The Unholy Consult
Kengetic—The language group of the Ketyai peoples.
Kensooras—“between dogs” (Sakarpic). Sakarpi name for suicidal melancholy.
Keopsis, Sut (4089— )—Imperial Exalt-Counter under Anasûrimbor Esmenet.
Kepfet ab Tanaj (4061—4112)—The Kianene officer who betrayed Caraskand to Coithus Saubon and the First Holy War in 4111.
Kerathotics—The native Inrithi minority of Shigek prior to the First Holy War.
Kerioth—A major port city on the south coast of Eumarna.
Kethantei—A palatinate located in south central Conriya, noted for its wine and fruit production.
Ketyai—The typically black-haired, brown-eyed, dark-skinned race predominantly concentrated about the Three Seas. One of the Five Tribes of Men.
Khemema—A region of Kian and former province of the Nansur Empire. Located to the south of Shigek, Khemema marks the point where the great Carathay Desert reaches the Meneanor Sea. Sparsely inhabited by desert tribesmen (see Khirgwi), Khemema’s only source of wealth derives from the regular trade caravans that travel between Shigek and Caraskand.
Khirgwi—The tribesmen of the eastern Carathay Desert, often tributary to the Kianene but ethnically distinct.
Kian—The most powerful nation of the Three Seas before the rise of the New Emprire, extending from the southern frontier of the Nansur Empire to Nilnamesh. The Kianene were originally a desert people from the fringes of the Great Salt. Various Ceneian and Nilnameshi sources refer to them as cunning and audacious raiders, the target of several different campaigns and punitive expeditions. In his monumental The Annals of Cenei, Casidas describes them as “courtly savages, at once disarmingly gracious, and murderous in the extreme.” Despite their reputation and apparent numbers (Nansur records indicate several attempts to gauge their numbers by concerned provincial governors), the Kianene spent most of their time battling amongst themselves over scarce desert resources. Their conversion to Fanimry (c. 3704—24) would change this, and with drastic consequences.
Following the unification of the Kianene tribes under Fane, Fan’oukarji I, Fane’s eldest son and the first of Kian’s Padirajahs, led his countrymen in the so-called White Jihad, winning a series of spectacular victories over the Nansur Imperial Army. By the time of his death in 3771, Fan’oukarji I had conquered all of Mongilea and had made serious inroads into Eumarna. He had also founded his capital, Nenciphon, on the banks of the River Sweki.
Successive Jihads would see Eumarna (3801), Enathpaneah (3842), Xerash and Amoteu (3845), then finally Shigek and Gedea (3933) all fall to Kian. Though the Nilnameshi would successfully thwart several different Kianene invasions, Fanic missionaries would succeed in converting the Girgashi to Fanimry in the thirty-eighth century. By the end of the fourth millennium Kian was easily the pre-eminent military and commercial power of the Three Seas, and a source of endless consternation not only for the much-diminished Nansur Empire but for Inrithi Princes in every nation.
Kianni—The language of Kian, a derivative of Caro-Shemic.
Kidruhil—The most celebrated cohort of heavy cavalry in the Three Seas, primarily constituted by Nansur caste-nobles from the Houses of the Congregate. Reorganized in 4125 under the auspices of Anasûrimbor Kellhus, it was expanded to include Zaudunyani from across the Three Seas. Riding under the Golden Horse and Black Circumfix, the Kidruhil were used extensively throughout the so-called Unification Wars.
Kig’krinaki—A Sranc tribe from the Plains of Gâl.
Kimish (4058—4121)—The Prime Interrogator to Ikurei Xerius III. Found dead in a ditch south of the Famiri frontier in 4121.
King-Fires—The ritual bonfires signifying kingship among the Galeoth.
King-of-Tribes—The title given to the individual elected by the Scylvendi chieftains to lead the gathered tribes in war.
King-Temple—Legendary palace of the Kûniüric High-Kings in Trysë, home of the Ur-Throne, destroyed in 2147.
Kinning—Name for the various Ishroi bloodlines, many of which transcended the Mansions, and so considerably complicated the politics of the day.
Kinnings-of-the-Sworn—The lowest status and most numerous of the Nonmen Kinnings, largely consisting of individuals sworn to various Ishroi or Quya.
