The Vale trip passed painfully if relatively uneventfully. Ryk walked ahead to manage the Valeer and avoid everyone else. Wake snapped at anyone who tried to talk to her. Eth alternated between worried looks at Ryk and sharp looks at Aida, as though she was the one responsible for his bleak moodiness. The rainbow people occasionally asked Eth unintelligible questions and hurt to look at with their ever-shifting dappling of stark white and deep black.

  She was almost looking forward to whatever might be awaiting them back in the One-Eighth when she saw the now-familiar Thorn clearing it stood in and realized that was where they were heading. With all her own troubles and distractions, she'd never even thought to ask as to their destination until they got there.

  As the Vale faded away and the ash-thickened humidity of the One-Eighth soaked into her. Rising unsteadily to her feet, she could only stare at the changes wrought in the couple days since she'd left.

  For starters, the Terrtle skull no longer sat anchored in place only by its own weight, but a sturdy framework crossing beams now surrounded it. To one side, a long, sturdy plank ramp now ran, stretching almost a hundred meters out into a clearing with a dozen paths carving through the surrounding Tangle every direction from where it touched ground.

  In front of the Terrtle where the empty eye sockets stared and where few had lived previously due to the denseness of the jungle, the Mune had chosen their new home. In however-long it had been since Aida left, they'd cleared a square section of Tangle, erected orderly rows of blue tents, laid clay foundations for several large buildings, and strung cords between stakes to mark out a dozen more smaller ones around the periphery. The Mune themselves seemed to be largely self-contained in that cleared area; a sea of blue robes and glinting jewelry with only the rarest dull brown or dingy off-white worn by most everyone else passing through their midst.

  A canal dredging seemed to be in progress, carving a blue line from the new marshy lake that had been growing slowly not far from the Terrtle. Aida shrugged off a momentary feeling of inferiority and resentment. She had never been able to organize anything like such a thing while she was in charge, forcing them to rely on rain-catching pots, plant leaves, and the unreliable, pocked holes in the Terrtle skull for water.

  Not far from the Mune's orderly, self-contained section, the Shanties provided harsh contrast: the five-hundred-odd slaves Aida had dispatched here led by a mute, hostile Alerestro while the she'd led Sava and her Legions off to Ink came with next-to-nothing and there was little more than that here waiting for them. Even worse, it looked as though the area they'd spilled out to claim had been abandoned by the former residents. A crude wall of garbage and chopped bushes now stood between the rest of the Shanties and the miserable quarter abandoned for the slaves to squat in.

  The slaves, at least, seemed to have found use for the Terrtle's broken neck. Bits of spongy marrow apparently remained pliant within the core of the vertebrae and they set to carving it out to throw in large clay pots heated over fire pits. Where bones lay stacked or leaned against one another, they'd made rough lean-tos to help accommodate their spread.

  As a more positive development, it looked as though a section of Tangle near the rotter pens at the back of the Terrtle now sprouted neat rows of what were hopefully fruit trees tended by the Arborist. Rotters hooked to simple plows trudged along a roughly-cleared area nearby while large, alien-looking insect-octopi ambled among the trees. The diminutive Arborist rode a strange, uncomfortable-looking saddle on what might have been one of the creature's heads.

  Glancing towards the distant mountain-top Syphon the Directory had long been constructing, she saw they'd made significant progress as well. Above the irregular, boxy base plated in the same rusting iron the Directory seemed to use everywhere they built outside Ink, several long variously-tall masts now thrust up into the sky like radio towers. While these shared the guy-wire supports and were assembled from triangular sections of steel poles the way a radio tower on Earth might be, these hosted no antenna or dishes. instead, they sprouted long arms dangling with what looked like black leaves.

  They must have turned the thing on, for already streaks and clumps of denaturation traced down the sides of the mountain. Streams of wet ash or grey mud leaching the color from everything around them.

  While new, none of those developments were entirely surprising; she'd had some say and foreknowledge that pretty much all of them might be coming. What did surprise her, however, was a clear path trampled and slashed in a straight line to a spot perhaps a kilometer away from the Terrtle. There, in a broad swath of cleared Tangle, the first two, massive tiers of what looked to be the start of a giant bronze-plated step-pyramid or something rose inside a web of scaffolding. White-clothed figures swarmed all over it. Several massive centipede-like creatures crawled across it hauling beams or bronze plates in their mandibles while a scattering of tall cranes with all the trappings of the Directory stood atop the completed first tier or rose from low platforms about it.

  A small city of black-trimmed, white tents spread out in orderly rows from the base. Several tall flagpoles hosted rippling white banners bearing a black, vaguely-circular sigil in the center. She couldn't make out more details due to distance and haze.

  A few long convoys of bizarre walking wagons stomped the path to or from the Terrtle. The contraptions centered around a long, thin-walled, rusty metal storage areas dimensioned something like a long truck bed with two sets of four-spoked, muddy, T-shaped legs affixed where wheels would normally be placed. A motor or whatever it was that powered the things housed in a compartment the size of an air conditioner at the things' backs. Each caravan consisted of a dozen-ish of the things connected by what looked to be iron rods on flexible mounts so the walker wagons could pivot and turn somewhat while still being held roughly in a line.

