Rebellion: Tainted Realm: Book 2 (124 page)

Iusia (vi Torgrist)
:
Tali’s mother, murdered in front of Tali by Lord and Lady Ricinus for her ebony pearl, at the beginning of
Vengeance
. They on-sold the pearl to Deroe.

Jadgery
:
A town in the lower Nandelochs; the enemy have a garrison there.

King-Magery
:
Magery used by the king or ruling queen of Cythe to heal the land or the people. No one else in Cythe was permitted to use magery. King-magery was only passed on to the new king on the death of the old king. But because Lyf died alone and his body was never found, the death rituals could not be enacted, his king-magery was never passed on, and it was lost. King-magery is different from, and far more powerful than, other forms of magery.

Kroni
:
An old clock attendant in Fortress Rutherin. Also known as Holm.

Lady Ricinus
:
Rix’s late mother, a cold, manipulative woman, obsessed with raising the social position of House Ricinus at any cost. She was executed at the end of
Vengeance
for high treason, and the murder of Tali’s mother and grandmother for their ebony pearls.

Lirriam
:
One of the Five Heroes, a cold, buxom temptress.

Lizue
:
A beautiful prisoner in Fortress Rutherin.

Lord Ricinus
:
Rix’s father, and lord of House Ricinus, formerly one of the wealthiest and most powerful Houses in Hightspall. A foul drunkard, sick with guilt at the crimes his wife forced him to commit. Executed at the end of
Vengeance
for high treason and murder.

Lucidand
:
The capital city of Cythe, in ancient times.

Lyf, King Lyf
:
The eighteen-year-old king of Cythe at the time the first war began. He was betrayed in his own temple by Grandys and the other Heroes, maimed and walled up to die in the catacombs. But after death Lyf’s soul could not pass on, and he used the last of his king-magery to become a wrythen, so as to protect his people and take revenge on the enemy. Later Lyf wrote the Solaces, a series of books which showed his people how to live underground. As a wrythen, he spent the next two thousand years harrying Hightspall, and trying to get his king-magery, and a body, back. He eventually did, partly by using ebony pearls. Then he ordered war against Hightspall.

Magery
:
Wizardry, sorcery. Magery was brought by the Hightspallers from Thanneron, but has been failing ever since. This is believed to be due to the land they conquered rising up against them. Magery has a different origin to king-magery.

Magian
:
A wizard or sorcerer.

Maloch
:
An old sword, made from titane, given to Rix by his mother. It bears an enchantment of protection against magery. Rix is somewhat unnerved by this, though the sword has saved his life more than once. Maloch is a Herovian sword and originally belonged to Axil Grandys.

Matriarchs
:
When the king-magery was lost, Cythe could no longer have a king, and after the Cythonians took refuge in Cython they were ruled by a trio of matriarchs, who were themselves advised by the Solaces.

Mia
:
Tali’s best friend, executed in Cython for using magery. Tali blames herself and swore a blood oath to make up for failing Mia. This subsequently became a blood oath to save her people, the Pale.

Mimoy, Mimula
:
Tali’s great-great-great-grandmother, an irascible, foul-mouthed old woman.

Moley Gryle
:
Lyf’s personal attendant.

Nandelochs, Nandeloch Mountains
:
A high and rugged range of mountains in north-east Hightspall. A Herovian stronghold.

Noys
:
Rix’s captain at Garramide.

Nuddell
:
One of Leatherhead’s gang, later Rix’s loyal sergeant.

Nurse Bet
:
An old Pale healer in Cython. She taught Tali self-defence, among other things.

Nusee
:
Tali’s grandmother, murdered for an ebony pearl.

Oosta
:
The chief healer at Garramide.

Pale, the
:
A thousand years ago, a host of noble Hightspaller children were given to the enemy as hostages, but, oddly, never ransomed. Their enslaved descendants are known as the Pale because, having lived underground in Cython all their lives, their skin has never been exposed to the sun.

Pearl, Ebony
:
Black, marble-sized objects that have grown inside the heads of certain Pale women in Cython, due to radiance from the heatstone deposit. Ebony pearls can enhance a gift for magery many times over, and are beyond price. Only five can exist at any one time. Four of Tali’s ancestors were killed for their ebony pearls and Tali bears the fifth, the master pearl, though few people know this deadly secret.

Porfry
:
The Keeper of the Records at Garramide; a fanatical Herovian.

Poulter
:
A four-legged fowl, supposedly created by Lyf to help feed his people after they took refuge in Cython.

Promised Realm
:
The legendary land the Herovians came to Cythe in search of, but have not yet found (or created).

Radl
:
A tall, beautiful Pale in Cython. Tali’s enemy since childhood.

Rancid
:
An oily, vicious guard in Garramide; a mutineer.

Rannilt
:
A much-bullied slave girl, about ten years old, who escaped from Cython with Tali. Rannilt has an enigmatic gift for magery, manifested by displays of golden radiance. In an attack in Lyf’s caverns he appeared to steal much of her gift and she lay near death for some time afterwards.

Rezire
:
The curator at Tirnan Twil.

Ricinus
:
A fabulously wealthy house in Hightspall, toppled by the chancellor after the discovery that the basis of its wealth was the depraved trade in ebony pearls. The name comes from the deadly poison ricin, obtained from the castor oil plant.

