Berenet: Formerly the second of Mendark's chief lieutenants, now allied to Thyllan.

Blase: One of Tensor's Aachim hand.

Blending: A child of the union between two of the four different human species. Blendings are rare, and often deranged, but can have remarkable talents.

Booreah Ngurle: The burning mountain, or fiery mountain, a volcanic peak in the forests east of Almadin. The Charon once had a stronghold there.

Calendar: Santhenar's year is roughly 395.7 days and contains twelve months, each of thirty-three days.

Calliat: A philosopher and mystic of ancient times. See Forty-Nine Chrighms.

Carcharon: A walled tower built on a rugged ridge high above Gothryme Forest. It was constructed by Karan's mad ancestor Basunez at a node where the Secret Art was especially powerful.

Chacalot: A large water-dwelling reptile, somewhat resembling a crocodile.

Chanthed: A town in northern Meldorin, in the foothills of the mountains. The College of the Histories is situated there.

Chard: A kind of tea.

Charon: One of the four human species, the master people of the world of Aachan. They fled out of the void to take Aachan from the Aachim, and took their name from a frigid moonlet at the furthest extremity of the void. They have strange eyes, indigo or carmine, or sometimes both together, depending on the light.

Chronicler: A historian. A graduate in the art and science of recording and maintaining the Histories.

Citadel: The Magister's palace in Thurkad, an enormous fortified building of baroque extravagance.

Clatcher: A kind of crayfish.

Cloak, cloaked: To disguise oneself by means of illusion.

Clysm: A series of wars between the Charon and the Aachim beginning around 1500 years ago, resulting in the almost total devastation of Santhenar.

College of the Histories: The oldest of the colleges for the instruction of those who would be chroniclers or tellers of the Histories, or even lowly bards or king's singers. It was set up at Chanthed soon after the time of the Forbidding.

Compulsion: A form of the Secret Art; a way of forcing someone to do something against their will.

Conclave: A forum held in Thurkad to resolve some crisis. It is arbitrated by the Just, a selected group of judges or high officials. The last Conclave was held to resolve the ownership of the Mirror, but Tensor used his potency, laid everyone low and stole it.

Construct: A machine at least partly powered by the Secret Art.

Council; also Council of Iagador, Council of Santhenar, Great Council, High Council: An alliance of the powerful. With the Aachim it made the Nightland and cast Rulke into it. After that it had two purposes-to continue the great project and to maintain the watch upon Rulke.

Crandor: A rich, tropical land on the north-eastern side of Lauralin. Tallia's homeland.

Dolodha: A messenger girl; one of Yggur's servants. Dunnet: A secluded land within Elludore Forest.

Elienor: A great heroine of the Aachim from the time when the Charon invaded Aachan.

Elludore: A large forested land, north and west of Thurkad.

Emmant: A half-Aachim, librarian at Shazmak, who conceived a violent lust for Karan and attacked her. She killed him in Thurkad.

Faelamor: Leader of the Faellem species who came to Santhenar soon after Rulke, to keep watch on the Charon and maintain the balance between the worlds. Maigraith's liege.

Faellem: The human species who inhabit the world of Tallallame. They are a small, dour people who are forbidden to use machines and particularly magical devices, but are masters of disguise and illusion. Faelamor's band were trapped on Santh by the Forbidding, and constantly search for a way home.

Farsh: A mild obscenity.

Festival of Chanthed: An annual festival held in Chanthed in the autumn, at which the Histories are told by the masters and students of the College.

Fiz Gorgo: A fortress city in Orist, flooded in ancient times, now restored; the stronghold of Yggur.

Flute; also golden flute: A device made in Aachan at the behest of Rulke, by the genius smith Shuthdar. It was subsequently stolen by him and taken back to Santhenar. When used by one who is sensitive, it could be used to open the Way between the Worlds. It was destroyed by Shuthdar at the time of the Forbidding.

Forbidding: See Tale of the Forbidding.

Forty-Nine Chrighms of Calliat: A series of linked enigmas and paradoxes so complex that, thirteen hundred years after Calliat's death, only one had been solved. Maigraith has recently solved many of them.

Fyrn: The family name of Karan of Bannador, from her mother's side.

Gah: An insulting term for one of the old human species, who are generally considered to be inferiors.

Galardil: A forested land, east of Orist.

Galliad: Karan's father, who was half-Aachim. He was killed when Karan was a child.

