This glossary has been assembled from the works of the scholar and explorer Arcia od Vina. It is a collection of presumed facts, myths, and conclusions drawn from available evidence. Like all works of its type it contains partialities and contradictions, and is updated when new information presents itself.
Age
A variable measure of time that subdivides the Epoch into 8 parts, categorized from red to violet. The end of each age (and subsequently the beginning of the next) is marked by a notable event. Currently we are in the 60th year of the second green age, called Verdant.
Anuran
Referring to a broad group of semi-amphibious or otherwise aquatic peoples, batrachomorph to ichthyoid. In some places they still maintain a noble hierarchy, a cultural holdover from Oannes, the old empire beneath the waves.
Archipelago, The
An expansive network of islands in the southern hemisphere, wherefrom came the humans; it wasn’t until the first blue age, when they crossed the sea to offer aid during the reconstruction after the war with the Frost Shepherds, that outsiders learned of the customs of the island people.
Copsestalker
”… the woodland-dwelling, humanoid genus, having a slender and rangy build and variegated hair markings. Copsestalkers keep deep-forest homesteads and rarely travel but to trade at hubs of commerce and local waterways…
Demon
A once-natural thing that has become twisted in purpose, or has lived on beyond its time through the power of some fel influence.
Ecdys
A clade of insectoid people that evolved in symbiotic conjunction with expansive underground mycelium networks, the largest being in the eastern riverlands.
Epoch
A series of time constituting 7 ages. The first epoch is estimated to have been 3,142 years long
Elementals
Sapient manifestations of natural properties; though in some of the old tales they play significant roles, their origin or method of propagation unclear. It is said that they have their own world, and only rarely cross over into ours.
Fieldwardens
A secretive order that strives to maintain a balance between the Wood and everything else.
Gnoll
Hyena-like humanoids that, according to The Telling, are said to hail from the twin moons, Uri and Baki. For this reason they are also sometimes called the moonborn. They take well to the grasslands, which seem to resemble the environment from which they originated.
Goblin
In the early days of terrestrial life, before the world was first covered in ice, goblinoids of tremendous size spanned the entirety of it, some postulated to be up to 30 meters in length. The branch that survived did so in part because of their reduced size, averaging 1.5 meters, and their shift toward bipedalism.
Harp
Avian folk, cousins of the kobolds. Once longtime enemies of the Anurans, the two groups reconciled their differences during the fight against the Frost Shepherds. They maintain their chivalric tradition, and some even serve in the courts of Anuran royalty. The emblem of the Harp is that of the sun, whose rays melt away the frost, and whose light separates our world from the long dark.
Human
Hominids of various types hailing from the archipelago.
Kith
An umbrella term for the peoples of this world.
Kobold
A younger offshoot of goblins that retained their feathers.
Long Ago
A half-remembered time before the advent of The Telling.
Long Long Ago
Eras and times lost beyond recording. Only fragments remain.
Orc
The first orcs were grown in matrices of crystal by the magi of The Golden Wheel—fools that they were—to be used as instruments of war. Whether they were able to appreciate the irony when their armies returned, not victorious, but allied with those they were sent to war against, we’ll never know. The halls of the magi were destroyed, and from the remnants the Orcs built for themselves a place that they could call theirs. (For their sake, and for our own, we of the academy abjure the art vivomancy. The spells that it constitutes, too powerful to be destroyed, have been scattered to the ends of the world and, in some cases, places even more remote.)
Outrider
Mounted warriors, not unlike knights, that mete out a type of justice in the places between places. Depending on when you see them, and under what context, they may appear friend, foe, rival, or object of terror. They share a special bond with their mounts, something beyond speech.
Pentad, The
Five cardinal gems: Quartz, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, and Opal. Of each, a magnificent specimen exists, imbued with remembrances from ancient beings belonging to a time before memory. They draw pilgrims from throughout the lands, and form the foundation of the theory on the shape of the universe.
Regent-in-Sapphire, The
Figure from ancient human myth. Said to have united the 90 isles, sailed across the sea with a grand army, and assisted in driving out The Frost Shepherds.
Rill Runner
One whose primary livelihood involves travel and transport along the river network.
Rillwright
A current or former rill runner who serves as the scribe of a crossroads: updating maps for travelers, spreading news among the network, cataloging the change of a place over time.
Shepherds of Frost and Long Night, The
Extraplanar beings that once led a protracted incursion against our world, said to have been struck down by the Harp hero of legend, Ser Hæthia. It is believed by some that their return will herald the end of all things.
Starfall Academy
A school of magic in the glacial north, accessible only by sea. Sequestered away as it is, the academy serves as a site of magical experimentation with little risk of harm to the average person.
Telling, The
An oral history tracing its earliest fragments to the first yellow age. Those who dedicate their life to its study and preservation are called Tellers. To narrate the entirety of The Telling would take several weeks, and most will only memorize a portion of it.
Theory of the Shape of the Universe
The primary sense-memory contained within Sacred Quartz involves a vision of light being cast through a prism and the resultant refraction of color. The viewer of the memory is said to feel, in their bones, that the scattering particles of light contain all universes, not just our own. (I accept this theory, as there is more evidence for it than any other. However, one must wonder as to the origin of the light, and what it might represent).
Urodelian
A salamander-like people, who once lived in what is now the glacial jungles of the far north.
Witch
A general term for any serious practitioner of the magical arts. Replaced the title Magus after the dissolution of The Golden Wheel during the first violet age.