caünnu—The Scylvendi name for the hot southwestern winds that cross the Jiünati Steppe during the height of summer.
Celestial Aphorisms—One of Memgowa’s most celebrated texts.
Celmomas II, Anasûrimbor (2089—2146)—The implacable foe of Golgotterath in the early days of the Apocalypse, and last of the Kûniüric High Kings. See Apocalypse.
Celmomian Prophecy—The dying words of Anasûrimbor Celmomas II to Seswatha on the Fields of Eleneöt in 2146 to the effect that an Anasûrimbor would return at “the end of the world.” Given that the prevention of the so-called Second Apocalypse is the Mandate’s entire reason for existence, it is perhaps no surprise that most Mandate scholars think the Celmomian Prophecy authentic. Few others in the Three Seas credit their claims, however.
Cememketri (4046— )—The Grandmaster of the Imperial Saik.
Cenei—A city of the Kyranae Plain that arose from the Age of Warring Cities to conquer the entire Three Seas. Cenei was destroyed by the Scylvendi under Horiötha in 3351.
Ceneian Empire—The greatest Ketyai empire in history, embracing the entirety of the Three Seas at its greatest extent, from the Atkondras Mountains in the southwest, to Lake Huösi in the north, to the Kayarsus Mountains in the southeast. The primary agent in the creation and maintenance of this empire was the Ceneian Imperial Army, which was perhaps the best trained and organized in history.
No more than a minor river trading town in the days of Kyraneas, Cenei emerged from the Age of Warring Cities as the pre-eminent city of the Kyranae Plain. The conquest of Gielgath in 2349 sealed the city’s regional dominance, and in the ensuing decades the Ceneians under Xercallas II would secure the remnants of what had once been Kyraneas. Xercallas’s successors continued his aggressive, expansionist policies, first pacifying the Norsirai tribes of Cepalor, then waging three consecutive wars against Shigek, which fell in 2397. Then, in 2414, after conquering Enathpaneah, Xerash, and Amoteu, General Naxentas staged a successful coup and declared himself Emperor of Cenei. Though he would be assassinated the following year, all his successors would avail themselves of the Imperial institutions he created.
Triamis I became Emperor in 2478, beginning what most scholars consider the Ceneian Golden Age. In 2483 he conquered Nilnamesh, and then Cingulat the following year. In 2485 he defeated a great Zeümi host at Amarah, and would have invaded the Satyothi nation had not mutinies among his homesick troops prevented him. He spent the next decade consolidating his gains, and striving against the internecine religious violence between followers of the traditional Kiünnat sects and the growing numbers of “Inrithi.” It was in the course of negotiating settlements that he became friends with the then Shriah of the Thousand Temples, Ekyannus III, and in 2505 he himself converted to Inrithism, declaring it the official state religion of the Ceneian Empire. He spent the next ten years putting down religious rebellions, while at the same time invading and occupying both Cironj (2508) and Nron (2511). He then spent ten years campaigning across the eastern Three Seas against the successor nations of the old Shiradi Empire, first conquering Ainon (2518), then Cengemis (2519), and finally Annand (2525).
Ensuing Aspect-Emperors would marginally add to the extent of the empire, but its boundaries remained fairly stable for nearly eight hundred years, during which time the language and institutions of Imperial Cenei and the Thousand Temples would be stitched into the very fabric of Three Seas society. Aside from periodic wars with Zeüm, and the interminable wars against the Scylvendi and Norsirai tribes across the empire’s northern frontier, this would be an age of unprecedented peace, prosperity, and commerce. Only the periodic civil wars, usually fought over succession, posed any real threat to the empire, and in writings from the time the assumption is that the empire was eternal.
Though Cenei itself was destroyed by the Scylvendi under Horiötha in 3351, historians traditionally date the collapse of the Ceneian Empire in 3372, when General Maurelta surrendered to Sarothesser I in Ainon.
Cengemic—The language of Cengemis, a derivative of Sheyo-Kheremic.
Cengemis—The province that once marked the northern limit of the Eastern Ceneian Empire. After the collapse of the Eastern Empire in 3372, it enjoyed independence until overrun by Tydonni tribes in 3742.
Cepalor—A region of temperate, semi-forested plains extending east of the Hethantas from the Nansur frontier to the southwestern marches of Galeoth. Since the fall of Kyraneas, Cepalor has been inhabited by Norsirai pastoralists known as the Cepalorae, who have long been tributaries of the Nansurium.
