The Stone of the Stars

by Alison Baird

  Modrian: (MO-dree-un) Elensi name for a deity, chief of the sky gods (but subordinate to the supreme deity of High Heaven). Said to have rebelled and been defeated by the other gods of earth and sky, who confined him in the Pit of Perdition. See Valdur.

  Mohar: (MO-har) Moharan. Country south of Zimboura, now an occupied territory.

  Mohara: (mo-HA-ra) Moharan. A people of the southern Antipodes.

  Moriana: (mo-ree-AN-a) Elensi mori + aana, “lady/mistress of the nights.” A title given to Mera’s moon deity; also the name of Brannar Andarion’s queen.

  Morlyn: (MORE-lin) Elensi mor + lyn, “night sky.” Son of King Brannar Andarion and Queen Moriana.

  Morugei: (MOR-oo-guy) Elensi Morug’ei, from moruga + ei, “children (of) the night-haunts.” Also Demonspawn. The mutant humanoid races that worship Valdur. These creatures are reputed to be the misshapen offspring of true humans and evil incubi. They include numerous races, whom I call here Anthropophagi, Trolls, Ogres, and Goblins. The first three subspecies breed “true,” passing on their characteristics to subsequent generations, but among Goblins no two individuals are alike, and even their offspring do not resemble their parents. However, the Goblins have a higher intelligence than the other races, and are more skilled in the arts of sorcery.

  Nemerei: (NEM-er-eye) Elensi ne-Mera + ei, “child/children (of the) not-world.” (“Ne-Mera,” “Not-world,” is a literal translation of the immaterial dimension here called the Ether.) Beings able to communicate with their minds alone, in addition to other psychic powers.

  Numia: (NYOO-mee-a) Elensi. Elei name for Mera’s moon.

  Numiendori: (NYOO-mee-en-DOR-ee) Elensi Numi’endori, from Numia + endori, “mountains (of the) moon.” Mountain range in Trynisia to which Mount Elendor belongs.

  Raimar: (RAY-mar) Elensi rai + mar, “city (of the) flame.” The capital city of Maurainia; site of High Temple of the One Faith and the Sacred Flame of Orendyl.

  Rialain: (REE-a-lain) Elensi Riala + ain, “home (of the) Riala (tribe).” Country north of Maurainia.

  Selenna: (sell-LEN-a) Elensi sel + enna, “mist mantle.” Highest mountain of the Mari Endori range in Maurainia, once sacred to the Elei.

  Shurkana: (shur-KAN-a) Shurkanese. Country to the north of Zimboura in the Antipodes.

  Talandria: (tal-AN-dree-a) Elensi Talandri’a, from tal + an-dri + ia, literally “all salt water place/sphere.” The fourth planet of the Auria system.

  Tanaura: (tan-OR-a) Elensi Tan’aura, from tana + aura, “tree of life.” See Elvoron.

  Tiron: (TEER-on) Elensi tir + on, “blessing-bearer” or “blessed one.” Name of the father of the Tryna Lia.

  Tryna Lia: (TRY-na LEE-a) Elensi Tryna Li’a, from tryna + lia-a, “princess of the stars.” Prophesied ruler awaited by the Elei, said to be the daughter of the planetary deity Elarainia.

  Trynisia: (try-NEE-see-a; try-NEEZH-ee-a) Elensi Tryn’isia, from tryne + is + ia, “royal beloved country.” Land of the Elei in Mera, abandoned after the Great Disaster.

  Trynoloänan: (try-no-LOW-a-nahn) Elensi tryno + loänaan, “dragon prince/ruler.” A male leader of the Loänan.

  Vormir: (VOR-meer) Elensi vor + mir, “matter power.” The material universe symbolized as a dragon or serpent. See Elvoron.

  Valdur: (VAL-dur) Elensi val + dur, “dark one.” Name given to the god Modrian after his fall from grace. Later appropriated by Zimbouran clergy as the name for their chief deity.

  Valdys: (VAL-diss) Elensi val + dys, “dark dwelling.” The fifth planet of Auria’s system.

