Aida stumbled, coughing, as the hallway shuddered and rained dust. Another cracking boom echoed as more of the dome atop Jaxestack crashed down to shudder the pillar of rock to its watery roots. Dim white light swayed and threw stark shadows in the gritty air as the lamps carried by the refugees she now led through the dark maze of tunnels honeycombing the rock steadied themselves. When the lights stilled, a dark, seething shape panted at the end of the hallway.

  Shuddering with revulsion, Aida growled a hummed up to a shout as the monster lurched towards them. Having already nearly killed them the first time they crashed into one of the things, she focused the tone tightly to avoid caving the tunnel in on top of them. Digging mangled men, women, and children out of bloody rubble would remain yet another experience of this chaotic flight from the dome she had no desire to repeat.

  The demon or monster or whatever they called the awful things splattered against the wall, the body dissolving into threads of black flesh studded with bone fragments and jagged teeth. Whatever these things were made from or born as, they didn't die like anything else. Before it even hit the floor it began dissolving into its constituent fibers, liquids, tendon threads, bone shards, and an awful lot of black goopy stuff. They splashed through and shielded their heads from the dripping remnants of the thing as they pushed deeper into the stack.

  "Are we even going the right way?" Aida said, turning to the pale-skinned, beautiful red-headed woman she'd rescued from a thing proportioned roughly half octopus, a third wolf, and the rest ugly not long after they'd left the dome. "I have no friggin' clue where the hell we are."

  "Almost there, Dynast," the woman said. "A few more sets of stairs then we should be at the cavern where Jaxe's pleasure barges moor."

  "Never would have thought yesterday that the height of my day today would be not being eaten by tentacle monsters," Aida said, jogging towards said stairs with Ghillie a step behind her and who knew how many servants, ex-slaves, Wretches, and citizens of Jaxestack packed in the hallway behind her.

  Fortunately, no more beasties waited for them on the stairs. Within a few minutes she stumbled down a final flight to see the beautiful sight of dim sunlight streaming in through the wide, short tunnel leading from Jaxe's private cave-harbor to the wider ocean beyond. Sunlight reflected off the quietly-fizzing water, casting silver ripples across the walls and vaulted, rough-carved roof overhead. Three large, elaborately-carved barges and a dozen smaller canoe-like boats bobbed at simple stone quays. Aside from her, Ghillie, and a couple hundred desperate survivors spilling out from the stairwell about her, the place sat empty.

  "The largest barge is missing," the redhead said, pointing at a gap big enough to fit two of the smaller barges. "I would guess that all the sailors jumped aboard and left together a while back."

  "Smarter than we are then, I guess," Aida said. "Let's follow their lead, make like a banana, and get the fuck out of here."

  She turned and ratcheted her strings up a couple notches to address the whole mob spilling from the stairwell. "If you know how to sail in even the slightest degree, head over there. Everyone else, split up among the barges."

  "Where will we go?" a man's voice called. "Thornspire is overrun with monsters. I saw it with my own eyes!"

  "They climbed straight up the sides of Broadcliff and went in through the balconies, ate the place from the bottom up!" another called, voice on the fragile edge of hysterical.

  She tried to speak over the growing clamor, but people began to panic. Within seconds, they were pushing, jostling, and knocking each other over in their sudden haste to get to the barges.

  "Stop!" she boomed, the force of her voice knocking half the crowd over. She kicked her voice down a couple notches after, tuning to a level that reverberated around the room to maximize effect without breaking anything or anyone. "If you are coming with us then you will be calm. Freak out again and start shoving each other like that again and you get the important job of staying here as monster bait while the rest of us sail away."

  That seemed to get their attention pretty quick.

  A remarkably orderly process began as they shuffled towards the barges. A handful of individuals wandered over where she'd indicated sailors to go. They proved an odd mix of rough-looking, sun- and wind-weathered deck hands contrasted with dark-skinned, elaborately dressed noble-types whose experience probably consisted of tooling around in sporty yachts yelling at the captain of their pleasure barges while banging the servants.

  Seeing the two groups standing shoulder to shoulder made her want to laugh. Until the nobles began glaring at the menials until their 'lessers' stared at their toes and shuffled away from them self-consciously.

  "Um, nope. None of that," Aida said, walking up and flicking a dark-skinned noble woman in the nose-ring. She supposed they were called Kin or Verser Ladies or something, but as their current occupation generally consisted of running for their lives, the number of shits she had to give was even more depleted than usual near-zero threshold. She suddenly realized by her amount of internal swearing, she was stressed out. Considering, she only seemed to be effective while dealing with a crisis, maybe she needed to swear more.

  She tweaked her voice to resonance she hoped would rattle the nobles' teeth as she addressed them. "If you disdain them so much, I'll let you stay separate from them on the barges-"

  Their faces perked up at that and several opened their mouths to speak. Their sudden hope made her want to vomit.