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  The pair of tank knights leading and trailing each convoy plus the gray-clothed, pants-wearing figures riding in the front wagons confirmed her suspicious as to the origin of the contraptions if not who hired them or what the hell they were doing here.

  In the time she and the others had spent recovering from the Vale transition and surveying the changes, several figures had scrambled up the net ladders towards them. Aliasara reached the top first and both nearly fell over as they rushed forward into a ferocious hug.

  As they pulled apart, Aida flashed her friend a weary grin. "I was half afraid you were coming at me with a knife after I dropped the One-Eighth on top of you and ran away."

  Aliasara wiped tears from her eyes and flashed a brilliant if tired smile back. "I'm just happy you're alive. When Rega's people showed up here-"

  "Rega?" Aida croaked, her head snapping back towards the incipent bronze step pyramid. "Those are her people? Is she here?"

  "She isn't, but yes. They are hers," Aliasara said, staring off the same direction with a look of bemusement. "No soldiers, just endless ConMach convoys full of materials and supplies and swarms of laborers pouring through the Thorn to build that thing. We thought they were invading at first, but aside from a few Monopolis Versal troops tagging along to keep any of us from stealing anything, they seem to be all craftsmen and laborers. They won't even really talk to us, though I've heard a few let slip a few bits about it."

  Aliasara looked up as though remembering and ticked off on her fingers as she enumerated. "Rega's in a hurry to get it done for one thing, paying them small fortunes on one side and threatening their lives on the other to keep them motivated. They don't seem to know exactly why here or what the thing is for, but it is supposed to be hollow. Sections of each layer are designed to be removed, presumably to bring something inside."

  "Okay," Aida said, her tired mind churning trying to take it all in. "What about the Wretches and the Professor? They haven't killed anyone else, have they?"

  "No," Aliasara said, shaking her head. She bit her lip then as though not wanting to say anything else.

  "What?" Aida said, suddenly tense. She looked around, expecting to see impaled Wretches or lurking assassins or who-knew-what ready to wreck things. Wake stared pensively at Rega's pyramid. The rainbow people who followed them from Ink wandered off down the ramp, pointing fingers like tourists.

  Eth and Ryk stood huddled with two strangers in some intense, whispered conversation that included a sharp look in Aida's direction as she looked at them. One of the strangers was a nondescript young woman, the other a slightly-older man who wore a slight smile on his handsome face. Both wore the grisly eyeball-staring-from-a-slit throat tattoo at the base of the necks, the one she hadn't seen since the lady in Ocyl's court. Seericides or something.

  No assassins, tortures, or other looming disasters to be seen.

  "Jaxe is here," Aliasara said, staring at her toes.

  "He's what?" Aida's temper flashed to an instant boil as the image of Jaxe murdering Broadaxe flashed through her mind unbidden. "Where?"

  "He showed up yesterday with dozens and dozens of soldiers wearing his pale purple. They marched about breaking things and beating people up for a while, then Cleft Hand and his cronies crawled out from wherever they went after you left." Aliasara paused and stared at her sandals again. "They... they killed a few people at random and left them for you, then headed off towards Ryk's training area."

  Aliasara paused again, then winced as she said, "Alerestro came with him. I thought at first he'd been captured by Jaxe, but as soon as they got here Alerestro led them off."

  "Goddammit." Aida was already at the top of the net ladder when Ryk and Eth pulled her back.

  "Let me go," she shouted hoarsely, her voice cracking.

  "Don't. Your strings are broken," Eth said, her voice soft and borderline sad. Aida stared at her, shocked to see tears run down the Imminent's cheeks.

  "Oh, shit," Aida whispered, a rock falling into her gut. Since she'd learned to harness her strings, she'd felt powerful, bordering on cocky. Without them, she felt naked and small. Seeing her look, Aliasara gave her a hug that offered little comfort.

  Aida kissed her friend on the cheek and glanced at Ryk to find him staring at her as though trying to memorize her face. Never had he looked so young nor so determined, the confident ease he'd always carried vanished as though it never was.

  Wake approached her, pointing at Rega's new construction. "I don't know what that is, but I know we have to do something about it. If it's important enough for Rega to build it here, its important enough for us to break it."

  "Go for it," Aida said, walking around the glaring Dynast. She walked over to Ryk and brushed her fingers across her cheek, her heart aching. As she neared, Eth grabbed the two Seericide's sleeves, dragging them to the far side of the Thorn.

  "Did we love each other as much as Eth says?" he whispered, placing his hands on her shoulders as if to hold himself up.

  Aida glanced at Eth. The Imminent argued loudly with the female, terrified-looking Seericide. Aida couldn't catch exactly what they were saying over a strong breeze that came up, but caught the name 'Hanyon' out of it.

  Aida turned back to Ryk, wiping a tear from his eye. She suddenly remembered Eth's warning when Aida had tracked her down and thrown a hundred questions at her atop the Terrtle shell. Don't break his heart. Was no more than a week or two ago, but felt like an eternity.

  "I loved you as much as I've ever loved anyone," she murmured, surprising herself at the truth and heat of it. "Just because our love has only burned briefly doesn't mean it hasn't burned brightly."

  The second part of what Eth had said then flickered through her mind, sending a chill down her back despite the heat and humidity of the One-Eighth. He must love you until he dies.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. Revelations from Eth, intentional and inadvertent.

  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