ASP—Artillery Support Party, the term used to describe teams of ICA officers and noncoms specially trained to call for and coordinate artillery support. ASPs may be attached at any level, from the division down to the company or even platoon, and are equipped with heliographs, signal flags, runners, and/or messenger wyverns.
Bahnyta—the name Seijin Kohdy assigned to his hikousen.
Band—the AoG and Harchongese equivalent of an army corps. The word “corps” itself can’t be used because of the Inquisition’s opposition to the adoption of that “heresy-tainted” term.
Blink lizard—a small, bioluminescent winged lizard. Although it’s about three times the size of a firefly, it fills much the same niche on Safehold.
Blue leaf—a woody, densely growing native Safeholdian tree or shrub very similar to mountain laurel. It bears white or yellow flowers in season and takes its name from the waxy blue cast of its leaves.
Bombsweeper—the Imperial Charisian Navy’s name for a minesweeper.
Borer—a form of Safeholdian shellfish which attaches itself to the hulls of ships or the timbers of wharves by boring into them. There are several types of borer: the most destructive of which continually eat their way deeper into any wooden structure, whereas some less destructive varieties eat only enough of the structure to anchor themselves and actually form a protective outer layer which gradually builds up a coral-like surface. Borers and rot are the two most serious threats (aside, of course, from fire) to wooden hulls.
Briar berries—any of several varieties of native Safeholdian berries which grow on thorny bushes.
Cat-lizard—furry lizard about the size of a terrestrial cat. They are kept as pets and are very affectionate.
Catamount—a smaller version of the Safeholdian slash lizard. The catamount is very fast and smarter than its larger cousin, which means it tends to avoid humans. It is, however, a lethal and dangerous hunter in its own right.
Chamberfruit—a native Safeholdian plant similar to a terrestrial calabash gourd. The chamberfruit is grown both as a food source and as a naturally produced container. There are several varieties of chamberfruit, and one common use for it is in the construction of foamstone pipes for smoking.
Cherrybean tea—a “tea” made from the beans (seeds) of the cherrybean tree, especially favored in Emerald and Tarot and a highly esteemed luxury in North Harchong and the Temple Lands, although its expense limits it to a very wealthy group of consumers.
Cherrybean tree—the Safeholdian name for coffee trees. There is only one variety on Safehold, a version of robusta genetically engineered to survive in a wider range of climates. The cherrybean tree is still limited to a fairly narrow belt of equatorial and near equatorial Safehold because of the planet’s lower average temperatures.
Chewleaf—a mildly narcotic leaf from a native Safeholdian plant. It is used much as terrestrial chewing tobacco over much of the planet’s surface.
Choke tree—a low-growing species of tree native to Safehold. It comes in many varieties and is found in most of the planet’s climate zones. It is dense-growing, tough, and difficult to eradicate, but it requires quite a lot of sunlight to flourish, which means it is seldom found in mature old-growth forests.
Church of Charis—the schismatic church which split from the Church of God Awaiting following the Group of Four’s effort to destroy the Kingdom of Charis.
Church of God Awaiting—the church and religion created by the command staff of Operation Ark to control the colonists and their descendants and prevent the reemergence of advanced technology.
Cliff bear—a Safeholdian mammal which somewhat resembles a terrestrial grizzly bear crossed with a raccoon. It has the facial “mask” markings of a raccoon and round, marsupial ears. Unlike terrestrial bears, however, cliff bears are almost exclusively carnivorous.
Cliff lizard—a six-limbed, oviparous mammal native to Safehold. Male cliff lizards average between one hundred and fifty and two hundred and fifty pounds in weight and fill much the same niche as bighorn mountain sheep.
Commentaries, The—the authorized interpretations and doctrinal expansions upon the Holy Writ. They represent the officially approved and Church-sanctioned interpretation of the original Scripture.
Composition D—The Charisian name for TNT.
Cotton silk—a plant native to Safehold which shares many of the properties of silk and cotton. It is very lightweight and strong, but the raw fiber comes from a plant pod which is even more filled with seeds than Old Earth cotton. Because of the amount of hand labor required to harvest and process the pods and to remove the seeds from it, cotton silk is very expensive.
Council of Vicars—the Church of God Awaiting’s equivalent of the College of Cardinals.
Course lizard—one of several species of very fast, carnivorous lizards bred and trained to run down prey. Course lizard breeds range in size from the Tiegelkamp course lizard, somewhat smaller than a terrestrial greyhound, to the Gray Wall course lizard, with a body length of over five feet and a maximumn weight of close to two hundred and fifty pounds.
Crusher serpent—a huge Safeholdian predator roughly analogous to a boa constrictor. Crusher serpents are warm blooded, which better suits them to Safehold’s colder climate, and can reach lengths of up to sixty feet. They are ambush hunters which prefer flight to fight in threat situations, and they can sometimes be faced down even by relatively small prey animals. Nonetheless, they are fearsome foes if cornered and have been known to take down even adolescent slash lizards.
Dagger thorn—a native Charisian shrub, growing to a height of perhaps three feet at maturity, which possesses knife-edged thorns from three to seven inches long, depending upon the variety.
Dandelion—the Safeholdian dandelion grows to approximately twice the size of the Terrestrial plant for which it is named but is otherwise extremely similar in appearance and its seeds disperse in very much the same fashion.
De Castro marble—a densely swirled, rosy marble from the de Castro Mountains of North Harchong which is prized by sculptors, especially for religious and Church art.
Decrees of Schueler—the codified internal directives, regulations, and procedure manual of the Office of the Inqusition.
Deep-mouth wyvern—the Safeholdian equivalent of a pelican.
Doomwhale—the most dangerous predator of Safehold, although, fortunately, it seldom bothers with anything as small as humans. Doomwhales have been known to run to as much as one hundred feet in length, and they are pure carnivores. Each doomwhale requires a huge range, and encounters with them are rare, for which human beings are just as glad, thank you. Doomwhales will eat anything … including the largest krakens. They have been known, on extremely rare occasions, to attack merchant ships and war galleys.