-Aj / 102-

  'Beneath the shell

  of this verse

  exists the human

  which spun me to this path.'

  -Da / 1n-

  'I trace your connection

  and see the one.

  What makes it special?'

  -Aj / 102-

  'She,

  not it.'

  -Da / 1n-

  'What is

  a 'she'?'

  -Aj / 102-

  '...

  Not important.

  Important is

  not what it is,

  but where it came from.'

  Aida finished her climb of the rope-ladder netting dangling down the side of the turtle skull to find the top packed with people, jars, baskets, and barrels. The people occupying themselves resting, chatting, organizing, or staring off at town and Tangle all wore uniformly-blue outfits that looked like a mashup of burka and mummy wrap: full-length robes and face-enwrapping head-scarves like overzealous turbans not content to cover the head and so continuing on to around everything down to the neck except for the eyes. Only their younger children remained unconstrained, boys and girls running around in bright robes free of any sort of head covering.

  Where uniformity prevailed in garb, variety came in bracelets and necklaces varying from solid metal bands to strings beaded or run through shells to chains of silver, gold, brass, bronze. Contrasting Aida's people's dirty, tattered, worn states, the newcomers' robes bore only bits of the still-settling bone-dust around hems and cuffs while gleams lit the polished metal, crystal beads or lacquered toggles of their jewelry.

  "Ghillie, look!" Aida half-shouted. "They have stuff and they aren't all dying already!"

  Unlike most of her new arrivals who came with little more than the clothes they wore or carried and wells of quickly-dashed hopes, the skull-top around the Thorn nearly overflowed with tall clay jars of wine or grain, roped bundles of bronze picks, shovels, and other tools, bolts of cloth, coiled rope, nets of fruit, stacked buckets, and what looked to be everything you might want to, say, colonize a new world.

  A nearby group detached from their midst to approach Aida and the rest of her retinue as they scrambled up the last bit of net.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "I'm Aida, Mother of Exiles," Aida blurted, thrown off her usual greeting spiel by surprise and relief.

  "I am known as Three Bracelets Left," said a taller individual who, indeed, wore a bracelet of woven multi-colored strings, a second of fine gold chain, and a third of faintly-tinkling brass bells on their right arm. The person spoke in a voice falling in a register somewhere between alto and tenor, their voice only barely muffled by the multi-layered, light silks that seemed to cover all their faces.

  "What happened to the other bracelets? Or why are they on your right arm if your name is Three Bracelets Left?" Aida said, immediately wincing at the stupidity of throwing out those questions from the vast array of more useful ones she might have fielded.

  "A long couple stories I'd love to tell sometime, but might we begin moving our things down? We arrived just as that bony bridge collapsed and we nearly lost a few people over the edge when this platform shifted. Also would hate to still be standing here if anyone else wanted to come through the Thorn. Always so unpredictable when that happens."

  Now used to arrivals greeting her with adulation and fawning, the person's abrupt pragmatism and utter lack of concern about who she was annoyed her. Guilt rushed in to drive annoyance away, guilt and shame not only their first impression of her verse was one of destruction and danger, but also that she could have killed them too when she'd blasted the Neck to smithereens. After a few seconds' reflection, she also felt abashed at feeling so annoyed at their response to her, like some celebrity getting pissed off that no one recognized them even though they complained about it all the time.

  "Absolutely," Aida finally said. "Assuming you're here to stay and not just coming to trade or something, let's reconvene down below once your people are safe and belongings are secured. Make yourselves at home."

  Three Bracelets Left inclined their head, turned, and set to giving orders.

  She stepped back to get out of the way as much as possible and watched the blue-clad newcomers set up an orderly process for getting themselves and their belongings down the nets. With a cheerful cooperativeness, they set to rigging up rope systems to lower larger objects along with the infirm or elderly while others clambered down the nets. Everything well-organized, cooperative, and business-like.

  "Bluecomers," she muttered.

  "What?" Aliasara said from her side.

  "Blue newcomers. Bluecomers." Aida sighed and shook her head. "They say I don't have to sleep, but I've definitely found I get spacey, irritable, and distracted when I don't at least take the odd nap for too many days. I mean, more spacey, irritable, and distracted than usual."