Kinning Most-High-and-Deep—Honorific accorded the House of Tsonos.
kipfa’aifan—“Witness of Fane” (Kianni). The holiest scripture of Fanimry, chronicling the life and revelations of the Prophet Fane from his blinding and exile into the Great Salt in 3703 to his death in 3742. See Fane.
Kishyat—A palatinate of High Ainon, located on the south bank of the River Sayut on the Sansori frontier.
Kiskei, House—A Nansur House of the Congregate.
Kisma—The adoptive “father” of Mallahet.
Kites—Euphemism for Schoolmen in the argot of the Great Ordeal, especially when engaged in Culling.
Kiz—Original name of the river fortress that would become the Scarlet Spires.
Kiyuth River—A tributary of the River Sempis, running deep into the Jiünati Steppe.
Kizzi Bones—Divination fetishes popular among the Zeumi.
kjineta—See castes.
Kneeling Heights—One of the nine heights of Caraskand and the location of the Sapatishah’s Palace.
knight-commander—The rank directly subordinate to the Grandmaster in the Shrial Knights.
Knights of the Tusk—See Shrial Knights.
Knights of Trysë—Also known as the Knights of the Ur-Throne. An ancient order of knights sworn to defend the Anasûrimbor Dynasty, thought destroyed in 2147 with the Sack of Trysë.
Koll (4098—?)—The last of the Stone Hags to survive the Skin-Eaters.
Koraphea—The most populous city of High Ainon after Carythusal, located on the coast north of the Sayut Delta.
Korasha—Also known as the White-Sun Palace. An extensive palace complex in Nenciphon, and traditional residence and administrative seat of the Kianene Padirajahs.
Kothwa, Hargraum (4070—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, Tydonni Earl of Gaethuni, slain at Mengedda.
Kûburû—The canonical compilation of the heroic lays of ancient Zeum.
Kucifra—“Blinding Light” (Caro-Shemic). Fanim epithet for Anasûrimbor Kellhus.
Kumeleus, Sirassas (4045— )—A staunch supporter of House Ikurei, and Exalt-General prior to Ikurei Conphas.
Kumrezzar, Akori (4071—4110)—Man-of-the-Tusk, Palatine of the Ainoni district of Kutapileth, and one of the leaders of the Vulgar Holy War.
Kûniüri—A lost nation of the Ancient North and the last of the ancient Aumris empires. High Norsirai city-states developed along the River Aumris and from c. 300 were united under Cûnwerishau, the God-King of Trysë. From c. 500 the city of Ûmerau gained ascendancy, leading to the Ûmerau Empire and the cultural efflorescence of the Nonman Tutelage under Carû-Ongonean. Ancient Umeria thrived until defeated by the Cond tribesmen of Aulyanau the Conqueror in 917. The rapid collapse of the so-called Cond Yoke led to a second period of Trysean dominance of the Aumris, this one lasting until 1228, when another series of White Norsirai migratory invasions resulted in the so-called Scintya Yoke.
The Kûniüric period proper did not begin until 1408, when Anasûrimbor Nanor-Ukkerja I, exploiting the confusion surrounding the collapse of the Scintya Empire, seized the Ur-Throne in Trysë, declaring himself the first High King of Kûniüri. Over the course of his long life (he lived to the age of 178, the reputed result of the Nonman blood in his veins), Nanor-Ukkerja I extended Kûniüri to the Yimelati Mountains in the north, to the westernmost coasts of the Cerish Sea in the east, to Sakarpus in the south, and to the Demua Mountains in the west. At his death, he divided this empire between his sons, creating Aörsi and Sheneor in addition to Kûniüri proper.
Kûniüri became, largely by virtue of its cultural inheritance, the centre of learning and craft for all Eärwa. The Trysean court hosted what were called the Thousand Sons, the scions of Kings from lands as far away as ancient Shige
k and Shir. The holy city of Sauglish hosted pilgrim scholars from as far away as Angka and Nilnamesh. High Norsirai fashions were emulated throughout Eärwa.
This golden age came to an end with the Apocalypse and the defeat of Anasûrimbor Celmomas II on the Fields of Eleneöt in 2146. All the ancient cities of the Aumris would be destroyed the following year. The surviving Kûniüri were either enslaved or scattered.
See Apocalypse.
Kûniüric—The lost language of ancient Kûniüri, derived from Ûmeritic.