Cepaloran—The language group of Norsirai pastoralists of the Cepaloran Plains.
Cerish Sea—The largest of Eärwa’s inland seas.
Cerjulla, Sheorog (4069—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, Tydonni Earl of Warnute, claimed by disease at Caraskand.
Cern Auglai—Fortress and pirate entrepot located on the coast of Thunyerus.
Cet’ingira (?— )—See Mekeritrig.
Ce Tydonn—A Norsirai nation of the Three Seas, located north of Conriya on the eastern shoreline of the Meneanor, founded in 3742 in the wake of Cengemis’s collapse. The first mention of the Tydonni is found in Casidas’s Annals of Cenei, where he mentions their raids across the River Swa. Descendants of White Norsirai refugees from the Apocalypse, the Tydonni are thought to have occupied the southern regions of the Dameori Wilderness for centuries, prevented by their native fractiousness from causing much difficulty for their southern Ketyai neighbours. At some point in the thirty-eighth century, however, they united, and with little difficulty overwhelmed the Men of Cengemis at the Battle of Marswa in 3722. It wasn’t until King Haul-Namyelk finally succeeded in unifying the various tribes under his absolute authority in 3741 that Ce Tydonn proper came into existence.
Perhaps the most peculiar and distinctive predilection of the Tydonni is found in their racial beliefs. Ti dunn literally means “struck iron” in their tongue, reflecting their belief that their people have been purified by the crucible of their long wandering through the Dameori wildernesses. They hold that this gives them “privileged blood,” rendering them morally, intellectually, and physically superior to other races. This has made the Tydonni cruel overlords of the Cengemi, who have often rebelled against them.
Chalahall—Most famed of the Hundred Heavens named in The Chronicle of the Tusk. In the Book of Songs, it is “Where the soil sings and Men breathe most deep,/ where heartbreak melts into slow smiling joy,/ and pain dwells as a wise old friend in memory.” It is sometimes named as the province of Onkhis, and sometimes Yatwer.
chanv—An addictive narcotic popular among the Ainoni aristocracy, although many eschew it because of its uncertain origins. Chanv reputedly sharpens the intellect, extends one’s lifespan, and drains the body of all its pigment.
Charamemas (4036—4108)—The famed Shrial commentator and author of The Ten Holies. Achamian’s replacement as Proyas’s tutor in exoterics in 4093,
Charapatha, Sasal (4100— )—Ordealman, Believer-Prince of Nilnamesh, general of the Nilnameshi contingent in the Great Ordeal of Anasûrimbor Kellhus. Named the “Prince of One Hundred Songs” for his exploits during the Unification Wars, Charapatha was one of the few survivors of the Battle of Irsulor and the destruction of the Ketyai-of-the-South in 4132.
Charcharius, Trimus (4052—4114)—Patridomos of the House Trimus.
Chargiddo—A large fortress located on the frontier of Xerash and Amoteu beneath the Betmulla Mountains.
Chemerat—An ancient Kyranean name for Shigek, meaning “Red Land.”
Chepheramunni (4068—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, King-Regent of High Ainon, nominal leader of the Ainoni during much of the First Holy War, claimed by disease at Caraskand.
Chiama—Walled town on the River Sempis, destroyed by the First Holy War in 4111.
Chianadyni—A governorate of Kian and one-time tributary of the Nansur Empire. Located to the west of Eumarna and east of Nilnamesh, Chianadyni is the traditional homeland of the Kianene and, after Eum
arna, the wealthiest and most populous governorate in Kian.
Chigra—“Slaying Light” (Arghurzoi). An ancient Sranc name for Seswatha.
Children of Eänna—An epithet for Men in The Chronicle of the Tusk.
Children of the Ark—An epithet for the Inchoroi.
Chinjosa, Musammu (4078— )—Man-of-the-Tusk, Count-Palatine of the Ainoni province of Antanamera, appointed King-Regent of High Ainon shortly after Chepheramunni’s death in the winter of 4111.
chirong—Traditional Ainoni form of combat.
Chogiaz—Aghurzoi name for the River Sursa. See Sursa River.
