"Come, we need to go," Johine hissed, hopping from one foot to the other. Who knew how long the disheveled, disgusting man had been stuck in that too-short cage, but his shoulders now seemed permanently hunched. Combined with his awkward, stiff movements, extensive body hair, and tangled mane of hair his posture made him look like some sort of animal trained poorly to move like a human.

  Hassani turned, then instinctively ducked and rolled as something flew at her. Warily, she walked back a little ways into the tunnel to find a ragged doll laying on the stone. She picked it up slowly, looking up to see Crone staring at her with her milky eyes. Apparently not quite as blind as Johine had said. "This is for me?"

  "Was for my granddaughter," the woman croaked. "Probably long dead by now. Better that way. Take it for your daughter. It will give me peace knowing its gotten use."

  "We could still free you," Hassani said, tracing the most-likely route to the woman's cage in her mind. The tunnels twisted and turned unpredictably so who knew how long it might take to find it.

  The woman simply turned away and stared up at the ribbon of blue sky overhead. She began to sing a children's song to the Ascendant, the words haunting in their nostalgic familiarity. "Ascendant dwelling high above, find this little child below..."

  "Come," Johine hissed, tugging at her sleeve. "We must escape."

  "I'm not escaping," Hassani said, gently prying him off.

  "You're not... you're what?" He gaped at her. Either he'd never been the brightest bronze bar in the stack, his time in that cage broke something in him. Or maybe both.

  "I'm going to find Fatma and she's going to give me my daughter if I have to peel her flesh off like a Molt to make it happen," Hassani said, walking resolutely, if stiffly, through the tunnels leading to the surface.

  Johine shuffled along side her, struggling to match her quick stride with his labored gate.

  "If you're gonna peel her, I know where she lives!" he cackled. "Fatma. Fatma lives in the Master's District, near the grounds of the Phero's brothel."

  Hassani gritted her teeth at the intense pang of longing even the mention of a Phero stirred. A curse it seemed she would never be free of.

  "Damn you again, Adonissian," she muttered. Though having seen the pitiful way he'd lain dying in that tiny, reeking flat in Jadeye, she couldn't think of much more cruel punishment that could be doled out, whatever his wrongs.

  "Yes, lead me there, wherever it is," she said. "Quickly while we still have the slave roundup as a distraction."

  As they walked, her mind struggled to churn. Exposure and sunburn, lack of decent food, and hardly any sleep lagged her usually-quick wit to a slow grind. "They didn't take my clothes, so if we see anyone or when we get to the stairs and have to deal with the guards, I'm your new owner taking you to sell you before you they can take you and conscript you into the Slave Legions."

  "You're sellin' me?" he stammered, stopping suddenly and plastering himself against the wall. Sobs wracked his frame out of nowhere. "I don't wanna be sold again! I thought we were free. We were gonna peel Fatma."

  It took several deep breaths before she could get her voice level and calm enough to talk with him. "Calm down. No Johine, listen. It's a ruse. A way of tricking them so we can get to Fatma's. I'm not really going to sell you."

  To help console him, she pulled the shoulder down on her tunic and turned her back slightly, showing her own brand. He wiped his eyes and runny nose on his hirsute arm, then turned to compare it to the same marking scarring his shoulder: what she took to be a crude cage holding a coin. Hassani snarled and felt at the marred flesh on her shoulder. She'd never looked at or thought to look too closely at slavery while she'd been an Inviolate. It suddenly struck her that, like so many other things, she had kept it at a mental distance to avoid thinking about how it underpinned much of the corrupt society she'd hoped to somehow make right.

  Such musings fell away as they reached the main tunnel network leading to the surface. While the tunnels ran deep and wide throughout the cliff, only a few stairwells led to the surface. Guards, lookouts, and slave-catchers stood ready and waiting these at each at all times. Now, however, they slipped into the stinking traffic crushing together in said main tunnel. She fixed a cruel, impatient look to her face, grabbed Johine by his hair, and dragged him with her. In the barely-contained chaos and confused press of flesh, they somehow made it up the stairs then spilled out onto the streets amid the river of slaves pouring towards the great arena where the Small Masters usually hosted gladiatorial games, races, beast combats, slave orgies, or combined several of those events together for the amusement of Versers and Dynasts.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  When a young boy slipped from the ropes binding his hands and sprinted off down a side street, Hassani utilized the distraction to drag Johine into another narrow alley between two close-packed clay brick buildings. Though it pained her to do it almost as much as it hurt him, she still dragged and shoved him roughly before her until they were completely out of sight of the main traffic. She pressed him down to the bare stone street near a closed-down market, pretending to berate him for some infraction for the benefit of the scattered traffic drifting towards the arena.

