Riccaro intercepted Aida before she made it ten steps down the hallway back to her room. By the huge bruise on his face and the gray dust coating his once-fine toga, he'd stood with the Dynasts in the courtyard. What she'd though of as his usual mode of condescension and distance now transformed to shock and not a little fear. The majordomo approached her as if she might hurl him down the hallway at the slightest provocation.

  "Sorry about the mess." She reached to pluck a twig off his collar.

  Riccaro fell away from her several steps before he caught a hold of himself and found some dignity. "Ahem. Dynast Aida, more guests come seeking audience with you."

  "Tell them about my last audience. Might help thin my calendar out a bit."

  Missing the irony in her tone completely, Riccaro frowned. "I am sure they will have heard. I can send most away if you would like, but I strongly recommend you speak with the High Parser."

  "Okay, one more meeting." She sighed and looked down at her dress now coated with dust, leaves, and twigs. "I've probably run out of things to change into again. We'll need a new meeting place too. What do you think of hosting the next delegation in the bathhouse? More informal and I won't have any clothing to ruin."

  She rolled her eyes at his open-mouthed stare. "I forget you don't joke, sorry. Where would you suggest?"

  Regaining himself with some effort, he overcame a stammer and managed "The... the front gardens would normally suit-"

  "Great, gardens it is." She turned towards the front doors.

  "But, Dynast!" He rushed ahead, his expression embarrassed. "You couldn't possibly meet the High Parser there! It's full of... of..."

  After a few failed attempts she put her hand on his shoulder. "Take a breath, Riccaro."

  He deflated but didn't pull away. "Filthy Wretches! And an angry mob gathering at the gates."

  "Wretches?" Aida blinked for a few seconds as she tracked back. So much going on. "Oh, right! Any sign of Ocyl's detachment?"

  Riccaro raised his hands helplessly.

  "Of course not. Will the mob hold off long enough to meet with this Parsimonious whoever? We can't do much until the cavalry get here."

  "I certainly hope so."

  Aida gestured down another hallway. "I saw a small side-garden with a fountain on the way in. Could we use that?"

  "I suppose, but-"

  "Great. Aliasara, lead on."

  Aliasara complied.

  "But that garden has-"

  "A Dynast heading its way." Aida made a shooing motion. "Bring this Parser before the mob tears the gates off."

  Entering the small garden, Aida immediately understood Riccaro's hesitation. While the shrubs and hedges fit the standard bill of fare, the fountain centerpiece featured Ocyl pouring an endlessly flowing cup into his mouth. An equally interminable stream flowed from his oversize phallus, pattering on a platter held on the head of a serving boy then sheening evenly off all sides.

  "My, that's... certainly something." Aida took it in for a moment. "Definitely makes a statement."

  Aliasara grinned, produced a bit of cloth, and proceeded to wet it in the stream issuing from Ocyl before blotting at the dust on Aida's dress front with one hand while picking off branches and leaf matter with the other.

  "Hopefully this Parser person has a sense of humor." Aida laughed in spite of, or perhaps because of, her growing tension. Mobs, Wretches, a nascent epidemic, Dynasts she'd just violently rejected and probably made into lifelong enemies, the crowd audibly growing outside... And that was just today.

  "Ink is known for anything but humor." Aliasara shook her head as she rinsed the cloth out. "The Faded People live only in the barest meaning of the word."

  "Faded People? Why-"

  The looming frame of one of those tank knights towered over the hedge.

  Aida would have expected a generator thrum, gears grinding, hydraulics hissing, or servos whining, but the only sound came from the heavy thump of its footsteps. The man inside stopped opposite the fountain and regarded them with disinterest. A huge polearm half rusting steel pipe and half massive butcher blade hung casually over his shoulder. The sort of thing an industrial meat plant might use to hack cow carcasses apart.

  Everything about the man lived in monochrome, ripped from the frames of a black-and-white movie.

  "Greetings, High-" she began, but Aliasara elbowed her. "Ow."