Chorae—Artifacts of the Ancient North, also known as “Trinkets” (to the Schools) and “The Tears of God” (to the Inrithi). In appearance, Chorae are small iron spheres, one inch in diameter, that are banded by runes written in Gilcûnya, the holy tongue of the Nonmen Quya. Chorae are extraordinary in that they render their bearer immune to all sorcerous Cants and instantly kill any sorcerer who comes into contact with them. Although the principles behind their creation (they belong to a lost branch of sorcery called the Aporos) are no longer understood, thousands are believed to circulate in the Three Seas alone. The Chorae play a pivotal role in the political balance of power in the Three Seas, insofar as they allow the non-scholastic Great Factions to check the power of the Schools.
Chorae bowmen—Specialized units that use Chorae affixed to the end of arrow shafts or crossbow bolts to kill enemy sorcerers. Chorae archers are a staple of almost every military organization in Eärwa.
Chorae Hail—Name given to the infamous barrage that killed the Sixty-One—more than a third of the Sohonc—attempting to overthrow Ûbil Maw, the Extrinsic Gate of Golgotterath, during the Second Great Investiture in 2142. Though following the command of Anasûrimbor Celmomas, the incident is widely cited as Seswatha’s greatest blunder during the Apocalypse.
Chorgah, Namogritti (4098— )—Ordealman, and the of Lord Palatine of Eshganax.
Chronicle of the Tusk, The—The most ancient extant human text in Eärwa, and the scriptural foundation for all mannish faiths save Fanimry. As the oldest literate work, its provenance is almost entirely unknown. Even its language, Thoti-Eännorean, has become an ancient relic, rendering the Tusk the subject of endless interpretative dispute. Many Inrithi commentators have pointed out that it must have been a collective work, cobbled together from many (likely oral) sources over a period of many years. According to a handful of sources, the Nonmen believe it to be corrupted by the Inchoroi, an arguably successful means to effect their extinction. Like most scriptures, its popular interpretation is highly selective and idealized. It consists of the following six books:
Book of Canticles—The old “Tusk Laws” regarding every aspect of personal and public life, which were superseded in the Inrithi tradition by the revised strictures of The Tractate, and then amended once again by the Zaudunyani. It famously opens:
And lo, the Chieftains of Men gathered in the tent of meeting that hath been struck below the mountain where the bull bellows, and thus spake Angeshrael, saying, these are the words of the Hunter, who comes as pounding upon the horizon, declaring the pact binding God to God according to Man, and how souls shall reap as they had sown. And these were the laws of purity and offering and diet and conduct between all the walks that move us through life. And these were the laws of what may or may not be lawfully thought.
Book of Gods—The primary basis of individual Cultic scriptures, enumerating the various gods, and explaining the rites of purification and propitiation basic to each.
Book of Hintarates—The story of Hintarates, an upright man plagued with apparently undeserved adversity. “The life of Gods is the life after the hard passing of life,” the nameless psalmist begins. “The Gods know no weal.” The following fable explains how the suffering of Hintarates in this life was actually commensurate to his reward in the next, thereby encoding a deep instability into all “Faiths of the Tusk,” the assumption that the successful, the powerful, were almost certainly damned. “Temporal fortune,” we are assured, “is naught but the shadow of eternal damnation …” In his Annals, Casidas contends that Hintarates was what drove the powerful to incessant war, “to leap to Gilgaöl lest falling deeper still.” Later in the Annals, he writes that “contention is the greatest curse of our religion. If the powerful are not waging war to save their souls, their people are waging war against them for being damned,” a passage that has been, not surprisingly, redacted in a great many copies.
Book of Songs—A collection of verse prayers and parables extolling the virtues of piety, manliness, courage, and tribal loyalty.
Book of Tribes—The extended narrative of the first Prophets and Chieftain-Kings of the Five Tribes of Men before the invasion of Eärwa.
Book of Warrants—The account of the observances governing the interactions between castes.
Chthonic Manse—Greatest manse of Ishterebinth, located below the Hanging Citadels, above the Qûlnimil, the nimil mines, and arrayed about the Ingressus.
Cil-Aujas—One the Nine Mansions of Eärwa, located in the Osthwai Mountains.
Cilcûliccas (?— )—Injori Quya, perhaps the most celebrated in the final days of Ishterebinth, often called Lord of Swans for his famed luck. During the Investiture, he gained renown by slaying Murathaur the Silver, the much-feared Dragon of Knives.
