Their decline is the result of three different catastrophic events. The first, and most significant, was the so-called Womb-Plague. In the hope of achieving immortality, the Nonmen (specifically, the great Cu’jara Cinmoi) allowed the Inchoroi to live among them as their physicians. The Nonmen did in fact attain immortality, and the Inchoroi, claiming their work done, retired back to the Incû-Holoinas. The plague struck shortly after, almost killing males and uniformly killing all females. The Nonmen call this tragic event the Nasamorgas, the “Death of Birth.”
The following Cûno-Inchoroi Wars further sapped their strength, so that by the time the first Tribes of Men invaded, the Nonmen had not the numbers or, some say, the will to resist their advance. Within the course of a few generations they were nearly exterminated. Only the Mansions of Ishoriol and Cil-Aujas survived.
See Cûno-Inchoroi Wars.
Nonmen Tutelage—The great period of Norsirai-Cûnuroi trade, education, and strategic alliances, beginning in 555 and ending with the Expulsion in 825 (following the famed Rape of Omindalea).
Norsirai—The typically blond-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned race predominantly concentrated along the northern fringe of the Three Seas, although they once ruled all the lands north to the Yimaleti Mountains. One of the Five Tribes of Men.
noschi—A Kûniüric term meaning “source of light,” but used in the sense of “genius” as well.
Noshainrau the White (c. 1005—72)—The founding Grandmaster of the Sohonc and author of the Interrogations, the first elaboration of the Gnosis by Men.
Nosol (c. 2111—2152)—The Meori Prince famed for securing refuge for his people in Cil-Aujas, fighting with Gin’yursis in the victory at Kathol Pass, then ultimately betraying him, and sacking the famed Nonman Mansion.
Novum Arcanum—Esoteric metaphysical treatise written by Anasûrimbor Kellhus instrumental in recruiting the Major Three Seas Schools during the Unification Wars.
Nron—A minor island nation of the Three Seas, nominally independent but in fact dominated by the School of Mandate in Atyersus.
Nroni—The language of Nron, a derivative of Sheyo-Kheremic.
nukbaru—“stone-hewer” (Zeumi). Zeumi euphemism for souls hardened by perpetual war.
Nûlrainwi—Watchtowers raised in early Far Antiquity by Cûnwerishau, allowing the cities of the River Aumris to communicate via beacons of fire.
Numaineiri—A populous and fertile fiefdom of interior Ce Tydonn, located to the west of Meigeiri. Numaineiri warriors are known to paint their faces red whenever they believe themselves doomed in battle.
number-sticks—A means of generating random numerical results for the purposes of gambling. The first references to number-sticks reach as far back as ancient Shigek. The most common variations consist of two sticks typically referred to as the Fat and the Skinny. A groove is carved all the way through the Fat so that the Skinny can drop up and down its interior length. The Skinny is then capped on either end to prevent it from falling out. Numerical values are marked along the length of the Fat, so that when the sticks are thrown, the Skinny can indicate a result.
Numemarius, Thallei (4069—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, Patridomos of House Thallei, and General of the Kidruhil until his death in Nagogris.
Nuns—Epithet given to the Swayali witches during the Great Ordeal for the way they resembled Jokian nuns when wearing their billows bound.
Nymbricani—A tribe of Norsirai pastoralists who range southern Cepalor.
Nyranisas Sea—The easternmost of the Three Seas.
O
Obligate—Individual indentured to mentor some member of the Satakhanic family in Zeum.
Obotegwa (4069—4132)—Obligate to Prince Zsoronga.
Observances—The manse between the Apiary and the Pith, once reserved for Hûlya ritualists.
Occlusion, The—The name given to the mountainous crater rim surrounding the Incû-Holoinas, derived from the Cûnûroi name, Vilursis, or “obscurity.”
Oinaral Lastborn (?—4132)—The last Nonman born during the Womb-Plague. Son of the hero Oirûnas, and Siqu (something rare for Dispossessed Sons of Siol).
Oirûnas (?—4132)—Eldest son of Oirasis, legendary Ishroi Hero of the Nonmen, Dispossessed Son of Siol, twin brother of Oirinas, survivor of the First Watch, and Lord of the Second Watch.
Oirinas (?—?)—Ishroi Hero, twin brother of Oirûnas, slain at the Battle of Pir Minginnial.
Oknai One-Eye (4053—4110)—The inveterate chieftain of the Munuäti, a powerful federation of Scylvendi tribes.
