Part 71 (1/2)
Talen and River looked at each other. Could the old Nettle have come back?
But then Blue licked his face again, and Nettle began to howl.
Down at the farmstead Prince Conroy began to crow, and as the sun rose, it turned the ripple of thin clouds a breathtaking pink and gold.
”We'll need to lever that body onto a cart,” said Talen, ”and take it home to Uncle Argoth.”
”No,” said River. ”I think in this case we shall leave it where it is and build over it a monument of stones.”
Talen nodded. ”After that we've got a field of barley to mow.”
”I will help,” said Sugar.
”And I,” said Legs, ”will dance and sing.”
”Sing while you may,” said the Creek Widow, ”because a storm is going to come across that ocean, and when it breaks, it had better find us prepared.”
”Will we be ready?” asked Sugar.
”Only the Six know.”
The End.
Terms & People.
Political Hierarchy.
While there are many variations, the basic power hierarchy in the realms of the Western Glorydoms flows from the Glory down: Glory
.
Lesser Divines
.
Territory Lords and Warlords
.
District Lords and Village Bailiffs There are still some small areas of the known world ruled by barbarian kings or chieftains, but almost all these pay tribute to one Glory or another in the form of treasure, slaves, or Fire. The major western glorydoms include Mokad, Koram, Nilliam, Kish, and Urz.
The Six Orders of the Divine Fire Wizards Kains Skir Masters Guardians Green Ones Glories Infamous Divines include: The Goat King, The Witch of Cath, and Hismayas, the ancient lord of the sleth.
Major Mokaddian Clans with holdings in the New Lands Birak Burund Fir-Noy Harkon Jarund Mithrosh Seema Shoka Vargon Koramites Hogan River Ke Talen Sparrow & Purity Sugar Legs Mokaddians Argoth - Serah Nettle Bosser (Captain of the Vargon clan) The Creek Widow (Matiga) Fabbis (Son of a wealthy Fir-Noy lord) Leaf (The Eye of Rubaloth) Lumen (The missing Divine of the New Lands) Rubaloth (Skir Master of Mokad) Rose (Sister to Argoth, wife of Hogan the Koramite) s.h.i.+m (Warlord of the Shoka clan) The Bailiff of Stag Home The Crab (Territory Lord with the most holdings of the Fir-Noy clan) Armsmen Every clan has various martial orders within it. The ranks of the vast majority of these orders are filled with those who are not full-time soldiers, but farmers, laborers, and craftsmen. However, there are orders in some clans of elite and sometimes professional soldiers. These are the orders of the armsmen.
Bone Faces Barbarian raiders from the South who have begun striking Mokaddian holdings by sea.
Dreadmen and Fell-maidens Those without lore who are endowed by Divines with weaves of might. When such weaves are worn, they multiply the wearer's natural mental and physical abilities. However, the weaves carry a cost: worn too frequently, the body wastes, consuming itself to fuel the magic.
Escrum A weave that binds the wearer to a master, allowing communication over long distances.
Frights Not completely of the world of flesh, frights feed on Fire. They most often prey on the sick and dying, attaching themselves like great leeches.
G.o.dsweed An herb with properties said to repel some creatures such as frights and the souls of the dead. The smoke from one thin braid can rid a house of an infestation for many weeks. But its effect does not discriminate between frights, ancestors, or even the servants of the Creators. Hence the saying: take care to appease those you've chased with smoke.
King's Collar A weave wrought by a special order of Divines called Kains. Such collars not only prevent a person from working magic, but also weaken the wearer, making those captured more easy to handle.
Skir Orders of beings that inhabit the heavens as well as the deep places of the earth and sea. While invisible to the naked eye, many do exert power in the visible world and can be harnessed by those knowing the secrets. But not all are useful to man. Many orders of smaller Skir are deemed insignificant, while other powers are so dreadful none dare summon them.
Stone-wights A vanished race whose ruins are found in the New Lands. Some claim plague or war took them. Others find evidence they were destroyed by the Six themselves.
The Six Seven creators fas.h.i.+oned the earth and all life therein. However, upon seeing the flaws in what he and the other six Creators had wrought, the seventh, called Regret, wanted to destroy the work and begin again. The remaining Six, whose names are sacred, refused, but they were not able to overcome Regret. And so it is that the powers of both creation and dissolution still struggle on the earth.
Sleth Another term for ”soul-eaters.” In Urzarian tongue it literally means ”The East Wind,” which dries and kills life. Applied to those who, in rebellion of the Glories, use an unsanctioned form of the lore of the Divines. They are beings and orders of beings supposedly twisted by their polluted draws. Said to have gotten their lore from Regret, one of the seven Creators who, having once seen the creation, realized its flaws and wanted to destroy it.
The Three Vitalities All life is made up of one or more of the three vital powers. There are many names for these life forces. The most common terms in the western glorydoms are Fire (sometimes called Spirit), Body, and Soul. There are rumors, among those who know the lore, of lost vitalities: powers that have pa.s.sed out of human ken.