  Riccaro stepped into view around the tank knight, sniffing. Following close behind came a woman who looked vaguely familiar. She walked slowly, slumped down as if every step took more energy than she wanted to spend. Only her drab uniform's tight fit and the high, rigid length of her collar seemed to hold her upright. And pants, she wore pants!

  Aida snapped her fingers. "Saw her in Ocyl's court!"

  "High Parser Maxem of the Directory." Riccaro spoke with precise diction, standing ramrod tall before the fountain. Giant, naked Ocyl pissing on a boy behind him deflated the decorum of the scene somewhat, but Aida gave him credit for trying.

  "Nice to meet you. I 'm-"

  "Dynast Aida," the woman said tiredly, not even glancing down at Aida's extended hand. Maxem's accent steamrolled pronunciation to a flat monotone. "Ruler of One-Eighth Shithole, titled Mother of Exiles."

  Aida wiped sweaty palms on her dress. "You did your homework."

  "Pardon my directness in skirting further formalities, Dynast, but the Directory holds brevity and efficiency as virtues. May we jump to the point?"

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  "I approve. Brevity on."

  Maxem barely waited for Aida to finish. "By your labeling of it, you find your verse lacking, yes?"

  Aida thought for a moment. "It has a bleak majesty about it but that's all it has, really."

  "Then give it over to the Directory. You will be compensated in extravagant measure." By her casual delivery, the woman could be proposing they get lunch. Aida stood stunned for a moment, mind reeling as the offer landed.

  "I can just give it up?" It took a second to realize she verbalized the thought.

  "Not give it up." Maxem spoke with all the passion of a bored checkout clerk. "Sell it for ten lifetimes of wealth."

  Aida countered automatically even as she struggled with the concept of selling a universe. "I'm a Dynast. What if I live eleven lifetimes?"

  Would she be selling out or cashing in if she took it? Would she still be a Dynast without a verse to rule over? Could she do more with the wealth than the place?

  "I used a figure of speech in an attempt to convey scale. I did not, however, exaggerate."

  "How do I know I can trust you to follow through if I say yes?"

  "The Directory honors its contracts. Everyone knows this." Maxem shifted and finally examined the fountain. Not as a curiosity or work of art, but as though seeking something to lean on. She leaned on it.

  "Can I have a moment to talk with my friend?" Aida gestured towards Aliasara.

  "The Directory persists," Maxem replied.

  When Aida turned to Aliasara, the woman beamed at her so brightly, Aida lost her train of thought. "Um... what did I miss?"

  "I'm your friend, Aida?"

  Aida hugged her, savoring the human contact. When the hug ended, Aida held Aliasara's shoulders. "Friend, yes. Perhaps my only one in all the Book. If you'll have me, that is; I'm a bit of a train wreck."

  Aliasara nodded and hugged her again. "I didn't know Dynasts had friends."

  "Having met a few, I get why." Aida turned towards the High Parser and the tank knight. "What do you think I should do?"

  Riccaro ceased pretending to not listen and burst in. "Dynast Aida, you simply cannot be asking advice for critical matters of state from a lowly-"

  "Finish that sentence." Aida's voice went deadly flat and her eyes narrowed. The ring thrummed at her throat. "I dare you."

  His teeth clacked together. Stuck up the majordomo might be, but stupid he was not.

  Aida let the silence hang, marred only by the burble of Ocyl's statue and an angry chant from those gathering outside.

  "I didn't think so." Aida turned to Aliasara. "You were saying?"

  Aliasara seemed at a loss for a moment. When she found her words, she spoke softly as she glanced at Maxem. "I would feel bad for the verse if you gave it to them."

  Aida blinked. "Bad for the verse?"

  "Everyone knows ConMach drains the very life from the Directory's verses. Even if no people live there, the spirit of every living thing would suffer."

  Aida shook her head. "You haven't seen the One-Eighth. The only living things we saw did this."

  She raised her hand and wiggled the bandaged nubs, noticing the bandages grew tight yet again.

  Aliasara shrunk back as if struck, head dropping. "I'm sorry, Dynast, I didn't mean to-"

  The response broke Aida's heart. She lifted her friend's chin to look her in the eye. "Stop. I'm not 'Dynast' to you, not ever. I'm Aida. That's a direct order from a Dynast."

