Inro pushed through the thick foliage spilling across the narrow game trail winding its way up the hill. Atop it waited the last holdouts among of Green People: the dozen-odd tribes and clans who'd plagued his efforts to unite them under the One Tribe's figurative banner. Arca walked beside him, hand resting proudly on his sword hilt. Cairin followed close behind with her ubiquitous sling draped around her throat like a rough but deadly necklace. A hundred-odd others followed behind, swearing and wrestling their large wicker shields through the tangling undergrowth and broad-leafed greenery exploding from the ground all about them.

  "Sure this is right plan?" Arca said, carefully wiping sweat from his good eye so as not to disturb the Limn clay coating him. Humidity and heat did their best to baste and cook them alive.

  "No," Inro said, pausing for a moment as a brightly-banded snake slide languidly across the path before them. "But we don't have enough time or manpower to keep fighting them as they wish to fight. This is our best chance to bring this to a close before the jungle chews us up or the One Tribe comes apart and devours itself."

  "Big risk exchange for quick end?" Arca said.

  "Done with green lands," Cairin said, swatting a fist-sized insect aside as it dove at her with its obscenely-long proboscis. "How anyone live here? In home lands we eat bugs. Here, bugs eat us."

  Inro reached back and caught a drip of clay as it fell from Arca's chin. Tingles ran through his fingertips as he rubbed it between them. "Another reason to finished this quickly. That and everyone sweating their Limn off half-way through any decent battle we can find. Going through far too many jars and our caravans hauling more from the Limn beds are taking too long. No, we do this here, end this now. That or we give up on the Green Lands and integrating its people. If we do that, the Libwe and all the other tribes will think us weak and desert us or kill us. No. Either this works or I carry a couple jars of Limn down to the Cave Dweller's domain and find a way back to the Book alone."

  "Not alone," Cairin said, pressing as close to his side as she could without smearing her Limn. "Cairin would go with you."

  "Arca too would follow, friend," Arca said, clapping Inro on the shoulder.

  Inro stopped and turned back for a moment as the jungle began to thin. Arca and Cairin looked at him with that fierce pride and protectiveness of theirs. Inro felt a ridiculous rush of emotion sabotaging him. He wiped at his eye. "Three of us against The Book if this fails then. We better make this work or I'll have you two slowing me down as I skulk about the Book trying to rebuild my Legions from scratch."

  "That was tear," Cairin said, her tone mocking as she brushed a finger under Inro's eye.

  "Sweat from this damned jungle," Inro said, pulling away. Arca grinned at him.

  Inro shook his head and marched forward to the broad clearing they'd walked three days deep into enemy territory to reach.

  Jungle cleared away to reveal a broad hilltop covered with elaborate lean-tos and many-chambered woven huts. Crude fences of gnarled trees bound with vine penned fantastically-colored, two-legged birds and many-hued lizards. Clusters of rich, multicolored fruits dangled from cut vines beside the opening to every doorway. Animals roasted on spits over smoldering communal fire pits. Impressively-carved wooden statues of highly-stylized snakes, birds, lizards, and jungle cats perched, sat, stalked, or posed, around a large wooden platform at the village center.

  The whole village smelled of fruit, growth, moisture, laced with coppery undertones. Inro had smelled the same on the bodies of Green people they'd slain in combat. Something to do with their blue-green paint he'd supposed.

  Several-dozen elders and warriors stood about the platform, their skin dyed a deep green. The elders wore beautiful coats of multi-colored feathers clasped with polished talons. Warriors wore vests of many-layered cloth studded with shells and bones over the swirled emerald and aqua of their paints. Streamers of thin vine twined their arms, legs, vests, and wove through their dark hair. All looked more like varieties of mythological forest spirits then men and women of flesh and blood. Their expressions ranged from hostile to grim.

  As his followers spread out from the narrow trail behind them, Arca, Cairin, and Inro walked forward to meet the elders. Izbali broke forward and followed close behind, the tall Shaman as silent and intimidating as ever.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Two older women stepped forward to face them from the Green People's ranks, their long gray hair arranged to run down their chests and legs all the way to their wrinkled knees. An older man stood with them, his beard hanging nearly as low. Hair and beard both glinted with ingots of copper, silver, and gold. They possessed perhaps ten teeth combined between the three. A Limn-smeared shaman squatted nearby, the young man as naked, silent, and brooding as Izbali.

  One of the women began to speak their trilling, fast dialect of the tribal language Arca spoke. After weeks of interrogating captured prisoners, negotiating alliances with the few Green People tribes willing to join them, and acting as liaison between Inro and the Green People guides and warriors they'd integrated after conquering them, Arca's ear for language promoted him to their interpreter. At least, after their last volunteer from a Green People tribe that had 'joined' them led them into an ambush.

