The Lonhra stories beginning with THE PURIST take place in the same universe as MORO’S PRICE, but much earlier.
This is an ongoing glossary of important people, places, and things mentioned in THE PURIST, BLOODSHADOW, and their eventual sequels. It is by no means complete or even coherent. Read at your own risk: herein lie spoilers!
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Abar Omiesh: Capital city of Omiesh, a major domain of the Southlands.
Abeffna: Music teacher and library custodian of Demuaira.
Academy: The musical school in Demuaira, a city-state of the Northlands.
Adeen: Large adult male Sonnaroi dragonkiller, mate to Marikha. Born one of the semi-aquatic Ice Fisher Sonnaroi of the cold south, Adeen traveled north to the Red Hills. His name means ‘stormhorn’, or tornado.
Adept: High-ranking sorcerer able to channel more of the Northwarden’s power. While the potential for sorcery shows up in childhood, sorcerers can train and grow in their abilities their whole lives. Adepts usually wear very dark green clothing, while lesser-ranked sorcerers wear lighter shades of green.
Ae Nema Ae: ‘First Among Firsts’ highest-ranking female Sonnaroi in any generation. Term usually reserved for Consort racemothers.
Ae Rhun: ‘First Fang’ Sonnaroi term for a matriarch.
Ahadruah: Southlands city-state known for its volcanoes, austere culture, and smith-craft.
Ajara: Southlands city-state known for its fisheries, weavecraft, temples, and dark history with Dana serfs.
Alat: ‘Open-Battle’, a Worldleaper god known for his fighting skill and easygoing open temperament.
Alinet Sydall: Ancient Dana queen of Demuaira.
Alachi: Dana fungal cultures that help break down waste matter into compost and useful gases. The use of Alachi slime is so important to Sirrithani civilizations that they don’t even think about it much. But there is a ‘Brown Festival’ celebrating the slime with brown foods and ridiculous scatological jokes.
Amromi: Historical Lady Consort of the Northwarden. Also known as Five-shells Floodborn.
Anelkir: mysterious Sonnaroi man who was briefly Urrazhe’s second male mate. Tel’s father. Also known as ‘Starchaser’ or ‘Falls-From-Cliffs’.
Anlir: Ancient city of the Sirrithani, destroyed by the Dana in the first year of the Settlement War.
Anseoine: Historical Lady Consort of the Northwarden. Known for her diplomatic skills and weavecraft.
Asa: Large sapient lizards dwelling in Girshan. The Asa birth only females and appear to reproduce through parthenogenesis. The Girkondi’s protection of the Asa is the main reason that Lonhra’s Heart has not destroyed the valley of Girshan.
Atlani: ‘Swordcaste’, the aristocratic division of Sirrithani society responsible for governing and participating in ritual warfare.
Audah: A Sirrithani student in the Demuaira Academy.
Aumi: A Sonnaroi woman, rival to Jensei for the affections of Gemarr.
Aurha: ‘Resting-woman’, Sonnaroi term for elderly retired huntresses, or pregnant or injured women.
Autanqa: frontier barony in the Southlands city-state of the Thronglands.
Avat: ‘Attack-from-Behind’, a Worldleaper god known for his ruthless intelligence and skill at deception.
Axtla Wingfoot: Historical Sonnaroi Consort of the Northwarden, known for her shameful suicide with her lover Jhien.
Ayundami: The current Chief Adept of Illarhun, who ruled the sorcerers and effectively the world until the Northwarden awoke.
Bailamei: A sorcerer of Illarhun and granddaughter of Leya Sydall.
Baneflower: One of the most poisonous plants on Lonhra, re-engineered after the Settlement War to help isolate lingering pollution from chemical and radioactive waste.
Bareskin, bare-skin: Sonnaroi term for Dana and Sirrithani.
Bell Dancer: A large sailing ship based out of Ajara, under contract with the Northwarden to resupply refugee colonies on the distant continent of Rhunshan.
Bex, Debexi: Drum-Master of the Academy of Demuaira, and Eridan’s best friend.
Beyvad Ajandrason: Outlaw exiled from Jade Coast, along with his two unnamed aristocratic female leaders.
Bihara, Biha-Arra: The white-furred, blue-eyed (sometimes black-eyed) Worldleaper goddess most sympathetic to the Sirrithani and Sonnaroi. Along with her sister Vakka, Bihara sneaks away from Rhunshan and meddles in mortal bloodlines at their leader Vathaea’s requests.
Blackgrass: eastern domain of the Northlands, under direct fealty to the Northwarden. Known for its dark-purple grassland, immense mineral wealth, and hybrid Dana/Sonnaroi culture.
Bluevale: The circular caldera in the Southlands where the opalescent blue Girkondi ‘trees’dwell with their Sirrithani and Sonnaroi symbionts.
Borsa Eld: a historic Lord Consort of the Northwarden, a Sonnaroi/Sirrithani hybrid known for his sense of honor and credited with freeing the Dana serfs of Ajara.
