Bowstrings thrummed. Arrows whistled through the air. Screams erupted around Aida as they funneled down another narrow ravine. She whirled as fleeing freedmen and -women fell around her, clutching at the hafts of red-fletched arrows jutting from their flesh. A shout blasted out from her strings, shattering the rock face above from which the Legion's archers launched their volley. More of her people died as rocky debris rained down, but she'd found from bitter experience that even more would die from raining arrows if she didn't.

  Her breath came in ragged gasps. Every swallow felt tinged with broken glass and a rough rasp was all that remained of her speaking voice. An exhausted mass of her followers, ex-slaves, and fleeing citizens struggled along after her as they fled for the "new" Thorn the Vale Legions weren't supposed to know about. She'd estimated over a thousand people had come with them as they raced from the city. Maybe five-hundred were left now after the endless clashes, ambushes, and harrying assaults from the Legions they'd endured in their flight. More besides died to slips and falls, rockslides, or drowning in narrow canyons where the water ran fast and surprisingly deep.

  "Viviana, ask them where that damn Thorn is. Are we almost there?"

  Viviana shouted at the Calm loci or whatever the hell they called the freed leaders guiding them, then turned and nodded as she paused to retie the ribbon holding her lustrous chestnut hair back. Sweat ran down her sculpted face despite the cool water streaming around their angles across the slick stone. "They say we are close, Dynast. Just a few more twists and-"

  A new wave of shouts and screams erupted around them. Ghillie yanked Aida down as a clutch of javelins thudded into meat and bone all about. Aida leapt back to her feet to see a small unit of Legionnaires charging forward from a side ravine that channeled into the wider one Aida and her people packed into. Said Legionnaires crashed into each other, swearing, as Aida rose dripping from the water, their eyes wide with recognition. In the frantic last few hours of their flight from Berujat's Fleshmarkets and city sprawl, the Legions had learned the bloody way to fear Aida.

  A few tried to sprint and close distance to her while others scrabbled for extra javelins.

  All were too slow.

  Aida's scream blasted half of them to gore and buried the rest in collapsing stone as she brought their ravine down on their heads.

  "Thanks Ghillie," Aida croaked, patting the slight woman on the shoulder.

  Throat, Ghillie signed back.

  "Yes, I'm losing my voice," Aida said, rubbing her neck. "And that would be bad. Good thing we're almost out of this hell hole. I hope."

  Ghillie shook her head and plucked gently at a wire at Aida's throat. Aida touched them and found one had snapped like an over-wound guitar string. She guessed the others weren't far behind.

  "Need industrial grade," she muttered to herself. "These things probably weren't designed for this kind of abuse."

  "Dynast," Viviana gasped and tugged at Aida's shoulder.

  Aida sighed and turned. "What now? Did you-"

  Viviana collapsed against her, rough wood scraping against Aida's arm as she fell. The bloody bronze point of a javelin jutted from Viviana's back.

  "Goddammit!" Aida swore, cradling the woman and dropped down to her knees. She glanced up and spotted a lone survivor of the soldiers she'd just blasted, but he was already toppling over with one of Ghillie's needles spearing his throat. "Bastards."

  "Viviana!" Alerestro cried, shoving his way to them. He yanked Viviana from Aida's grasp, clutched her against him, and rocked back and forth, and sobbing. "No, no, no, no, my sweet. This is not how we were fated to end."

  Viviana smiled up at him, blood staining her teeth as she caressed his face. "We but fill our roles in the great play. It is not up to us to decide how... our act ends, merely how well we performed our roles. And we played our parts to perfection, my love."

  "This was not your role," he said, his tears mingling with the blood soaking Vivian's dress. A cynical part of Aida marveled at the contrast in him: however genuine his emotions had seemed in the past, now that she could see the depths and strength of the real deal, she realized how shallow and feigned the man's regular charming persona ran.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  He drew the bronze knife from his belt and placed the point against his chest. "We were to exit the stage together years from now, but it seems our time on the stage ends much sooner."

  "No, my love," Viviana said, coughing up blood as she stayed his hand. "My part ends, but yours occupies the stage... a bit longer. We decided to change course once... no changing again now. We'll meet again when your arc... is over and not before."

  "No, no, no, no," he muttered, brushing her cheek with his fingers.

  Ryk pushed his way to them, taking the situation in with half-a-glance. "We have to keep moving."

