"My people," Inro said, his voice cracking with emotion. He wiped back unexpected tears and began again. "My people. We are the One Tribe."

  It took several minutes for the cheers and calls to die down before he could continue.

  "I have fought with you, marched with you, bled with you. I have witnessed your valor and courage, tasted your kindness, and basked in your humor. I am touched by your willingness to allow me into your tribe."

  He gestured towards the bright moon shining from directly overhead. "They say among my people that moons are areas where the shells of the verses and the walls of the worlds are worn thin by the ancient enemies of the Ascendant who lurk ever over us. The horrible Mon peer through them as their children ooze through every crack and crevice into verses to terrorize and kill. I've slain these demons and the monsters they spawn, locked away in rusting prisons of ancient iron those we could not find the means to kill. I've seen the devastation and horror their hatred of us brings when they are not stopped, hunted, slain."

  A pause to let their imaginations crawl with images of his conjured abominations.

  "The spawn of the Mon are a minor nuisance compared to the Aj."

  He scanned the crowd, meeting as many eyes as he could before gesturing from the moon and down to the largest cave mouth yawning wide beyond the amphitheater. "Before we march into the Book, you should know its history. My distant ancestor and yours, Holy Ebon, was born in this very verse. One of our most revered and oft-told tales is her Saga. To tell it all would take half the night, but it ends with a simple poem:

  "Ebon-explored,

  the Subterrane.

  Ebon-conquered,

  the Pale.

  Ebon-birthed,

  the Dynasty.

  Ebon-founded,

  the Court.

  Ebon-opened,

  the Gates.

  Ebon-found

  the Vale.

  Ebon taken,

  the Ascen."

  "The whole of the Book beyond the shell of this verse is her doing. From this verse she marched, leading a One Tribe of her own. She discovered the way to enter the Subterrane, the network of tunnels chewed away by the Mon or something else as terrible an ancient. These tunnels weave between verses where their shells touch, letting those able to navigate their dark labyrinth traverse from verse to verse. She found verses thick with pale-skinned savages and these she conquered and enslaved wearing the very Limn armor our warriors wear. Then, seeing her natural lifespan coming to an end, Ebon entered a realm of pure night, faced a horrific immortal monster, bound it to her will, and drank immortality from its blood."

  Pausing to take a drink of fruit wine, he looked at among the One Tribe and smiled at the child-like wonder shining back at him.

  "Thus she began the Dynasty, offering the blood to any of her Kin who could prove themselves worthy of it. With a clan of immortals at her side, she founded the Black Court based the inky verse of the same name where she'd conquered the Partaker. For centuries, her mighty family ruled over all the verses she'd claimed, conquered, colonized, and all seemed well. But travel via the Subterrane was slow and dangerous for from and through its labyrinths did demons worm their way from the outer hells beyond the versal shells. Whenever and wherever they found their way into a verse, they fell upon it like plague to destroy the Ascendant's creations. Long did this state remain... until Ebon found Terminus.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "A bleak, barren verse rich in rocky rubble and little else, it hosted one notable feature: hundreds of great stone arches rising into gray skies. Ever-curious and ever-crafty, Ebon found a small arch and painted the inside with Limn, much as she did somewhere in those caves just beyond us to first enter the Subterrane. Thus was born the first Gate. When she bravely stepped through the shimmering space evoked by the Limn painted upon its curve, she emerged... elsewhere."

  He found his gaze drawn to the cave. It truly sank in then exactly where he was and what he was planning to do. Never had he thought he might one day walk so closely in her footsteps. Only when Arca cleared his throat did Inro find his way back to the moment and resume his brief summary of the Saga.

  "After building her own Gates in our verses and learning how to link them, travel between verses became a matter of a walking a few paces. It was as though all the Book became one single, connected, ever-expanding verse. Connected, that is, until the Kiss.

  "It turns out we were not alone in the All. From the Subterrane, we found a verse containing the Sect, who joined with us instantly and began to breed for us beasts of work and war. We discovered the Crowmen when they first reanimated the body of a dead bird and used it to communicate. They gave death new meaning as with the Ebon's blessing, the fallen were risen to labor on for our benefit.

