The Destiny of the Dead (The Song of the Tears Book 3) (89 page)

Flappeter
: A
large flying creature flesh-formed by Jal-Nish, it has a pair of feather-rotors
growing from the middle of its back. Flappeters are controlled by bonded
riders, using enchanted amulets, and any harm to either flappeter or rider
causes harm to the other.

Flesh-forming
:
A branch of the Secret Art invented by the lyrinx but now used by Jal-Nish to
create creatures such as flappeters and bladder-bats.

Flydd, Xervish
:
See Xervish Flydd.

Forbidding, the
:
When Shuthdar’s golden flute was destroyed over three thousand years ago, the
resultant cataclysm sealed Santhenar off from the other two worlds until the
Way between the Worlds was opened at the end of the Time of the Mirror.

Garr, Garrflood
:
The largest and wildest river in Meldorin. It arises to the west of Shazmak,
flows around the island on which Shazmak is built, and runs to the Sea of
Thurkad east of Sith.

Gate
: A
structure powered by the Secret Art which permits people to move almost
instantly from one place to another. Also called a portal.

Gatherer
:
See Profane Tears.

Ghâshâd (also
Whelm)
: The ancient, mortal enemies of the Aachim, they were a race born to
serve unquestioningly. They were corrupted and swore allegiance to Rulke in
ancient times, but when he was imprisoned in the Nightland they took a new
name, Whelm, and served Yggur for a time. When Rulke escaped, they became
Ghâshâd again, but upon his death swore to take no master ever again. However
they subsequently broke that oath and went to the Tower of a Thousand Steps to
serve the Numinator. Their nominal leader is the sorcerer, Zofloc.

Ghorr
: The
corrupt former Chief Scrutator of the Council of Scrutators, and Flydd’s bitter
enemy, now dead and in the shadow realm.

Gilhaelith
:
An eccentric, amoral geomancer and flawed tetrarch, he died by
self-crystallisation at the end of the lyrinx war.

God-Emperor
:
The title assumed by Jal-Nish Hlar some time after he took control of the world
using the Profane Tears.

Gothryme
: An
impoverished manor near Tolryme in Bannador, on Meldorin Island. In the Time of
the Mirror it belonged to Karan. Colm is now the nominal heir but his family
fled during the war and it was occupied by people in the favour of the
God-Emperor.

Great Library
:
Founded at Zile by the Zain in the time of the Empire of Zur, it lasted for
thousands of years but disappeared from the Histories during the lyrinx war.
Its greatest librarian was the sage, Nadiril, who died two hundred years ago.

Great Tales
:
The greatest stories from the Histories of Santhenar. A tale can only become a
Great Tale by the unanimous decision of the master chroniclers. In four
thousand years only twenty-three Great Tales were made, the twenty-third being
acclaimed by many as the greatest – Llian of Chanthed’s Tale of the
Mirror. More tales were written during the lyrinx war but they do not have the
same standing, as they were written as propaganda at the Chief Scrutator’s
behest.

Histories, the
:
The vast collection of records which tell more than four thousand years of
recorded history on Santhenar. The culture of Santhenar is interwoven with and
inseparable from the Histories and the most vital longing anyone can have is to
be mentioned in them. Families and clans also keep their personal Histories.

Human species
:
There were four distinct human species: the Aachim of Aachan, the Faellem of
Tallallame, the old humans of Santhenar, and the Charon who came out of the
void. All but old humans could be very long-lived. Matings between the different
species rarely produced children (see Blending).

Hundred, the
:
The one hundred surviving Charon who escaped from the void, led by Rulke, then
took Aachan from the Aachim and held them in thrall for thousands of years.

Irisis Stirm
:
A heroine of the lyrinx war, and Nish’s lover at the end of the war, she gave
her life to try to save him from his father’s vengeance. She has been dead for
ten years but her perfectly preserved body is held in a crystal coffin at
Morrelune.