Brae Corsa: A Connasi settlement in the Northlands, named for the goddess Corsa.
Braebihar: a Sonnaroi settlement in the Northlands, named for the goddess Bihara.
Brinta Spruce: a conifer whose wood is prized for musical instruments.
Brinta Vale: large valley in the Northlands known for its agriculture, in Eridan’s day the epicenter of a civil war between rival groups of Danessa.
Brokenfell: the jumbled canyonland north of Brinta Vale, home of the most rebellious Connasi tribes.
Camha: ‘Laughing Maiden’. The least of Fountain’s Daughters, who may have had a place in nudging Terran human evolution. The Terran colonists of Lonhra were called Camhathani (Camha’s Children) in her honor. She is the same entity as the ‘Cama’ present later in the MORO novels.
Change: Sonnaroi puberty, a physical transformation altering gender-neutral cubs into Sonnaroi women and men.
Chief Adept: the highest-ranking sorcerer of her or his generation, the one able to channel the most power from the Northwarden, and usually the one running the Northwarden’s city-state of Illarhun. Along with the Consorts and the Northwarden, the Chief Adept wears green clothing so dark it verges on black.
Coil: A Sirrithani unit of distance roughly analogous to a mile.
Cold Coast: loosely-allied group of Sirrithani city-states along the southeastern coast of the Southlands. Known for incredibly warlike Sonnaroi/Sirrithani hybrids, the tattoos of its celebrated warriors, and ancient bloodlines.
Coldsweets: a native Lonhran berry tasting similar to wintergreen and raspberry, which Sonnaroi love.
Connasi: Part-Dana tribes who split off from Danessa to resettle the northwest after glaciers retreated. They intermarried with Sonnaroi tribes already in the area. Pure Dana regard them with horror and shame.
Consort: When capitalized this refers to a mortal woman (Lady Consort) or man (Lord Consort) chosen by Vathaea to become the next mates of the Northwarden.
Coralcrest: rich and influential island-state ruling the Tame Seas that divide the Northlands and the Southlands.
Corespring: A Dana starship engine converted to provide clean water (and in some cases electrical power) to the cities they are buried beneath. By Eridan’s day there are only four working Coresprings left in the world. The most famous two are the ones powering Danessa and Omiesh.
Corsa: Worldleaper goddess known for her sense of smell and ability to sense truth and falsehood.
Dana: The long-lived, elfin-appearing, spacefaring race who arrived after Terran humans on Lonhra. The Dana were repulsed by the hybrid human/Sonnaroi locals and decided to commit genocide in order to ‘free’ the world for Pure Dana. This led to the Settlement War, and the defeat and enslavement of most Dana.
Dancing: Annual Sonnaroi courting rituals in which women and men display their physical grace and mental prowess.
Dancing Ground: (In Braebihar) the hanging box canyon where Sonnaroi gather for formal occasions.
Danessa: Powerful city-state ruling most of the northwest Northlands, known for its high proportion of part-Dana citizens. Has a working Corespring. The symbol of Danessa is a golden fountain against a purple background.
Dapple-fur: Dappled brown and gray fur is a mark of Sonnaroi infancy. The pattern lingers in some adult Sonnaroi, with slightly scandalous connotations (think babydoll Lolita fetishes in human terms.)
Dariet: the mysterious Rhunshan-born Sirrithani woman who courted Fergin Holanason of Throng, and became the Witch-Queen of Throng during Tel’s story. Dariet is very tall, strong, heavier than she appears, has white hair and jet-black eyes, and is an astonishingly powerful earthwitch. Also called the White Spider.
Darksplinter: The separate-but-linked entity existing alongside the Northwarden. Equal in power but generally standoffish to mortals, Darksplinter can take almost any inanimate object’s shape, like a harp, piece of jewelry, or weapon. There are unproven rumors that Darksplinter can take on the shapes of living creatures such as vegetation, animals, and people.
Daroy: An aristocratic male war-captive born in Danessa who became the Jade Coast Kembara’s second consort.
Daze-berries: narcotic purple berries used by Sonnaroi to ease pain and help sleep, highly addictive. Fatal to Sirrithani in large doses, but mostly ineffective on Dana.
Deathcache: The dormant weapons of mass destruction housed in the Ship Demuaira, near the city of the same name.
Deelang Shei: A part-Dana musical instrument maker of Danessa, one of the mastercrafters of Tradehouse Shei.
Deer: While dogs, cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep arrived with human colonists, there are no horses on Lonhra. The early human/Sonnaroi hybrids domesticated local deerlike herbivores to become riding and draft animals. While the animals are not remotely related to Terran deer, the name ‘deer’ stuck as a convenience.
Degatek: Danessan woman who followed Lanzian to Brinta Vale, and made an unwise advance toward Eridan.
