An unwilling grin overcame me.
“Because it is not meet for the Aballo Prince to carry such an affliction as I do, and when you rechannel this damned spell, you will only be buying yourself time. I don’t need ceremony to declare you my heir, and I have already informed Sanglin and the rest of the members of the Order who are here tonight.”
A little of the wind went out of my sails. I didn’t want to imagine that conversation.
“Also, I know you and Sanglin have a great deal to sort through—and I know you’ll want him as your second. You are the one on whose shoulders that yoke rests.”
He was right: that situation was my fault, and up to me to correct. “Yes, my lord.”
Amien nodded, satisfied. A better man would have let the conversation rest there.
“But this year,” I said, “all I really care about is Letitia and you. And Nechton.” For just a second, I felt his awareness—as if he watched us through his Shadow of the Sun. A moment of arcane contact rushed through me, cloaked in the darkness of limitless aetheric space, overlaid with that wild sense of looking into a mirror he always gave me: brother-lover-enemy. I tingled with things no man of the gods should ever admit.
From impossible distance, shoulder warm against mine, Amien offered me a faint smile. “In that regard, we are all in your hands.”
Glossary
Aballo: Island off the coast of Ebdani; seat of the Aballo Order. Rendered generally inaccessible except to Aballo’s initiate by a combination of tides and arcane defenses.
Aballo Order: Ilesian. Religious/magical organization headed by the Aballo Prince. Initiates are termed wizards, and are distinguished from other initiates into magical orders by their level of ability. From this order are drawn the so-called House Healers attached to royal houses worldwide. See also: druid, House Healer, windcaller, wizard.
abu al-righ: Ilesian. “Hail forever to the righ.”
Aechering: Ilesian. Wizard who lived and practiced before the arrival of the true gods; author of the Shadow Working. See also: Shadow Working.
Aerona: Ilesian. 1. River flowing from Lake Nanno in Granniu to the Ruillin, demarcating the Granniu-Nagnata, Granniu-Deceang, and Deceang-Mumhan borders. 2. A goddess of the old religion; patroness of the river of the same name.
aisling: Ilesian; arcane. A flavor of trance typically used in dream-work, including, but not exclusive to, dream-sendings among wizards.
amhainseacht: Ilesian; arcane. A flavor of trance typically used in dealings with beings of other realms.
Amma: Danaan. Grandmother.
amnivaren: Ilesian; arcane. An herb used to facilitate arcane consciousness. May be burned in a censer or brewed as tea.
Ankou: Ilesian. Boatman of the Abyss. See also: Dóiteán, Realm of Tílimya.
annu: Ilesian. A term of affection; only applied to females.
Ara: Ilesian. A goddess of the true religion; consort of Par, patroness of farming, childbirth, and the hearth.
Ardan: Ilesian. Festival of the goddess Ara, celebrated in early spring.
ard-harpist: Ilesian. Leader of the Harpist Gorsedd, elected by the organization’s ranking members. See also: Harpist Gorsedd.
ard-righ: Ilesian. Presiding member of the College of Righthe, vested with little authority over the righ or tiarna of any nation besides the one he rules. Elected by the righthe of all the nations, his primary function is as War-Leader in international operations. See also: College of Righthe, righ, tiarn.
ard-tiarn: Ilesian. Literally, “Lord Most High”; a title conferred by a righ to raise a member of his peerage to a higher standing than the other tiarna. Frequently also a righ’s War-Lord. See also: tiarn.
argentel: Danaan. A brilliant, colorless gem; softer but brighter in luster than the diamond.
Arliyn: Ilesian. The smaller moon, named in honor of the goddess Ara, with an orbital period of 47 days. Though not of sufficient size or proximity to generate significant tides in its own right, Arliyn’s influence can be seen in the magnitudes of double spring and double neap tides. See also: Telliyn.
Armoan: Ilesian. Ballad of the Essuvian hero Armoan Lanas, ancestor of High Chief Rohini of the Essuvians, and the role he played in the defeat of the renegade Nechton. Together with the Ballad of Carina, encapsulates popular understanding of the history of Nechton’s War. See also: Nechton’s War.
