The Unholy Consult
Pon Way—An old Ceneian road that runs northwest from Momemn parallel to the River Phayus and serves as one of the Nansurium’s primary commercial arteries.
Poripharus—An ancient Ceneian philosopher and advisor to Triamis the Great, famed for drafting the Triamic Code, the body of laws that forms the basis of legal practice in most Three Seas nations (with the notable exception of Kian).
Porsparian (4071—4132)—Ordealman, Shigeki slave (and secret Yatwerian priest) assigned to Sorweel upon his arrival in the Great Ordeal.
Possessors of the Third Sight—An alternate name for the Cishaurim, so called because of their reputed ability to see without their eyes.
Postern Terrace—The verandah immediately behind the Mantle on the Andiamine Heights.
Pow—The slum district of ancient Kelmeol.
Pragma—The title given to the most senior of the Dûnyain.
Premparian Barracks—Fortress housing the Conriyan King’s Reserve Guard in Aöknyssus.
Prima Arcanata, The—The magnum opus of Gotagga, representing the first sustained examination of sorcerous metaphysics by Men.
Prince of God—One of several names given to the Warrior-Prophet by the Men of the Tusk.
Principle of Before and After—Also known as the Priority Principle. See Dûnyain.
Proadjunct—The highest non-commissioned rank in the Imperial Nansur Army.
Probability Trance—A meditation technique used by the Dûnyain to assess consequences of hypothetical acts in order to determine the course of action that will most effectively allow them to master their circumstances.
Promised World—Inchoroi epithet for the world of Eärwa.
Prophet of the Tusk—The name given to the prophets depicted in The Chronicle of the Tusk.
Prophilas, Harus (4064— )—The commander of Asgilioch during the First Holy War.
Protathis (2870—2922)—A famed near antique poet of Ceneian descent, celebrated for many works, including The Goat’s Heart, One Hundred Heavens, and the magisterial Aspirations. Protathis is regarded by many as the greatest Ketyai poet.
Proto-Caro-Shemic—The language group of the ancient pastoralists of the Eastern Carathay Desert, a derivative of Shemic.
Psailas II (4009—4086)—The Shriah of the Thousand Temples from 4072 to 4086.
Psalm of Imimorûl—Verse passages beginning the Juürl, the primary scripture of the Nonmen.
The World to him, who sings my song,
for I am the Font, the Spirit of the Deepest Deep,
and mine is the first heart to beat your blood.
The World to him, who sings my song.
I, Imimorul, fled the Heavens,
so much did I love
the brooks that chirrup,
the high mountains that hiss,
the myriads that bolt through this blessed hair,
The World to him, who raises up
rooves in the Deep.
I, Imimorul, did flee the Starving [sky],
so much did I fear the Heavens,
the wrath of those who were wroth,
who would forbid my love,
of the myriads of the World.
The World to her, who kindles
her fire in the Deep.
I, Imimorul, did cut from my hand my fingers,
and from my arm, my hand,
and from my body, my arm,
and these pieces of me I did place
in the wombs of Lions, so that I might
dwell content in my own company.
And I became One-Armed,
Imimorul, the Unshielded.
And you were as children to me,
the form of Gods as the issue of Lions,
sons who would father nations, and
daughters who would mother the
myriads of the World.
And I sang to you such songs
as are only heard in the highest of Heavens,
and nowhere in the Hells.
We did weep together, as we sang,
for woe cares not for names or glory
only that skin blackens for bruising,
breaks for blood.
The World to him, who sings my song.
The World to him, who finds me in the Deep.
The World to him, and woe.
Psammatus, Nentepi (4059—?)—A Sumni Shrial priest of Shigeki descent, and regular customer of Esmenet’s.
Psûkalogues, The—The magnum opus of Imparrhas, sorcerer of the Imperial Saik and esoteric metaphysician primarily interested in the Psûkhe of the Cishaurim.
psûkari—Practitioners of the Psûkhe.
Psûkhe—The arcane practice of the Cishaurim, much like sorcery, though cruder in its exercise, and distinguished by its invisibility to the Few. See sorcery.
Pulit—A tribe of Scylvendi from the southern desert fringes of the Jiünati Steppe.
Q
Qirri—“Essence” (Auja-Gilcûnni (?)). Drug made of the ashes of some great soul—at once well known and profoundly taboo among the Nonmen. Much as a furnace burns away impurities from iron, the pyre burns great souls down to the raw kernel of their vitality, which, when ingested by another, obeys the Principle of Superordinate Identities, providing them with a vitality they could have never possessed otherwise.