Jal-Nish Hlar: Nish’s father. He suffered massive
injuries from a lyrinx attack during the war and begged to be allowed to die,
but Nish and Irisis saved his life. Now hideously maimed and unable to repair
himself even with the power of the stolen Profane Tears, he controls the world
as God-Emperor and plays malicious games with his enemies, though he has long
had a secret fear that the world is under threat, once again, from the void.
This fear was proven right when Stilkeen appeared at the Range of Ruin, took
him hostage and demanded chthonic fire in return.

Karan
:
During the Time of the Mirror, two centuries and more ago, she was a young
woman of the house of Fyrn, but with blood of the Aachim from her father,
Galliad, and old human and Faellem blood from her mother. This made her triune,
though she did not know it. A sensitive whose home was Gothryme, Karan was the
heroine of the Tale of the Mirror and wedded Llian at the end of it. She is now
reviled as Karan Kin-Slayer, for killing Llian and her children, then herself,
though no one can understand why.

Kandor
: One
of the three Charon who came to Santhenar, and dwelt at Katazza, in the Sea of
Perion. He was killed at the end of the Clysm.

Klarm
: The
former Dwarf Scrutator is a great mancer and a handsome, cheerful, brave man.
He was one of Flydd’s greatest allies during the lyrinx war, but after Jal-Nish
became God-Emperor, Klarm took service with him and became such a trusted ally
that Jal-Nish made him a general, and even entrusted him with the tears after
being captured by Stilkeen. Klarm and Flydd are now bitter enemies.

Knoblaggie
:
A magical device with the appearance of three brass balls partly fused
together. It has much the same function as a wizard’s staff or wand.

Lauralin
:
The main continent on Santhenar.

League
: About
5000 paces, three miles or five kilometres.

Lilis
: A
street urchin in Thurkad at the Time of the Mirror who was taken on as an
apprentice librarian by Nadiril at the Great Library.

Liett
: A
lyrinx with unarmoured skin and no chameleon ability; a talented mancer and
brilliant flier who has a turbulent relationship with Ryll. She became
Matriarch of the lyrinx as they went to Tallallame.

Llian
: An
ostracised Zain, he was a master chronicler, a teller of the Great Tales, and
one of the heroes of the Tale of the Mirror, which he wrote and which became
the twenty-third Great Tale. He is now reviled as Llian the Liar, the master
chronicler who dared to corrupt the histories and write a Great Tale that
wasn’t true.

Lyrinx
:
Massive winged humanoids, some of whom are great mancers, who escaped from the
void to Santhenar at the end of the Time of the Mirror. See also Lyrinx War.

Lyrinx War: The one-hundred-and-fifty-year-long war
between the winged lyrinx and the peoples of Santhenar, which ended ten years
ago when the lyrinx were defeated and were given the alien-infested world of
Tallallame for their own.

Maelys Nifferlin
:
A shy, demure girl of nineteen at the beginning of the tale, one of the last of
her clan, who was compelled by her mother and aunts to rescue Nish (whom she
has idolised since childhood because he was a hero of the war) and get pregnant
to him, so as to restore the clan. Maelys has little experience of any kind of
action but is very determined, brave and loyal. She did rescue Nish, and
accompanied him on many adventures, though he, still obsessed with his beloved
Irisis, repudiated her tentative advances and Maelys was so mortified that she
was not game to try again. She then accompanied Flydd on various journeys, met
Emberr in the Nightland, they made love and she unwittingly caused his death.
Now Yalkara and the Numinator are both pursuing Maelys in case she became
pregnant to Emberr.

Maigraith
:
An orphan brought up and trained by Faelamor, she was a master of the Secret
Art. She became Yggur’s lover, briefly, and at the end of the Time of the
Mirror she fell for Rulke and became pregnant to him not long before he died.
It has recently been revealed that Maigraith became the Numinator.

Malien
: An
Aachim, and once one of their leaders, she was a heroine of the Time of the
Mirror and an ally of Flydd and Yggur during the lyrinx war, but has not been
seen since it ended.