Armoan Lanas: Historic High Chief of the Essuvians and eventual righ of Uxellia, leader of the Essuvian offensive against the Uxellian capital during Nechton’s War. See also: Essuvian, Nechton’s War.
Ballad of Carina: Ilesian. Ballad of the Tanaan Lady Carina Finias, Carina Ériu a Fíana, and her defeat of the renegade wizard Nechton. See also: Carina Ériu a Fíana, Nechton Glyndwyr, Nechton’s War.
Bard of Arcadia: Leader of a popular rebellion against the righthe threatening the southern (human) realms. See also: kharr.
Bard’s Wizard: Renegade wizard recruited by the Bard of Arcadia to the rebellion against the righthe.
Básghil: Ilesian. Pl. Básghilae. Magically-crafted undead.
Beal: Ilesian. A god of the old religion, patron of land and righship.
Beallan: Danaan. Pl. Bealla. Human.
Bealtan: Spring festival of fertility and a ruler’s bonds with the land.
Beannchar: Ilesian. Military historian. Notable writings include a volume on siegecraft and a history of the Ilesian War.
Breasaílian: Danaan, Ilesian. Of or pertaining to Hy-Breasaíl. See also: Hy-Breasaíl.
brehon: Danaan, Ilesian. Scholars and practitioners of the disciplines of the law.
briocht: Ilesian; arcane. A spell, largely or fully verbal.
c’choiri: Danaan. A term of affection; darling.
Carin and Alannin: Danaan. A composition for the harp by the bard Alannin a Fea celebrating his love affair with Carina Ériu a Fíana. See also: Carina Ériu a Fíana.
Carina Ériu a Fíana: Former mora of Fíana; heroine of the Ballad of Carina. See also: Ballad of Carina, Carin and Alannin, mora, Nechton’s War.
City of the Winds: Epithet for the Fíanan capital, Irisa.
College of Righthe: Ilesian. An assembly comprising the righ of every southern (human) nation; those eligible to vote in the election of the ard-righ. See also: righ, ard-righ.
Conary Mourne: The most recent ard-righ and righ of Ilesia, recently assassinated.
Coradon’s Lament: Ilesian. Ballad about Coradon, righ of the nation that would later become Ilesia, and his seduction and eventual ruin by the Tanaan Lady Ara of Nimah. See also: Nimah.
creadhon: Ilesian. A profanity.
Cúchulainn: An ancient hero, the topic of countless songs and tales, on whom warriors are taught to model themselves; central hero of The Siege of the Brown Bull. Human lore teaches that the old god Lugh Lámfhada fathered Cúchulainn on a mortal woman; the Danaan believe Cúchulainn became the god Lugh after his encounter with the Green God that is described in the ballad Fare and Fir. See also: Fare and Fir, The Siege of the Brown Bull.
Cullinn: Clan that ruled the nation of Fiatach, later Ilesia, before the arrival of the true gods. See also: Ilesian War, Owain Mourne.
Dana: Danaan. The great goddess of the Danaan religion.
Danaan : Danaan. The Danaan people or language. See also: Tanaan.
Dana’s People: Danaan. Epithet by which the Danaan people refer to their race.
Deaclan: A former initiate of the Aballo Order.
Deluge: A Danaan catastrophe.
Dian Cecht: Danaan. A god; patron of healers.
Dóiteán: Ilesian. Part of the geography of the Realms of the Dead: a flaming river of blood around the Realm of Tílimya. See also: Tílimya’s Abyss.
Donn: Danaan. A god; Lord of the Dead and of the Danaan hero’s paradise. See also: House of Donn.
druid: Ilesian. A priest of the true religion. Any magic undertaken by druids is likely to be of the divinatory or subtle-influence type; Talents capable of true physical magic are more likely to be trai
ned as windcallers or, more rarely, wizards.
eipiciúil: Ilesian. Pl. eipiciúilae. Historical ballad.
Endeáril: Danaan. A god; consort of the goddess Dana.