Quandary of Man—The classic Dûnyain problem referring to the fact that Men, though beasts like other beasts, can apprehend the Logos.
Quorum—The ruling council of the Mandate.
Qûlnimil—The legendary nimil mines of Ishterebinth, source of most nimil found in Eärwa.
Quya—“Miners” (Ihrimsû). The generic name for Nonmen Magi.
R
Rank-Principal—The title given to fully invested members of the Scarlet Spires.
Rash (4073—4112)—The nickname of Houlta, Man-of-the-Tusk, and a caste-menial Zaudunyani agitator, slain in the Battle of Caraskand.
Rauschang, Hringa (4054—4014)—The King of Thunyerus and father of Skaiyelt and Hulwarga.
Reduced—Name given those who have entered the Gloom, the final stage of the Dolour, when the sheer repetition of anguish has burned away the behaviour of anguish, leaving the soul with only the most fundamental routines of survival.
Remonstrata—The name of the complex comprising the Imperial Court in the Andiamine Heights.
Restored Empire—For some in Nansur, the cherished goal of restoring all the “lost provinces” (the territories seized by the Kianene) to the Nansur Empire.
Revenging—Name given to the wars following the Womb-Plague. See Cûno-Inchoroi Wars.
Ribbaral—Section of Dagliash once housing smithies and other workshops.
Ring Mountains—The range that encircles Golgotterath, typically called “the Occlusion” in Mandate scholarship.
Rite-of-the-Spring-Wolves—A rite of passage marking the transition of Scylvendi adolescent boys to manhood.
Rohil River—The easternmost of the three major river systems draining into Lake Huösi.
Round of Horns—Famed constellation visible in the skies of the Ancient North.
Ruminations—The magnum opus of Stajanus II, the so-called Philosopher-Emperor who ruled Cenei from 2412 to 2431.
Ruöm—The innermost citadel of Asgilioch, often called the High Bull of Asgilioch, destroyed by an earthquake in 4111.
rushru—Zeumi term for the moral significance of concrete circumstances.
S
Saccarees, Apperens (4092— )—Ordealman, Grandmaster of the Mandate in the Great Ordeal of Anasûrimbor Kellhus. The so-called Kellian Reconstitution of the Mandate in 4123 led to the dissolution of the Quorum and the adoption of the more autocratic, “magisterial form” of governance characteristic of the other Major Schools. A prodigy as a child, Saccarees was selected by the Aspect-Emperor to become the first Grandmaster of the Mandate. In arcane circles, he is widely rumoured to be the only soul lacking Anasûrimbor blood able to perform Metagnostic Cants.
Sack of Sarneveh—One of
several Orthodox Ainoni cities plundered by the Zaudunyani during the Unification Wars, noteworthy for the subsequent dissemination of the Toll, and the knowledge that some five thousand children had been butchered. The historian Hem-Maristat notes that following the infamous pamphlet, Kellhus ceased his meticulous account of lives lost.
Sacral Enclosure—Name of the private, octagonally shaped Imperial gardens following the Kellian renovation of the Andiamine Heights.
Sacred Hewer—Inris Hishid (Ham-Kheremic). Title awarded to champions of the Sranc Pits.
Sacred Lands—A name for Xerash and Amoteu, the two lands that figure directly in The Tractate.
Sadu’waralla ab Daza (4084— )—Ordealman, Chieftain of the Low Imit, General of the Khirgwi contingent in the Great Ordeal of Anasûrimbor Kellhus. A sufferer of the apoplexy, he is famed across the Three Seas for visions confirming the identity of the Aspect-Emperor, even though the Khirgwi are renowned for refusing to relinquish their ancient forms of devil worship.
Sagland—Southernmost province of Sakarpus, whose inhabitants (“Saglanders”) are thought simple and weak for being spared the rigours of the Pale.
Sag-Marmau (c. 2094—2143)—Husband of the legendary Ysilka, prominent in the Book of Generals (in The Holy Sagas) first as the General who saves the Ordeal from the disarray and dismay following the murder of General En-Kaujalau, and then as the General who witnesses Initiation, the birth of the No-God and the beginning of the Apocalypse.
