Gaytha
The housekeeper at Heralds’ Collegium during Queen Selenay’s reign. She was originally Governess to House Ravenscroft, and was thus well equipped to teach courtly graces to students. Matronly and middle-aged, she was well-liked by the Herald-trainees. Gaytha was appalled to learn from Talia of the Holderkin custom of marrying off girls at age thirteen. (Arrows)
Geas
A powertul, almost unbreakable magical compulsion. Kerhry explained to Tarma that she was under a geas embodied in the magic sword Need, one which compelled her to help women in trouble. (Oath, Sword)
Gellwin (Lady)
Seeing that Vanyel’s mother felt left out of things when Lord and Lady Ashkevron moved to Haven’s Court, Stefen introduced Lady Treesa to Lady Gellwin and Countess Bryerly, two of the queen bees of the Court’s social set. Lady Gellwin took Treesa under her wing. (LHM)
Gelmar
Rendan’s older brother and former leader of the bandit gang, Gelmar had become disabled from a head injury. Finally, Rendan ordered his sibling taken outside and abandoned as worthless, an object lesson to other members of the band. (LHM)
Geof Larimar
A farmer living in the northern reaches beyond Valdemar’s border, who hired Old Man Brodie. Like everyone Brodie had worked for Larimar did not realize the failed Healer was using magic to heal the animals he treated. A roan colt of Larimar’s had broken its leg, but Brodie convinced him the injury was only a treatable dislocation. Grateful that he would not have to put down a valuable beast, Larirnar paid the aged Healer with a smoke cured ham. (LHM)
Gem
One of Quenten’s apprentice Mages assigned to find a weapon that could hit the enemy’s Mage. (Sword)
Gentian Arbelo (Healer)
A senior Healer, he served with Kerowyn’s Skybolts. (Owl)
Geoffrey
One of Sewen’s officers, he sat on the storage chest in Captain Idra’s tent after the battle, guarding their mustering-out pay. (Sword)
Geoffery of Helmscarp
A nobleman secretly involved in the alliance of pirates and slavers who were harassing Lake Evendim’s fisherfolk. (Arrows)
Gercattle
Grazing animals generally pastured with sheep in the hills of Jkatha. During the siege of Lord Kelcrags stronghold, most gercattle herds disappeared, taken to feed various warring armies. (Sword)
Gerdo
A contortionist performing with a traveling carnival. He and his wile Sara took Liam under their protection after the boy was assaulted, because they had suffered the same kind of violence. (Winds)
Gerick (Herald)
One of the Heralds who died during Talias education at the Collcgium during Arrows of the Queen. Somewhat absentminded, he is remembered during Arrow’s Flight as the Herald who left a valuable ring at a Circuit waystation. Since it was the Queen’s gift to a Guildmaster. It had to be recovered. His interns Dirk and Kris worked together to retrieve it. Kris Saw where the ring was and Dirk Fetched it in their first attempt at teamwork. After that, the two young Heralds were recruited to find and retrieve items for Selenay—they referred to themselves as the Queen’s Thieves. (Arrows)
Gerond (Herald-trainee)
One of Eispeth’s year-mates. Herald Talia sounded him out when she was trying to figure out why Elspeth was being so secretive. (Arrows)
Gerrold
A Sunhawk. Kethry traded a jesto-vath spell to keep his tent warm and dry in exchange for an expensive silk waterproof cloak Tarma could wear on patrol. Later, during the trek to get behind Lord Kelcrag’s position Gerrold and his horse Vetch fell through a collapsed section of the mountain path. Kethry hastily formed a magic net to save them and help Gerrold back to the narrow trail. (Oath)
Gerrolt
An Eastern Army officer. After the Mage-Storms began, he reported that strange new insects and higher life forms had appeared around troops’ camps. (Storm)
Gerth the Axe
One of Lord Rendan’s ambushers, killed by Vanyel. (LHM)
Gervase (Wizard Lizard)
A White Winds order Adept, Gervase was a truly unique sorcerer. He was a hertasi, one of the race that still live in the Pelagir Hills and were once tree-lizards until magic altered them. Gervase saved Adept Cinsley of the White Winds from relentless pursuers, and as a reward was granted his wish to become a mage. He became Cinsley’s apprentice. The talented Pelagir changeling lived three times as long as a human sorcerer and attained legendary status, eventually rising to become the High Adept of his entire order, and guiding it to the eminent position it held in Kethry’s time. (Oath)