  Arca spoke haltingly, half-listening as the woman's unending wash of meaningless words jangled on Inro's nerves. "Elder woman says they speak for all the Green People who remain. They know the Foreigner and the One Tribe has suffered greatly since their invasion. Many death to poison, swamp-sickness, ambushes, and traps. They also know many of the Lizard Hunters hate this place of death and disease. They hold much longing for open stretches of rock lands. Freedom from the entrapping jungle."

  "Not all of our people who went missing were killed, it would seem," Inro mused.

  "Green People tortures more clever than Lizard Hunters," Cairin said. "Make captives eat berries that tear veils between them and dark spirits. Let dark things in to devour minds. Eat dreams. Or bind them and set burrow-wasps on their flesh to lay eggs in them. Hatchlings eat their way out. Only takes one captured to talk, no matter how bravely others died."

  Inro nodded grimly.

  "In spite of this, they respect strength of Inro, potency of Limn, and courage of One Tribe warriors," Arca continued. "They no longer would fight such strength, but join it. Share in triumphs. Join all the One Tribe in conquer of all the world."

  Cairin and Inro exchanged a troubled glance before turning back.

  "And what do they ask in return?" Inro said, keeping the skepticism from his voice only with difficulty.

  "Only for they three to have voice for Green Peoples in Inro and Arca's councils. Share use of Limn for battles. Nothing else."

  Inro exhaled a held breath, his faint hope crashing away. "Tell them we accept and invite the Green Peoples into the One Tribe. They three will act as their voice and the others will stand as equals to the Lizard Hunters in the Tribe."

  As Arca translated, Arca turned to Cairin. She leaned in as though to brush something from the gleaming steel of Inro's breastplate, whispering low in his ear even though the jungle savages spoke not a word of Ebonese. "It is trap?"

  "Undoubtedly. Send Izbali to warn our warriors in case the runners we send are ambushed. Taboo will keep them from interfering with her. Or at least we can hope."

  "Yes, but will she do this? Shaman supposed to stay away from tribe fight and argue."

  "I think she wants what we do," he said, glancing at the lean, enigmatic woman. She stared back, her expression flat as always. "And we've no other hope if our runners don't get through."

  The Green People broke out into ululating cries and shrill whistles as danced about, swirling and beating against vibrantly-painted hide drums. Those ten teeth emerged as the elders grinned, gesturing the representatives of the One Tribe towards the platform upon which young, paint-clad young women set broad leaves heaped with fruits, tubers, and skewers of roasted meat.

  "Cairin not trust place Elders want us sit," Cairin said, eying it suspiciously as they walked towards it. She whistled to summon the leaders among the followers accompanying them. As said Lizard Hunters jogged forwards, half-a-dozen young boys and girls who'd been with them slipped off into the jungle. If any of the Green People noticed their departure, they gave no sign.

  After a quick set of orders from Arca and Cairin, the rest of the One Tribe joined in the celebration. Their faked enthusiasm quickly revealed itself as far more transparent than the locals' seemingly-genuine joy. Most Lizard Hunters were brave, strong, ferocious, and fearless. Subtle and cunning, however, lay far outside the realm of qualities they valued.

  "Inro trusts those elders' truthfulness as much as their chewing ability," Inro said, trying to make his survey of the crude platform subtle. "They're not engineers, so rigging it to collapse into spiked pits seems far beyond them. I have the distinct feeling that those dense rolls of dried brambles packed underneath it are there for flammability not decoration. We climb on top, get drunk on fruit wine, sleep with nubile young Green People, and wake up to our throats being slit as the platform catches fire around us."

  "This is how Cairin would do it," she said, nodding with a mixture of approval and disgust as she walked away to talk to Izbali.

  "We need to find some pretext to refuse that won't offend them. Come up with some Lizard Hunter superstition about standing on false ground or the like," Inro said as he turned to Arca. "Warn everyone against eating or drinking anything. Given their proclivity for such things, I'd imagine half of it is poisoned and the rest drugged."

  Arca immediately jogged off, feigning a delighted smile as he patted warriors on the back, clasped arms with them, and pounded their chests. Another reason Inro liked him so much: he managed to retain all the best qualities of the Lizard Hunters but also caught on to subtlety and ruse in a way few of his fellows could match.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. The situation with the Green People grows rapidly more toxic.

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a traveling musician. Died of the Wretch Plague in Heaven's Tread.

  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"

  Alerestro: a handsome, multi-talented man from Azure. Partner of Viviana

  Aliasara: servant at Ocyl's villa who befriends Aida

  Anticores: a pair of Sect representatives, off-putting and strange

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Asta: Tertius Dynast of Silk.

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  Baka: Dynast of Ziggurat. Huge, massively strong. Tertius.

