Artifice: the study of magic related to breathing life into enchanted objects and automatons. It's rooted in the ancient practices of Sarn technomancy.
Asherai: A far-off kingdom on the other side of the world. This area is known for its shadow assassins, warriors who can teleport short distances.
Assembly: The elected governing bodies of the Free Cities. Each city state has its own rules about elections. The Mirrored City elects two Assemblies.
Automaton: A clockwork construct of limited sentience. They’re powered by heartstone cores that house their intelligence.
Baash: The theocratic half of the Mirrored City ruled by seven houses. They are ruled by a voting bloc of Ohanite faithful. Known for their fine wines and agriculture.
Backwash: The lower district of Rivern, destroyed by Satryn. The city’s anarchic laws were often ignored, and a thriving black market was tentatively allowed by the Assembly.
Bamor: The de facto capitol of the Protectorate. With a population of more than a million, it’s easily the largest city-state. The population and nobility are predominantly dark skinned, and the city has a reputation for iniquity. Saint Jeffrey declared a thousand-year jubilee when he defeated the Harrower Vilos. It is now year 568 of that celebration, which is held nonstop in one quarter of the city by revelers.
Barstea: A member of the Free Cities in tentative standing.
Blood magic: The practice of reading and manipulating blood and other humors. Abilities include tracking blood, identifying ancestry and performing grafts. The modern equivalent of Patrean Biomancy.
Border Nations: Impoverished monarchies with little access to magical power, including Amhaven, Veyal, Mythercia, and Gorin
Cabel: An Archean senator who favors intervention in groundling affairs. Brother of Cabel.
Caleb: An Archean senator who favors intervention in groundling affairs. Brother of Caleb.
Cameron: A former assemblyman of Rivern and father of Empress Jessa's son, Torin. Trusted advisor.
Capra: A species of hippocampus native to the abyss; humanoid torso, long horns, fish tail.
Chimera: An ancient Patrean construct made from pieces of still living tissue taken from the recently dead.
Coelacanth: Ancient six finned sentient mages from the depths of the Abyss. They are devoted to Kultea who is their mother.
Colette: The chief inspector in Dessim.
Daphne: The former leader of the Inquisition and Heath’s estranged mentor.
Dark Ecliptic: The inverted astrological symbols of the Ecliptic
Dessim: The libertine half of the Mirrored City ruled by an Assembly. The people pray to the Host, a pantheon of thousands of deities. Known for mining and publishing.
Diviner: Diviners are intermediaries between mankind and the Host, consulting with various powers and making predictions based on astrology.
Dolmen: An ancient monument placed by the empires of the Second Era. Dark powers inhabit them.
Dominance: An imperial dynasty that stretches across the five oceans ruled by hereditary weather mages known as Stormlords. The nation is called Thrycea, and its capital is Thelassus. Currently held by Nasara.
Ecliptic: The stars that govern astrology.
Emissary: A Traveler, unknown to most.
Everstorm: A continuously raging storm centered above Thelassus that provides electricity to the city from its regular lightning strikes.
Fodder: An abbreviation of “cannon fodder,” a derogatory term for the disposable nature of Patrean mercenaries. People who use this term are racially insensitive.
Fox: A Patrean soldier in Dessim.
Free Cities: See Protectorate.
Geas: A compulsion magically imposed on a person. A favorite enchantment in the lost Sarn Empire.
Genatrova: The continent upon which the Free Cities and border nations sit. Genatrovans are mostly the descendants of slaves from the ancient empires, freed when they collapsed.
Gorin: A border nation. Its primary industry is fishing.
Hamartia: A seal that has been inscribed incorrectly, creating a flawed result; typically manifests as a physical or mental affliction. Maddox's seal of Vitae may or may not be a Hamartia.
Harbinger: A member of the travelers. His wyrd is to preside over inevitable tragedy. Like all Travelers he possesses strong, mysterious theurgy. He can teleport and see any future that will never come to pass.