Delgirah Amu: An early organ-music contender for Master-Singer alongside Eridan, Delgirah was blackmailed and thrown aside by her greedy mentor Ladanoth of Omiesh, and died destitute. Her daughter Yiroa swore vengeance, and embarked on a longterm spree of sabotage against the Master-Singer contest.
Demuaira: The sole remaining ‘Pure’ Dana city on Lonhra by Eridan’s day, its purity is leavened by the genetic curse on the ruling family and the growing numbers of part-Sirrithani hybrids in its city government. The symbol for Demuiara is the same as for its Master-Singer: a silver harp on a dark red background, with bands showing silver stars above and silver waves below.
Desolation: Popular curse referencing the appalling environmental damage done by the Settlement War (and the Northwarden’s later efforts to enforce Settlement Law).
Dhava lily: Bright electric-blue flower native to the Southlands. Known for the intense blue dye it yields, as well as the aphrodisiac scent of the fresh blossoms. Considered sacred to Vathaea and Bihara.
Dragonkiller: Fully-adult male Sonnaroi, who gain bulk, strength, and partial body armor when they engender a cub and stay with the cub and its mother. This hormone-driven change also cuts a male Sonnaroi’s life expectancy in half, from around 500 Lonhran years to around 250. They conserve energy by sleeping a lot, telling stories, and gathering vegetable foodstuffs. In outright battle, usually against namurakka, Dragonkillers are devastating foes. They average around 16 feet from nose to tail, can weigh around 1800 lbs, have powerful bite strength, and have poisonous tail-barbs.
For all their physical power, Dragonkillers are more known to be philosophers, poets, historians, and mathematicians. Some ancient Dragonkilkers had a unique runic-style script they carved into stone or wood.
Earthwitch: Sirrithani or Sonnaroi individual capable of channeling ‘magical’ power from the ground itself, and ultimately from the Sleeping Goddess Vathaea. Earthwitches cannot teleport without losing their power and their sanity, and many cannot cross deep water. They dislike living far off the ground, so witch houses will never be more than two or three stories high.
Eastfang: The highest tower of Illarhun, its upper levels exclusive to the Northwarden’s lair and use.
Eight-Fangs: The literal meaning of the Sonnaroi term ‘Illarhun’, meaning the main eight above-ground towers of the Northwarden’s Citadel. The black crystalline towers of Illarhun are named Eastfang, Stormfang, Gatefang, Goldfang, Landfang, Housefang, Handfang, and Silkfang. It is not common knowledge outside the Vale of Illarhun, but lesser black towers extrude from the ground outside the city, and are often surrounded by built-up farmhouses and rural manors.
Elme Khar: An aristocratic Danessa woman, a contender for Master-Singer along with Eridan.
Eridan Sydall: So-called last prince of the Dana, one of the last healthy Dana males on Lonhra.
Fang: Sonnaroi term denoting a very powerful earthwitch serving as Vathaea’s emissary on the surface world.
Fenak, fenak-root: A Dana plant yielding one of the few interrogation drugs known to work on Dana.
Fergin: Thronglander Sirrithani man, son of the Witch-Queen Holana and husband to Dariet. While not an earthwitch himself, Fergin is a trained medic and herbalist.
Feyondha: A Sonnaroi woman of Braebihar, hunt-sister (lover) to Aumi, and longtime enemy of Jensei.
Firsthome: The original Dana homeworld, destroyed alongside their ‘goddess’ Kemurra when she used up too much of the planetary core’s energy.
Fol Gimand: An earthwitch of Omtirrad trained by Blackgrass Sonnaroi earthwitches. A powerful Fang of Vathaea.
Fountain-of-Stars, Grandmother Fountain, also called Adane or Avadani: The Changed Star-Eater who is considered the progenitor of the Dana, Sonnaroi, and Camhathani races.
Fur-folk: Neutral Sirrithani term for Sonnaroi and humanoid Sonnaroi hybrids with pelt-covered skins.
Gaman: A Worldleaper god known for his power of sight and deduction. Also called ‘Three-Horn’ for his three muzzlehorns.
Ganika se’tha Illarhun: The last born-daughter of the Northwarden, left to rule Illarhun and the sorcerers after the Northwarden was last forced to sleep.
Gatefang: The Illarhun tower housing the teleporting caste of sorcerers. Gatefang is the largest hub of teleport transport across Lonhra…for a steep price to non-sorcerers.
Gemarr: Elderly dragon-killer Sonnaroi who is Sfassa’s and Tilay’s father. Known for his wisdom and vast lexicon of ancient Sonnaroi stories.
Girkondi: The alien race of gigantic, sapient, tree-like creatures who long ago colonized the asteroid caldera of Girshan. They have a symbiotic relationship to their Sirrithani and Sonnaroi companions, who are considered extremely weird by the rest of the Sirrithani and Sonnaroi. No other city-state will try to invade Girshan more than once, since the very tree-roots come up to tear apart invaders.