Okyati urs Okkiür (4038—4082)—The cousin of Cnaiür urs Skiötha, who first brought Anasûrimbor Moënghus as a captive to the Utemot camp in 4080.
Old Ainoni—The language of Ceneian Ainon, a derivative of Ham-Kheremic.
Old Father—An epithet used by skin-spies to describe their Consult makers.
Old Meöric—The lost language of the early Meöri Empire, a derivative of Nirsodic.
Old Name—A term referring to the original members of the Consult.
Old Science—See Tekne.
Old Scylvendi—The language of ancient Scylvendi pastoralists, a derivative of Skaaric.
Old Zeümi—The language of Angka (ancient Zeüm), a derivative of Ankmuri.
Olekaros (2881—2956)—A Ceneian slave-scholar of Cironji descent, famed for his Avowals, and the five Economies, his treatises on machines, from the base and terrestrial, to the celestial and superluminary.
Oloreg—Mountain in the Urokkas.
omba—Face mask of black gauze worn by Mbimayu to better cope with the glare of sorcery.
omen-texts—The traditional indexes, usually specific to each of the Cults, detailing the various omens and their meaning.
Omiri urs Xunnurit (4089—4111)—The lame daughter of Xunnurit and wife of Yursalka.
Omrain—The first woman according to The Chronicle of the Tusk:
And the Mother did blow upon the dust, raising forth Omrain from a smoking column. And the Sky blessed her, and she had skin and bone and blood and was alive. And the Mother sayeth unto her, “As he doth take, so shall ye give.”
Oncis Sea—The westernmost of the Three Seas.
III Aphorisms—A minor work of Ekyannus VIII, consisting of 111 aphorisms that primarily deal with matters of faith and integrity.
“one lamb for ten bulls”—A saying that refers to the relative difference in value between a witting and an unwitting sacrificial victim.
One-Thousand-Gift-Shields—The collected treaty-tokens that lined the Ursilaral in the Library of Sauglish in Far Antiquity, signifying the peace between the School of Sohonc and all the Norsirai tribes, which is to say, the neutrality of the Schoolmen and Sauglish.
Onkis—The Goddess of hope and aspiration. One of the so-called Compensatory Gods, who reward devotion in life with paradise in the afterlife, Onkis draws followers from all walks of life, though rarely in great numbers. She is only mentioned twice in the Higarata, and in the (likely apocryphal) Parnishtas she is portrayed as a prophetess, not of the future, but of the motivations of Men. The so-called “shakers” belong to an extreme branch of the Cult, where the devotees ritually strive to be “possessed” by the Goddess. Her symbol is the Copper Tree (which also happens to be the device of the legendary Nonman Mansion of Siol, though no link has been established).
“Only the Few can see the Few”—The traditional expression used to refer to the unique ability of sorcerers to “see” both the practitioners and the products of sorcery.
Onoyas II, Nersei (3823—78)—The King of Conriya who first forged the alliance between the School of Mandate and House Nersei.
onta—The name given by the Schools to the very fabric of what is.
On the Carnal—The most famous of Opparitha’s exhortatory works, popular among lay readers though widely derided by Three Seas intellectuals.
On the Folly of Men—The magnum opus of the famed satirist Ontillas.
On the Temples and Their Iniquities—A quasi
-heretical Sareot text.
Ontillas (2875—2933)—The near antique Ceneian satirist most famous for his On the Folly of Men.
Opparitha (3211—3299)—The near antique Cengemian moralist most famous for his On the Carnal.
Opsara (4074— )—A Kianene slave who serves as the infant Moënghus’s wet nurse.
Oratorium—Wrought iron platform set within the Concavity where petitioners assemble for audiences with the Nonman King of Ishterebinth.
Ordeal, the—Sometimes referred to as the Great Ordeal. The tragic holy war Anasûrimbor Celmomas called against Golgotterath in 2123. See Apocalypse.
Orimuril—“Immaculate Rim” (Ihrimsû). Ensorcelled armour (known as “the Scarp” by Men), one of the Sublime Contrivances of Emilidis, belonging to Sûjara-nin.
Orovelai—Stronghold of the Swayali, located upon (and within) the extinct Nonman Mansion of Illisserû.
Orsuleese (c. 3780—c. 3820)—Sakarpic Hero famed for racing on foot from the Pale to the Lonely City—outrunning Sranc—to warn of a vast mobbing.
