"Great, finally," Aida panted. She looked at Eth. "How many people can this thing wrap up and take... Gr. You're never going to stop doing that, are you?"

  The Imminent rolled her eyes by way of answer. "Enough means as many as this space will allow."

  "How many is en-" Aida stopped herself and looked around the wide spot in the canyon from which the Thorn sprouted. "They're going to have to still pack pretty tight or make several trips to fit everyone."

  "No time for that," Ryk snapped. "The Legion trackers are watching us and are probably reporting to Sava as we speak. Advance units of the Legion will arrive in under ten minutes. Would have been here already if the main force of the Mother's Militant hadn't launched an attack on their base camp at the primary Berujat Thorn a while back."

  She raised her hands to him and mouthed what's your deal? Regaining her composure took great difficulty. "Who exactly are these Mother's Militant? All I know is what I heard and saw when a dozen dudes shouted it then charged in to fight three times their number and let the rest of us escape."

  "Allies." Whipping his eyes away, he stormed off back through the refugees beginning to pool up around the Thorn. "I'll go do what I can to buy a couple more minutes with whatever's left of them."

  "Allies. Great, thanks, perfect. Why don't you go do that?"

  After he pushed through them, only Ghillie's body language that anyone could read as dangerous and her gleaming needles kept the free people from mobbing Aida. A group of those who had followed her from the One-Eighth pushed forward to encircle her and keep the others at bay so she could talk with what was left of her ragtag leadership cadre. They'd dwindled now down to Wake, Parathas, and Eth. And Parathas was busy needling dots into his leg.

  "Sava. Isn't she the one who rules that Libriam place I heard about?" Aida said, her mind drifting back to the orgy in the Jadeye. She vaguely recalled Ocyl pointing her out as the woman sailed aloft trailing silk and two redheaded servants.

  "We burned the Annalis to the ground," Wake said, rising tall. "She likely has nothing else to do but command a Vale Legion now. Speaking of nothing else to do, where are we going?"

  She gestured at the slowly-unfolding Thorn. "If we head to the Black Court, all of my people there who captured it have echoseers. The Legions wouldn't dare try to fight us if we holed up there."

  "I'm sure our hair-string arrangement where you work with us now would totally hold strong if we did that too," Aida said dryly. "I just blasted a few of your friends apart back in the arena, ruined whatever was left of your plans to fight the Ancients in the process, then took you captive. We'll go to the Black Court and while we're blind in the dark we'll just hold out our arms and await the snuggles and kisses I'm sure."

  Wake's expression managed to mix disdain, annoyance, and an insulting hint of respect. Aida rolled her eyes. Did the woman think her such an incompetent boob that she couldn't predict what would happen?

  "We can head to the One-Eighth then. I don't think these people can make it much farther." She forced herself to remain detached with difficulty as she regarded the ex-slaves' flu-wracked, emaciated, beaten, battle-wounded, mostly-naked forms. Looking at the kids crying at their parent's knees - or worse, huddled up on their own with no one to shelter them - stirred a cold fury inside Aida that she tamped down to a tight simmer.

  She wheeled on Wake and thrust a finger at one of the children. "How can you look yourself in the mirror knowing this has been going on the whole time you've been alive? Does that little girl's suffering mean nothing to you?"

  A warning thrum began in her strings. "And if you say a Pale slave is little different from a Pale menial or some other degrading thing to that effect I'm going to blast you halfway down the ravine and leave whatever's left of you for Sava."

  Whatever Wake had been about to say ended before it started in a clack of teeth.

  "Figured," Aida said, turning to Eth.

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  "Nope," Eth said as Aida began to speak.

  "Can't you just tell me where we go to save..." Aida closed her eyes and took three deep breaths. Considering the brutal, endless battle that had been their exodus from the arena, Viviana's sudden death that Alerestro arbitrarily blamed on her, Ryk's sudden hostility, Wake's snobbish calousness, and Eth's... Ethness, she wasn't sure how she was holding herself together at all. She felt like crying, breaking something, or bursting out laughing at how ridiculous it was that she of all people was at the heart of all of this.

  "Okay, so we take these people to the One-Eighth-"

  "-followed immediately by Sava's Vale Legion which slaughters everyone in the One-Eighth." Eth finished for her. "Try again."