Riddum
:
One of Leatherhead’s gang, later one of Rix’s raiders.

Rixium (Rix)
:
Formerly heir to the vast estates of House Ricinus, he was stripped of this inheritance by the chancellor due to the high treason of Rix’s parents. Rix is a brilliant swordsman, and also a masterful artist, though some of his paintings have been disturbingly divinatory. Rix has recently discovered that he’s Herovian, descended from Axil Grandys himself; he is ambivalent about this. Also known as Deadhand.

Rochlis
:
Lyf’s greatest general. A man with a conscience.

Rufuss
:
One of the Five Heroes, a tall, gaunt man whose only pleasure is denial.

Rundi of Notherin
:
A provincial leader, a murderous coward.

Rutherin
:
An old fishing port on the south-west coast of Hightspall, now in decline because the sea level has fallen and the coast is well offshore of its former position.

Salyk
:
A compassionate female Cythonian soldier who found Rix’s brilliant portrait of his father, and saved it, disobeying Lyf’s order to burn it. She later rescued Tobry but was put to death by her own people for aiding the enemy.

Seethings, the
:
A thermal wasteland of boiling pools, chymical lakes and deadly sinkholes.

Shell racer
:
Small, light sailboats which can also be rowed by four rowers. Very fast and manoeuvrable, but fragile.

Shifters
:
Vicious, bastard creatures created by Lyf with the blasphemous art of
germine
, in order to harry the Hightspallers. Shifters come in a number of kinds, such as hyena and jackal shifters, caitsthes and gauntlings. All are prone to insanity. Exposure to their bite or blood can cause others to become shifters.

Shillilar
:
A foreseeing. It was Wil’s foreseeing that identified Tali as
the one
who would change the story Lyf had written in his iron book,
The Consolation of Vengeance
, and thus change the world.

Solaces
:
A series of books written by Lyf, detailing various aspects of living underground, which he sorcerously transmitted to the matriarchs of Cython. They are held in the Chamber of the Solaces. There, Wil was the first to glimpse the iron book. He had a
shillilar
or foreseeing about
the
one
(Tali) but the book burned his eyes out, and he never told the matriarchs the truth about her.

Spectible
:
A device that can see the aura associated with an enchanted object, or with the use of magery.

Squattery
:
A communal toilet in Cython.

Stink-damp
:
Rotten egg gas that seeps up from underground. It’s used for lighting in Caulderon though it’s both poisonous and explosive.

Subsistery
:
The Pale’s dining hall in Cython.

Suden
:
The large island south of Hightspall, now covered by the creeping ice sheets.

Sulien
:
Tali’s great-great-grandmother, murdered for an ebony pearl.

Sullen Man, the
:
A cold-eyed prisoner in Fortress Rutherin.

Sunstone
:
A kind of rock, mined in Cython. After exposure to sunlight, sunstone emits a bright light for days or weeks. It’s used to provide “sunlight’ in the underground green farms in Cython. Breaking a sunstone releases all its stored power at once, which is deadly to those directly exposed, and Cythonians (but not Pale) nearby but not directly exposed will be knocked unconscious.

Swelt
:
The castellan of Garramide, a gross-looking man, but loyal.

Swire
:
A town in Fennery, scene of the Five Heroes’ ride of glory and initial recruitment drive.

Syrten
:
One of the Five Heroes, a massive, golem-like man.

Tali, AKA the one
:
The familiar name of Thalalie vi Torgrist, a Pale slave. She was the first person in a thousand years to escape from Cython. Tali’s mother and three other female ancestors were murdered for magical ebony pearls grown inside their heads, and Tali is being hunted because she bears the fifth pearl, the master pearl, which Lyf needs to complete his plan.

Thanneron
:
The ancestral homeland of the Hightspallers, on the far side of the world. They came from Thanneron in four fleets, two thousand years ago. All contact with Thanneron was lost after the Fourth Fleet, and it is believed to have disappeared under the ice long ago.

Thermitto
:
An alchymical powder which burns so hot that it can melt rock; used for mining in Cython by the technique known as
splittery
.

Thom
:
A wood boy in Garramide.

Tiddler
:
A giant of a man in Garramide. A hammer-wielding mutineer.

Tirnan Twil
:
A remote tower, a kind of museum to the Five Heroes and their heritage.

Titane
:
A light, immensely strong metal. The secret of how to forge it has been lost.

Tobry Lagger
:
Rix’s brave, clever but disreputable friend, Tobry lost everything when House Lagger fell when he was about thirteen. Tobry had a mortal fear of shifters, and of becoming one himself, because his maternal grandfather became one and stalked the house, and Tobry was forced to kill him to save his father. At the end of
Vengeance
, Tobry became a caitsthe because it was the only way to save his friends. He survived, but the chancellor subsequently ordered him hurled from the top of Rix’s tower to his death. Rix calls him Tobe.

Tordy
:
One of Leatherhead’s thugs, whom Rix casts out of Garramide.

Two Hundred and Fifty Years War, the
:
The war that Grandys began a couple of years after the arrival of the First Fleet. It ended 250 years later (1,750 years ago) with the utter defeat of Cythe.