  She delivered the last with as straight a face as she could, waiting until Aliasara laughed.

  "Never be afraid to tell me exactly what you think. I'm new, remember? You lived your whole life here, I've been here under a week. Even if I disagree, I'm grateful for whatever you contribute."

  "As you wish. If you-" A welter of violent shouts from the mob brewing outside the villa drowned her out.

  "We've got to wrap this up." Aida turned to Maxem. The woman pushed off the statue.

  "I appreciate your offer, but have to decline."

  For all the response the rejection elicited, Aida could have told Maxem she was busy for the lunch.

  "Then perhaps a Syphon erected somewhere useless to you in exchange a supply of ConMach machines or hired Keens-" Maxem gestured at the tank knight "-to help you develop and protect the interests of the One-Eighth?"

  "What's a Syphon?" Aida glanced at Aliasara. Her friend shrugged and shook her head.

  "A structure we would build somewhere remote to fuel the ConMach machinery we would lend."

  Aliasara leaned close to whisper in Aida's ear. "She means drain the life and color out of everything around it."

  "No life there that doesn't want another piece of me. Not much color either. She can have it."

  More shouts from the front. Broadaxe sprinted around the corner, weapon and shield ready. The sight made up Aida's mind.

  "Deal, as long as you throw a dozen pairs of pants in with it." Aida grabbed Maxem's hand and pumped. "Any paperwork or whatever, we can sort out later. Now if you'll excuse me, I have another little looming crisis to attend to."

  "Very well, I'm sure we'll find much profit together. If you need us, we're at your service." Without further ado Maxem walked away. The tank knight left a heavy impression in the soft soil and faded ground around the huge footprint when it followed her away.

  "Drains the life and color," Aida murmured, kneeling to touch the grayed-out patch before turning to Broadaxe. "Okay, we're coming."

  Stiller burst through the villa door, panting. "Message for the Mother of Exiles!"

  Aida took the braille, looked at it helplessly, and thrust it at Riccaro. He sniffed and ran his fingers across it. The fall of his face made Aida's belly seize into a knot. "What now?"

  It took Riccaro a moment to speak, as though seeking a polite way to deliver the message.

  "Just tell me, man! I'm wearing my big-girl panties. Actually I'm not wearing panties since they apparently don't exist here, but I can still take it."

  He stared at her.

  "Out with it!"

  Riccaro took a breath. "Dynast Ocyl regrets to inform you his Versal troops shall not be arriving. He suggests, and I quote: 'Give the Wretches to the mob. Better they have a harmless outlet than they begin looting and burning.' He then expresses his utmost faith in your ability to handle the situation. He adds 'Given your propensities, I have had several new dresses delivered.'"

  "Dresses? I ask for soldiers and he sends skirts? And harmless my ass!" Aida snatched the message from Riccaro's fingers, shredded it. "They're killing people out there! Just let them have the poor people I promised sanctuary to? He wants me to break my word, throw them to their doom, and be happy with some new clothing? Fucking Dynasts!"

  Part of her realized the last statement included her too, but at the moment she didn't care. Still fuming, she stomped towards the front gates.

  Riccaro hustled after her. "Dy- Aida, where are you going?"

  "If they want to kill some Wretches, those bastards are going to have to go through a pissed off Dynast first. They can have them over my dead body."

  "Let's hope that pimply prophet was right and it won't come to that," she muttered.

  "What about the others awaiting an audience to-"

  "Tell them all yes."

  Riccaro stumbled. "What?"

  "Tell them to meet me at the One-Eighth whenever, however they can get there."

  "But, but their number includes all sorts of-"

  They rounded the corner of the villa to find a scared huddle of Wretches cowering amid the flower beds and manicured lawns. Beyond, ropes thrummed taut. The mob outside roared, heaved, and ripped the villa gates from their anchors, the two statues of Ocyl wobbling then toppling. Screams, rock shards, dust clouds.