Kunniat—Name for the collection of religious practices and observances centred upon The Chronicle of the Holy Tusk and the deities named therein. Apart from sharing a common scriptural foundation, Kunniat practices and mores differ radically—as much between Cults as between nations. They do all share, however, the belief that the function of religious belief is to commend souls to the Afterlife as well as to maintain the connection between the present and the ancestral past.
Kuöti—A Scylvendi tribe of the northwestern Steppe.
Kurigald—A fiefdom of Galeoth, located on the eastern shores of Lake Huösi.
Kurrut—A small fortress in the Gedean interior, built by the Nansur after the fall of Shigek to the Fanim in 3933.
Kurwachal—“Altar” (Aörsic). One of the most fortified towers of Dagliash.
Kushigas, Ersa (4070—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, Palatine of the Conriyan province of Annand, slain at Anwurat.
Kusjeter (4077—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, Count-Palatine of the Ainoni province of Gekas, slain at Anwurat.
Kussalt (4054—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, groom to Prince Coithus Saubon, slain at Mengedda.
Kutapileth—An administrative district of eastern High Ainon, noted for its iron and silver mines.
Kutigha (4063—4111)—A Thousand Temples informant for the Scarlet Spires.
kut’ma—In benjuka, the “hidden move” that seems insignificant but actually determines the outcome of the game.
Kutnarmu—The generic name for the unexplored continent south of Eärwa.
Kyranae Plains—A fertile region drained by the River Phayus and extending from the southern Hethanta Mountains to the Meneanor Sea. Its peoples have given birth to three great empires: ancient Kyraneas, the Ceneian Empire, and most recently the Nansur Empire.
Kyranean—The lost language of ancient Kyraneas, derived from ancient Kemkaric.
Kyraneas—A lost nation of the ancient Three Seas, located on the River Phayus, with a capital first at Parninas then at Mehtsonc. Culturally linked and long tributary to Shigek, Kyraneas expanded to include much of her erstwhile ruler’s empire, and was at the height of her power at the time of the Apocalypse. With the loss at Mehsarunath in 2154 and the destruction of Mehtsonc shortly after, the fate of the ancient kingdom was sealed, even though the Kyranean High King, Anaxophus V, managed to defeat the No-God the following year. See Apocalypse.
L
Labyrinth—See Thousand Thousand Halls.
Lance, the—A Scylvendi constellation in the northern sky.
Languages of Men—Until the Breaking of the Gates and the migration of the Four Nations from Eänna, the Men of Eärwa—called the Emwama in The Chronicle of the Tusk—were enslaved by the Nonmen and spoke debased versions of their masters’ tongues. No trace of these languages remains, nor does any trace of their original, pre-bondage language. The great Nonman history, the Isûphiryas, or the “Great Pit of Years,” suggests the Emwama originally spoke the same tongue as their kin across the Great Kayarsus. This has led many to believe that Thoti-Eännorean is indeed the primeval language of all men.
THOTI-EÄNNOREAN—the mother tongue of all Men, and the language of the Chronicle of the Tusk.
VASNOSRI - language group of the Norsirai peoples.
AUMRI-SAUGLA - language group of the ancient Norsirai peoples of the Aumris Valley.
UMERITIC - lost language of ancient Ûmerau.
KÛNIÜRIC - lost language of ancient Kuniüri.
DÛNYANIC - language of the Dûnyain.
NIRSODIC - language group of ancient Norsirai pastoralists ranging from the Sea of Cerish to the Sea of Jorua.
AKKSERSIAN - lost language of ancient Akksersia, and “purest” of the Nirsodic Tongues.
CONDIC - language group of ancient pastoralists of the Near Istyuli Plains.
EÄMNORIC - lost language of ancient Eämnor.
ATRITHI - language of Atrithau.
SKETTIC - language group of ancient pastoralists of the Far Istyuli Plains.
HIGH SAKARPEAN - language of ancient Sakarpus.
SAKARPIC - language of Sakarpus.
OLD MEORIC - lost language of the early Meorn Empire.
MEORIC - lost language of the late Meorn Empire.
GALLISH - language of Galeoth.
THUNYERIC - language of Thunyerus.
TYDONNI - language of Ce Tydonn.