Saik—The Anagogic School based in Momemn and indentured to the Nansur Emperor. The Saik, or the Imperial Saik as they are often called, are the institutional descendants of the Saka, the notorious state-sanctioned School of Imperial Cenei, who for a thousand years dominated the Three Seas under the aegis of the Aspect-Emperors. For centuries they existed as an organ of the Nansurium, and at war with the Cishaurim on an almost perpetual basis. The Accession of Anasûrimbor Kellhus as Aspect-Emperor of the Three Seas saw them largely divested of their state affiliations, simply because the new ruler already possessed his Saka: the School of Mandate.
saka’ilrait—“Trail of Skulls” (Khirgwi). The Khirgwi name for the route taken by the Holy War across Khemema.
Sakarpic—The language of Sakarpus, a derivative of Skettic.
Sakarpus—A city of the Ancient North located in the heart of the Istyuli Plains, and, aside from Atrithau, the only city to survive the Apocalypse. Originally a trade outpost on the caravan route delivering Ûmeri wares in exchange for Shigeki spices, the fortunes of Sakarpus long depended on the fortunes of trade in Eärwa. The “Lonely City,” as it was called even in Far Antique days, grew as the civilization developing around the Three Seas came to covet the status conveyed by Norsirai textiles and manufactured goods. As Kyraneas and Shir waxed as markets, so did Sakarpus wax as a regional power. The most shrewd of its many decrees in those days, was the Chorae Toll, the demand that merchant families donate Chorae as the price of purchase for (generally lifelong) trade indulgences, a practice which lead to the accumulation of the famed Chorae Hoard—which, legend insists, induced the No-God to bypass the city during the Apocalypse.
Post-apocalypse, the collapse in trade and the Sranc domination of the Istyuli transformed the enterprising character of the Sakarpi into a defensive one. The Pale was organized, consisting of a network of fortified towers scattered across the plains to the north of Sakarpus and on the headwaters of the River Vindauga, or “Sagland,” the breadbasket of the city.
Sakthuta—A mountain in the Hethantas overlooking the River Kiyuth.
Sampileth Fire-singer (1658—1712)—Legendary Far Antique Magi credited with inventing the famed Dragonhead Cant, as well as founding the Surartu, the precursor to the Scarlet Spires.
Sanathi (4100—?)—The daughter of Cnaiür and Anissi.
Sancla (4064—4083)—Achamian’s cellmate and lover during his adolescence in Atyersus.
Sankas, Biaxi (4066—4132)—The Patridomos of House Biaxi, and confidant of Anasûrimbor Esmenet. Granted Consulship of Nansur after the arrest of Cutias Pansulla in 4132. Found murdered in the Andiamine Heights the autumn of that same year.
Sansor—A nation of the Three Seas and tributary of High Ainon.
Sansori—The language of Sansor, a derivative of Sheyo-Kheremic.
Sapatishah-Governor—The title of the regional, semi-autonomous rulers of the various provinces of Kian during the time of the Kianene Empire.
Sapatishah’s Palace—The name given by the Men of the Tusk to Imbeyan’s palace in Caraskand, located on the Kneeling Heights.
Sapmatari—The lost language of Nilnameshi labouring castes, a derivative of Vaparsi.
Sappathurai—A powerful mercantile city in Nilnamesh.
Sarcellus, Cutias (4072—99)—A Knight-Commander of the Shrial Knights, murdered and replaced by Consult skin-spies.
Sareötic Library—In the time of the Ceneian Empire, one of the greatest libraries in the known world. The so-called “script law” of Iothiah forced, on punishment of death, all visitors bearing books to surrender them for copying and inclusion in the Library. Though the Sareots were massacred when Shigek fell to the Fanim in 3933, Padirajah Fan’oukarji III spared the Library, thinking it the will of the Solitary God.
Sarosthenes (4064—4112)—Man-of-the-Tusk, ranking member of the Scarlet Spires, killed at Shimeh.
Sarothesser I (3317—3402)—The founder of High Ainon, who overthrew the yoke of the Ceneian Empire in 3372 and ascended the Assurkamp Throne as the first Ainoni King.
Sasheoka (4049—4100)—The Grandmaster of the Scarlet Spires, assassinated in 4100 by the Cishaurim for reasons unknown, and predecessor to Eleäzaras.
Saskri River—A major river system in Eumarna, with headwaters in Eshgarnea and draining the Jahan Plains.