Girshan: Also called ‘Bluevale’, the Southlands valley where most of the Girkondi live. Its political emblem is a bright blue leaf on a white field.
Girwood: The shed detritus from living gir-trees, or their fallen dead. Relatively soft once stripped of its magnetic-field shielding, girwood must be kept in fresh water to stay workable. It fossilizes in open air to become one of the most strongest and most valuable commodities on Lonhra.
Goldfang: The Illarhun tower holding the Goldfang Cache.
Goldfang Cache: largest bank on Lonhra, established to house the Northwarden’s treasure. Said to have been founded as a wedding present to the Northwarden by the Lady Consort Tari, an accountant by trade who nearly had a heart attack when she discovered the Northwarden didn’t know how rich they were.
Great House: The aristocratic and military caste of Sirrithani civilizations, expected to rule and bear the brunt of ritual warfare. Founded in many cases by the sorcerer offspring of the Northwarden.
Haanha, hunting-woman: Adult Sonnaroi woman, generally living in matriarchal clans who hunt meat for children, adult men, and elderly or injured women.
Halaman: A Dana/Sonnaroi man, the second known Sirrithani Lord Consort of the Northwarden.
Halaman’s Hall: The large garden-chamber and throne room at the foot of Eastfang, created as a wedding present by the Northwarden for the Lord Consort Halaman.
Handfang: The Illarhun tower housing the medical caste of sorcerers.
Harilka: A cover-name for a veiled and anonymous sub-caste of sorcerers, known for hiring out sometimes unsavory no-questions-asked exploits like assassinations and high-level theft or asset extraction. Named for the original Harilka, the firstborn daughter of the Northwarden and the Daw.
Hayfern: Eridan’s nickname for the Northwarden.
Hero: Sonnaroi term denoting a male Sonnaroi Consort of the Northwarden. Sonnaroi male Consorts tend to die instantly at the moment the Northwarden touches them.
Hethlan of Two-Glaciers Clan: Eridan’s first son by Sfassa. His bloodline will later lead to Issla, Urrazhe, and Istelian.
Hildali: A Brinta Vale woman serving as Eridan’s escort and guard during his diplomatic mission to Brinta.
Hillet Gimand: Mayor of Omtirrad and a carpenter by training.
Himri: A male student at the Demuairan Academy.
Hosardu: impoverished and despotic city-state south of Danessa in the Northlands.
Housefang: The Illarhun tower housing the caste of sorcerers who’ve either hired out to GreatHouses, or collect and store records of the Sirrithani Great House histories and bloodlines.
Houseless Numbers: The Sirrithani term for prime numbers.
Hralo Hirkkeni Fifthmaster (Hirkke): Spurious identity assumed by the Northwarden, whose physical guise is drawn from the likeness of a nearly unknown Lord Consort of ancient history.
Illarhun (see also Eight-Fangs): Both the ring of black towers at the center of the Vale of Illarhun, and the small but rich Sirrithani city around the towers. The symbol of Illarhun is a black sword upraised against a white and green sunrise.
Imsaltanda: A city-state of the Northlands, destroyed by the Northwarden for violating Settlement Law.
Is’hanr: ‘Shining Hunter’, the Sonnaroi name given to the Northwarden by the goddess Vathaea.
Istelian se’tha Urrazhe: (Tel) ‘Light on Water’, a female Sonnaroi shapeshifter and necromancer, descendant of Sfassa Snowdancer and Eridan One-Strike. Her story begins in the books BLOODSHADOW and SOULBINDER.
‘Istelian’ is also the name of a water-loving healing herb very important to both Sonnaroi and Sirrithani.
Iraedha: Female Sirrithani earthwitch and hermit living on the southern edge of the Red Hills, during Tel’s childhood.
Jade Coast: A large prosperous city-state on the southeast coast of the Northlands, known for the exotic green vegetation left over from its now-extinct human settlers. Author suspects much of Jade Coast’s agricultural wealth comes from exports of recognizably Terran coffee, tea, chocolate, and other still-recognizable Terran plants…though known by other names. The symbol of Jade Coast is a stylized green mask shaped like a woman’s face.
Jade Harbor: Capital city of Jade Coast.
Jensei se’tha Bihara: Sfassa’s mother and daughter of the Sonnaroi Worldleaper goddess Bihara.
Jhien: A male Sonnaroi Consort known for his shameful suicide.
Jihess of Two-Glaciers Clan: Sfassa’s firstborn daughter by Eridan. Also called Jiheska Sydall.
Juva Hold: Remote Ahadruan smith-monk enclave where ‘Hralo’ claims to have been born.
Kalineyo: A chief priestess of Vathaea in the Thronglands.
Kallen: A Sirrithani nursemaid to young Eridan.
Kasr: A male Worldleaper god also called Glutton or Blood-giver, known for his sulfur-yellow fur, insatiable hunger, and care for starving mortals.