  Aida rose angrily, gesturing at the bright, fresh blood soaking her tunic and pants. "So sorry to slow you down with my friend dying."

  He sighed and pressed his fingers against his eyes. She noticed then that a cut had spilled now-dried blood across his cheek. A bloody bandage wrapped his forearm just above the steel bracer on the arm that held his spear. And his arm shook. From sheer fatigue she realized as he stared back at her with weary, bloodshot eyes. "If we don't move soon, the Legions capture every canyon and ravine leading from this one before we get to the Thorn. They surround us completely. What sort of mercy do you think they offer to a rogue Dynast, her heretic, traitorous followers, and a few hundred escaped slaves once they have us trapped? Of course you do-"

  "You think I don't know that?" she snapped. "You don't think I'm not exhausted from all the running, the fighting, the dying? A unit of Legionnaires charged into us in a narrow bit a ways back and I couldn't hit them without bringing an entire loose rock face down on our heads and killed us all. Eth made the rest of us keep going while they butchered a hundred innocent men and women and children. If those Mothers Militant whoever-they-were hadn't showed up at the last minute to hold them off, they'd have killed a hundred more."

  Whenever Ryk had looked at her back in the One Eighth or Heaven's Tread, a hint of humor had always twitched at the corner of his mouth and crinkled the corners of his eyes. Humor surfacing over swells of love. She took a step back when she he looked at her now, for the way he looked at her now held none of that, just exhaustion, impatience, and hints of... fear?

  "I thought you couldn't be hurt," she said, seeking out a neutral ground as she gestured at his arm.

  "Can see the future, but otherwise I'm still a man," he grated back. "Single-handedly fighting a dozen trained Legionnaires to hold them at bay while your people dawdle and trudge along isn't what-"

  "Dawdle and trudge?" She said, incredulously, gesturing at the desperate, staggering families pushing their way onward in spite of their obvious exhaustion. Most remained naked, some bleeding from where shackles or chains still affixed to ankles or wrists. Many wounded limped in their midst while others carried children too small to keep up or dragged their sick or wounded fellows after them. "Are you even listening to yourself? What happened to the fearless hero I fell in love with back in Jadeye?"

  "He dies," he said shortly, shouldering past her and off through the dense press of struggling refugees.

  "What the hell crawled up his butt?" she said, turning back. "He's not the only one barely hacking it here."

  Dead, Ghillie signed.

  "Yeah, that's what he said-"

  No.

  Alerestro's wail tuned her instantly back into what Ghillie was referring to.

  Aida knelt and put a hand on the man's shoulder, but he leapt up furiously, not seeming to care that Viviana fell lifelessly into the stream at their feet as he did so. Her arm bobbed in the red flow clouding out from her wound. The intensity of the hatred burning in his eyes made Aida flinch away.

  "You did this. She died because of you."

  "Uh uh, no you don't," Aida said, waving a finger at him. "I'm tired of everyone putting their shit on me. You were the ones who joined me, remember? Mother of Exiles, hello? The one banished by the Black Court for treason? Didn't think all the way through what that meant when you signed on or what? You were all gung-ho for marching off to Berujat and freeing everybody back in the One-Eighth."

  "We knew all that, but you were the one who swayed her. She convinced me we shouldn't-" he cut off suddenly, his teeth grinding audibly as his gaze snapped away.

  "Yeah, it's all my fault. Of course it is. And you shouldn't what? What were you supposed to do?" Aida said, anger surging to the fore over grief, sorrow, doubt, and worry. She butted her head against his, her temper flaring. "Someone sent you here to kill me right? To get into my confidence, spy on me, then betray me? Do tell, motherfucker."

  They stood there for several long, heated seconds, tension ratcheting. Then Stiller was there, tugging at her sleeve.

  "This isn't over," Alerestro promised as Stiller yanked at her instantly with one hand and pointed the direction they'd been traveling with the other.

  "Ready when you are," she called back as Stiller began to jog. She hurried to keep up with him as he slipped and dodged between knots and clusters of struggling people.

  She found Wake, Eth, Parathas, the Calm loci, and Ryk gathered around a Thorn. The Valeer wrapped herself around it, moaning in a way that had never ceased to be disturbing. The Thorn began to shift and expand in response.

  "Enough," Eth said by way of cryptic greeting.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. Aida and her dwindling cadre struggle to find a new path as Sava’s Vale Legions close in.

  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. 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"

  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