-Aj / 102-

  Aj knows now

  how to end this.

  -Da / 1n-

  What is

  the source

  of Aj's

  new understanding?

  -Aj / 102-

  A human

  encountered by

  one of my

  manifestations.

  Many things

  Aj learned.

  Humans collect

  frozen time,

  call it 'currence'.

  It will serve

  as a trap

  for the Chronosite

  which The All

  was first meant

  to contain

  before the Ascen

  fell in love

  with their creation

  and became

  trapped within

  themselves.

  -Da / 1n-

  So there is

  enough time

  after all?

  -Aj / 102-

  There could be.

  Thanks in part

  to killing gods

  slowing

  the Construct's weave

  of time/space.

  -Da / 1n-

  All the

  2 x 7 x 13

  have been killing

  the gods

  of all

  their verses.

  Following in Aj's footsteps.

  -Aj / 102-

  Aj also learned

  of a tether

  threaded back

  through the past

  to the first

  of the 100th Dynasty.

  They call them

  the Imminent.

  -Da / 1n-

  But how

  could they

  do this?

  -Aj / 102-

  They haven't.

  They will.

  By ensaring

  the Chronosite

  and unravelling

  one of my instances

  at the moment

  of its arrival.

  Weaving Chrono-stuff

  Aj-stuff

  verse-stuff

  100th Dynasty-stuff

  time-stuff.

  -Da / 1n-

  And use

  the Chronosite

  itself

  to change

  the flow of time?

  This seems

  beyond survable.

  -Aj / 102-

  Not flow

  but memory.

  And it is done.

  Will be done.

  Has been done.

  Aj just needs

  to unravel

  one of these

  Imminent

  to understand

  how they work.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  -Da / 1n-

  To do this

  the similar unraveling

  of one

  Aj instance

  -Da / 1n-

  To do this

  the unraveling

  of one instance

  may unravel

  all instances

  of the Aj.

  Or even of all

  the 2 x 7 x 13

  -Aj / 102-

  Good.

  None of this

  should be.

  Let us all

  return

  to the real.

  -Da / 1n-

  Then

  so

  shall it be.

  Terminus sucked.

  Cold, gray, gusty, bleak. The dried, crusty coat of monster goo she'd been coated with as her strings pulped the demons hurling themselves into the Thorn's curl after her back in Stacks didn't help either.

  She wrapped her arms about her and looked about the bizarre landscape of stone arches - some natural, others clearly artificial - stretching in all directions as far as she could see. Eth lounged against one chewing on a fingernail and staring into space. Ghillie, uncharacteristically, napped against the base of another.

  "Why couldn't we just have done whatever this is at the One-Eighth?" Aida said for the third time, glaring at Eth and gesturing at her filthy, tattered pants and shirt. "We could have at least gone in for a change of clothes when we dropped all those refugees from the Stacks off."

  "They're here," Eth said, pushing herself off the stone and turning towards the Thorn stabbing out from the side of yet-another stone arch.

  "The refugees?" Aida said, confused. She stared at the Thorn, searching for any sign of movement or mirage-shimmer. Just as she opened her mouth to ask Eth for some of whatever she was taking, it rapidly uncurled, blurred, and whipped back.

  A dark-skinned man in Imminent blue stood there beside... Parathas?

  The skinscribe-cum-mountaineer in his same fading orange robes smiled and waved shyly at her before she strode over and wrapped him in a hug. "How is your family?"

  "Safe. Well." He said, smiling. The smile faded. "Well as could be considering what's going on at the One-Eighth anyway."

  "What the hell is going on at the One-Eighth?" Aida said. She wished she had the Valeer so she could leave without having to rely on Eth. During the chilly, exhausted hours they'd spend waiting in Terminus, she'd debated taking a couple 'nails from Eth by force so she could get back and do something.