Essuvian: A formerly nomadic people originating east of Ilesia; until recently overlords of Uxellia. The Essuvians aided the righthe of the southern (human) nations in defeating the renegade wizard during Nechton’s War and were granted dominion over the nation he ruled: originally under the auspices of the ard-righ but later as a matter of succession. Oral histories suggest the Essuvian clans may have been part of the Esusdian exodus after the Ilesian War. See also: Nechton’s War, Ilesian War, Esusdia, Weavers.
Estra: Festival of the Spring equinox.
Esunertos: One-time capital of the nation of Esusdia, now abandoned. See also: Ilesian War, Esusdia.
Esus: Ilesian. A god of the old religion; patron of war.
Esusdia : One of the first nations founded after the Transition, later destroyed by war; now a zone of wilderness and waste bounded by Ebdani, Nagnata, Granniu, and the ard-righ’s precinct. The few remaining border cities and towns of the former nation of Esusdia now look to the surrounding nations; over the centuries people shortened the region’s name to Usdia. See also: Esunertos; Ilesian War; Transition.
Fáilias: Ilesian. Corruption of the name of the Danaan nation of Fáill.
Fair: Ilesian. Annual spring gathering during the month of the Bealtan holiday at Teamair in the ard-righ’s precinct. During years in which a Grand Moot is held, the event attracts people from all over the southern (human) nations.
Fare and Fir: Ilesian. Ballad detailing an encounter between the hero Cúchulainn and the Green God. See also: Cúchulainn.
Fergus in Exile: Ilesian. Ballad from The Siege of the Brown Bull, an ancient song-cycle. While the cycle features the hero Cúchulainn, this song tells the story of Fergus, the betrayal of whose trust was one of the proximate causes of the War of the Brown Bull and the tragedies that resulted. See also: War of the Brown Bull.
Fiatach: Ilesian. Original name of the nation of Ilesia, later changed by the righ Owain Mourne. See also: Ilesian War, Owain Mourne.
Fields of Asphodel: Ilesian. Part of the geography of the Realms of the Dead. After death a person who is neither heroic nor particularly evil will spend time in the Grey Lands—the Fields of Asphodel—before returning to the lands of the living for another life and trying again to achieve the reward of paradise. See also: Tílimya’s Abyss, Tír inna n-Óc.
findargat: Danaan. An indestructible metal of silver hue.
Finias: Ilesian. Corruption of the name of the Danaan nation of Fíana.
flash-weapon: Ilesian. A weapon intended to afford men of little or no arcane talent the ability to wield an equivalent of an arcane casting. The operative part of any flash weapon is a charged crystal, which the weapon taps to produce a would-be arcane casting. Higher quality flash-weapons use crystals charged by a wizard. Though some inferior substitutes use mechanically generated quick-charges, those weapons are generally only good for a single use. Trained warriors, particularly noblemen, find the the use of flash-weapons beneath contempt.
flashmen: Ilesian. Warriors responsible for wielding flash-weapons. Generally employed by tiarna or wealthy commoners, neither of whom can gain the opportunity to retain wizards. Warriors, particularly noblemen, generally view flashmen with contempt, considering the flash-weapon a coward’s tool.
Four Realms: Danaan. Collective term for the Danaan nations Banbagor, Fáill, Fíana, and Muir.
fouzh: Ilesian. A profanity.
Gáe Assail: Danaan. The Great Spear of Fíana: the treasure of Fíana and the mark of office of its mora. Originally belonged to the god Lugh Lámfhada.
geas: Ilesian, Danaan. A vow or obligation placed on a person. May have the force of a curse.
Goibniu: Ilesian. 1. A god of the old religion; patron of smiths. 2. A city in northern Mumhan named for the smith-god.
golden branch: Ilesian. The mark of office of an ollamh, one of the lords of the Harpist Gorsedd. See also: Harpist Gorsedd, ollamh, silver branch.
Gorias: Ilesian. Corruption of the name of the Danaan nation of Banbagor.
Grand Moot: Ilesian. Gathering of all the righthe and certain other parties designated by the Aballo Prince to settle matters of international urgency and/or elect the ard-righ. See also: ard-righ.