Sassotian (4058—4111)—The General of the Imperial Fleet during the First Holy War, slain at the Battle of Trantis Bay.
Sathgai (c. 2100—c. 2170)—The Norsirai name for Uthgai, Chieftain of the Utemot and legendary Scylvendi King-of-Tribes, who led the People under the No-God during the Apocalypse.
Satiothi—The language group of the Satyothi peoples.
Satyothi—The black-haired, green-eyed, black-skinned race predominantly concentrated in the nation of Zeüm and the southern extremities of the Three Seas. One of the Five Tribes of Men.
Saubon, Coithus (4069—4132)—Man-of-the-Tusk, seventh son of King Coithus Eryeat of Galeoth and titular leader of the Galeoth contingent during the First Holy War. Ordealman, Believer-King of Caraskand, and Exalt-General of the Great Ordeal of Anasûrimbor Kellhus.
Sauglish—One of the four great ancient cities of the Aumris Valley, destroyed in the Apocalypse in 2147. From the early days of the Nonmen Tutelage, Sauglish was established as the intellectual capital of the Ancient North, home to the first Gnostic Schools and to the Great Library of Sauglish. Commonly referred to as the “City of Robes,” for the way Sauglishmen eschewed trousers in imitation of the Siqu. See Library of Sauglish and Apocalypse.
Saxillas, Clia (4089— )—Captain of the Inchausti, the private bodyguard of the Holy Shriah.
Sayut River—One of the great rivers of Eärwa, originating in the Southern Great Kayarsus and draining into the Nyranisas.
Scald, The—Name given to the vast explosion responsible for destroying Dagliash.
Scaralla, Hepma (4056—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, ranking high priest of Akkeägni during the First Holy War, taken by disease at Caraskand.
Scarlet Magi—A name for Schoolmen belonging to the Scarlet Spires.
Scarlet Spires—The most powerful School of the Three Seas and de facto ruler of High Ainon. The roots of the Scarlet Spires reach as far back as ancient Shir (to this day traditionalists within the School refer to themselves as the “shiradi”). In many ways the development of the Scarlet Spires exemplifies the development of every Three Seas School, that of loose networks of sorcerous practitioners becoming progressively more organized and insular in the face of chronic,
religiously motivated persecution. Originally called the Surartu—“Hooded Singers” (Ham-Kheremic)—the Scarlet Spires secured the river fortress of Kiz in Carythusal c. 1800, and emerged from the chaos surrounding the Apocalypse, the collapse of Shir, and the Great Pestilence as one of the most powerful factions in ancient Ainon. Sometime around 2350, Kiz was severely damaged in an earthquake and subsequently covered with red enamel tiles in the reconstruction, thus leading to the School’s now-famous moniker.
Scholastic Wars—A series of holy wars waged against the Schools from 3796 to 3818. Called by Ekyannus XIV, the Scholastic Wars saw the near-destruction of several Schools and the beginning of the Scarlet Spires’ hegemony over High Ainon.
Schoolmen—Sorcerers belonging to the Schools.
Schools—Given the Tusk’s condemnation of sorcery, the first Schools, in both the Ancient North and the Three Seas, arose out of the need for protection. The so-called “Major Schools” of the Three Seas are the Circle of Nibel, the Imperial Saik, the School of Mandate, the Mysunsai, and the Scarlet Spires. The Schools are among the oldest institutions in the Three Seas, surviving, by and large, both because of the terror they inspire and by their detachment from the secular and religious powers of the Three Seas. With the exception of the Mysunsai, for instance, all the Major Schools predate the fall of the Ceneian Empire.
Scindia—The Scylvendi-dominated land to the immediate west of the Hethanta Mountains. The name itself is a relic of early Kyranean times, when the Scylvendi yet shared the Jiünati Steppe with the White Norsirai.
Scintya—Ancient White Norsirai pastoralists who, driven from their own lands by the Scylvendi, plagued the High Norsirai cities of the River Aumris for generations.
Scions—Kidruhil company belonging to the Great Ordeal consisting entirely of treaty hostages, the male heirs of nations obligated to the Kellian (or “New”) Empire.
Scorpion Braid—A mummer’s trick, consisting of a rope soaked in a poison that makes the jaws and claws of scorpions seize when they grasp it.
Scoulas, Biaxi (4075—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, second Knight-Commander of the Shrial Knights, slain at Mengedda.
Scuäri Campus—The main parade ground of the Imperial Precincts in Momemn.