Kass' bow twanged. "Yes! Haha, did you see that shot Balmos?"

  The immensely-muscled, loincloth-clad Venger grunted as he wrenched his axe from the twitching body of an escaped slave. A dozen snake tattoos swarmed down his arms to flick inky tongues at the blood spattering his arms in a way Ghulen wasn't sure he'd ever get used to.

  "We don't have to kill every slave we come across," Ghulen sniffed, shining the white glow of his ozone-smelling, lambent-watter lamp down the long, dry tunnel he hoped led the right way. "It just slows us down."

  He pushed past Balmos as Kass jogged ahead down the dark tunnel to slit the throat of the man her arrow had maimed.

  "We promise to kill faster in the future," Kass said, grinning as she wiped the blade on the slave's shaggy hair as he twitched and gargled.

  "They were about to try something," Balmos grumbled. Ghulen glanced back to meet the man's red-irised eyes, certain the mercenary was lying. Again.

  "You've used your Lineage as an excuse for everyone you've killed since I hired you, which has been altogether far too many people already. Did I do something I don't know about to inspire so many assassination attempts? Ghulen spoke innocently, keeping his eyes wide in feigned innocence. "Especially something that would draw the rage of a bunch of half-naked, marginally-armed slaves?"

  Fortunately, the Venger was neither smart enough nor did the man care enough to confront Ghulen. Instead he grunted and flicked his axe about to spatter the blood off and make the scene more gruesome than it already was.

  They paused at a three-way tunnel juncture while Ghulen sniffed. The meat-and-iron smell of Kass and Balmos' bloodletting fouled his sense of smell for a moment. No smell, however thick though, could overcome the wet, fecal odor washing up from the left-most tunnel for long.

  "Smell anything interesting?" Kass said as she sauntered up to him, flicking her arrow repeatedly to arc lines of blood droplets along the wall. "Or anything at all over Balmos' stench?"

  Balmos growled behind them as he caught up.

  "You're on your blood," Ghulen said, struggling to keep his equanimity. Between Kass' crude sense of amusement at everything and the Venger's brutal, sullenly simmering anger, he'd found himself uncharacteristically close to losing his temper several times the last couple days. Knowing he was so close behind on Hassani's trail combined with annoyance at the companions Ocyl had forced on him to strain his usually-immutable patience.

  Kass shoved an already-bloody hand down the front of her thick skirts then brought it up again. She stared at her glistening hand in horror. "By the Ascen, you're right!"

  Ghulen sighed and walked down the narrow passage, while Kass chased Balmos half-way back up the tunnel threatening to wipe her hand on his face. The man was a murderous, pitiless killer, but a bit of fake menstrual blood on Kass' hand had him bellowing and tripping over himself in superstitious terror to get away. Kass at least had some hints of depths beneath the crude facade, but Balmos thus far proved little more than a simple-minded, violent beast wrapped in manflesh and brought up in a Lineage that only served to amplify the bestiality.

  A useful tool if not an interesting one.

  When they finally re-emerged in the sunlight, Ghulen had to wrap several layers of cloth about his lower face to avoid gagging. Balmos started swearing while Kass grinned. "Reminds me. I almost forgot I need to take a shit."

  They stood on a rotting dock with only one half-sunken, small, flat raft still remaining; the rest likely nabbed by escaping slaves. A long, rickety walkway snaked out towards their destination: the tarnished, filth-caked bronze cage rising out of the nasty river. Though the waters ran wider and deeper than they looked from high above, they looked and smelled no less awful. With the waste of an entire city cascading down from two dozen canyons and falling from ten-thousand previously-caged slaves besides, he was surprised it wasn't even worse.

  Spotting them, the few miserable figures inside the cage cried out, growing louder and more desperate as Ghulen carefully walked the sagging, warped wood of the walkway.

  "I ain't goin' out there," Balmos said, pressing back against the stone cliff face.

  Kass dropped her pack on the dock and hitched her well-worn skirts up to her knees. "How about a swim, Balmos? You're the only one I know who would smell better afterwards."

  "Stay away from me, Kass. I'm warning you." The Venger actually raised his axe. "I ain't going in there."

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Kass's eyes widened and she raised her hands. "Don't hurt me, Balmos, please, I was only joking."

  Balmos squinted at her, clearly struggling to determine if it was, indeed, a jape. Just as he seemed to decide that her fear and remorse were genuine, she burst out laughing.

  Ghulen picked up his pace despite the risk of a plunge just to get a break from the two of them.

  A dozen-odd figures pressed up against the bars of the cage, reaching out towards him as he approached. An even mix of men and women, disheveled and shivering. Ghulen could tell immediately by their pudginess, ripped finery, and smeared makeup that these had been no slaves. More likely slavers given a fate worse than death and a taste of their own handiwork besides when the slaves rose up just in time to be butchered by the Vale Legions as Sava launched her long-planned assault on Berujat.

  "Please, let me out!" a man blubbered, his face barely recognizable as human after the beating he'd clearly suffered. "I have currency and gems hidden in my estate where the slaves won't have found them. I'll give them all, give everything I own to you if you let me out of this."

