Said ruse and its accompanying minimal social interactions slowed him, however. Several of the more impulsive, stubborn, or foolhardy amongst the warriors they'd brought already nibbled and sipped at the supplied food and drink. Inro moved to use his still-limited use of their tongue to speed up the process, but the temptation of the sweet, alcoholic drink they offered in half-melon cups and the juicy swell of luscious fruits proved too strong. Arca sighed when he returned and held up two hands with fingers splayed. "This many already ate or drank."

  "Volunteer food-tasters then," Inro said, frowning.

  "Food-taster?" Arca said, head tilting.

  "Menials whose sole purpose is to sample the food and drinks of paranoid and wealthy Kin, Dynasts, and Versers before they eat it. Find out if it is safe to imbibe before someone important tries it."

  "And some choose this?" Arca blinked repeatedly and rubbed his chin.

  "For many, it's the only way they eat at all. Worth the risk if you'll starve anyway." The elders began to grow impatient with the Lizard Hunters' unguided churn about the village commons as they danced with, kissed, or attempted basic communication with the Green People in their marginally-compatible languages and studiously avoided going on the platform.

  "Arca warned against go on top to all," Arca said, peering intently at the elders, then their shaman who still squatted at the edge of things watching with an expression as inscrutable as Izbali's. Arca flashed a grin at Inro as he walked away "Good that Izbali left. Elders can't question about customs and taboos Arca make up to keep from do things don't want."

  While he wrangled and argued with the increasingly-agitated trio of Green People leaders, Inro wandered the village to get the lay of the terrain should they need to fight here and scanning the verdant jungle about it for trails or lurking warriors. A never-ending stream of boys and girls running up giggling to offer food or drink, minimally-clothed young Green People women approaching to offer themselves, and blowgun-armed warriors sauntering by to size him up kept him busy. All the polite mimed refusals and deflections kept him from glancing inside any of the huts or surreptitiously examining the platform any closer. Watching their hands just in case one carried a toxin-tipped splinter to jab into any bit of his exposed flesh added another edge to the proceedings.

  When his loop of the village returned him to his starting point, he found Arca and Cairin waiting for him. Their people began to seat themselves on the ground next to the platform in clusters, most of them poorly-faking eating and drinking while the obtuse handfuls Arca indicated munched and drank heartily. This arrangement did not please the elders in the slightest, judging by their critical looks and some hushed argument volleying back and forth between them.

  "What if Elders tell truth? What if One Tribe merely upset and ruin many arrangements Green People worked hard for to make peace?" Arca said, smiling as a green-painted woman planted a kiss on his lips, then danced away. He plucked a leaf from a fruiting vine draped over a pole nearby to carefully dab his lips then inspected it for hints of some sort of poison or drug. "What if Inro and Cairin see tricks but Green People want join One Tribe for true?"

  "Then we're the trecharous ones and this is our poor excuse for a trap rather than our hopefully-clever attempt at counter-ambush," Inro said, moving to stand at the heart of their warriors while watching the Elders closely for any indication of their intent. As he watched, they came to some decision that set them to dispatching a handful of children off into the jungle.

  "Stay alert," Inro said, resting his hand on his sword hilt. Arca diverted from sniffing at a melon-cup to stand at alertness. Cairin continued to admire the lithe form a Green People warrior, but adjusted the wrap of her sling about her neck. Their people nearby noticed and a slow ripple of readiness fanned out through the One Tribe warriors.

  Much shouting and sharp, angry cries called from the jungle. People thrashed through the foliage and emerged in clusters, dragging bodies by their feet or hair. Childrens' bodies.

  "Six," Arca breathed. "All One Tribe runners dead."

  Cairin whistled. Her slingers immediately formed about her. Small clay pots heavily-laded with Limn-formed sling stones emerged from their hiding places under lizard-skin wraps and headdresses. The rest of the warriors snatched up wicker shields and spears while the youngest among them rushed about with pots of Limn paint to touch up any places where earlier applications had been sweated, smeared, or rubbed away.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  As the hundred-odd warriors of the One Tribe formed up the box formation Inro'd spent a week drilling into them, a cacophony of sharp, trilling whistles called from hut and forest. Green People seethed from beneath the canopy, spilled from every hut, and sprinted into the village from every trail, their shrill warcries adding to the tumult.

  As the chaos erupted about them, the Lizard Walkers who had eaten and drunk began to fall, some suddenly weak and limp, others writhing and foaming at the mouth, while yet others clutched at their guts and vomited blood. Someone lit the platform ablaze, streaks of fire rushing through the tangles of tinder packed beneath it. One of the elder woman screamed at whomever had done so as a knot of their warriors led them away.