Kembara: ‘Mother of Cities’, the name the crown princess of Jade Coast assumes with the throne. Her public identity is then hidden behind a jade mask for the rest of her life.
Kemurra, Akemurra: ‘Vengeful Mother’. Dead goddess of the Dana. The mightiest and most militant of Fountain’s Daughters.
Kereth Stoneway: A part-Dana chieftain of the northern Connasi clans, a group rebelling against the rule of Danessa.
Kial: Kial Surna was the first male human Lord Consort of the Northwarden, and the first known to have survived the bonding process with the Northwarden. The ancient city of Surna was named for him.
Kori: A type of long-bladed, short handled spear often used in pairs. Sfassa’s favorite weapon as a Sirrithani.
Ksala and Ksaloni: pronounced more like ‘ka SAH la’ and ‘ka sah LOW nee’: also called Star-Eaters, sun-devourers, Bound Ksala, Unbound (also known as Feral or Free Ksala). Extremely ancient spacefaring energy beings. Cannibalistic predators apparently birthed either at the beginning of their universe, or out of the largest black holes. They eat matter and energy, by preference each other. When they ingest large numbers of sentient beings, they begin to gain sentience themselves.
Ladanoth: A musical and mechanical genius, a contender for Master-Singer along with Eridan, and a known military advisor to the Shell-Queen of Omiesh.
Lalleta: A Sonnaroi woman who helped raise and shelter Sfassa.
Landcaste: The Sirrithani caste charged with agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, the elaborate septic systems based on Dana fungal cultures called ‘Alachi’, and conservation of the environment. They are immune from attack in ritual war, but may have to choose between serving new Great House overlords or exile after a defeat by their own ruling House.
Landfall: The arrival of the Dana starships on Lonhra, and the beginning of the Settlement War.
Landfang: Caste of sorcerers working closely with the landcastes of Lonhra. Often known for their civil engineers.
Lanzian: A young male landowner in Brinta instrumental to ending the civil war between the Connasi and Danessa.
Leya Sydall: Infamously clever Sydall Master-Singer, the last one before Eridan, and Eridan’s great-aunt.
Lisento: Money-exchanger of Goldfang, known to be sympathetic to Dana.
Long Winter: Lonhran Ice Age.
Lonhra: Habitable-zone planet whose solar system is hidden within a stellar nursery. According to Dana and Sonnaroi legend, Lonhra was created from material left over after the destruction of Fountain-of-Stars. The planet’s name in Sonnaroi means ‘Hidden Star’.
Lonhra’s Heart: The core of Lonhra, which generates its prodigious magnetic field and houses its partly comatose self-awareness. This sapient entity is known for its absolute hatred of any living creature not evolved from itself. It has an uneasy truce with the Girkondi.
Luiska: A dead female Sirrithani bard known for her alcoholism and inept playing.
Malonde: Small city-state in the Southlands once known for its gem mining.
Marikha: Sonnaroi hunting-woman of the Red Hills clan, Na-Rhun, mate to Adeen, sister to Mayarn (a deceased dragonkiller.)
Master-Singer: The highest-ranking professional musician/teacher/ambassador of the Demuairan Academy. Master-Singers are generally chosen every three hundred years in contests that can last ten to fifteen years.
Mayarn: Sonnaroi dragonkiller of the Southland, Urrazhe’s childhood friend and first male mate. Died in an accident years before Tel’s birth.
Midacca: Trading town southeast of the Citadel of Illarhun, in a gap of the Illarhun Vale Wall.
Mogoru: A male Worldleaper god also known as ‘Mercy’, and invoked as an arbiter of justice.
Moon-Eater: The nicest Sonnaroi name for the Northwarden, referencing the time (he) saved the whole planet by absorbing a falling moon. Also known as ‘Lightning-Eyed’, or ‘Black Shaman’.
Moravet Sydall: The queen of Demuaira during events in THE PURIST and highest-ranking member of House Sydall.
Moyatli: A stinging fern-like plant of the Southlands wilderness.
Murra se’tha Tenhadi: A wagon mistress Eridan meets on his journey north to Illarhun.
Na Rhun: ‘Second Fang’, Sonnaroi term for the woman who assumes command of a tribe when its matriarch is out of commission.
Namurakka: ‘Unresting Jaws’, also called rockdragon. These large semi-intelligent reptiles have chameleon skin, a resistance to fire, and a horrible corrosive poison they spit at attackers. Cousins of the Asa-lizards of Girshan, and eternal enemies of the Sonnaroi.
Noiacalyr: (On paper) heir to Moravet Sydall until Eridan’s children were of age. One of Eridan’s relatives known for her political schemes.
Nokue: Female Worldleaper goddess also called ‘Nurturer’, known for her care of infants and juvenile Sonnaroi.
Northland: More properly called ‘Baralyn’, or City-Land, this is the northern continent of Lonhra, about 2/3 the size of the Southland.