  "There's-" he began, but trailed off as the new Imminent turned towards Eth and began to speak, his voice shaking as much as the man was. He didn't look well. Scared shitless was her read. Thin. Bags under his eyes. Moved like a Highschooler heading to school to sit in detention all day.

  "If that's what knowing the future does to you, I'm happy with ignorance," Aida muttered to herself.

  "You must be Eth. All is done. Our pieces all stand near their final configuration and the others move as intended."

  "You must be Das. Well done." For some reason, Eth wouldn't look him in the eye.

  "They don't know each other?" Aida said, leaning close to Parathas. Seeing movement, she nodded to Ghillie as the Feral rose and walked to her side then gave the girl an impulsive hug.

  Ghillie hugged her back, then turned to regard the meeting of Imminent solemnly.

  Parathas sighed. "She's met him before. There's a reason they all have skinscribes since they-"

  "I suppose it's time for the three to become the two," Das said, his shaking intensifying. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened his eyes again and looked around as he continued. "Strange to stand here at the end, not knowing what I've done but holding only the feeling of having done great workings, of putting forth the effort. I hope it ends up being all worth it."

  "I hope so too," Eth said simply, wiping a tear from her eye. For some reason, she flicked a glance in Aida's direction.

  "What the hell are they talking about?" Aida said, glancing around half-expecting some doom to be approaching them. "I'm so confused but I'm still getting sad just watching them."

  "Save except ourselves," Das said before looking up at the endlessly-cloudy sky, stepping before Eth, and dropping to his knees.

  "Except ourselves," Eth echoed.

  He looked around at the dreariness of Terminus and sighed. "Would have been nice to have it end someplace pretty."

  "In the end, nothing is pretty," Eth said. She lifted her hand slowly, as though weighed as much as she could lift. "Are you ready?"

  Das closed his eyes again, took a deep breath, nodded, and lowered his head as if in prayer.

  For a moment that seemed to last an age, they stood and knelt there, framed by an arch and endlessly-streaming clouds lit by Terminus' diffuse light. Then her hand fell atop his head.

  For a second, nothing happened. Then Das spasmed, screamed, writhed, and fell backwards.

  Eth staggered back and fell heavily against the arch, clinging to it and panting as if she'd just run a marathon.

  Shaken yet filled with morbid curiosity, Aida approached Das's body.

  The man's eyes were gone. Thick swirls of black, vaguely charnel-smelling smoke curled from his empty eye sockets. His mouth twisted open in a silent scream.

  "What the hell did you do to him?" Aida shouted, whirling on Eth.

  "Made him Imminent," Parathas said, catching Aida's sleeve and pulling her aside.

  "Made him Imminent?" Aida repeated, pointing an incredulous finger at his body. "Made him dead you mean?"

  "For those who remember the future, the moment of death is the moment of birth. The Imminent thread passed to him, but no human can survive such a thing."

  "They can't survive it? Remember the..." Aida's mind churned as her brain tried to fit the puzzle pieces skewing all over her map of understanding in search of fitting places. Then they clicked into place and she staggered at the realization. "My god! Are you saying he came here knowing nothing about anything except he was going to die like that?"

  "And what we rehearsed for him to tell Eth. Months ago while I was alone in the One-Eighth he stopped by and told me what I was to remind him to say here today. I told him right before we crossed from the Vale."

  "They remember the future... not the past?" Aida said, her mind struggling to imagine.

  "Yes. So they each travel with a skinscribe to record their past. Each morning we tell them of their pasts they have forgotten and they tell us of their futures."

  "But... but, wouldn't they forget as soon as you said it?" Aida said, frowning at the emptiness about them. "I need a drink."

  "I know the feeling," Parathas said, smiling sadly and glancing at Eth. The girl now hugged her knees, rocking slightly with her eyes closed at the base of the arch. "Their memories seem to function normally over short spans, but over longer scales, they only remember the future."

  "That's why Ryk was acting so strange towards the end and asking me weird questions about us!" Aida said, memories flashing across her vision. The pieces clicking into place didn't make the past any more bearable. "No wonder he was so scared; he went into that fight knowing exactly how he would die, but not remembering all the things that made it worth dying for."