Geslaken
A name Ma’ar used in one of his incarnations. (Winds)
Gesta
A Mornedealth Guard (and one of the ugliest men Tarma had ever seen), he was willing to take over Cat-child’s watch while she helped rescue Kethry from Wethes Goidmarchant. (Oath)
Gesta
Hertasi Healer who treated wounded gryphons. (Winds)
Gesten
Hertasi. Skan and Amberdrake’s servant/companion since the start of Ma’ar’s War. (Gryphon)
Gesten
A hertasi term of friendly respect. (Storm)
Gestena
Shin’a’in word meaning “thank you.” (Oath)
Get’ke
Shin’a’in term meaning “(could you) explain.” (Oath)
Geyr
A Skybolt, a black man who came from a land so far to the south of Rethwellan that Kerowyn had never heard of it before she met him. Geyr’s specialty was working with trained messenger dogs, which were a tremendous asset to the mercenary company. After Bel retired, Geyr became co-lieutenant with Shallan. (Sword)
Ghost
Temporary name given to the Companion who Chose Tashir Remoerdis. Eventually it was learned the Companion’s name was Leshya, and that he was a Mindhealer, a gift rarely found among Heralds, and unheard of in a Companion until then. (LHM, Winds)
Ghost Cat Clan
This Northern barbarian tribe migrated from their traditional lands toward Valdemar and Errold’s Grove. Scouts quickly decided they were not invaders, because they brought with them their whole tribe, including the sick, the feeble, the elderly, and children, including infants. The tribe’s totem is the Ghost Cat, and it led them to Valdemar in hopes of finding a cure for the terrible Summer Fever afflicting them. (Owl)
Ghosts
Restless spirits of the deceased. According to the Writ of Vkandis, no one who is of the Faith could become a ghost. There is also a Karsite tradition that the unblessed dead are hungry, vengeful night roamers. (Storm)
Gielle
One of the mages Judeth summoned to the planning session when the White Gryphon Council learned Tad and Blade were missing. Gielle was formerly a mercenary mage with Urtho’s forces. At that time he was a Journeyman, but the Cataciysm transformed him into an Adept. (Gryphon)
Gies
A swarthy Skybolt scout, he was Tre’s twin, and distinguishable from his brother only by his deeper voice. (Sword)
Gifts
Paranormal abilities possessed in greater or lesser amounts by members of the Collegia. Some Gifted have very little talent. A few command quite powerful Gifts. These Gifts are Valdemar’s answer to the Old Magic still used in neighboring kingdoms. Mindspeaking and ThoughtSensing are among the more basic ones, used regularly in contacts with the Companions. Other talents include Empathy, FarSeeing, Farspeaking, Fetching, FireStarting, and MindHearing, with a number of variants on these and other talents. In general, the strongest Gifts seem to be associated with Healers rather than Heralds. The Gifts of Communication are somewhat similar to those Healers employ, and in an emergency Heralds with those Gifts can be called upon by the Healers to assist in treatment, as Talia often was. Contact with a Companion and powerful emotion enhances the development of the Chosen’s latent abilities. In Valdemar’s history, the development and training of these Gifts gradually displaced any knowledge of “true magic” in the realm until n
o record was left that such magic ever existed, or how it had been used. Unusual or unique Gifts, such as FireStarting, often appeared during eras when there would be a desperate need for such talents. (BV)
Gil Jarad (Healer)
Lord Breon’s Healer. Gil was a withered looking little man, very deliberate, though he could move quickly when needed. He had iron gray hair, small black eyes, and bowed legs. He tried to instruct Keisha in medical arts but had too little of the Gift himself to help her develop Shields and Sight. He had once been one a horsetamer at Lord Ashkevron’s Forst Reach. (Owl)
Gildas (Lord)
Councilman, and speaker for the South and its rich grainlands. (Arrows)
Gillyflar tea
A stimulating tea, that Skif often drank before going out on a night job so he would be alert. (TT)
Gisell
Karsite Sun-priestess from a noble family, a volunteer who came to help Valdemar with magic. A proud woman, she resented being coached by her assigned partner Rashi, a pigkeeper’s son, but as she had alienated everyone else in magery class, he was the only one who would work with her. (Storm)
