Waffle bark—a deciduous, nut-bearing native Safeholdian tree with an extremely rough, shaggy bark.
War Against the Fallen—the portion of Shan-wei’s War falling between the destruction of the Alexandria Enclave and the final reconsolidation of the Church’s authority.
Wing warrior—the traditional title of a blooded warrior of one of the Raven Lords clans. It is normally shortened to “wing” when used as a title or an honorific.
Wire vine—a kudzu-like vine native to Safehold. Wire vine isn’t as fast-growing as kudzu, but it’s equally tenacious, and unlike kudzu, several of its varieties have long, sharp thorns. Unlike many native Safeholdian plant species, it does quite well intermingled with terrestrial imports. It is often used as a sort of combination hedgerow and barbed-wire fence by Safehold farmers.
Wolf (1)—a Safeholdian predator which lives and hunts in packs and has many of the same social characteristics as the terrestrial species of the same name. It is warm-blooded but oviparous and larger than an Old Earth wolf, with adult males averaging between two hundred and two hundred and twenty-five pounds.
Wolf (2)—a generic term for shipboard artillery pieces with a bore of less than two inches and a shot weighing one pound or less. They are primarily antipersonnel weapons but can also be effective against boats and small craft.
Wyvern—the Safeholdian ecological analogue of terrestrial birds. There are as many varieties of wyverns as there are birds, including (but not limited to) the homing or messenger wyvern, hunting wyverns suitable for the equivalent of hawking for small prey, the crag wyvern (a flying predator with a wingspan of ten feet), various species of sea wyverns, and the king wyvern (a very large flying predator with a wingspan of up to twenty-five feet). All wyverns have two pairs of wings, and one pair of powerful, clawed legs. The king wyvern has been known to take children as prey when desperate or when the opportunity presents, but they are quite intelligent. They know that humans are a prey best left alone and generally avoid inhabited areas.
Wyvernry—a nesting place or breeding hatchery for domesticated wyverns.
Zhyahngdu Academy—perhaps the most renowned school for sculptors in all of Safehold, located at the port city of Zhyahngdu in the Tiegelkamp Province of North Harchong. It dates back to the days of the War Against the Fallen and has trained and produced the Church of God Awaiting’s finest sculptors for almost nine hundred Safeholdian years.
The Archangels:
Archangel
Sphere of Authority
Symbol
Langhorne
law and life
scepter
Bédard
wisdom and knowledge
lamp
Pasquale
healing and medicine
caduceus
Sóndheim
agronomy and farming
grain sheaf
Truscott
animal husbandry
horse
Schueler
justice
sword
Jwo-jeng
acceptable technology
flame
Chihiro (1)
history
quill pen
Chihiro (2)
guardian
sword
Andropov
good fortune
dice
Hastings
geography
draftman’s compass
Fallen Archangel
Sphere of Authority
Shan-wei
mother of evil/evil ambition
Kau-yung
destruction
Proctor
temptation/forbidden knowledge
Sullivan
gluttony
Ascher
lies
Grimaldi
pestilence
Stavraki
avarice
The Church of God Awaiting’s Hierarchy:
Ecclesiastic rank
Distinguishing color
Clerical ring/set
Grand Vicar
dark blue
sapphire with rubies
Vicar
orange
sapphire
Archbishop
white and orange
ruby
Bishop executor
white
ruby
Bishop
white
ruby
Auxiliary bishop
green and white
ruby
Upper-priest
green
plain gold (no stone)
Priest
brown
none
Under-priest
brown
none
Sexton
brown
none
Clergy who do not belong to a specific order wear cassocks entirely in the color of their rank. Auxiliary bishops’ cassocks are green with narrow trim bands of white. Archbishops’ cassocks are white, but trimmed in orange. Clergy who belong to one of the ecclesiastical orders (see below) wear habits (usually of patterns specific to each order) in the order’s colors but with the symbol of their order on the right breast, badged in the color of their priestly rank. In formal vestments, the pattern is reversed; that is, their vestments are in the colors of their priestly ranks and the order’s symbol is the color of their order. All members of the clergy habitually wear either cassocks or the habits of their orders. The headgear is a three-cornered “priest’s cap” almost identical to the eighteenth century’s tricornes. The cap is black for anyone under the rank of vicar. Under-priests’ and priests’ bear brown cockades. Auxiliary bishops bear green cockades. Bishops’ and bishop executors’ bear white cockades. Archbishops’ bear white cockades with a broad, dove-tailed orange ribbon at the back. Vicars’ priests’ caps are of orange with no cockade or ribbon, and the Grand Vicar’s cap is white with an orange cockade.
All clergy of the Church of God Awaiting are affiliated with one or more of the great ecclesiastic orders, but not all are members of those orders. Or it might, perhaps, be more accurate to say that not all are full members of their orders. Every ordained priest is automatically affiliated with the order of the bishop who ordained him and (in theory, at least) owes primary obedience to that order. Only members of the clergy who have taken an order’s vows are considered full members or brethren/sisters of that order, however. (Note: there are no female priests in the Church of God Awaiting, but women may attain high ecclesiastic rank in one of the orders.) Only full brethren or sisters of an order may attain to rank within that order, and only members of one of the great orders are eligible for elevation to the vicarate.
The great orders of the Church of God Awaiting, in order of precedence and power, are:
The Order of Schueler, which is primarily concerned with the enforcement of Church doctrine and theology. The Grand Inquisitor, who is automatically a member of the Council of Vicars, is always the head of the Order of Schueler. Schuelerite ascendency within the Church has been steadily increasing for over two hundred years, and the order is clearly the dominant power in the Church hierarchy today. The order’s color is purple, and its symbol is a sword.
The Order of Langhorne is technically senior to the Order of Schueler, but has lost its primacy in every practical sense. The Order of Langhorne provides the Church’s jurists, and since Church law supersedes secular law throughout Safehold that means all jurists and lawgivers (lawyers) are either members of the order or must be vetted and approved by the order. At one time, that gave the Langhornites unquestioned primacy, but the Schuelerites have relegated the order of Langhorne to a primarily administrative role, and the head of the order lost his mandatory seat on the Council of Vicars several generations back (in the Year of God 810). Needless to say, there’s a certain tension between the Schuelerites and the Langhornites. The Order of Langhorne’s color is black, and its symbol is a scepter.