Arrin-thar: a rare form of armed combat using clawed gantlets
Ashe: a haunt singer
Awclass="underline" a senior Randir officer
Bane: guards the Book Bound in Pale Leather and the Ivory Knife; half-brother to Jame; may be alive or dead
Bark: Gorbel’s servant
Barrier, the: a wall of mist between Rathillien and Perimal Darkling
Bashti: an ancient kingdom paired with Hathir on either side of the River Silver
Bear: a randon who was brain-damaged by an axe during the battle of the White Hills; Commandant Sheth’s older brother
Beauty: a darkling crawler (see wyrm)
Bel-tairi: Kinzi’s Whinno-hir mare, sister to Brithany, also called the White Lady and the Shame of Tentir
Bender: brother of Tirandys
blood-binder: a Shanir able to control anyone who tastes his or her blood
bone-kin: distant kin, as opposed to blood-kin
Book Bound in Pale Leather, the: a compendium of runes; one of the three objects of power lost during the Fall
booclass="underline" a copper coin from Hurlen
Bran: a Brandan randon
Brant: Lord Brandan of Falkirr
Breakneck Rock: a rock jutting out over Tentir’s favorite swimming hole
Brenwyr: sister of Brant; the Brandan Matriarch, also known as the Iron Matriarch; a maledight
Brier Iron-thorn: a Kendar cadet, formerly Caineron, now Knorth; second in command (or Five) of Jame’s ten
Brithany: a Whinno-hir and matriarch of the herd; Adric’s mount, granddam of Torisen’s war-horse Storm
Builders, the: a mysterious, now extinct race of architects who built temples for the Three-Faced God on threshold worlds
Burnt Man, the: one of the Four who present Rathillien; an avenger linked to fire
Burr: Kendar friend and servant of Torisen
Caldane: Lord Caineron of Restormir
Cataracts, the: site of a great battle between the Kencyr Host and the Waster Horde
Chain of Creation: a series of overlapping worlds, each the threshold to a different dimension
Chaos Serpents: vast serpents under the earth whose writhing creates earthquakes
changers: Kencyr who fell with the Master and, through mating with the shadows of Perimal Darkling, have gained the ability to shape-shift
Cherry: an Edirr cadet
Chun of the Soft Furs: a Merikit trapper
Chingetai: the Merikit chief
Cleppetty: a friend of Jame’s in Tai-tastigon; housekeeper at an inn called the Res aB’tyrr
Cloud: Commandant Sheth’s war-horse
Corrudin: Lord Caldane’s uncle and chief advisor
Corvine: a Randir sargent, formerly a Knorth Oath-breaker
Cron: a Knorth Kendar
crown jewel-jaws: a kind of carrion-eating butterfly that can camouflage itself
Dally: a young male friend of Jame in Tai-tastigon
Damson: a new cadet in Jame’s ten-command
Dar: a Knorth cadet, one of Jame’s ten-command
Dari: an Ardeth cadet
Dark Judge: an Arrin-ken allied to the Third Face of God, That-Which-Destroys, also to the Burnt Man
darkling crawler: a wyrm, or very large creepy-crawly with a poisonous bite
Darkwyr sign: a gesture made to avert evil
death banners: tapestry portraits of the dead woven of threads taken from the clothes in which they died
Death’s-head: a rogue rathorn, also the name adopted by the rathorn colt whose mother Jame killed
d’hen: a knife-fighter’s jacket, with one tight sleeve and one full, reinforced with steel mesh, to turn attacker’s blade
direhounds: savage hunting dogs with black legs and head, white body
Drie: an Ardeth cadet in Timmon’s ten-command, also a Falconeer
dreamscape: as with the soulscape, Kencyr dreams can touch, even overlap. However, on this superficial level one can only observe and sometimes communicate, not act.
Dure: a Caineron cadet in Gorbel’s ten-command, also a Falconeer
dwar: a forced sleep that promotes healing
Earth Wife, the: also known as Mother Ragga; fertility goddess representing the earth
Earth Wife’s Favorite: a role in a Merikit rite, usually undertaken by a young man who acts as the Earth Wife’s lover while pretending to be her son
East Kenshold: a Kencyr border keep on the Eastern Sea
Eaten One, the: one of the Four; represents water
Ebonbane, the: the mountain range that separates the Eastern Lands from the Central Lands
Erim: a Knorth cadet; one of Jame’s ten-command
Escarpment, the: three-hundred-foot-tall cliffs on the northern edge of the Southern Wastes
Falconer, the: the blind master of hawks at Tentir, who also teaches all Shanir with the ability to bond to other creatures
Falconeer: one of the Falconer’s class
Fall, the: some 3000 years ago, the current Highlord, Gerridon, betrayed his people when promised immortality by Perimal Darkling. This caused the Kencyrath’s flight to Rathillien.
Falling Man, the: one of the Four; represents air
Fash: one of Gorbel’s ten-command
Four, the: Rathillien’s elemental powers, represented by the Eaten One (water), the Falling Man (air), the Earth Wife (earth), and the Burnt Man (fire) real people who suddenly at the point of death found themselves gods due to the activation of the Kencyr temples
fungit: a silver coin from the Central Lands, often struck with curses
Ganth Gray Lord: the former Highlord; Jame and Torisen’s father
Gari: a Coman cadet, bonded to insects
Gen: a board game of strategy
Geof: Lord Brandan’s one-armed servant
Gerraint: father of Ganth
Gerridon: twin of Jamethiel Dream-weaver, also known as the Master, who as Highlord betrayed the Kencyrath to Perimal Darkling in return for immortality; see the Fall
Ghilclass="underline" a Knorth Kendar, son of Merry and Cron
Gorbeclass="underline" present Caineron Lordan
Gran Cyd: the queen of the Merikit
Gray Land: where the unburnt Kencyr dead walk
Graykin: Jame’s servant; Caldane’s Southron, bastard half-caste son
Greshan Greed-heart: Knorth Lordan before Jame, uncle to Jame, brother to Ganth
Grimly Holt, the: wood on the edge of the Great Weald where Grimly’s pack lives
Hallick Hard-hand: Knorth commander during time of Greshan; father of Harn
Harn Grip-hard: Torisen’s randon friend and war-leader, a former commandant of Tentir, also a berserker who fears that he is losing control
Hatch: a Merikit boy
Hathir: an ancient kingdom paired with Bashti on either side of River Silver
Haunted Lands, the: land north of Tai-tastigon, under the influence of Perimal Darkling, where Jame and Torisen were born during their father’s exile
haunts: anything that has been tainted by the Haunted Lands and is therefore neither quite dead nor quite alive; usually mindless