Bombast: A barrel-shaped explosive weapon hurled by a catapult.
Bondy, Lord: The lord of Castle Swire.
Caitsthe: The most powerful and savage of all shifters, a cat or cat-man, seven feet tall, which can heal wounds quickly by partial shifting. The one sure way to kill a caitsthe is by burning its twin livers on a fire fuelled with powdered lead.
Carr of Caldees: A provincial leader at the peace conference.
Castle Rebroff: The strongest fortress north of Lake Fumerous, held by Lyf’s greatest general, Rochlis.
Caulderon: The capital city of Hightspall, on the south-eastern shore of Lake Fumerous. Caulderon was built on the site of the Cythian city of Lucidand, which the Hightspallers largely tore down.
Caverns, the: The uncanny chambers deep below Precipitous Crag where Lyf’s wrythen dwelt and plotted for almost two thousand years after his death.
Cellar/Murder Cellar: A skull-shaped chamber deep beneath Palace Ricinus where Tali’s ancestors were killed for their ebony pearls. In ancient times it had been the Cythian kings’ private temple but it was defiled by Grandys’ treachery there, and his assault and abduction of King Lyf.
Chancellor, the: The leader of Hightspall, a small, twisted, cunning man. After ordering Tobry hurled off the tower to his death, and Rix’s right hand severed, the chancellor fled Caulderon when it fell to the enemy, with a small band of retainers. He took Tali and Rannilt with them, for their healing blood.
Chuck-lash: A chymical device like a thick bootlace. When thrown at someone, it explodes against the skin leaving a burned wound like a whip lash. Heavier versions, such as death-lashes, can blast a limb off, or kill outright.
Chymical or Alchymical Art: An art practised with considerable mastery by the Cythonians, lately used to create many new kinds of weapons of war.
Chymical Level: The secret level below the main level of Cython, where the enemy practise alchymical arts and build weapons of war.
Clangours: A sound-based alarm system in Cython, in which bell tones are carried throughout the underground city by a series of pipes.
Command: A powerful compulsion spell.
Crebb: A black-bearded thug who attacks Tali and Holm on the south coast.
Cythe: The name of the Cythians’ island realm in ancient times.
Cythian: Pertaining to Cythe, the name of the land and the kingdom in ancient times.
Cython: The underground city of the Cythonians. After losing the Two Hundred and Fifty Years War, some of the surviving Cythians went into the mines of Cythe fifteen hundred years ago and built a great city there. Cython lies under part of the Seethings, a thermal wasteland.
Cythonian: Pertaining to Cython; also, the people of Cython.
Deadhand: Rixium Ricinus.
Degradoes: The Cythians who survived the Two Hundred and Fifty Years War were herded into filthy camps, and became known as degradoes. Several hundred years later Hightspall burned the camps and the degradoes were killed, save for a group of innocent children who disappeared underground, led by three matriarchs, who founded Cython following the instructions set down by Lyf in the Books of the Solaces.
Deroe: A magian possessed by Lyf’s wrythen over a hundred years ago and used by him to cut out the first ebony pearl. Deroe subsequently rebelled and stole the next three pearls. He was killed by Lyf in Vengeance.
Dibly, Madam: An aged healer, tasked with drawing Tali’s healing blood.
Droag: A lazy guard at Garramide.
Elbrot: A focus used by magians, an elbrot is often in the form of a swirling pattern cut from wood or cast in metal.
Empound: The Pale’s living quarters in Cython.
Engine, the: At the lower end of the Hellish Conduit, in the deep heart of the land, Cythonians believe that a great subterranean Engine powers the workings of the land itself, causing volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and other phenomena. The Engine has to be kept in balance by the king’s healing magery, but since king-magery was lost on Lyf’s death two thousand years ago, the land has not been healed and the Engine is increasingly out of balance.
Errek First-King: The first known king of Cythe; the legendary inventor of king-magery. Lyf has recreated a spirit version of Errek, to advise him.
Facinore: A vicious shifter-beast created by Lyf, and subsequently cannibalised to give him a body again, so he would be able to leave his caverns and take charge of the war.
First Fleet: The original fleet that came from ancestral Thanneron to Cythe, two thousand years ago, bearing the Hightspallers (and some Herovians, including those later known as the Five Heroes). Three more fleets came, though the Third or Herovian Fleet was wrecked by a storm and only one person out of seven thousand survived, a girl said to be Grandys’ daughter, but actually adopted by him.
Five Heroes, the: The Five Herovians — Grandys, Syrten, Rufuss, Lirriam and Yulia (later called the Five Heroes) began the war that led to Cythe falling to the Hightspallers, and are credited with founding Hightspall. They all disappeared mysteriously, however. In fact they were hunted down by Lyf’s wrythen, turned to opal, agonisingly, and hurled into the Abysm.
Floatillery, the: An underground canal running from Cython to the Merchantery Exit, where heatstones and other things were traded with Hightspall.
Fortress Rutherin: A grim old fortress on the cliff-top above Rutherin, where the chancellor takes refuge after fleeing from Caulderon.
Garramide: A vast, strong fortress on a high plateau in the Nandeloch Mountains, built by Grandys for his daughter nearly two thousand years ago. Rix’s great-aunt left it to him on her death.
Gauntlings: Humanoid, winged shifters created by Lyf for spying and for carrying his human spies. Gauntlings are prone to insubordination, vengeful malice and madness.
Gift, the: Magery.
Gift, Healing: The ability to heal by the laying on of hands. It’s related to magery, though many people consider it separate from magery. This kind of healing is unrelated to the kind of healing that the kings of Cythe could do, which was a form of magery.
Glimmering-by-the-Water: An ancient temple site on the southern tip of the Nusidand Peninsula in Lake Fumerous; site of the peace conference.
Glowstone: A kind of rock, mined in Cython, which emits a feeble bluish glow. Used for lighting in Cython, and elsewhere.
Glynnie: A young maidservant from Palace Ricinus, aged seventeen. Glynnie begged Rix to allow her and her little brother, Benn, to stay after House Ricinus fell and the chancellor cast out all the house’s servants.
Grandys, Axil: A great warrior and leader; a brutal and treacherous man who was the first of the Five Heroes and the legendary founder of Hightspall. He betrayed the young King Lyf in his own temple, hacked his feet off then walled him up in the catacombs to die, in an attempt to seize Lyf’s powerful king-magery when he died. Grandys failed and the king-magery was lost, but at the point of death Lyf managed to form himself into a wrythen which existed for two thousand years.
Grenado: A hand-thrown exploding weapon.