  "Yes," Parathas said, glancing from Aida to Ghillie then to Eth. He touched Aida's elbow, then walked towards Eth. "They carry burdens beyond imagining."

  Eth glared up with bleary eyes as Parathas knelt before her. He extended his arms in the ageless, universal signal offering human comfort and solace. She tensed, opened her mouth as though about to say something cutting, then collapsed against him sobbing. The skinscribe tapped her back, murmured comforting nothings, and rocked her slightly while Aida stood staring, trying to make sense of it all.

  "Seems like a goddamn waste to me," she muttered, shaking her head and walking over to Das. "Should we bury him or something? Not that there's any soil here to bury him in or even loose stone to make a cairn or something. Can't even close his eyes."

  His sacrifice was enough, Ghillie signed, stepping between Aida and the corpse. The best way to honor it is to help bring what they sacrifice for to reality.

  "And what the fuck even is that?" Aida said, flinging her arms about at the nothingness about them. "Not sure exactly who or what we're saving; it seems like everyone's just dying for no reason!"

  She stared at the inscrutable Feral for a minute, feeling her pulse pound with directionless anger. Ghillie said nothing, but turned away.

  "So you don't have any answers either, huh? We're all just-"

  Ghillie hadn't just turned randomly, but pointed through the random scatter of stony curves. Three figures walked towards them hand-in-hand, the two adults both limping: A vaguely-familiar blond woman carrying a huge sword across her back. A tall, regal-yet-gaunt looking black man in what may have once been fine robes. An albino little girl, half-skipping between the two. Behind them trailed a figure wearing an absurdly-large hat and long black robes.

  When they drew close, the woman knelt down and said something to the little girl, rose and kissed her husband, then turned and limped towards Aida with Big Hat shuffling after her. Eth and Parathas came to stand beside Aida, Parathas' arm still slung around Eth's shoulders.

  The woman looked them all over then stared at Aida for a long moment. "You must be The Mother of Exiles I've heard so much about. I saw you in the distance getting off your barge at the Heaven's Spear before we went in. I'm Hassani."

  "Call me Aida. I think I saw you at a distance somewhere in Stacks too. As for whatever you heard, I promise less than half of it is true. What's your story, lady?" Aida said, wincing internally at her instinctive rebellion against authority, even her own.

  "Long and not worth telling now. I'm told by the skin here that we don't have much time, but I'm to give you this that it gave to me for safekeeping forever ago." The woman dug into a belt pouch. "Not sure why it chose me since I've been hunted, enslaved, and dragged across half-a-dozen verses since, but I guess it worked out."

  "You and me both, sister," Aida said, reaching out to take whatever it was. A 'nail, though this one unmarked by the braille adorning the base of all the others she'd seen. "Where does this go to?"

  "I don't know with certainty, but my deduction says Earth," the woman said, stepping back with what looked like relief and turning to Big Hat. "Am I correct, skin?"

  The figure looked up, the hat shadowing its face completely. Its voice rasped like one of the old smokers from the nursing home, barely breathed and hard to catch over the wind. "It all comes together now."

  "Who the hell are you?" Aida said, then staggered as a strong gust blasted into them. It caught the hat and danced it away. Aida stared, then blinked rapidly at the figure standing there with the top of its head shredded and swirling in the wind.

  "Ocyl? What the hell happened to you?" Aida said.

  "Ocyl?" Hassani echoed, staring at the skin. "Dynast of Heaven's Tread?"

  "My molt," the figure said, making a throwing away gesture with one hand while it tried to hold its head together with the other. "Does that make me the slave of a slave?"

  The skin looked at Eth as it spoke but she shook her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

  "Because you forgot about it since you only remember what happens next," Aida said, her brain hurting as she tried to imagine what it must be like to be an Imminent. She turned to the skin. "Does molt and skin mean you're literally a shed skin of my daddy-o? Is that why his skin always looks so good? He just peels out of it like a snake or something?"