Cincûlic—The undeciphered tongue of the Inchoroi, which the Nonmen call Cincûl’hisa, or “the Gasp of Many Reeds.” According to the Isûphiryas, communication between the Cûnuroi and the Inchoroi was impossible until the latter “birthed mouths” and began speaking Cûnuroi tongues.
Cinganjehoi ab Sakjal (4076— )—Famed Kianene Saptishah-Governor of Eumarna, known among his people as “the Tiger of Eumarna.”
Cingulat—A Ketyai nation of the Three Seas, located on the northwestern coast of Kutnarmu, just south of Nilnamesh.
Cinguli—The language of Cingulat, a derivative of Sapmatari.
Ciogli (?—?)—Legendary Siolan Hero of the Nonman, perhaps the most famous of the Tall, slain at Pir Minginnial.
Cironj—A Ketyai island nation located at the juncture of all three of the Three Seas, and possessing a strong mercantile and maritime tradition.
Circumfix, The—symbol of Anasûrimbor Kellhus, the Holy Warrior-Prophet. The innumerable versions of the sacred image that proliferated across the Three Seas generally fall into three forms: abstract, typically consisting of a circle about an X; realistic, generally following the representational customs pertaining to idols in various nations; and baroque, where some feature is exaggerated to some degree, such as the “Phallic Circumfixes” outlawed by the Thousand Temples in 4119. For some reason, all forms consistently omit Serwë.
Circumfixion, The—The famed attempt to publicly execute Anasûrimbor Kellhus during the legendary 4112 Siege of Caraskand. An ancient practice of the Kunniat, the Inrithi generally reserved circumfixion for the most severe crimes of heresy, such as false prophecy. The practice involved binding the condemned first to the corpse of a loved one (typically a daughter or a wife), and then upside down upon an iron ring, which would then be displayed where the populace could watch their agonizing death (usually by asphyxiation) over the course of several hours.
The Circumfixion of Anasûrimbor Kellhus was remarkable in a number of respects. With the First Holy War trapped and starving within Caraskand, the so-called Great and Lesser Names hoped his execution would reunite and rekindle the resolve of the ailing host. Rather than dying quickly, however, Kellhus lived for more than two days, during which time the strife between the Orthodox and the so-called Zaudunyani intensified. Accounts vary, but somehow the return of Drusas Achamian brought about the conversion of Nersei Proyas, one of the most influential of the Great Names. This in turn inspired a Consult skin-spy masquerading as Cutias Sarcellus of the Shrial Knights to murder Kellhus, an attempt foiled by the Scylvendi Cnaiür urs Skiötha. Once Sarcellus was revealed, the Men-of-the-Tusk cut down Anasûr
imbor Kellhus, who, before the assembled masses, miraculously pulled his heart from his chest as a final proof of his divinity.
Circumfix Throne—Primary throne of the Aspect-Emperor located in the Imperial Audience Hall upon the Andiamine Heights. The popular lore holds that the iron ring built into the back of the throne is the actual Circumfix, but such is not the case.
Cironjic—The language of Cironj, a derivative of Sheyo-Kheremic.
Cirrû-nol—“High Floor” (Ihrimsû). The great mall before Ishterebinth’s gates.
Cishaurim—The notorious priest-sorcerers of the Fanim based in Shimeh. According to Fanim religious tradition, the Prophet Fane became the first of the Cishaurim after he went blind in the desert. Given Fane’s claim that the true power of the Solitary God cannot be exercised so long as one sees the profane world, Cishaurim initiates voluntarily blind themselves at a certain point in their study, enabling them to dispense the “divine water” of the “Psûkhe,” as the Cishaurim refer to it. Little is known about the metaphysics of the Psûkhe beyond the fact that it cannot be perceived by the Few and that it is in many ways almost as formidable as the Anagogic practice of the Schools.
Prior to the First Holy War, the Scarlet Spires categorized individual Cishaurim according to their power: Tertiaries, or those with only the most rudimentary strength; Secondaries, or those with strength comparable to sorcerous initiates; and Primaries, those with strength exceeding that of initiates (but still, according to the Scarlet Magi, short of strength possessed by true Anagogic sorcerers of rank).
Citadel of the Dog—The great redoubt of Caraskand as named by the Men of the Tusk. Raised by Xatantius in 3684, it was originally called Insarum, until it fell to the Fanim in 3839, who called it Il’huda, “the Bulwark.”