  "Graves," Wake said reasonably. "Between the ash-haze from the crematoriums, the mausoleum cities, and the burial labyrinths, even the Legion's Scentsors won't be able to find us."

  "Scentsors?" Aida said, turning back to Wake. "I'm assuming they're some sort of bloodhound? Can they track through the Vale?"

  "Yes. Pretty much the only thing we know that can do so aside from an Imminent."

  "I'm surprised Imminents can be that useful," Aida said, flicking a glance at Eth. The Imminent already had her tongue stuck out when Aida looked her way. "I'm sure said Imminent already has a reason why Graves won't work?"

  "It works," Eth said. A long silence followed while Aida waited for the punchline. Aida used the moment to glance at the Thorn's progress, impressed by its' ability to expand. Nearly half their remnant already stood within its curling reach but its expansion seemed to slow to a painful creep as it grew larger.

  Just when Aida opened her mouth to speak, Eth finished her thought. "Graves works. If you don't mind them blockading the Thorns and trapping you there. You sit among the dead while the people who followed you there starve, trapped until Graves is the only verse the Ancients don't control. Then they come for you."

  "You could have just said 'it doesn't work'," Aida grumped before turning back to Wake. "So where would you go, Wake? What's the stronghold for the Rags? Where are your forces concentrated?"

  "Here," Wake said, gesturing at her shredded dress. "This was going to be it."

  "Heh, oops," Aida said, managing an embarrassed smile. "So, was everyone there at the arena?"

  Wake shrugged. "Everyone but Fixed Feli. It's really his verse, but he's been holed up in a remote fortress since the Kiss. Only people he invites can visit him and only then led blindfolded inside an enclosed sedan chair. He's essentially rented Berujat out for the last few hundred years."

  "So can he help us?"

  "If he wanted to, he would have already."

  "Why don't we try going to him?"

  Wake sighed. "Blindfolded in a sedan chair, remember? No one has any idea where his fortress is. They say anyone who finds it any other way can never leave or is killed on the spot."

  "Great, guess we'll just wander through the Vale with a few hundred starving, wounded slaves then!" Aida said, turning and kicking at a random chunk of driftwood lodged against a nearby boulder. She slipped on the wet rock and splashed down to the broad, trickling stream coating the canyon's bottom.

  She laughed as she stood up and wiped at the red silt now coating her ripped and blood-stained pants. "Perfect. Figures. Last pair of pants and... pants!"

  The shouts, clanks, and cries of combat echoed down the canyon. With it, the tired slaves lurched forward, packing in against the Thorn so tightly, Aida, Wake, Eth, and Parathas shifted to the edge of the Thorn's reach to avoid being trampled.

  "Pants?" Wake asked as she stood on tiptoe, seeking to spot the combat over the heads of the terrified masses huddled about the Thorn.

  "Ink," Aida said. "They're neutral, right?"

  "Always," Wake said, but shook her head. "And certainly they want to stay that way not have us show up in one of their verses with a starving horde of slaves in tow."

  "We won't," Aida said, seeing Ryk and a handful of what had to be Mother's Militant fighting a running rearguard action against the brightly-painted shield wall and forest of advancing spears that was a Legion phalanx. "I have a couple of those Valeer's 'nail thingies. Send the slaves to the One-Eighth with one of them while we head to Ink."

  "They'll follow us," Wake said. "And Ink will hand us over rather than fight."

  "What if we offer them something worth enough to fight on our side?" Aida said, mind racing.

  Wake laughed bitterly. "Like what?"

  "Well... I imagine you lost some Dynasts when the platform blew up."

  "When you blew up the platform. Of course we did. And?"

  "And you've lost others fighting the Ancients I'd imagine."

  Wake blinked repeatedly, clearly trying and failing to predict the course of Aida's train of thought. "Yes?"

  "So you probably have a dozen or two verses without owners you could trade. We'll just throw verses at them until they decide we're worth fighting for."

  Wake started to say something in reply, but the world began to shift and blur. Aida saw Ryk turn and sprint, diving under the Thorn's arcing reach just as Berujat shrunk to nothing and the Vale expanded to replace it.

  Next chapter: Ghulen tracks Hassani in the chaos of Berujat.

  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