  Aida ran through the gardens and hopped onto a bench between the Wretches and this momentarily stalled throng. Broadaxe stepped up beside her, Ghillie materializing on the other side. A moment later Goldilocks slunk in to watch their backs. More movement behind them drew her attention and surprise: the villa's few dozen servants followed wielding an array of improvised weapons to form a sparse ring around the close-pressed knot of Wretches.

  Riccaro quickly gave up on ordering the servants back inside and stormed off. He stood in the doorway, glared at them, then slammed the front doors.

  "Whatever Riccaro does, at least the rest of them think Wretches are people too."

  Aliasara shook her head as she wrenched a wooden rail from the back of the bench. "They don't care about the Wretches, Aida, they do it for you."

  "Whyever they're doing it, then." Aida glanced back at the villa to see if any more help might be forthcoming. Near the back gate, three royal striders bedecked with Ferals stood full height, immobile. She recognized Wake's by its festoon of gray and gold banners, Jaxe's by a thousand fluttering ribbons of deep purple, Reck's by the bronze armor plates bolted onto the carriage's sides.

  One of the undercarriage windows hung open. Aida caught a glimpse of a pale face, a hand waving gaily.

  "Screw you too, Jaxe," she muttered, turning back to the brick- and stick-armed mob surging over the fallen gate. "If you hung around just to watch me mess up, then too bad. I'll die before I let people down again."

  Ghillie caught Aida's eye and gestured.

  Plan?

  "Yeah, um... punt."

  Next Chapter: Hassani rushes home desperate to save her family... or at least Avani.

  Characters and terms

  Characters (alphabetical)

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a traveling musician

  Aida: MC. Mother of Exiles. "Ender of Verses?" "Savior of Dynasties?"

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Aliasara: servant at Ocyl's villa who befriends Aida

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  Broadaxe: large, axe-and-shield-wielding Feral protecting Aida

  Cairin: Arca's sister

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eth: a young Imminent

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Ghulen: Rega's "pet monster"

  Goboro: a fat, amiable scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Goldilocks: twitchy, spear-and-javelin carrying Feral guarding Aida

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal

  Fetriene: Ocyl's soresearer

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court, sent by Fractious Fraction?

  Huspara: minor bureaucrat in Libriam

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Izbali: a silent tribal shaman

  Janali: Ocyl's elegant Seneschal

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young" (Secounds), wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino). Ancient.

  Kass/Kassenia: mercenary attached to Adonissian

  Maxem: High Parser from Ink, ambassador to

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  Reck: Dynast of Chalk, "not witty enough to be clever and takes himself too seriously to be ironic". Paranoid, Fractious Fraction. Tertius.

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast

  Riccaro: majordomo of Ocyl's estate

  Rustrovan/"Rusty": Eth's old, gap-toothed skinscribe

  Ryk: "the most beautiful man Aida had ever seen", a Paragon

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Semon "Goldtongue": white-haired, one-eyed master of cults

  Stiller: serving boy at Ocyl's estate

  Vanyen: crippled young woman striving to create a cult

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Wake: Dynast of Graves, marries even though they all die. Quintus. Isolate.

  The Fallen

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye. His face gifted to Aida by Ocyl.

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  Terms (alphabetical)

  Adventures of Bubo, The: popular kids story

  All, The: ?

  Ancients: a major Dynastic Chapter, an "elite number", "own Ziggurat" and "run the great bank that is Monopolis"

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails.

  Anticore: Sect creature which "wears convincing human skins" with "swarming insects... beneath the skin"

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves?

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Audits/"Diggers": Libriam internal affairs

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Black Court Tribunal: localized Black Court authority?

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "The Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chalk/"Vistas": verse entirely made of chalky cliff, belongs to Reck

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Inoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease, "Mudra of Cleansing"

  Chapters: power groupings among the Dynasts of the Book: predominantly The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, and Isolates.

  Circular Sea: an ocean abutting the Jadeye segment of Heaven's Tread

  Clock Priest: priests from Gears who track and tell time religiously

  ConMach: convoy? courier? "ConMach drains the very life from the Directory's verses". Supply "ConMach machines"

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins? "harder than currence"? "Solid current forms currence." Currence melts to watter.

