Their Valeer had been recognized and captured by Legionnaires in the chaos and carnage of their flight from Azure. If Semon hadn't held onto a handful of 'nails as a precautionary measure, things would have been bad at best after that. So many horrible dooms to choose from, too, if they hadn't managed to get through that Thorn at the heart of burning Port Villach: death to an arbitrary Legionnaire's spear, hard, hunted life as refugees somewhere in a remote Azure fishing village, or enslavement with the rest of Villach's population as the Ancients seized the beautiful blue beaches and bountiful fisheries of Azure for themselves.

  Or, most likely, capture, recognition, and a slow, public torture. A chance to become the martyr of martyrs for the Mother's Faith. Better an anonymous death from a stray javelin and rebirth as a rotter. Hiding on the countryside as fugitives while the Legions pillaged and razed would have been a blessing compared to either.

  A miracle indeed they'd managed to get through to the Vale at all. He muttered a prayer to the Mother, thanking her for sparing him from such miserable fates. She clearly had some great, mysterious plan for him yet.

  After fleeing the desolate carnage around Libriam's Thorn and as he and Hue poled their stolen boat towards the thick black cloud of smoke rising from where the Annalis compound was supposed to be, Semon realized they may have escaped from one doom only by leaping headlong into another. Sweat soaked his once-yellow, torn, and soot-stained robes as he swatted at a cloud of stinging insects swarming up from a clump of swamp grass they poled past.

  "I'm in a miserable, reeking swamp, thank you very much," Sadar mumbled to himself. The strange boy looked as hungry, hot, and bite-welted as the rest of them; confirmed by him complaining about it for the last two hours to his Twine.

  Only the dusa seemed unfazed by the heat and bugs. The strange, silver-haired man lay on his back at the prow of the boat watching his hair dart and flick to murder the bugs by the dozen.

  "Want to take a turn poling yet?" Semon asked Strygen for the fifth time. He'd learned the hard way that the dusa hadn't accompanied himout of a sense of obedience to the First Disciple of the Mother, but his own inscrutable reasons. Reasons that generally precluded him from taking orders or pitching in, it seemed. His bizarre form of combat prowess had saved their lives on any number of occasions, so Semon figured he should be grateful, but as his stomach rumbled, his arms and back ached, and they drew ever closer to what looked like just more devastation instead of the civilization they hoped for, Semon wasn't in any mood to be grateful.

  At least the four-legged stork-like god wading through the marsh a halfway to the horizon's' setting sun provided something to distract him. Watching the towering beast wade the shallow waters, then darting down to catch a writhing crocodile in a beak twice their boat's length gave him a strange sense of peace. At least something in the Book was still continuing on as if everything wasn't coming apart at the seams.

  "I see a tiny dark figure racing across the top of the water," Sadar said. His voice grew loud enough that, if they hadn't traveled with the lad for all these months, Semon might have thought the kid was talking to them. It proved to be just excitement at seeing something different after a long, hot day poling through Libriam's endless marsh.

  Semon looked the direction the boy stared off to, wondering if the kid had wandered off into one of the flights of fancy and philosophizing he was periodically prone to. If Ocyl had planted him as a spy to keep tabs on Semon, he'd chosen a source who spent ten times more time daydreaming out loud or debating himself over topics that would have confounded most academics five times his age as he did actually talking about whatever was going on around him.

  This time, however, the lad wasn't making anything up.

  "Why did you stop?" Hue grumbled from his place poling at the front of the boat. Even the Vibrant's seemingly-boundless optimism crushed down under the weight of their travels. "I'm not doing this on my own again."

  Semon simply pointed, for he couldn't find words to describe what he was witnessing.

  A human-sized figure comprised of darkness so empty and devouring it hurt Semon's eyes to look at bounded across the surface of the water fast enough to outrun the fastest ConMach courier. Each step sent a spraying plume of water launching into the air as high as a Jadeye tenement's roof.

  "The Aj," Semon murmured in horrified awe. "Nothing else it could be. So the rumors of its awakening are true."

  Hue stopped poling, Strygen sat up, and they all drifted slowly towards the Annalis' docks. None of them noticed.

  The bird-god saw the Aj coming and tilted its head as if trying to determine what manner of food rushed towards it. Its piercing cry hurt Semon's ears even from the distance; some sort of territorial call to warn the Aj perhaps. The Aj took no heed and instead increased the speed and length of its already-impossible stride.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  As the distance between the two immortals rapidly vanished, Semon found himself clenching his robes.

  "True then," Strygen said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "Aj real. Aj awake. Aj slay gods. Aj kill verses."

  Hue looked away from the spectacle, dropping to a squat and hugging his knees. His coloration changed faster than usual as he sobbed, the colors flowing down his body in somber shades.

  Not content to wait for its strange challenger, the bird-god unleashed another piercing cry and charged towards the Aj. Each step of its somehow-majestic gait hurled up walls of water that partially obscured it from view as it advanced and thrashed a riotous swell in its wake.

  When they came within javelin-throwing range, Aj hurtled from the water with enough force to geyser an enormous plume of water behind it. Moving faster than Semon would have thought its immense size would allow, the god exploded out of the water in reply, wide-spanning wings unfurling and crashing down against the water as its legs compressed and launched it at its tiny intruder.