Northwarden: A major and effectively immortal Power of Lonhra ranked alongside Vathaea and the Worldleaper gods. (There is some indication the Northwarden is actually the most powerful and dangerous individual on the planet.) The Northwarden exists in several states at once: as the large black crystalline entity imprisoned under the caldera of Illarhun, and as the smaller avatars they send out to interact with mortals. Due to a bargain struck between Vathaea and Lonhra’s Heart, the Northwarden can only create such avatars while their current mortal Consorts are alive. When the Consort dies, the Northwarden falls dormant again…and Lonhra’s Heart wakes a little more. Sirrithani often generically refer to the Northwarden as ‘she’, while the Sonnaroi use ‘him’, but the genderfluid Northwarden can shift shape to assume any gender they want (or none.)
Omiesh: Powerful city-state on the northeastern coast of the Southlands, known for its working Corespring, its generally ruthless ruler the Shell Queen, and its use of slavery as an economic force. The symbol of Omiesh is a white or silver coiled flaysnail shell on a red field.
Omtirrad: Easternmost large Sirrithani settlement of the Northlands, known for its sea-trade and as a port for Blackgrass trade.
One-Strike: Name given to Eridan by the Worldleaper god Kasr.
Onxa: Adopted grandson of Leya Sydall, a Sonnaroi/Sirrithani hybrid male who later married Leya’s grand-daughter, the sorcerer Bailamei.
Outer Sea: The vast ocean covering three-quarters of Lonhra, this huge, deep sea is home to one large continent called Rhunshan and several archipelagoes of settled islands.
Power: The immortal demigods existing on Lonhra, or out in the wider universe.
Purist: Pure Dana term for a religious and cultural group staunchly refusing to interbreed with Terran humans, Sirrithani, or Sonnaroi. Vathaea and Bihara engineered several genetic time-bombs (the House Curses) to force that interbreeding as the only solution to sterility and catastrophic birth defects.
Racefather: Sonnaroi term for a (usually deceased) Lord Consort.
Racemother: Sonnaroi term for a Lady Consort.
Rafti: Sonnaroi Lady Consort alive during the era of Moonfall, she gave the Northwarden the name ‘Moon-Eater’.
Rallamat: In Eridan’s early life, the Witch-Queen of Throng.
Ranul: In Eridan’s day, the previous Sirrithani Lord Consort, assassinated in the very door to Eastfang.
Red Stage: The huge auditorium of the Demuaira Academy, where Master-Singer contests are decided.
Redjaw: Also called Vakkasuli, these are the Sonnaroi Amazons. Redjaws live in women-only tribes with their pre-Change children, and mate with their male counterparts the Wanderers. Redjaws are not inherently anti-male, and have a friendly (intermittent) relationship with the fathers of their children. Founded by daughters of the Worldleaper goddess Vakka, some Redjaws echo her blood-red muzzle and forepaws. Those without Redjaw coloring dye their fur with rust-colored iron oxide. In Girshan, one Redjaw tribe has allied with the Asa-lizards, and offers haven to runaway Dana and Sirrithani women. The Girshani Redjaw symbol is always a red feather.
Rhunshan: The Jungle of Fangs, the Outer Sea continent opposite the two Northlands and Southlands continents. The ancient home of the Sonnaroi and the Worldleapers, Rhunshan has become a refugee colony for landcaste and tradecaste war exiles.
Riharisunet: Also called Riha, the princess-heir to Rallamat of Throng, and one of the most powerful living Fangs of Vathaea.
River of Air: The huge, deep Northlands canyon dividing the Starfell plain west of Illarhun from the Canyonlands of the Brokenfell.
Roessa: The White City of the Dana, created from their largest starship when it landed on the temperate southern tip of Rhunshan. Destroyed by its High King, Tevren Virandien, to prevent the Dana from becoming vassals of the Northwarden. This catastrophe ended the Settlement War and left a poisoned caldera in South Rhunshan.
Round-Ear: What Sirrithani and Sonnaroi called Terran humans. Also called ‘Camhathani’.
Rui-Sfassa: ‘Swift-rushing river’, the Northwarden’s name for Sfassa.
Rybah: Wife to Drum-master Debexi.
Safahie: The last Sirrithani Lady Consort before Sfassa, died of a lingering poison.
Saint: The Sonnaroi (and hence Sirrithani) term for a Lady Consort.
Samidian: Danessa-born male sorcerer who married Leya Sydall.
Sand Iris: Brilliant purple, bronze, and golden flower similar to our iris, whose flowers carry the aromatic sap used to make an expensive perfume.
Sangor: The biggest and strongest of the male Worldleaper gods, known for his battle-strategy and raw power.
Settlement Law: The rules first laid down by Kial Surna and the Northwarden during the First Age of the Sirrithani, and later (brutally) finalized by the Northwarden after the Settlement War. These include a strict prohibition against stealing other people’s territory, against long-range ballistic weapons, against involving landcaste or tradecaste civilians in warfare, and against environmental damage.