  The skin looked at her with a surprisingly Ocyl-like expression that broke when it opened its mouth as if to smile with no teeth to display.

  "You know Ocyl's your father?" Parathas said.

  "You're Ocyl's kin?" Hassani's husband said, his voice melodious if tired.

  "I just found out," she said, patting her belt pouch where the apparently-now-flattened tin can and the chess piece resided. She touched the silvered-tin crescent of her necklace reflexively. "How long have you known?"

  Parathas lifted the hem of his robe and traced a cluster of bumps among the hundreds dotting his calf. "Since Eth told me to record it and remind her a week or two ago."

  "Did he also tell you he's a sibling of Rega and Inro? All direct sons and daughters of Holy Ebon?" Parathas said, then blinked. "Judging by your reaction, I guess not."

  "Rega, like, Queen of the Ancients Rega?" Aida said, blinking as more pieces dumped onto her briefly-neatened mental puzzle. She waved her hands before anyone could get into any more begats or family trees or anything. "Doesn't matter. We should get back to the One-Eighth. I've been dumping refugees and freed slaves and whoever else there but it sounds like its the place to be for who knows who else too. Shouldn't we get going to crash the party or get it started or whatever happens next?"

  Nods of assent all around.

  "Okay, good. Anything else we should know before we go?"

  Hassani nodded and stepped forwards. "I met the Aj."

  Parathas' breathed in sharply, Eth nodded, Hassani's family looked uncomfortable, and Aida didn't know what to feel or think. "The avenging angel-demon thing from the Kiss or whatever that's been sleeping since forever?"

  "Yes. It's awake and has been killing gods across The Book. Maybe The All."

  Aida blinked. "I thought you couldn't kill gods."

  "You can't. It has been." Hassani spoke not as if delivering revelations, but like a tired waitress on her second shift explaining the menu so she could take a smoke break.

  "Okay, so you met it and... what? You had tea?"

  Hassani took a deep breath. "Met it and learned how it can be unmade. And when. And why."

  The woman delivered the words with finality, as if her knowing it was enough.

  "Okaaaay," Aida said, tapping her foot and crossing her arms. "So how and when and why?"

  "It doesn't matter, at least not yet," Eth said abruptly, cutting off whatever Hassani was about to say. "You're right. It's time to go and see to the end of things. And the beginning."

  With that usefully cryptic bit, the Imminent walked to the Thorn, produced a 'nail, and rubbed it against the Thorn.

  Aida looked down at the maybe-Earth 'nail in her hand, unsure of how to feel knowing she could go home. "Time to go back to Kansas, Toto?"

  Not yet, Ghillie signed as they ducked under the Thorn.

  "How would you know?" Aida said, rolling her eyes. "Everything coming to a head means everyone gets to be an Imminent now or something? Where do I get to drop some mysterious revelation or something?"

  Ghillie's eyes crinkled in what, for her, was a grin as the Thorn dragged them off to the Vale.

  Next chapter: The end of everything begins.

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a traveling musician. Died of the Wretch Plague in Heaven's Tread.

  Aida: MC. Mother of Exiles. "Ender of Verses?" "Savior of Dynasties?"

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Alerestro: a handsome, multi-talented man from Azure. Partner of Viviana. Accidentally killed by Jaxe in the One-Eighth.

  Aliasara: servant at Ocyl's villa who befriends Aida

  Anticores: a pair of Sect representatives, off-putting and strange

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Asta: Tertius Dynast of Silk. Assassinated by the Rags.

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  Baka: Dynast of Ziggurat. Huge, massively strong. Tertius. Killed by Cairin in Ziggurat.

  Balmos: Venger working for Ghulen. Killed be Deia in Stacks.

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye. His face gifted to Aida by Ocyl.

