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Nine Maize—A major court poet at the court of His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction.

Nine Propulsion—The current Minister of War.

Nine Shuttle—The planetary governor of Odile-1, recently reinstated after an uprising.

Nineteen Adze—She Whose Gracious Presence Illuminates the Room Like the Edgeshine of a Knife, one of Six Direction’s ezuazuacatlim, formerly a member of the Teixcalaanli fleet.

Ninety AlloyA Teixcalaanli holoproduction, episodic. Military romance.

North Tlachtli—A neighborhood in Inmost Province.

Odile—A Teixcalaanli planetary system which has recently been the site of insurrection and unrest.

One Conifer—A Teixcalaanli citizen, employed by the Central Travel Authority Northeast Division.

One Granite—The legendary first ezuazuacat to the First Emperor.

One Lightning—A yaotlek of the Teixcalaanli fleet, much acclaimed by his soldiers, in the service of His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction.

One Skyhook—A renowned Teixcalaanli poet, often taught in schools.

One Telescope—An ezuazuacat from approximately two hundred years ago. A statue of her stands in the central transport hub for Inmost Province, commemorating her achievements.

osmium—A valuable metal, often found in asteroids. One of the exports of Lsel Station.

Parzrawantlak Sector—The Teixcalaanli pronunciation of Bardzravand Sector.

patrician (first-, second-, or third-class)—Ranks at the Teixcalaanli court, primarily representative of personal salaries received from the imperial treasury.

Petrichor-5—A large democratic multisystem political actor near Bardzravand Sector.

Poplar Province—One of the more distant provinces from Inmost Province; an ocean-crossing away.

Pseudo-Thirteen River—The unknown author of The Expansion History, who used the name Thirteen River despite not being the Minister of the Judiciary of that name whose treatises on retributive justice are still taught in Teixcalaanli law schools.

Red Flowerbuds for Thirty RibbonA Teixcalaanli romance novel.

Ring Two—A designation for provinces in the City which are more than three hundred but less than six hundred miles from the palace. Information Ministry slang.

Secret History of the Emperors, TheA famous (and salacious) anonymous account of the lives of many Teixcalaanli emperors. Often updated. Never imitated.

Seven Chrysoprase—A newscaster, employed by Channel Eight!

Seven Scale—A junior aide to Her Excellency the ezuazuacat Nineteen Adze.

shocksticks—An electricity-based weapon, primarily used for crowd control on Teixcalaan.

Shrja Torel—A citizen of Lsel Station. Mahit Dzmare’s friend.

Six Direction—His Brilliance the Reigning Emperor of All Teixcalaan.

Six Helicopter—A Teixcalaanli bureaucrat.

Six Outreaching Palms—The colloquial (or poetic) name for the Ministry of War; so named for the reaching out of hands in every direction (north, south, west, east, up, and down) which is the hallmark of Teixcalaanli conquest theory.

Sunlit, the—The police force of the City.

Svava—A small independent multiplanetary state near Bardzravand Sector.

Teixcalaan—The Empire, the world, coextensive with the known universe. (Adjectival form: Teixcalaanli; a person who is a citizen of Teixcalaan is a Teixcalaanlitzlim.)

Teixcalaanli—The language spoken in Teixcalaan.

Ten Pearl—The current Minister of Science.

Thirteen Penknife—A Teixcalaanli poet.

Thirty Larkspur—He Who Drowns the World in Blooms, one of Six Direction’s ezuazuacatlim, formerly a scion of a major merchant family from the Western Arc.

Thirty-Six All-Terrain Tundra Vehicle—A Teixcalaanli citizen.

Three Lamplight—A member of the Information Ministry.

Three Nasturtium—A Teixcalaanli citizen, Central Traffic Control Supervisor at Inmost Province Spaceport.

Three Perigee—A historical Teixcalaanli Emperor.

Three Seagrass—A member of the Information Ministry, cultural liaison to Mahit Dzmare, the Lsel Ambassador.

Three Sumac—A Fleet Captain of the Twenty-Sixth Legion in the Teixcalaanli fleet.

tlaxlauimA certified accountant or financial professional in Teixcalaan.

Tsagkel Ambak—A negotiator and diplomat from Lsel Station; formalized the Station’s current treaty with the Teixcalaanli Empire.

Twelve Azalea—A member of the Information Ministry. A friend to Three Seagrass.

Twelve Solar-Flare—A historical Teixcalaanli Emperor, who first discovered Parzrawantlak Sector, and thus Lsel Station.

Twenty Sunsets IlluminatedThe flagship of yaotlek One Lightning.

Twenty-Four Rose—A Teixcalaanli author of travel guidebooks.

Twenty-Nine Bridge—The current Keeper of the Imperial Inkstand, serving His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction.

Twenty-Nine Infograph—A member of the Judiciary Ministry.

Twenty-Two Graphite—An aide to Her Excellency the ezuazuacat Nineteen Adze.

Two Amaranth—A historical ezuazuacat, serving the Emperor Twelve Solar-Flare.

Two Calendar—A major court poet at the court of His Brilliance the Emperor Six Direction.

Two Cartograph—The son of Five Agate. Six years old.

Two Lemon—A Teixcalaanli citizen.

Two Rosewood—The current Minister for Information.

Two Sunspot—A historical Teixcalaanli Emperor who negotiated peace with the Ebrekti.

Vardza Ndun—A pilot on Lsel Station, now an imago held by the pilot Jirpardz.

Western Arc—An important and wealthy sector of Teixcalaan, home to major merchant concerns.

xauitlA flower.

yaotlekA military rank in the Teixcalaanli fleet; commander of at least one legion, appointed for a purpose or for a long-running multilegionary campaign.

Yskandr Aghavn—The former Ambassador to Teixcalaan from Lsel Station.

On the pronunciation and writing system of the Teixcalaanli language

The Teixcalaanli language is logosyllabic, written in “glyphs.” These individual glyphs represent both free and bound morphemes. Teixcalaanli glyphs also can represent phonetic sounds, usually derived from an initial morpheme’s pronunciation which has lost its meaning and become purely phonetic. Due to the logosyllabic nature of Teixcalaanli, double and triple meanings are easily created in both verbal and written texts. Individual glyphs can function as visual puns or have suggestions of meaning unrelated to their precise morphemic use. Such wordplay—both visual and aural—is central to the literary arts of the Empire.