Belzetarn – mighty stronghold of trolls in the wild Hamish lands; erected by dangerous troll magery long before the time of The Tally Master.
brigenen – commander of a 480-warrior cohort.
caputum – a close-fitting hood connected to a circle of fabric enveloping the neck, shoulders, upper chest, and upper arms.
Castellanum – title of the troll who controls and manages the entire domestic side of Belzetarn.
Clousto – inland herding village near Keir’s home on Fiors.
cohort – second largest unit of Belzetarn’s armed forces; commanded by a brigenen; composed of six 80-warrior opteogints.
decanen – commander of a squad of eight warriors, including himself.
deichtain – a unit of time composed of ten days.
energea – the energy perceived and manipulated by North-lands mages.
fibula – a decorative brooch used to fasten clothing or to fasten a small pocket or pouch to clothing; Gael uses his to fasten his ring of keys to his robes.
Ghriana – the people living in the mountains of the Hamish wilds; the foes of the troll-horde.
Givenlangid – southern river of Hadorgol.
Gullinis – village on the estuary near Keir’s home on Fiors; the grandmother of Keir’s tribe (their leader) lives in Gullinis.
Hadorgol – the realm from which Gael originates; millennia later, it will be known as Hathorlynd.
Havreyn – northern river of Hadorgol.
lattice – the pattern of energea within a living entity, composed of nodes and curving arcs of energea.
legion – largest unit of Belzetarn’s armed forces; commanded by a bellatarius; composed of roughly 5,000 warriors organized in ten 480-warrior cohorts.
magno – second-in-command of a legion, while the legion is in camp (not in battle).
Magus – title of the lone sanctioned mage in Belzetarn; he performs magery on the battlefield when required, more rarely at home; the Regenen Carbraes disapproves the use of magery and orders it only rarely.
March – rank (and title) of the troll who commands the legions of Belzetarn under the regenen.
Navellys – legendary and prosperous city-state from the dawn of time, located on an island far out to sea; originally dubbed Navarys by its citizens, but the name has changed with the passage of the centuries.
node – a wellspring of energea within the lattice of a living entity.
notarius – assistant to an opteon or another troll of rank.
octahedron – a geometric volume with eight sides, each side in the form of an equilateral triangle.
Olluvarde – ruin of an ancient city from before the Hamish wilds became so wild; located some distance south of Belzetarn.
opteogint – a group of 80 warriors (ten squads) commanded by an opteon.
opteon – commander of an 80-warrior opteogint; the title is also used to indicate trolls of rank within the domestic operations of Belzetarn; thus, the head cooks are opteons, as are the stewards, the master craftsmen, etc.
oxhide – a heavy ingot shaped like an animal hide, with four ‘legs’ that make it easier to carry.
pater – word for father on Fiors.
Pirbrant – neighboring kingdom to Gael’s home Hadorgol.
Regenen – title for the troll-lord who rules all of Belzetarn; supreme commander of all Belzetarn’s legions of warriors.
Scullaris – coastal fishing village near Keir’s home on Fiors.
scullion – low-ranking menial, who does as he’s told.
Secretarius – title of the troll who controls the flow of metals from the mines through the forges of Belzetarn; responsible for the smooth supply of weapons to the legions and of household tools and implements to the citadel; responsible for the administrative supervision of the mines and smithies.
smeltery – furnace used to separate pure metal from its ore or from a less pure ingot.
truldemagar – term used for both the disease that creates trolls and for the trolls themselves; when referring to trolls, usually indicates a group of trolls rather than a single troll.
Timeline of the North-lands
ANCIENT TIMES
Skies of Navarys
3000 years before Troll-magic
THE BRONZE AGE
The Tally Master
~10 years before Resonant Bronze
Resonant Bronze
2000 years before Troll-magic
THE MIDDLE AGES
Hunting Wild
800 years before Troll-magic
BEFORE THE STEAM AGE
Rainbow’s Lodestone
~100 years before Troll-magic
Star-drake
immediately after Rainbow’s Lodestone
THE STEAM AGE
Sarvet’s Wanderyar
52 years before Troll-magic
Crossing the Naiad
concurrent with Sarvet’s Wanderyar
Livli’s Gift
38 years after Sarvet’s Wanderyar
(14 years before Troll-magic)
Troll-magic
the “now” of this timeline
The Troll’s Belt
contemporaneous with Troll-magic
Perilous Chance
contemporaneous with Troll-magic
Winter Glory
3 years after Troll-magic
J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She’s learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands.
Look for her novels and novellas at your favorite bookstore – online or on Main Street.
J.M. Ney-Grimm maintains a blog featuring flash fiction from her North-lands and other tidbits unearthed by her ever-active curiosity.
Visit her at http://jmney-grimm.com/
or on Facebook
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Her publisher is online at http://WildUnicornBooks.com/
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The Tally Master Page 49