Harrower: One of thirteen mysterious creatures bent on sowing misery. Each night twelve of them claim a single victim while he or she sleeps.
Heath: A thirty-six-year-old mercenary, former Inquisitor, former criminal.
Hierocracy: The clergy of the Orthodoxy, the primary religion of the Protectorate its followers preach the value of life, faith, and charity.
Host: The Host comprises thousands of deities from pantheons, legend, folklore and myth across Creation.
House Ibazz: The least prestigious of the seven great Houses of Baash
House Qaadar: The most powerful and prestigious house of Baash
Ibiq Qaadar: The head of House Quaadar and Patriarch of the Ohanite faith.
Ilyara: The Witch Queen and ancestor of Jessa.
Incubus: A male capable of drawing magical abilities from others. Their touch incites strong physical desire.
Inquisition: The part of the Hierocracy devoted to rooting out and destroying Dark Magic by any means necessary.
Isik: A necromancer who works as a coroner, formerly of Rivern. He was born and educated in Volkov.
Jada: A Patrean archaeologist.
Jessa: The Tempest and rightful heir to the Coral Thorne of Thrycea; daughter of Satryn and princess of Amhaven
Karthanteum: A far-off city where transmutation magic is practiced.
Keltis: A young male escort who went to Soren's orphanage.
Kondole (aka the Father Whale): A god worshiped by the peaceful ancestors of the Stormlords.
Kultea (aka the Hungry mother): A goddess of cruelty and power worshiped in Thrycea.
Lawrence: Former doorman at the Palace of Keys
Leland Buckminster: An author of romantic literature in Dessim
Libertine: a Traveler who just likes to have fun, regardless of the situation.
Long Night: A magical calamity caused by Achelon the Desecrator when the Harrowers possessed the bodies of the world's most powerful mages and plunged the world into chaos.
Lyceum: The arcane college of Rivern. It was once a premier institution until Dean Pytheria was convicted of unholy necromantic experiments. Its reputation is recovering; it is still considered the premier school for artificers.
Lyta Ibazz: Seventh daughter of House Ibazz and former handmaiden to Shannon. Adopted to replace the previous seventh sister after a scandal.
Maceria: An ancient empire that specialized in necromancy.
Maddox: A twenty-six-seven-old Seal mage with the powers of immortality and telekinesis.
Maenmarth: An ancient forest inhabited by witches and spirit folk, the bulk of which resides in the borders of Amhaven.
Magesterium: The arcane college of Dessim.
Magus Darla Winterholt: A blood mage at the Magesterium and consultant with the police of Dessim.
Mazitar: A settlement in the Dominance famed for pink-sand beaches and bioluminescent plankton. Ruled by Princess Sireen and home to Jessa's supporters. The historical birthplace of the Wave Lords.
Mirrored City: The nickname of the combined city-states of Baash and Dessim.
Mythercia: A border nation on the western coast.
Nasara: Empress Iridissa’s oldest daughter and claimant tot the Coral Throne.
Necromancy: The arcane study of death and reanimation of the dead.
Nerrax: Jessa’s cousin and son of Nasara
Night wrestler: A homosexual Patrean, skilled in hand-to-hand combat
Ohan: The god of sunlight, life, and renewal
Ohanites: A splinter sect of the Orthodoxy, differing in their emphasis on practic
e rather than ideology.
Orthodoxy: See Hierocracy.
Palace of Keys: A prestigious brothel in Dessim.
Patreans: Named for the wizards of the Patrean Empire, who created them. A race of cloned people who serve in the world’s armies as contracted mercenaries. They’re stronger and faster than humans and don’t dream or experience fear. They possess no magic.
Pisclatet: Sireen's personal advisor, spy master and fashion designer.
Protean: A species of invertebrate native to Creation, able to survive inside human hosts.