  Zimboura: (zim-BOOR-a) Zimbouran. A country in Mera’s Antipodes.

  GLOSSARY OF TERRESTRIAL TERMS

  The words below are taken from our own terrestrial myths, languages, and cultures. I have utilized them for parallel concepts found in the worlds and cultures described in this book.

  alicorn: the horn of a unicorn. It was said to have a precious gem at its base, and to possess miraculous curative powers.

  Anthropophagi: deformed humans, one of the races of the Morugei. This name (meaning literally “eaters of men”) belonged to a similar race featured in medieval European mythology.

  Apocrypha: a term used for numerous old Elei writings that for various reasons were not accepted into the canon of the western Faith’s holy book.

  Archons: a term used for an ancient race of beings that once dominated the galaxy and were worshipped as gods. Believed by some to be the origin of the Elaia, “lower gods,” in Elei mythology.

  avatar: a term taken from Hindu tradition, here meaning either the physical manifestation of a god or else its representation by a mortal being in such a way that the divine being can be said to be literally present.

  Celestial Empire: the realm of the stars and planets; the galaxy.

  cherubim: gryphons; winged creatures who serve the heavenly powers as steeds and guardians. The word “cherub” comes from ancient Hebrew mythology, and was used for a divine gryphon-like creature (not to be confused with the Renaissance version, a Cupid-like winged figure).

  Commonwealth: a term here used for two different unions of friendly nations. Meran history is divided into two eras, the Old and the New. The Old is that period predating the founding of the old Commonwealth, comprised of the Seven Kingdoms (Trynisia, Rialain, Maurainia, Marakor, Kaan, Shurkana, Mohar). The New Era begins with this union, and continues through its dissolution after the Dark Age in the Third Millennium N.E. to its partial reinstatement as the Western Commonwealth (Rialain, Maurainia, Marakor). The events related in this book take place during the early years of the Fourth Millennium N.E.

  demon: an Elaia: spirit closely linked to the plane of matter. The word is here used at times in its classical sense, the “daimon” of Greek myth being a supernatural, but not necessarily malevolent, being; very different from our modern understanding of demons.

  Disaster, the: I have translated the great cataclysm of 2497 N.E. as the “Disaster,” since it literally involved an “evil star.” Approximately ten millennia ago, a small “rogue star,” Azarah, probably a brown dwarf, entered Mera’s solar system and became caught in the sun’s gravitational field. In passing through the cometary cloud, it sent dozens of comets plunging toward the inner planets. This bombardment continued sporadically over thousands of years. From descriptions of the Disaster in Mera—“stars falling from the sky,” earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, dust clouds obscuring the sun (hence the appellation “Dark Age”)—it would appear that one or more fragmented cometary nucleii impacted with the planet. The damage to the moon and other planets is also consistent with a cometary bombardment.

  This accords well with the mythical account, in which the god Modrian-Valdur sent his lieutenant Azarah to destroy the world; all such higher spirits being associated with stars. Azarah also brought with it a single planet, the ill-omened Azar of Elei lore.

  dracontias: according to folklore, a “magic stone” or jewel that lies inside the head of a dragon. There is in fact a crystalline substance located in, and extruding from, the Loänan braincase, which is said to amplify the creature’s extrasensory powers.

  dragon: the oldest intelligent race in the known universe, the dragons, or Loänan, are giant saurians that do not in the least resemble the monsters of Western myth but are closer to the lung dragons of China: supremely wise, almost godlike beings, benevolent in nature (with a few exceptions). They are able to shape-shift, can exercise power over the elements, and may live for a thousand years or more. They come from the area of the galaxy known to Merans as the constellation of the Dragon, and travel between the stars by entering a hyperspatial dimension known as the Ethereal Plane.

  Ether: a dimension of pure energy beyond or “above” the material plane.

  faeries: the Elaia; sometimes used of their mortal offspring, the Elei.