  Broadaxe: large, axe-and-shield-wielding Feral protecting Aida. Killed by Jaxe in Jadeye

  Cairin: Arca's sister, slinger

  Cleft Hand: malcontent in the One-Eighth, maimed hand due to Ryk. Impaled on a broken spear by Wretches in the One-Eighth.

  Das: Rega's Immanent. Died becoming an Imminent at Eth's hand in Terminus.

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon. Died fighting Ghulen's thugs on Stacks.

  Dels: Dynast of Azure

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eonora: a Legion officer in Ziggurat who defected with the Rogue Legions Mother's Militant

  Eth: a young Imminent

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Ghulen: Rega's "pet monster", an Inviolate. Eaten by a demon in Stacks.

  Goboro: a fat, amiable scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Godge and Ardina: Primary Small Masters in Berujat

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal. Died killing the Inviolate Rasofi in Jadeye

  Fatma: weakest Small Master of Berujat

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  Festrin: Seneschal of Monopollis, father of Fallon

  Fetriene: Ocyl's soresearer

  Goldilocks: twitchy, spear-and-javelin carrying Feral guarding Aida. Died burning a Wicker Way in Jadeye.

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court, sent by Fractious Fraction

  Hue: Vibrant accompanying Simon

  Huspara: minor bureaucrat in Libriam

  Ijran: Multi-minded wiz, Small Master of Berujat

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Izbali: a silent tribal shaman

  Janali: Ocyl's elegant Seneschal

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young" (Secounds), wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino). Ancient. Blasted by Aida on Stacks.

  Johine: crude slave. Killed by Ghulen in Stacks.

  Kass/Kassenia: mercenary attached to Adonissian.

  Maxem: High Parser from Ink, ambassador to Jadeye

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  "Professor, The": leader of Aida's Wretches, impaled on a tree in the One-Eighth

  Rasofi: Inviolate killed by Fallon in Jadeye

  Reck: Dynast of Chalk, "not witty enough to be clever and takes himself too seriously to be ironic". Paranoid, Fractious Fraction. Tertius. Died to a mob of menials in Jadeye.

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast of Monopolis. Septemius

  Riccaro: majordomo of Ocyl's estate. Hung by a looting mob in Heaven's Tread.

  Ruja: Dynast of Berujat. Killed by Cairin and company in Ziggurat.

  Rustrovan/"Rusty": Eth's old, gap-toothed skinscribe. Died of Wretch Plague.

  Ryk: "the most beautiful man Aida had ever seen", a Paragon

  Sadar: odd boy traveling with Semon, a Twine. Killed by Kass in Libriam.

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Savalius: Grand Quartermaster of the Legions. Killed by Baka in Ziggurat.

  Semon "Goldtongue": white-haired, one-eyed master of cults. First Disciple of the Mother. Killed by Ghulen in Libriam.

  Sephily: diminutive Arborist from Groves

  Stiller: serving boy at Ocyl's estate. Rendered mute by psychological or head-trauma

  Strygen: a dusa traveling with Semon. Killed by Kass and Balmos in Libriam.

  Taesal: one of Rega's other Inviolates, axe scar to face

  Three Bracelets Left: "Leader" of the Mune collective

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Tyrs: many-pierced Secundus Dynast of Forge. Fed into one of his own forges by the Rags.

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  Vanyen: A crippled young woman who created the Cult of the Mother. Martyred Prophet of the Mother. Murdered by Semon Dynastic Assassins.

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Viviana: gorgeous, multi-talented ex-slave from Berujat. Partner of Alerestro. Killed by the Vale Legion in Berujat

  Wake: Dynast of Graves, marries even though they all die. Quintus. Isolate.

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  36th Dynasty: A Dynasty the Anticores have met?.

  100th Dynasty: The Dynasty ruling the Book.

  Adventures of Bubo, The: popular kids story

  All, The: All the verses, even those beyond The Book.