Settlement War: Year-long battle between the Dana and the Sirrithani, during which two Sirrithani cities (Surna and Anlir) were vaporized, and large areas of the Southlands interior left uninhabitable for thousands of years. These ‘frontiers’ are beginning to open up and be resettled in Eridan’s time, by both Sonnaroi and Sirrithani enclaves.
Sfassa: Also called Snowdancer or Rui-Sfassa, the current Sonnaroi Lady Consort. To protect Eridan from the Northwarden, she begged for shapeshifting magic from the latter, and became a legendary spearwoman, scholar, and singer.
Shongyianajara: The North Coast Bell, the largest volcano of the city-state of Ajara, upon whose fertile slopes is built that domain’s capital city.
Sightstone: Small dull black stones dropped across the world by Illarhun sorcerers, these pebbles are actually material of the Northwarden’s own substance, and can be linked back to them. The Northwarden can allegedly see and hear out of any activated sightstone.
Silbaia: Redjaw leader of Braebihar.
Silence-drug: A Sirrithani poison designed to cause enough brain damage for permanent aphasia and other communication disorders.
Sililo: A student at the Demuairan Academy.
Silkfang: Illarhun tower whose sorcerers excel in handcraft.
Simhradurra: A Sonnaroi Lady Consort who allowed Sirrithani and Dana refugees into her tribe’s dens, during the Settlement War. Counted the second founding queen of the Survivor clans of the Cold Coast on the Southlands.
Sirriah: The first Sonnaroi/Terran human hybrid and Lady Consort, credited with being the racemother of the Sirrithani. Known for her blacksmithing skills. The first founding queen of the Survivor clans.
Sirrithani: Humanoid race created from the interbreeding of the Sonnaroi, Terran Humans, and Dana, they tend to be tall, rather warlike, creative, and long-lived (eight hundred years standard).
Sky Pine: Conifer species known for its height, strong yellow timber, nutritious seeds, and intense blue-green needles.
Sleeper, Sleeping Goddess: The name the Sonnaroi use for Vathaea.
Sleeper’s Curse: Also called the Omiesh, Demuaira, or Danessa Curses. To force the Dana settlers to interbreed with Sirrithani and Sonnaroi after the Settlement War, Vathaea and Bihara created multiple mental and physical illnesses that manifested in ‘pure’ Dana populations. For Demuaira and Omiesh, the Curse presented as respiratory failure and cognitive decline of older women and men around puberty. The curse vanished from Omiesh after a queen and her daughters took Sirrithani mates.
For Danessa, whose queens and aristocrats did the same, the Curse lingered and created the Fair Ones, a group of beautiful, intelligent, and utterly amoral serial killers whose children were sane and powerful earthwitches. Fair Ones are identified by a foolproof birthmark, held in captivity as children, married and bred when they are of age at twenty-four, and summarily executed after the birth of one or two children. There is some evidence that Bihara and Vathaea are using the Danessa Curse to craft a new kind of Sirrithani.
Sleeper’s Triad: The aromatic mixture of gir-sap, dhava lily, and baneflower sacred to Vathaea, and known to be a ‘jamming’ device against traces of Illarhun sorcery and Dana soulbinders.
Snowdancer: Nickname of Sfassa, for her white fur and grace.
Sonnaroi: ‘Singing People’, a race of furred sapients who colonized Lonhra a million years ago.
Sorcery: ‘Magic’ derived from the Northwarden, open to any Sirrithani or Sonnaroi with a fairly strong blood-descent from one of the Northwarden’s children by their Consorts.
Soulbinder: Dana necromancers known for being able to communicate with spirits of the dead, and in some cases reanimate dead bodies by dragging the escaped soul back into it. Soulbinders are the reason why Sirrithani even in Eridan’s day cremate their dead as quickly as possible.
Southland: More properly called ‘Temalyn’, or First-Settled-Land, this is the largest continent on Lonhra, and the first colonized by Terran humans and Sirrithani.
Sparkfish: Inedible freshwater jungle fish that can release deadly electrical shocks from its sides.
Starfell: The large rolling plain between the Vale of Illarhun and the Connasi territory of the Brokenfell. Known for its iron meteorites.
Stormfang: Second-highest tower of Illarhun, home to the firewielder and lightning-summoning castes of sorcerers. While held in reserve as deterrents in Settlement Law conflicts, Stormfangers are most known for being the folks who wear fireproof suits and burn out old sewer systems so cities can restock their cesspits with fresh alachi cultures.
Stunbuck: A relative of the domesticated ‘deer’ of Lonhra, these large grazing animals travel in herds guarded by males who can send massive electrical charges down their extremely sharp antlers. Cannot be domesticated. A favorite and dangerous prey of Sonnaroi.