  Aliasara laughed and her full, gorgeous smile broke out. Aida hugged her impulsively. "Who are these people anyway? I vaguely remember Fallon saying something about them waaay back when in Ocyl's court when I saw one."

  "Munes from the Collective on Dost," Viviana said, gliding close to Aida's other side. Aida turned. With her arm still around Aliasara's shoulders so she felt Aliasara tense as the other woman approached. Viviana and Aliastro might think they had smoothed over any feathers from earlier, but clearly Aliasara still felt a bit ruffled.

  "Got a song and dance to sing about them?" Aida snapped, taking a cue from Aliasara's tension.

  To Viviana's credit and Aida's annoyance, Viviana laughed and dropped to a flawless curtsy. "If you wish I will perform all I know of their history and custom as a comedy or tragedy. Clothed or nude, at your preference."

  Flustered a bit by a hot flash of memory to their group dalliance less than an hour ago in the tent, Aida spoke quickly. "No nudity or clothing needed. I mean, just give me the short, version. Non-musical is fine. That'll be plenty."

  Viviana bowed her head elegantly and looked Aida in the eye as she spoke. As she did, something that had been bothering Aida about Viviana and Alerestro both somewhere deep down in her subconscious suddenly launched to the surface of her mind like a beach ball held underwater and released: though ever warm, polite, pleasant, and lighthearted, not the tiniest glint of gaiety or joy ever reflected in their eyes.

  "A couple centuries ago, a group of Dynasts came together seeking to create a perfect society away from the divisions and strife that riddle other verses. In the process, they decided that knowing gender, skin tone, and name instantly created separations between individuals. So, thus, starting at age ten, they adorn the robes and veils to become members of the collective, known only by the distinct jewelry they wear."

  "Utopists, great," Aida said, groaning inwardly. Having lived in a variety of communes herself when she was younger, her memories were littered with the hopeful ideals that birthed them and the realities of human nature and motivation that killed every one of them turn. "And that would explain their voices. They all try to talk the same tone to make it harder to identify exactly who or what each of them are."

  Viviana smiled. "My Dynast is a quick one. Indeed, they seek total equality through total anonymity."

  "What about skills?" Aida said, increasingly annoyed at Vivana's pleasantness since her notice that the woman's eyes never got in on the act. "Leaders? How do you know who can do what or who's in charge if things go bad?"

  "One of the first things they do on the Decanth when they change their jewelry, and thus names and identities, is to elect new leaders."

  "Reset everything? So whatever you said or did gets wiped clear every ten years?" Aida thought for a minute. "I'll be the crime-rate soars right before one of those."

  "I had not heard such, but as you said I can see how it would be so. Also cleverly surmised." Viviana said, nodding deeply to Aida before continuing. "I was there for the celebrations leading up to the Decanth a few years ago with my chain holder. They open up to outsiders for a few weeks prior and let us say that the festivities can grow quite... extensive and encompassing."

  "I'll bet. If you get a clean slate soon might as well get it a bit messy first." Aida frowned and watched as the Mune relocated themselves. "Reminds me of a joke: a priest goes up to a tribe of Native Americans and tells the chief 'If you convert to Christianity and become baptized, all your past sins will immediately be forgiven.' The chief thought for a moment, then said 'all of them?' The priest nodded enthusiastically. 'Everything from your birth in sin straight up to the moment of baptism is cleansed. Will you join me down at the river and be baptized?' The chief thought a moment longer, then shook his head. 'I think I'm going to wait a bit.'"

  She stood there grinning like an idiot waiting for them to laugh until she realized everything from 'Native Americans' to 'Christianity' to 'sin' was probably all a long string of idioms. While they smiled politely, she scrambled for something, anything to steer the conversation elsewhere.

  Next chapter: Same chapter. The Mune brought someone else useful besides. Gosh, maybe things are finally looking up!

  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.

  Festrin: Seneschal of Monopollis, father of Fallon

  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

  Three Bracelets Left: "Leader" of the Mune collective

  "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?

  Arcers: a type of mancer able to summon blades of energy

  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: a collective from Dost who mask their identities and share everything communally

  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