  "Green People poison different types keeps exciting and different at least," Arca said dryly as he drew his treasured sword. At his shouted commands, the Lizard Walkers shifted as close as possible to the flames, the warriors on that face of the square peeling away to form a reserve. "Good of Green People to give us less flank to protect."

  Inro pounded Arca on the back with one hand as drew his shadowblade with the other, its smoky outline clearly delineated in the bright sunlight. "Your grasp of strategy continues to improve and impress, my friend."

  Despite their circumstances, Arca shot him a grin and saluted with his sword. Cairin glanced Inro's way and offered a brief, strained smile.

  Inro gave up on counting their foes. Plenty. Almost certainly sufficient to overwhelm them even with Limn sling stones and armoring paint, interlaced shields, and the fire protecting a flank. A brief flickering hope that Cairin might disrupt them by lobbing a sling-stone, dispatch the elders, and eliminated the enemy's leadership flickered and faded as he scanned the sea of green-painted forms swarming around them. The Elders were no where to be seen, likely directing things safely from the treeline.

  Cairin shouted a command and the first volley of stones whistled out in all directions, detonating amid the Green People. Dozens went down screaming, but the Green People had fought the One Tribe before. Their previously close-packed mob instantly dispersed as their tactics adapted. Their pre-battle scream-and-whistle terror routine dissolved as they transitioned to taking cover behind huts then rushing out to fire blowguns or hurl spears.

  Then came the most-hated among their many reviled tactics: a few swung woven baskets on ropes about their heads a few times then loosed to lob clutches of venomous snakes into the One Tribe's midst. The slingers targeted them over anyone else, but not quickly enough. Before long, half-a-dozen baskets lay crumpled inside the One Tribe formation, seething with snakes.

  "And now our fate lies with Izbali," Inro mused to Arca as the battle's intensity continued to ratchet higher.

  "Izbali favor us. Our Shaman ran to tell our people that trap is true, rest of the One Tribe will come from every side, break Green People strength all gathered here to kill, and survivors join One Tribe," Arca said, ducking a hurtled spear whose tip looked to be dipped in feces. "We finish here and turn to Shore Walkers."

  "Or we discover Izbali disapproves of all the customs we've broken up to and including turning 'holy Limn' into the backbone of our military armament, decides to let the Green People purge us, and sits beside those Elders sipping melon wine and watching the beginnings of our slaughter at this moment," Inro countered, tactical plans and stratagems churning through his mind. "Even if we managed to somehow breakout and escape from this, the Green People would hound our every step back through their jungles. We escape and live, the nightmare here goes on. Or we abandon the Green Lands for good."

  A Limb-bearer dropped her jar and rolled screaming on the ground, three snakes coiling about her feet as their fangs sank in. Inro cleanly severed her foot with one swing of his shadow blade and decapitated the snakes with a second. They'd learned from hard experience how quickly some of the snakes' venom traveled inside the body. Since they couldn't tell yet which snakes among them possessed the worst of the poisons, severing limbs was their only recourse.

  "One Tribe not stay one if first great war is defeat," Arca said, lunging forward and back to hew more snakes apart with his sword. Another warrior stumbled towards them clutching at the poisoned dart sprouting from his cheek. His blackened tongue bulged from between blackening lips. Without hesitation, Arca shifted, swung, and put the doomed man out of his misery.

  "So here we are again, my friend," Inro grunted as he hurled the fecal spear back to its owners. "Die or win."

  Arca grinned and slapped a hand onto Inro's breastplate. "Die or win together."

  Inro flashed his teeth back.

  Both their smiles fell away, simultaneous cries breaking from their throats as Cairin wheeled and stumbled towards them. They lurched towards her in alarm. She raised her left palm towards them, revealing one of the Green People's poisoned, foot-length throwing darts punched clean through her hand.

  Inro and Arca sprinted towards her, Inro's world tunneling until he could only see Cairin.

  He'd only taken a few steps when a wicker basket exploded against his side. Most of the snakes within fell harmlessly to the ground, but several sunk fangs deep into the flesh of his arm, neck, face, and foot. Shaking them off and deftly swinging his blade sufficed to earn him quick revenge on the serpents, but their venom did its work quickly.

  As he collapsed convulsing to the lush grass, the last thing he saw before a storm of color and pain blinded him was Cairin reaching out to him, her hand already blackening around the dart.

  Note: Only one (longish) chapter next week on Wednesday. Between taxes, my car going in the shop, and some personal stuff I'm over a week behind on writing and editing. Going to take next week to catch up. Sorry for the delay!

  Next chapter: Aida deals with unexpected consequences of breaking the Neck.

  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