  Fairfolk: a term sometimes used for the faeries in Celtic traditions, here applied to the Elei race.

  glaumerie: an illusion cast by faerie beings on mortals. Some h
uman sorcerers are also able to create illusions.

  gods: see Powers.

  heavens, the: a term applied by the Elei to the three planes of existence: material, ethereal, and spiritual. The first, “Lesser Heaven,” incorporates all physical phenomena, the stars and planets, and the vacuum that surrounds them. The second, “Mid Heaven,” is a dimension inhabited by “ethereal” beings such as the Elyra and Elaia. Such beings can move in and out of Mid Heaven at will, seeming to appear and disappear mysteriously in our material plane. The third, “High Heaven,” is home to the most exalted spirits. Elei art portrays the three heavens in the form of three concentric circles, with High Heaven forming the outer sphere, like the Primum Mobile of medieval European cosmology. (Perdition, the domain of Modrian-Valdur, does not appear in the Elei model because it is considered a realm of Non-being.) As in our medieval models, the universe is considered to be a closed, self-contained system. But unlike them, the Elei design is not intended as a literal depiction of reality; Elei cosmology teaches that the three planes are not separate, but fluidly coexistent, an arrangement impossible to portray in visual art.

  Early Maurish astronomers adopted the term “Heavens” to describe their system of concentric “planetary spheres,” which was very similar to medieval understandings of our own solar system. See spheres, the.

  Hobgoblins, Hobs: small hominids related to human beings, inclined to mischief but not actually evil, and not to be confused with the more dangerous Goblins. Many possess sorcerous powers.

  Holyday: a day of rest, similar to Sunday or Sabbath, observed by Meran peoples who followed the old Elei calendar. The Meran year is thirteen days longer than ours, and the Elei divided it into fourteen months of twenty-seven days. Each month was divided into three weeks containing nine days. Finally, the weeks were themselves partitioned into triads, two “low days” for regular work, followed by a “high day” on which laborers could take either the morning or afternoon off. On the third high day of the week, “Holyday,” no work at all was done and the people attended services in the temples.

  Mandrake: (man + drake) English equivalent for the Maurish name Jargath, “dragon-man.”

  Otherworld: a term used for the world of Arainia to which most of the Elei fled after the Great Disaster in Mera.

  Powers, the: the Elyra and Elaia, entities worshipped as gods by the Elei, later reinterpreted as angels by followers of the western Faith. It was believed that the Elyra inhabited the stars, while the Elaia dwelt in the earth and moved among mortals, taking human or animal shapes. They even interbred with humans, it was said, and so created the race of demigods known as the Elei. The Elaia were also believed to linger in certain places as invisible spirits (“genius locii”) and to be attracted to material objects of a “harmonious” nature, such as the crystal lattices of gemstones.

  quintessence: the “fifth element” in old Meran cosmology, a substance superior to the four material elements of earth, fire, water, and air. Celestial objects and divine beings were believed to be composed of quintessence. It most likely derives from the old Elei concept of elothan, what we might call “pure energy.”

  scriptures, the: This term refers to the holy book of the western Faith. See Kantikant.

  sibyls: prophetesses; holy women of the old Elei faith who communed with the gods and received from them visions of the future. They dwelt in Liamar, the holy city of the Elei.

  spheres, the: Like our own ancestors, Maurish astronomers once believed, erroneously, in a system of concentric celestial spheres in order to account for the orbits of the planets. In their case the spheres were seven in number. Each sphere was believed to be formed of pure crystal (to account for its invisibility) and constituted a separate Heaven, as well as containing one of the five known planets, the moon, or the sun; the world of Mera lay at the center. This mistaken belief gave rise to such tropes as “planetary spheres” and “the seven heavens.” (In his own account of his journey through the seven spheres, Welessan Dauryn added the three heavens of Elei cosmology, for a total of ten heavens.)

  Tree of Life: the food-of-the-gods-tree; also, the symbolic representation of the universe as a tree. See Elvoron, Tanaura.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Alison Baird is the author of The Hidden World, The Wolves of Woden, The Dragon’s Egg, and White as the Waves. She was honored by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, is a Silver Birch Award regional winner, and she was a finalist for the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. She lives in Ontario. Her Web site is: www.alisonbaird.net.