Gittern
A guitarlike instrument, related to the lute. Craftsman Rolf Dawson had been experimenting with making a new sort of gittern, which he demonstrated to Vanyel at Forst Reach’s Harvest Fair. The innovations involved twelve rather than six strings, made of metal instead of traditional gut. Bard Stefen became adept at playing the new instrument; his favorite was one of the twelve-stringed variety. (LHM)
Gleemen
Travelling minstrels and entertainers, under the name they were known by the common farm and village folk. Tallo, the young man who became the Tayledras Mage Moondance, fell in love with a young gleemen and ran away with a traveling troupe. (LHM)
Goatsfoot mushroom
A mushroom which affected Healers and certain Heraldic Gifts when eaten. In particular it distorted Thoughtsensing and Empathy for several days afterward, depriving the Healer or Herald of those abilities and causing dizziness and disorientation. Herald Talia was affected by this fungus during her mission with Herald Kris to Hardorn. She and Kris weren’t sure if being given the drug was accidental or deliberate, but it strongly affected Herald Talia’s power to detect possible treachery. (Arrows)
Goddess
Worshipped in many forms and under many names, not only in Valdemar but throughout the realms of Velgarth. Most often, the Goddess was prayed to in one of her guises as Maiden, Wife, or Crone. In Rethwellan she was recognized as all three forms and known as the LadyTrine. (BV)
Goddess of the Four Winds
The nomadic Shin’a’in worshiped a four-fold version of the Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Warrior, and Crone. (BV)
Goddess’s Servants
Holderkin menials assigned to particular corridors within Temple cloisters. They serve the Temple their entire life and have even less freedom than the Temple’s Handmaidens. (Arrows)
Golden Beauty
Highly prized fall apples. At the Merchant School, Tyron demanded that one of his young victims keep him supplied with the fruit, and punished him when the boy didn’t. (BB)
Goldenoak
A coarse grained yellow-brown wood popular for construction, cabinetry and housing. The acorns of the tree are used to fatten pigs for the winter, and many farmers claim that the best meat comes from hogs fed on goldenoak acorns. The ground acorns are mixed with nuts and baked into a hearty bread in the North of Valdemar. In regions where the goldenoak is abundant, it is claimed that the gold in goldenoak refers to the wealth the tree brings, not just to the color. (Arrows)
Gordun
Tremane’s Chief Artiflcer and Mage, a homely, square-faced man with thick, clever fingers. (Storm)
Gorley (Lady)
The sensible and long-suffering widow of Videns late and unlamented Bully Lord Gorley. (Oath)
Goshon
A member of the weasel family prized for its rich dark brown fur that lived in the northern lands. Clan Chief Vordon of Ghost Cat Clan said Valdemarans had no name for it, though he expected that once traders started bringing in its soft pelts, they would become highly prized. (Owl)
Graceless
One of the big mares trained by Beaker and Jodi. Teamed with Hopeless, she was an expert at taming recalcitrant male horses. (Oath)
Grand Common
A grazing ground outside the walls of Shonar. Several of the town’s children were lost herding livestock there when a mage-blizzard hit the area. (Storm)
Grant’s Hold
A town near Viden. Together with the adjacent town of Lyavor, it took in the majority of the area’s transient trade, leaving Viden’s inn to serve mostly local customers. (Oath)
Gray
Captain Idra’s palfrey, the gelding she rode on her last trip to Petras. As soon as Tarma and Kethry were invited to the palace, Tarma created an excuse to search the Royal Stables for Gray. but couldn’t find him, confirming their fears about Idra’s disappearance. (Oath)
Gray stud
A big, bad-tempered stallion sold to Vanyel Ashkevron’s brother Meke under the false claim that he was a part-bred Shin’a’in warsteed, and used by Meke to found a line of heavy horses that eventually became the standard war mounts for the Valdemaran Guard. (Oath)
Gray Wolf Clan
A friendly tribe inhabiting the mountains far to the north of Valdemar. (Owl)
Grays
Slang name for Herald-trainees’ uniforms. (BV)
Grayse (Sergeant)
A sergeant with Captain Lissa Ashkevron’s Guard company, he was the son of one of Forst Reach’s holder families. (LHM)
Great Battle Magic