CEPALORAN - language group of pastoralists of the Cepaloran Plains.
NYMBRICANI - language of the Nymbricani clans.
KENGETIC - language group of the Ketyai peoples.
KEMKARIC - language group of the ancient Ketyai pastoralists of the Northwestern Three Seas.
KYRANEAN - lost language of ancient Kyraneas.
HIGH SHEYIC - language of Ceneian Empire.
LOW SHEYIC - language of the Nansur Empire and lingua franca of the Three Seas.
SOROPTIC - lost language of ancient Shigek.
HAMORIC - language group of the ancient Ketyai pastoralists of the Eastern Three Seas.
HAM-KHEREMIC - lost language of ancient Shir.
SHEYO-KHEREMIC - lost language of the lower castes of the Eastern Ceneian Empire.
CONRIYAN - language of Conriya.
NRONI - language of Nron.
CIRONJIC - language of Cironj.
CENGEMIC - language of Cengemis.
SANSORI - language of Sansor.
OLD AINONI - language of Ceneian occupied Ainon.
AINONI - language of High Ainon.
SHEM-VARSI - language group of the ancient pastoralists of the Southwestern Three Seas.
VAPARSI - lost language of ancient Nilnamesh.
HIGH VURUMANDIC - language of Nilnameshi ruling castes.
SAPMATARI - lost language of Nilnameshi labouring castes.
SHEYO-BUSKRIT - language of Nilnameshi labouring castes.
GIRGASHI - language of Fanic-Girgash.
CINGULI - language of Cingulat.
XERASHI - lost language of scriptural Xerash.
SHEYO-XERASHI - language of Xerash.
SHEMIC - language group of the ancient non-Nilnameshi pastoralists of the Southwestern Three Seas.
PROTO-CARO-SHEMIC - language group of the ancient pastoralists of the Eastern Carathay Desert.
CARO-SHEMIC - language of the scriptural pastoralists of the Carathay Desert.
KIANNI - language of Kian.
MAMATI - language of scriptural Amoteu.
AMOTI - language of Amoteu.
EUMARNI - language of Eumarna.
SATIOTHI - language group of the Satyothi peoples.
ANKMURI - lost language of ancient Angka.
OLD ZEÜMI - language of ancient Zeüm.
ZEÜMI - language of the Empire of Zeüm.
ATKONDO-ATYOKI - language group of the Satyothi pastoralists of the Atkondras Mountains and surrounding regions.
SKAARIC - language group of the Scylvendi peoples.
OLD SCYLVENDI - language of ancient Scylvendi pastoralists.
SCYLVENDI - language of the Scylvendi.
XIANGIC - language group of the xiuhianni peoples (the Lost Nation).
Languages of Nonmen—Without doubt, the Nonmen, or Cûnuroi, tongues are among the oldest in Eärwa. Some Aujic inscriptions predate the first extant example of Thoti-Eännorean, The Chronicle of the Tusk, by more than five thousand years. Auja-Gilcûnni, which has yet to be deciphered, is far older still.
AUJA-GILCÛNNI—the lost “ground tongue” of the Nonmen.
/> AUJIC—lost tongue of the Aujan Mansions.
IHRIMSÛ—tongue of Injor-Niyas.
GILCÛNYA—tongue of the Nonmen Qûya and the Gnostic Schools.
HIGH KUNNA—debased version of Gilcûnya, used by the Anagogic Schools of the Three Seas.
Larsippas, Memplei (4086— )—A physician-priest assigned to the Andiamine Heights.
Latter Prophet—See Inri Sejenus.
“[to] laugh with Sarothesser”—An Ainoni phrase expressing their belief that laughter at the moment of death signifies triumph. This tradition stems from the legend that Sarothesser I, the founder of High Ainon, laughed at death the moment before it claimed him.
Law of the Tusk—The traditional law as laid out in the Book of Canticles in The Chronicle of the Tusk. Though largely superseded by The Tractate, it is still referred to in cases on which Inri Sejenus has nothing to say.
“Lay of Little Teeth”—Famous epic verse cycle recounting the Fall of Siol following the Breaking of the Gates.
Legion—A Dûnyain term referring to the preconscious sources of the conscious thought.
Letting—Also known as the Great Letting. The final act of self-mutilation committed by the Great Ordeal before assailing Golgotterath.