  Currency: money, gold coins once held currence inside to give value, now debased

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"? "Solid current forms currence."

  Donative, The: Black Court taxes, taken by Legion if not offered. Don't pay, no Partaking every century.

  Dusa: people with manipulable hair of silver wire, from Gears

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  El: semi-insubstantial snake/remora-like creatures that follow gods (and sometimes Dynasts) around

  "Emperor of Everything": popular kids story about Inro turning down becoming emperor, then crushing those who elevated a different Dynast

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  Fetalist: Imminent faction who believe the future is unchangeable

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Fractious Fraction/"DissatisFaction"/"The Renewal": a major Dynastic Chapter who "hate everyone including each other", "entice every freemancer and Lineage Master" ... "to Berujat". For those with "verses deficient in maor ways."

  Gates, The: ?

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  God-touched: those who have physically touched a god (and lived)

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Gons: self-sustaining organs capable of living outside a host

  Graves: a verse "Made of the dead by the dead for the dead".

  Groves: a forest verse

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  High Parser: officials from Ink

  Imminent: seers?

  Imminent Prophecy: something about a barbarian Dynast, Ender of Verses and/or Savior of Dynasties?

  Inevitables; faction of Imminent who believe it is their sacred duty to ensure the future comes to pass as seen

  Ink: home verse of the Skeinry, Keens, Directory, and "the Faded People"

  Innoculist: doctors who teach chants "brought from Logos" to cure disease

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption" with "unlimited, undisclosed, and untraceable budgets"

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Isolates: a major Dynastic Chapter with a "unified stand for independence", "cheat the Donative, stockpil[e] currence and watter" "hire Keen mercenaries" "raise own private Legions in secret"

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin

  Jutland Reach: a verse with guns?

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it. "Tank knights"

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast

  Kiss, The: disease that wiped out "hundreds of verses", also name for the time period when Aj became active last and destroyed 100s of verses before halting in Sunset

  Lambent ram: animal whose wool glows?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Libwe: tribe possessing the "holy" Limn clay bed.

  Limn: "infused clay" bearing some sort of internal power, used by Ebon to found the Dynasty

  Lineage: ?

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Logos: "the thought realm"

  Machine Curse: ?

  Mancers: "no mancers arc (could) affect it"

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: "the Outsiders". "exist only to destroy the Book" with their "demonic and monstrous children" from "the Hells beyond"

  Monopolis: the "City of Currency", bank verse ruled by Rega

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Mune: someone from the Collective on Dost?

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Preserve: a garden "beyond the Circular Sea" in Heaven's Tread?

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty. Alternately, albinism

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  Phero: Lineage whose scent creates overwhelming attraction

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Porcelain Guard: Ocyl's white-masked Ferals

  Pure Priest of the Ascen/Blind Priests: priests praising the Ascen and back the Black Court

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Reconquest: time four-hundred years ago when Inro "drove [tribals] back into civilization's fold at spear point"

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seericide: seers capable of Knowing everything as they die

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Shale: a verse famous for its expensive stone

  Shrineway: religious section of Jadeye "brailled prayers along the walls ... [and] cobblestones"

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago when "half the legions rose up"

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinlife: living tattoos

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: individuals capable of "healing" by cauterizing wounds with their hands

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing"

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Subterrane, The: travel route accessed by Ebon via Limn?

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons" holds mad Dynasts, monsters and demons... vaults of dangerous relics.

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Syphon: machine ConMach uses to "drain the very life" and color from a verse to "fuel... machinery"

  Terminus:a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Twine: "one soul threaded through two bodies"

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Vale Walkers: discoverers of verses

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Venger: muscle man?

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Vibrant: color-changing individuals from Ink?

  Watter: an energetic liquid. "Currence melts to watter. Watter's current dissipates over time, leaving water."

  Weeping Falls: Jadeye Iris flowing with waterfalls

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  Wiz of Berujat: multi-minded?

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wretch Plague: the flu.

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between

  Ziggurat: the verse basing the Legions