Offensive and defensive major magic used in wartime, including magically summoned weaponry, like lightning and fire bolts, calling down demons on the enemy troops, and so on, and the shielding of troops against such attacks. These magics were limited in their use because they rapidly drained the mages responsible for them and the ley-line and node energy around the battlefield, depleting them for the time it took to regenerate the energy to power magic of that potency. (Oath)
Great Beast
An’desha’s name for Mornelithe Falconsbane. (Storm)
Great Crater Sea
Name used by che Tayledras for the immense depression formed when Ma’ar’s fortress was destroyed during the Great Mage Wars, which soon filled with water. Outlanders called the vast circular crater-lake Lake Evendim. (Winds)
Great Garden
A carefully cultivated garden in the Haighlel Palace at Khimbata shaded by enormous trees. In its center is a bowl-shaped amphitheater floored with grass where entertainers perform during Evening Court. The only break in the amphitheater’s circle is the door providing access to the Palace. (Gryphon)
Great Hall of Hardorn
The largest room in the Hardornian palace, where Court was held. The walls were paneled in birch, the floor was polished gray granite, and the overhead beams were varnished maple. There were gilt and gold fittings and crystal ornaments everywhere and battle flags hanging from the rafters. A map of Velgarth with Hardorn at its center was inlaid in stone in the floor in front of the throne. (Winds)
Great Hall of Justice
Located in Highjorune, capital of Lineas, it was the repository for the kingdom’s important documents. Herald-Mage Savil and Tashir read the treaty between Baires and Lineas kept on display at the Great Hall and discovered a possible motive for the massacre of the Remoerdis royal household: according to the treaty, if either reigning House died out and assassination could not be proven, the surviving House inherited both thrones. (LHM)
Great Hall of Rethwellan
A large hall in the palace at Petras. Built of butter-colored marble, lit at night by massed tapers that made the walls seem to glow. (Oath)
Great Hall of Valdemar
The largest room in the Palace, it has a high vaulted ceiling suppported by slender ironoak pillars. Battle banners and Heraldic pennons, many dat
ing from Valdemar’s Founding, hang from the rafters. Tall, narrow windows fill the west wall. In the evening, lamps and candlelight gleam on the highly-polished woodwork. This is where Valdemar’s court dines formally, and where major assemblies take place. (Arrows)
Great Harsey
A town in Rethwellan, where Kethry’s son Jendar moved the White Winds school she founded to in order to be closer to the capital, Petras. (Oath)
Great Pass, The
Created by Leareth, the northern mage who fought Herald-Mage Vanyel. The Great Pass cut smoothly through the Ice Wall Mountains, and emerged just north of the Forest of Sorrows. Wide and smooth enough for an army to pass through comfortably, it provided an easy path for Northern invaders to march to the border of Valdemar, though Vanyel blocked one end of it in his Final Strike against Leareth. (LHM, Owl)
Great War
Sometimes referred to as the Great Wars or the Mage Wars, the conflict between Urtho and Ma’ar and their attendant forces. (Gryphon)
Greater Gates
Rare permanent Gates. Urtho made six of them, and tied them to nodes to keep them open at need. Falconsbane intended to make a Greater Gate out of the proto-Gate Firesong created. (Gryphon, Winds)
Greden
Falconsbane’s underling who failed to fulfill the orders to bring Need back to his master. (Winds)
Greeley
Valdemar’s Seneschal under King Theran, he was previously the Seneschal of the king’s country estates. (BB)
Green-hands
Zhaneel’s term for squires and sergeants in Urtho’s forces who wore green armbands and acted as field-Healers during combat. (Gryphon)
Greeneyes
Tarma’s pet name for Kethry. (Oath)
Greenhaven
A small town off the North Trade Road in Valdemar’s northern sector, Greenhaven is on the Heralds’ regular circuit. (Arrows)
Gregoth
Leader of the bandits who attacked and killed Tarma’s people. (Oath)
Grek’ka’shen
Shin’a’in term for a carrion-eating creature. It eats things even vultures won’t touch, and occasionally its own young. Calling someone a grek’ka’shen is a profound insult. Tarma reserved the word for King Megrararthon’s middle son, Karathanelan. (Sword)
The Valdemar Companion Page 26