  "You okay?" she said.

  "What'd I do wrong?" he wailed. "Why do I deserve this for rescuing you?"

  "Quiet," she hissed, shooting a glare at a young, well-dressed couple, their children, and a trailing knot of servants and slaves strolling after them down towards the arena. "You want this slave? I'm about done with his laziness and insolence."

  The man laughed, the woman frowned, and a little girl in miniature version of the lacy kimono that seemed to be popular among the affluent jumped up and down. "Can I have another slave, Amma? Adda? I only have the one and she's soooo old and everyone else has two and that's not fair."

  "Maybe when you're older," the mother said, hurrying her along as Hassani continued to glare.

  "Fatma's. Now," she snapped, shoving Johine roughly ahead of her. She leaned in quickly to whisper in his ear. "I'm sorry. If they find out we're escaped slaves, what they do to us will leave us praying to have our old cages back."

  He seemed to get it this time and shuffled quickly along ahead of her in a properly subdued, slave-like fashion. A haughty bearing and sharp looks she shot at anyone who looked at them twice managed to dissuade anyone from approaching as they marched through the streets the opposite direction to most of the arena-bound traffic.

  Fatma's estate was obvious when they reached it: an elaborate metal-sculptured version of her cage-and-coin thrust out proudly above the gleaming brass gate leading through a high, rough-hewn stone wall. Two stories of mansion rose above it, a mixture of carved stone and sections of fresh, white plaster. Fruit trees rose up all about it, swarmed by noisy flocks of birds.

  A stubbled guard in leathers leaned on a cheap spear in front of the gate, chewing what looked to be commu by the purplish stains mottling his lips as he watched them approach. When they were a few paces away, Hassani kicked Johine in the rear to send him stumbling to the man's feet. Johine gave a startled yelp and curled up in a ball instinctively. "Wah! Don't hit me again!"

  Hassani strode close to gave him a quick boot to the rear, then whirled on the guard. "Fatma sent me. Just bought this one and sent him back to get him liveried up. Big event today and all."

  The guard looked glanced down at the cowering Johine dubiously. That was all the opportunity she needed. In a motion she'd been rehearsing their whole approach, she snatched at his belt knife free reverse-grip, drew it, and slashed across his throat in one smooth motion. She pressed him back against the wall with one forearm as gurgled and clutched his neck.

  Dropping the knife, she fumbled at his belt with her other hand, darting glances up and down the street. Fortunately, traffic was sparse in this wealthier district as most had already departed for the arena. She slipped the ornate key ring from its hook on his belt, twisting and turning her head out of the way as he feebly pawed at her with one bloody hand.

  With the key in hand, she lowered him to the ground, wiping the knife on his tunic and trying to ignore his youth. He worked for slavers, she told herself. The sames slavers that held her Avani captive. It may as well have been him holding her daughter's chains or dangling her over the chasm. She stood and unlocked the gate, jumping aside and raising her knife defensively as Johine snatched up the fallen spear and stabbed the guard over and over and over.

  "Enough, Johine," Hassnani said when it was clear he was caught up in a bestial, vengeful rage that showed no sign of ending. "Stop. You'll draw more attention. Stop!"

  Johine looked up. With his face spattered in blood, eyes wild, and teeth bared in a feral snarl, he looked even more animalistic. "Enough. Come on, we need to find my things."

  Without waiting to see if he followed, she slipped inside, walking quickly through a lush but poorly-tended garden then pushing on into the main estate. She debated looking for a side door, but shrugged and went straight for the large double doors that hung open to allow a stream of servants and slaves to flow in an out. Judging by the chests, jars, and piled rugs heaped everywhere in the white-marbled main hall, Fatma had either just moved in or was redecorating with loot from one of the other Small Master's villas.

  A tall, severe woman in fine yet functional red robes looked over with distaste and hostility as Hassani entered. The cowering deference afforded to her by every slave and servant who passed marked her instantly as the one in charge and aimed Hassani straight at her.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. POVs start to cross.

  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.

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  Baka: Dynast of Ziggurat. Huge, massively strong. Tertius.

  "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. Died of Wretch Plague?

  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

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Savalius: Grand Quartermaster of the Legions

  Semon "Goldtongue": white-haired, one-eyed master of cults. First Disciple of the Mother.

  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

  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

  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.

  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.

  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

  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"

  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 verse of the Skeinry, Keens, Directory, and "the Faded People"

  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?

  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"

  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: "Gates End", a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  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