Protectorate: a loose confederation of city-states that have thrown off the shackles of monarchial rule to be governed by the will of the people. Though each city-state has independence, the center of the Protectorate’s collective government is in Bamor.
Pytheria: A disgraced former dean of the Lyceum who used her position to perform illegal necromancy experiments. Currently suffering from dementia and living as a ward of the crown of Amhaven in an old tower in Weatherly.
Quillian: A diviner working in Dessim.
Rebekah: A teacher of glyphomancy at the Magesterium and client of the Palace of Keys
Rivern: One of the Free Cities of the Protectorate, currently rebuilding after the calamity visited by Satryn. It’s known for engineering and steam works. The city is built around the split of three rivers known as the Trident which sits atop a great waterfall that spills into the lower city, a district known as the Backwash.
Ryon: Proprietor of the Palace of Keys.
Safina Ibazz: Matriarch and first wife of House Ibazz
Sarn: An ancient empire specializing in artifacts and arcane technology.
Satryn: Jessa's deceased mother and former Tempest, responsible for the destruction of Rivern.
Seal: An inscribed design that grants its bearer certain powers, such as telekinesis, longevity, truth detection, and the ability to produce fire
Seedmother: The name of the spiritual leader of the Proteans. The first one to gain sentience.
Shannon Ibazz: Sixth daughter of House Ibazz. Adopted as an orphan.
Sireen: Jessa’s aunt and supporter.
Soren: A street urchin from Dessim.
Stormlord: A person born to Thrycean royalty who wields the power of storm and water.
Stormraider: An ancient tribe of corsairs known for bloodthirst, who with the help of the coelacanth conquered the peaceful Wavelords and sired the current lineage of Stormlords.
Succubus: A female capable of sharing senses and controlling the bodies of those they touch.
Sword: An ancient weapon forged in Sarn, possessing an intelligence and capable of controlling it’s wielders. Once bonded to the Sword the host body will be controlled by Sword’s intelligence until death. Sword’s personality and reasoning capabilities are limited or enhanced by the natural ability of its host.
Sybil: Proprietor of the Palace of Keys.
Tertius: Former dean of the Lyceum and Maddox’s mentor.
Thelassus: The capitol of Thrycea. Population is more than a million. The city has working electricity.
Thrycea: The seat of power for the Dominance.
Titus: Patrean bar owner of the Salon of Forgotten Gods. A distinguished war veteran.
Torin Shyford: Jessa's son.
Torin Silverbrook: A mage from the Lyceum; Maddox’s classmate and Jessa’s suitor
Travelers: A reclusive, mysterious faction of immortals. They vary widely in temperament and abilities. Each bears an epithet that describes their wyrd, a duty or obsession they pursue to the exclusion of all else. Examples are the Harbinger, the Libertine, and the Stargazer.
Turisian: A historically oppressed nomadic people with light dark skin and pale blue eyes.
Turnbull: Former dean of the Lyceum; Maddox's rival and Jessa's current arcane advisor.
Velrailles: A northern Free City within the Protectorate.
Veyal: A border nation with a failed government, ruled by a bandit prince. Nasara’s father hails from here.
Volkov: Northern member of the free cities known for necromancy.
Vyzad Ibazz: Patriarch of House Ibazz.
Wavelord: A peaceful tribe of weather mages who lived on the beaches of Mazitar before being conquered by the Stormraiders.
Wyrd: An ancient compact between the Travelers that defines their power. Each has a duty or obsession they pursue to the exclusion of all else.
About the Author
Michael James Bode was born on Valentine’s Day and grew up in rural Indiana surrounded by woods and horses.
Bode received a degree in sociology from Indiana University. In the technology sector, he used computers to process natural language.
The Mirrored City is Bode’s second novel. The daily life of the characters inhabiting fantasy worlds fascinates Bode, compelling him to explore the ways in which such people could carve places for themselves in worlds where the fantastical is commonplace. He currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
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