  For a moment that felt embedded in eternity, three figures on a slender boat watched the distance between god and god-slayer shrink to nothing.

  "By the Mother," Semon muttered, wanting to look away from the terrible spectacle but unable to force himself.

  "Ascen save us," the dusa muttered.

  For once, Semon didn't correct him.

  The two ancient beings collided in an explosion of force, feathers, blood, and viscera. The god's long neck snapped sideways like a whip. A hunk of beak the size of their boat arced off with a wild spin. Then everything vanished in a veil of feathers, water, and blood as the god crashed down into the marsh then slid in a sluicing tsunami the length of several Jadeye city blocks.

  It took several seconds for the sound of the impact to reach them. A shock wave rippled across the water to rock their boat and erupt a thousand fen birds into the air in a cacophony of startled squawks and cries. The sound distorted with distance, but comprised mostly of a sickening crunch, a sharp cry, and a crack-whoosh of compressed air and water.

  Despite missing half its beak, one eye, and most of the feathers on its neck and upper breast, the god clawed itself from the muck and unleashed another hateful cry. A ways away, periodically vanishing from view as drifting clouds of feather, mist, and a churning confusion of waves, the Aj stood waist-deep in the churning waters, unharmed and facing it serenely. As the god thundered towards it to exact revenge, the Aj remained motionless until the god was almost upon it.

  In a blur of motion another explosion of water, the Aj darted aside as the god's broken beak speared down. The force of the Aj's motion carried it on a horizontal leap to connect a kick with one of the god's legs. Semon winced in spite of himself as the leg shattered and sent the god crashing down again into the muck. Several seconds later, the booming crack of the impact reached the boat.

  Sadar ceased muttering to himself, looking away and covering his ears while Semon and even the implacable dusa flinched at the intensity of the sound. Hue's sobs briefly entered Semon's sphere of attention before he focused again on the awful combat resolving in the golden light of the setting sun.

  This time the god tried lashing out with a kick as Aj approached. Again the Aj proved too fast. It spun away from the path of the jabbing talons to land in a squat momentarily before hurtling itself at the god again. Another limb sundered under the force of the Aj's blows and for a third time the god crashed into the mire.

  With a soul-wrenching cry part pain, part confusion, and part anger, the god unfurled its wings again began to beat against the water's surface with enough force to churn huge waves large enough to tilt and spin the boat when they finally crossed the vast distanced between them. The Aj had disappeared entirely from sight. For a moment Semon thought the god might escape.

  Then the Aj arced up from beneath the immense stork, striking the god's wing at the joint where it married to the god's torso. The final flap of the god's wings combined with the shearing power of the Aj's strike nearly tore the gods wing off completely. The god crashed back down with a thundering slap against the waters, the waves produced this time nearly capsizing the boat even from their remove.

  By the time Semon and Strygan managed to stabilize the craft, the god lay out in the muck, it's once pristine, white feathers now stained with mud and blood. It struggled a few times to rise, but its mangled limbs could not support its immense mass. The Aj strode towards it again relentlessly. Mercilessly.

  The god cried out a final time, an ancient cry of sorrow and pain that broke Semon's heart and left everyone in the boat weeping and shaking. Then it seemed to accept its doom, laying its head in the water and watching the Aj approach with one eye. When it reached the god, the Aj rested a hand on the god's neck for a moment, a gesture that seemed to convey sadness or perhaps comfort to the maimed beast.

  Then the Aj vanished in a cloud of vaporized water as the raw speed of its final attack cracked into the side of the god's skull. When the mist cleared, the Aj stood a respectful distance back from the mangled ruin of what had been the god's head.

  A solemn pause. The Aj bowed to the slain god. Then it turned away.

  Through it all, the Aj remained unblemished, untouched, un-dirtied by any hint of gore or muck.

  At first it walked, then jogged, then gathered increasing speed until it vanished beyond the horizon trailing a spray of water glinting like gold dust in the sunlight.

  Semon was grateful for the darkness removing the god from their sight. Of all the horrors he'd witnessed in his long life, and especially since leaving Jadeye, the sacrilege he'd just witnessed seared not just in his mind's eye, but into his soul. He thought he felt a piece of himself die with the god. Perhaps it was only his imagination, but the sun's light seemed dimmer, the air colder, the birds quieter. As if the verse itself mourned in preparation for its own death.

  When they finally reached the smoldering remains of the Annalis and Semon pried his stiff old bones out of the boat and onto the docks, he just wanted to sleep. Between the days without food, hour after hour poling through a fetid swamp, layers of welted bug bites, and the reality-shaking desecration of what they'd just witnessed, Semon felt weary and tired to his core.

  While the dusa held the boat, Hue shimmered and disappeared to go scout ahead. As was their established routine. Semon turned wearily back to where Sadar still stood near the craft's rear, staring off into the darkness towards where the god lay dead.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. Aj isn't the only dangerous thing hunting in Libriam.

  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.

  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"

  Construct: some great machine draining reality via black holes to create the All.

  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 verses of the Skeinry, Keens, Directory, and "the Faded People". Drained of color and drained.

  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". The same race as the Ascen but objectors to the creation of the All.

  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. The 2√3 Dynasty.

  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