Gannel: A river beginning near Chanthed and flowing through the mountains to the sea at Ganport.

Garr, Garrflood: The largest river in Meldorin. It arises to the west of Shazmak and runs to the Sea of Thurkad east of Sith.

Gate: A structure controlled by the Secret Art, which permits people to move instantly from one place to another. Also called a portal.

Gellon: A fruit tasting something between a mango and a peach.

Ghashad: The ancient, mortal enemies of the Aachim. They were corrupted and swore allegiance to Rulke after the Zain rebelled two thousand years ago, but when Rulke was put in the Nightland a thousand years later they forgot their destiny and took a new name, Whelm. Roused by Rulke through Karan's link to Maigraith, they became Ghashad again and sacked Shazmak just before the Conclave.

Gift of Rulke; also Curse of Rulke: Knowledge given by Rulke to the Zain, enhancing their resistance to the mind-breaking potencies of the Aachim. It left stigmata that identified them as Zain.

Glass: Colloquial term for the Mirror of Aachan.

Gothryme: Karan's impoverished manor near Tolryme in Bannador.

Graspers: Moneylenders.

Great Betrayer: Rulke.

Great Library: Founded at Zile by the Zain in the time of the Empire of Zur. The library was sacked when the Zain were exiled, but was subsequently re-established. Its current librarian is Nadiril the Sage.

Great Mountains: The largest and highest belt of mountains on Santhenar, enclosing the southeastern part of the continent of Lauralin.

Great Project: A way sought by the Council to banish the Charon from Santh forever.

Great Tales: The greatest stories from the Histories of Santhenar; traditionally told at the Festival of Chanthed and on important ceremonial occasions throughout Santhenar. A tale can become a Great Tale only by the unanimous decision of the master chroniclers. In four thousand years only twenty-two Great Tales have ever been made.

Grint: A copper coin of small value.

Gyllias: The Recorder.

Hakasha-ka-najisska: A forbidden potency (mind-blasting spell) developed by the Aachim against the Charon. Zain carrying the Gift of Rulke are immune to it.

Hassien: Pender's wife, who left him in Sith.

Havissard: Yalkara's abandoned stronghold near Tar Gaarn. Havissard is protected by a mighty spell and has not been entered since Yalkara's departure three hundred years ago.

Hennia: A Zain. She was a member of the Council of Iagador.

Hintis: An Aachim who was killed in Katazza. He was a friend of Basitor's.

Histories, The: The vast collection of records which tell more than four thousand years of recorded history on Santhenar. The Histories consist of historical documents written or held by the chroniclers, as well as the tales, songs, legends and lore of the peoples of Santhenar and the invading peoples from the other worlds, told by the tellers. The culture of Santhenar is interwoven with and inseparable from the Histories and the most vital longing anyone can have is to be mentioned in them.

Hlune: The lanky people who rule the wharf city of Thurkad and control all ship-borne commerce there.

Hornrace: An impassable chasm linking the Seas of Thurkad and Qwale with the Dry Sea. An unimaginable torrent flows down it and over the Trihorn Falls into the Dry Sea, to disappear without trace in that arid waste. The Hornrace was once spanned by the Aachim's glorious Rainbow Bridge.

Huling's Tower: The place where Shuthdar destroyed the golden flute.

Human species: There are four distinct human species: the Aachim of Aachan, the Faellem of Tallallame, the old humans of Santhenar and the Charon who came out of the void. All but old humans can be very long-lived. Matings between the different species rarely produce children (see blending).

Hythe: Mid-winter's day, the fourth day of endre, mid-winter week. Hythe is a day of particular ill-omen.

Iagador: The land that lies between the mountains and the Sea of Thurkad.

Idlis: Formerly the least of the Whelm, also a healer and longtime hunter of Karan and the Mirror. He became Ghashad and went to Shazmak.

Jark-un: The leader of a band of the Whelm, once rival to Vartila, but now a Ghashad. Unlike others of his kind, he is short and stout.

Jepperand: A province on the western side of the mountains of Crandor. Home to the Zain; Llian's birthplace.

Jevi (Jevander): Lilis's father, taken by a press-gang seven years ago.

Kandor: One of the three Charon who came to Santhenar. He was killed sometime after the end of the Clysm, the only Charon to die on Santh.

Karama Malama: The Sea of Mists, south of the Sea of Thurkad.