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

  Broadaxe: large, axe-and-shield-wielding Feral protecting Aida. Killed by Jaxe in Jadeye

  Cairin: Arca's sister, slinger

  Das: Rega's Immanent

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

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eonora: a Legion officer in Ziggurat

  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", an Inviolate

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

  Godge and Ardina: Primary Small Masters in Berujat

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal. Died killing the Inviolate Rasofi in Jadeye

  Fatma: weakest Small Master of Berujat

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

  Fetriene: Ocyl's soresearer

  Goldilocks: twitchy, spear-and-javelin carrying Feral guarding Aida. Died burning a Wicker Way in Jadeye.

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

  Hue: Vibrant accompanying Simon

  Huspara: minor bureaucrat in Libriam

  Ijran: Multi-minded wiz, Small Master of Berujat

  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.

  Johine: crude slave

  Kass/Kassenia: mercenary attached to Adonissian. Died of Wretch Plague?

  Maxem: High Parser from Ink, ambassador to Jadeye

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

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  "Professor, The": leader of Aida's Wretches

  Rasofi: Inviolate killed by Fallon in Jadeye

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

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast of Monopolis. Septemius

  Riccaro: majordomo of Ocyl's estate. Hung by a looting mob in Heaven's Tread.

  Ruja: Dynast of Berujat

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

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

  Sadar: odd boy traveling with Semon

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Savalius: Grand Quartermaster of the Legions

  Semon "Goldtongue": white-haired, one-eyed master of cults. First Disciple of the Mother.

  Stiller: serving boy at Ocyl's estate. Rendered mute by psychological or head-trauma

  Strygen: a dusa traveling with Semon

  Taesal: one of Rega's other Inviolates, axe scar to face

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

  Tyrs: many-pierced Secundus Dynast of Forge

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

  Vanyen: A crippled young woman who created the Cult of the Mother. Martyred Prophet of the Mother. Murdered by Semon Dynastic Assassins.

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

  Viviana: gorgeous, multi-talented ex-slave from Berujat. Partner of Alerestro.

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

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

  36th Dynasty: A Dynasty the Anticores have met?.

  100th Dynasty: The Dynasty ruling the Book.

  Adventures of Bubo, The: popular kids story

  All, The: All the verses, even those beyond The Book.

  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

  Autumn: verse rich in gold?

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Azure: A verse?

  Berujat: "fleshmarkets"; primary seat of slave trade and home of most Lineage Masters, owned by Fraction.

  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

  Calms: periods when ever-blowing winds die down in Berujat

  Canyon of Cages: cliff where slaves are held in Berujat

  Cave Dwellers: tribes that live in the underground in Origin, keep others out until "the Return"

  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

  Commu: chewed drug/herb?

  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."

  Directory: "the Directory to Ink is like the Dynasty to the Book", dominating rulers of Ink

  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.

  Dynast's Tower: a massive tower at the peak of Ziggurat.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebon Saga: the tale of Ebon's foundation of The Book and Dynasty

  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.

  Forge: verse ruled by Tyrs with much metalworking

  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: Inter-verse travel method created by Ebon. Opened with Limn

  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".

  Green People: A tribe of jungle dwellers from Origin

  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 advising Dynasts and shaping course of The Book

  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

  Jar: Name of a "gold" coin now made of brass. Once held currence within.

  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?

  Green People: tribes that live in the jungles of Origin

  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, most desperately trying to reach 100 so they can Partake

  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: a line of mancers taught by a Master

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

  Lizard Hunters: Arca's people, walkers of the wastes of Origin

  Logos: "the thought realm"

  Machine Curse: something that stops machines from working between verses?

  Mancers: "no mancers arc (could) affect it", people with abilities beyond human normal, usually trained/implanted by a Master.

  Master's Markets: primary slave market in the Book in Berujat

  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 Tribe, The: Arca's new tribe incorporating the Libwe and whomever else is conquered or enticed to join.

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

  Optomime: gadgeteer

  Origin: the First Verse, from which Ebon originated, containing the "Cities Below". The "first page of The Book"

  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

  Rags: derogatory name for alliance of Isolates and Fractious Fraction. Call themselves "Resistance Against the Grevious Ancient Coup."

  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

  Shore Striders: tribes that live along the oceans of Caves

  Shackle Pens: slave pens near Master's Market in Berujat?

  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

  Silk: verse owned by Asta where all of verse's silk originates

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

  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

  Stone Walkers: tribes that live in the cold of Origin

  Subterrane, The: inter-verse 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

  Swirl: A verse. "The pleasure barges of Swirl"

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

  Tangle, The: the jungles of the One-Eighth

  Terminus: "Gates End", 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

  Tribunal: group of three Dynasts coming together to make ruling or pass judgment

  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, capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously

  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/Dynast's Plague: the flu. A horrific disease spread by Wretches.

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between. A giant Ziggurat