Orthodox—The name first taken by the Inrithi opponents of the Zaudunyani during the siege of Caraskand, before becoming the general term referring to all those who vied against Anasûrimbor Kellhus during the Unification Wars. The term is deceptive insofar as it suggests that all opponents of the Zaudunyani hewed to some common doctrine or dogma—an “orthodoxy”—when such was not the case. See Unification Wars.
Orthogonal—Quyan receptacle (typically a pouch or purse of some kind) capable of concealing the arcane (or anarcane) nature of its contents. Though prized in Far Antiquity, not one of the five Orthogonals originally fashioned by Emilidis has survived the ages. Legend claims that the Artisan fashioned them in the course of researching the “Uncreated Creation,” the artifact so perfectly wrought as to be indistinguishable from the issue of God.
Osbeus—A basalt quarry used in Near and Far Antiquity, located near the ruins of Mehtsonc.
Osfringa, Nûkulk (4083—4118)—Orthodox Earl of Nangaelsa, famously blinded and chained by Anasûrimbor Kellhus for display beneath Meigeiri’s walls.
Osseoratha (c. 960—1021)—Far-Antique King of Trysë responsible for destroying the Cond capital of Saulya and overthrowing the Yoke. His liberation of Sauglish in 1004 is generally taken as the beginning of the so-called Gnostic Renaissance.
Osthwai Mountains—A major mountain range located in central Eärwa.
Oswenta—The administrative and commercial capital of Galeoth, located on the north coast of Lake Huösi.
Other Voice—The name given to the “voice” used to communicate in all Cants of Calling.
Othrain, Eorcu (4060—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk and the Tydonni Earl of Numaineiri, slain at Mengedda.
Ottma, Cwithar (4073—4121)—Man-of-the-Tusk, one of the Nascenti, formerly a Tydonni thane.
Outhrata (c. 1060—c. 1115)—Famed Sohonc metaphysician (and eventual Grand-master) who became a central figure in the so-called Gnostic Renaissance.
Outside—That which lies beyond the World. Most commentators follow Ajencis’s so-called Dyadic Theory when characterizing the World and its relation to the Outside. In Meta-Analytics, Ajencis argues that it is the relation between subject and object, desire and reality, that underwrites the structure of existence. The World, he argues, is simply the point of maximal objectivity, the plane where the desires of individual souls are helpless before circumstance (because it is fixed by the desire of the God of Gods). The many regions of the Outside then represent diminishing levels of objectivity, where circumstances yield more and more to desire. This, he claims, is what defines the “spheres of dominance” of Gods and demons. As he writes, “the greater will commands.” The more powerful entities of the Outside dwell in “sub-realities” that conform to their desires. This is what makes piety and devotion so important: the more favour an individual can secure in the Outside (primarily through the worship of Gods and the honouring of ancestors), the greater the chance of finding bliss rather than torment in the afterlife.
Over-Standard—The sacred military standard of the Nansur Exalt-General, decorated with the disc-shaped breastplate of Kuxophus II, the last of the ancient Kyranean High Kings. Imperial Columnaries often refer to it as “the Concubine.”
P
Paäta (4062—4111)—A body-slave belonging to Krijates Xinemus, slain in Khemema.
Pa’bikru—“Warring Glimpse” (Invitic). Known as “Cage-carvings” in the Eastern Three Seas, Pa’bikru are the product of the peculiar spiritual sensibilities of Nilnamesh. In the twilight preceding the ruin of the Ceneian Empire, a nameless monk translated Memgowa’s Celestial Aphorisms into the Invitic dialect of Sheyic, thus inspiring the famed “screen sculpture” of Nilnamesh. The techniques evolved wildly over the centuries, but the premise was always the same: the sculptor would carve miniature scenes, many of them drawn from the Tusk that they then placed in a so-called “peering box” or behind some other obstruction. The original idea was to recreate Memgowa’s conception of the “Blind Beggar Soul.” Like Ajencis, the famed Zeumi sage was forever arguing the folly of Men, but unlike the famed Kyranean philosopher, he argued that it was the inability of the soul to know itself, and not the inability of intellect to grasp the World, that was the origin of the problem.
In Celestial Aphorisms, the Sage continually returned to the Rebuke of Angeshraël in The Chronicle of the Tusk, the famed story where War, dread Gilgaöl, upbraids the Prophet for “peering through cracks and describing skies.” He also uses the legend of Ilbaru, a Zeumi folk tale about a man who spies his wife through a cracked shutter, and confusing her attempt to save his wounded brother for an act of passion, murders her, and then must watch his brother die. His argument, refracted through the smoked glass of his aphoristic style, is that the soul is that which sees, and therefore can scarcely be seen.