Suncrystal: This clear to milky mineral is mined in a few areas of Lonhra, and is capable of being ‘charged’ by the magic of an earthwitch or a sorcerer. The resulting glow can linger for decades before it needs charging again. Suncrystals charged by an earthwitch normally glow golden-yellow, but can turn blood-red in the direct or indirect presence of Vathaea. Suncrystals charged by Illarhun sorcerers glow pure white.
Suongha: Worldleaper goddess, ‘Clear-Sighted-Woman’, the most powerful after Vathaea. Known for prophecy, intuition, and vicious fighting.
Surna: First city of the Sirrithani, destroyed by the Dana in the first year of the Settlement War.
Survivors: The Sonnaroi/Terran human hybrids who survived the Settlement War, and built a group of domains along the far southeastern coast of the Southlands. Ruled by warrior queens, the Survivors are one of the few Sirrithani groups openly intermarrying with Sonnaroi tribes (along with Girshan, the Blackgrass, and later Braebihar).
Tame Seas: The wide channel separating the Northland from the Southland, and studded with volcanic tropical islands. Ruled from its largest island of Coralcrest, and a major player in trade.
Tamian: The legendary first Sonnaroi Lord Consort, who died in the act of freeing the Northwarden from their crystal prison. The Northwarden often takes Tamian’s form when dealing with Sonnaroi, but never looks into mirrored surfaces while wearing that shape.
Tari: Sirririthani Lady Consort and accountant best known for the founding of the Goldfang Cache, the most stable and power bank and currency system on Lonhra.
Tegaa: Worldleaper goddess also called Tracker for her skill in deciphering trail-sign, whether on a planet or out in interstellar space.
Tevren: ‘Darefate’, a prince of the Dana House Virandien, and rebel who rescued the Dana his brother Lantir marooned on the dying Dana homeworld. Reaching Lonhra with seven stolen spaceships, Tevren began a doomed attempt at creating a ‘pure’ Dana colony. Also known as Tevren of Roessa.
The Daw: A Sirrithani Lord Consort known for his low birth and thieving skills.
Three Packs, The: Three mortal races said to be engendered by the destruction of Fountain-of-Stars: Terran humans, the Dana, and the Sonnaroi.
Throng, Throngland: Large prosperous city-state along the western coast of the Southland. Its powerful earthwitches are traditionally ruled by a Witch-Queen.
Tilay: Sonnaroi woman, Sfassa’s elder sister and the Ae Rhun (matriarch) of the Braebihar clans.
Tradecaste: Sirrithani caste charged with trade and economic warfare and craftwork.
Tradelord: Female or male Sirrithani head of a city-state’s tradecaste.
Triple Throne: The black throne of the Northwarden, in Halaman’s Hall of Eastfang. This plain, wide bench has a single seat and three backs, the center with the Northwarden’s symbol of a raised sword, and the Consort’s seats flanking on either side.
Tsavau: Male Worldleaper known for his sensualism, also known as Lecher or Lovemaker.
Tsilono Autanqua: A rebel baroness of Throngland who allegedly sent assassins after Sfassa, after Eridan got involved in a dispute between serfs and overseers.
Twitchy; Sfassa’s childhood nickname among the Braebihar Sonnaroi.
Vadani Redmane: half-Sonnaroi crown princess of Danessa who turned her back on her Sonnaroi heritage.
Vakka: Worldleaper goddess charged with protecting the weak and fighting evil, her name means ‘Redjaw’.
Vathaea,or ‘Thaea: ‘Blood-Daughter’ the chief Power of the Worldleapers, and the main goddess of the Sonnaroi and Sirrithani. To pacify Lonhra’s Heart, Vathaea sleeps coiled around it in the center of the planet, keeping both of them asleep. She cannot appear in her own form for long on the surface world, so she invades dreams and takes the forms of people sleepers know and trust, or speaks through her mortal avatars called Fangs.
Wanderer: Perpetually young-adult Sonnaroi males, lighter in build and unarmored, who roam in packs through the wilderness between Sonnaroi women’s clans. Wanderers bring gossip, entertainment, and new bloodlines. Many are bisexual or staunchly homosexual. There are known women-wanderers, who Changed female but felt themselves innately male. They do not allow themselves to breed with their physically male companions, as that might doom the latter.
Waterwheat: Rust-red to dark-red Dana grain preferring to grow in freshwater swamps. Has a high protein and vitamin content, and is a prized foodstuff on Lonhra.
Witch-Queen: Highest-ranking and often most powerful earthwitch in the Thronglands.
Worldleapers: Also called Yscorra, immortal beings created by Fountain’s Daughters as companions and shock troops. Originally numbering in the thousands, they mostly chose mortality as the price for breeding new part-mortal Sonnaroi.
Yiroa Amu: Alchemist who sabotaged Eridan’s first Master-Singer contest, in vengeance against the master-craftsman Ladanoth of Omiesh. Yiroa later became a sworn citizen of Demuaira, and a respected scientist and engineer.
Zatha: Sonnaroi term for ungendered child.