  "Other wonders were discovered: strange object-beings existing in twilight states somewhere between living and dead. These object-beings she gave to the first Masters to study and find use for. From these discoveries came the Lineages of mancers, those people willing to or slavanted into union with those strange entities which bestowed on them many gifts and abilities far beyond our previous imaginings. And then, not long after I was born over six centuries ago, came the White Kiss."

  It struck Inro suddenly how much of this he took for granted, things that any child in the Book would know that struck these people like mythology suddenly made history.

  "Though the Crowmen warned us something about the dangers of the hostile 'different Dynasty' they had long warred against, we treated it at first like any other disease. A few Innoculist chants canted over the ill and we thought it would dissolve away. But the Kiss ignored any chant, charm, or cure, growing inside anyone who inhaled its spores until they died coughing out clouds of them. Even as it wiped out entire verses, Ebon refused to close the Gates for all the great effort it took to open them. Men, women, and children uncounted died because of her indecision. And then came the Aj."

  Inro drained the last of his wine and pulled a grilled hung of snake meat off a skewer.

  "But I'm getting ahead of myself somewhat. Around the same time, the Imminent spoke of a 'Dynastic rebirth' and a new breed of slavant created by the Cerebrists: the Valeer. Though barely more functional than a rotter in the mundane tasks of daily life, they provided a third method of travel between verses beyond the Subterrane and the Gates: the Vale of Thorns. The very same way I arrived here in Origin.

  "Ebon didn't trust it for it was new and unknown. Though the Blood keeps Dynastic bodies ever-youthful and increasingly powerful with age, it does nothing to prevent our thoughts from calcifying and growing ever more rigid as we age. I had heard this before arriving here in Origin, but discounted it. Only recently as I feel my mind restored to something like youth and vigor did I realize the truth of these words.

  "As the Kiss ravaged verse after verse, a fresh Primus Dynast who had not yet been granted a verse volunteered to explore. With the pet rats he kept as companions, he traveled the Vale, fled the Mourne, and visited many verse familiar and strange. And one Thorn led him to a place that few later believed to be real. It was a verse the locals called 'Christendom'.

  "This place was ruled by shaggy-haired Pale men lurking in stone-heaped fortresses protected by men wrapped in iron. They all worshiped either some god or some bastardized version of the Ascendant - the story isn't clear which - and, strangely enough, they not only believed there was only one divine being, but no one had ever seen and met it. Even more bizarre, the distant god/Ascen thing was said to have had a son by impregnating an arbitrarily-chosen menial and the son produced possessed some strange Lineage. The exact way the Lineage worked is unknown, for he was tortured to death by the local Verser Lords before he could pass said Lineage on. In spite of this seemingly-apparent failure, they still worshiped him a millennium after his death and expected him to somehow resurrect himself any day."

  Looking among his audience, Inro saw surprising acceptance of his short recap of Bubo's Tale. He supposed everything he spoke of that transpired beyond their immediate environment seemed equally fanciful whether it happened across the rock lands, in Heaven's Tread, or in this ridiculous, child's-tale 'Christendom' of Bubo's Tale. Regardless, they waited eagerly for him to continue. The most wrinkled elder squatted there listening, as thirsty for more of his words as the youngest child bouncing up-and-down on their mother's lap waiting for his meandering, trimmed-down version of the Saga.

  Cairin brought him a fresh cup of wine and he surprised her with a long kiss. The audience trilled, whistled, and clapped at this. She positively glowed as she swished away and cast him a smoldering glance full of sultry promises. He grinned back, bowed, and continued on.

  "According to the tale, Bubo realized he'd brought some horrific plague wherever he visited and, full of guilt and hounded by holy warriors of Christendom who hunted him as some sort of heretic, blasphemer, or student of dark magics, he fled. He barely escaped to the Thorn and came back to tell his tale. Sadly, his only friends, his rats, were left behind in his haste to flee."

  That part of the story had always reduced other kids to tears when he'd heard it told. Even as a child himself, he thought it seemed strange that they felt bad about a few lost rats but not about untold thousands of children like them dying of some gruesome variant of the White Kiss back in the mythical 'Christendom' that Bubo had left behind.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. Inro finishes the Ebon Saga with a series of revelations.

  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.

  "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. 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.

  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"

  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?

  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"

  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

  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