Thus the aesthetic of screen sculpture: the creation of scenes that utterly contradicted the way they appeared when seen through some fixed aperture.
Historically, the most famous of these was Modhoraparta’s “Dance of the Demons,” where the face of the God of Gods viewed through the aperture became a group of demonic monstrosities viewed from all other angles. The rumour of the work so incensed Shriah Ekyannus IX that in 3682 he outlawed all art works that “blaspheme the Simple, the Pure, and the True with foul Complication.” At his trial in Invishi, Modhoraparta claimed that he wanted to show the how the myriad evils suffered by Men find themselves redeemed in the God of Gods. Indeed, all the sculptor’s acts, let alone his work and his claims, argued that he was as devout as any who would presume to judge him. He would be burned for impiety nonetheless: reason counts for naught in matters of outrage—truth even less so. In those days, the Thousand Temples was always eager to display its authority in Nilnamesh, where the scalding sun and indolent air seemed to engender heresy as regularly as harvests.
Padirajah—The traditional title of the ruler of Kian.
Painted Cities—Bardic epithet for the cities of the River Aumris.
Palaparrais—The massive palace of Sarothesser I (3317—3402) in Carythusal.
Palpothis—One of the famed Ziggurats of Shigek, named after Palpothis III (622—78), the Old Dynasty God-King who raised her.
Pansulla, Cutias (4088—4132)—The New Imperial Consul of Nansur, and political rival of Anasûrimbor Esmenet, imprisoned on the charge of treason in 4132.
Panteruth urs Mutkius (4075—4111)—A Scylvendi of the Munuäti tribe.
Parrhae Plains—A region of fertile tablelands located in northwestern Galeoth.
Pasna—A town on the River Phayus, known for the quality of its olive oil.
Pausal—Antechamber to the Coffers beneath the Library of Sauglish.
peering—Sorcerous lanterns used by the Nonmen to illuminate their Mansions.
Pier Floor—The floor of the Great Entresol.
pembeditari—A common pejorative used for camp prostitutes, meaning “scratchers.”
&n
bsp; pemembis—A wild bush prized for its fragrant blue blooms.
Penance—Zaudunyani purificatory rite where gathered penitents strip to the waist to be lashed by Judges three times for their complicity in the Sin of the Circumfixion.
peneditari—A common name given to camp prostitutes, meaning “long-walkers.”
perrapta—A traditional Conriyan liquor, often used to inaugurate meals.
Persommas, Hagum (4078— )—Man-of-the-Tusk, one of the Nascenti, formerly a Nansur blacksmith.
Pharixas—A disputed island stronghold in the Meneanor Sea.
Pharroika—Name, meaning “The Wayward” in Ihrimsû, given to Erratics.
Phayus River—The primary river system of the Kyranae Plains, draining the south central Hethanta Mountains and emptying into the Meneanor Sea.
Pherokar I (3666—3821)—One of Kian’s earliest and fiercest Padirajahs.
Phiolos—Famed mount ridden by Halas Siroyon in the Great Ordeal of Anasûrimbor Kellhus.
pick—A derogatory term often used by Norsirai when referring to Ketyai. The word comes from the Tydonni pikka, or “slave,” but has come to have broader, racial connotations.
Pilaskanda (4060—4112)—The King of Girgash and a tributary ally of the Kianene Padirajah, killed at the Battle of Shimeh.
Pillarian—A member of the Hundred Pillars.
Pirasha—An old Sumni whore befriended by Esmenet.
Pir Minginnial—See Battle of Pir Minginnial.
Pir Pahal—See Battle of Pir Pahal.
Pisathulas—The personal eunuch attendant of Ikurei Istriya.
Pith—The most ancient and sacred manse of Ishterebinth, located below the Observances, and above the Hanging Citadels. Also called the Radial Pith.
Pitiril—Divider (Ihrimsû). Ensorcelled blade belonging to the Ishroi Hero Oirinas, lost at the Battle of Pir-Minginnial.
Plaideöl—A fiefdom of Ce Tydonn, one of the “Deep Marches” above the eastern headwaters of the River Swa. Plaideölmen are famed for their ferocity in battle, and are easily distinguished by their great beards, which they never trim.