used to execute drafters convicted of the most serious crimes.

Overhill:
A neighborhood in Big Jasper.

Ox Ford:
A town at a crossing of the Ao River on the Atash/Blood Forest border. Recently the site of a disastrous battle in the Wight King’s War.

Pact, the:
Since Lucidonius, the Pact has governed all those trained by the Chromeria in the Seven Satrapies. Its essence is that drafters agree to serve their satrapy and receive all the benefits of status and sometimes wealth—in exchange for their service and eventual death before they break the halo.

Palace of the Divines:
The ancient residence and meeting place of Dúnbheo’s Council of the Divines, in Blood Forest.

Pericol:
A city on the coast of Ilyta.

petasos:
A broad-brimmed Ruthgari hat, usually made of straw, meant to keep the sun off the face, head, and neck.

Philoctean Games:
Novennial celebration of athleticism in the Great Hippodrome of Aslal in Paria.

physicker:
A medical professional who attends to common ailments and injuries.

polychrome:
A drafter who can draft three or more colors.

portmaster:
A city official in charge of collecting tariffs and managing the organized exit and entrance of ships in his harbor.

Prism:
There is only one Prism each generation. They sense the balance of the world’s magic and balance it when necessary, and can split light within themselves to draft any of the seven colors at will. Technically the emperor of the Seven Satrapies, other than balancing, their role is largely ceremonial and religious, with the Colors, the satraps, and the Magisterium working hard to make sure that Prisms rarely wield true political power.