  "Sava just claimed all property in the city for the Ancients before I came down here," Ghulen said, scanning the figures for his mark. "You saying you want me to steal from the people who are winning?"

  "What? She can't do that! We wanted no part of their stupid Black Court squabbles!"

  "Too bad. You've been volunteered I guess," Ghulen said, scanning the womaen. "Which one of you is Fatma?"

  "Please, let me out," a woman wailed, pulling the folds of her gown apart to reveal tan-lined breasts. "You can do whatever you want to me! Just let me out!"

  Ghulen's eyes shifted to her with mild interest and she pressed harder against the bars. In spite of her dismal environment and the condition of her clothing, the woman was still gorgeous. "Whatever you want!"

  "Whatever I want? Are you certain?"

  "Yes!" she cried. "Anything."

  "Would you let me cut your breasts off?" Ghulen said, drawing the long knife at his belt and tapping it against his shoulder.

  "Wh... what?" the woman said, pulling back with wide eyes.

  He watched her expression closely. "Your breasts. Would you let me cut both off if I let you out?"

  "My... what?" confusion, horror, and desperation warred on her face. "I didn't.."

  "You said I could do anything I wanted. If not both, what about just one of them? Or I cut your ears off and scar your cheeks instead. Is losing your beauty worth your life?"

  "I didn't mean... I meant, I only meant..." the woman covered herself again.

  "If you don't want me doing it, I'd let you do it instead," he said, reasonably. "I could imagine it might be scary having a stranger do something so intimate."

  She shrank from his gaze and simultaneously from his interest. Not the do-whatever-it-takes survivor she had thought she was.

  "Leave the poor bitch alone," a deeply-tanned, dark-haired woman said, shoving the girl back. All the others waded back away from her. The woman's nostril and ear were ripped and bloody, her face swollen and bruised, and here she was locked in the Shitcages, yet she still wore a cruel smirk. "I'm Fatma."

  "I figured so. Good. I was told an Inviolate with a sword made of glowing white ice dragged you here and shoved you in."

  "Maybe," the woman said, looking him up and down before casting a glance at Kass and Balmos back on the dock. "I was hoping Ijran sent you to get me out of here, but if you were you would have known who I was and done it already. So who are you and what do you want?"

  "I want information."

  "On Hassani. The Inviolate you were talking about."

  "Indeed," Ghulen said, working hard to maintain his patience for this process as Hassani slipped further and further from his grasp with every passing moment. "I know her name."

  "I won't tell you where she went unless you let me out," Fatma declared predictably, raising her ragged nose high as though she held some immense leverage over him beyond a potentially-useful scrap of information.

  "I will after you tell me."

  "No. I don't trust you," the woman said, glaring at him.

  Ghulen feigned offense as he touched the inky-black Inviolate vial dangling on its chain on his chest. "But I'm an Inviolate. We never lie."

  "You'd lie in a heartbeat if one of your ordered you to. Slaves and lap dogs to the whims of the Dynasts," she said, still glaring at him.

  He laughed. "You're not very good at this. I see why you're shiving in a Shitcage instead of Hassani. Insulting the one man in the entire Book who cares if you live or die here isn't anywhere close to the right way to handle this."

  The woman bristled. "I know where she went! And Ijran cares. We took out the rest of the Small Masters together. He needs me."

  "Does he?" Ghulen tilted his head. "Strange. How long have you been in that cage?"

  "An eternity," Fatma said with a shudder, looking about her with revulsion. "A night and a day."

  "Then either he doesn't need you that badly, he's dead, fled, or bleeding out somewhere with a slave's knife sticking out of his gullet. Take your pick then start talking."

  Fatma continued to glare at him as though it was having any sort of effect on him. He sighed. So few people surprised Ghulen, resorting over and over to the same old adage: "if something's not working, best to do it again." Narrow, clumsy minds.

  A reeking, bloating corpse drifted down the river and lodged against the bars. Several of the prisoners quickly moved closer and attempted to push it on but due to its state of decay and sogginess, they struggled to dislodge it.

  Though nearly overpowered by the stench, Ghulen made himself stand still and strong.

  Fighting against gagging, Fatma's look shifted to one of desperation. "She's not here."

  "Clearly," Ghulen said. "Try starting at the beginning rather than at the obvious."

  Fatma shifted as far from the other prisoners struggling with the body as she could. "You promise to let me out after?"

  "If you give me something of value, I'll think about it."

  "What's the beginning for you?" she said, chewing at her lip. "Like from when I found her feverish and rambling about her daughter after coming through the Thorn? Or...?"

  "I sniffed out what she did to the Small Masters Council for you; impressive bit of work that even cutting away all the obvious exaggerations. They say she killed over twenty bodyguards single-handed, including a couple Vengers. How about starting after that?"

  "Those weren't exaggerations." By the woman's blank, slightly-fearful gaze into the past, she was telling the truth. Interesting.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. The interrogation and toying with prisoners continues.

  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