Karan: A woman of the house of Fym, but with blood of the Aachim from her father, Galliad, and old human and Faellem blood from her mother. This makes her triune. She is also a sensitive and lives at Gothryme. Karan helped Maigraith to steal the Mirror of Aachan from Fiz Gorgo, and escaped to try to take it to Faelamor. She has been pursued ever since.

Katazza: A fortified city built by Kandor in ancient times. It was constructed on top of a volcanic mountain on Katazza Island, and was the capital of Kandor's empire of Perion, before the Sea of Perion became the Dry Sea. Katazza was abandoned after Kandor's death.

Lake Neid: A lake in the swamp forest near Fiz Gorgo, where the half-submerged ruins of the town of Neid are found.

Lar: A honorific used in Thurkad.

Lasee: A pale-yellow brewed drink, mildly intoxicating, and ubiquitous in Orist; fermented from the sweet sap of the sard tree.

Lauralin: The continent east of the Sea of Thurkad. League: About 5000 paces, three miles or five kilometers.

Librarian: Nadiril the Sage. He is also a member of the Council of Iagador.

Library of the Histories: The famous library at the College of the Histories in Chanthed.

Lightglass: A device made of crystal and metal that emits light after being touched.

Lilis: A street urchin and guide in Thurkad, whose father Jevi was press-ganged.

Link, linking; also talent of linking: A joining of minds, by which thoughts and feelings can be shared, and support given. Sometimes used for domination.

Llian: A Zain from Jepperand. He is a master chronicler and a teller of the Great Tales. A great student of the Histories.

Magister: A mancer and chief of the Council. Mendark has been Magister for a thousand years, save for a brief period when illegally overthrown by Thyllan. After the Conclave he escaped from Thurkad to Zile, and then led his party to Katazza.

Maigraith: An orphan brought up and trained by Faelamor for some unknown purpose. She is a master of the Secret Art. After the Conclave she became Yggur's lover, though the liaison was not entirely successful.

Malien: An Aachim; Rael's mother, once consort of Tensor. After Tensor's rebellion in Katazza she took over leadership of the Aachim.

Mancer: A wizard or sorcerer; someone who is a master of the Secret Art. Also necromanter.

Mantille: An Aachim; Karan's paternal grandmother.

Master chronicler: One who has mastered the study of the Histories and graduated with highest honor from the College.

Master of Chanthed: Currently Wistan; the Master of the College of the Histories is also nominal leader of Chanthed.

Meldorin: The large island that lies to the immediate west of the Sea of Thurkad and the continent of Lauralin.

Mendark: Magister of the Council of Iagador, until thrown down by Thyllan. A mancer of strength and subtlety, though lately insecure due to the rise of his longtime enemy, Yggur.

Mirror of Aachan: A device made by the Aachim in Aachan for seeing things at a distance. In Santhenar it changed and twisted reality and so the Aachim hid it away. It also developed a memory, retaining the imprints of things it had seen. Stolen by Yalkara, the Mirror was used by her to find a warp in the Forbidding and escape back to Aachan. After the Conclave, Tensor stole it, took it to Katazza and in it found the secret of making gates.

Moon: The moon revolves around Santhenar about every thirty days. However one side (the dark face) is blotched red and black by volcanic activity, and because the moon rotates on its axis much more slowly, the dark face is fully turned toward Santh only every couple of months. This rarely coincides with a full moon but when it does, it is a time of ill-omen.

Nadiril: The head of the Great Library and a member of the Council. Nadiril took on Lilis as his apprentice after she came to Zile with Mendark and Tallia.

Narne: A town and port at the navigable extremity of the Garr.

Nazhak tel Mardux: A book of Aachim tales that Llian committed to memory in Shazmak. Also called Tales of the Aachim.

Nightland: A place, distant from the world of reality, wherein Rulke was kept prisoner. Rulke used the power of his city-construct Alcifer in an attempt to break the Forbidding, but it failed. The Council used the Proscribed Experiments to force Rulke into a bubble formed out of the wall of the Forbidding, then collapsed it to form the unbreakable prison of the Nightland. In Katazza, Tensor made a gate into the Nightland to drag Rulke forth and revenge himself upon him, but only succeeded in letting Rulke out.

Nilkerrand: A fortified city across the sea from Thurkad. Thyllan's refuge, from which he raised an army to invade Thurkad.