  Ancients: a major Dynastic Chapter, an "elite number", "own Ziggurat" and "run the great bank that is Monopolis"

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails. Burned to the ground by the Rags.

  Anticore: Sect creature which "wears convincing human skins" with "swarming insects... beneath the skin"

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves

  Arcers: a type of mancer able to summon blades of energy

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Audits/"Diggers": Libriam internal affairs

  Autumn: verse rich in gold?

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Azure: An oceanic verse with blue beaches ruled by

  Berujat: "fleshmarkets"; primary seat of slave trade and home of most Lineage Masters, owned by Fraction.

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Black Court Tribunal: localized Black Court authority?

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "The Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Bubo's Tale: Story of an ancient dyast who explored a mythical land called "Christendom" with his rats

  Calms: periods when ever-blowing winds die down in Berujat

  Canyon of Cages: cliff where slaves are held in Berujat

  Cave Dwellers: tribes that live in the underground in Origin, keep others out until "the Return"

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chalk/"Vistas": verse entirely made of chalky cliff, belongs to Reck

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Inoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease, "Mudra of Cleansing"

  Chapters: power groupings among the Dynasts of the Book: predominantly The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, and Isolates.

  Circular Sea: an ocean abutting the Jadeye segment of Heaven's Tread

  Clock Priest: priests from Gears who track and tell time religiously

  Commu: chewed drug/herb?

  ConMach: convoy? courier? "ConMach drains the very life from the Directory's verses". Supply "ConMach machines"

  Construct: some great machine draining reality via black holes to create the All.

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins? "harder than currence"? "Solid current forms currence." Currence melts to watter.

  Currency: money, gold coins once held currence inside to give value, now debased

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"? "Solid current forms currence."

  Directory: "the Directory to Ink is like the Dynasty to the Book", dominating rulers of Ink

  Donative, The: Black Court taxes, taken by Legion if not offered. Don't pay, no Partaking every century.

  Dusa: people with manipulable hair of silver wire, from Gears

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynast's Tower: a massive tower at the peak of Ziggurat.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebon Saga: the tale of Ebon's foundation of The Book and Dynasty

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  El: semi-insubstantial snake/remora-like creatures that follow gods (and sometimes Dynasts) around

  "Emperor of Everything": popular kids story about Inro turning down becoming emperor, then crushing those who elevated a different Dynast

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  Fetalist: Imminent faction who believe the future is unchangeable

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Forge: verse ruled by Tyrs with much metalworking

  Fractious Fraction/"DissatisFaction"/"The Renewal": a major Dynastic Chapter who "hate everyone including each other", "entice every freemancer and Lineage Master" ... "to Berujat". For those with "verses deficient in maor ways."

  Gates, The: Inter-verse travel method created by Ebon. Opened with Limn

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  God-touched: those who have physically touched a god (and lived)

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Gons: self-sustaining organs capable of living outside a host

  Graves: a verse "Made of the dead by the dead for the dead".

  Green People: A tribe of jungle dwellers from Origin

  Groves: a forest verse, home to Arborists

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  High Parser: officials from Ink

  Imminent: seers advising Dynasts and shaping course of The Book

  Imminent Prophecy: something about a barbarian Dynast, Ender of Verses and/or Savior of Dynasties?

  Inevitables; faction of Imminent who believe it is their sacred duty to ensure the future comes to pass as seen

  Ink: home verses of the Skeinry, Keens, Directory, and "the Faded People". Drained of color and drained.

  Innoculist: doctors who teach chants "brought from Logos" to cure disease

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption" with "unlimited, undisclosed, and untraceable budgets"

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Isolates: a major Dynastic Chapter with a "unified stand for independence", "cheat the Donative, stockpil[e] currence and watter" "hire Keen mercenaries" "raise own private Legions in secret"

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jar: Name of a "gold" coin now made of brass. Once held currence within.

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin. Destroyed by Aida.

  Jutland Reach: a verse with guns?