Mancer
: A
wizard or sorcerer; someone who is a master of the Secret Art.

Mazurhize: The most brutal prison in the empire. Nish
was held in its deepest and dankest cell for his ten-year sentence.

Mendark
: A
great mancer from the Time of the Mirror, he took renewal on many occasions but
was killed at the end of the Time of the Mirror.

Mimemule: A small wooden object, shaped like several
intergrown balls, which can be used to create something else by mimicry. It was
a great treasure left to Karan by Faelamor, in reparation for her crimes.

Mirror, Mirror
of Aachan
: A powerful and capricious ancient artefact (aka the twisted
mirror) which held a deadly secret, and gave its name to the period of history
ending two hundred and twenty years ago (the Time of the Mirror), and also to
Llian’s Great Tale (the Tale of the Mirror).

M’lainte
:
Flydd’s mechanician from the lyrinx wars, the genius who built the first
air-floater.

Monkshart
:
The name taken by Jal-Nish’s former ally and friend, Vivimord, after renouncing
his allegiance. He was a charismatic zealot and mancer, but corrupt, and
attempted to use the Deliverer to bring down the God-Emperor because Vivimord
believed that for any man to take such a title was blasphemy. Vivimord was
convicted of murder in Gendrigore (in a trial by ordeal), where he was taken by
a sea leviathan and has not been seen since, though the leviathan died soon
after, rather ominously.

Morrelune
:
Jal-Nish’s palace, near the prison of Mazurhize and not far from Fadd in
eastern Lauralin.

Nadiril
: The
greatest librarian of the Great Library; he died two hundred years ago.

Nightland: A place, distant from the world of reality,
where Rulke was kept prisoner for a thousand years. Tensor made a portal into
the Nightland to revenge himself on

Rulke, but only succeeded in letting him out, and
shortly the Nightland collapsed into nothingness, or so it was believed, until
Flydd, Maelys and Colm ended up there recently. In fact, the Nightland was
recreated before its total collapse by Yalkara, because her son Emberr was born
there and could never leave.

Nish
: See
Cryl-Nish Hlar.

Nodes
: Rare
places in the Three Worlds where the Secret Art worked better because the node
was surrounded by a field from which power could be drawn by a mancer or
certain enchanted objects. The Profane Tears were formed by the destruction of
a node. All nodes were destroyed by Tiaan at the end of the lyrinx war.

Numinator, the
:
A mysterious figure who dwells at the Tower of a Thousand Steps, on the Island
of Noom in the frozen south, and secretly controlled the Council of Scrutators.
The Numinator turned out to be Maigraith, who for more than a hundred and fifty
years had manipulated the whole world for her breeding program, seeking to
breed people together to create quartines, a new species, as a perpetual
memorial to her dead lover Rulke. She is Yalkara’s granddaughter and Tulitine’s
estranged grandmother.

Old Human
:
The original human species on Santhenar and by far the most numerous; the only
short-lived human species, they typically have the meagre life-span of around
seventy-five years.

Phrune
:
Monkshart’s acolyte, healer and perhaps lover, a sadistic killer whom Maelys
slew at the Cursed Flame. Vivimord’s black arts gave Phrune life from death for
a while, but Maelys forced him into a column of chthonic fire at Mistmurk
Mountain. He came back as five Phrune spirits, then was drawn into the shadow
realm.

Portal
: See
Gate.

Profane Tears
:
Two grapefruit-sized, tear-shaped objects made from nihilium, a
quicksilver-like substance which holds the print of the Art more tightly than
any other material. The tears were created by the implosion of a node of power
thirteen years ago and stolen by Jal-Nish, who has poured all his knowledge of
the Art into them, but corrupted them and turned them into the Profane Tears.
Gatherer is a collector of information and coordinates all Jal-Nish’s spies and
spying devices. Reaper is used to enforce Jal-Nish’s will, for it longs to
bring ruin upon all it touches.

Quartine
:
See Tetrarch.

Reaper
: See
Profane Tears.