Great Barrow: Danaan. A mountain at the northern end of the sacred isle of Ilunmore; the burial chamber of the Danaan’s great leaders. Danaan tradition holds the barrow within the mountain is literally the path to the underworld, the doorway through which the ancient Danaan emerged from the Lady’s Underground Ways during the Transition, their retreat from Hy-Breasaíl. See also: House of Donn, Hy-Breasaíl, Lady’s Underground Ways, Transition.
Grey Lands: See Fields of Asphodel.
grimoire: Ilesian; arcane. An arcane practitioner’s book of notes, records, and spells, recipes and methodologies. A grimoire is personal and typically private.
Gwydion: Hero of the ballad Tílimya’s Well.
hardy silkspider: A cousin to the silkspider of Uxellia, adapted to the region of Granniu between the northern bank of the Aerona and the upthrust to the piedmont, that produces a silk of extreme strength. See also: hardy spidersilk, silkspider, spidersilk, Weavers.
hardy spidersilk: A silk of extreme strength produced by the hardy silk-spider of Granniu. While the silk of the hardy silkspider lacks the lightness and luster of the product of its western cousin, its strength makes it ideal for industrial and military applications. From hardy spidersilk is crafted lightweight, comfortable, nearly indestructible mail, and ropes and cables for siege engines and ships. See also: hardy silkspider, silkspider, spidersilk, Weavers.
Harpist Gorsedd: Ilesian. Professional organization of musicians. Admission to the gorsedd is achieved primarily through apprenticeship; certification to full membership is dependent upon the mastery of certain bodies of work and other demonstrations of competency. Ollamh, the so-called lords of the gorsedd, must be certified by a group of sitting ollamh, based on mastery of further bodies of work and original contributions to the art. The gorsedd is led by the ard-harpist, an ollamh elected to the position for a term of five years, whose election may be nullified at the will of the majority of other ollamh. Members are entitled to carry the silver branch as a mark of office; ollamh are entitled to carry the golden branch. See also: ard-harpist, golden branch, ollamh, silver branch.
House Healer: Ilesian. The title given to an Aballo wizard in the service of a royal house. While wizards are trained in the techniques of healing, most of the health needs of any royal house are actually met by professional healers. A House Healer’s duties are understood to be mostly or entirely arcane. See also: Aballo Order, wizard.
House of Donn: Danaan. Part of the geography of the Realms of the Dead: the paradisal destination after death of heroes. Seat of Donn, the Danaan Lord of the Dead. See also: Donn, Tír inna n-Óc.
Hy-Breasaíl: The legendary paradise from which both Danaan and human/Beallan people are held to have originated; the ancient realm of the gods.
Ildan: Ilesian. Festival of the god Ilesan, celebrated at the fall equinox.
Ilesan: Ilesian. A god of the true religion: the Lord of Gods, patron of storms and esoteric learning.
Ilesian War: The war of ascension of the true gods. Upon the arrival of the true gods in the southern (human) realms, the goddess Tella revealed herself to Owain Mourne, a would-be druid in the nation of Fiatach (later Ilesia). Tella made Mourne into a conduit for her Will and power, though his arcane talent was all but nonexistent. With the goddess’s support he rapidly ascended to the leadership of his heretofore-minor clan and led them to gain the throne of Fiatach a few years later. Within ten years the newly-renamed nation of Ilesia had forcibly converted Deceang and Mumhan. During the Ilesian conquest of Nagnata, the goddess Tella appeared personally to the Prince of the Aballo Order, who accepted Tella’s emissary and sealed the
acceptance of the true gods. Nevertheless the conquest of Esusdia and Ebdani was bloody; the Esusdians were completely intractable, and the Ebdanii, who held the ard-righship during this era, had great military resources. In the course of the battle for Esusdia, Tella destroyed the capital city, Esunertos. Most of the remaining Esusdians fled to the western badlands, forming a nation named Uxellia; several clans withdrew to the highlands east of Ilesia, becoming the Essuvians. One of the clans of Nagnata, who accepted Tella without a fight, received the land of Tellan; the leading clan of the new nation took that name as well. Within twenty years of the goddess Tella’s first contact with Owain Mourne, all the southern (human) realms with the exception of Uxellia had converted to the true religion, and that nation would follow within a generation. See also: Esusdia, Essuvian, Esunertos, Owain Mourne.
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