  Gates: previous travel method before Thorns and the Kiss, opened by painting Limn on an arch in one verse and another in Terminus

  Green People: tribes that live in the jungles of Origin

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it. "Tank knights"

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast, most desperately trying to reach 100 so they can Partake

  Kiss, The: disease that wiped out "hundreds of verses", also name for the time period when Aj became active last and destroyed 100s of verses before halting in Sunset

  Lambent ram: animal whose wool glows?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Libwe: tribe possessing the "holy" Limn clay bed.

  Limn: "infused clay" bearing some sort of internal power, used by Ebon to found the Dynasty

  Lineage: a line of mancers taught by a Master

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Lizard Hunters: Arca's people, walkers of the wastes of Origin

  Logos: "the thought realm"

  Machine Curse: something that stops machines from working between verses?

  Mancers: "no mancers arc (could) affect it", people with abilities beyond human normal, usually trained/implanted by a Master.

  Master's Markets: primary slave market in the Book in Berujat

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: "the Outsiders". "exist only to destroy the Book" with their "demonic and monstrous children" from "the Hells beyond". The same race as the Ascen but objectors to the creation of the All.

  Monopolis: the "City of Currency", bank verse ruled by Rega

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Mother's Faith: the relgion based on Aida created by Semon

  Mother's Militant: Formerly the Rogue Legions led by Eonora, now pledged to protect the people of the Book

  Mune: a utopist collective from Dost who mask their identities and share everything communally

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Preserve: a garden "beyond the Circular Sea" in Heaven's Tread?

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One Tribe, The: Arca's new tribe incorporating the Libwe and whomever else is conquered or enticed to join.

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer

  Origin: the First Verse, from which Ebon originated, containing the "Cities Below". The "first page of The Book"

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty. Alternately, albinism

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  Phero: Lineage whose scent creates overwhelming attraction

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Porcelain Guard: Ocyl's white-masked Ferals

  Pure Priest of the Ascen/Blind Priests: priests praising the Ascen and back the Black Court

  Rags: derogatory name for alliance of Isolates and Fractious Fraction. Call themselves "Resistance Against the Grevious Ancient Coup."

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Reconquest: time four-hundred years ago when Inro "drove [tribals] back into civilization's fold at spear point"

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seericide: seers capable of Knowing everything as they die

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Shale: a verse famous for its expensive stone

  Shore Striders: tribes that live along the oceans of Caves

  Shackle Pens: slave pens near Master's Market in Berujat?

  Shrineway: religious section of Jadeye "brailled prayers along the walls ... [and] cobblestones"

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Silk: verse owned by Asta where all of verse's silk originates

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago when "half the legions rose up". Put down by Baka

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinlife: living tattoos

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: individuals capable of "healing" by cauterizing wounds with their hands

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing". Overrun by demons.

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Stone Walkers: tribes that live in the cold of Origin

  Subterrane, The: inter-verse travel route accessed by Ebon via Limn

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons" holds mad Dynasts, monsters and demons... vaults of dangerous relics.

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Swirl: A verse. "The pleasure barges of Swirl"

  Syphon: machine ConMach uses to "drain the very life" and color from a verse to "fuel... machinery"

  Tangle, The: the jungles of the One-Eighth

  Terminus: the verse from which the Gates all opened, hub of the Book before The Kiss and now mostly abandoned.

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries. The 2√3 Dynasty.

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Tribunal: group of three Dynasts coming together to make ruling or pass judgment

  Twine: "one soul threaded through two bodies"

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Vale Walkers: discoverers of verses

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Venger: muscle man?

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Vibrant: color-changing individuals from Ink?

  Watter: an energetic liquid. "Currence melts to watter. Watter's current dissipates over time, leaving water."

  Weeping Falls: Jadeye Iris flowing with waterfalls

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  Wiz of Berujat: multi-minded, capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wretch Plague/Dynast's Plague: the flu. A horrific disease spread by Wretches.

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between. A giant Ziggurat