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  "-by you staying here while we sail away. Monster bait, remember? You want to be the boss, stay here where you're the boss... at least until a demon with the munchies or whatever comes to quibble over whose in charge while munching on your guts. You get over the gunwales and onto a ship, get over yourself first. Help us all get through this or take your chances here. Any objections?"

  Half-a-dozen jaws clamped shut at once.

  "Right. Let's get this sorted."

  Within tenish minutes they'd loaded the barges to the brim - the huge, ornate craft riding disconcertingly-low in the water. She worried a bit about it for a moment, then shook her head. There was no way in hell she was going to leave anyone behind so they'd just have to stay calm and not capsize the things.

  As she found herself a spot near the aft of one of the ships with Ghillie standing in her usual alert mode like a tiny, camouflaged guardian angel. While everyone settled in, she found an unexpected few minutes with nothing to do but to reflect.

  Jaxe was dead. She'd expected to feel exultant, righteous, vengeful, or anything, really. She just felt empty. Revenge and resentment had fueled much more of what she'd accomplished since the flight from Heaven's Tread than she'd thought. Now that she'd taken the bastard out with anticlimactic suddenness, it felt like she'd lost an engine and a rudder both.

  Then Ocyl being her dad landing right after... damn. She reached into her pouch and traced the shape of the chess piece, then pulled out the can she'd stuffed in beside it as they'd fled the rapidly-destabilizing white dome a couple hours that felt like a couple days ago. Though she'd idly wondered about her missing father since she was old enough to formulate the thought, she wasn't the sort to dwell overly on, well, pretty much anything. In spite of that, having the blank piece of her past suddenly filled in felt like... like an ancient, dusty chest found locked in the basement that popped open unexpectedly and was found to hold... what? A hole in her past gaping her entire life had been filled, but like a new filling in a tooth, she couldn't help at feeling its roughness and newness. Relief? More confusion? Comfort at finally knowing and discomfort at who it turned out to be. Who ever expected your dad to be a five- or six-hundred year-old borderline sociopath ruler of his own universe?

  When she stirred from her reverie, the first barge already floated down the tunnel, the sailor-types there using long hooked poles to snag the rope-lines anchored periodically along the walls to grab on to and pull upon to haul themselves out towards sea. All of them kept glancing back at the stairs, waiting for the flood of monstrosities they just knew had to spill out at any moment. Aside from the occasional faint, echoing scream, muffled cracks and thuds from far above as the last of the dome collapsed, and the soft, sussurant noise a couple hundred frightened people made while preparing to flee their home, the stack remained still and silent.

  As she gave the order to push off, Ghillie tugged at her sleeve and pointed towards the water near the third barge.

  Something sleek and dark slid through the water, moving swiftly and silently towards the wallowing craft.

  "Look out!" Aida shouted, thrumming her strings up. A jagged lump hit her stomach as she realized her sonic attacks would probably do little to something ninty-percent submerged and anything strong enough to hurt whatever that thing was would probably blast the barge to flinders in the process.

  She turned to Ghillie as their own barge sluggishly drifted away from the dock. "Ghillie, can you help them somehow?"

  No more than you. She tapped at a needle tassel dangling from a sleeve and gestured towards the aquatic horror suddenly putting on a burst of speed as it neared the doomed barge. Monsters and demons made different. Slivering Way won't do much, especially against something that size.

  People spotted it. The screaming began. Everyone pushing against everyone else to get back a shore. More than a few fell into the water, thrashing either from lack of swimming know-how or due to being attacked by who-knew what. A handful of brave souls drew swords and pushed towards the rail to face the monster, but the thing couldn't be smaller than a killer whale by what Aida could make out in the gloom and was likely ten times the size.

  Aida looked away. Gritted her teeth. Forced herself to look back and watch.

  The monster hit the barge below the waterline, the force of its impact cracking the vessel like an egg. Amid a chorus of a hundred screams, the deck cracked and angled into two rapidly-angling slides. Desperate people clung to the polished brass railings to delay their fate or scrambled and leapt for the docks. Most churned in water suddenly full of darting shapes and thick with blood. Aida didn't know if the smaller shapes were tentacles, smaller monsters following the big one, or something else, but she felt sick regardless.

  A few dozen survivors made it back on the stony flat that served as a dock and raced for the stairs. Apparently the commotion had caught the attention of horrors higher in the stack, however, for huge, twisted things strained against one another to push down the steps. Those who had made it ashore crashed into each other then froze, paralyzed by the Sophie's choice of death on land or water.

  Unable to watch the horror and carnage anymore, Aida thrummed her strings to maximum amplitude as fast as she could. The moment the barge she rode reached the mouth of the tunnel, she gripped the rail tightly, braced her legs, and screamed at full volume. Stone shattered, bodies flew, and the ceiling began an immediate cascading collapse. Falling stones thundered into the water, smashing the aquatic horror to a pulp and surging a wave that propelled their barge down the tunnel like a spitwad down a straw. The screams of the doomed cut off mercifully quickly, drowned in the splash, crash, and crunch of falling stone.

  When their barge cleared the stack, people frantically set to paddling with oars, planks, silvered serving trays, or anything else that might serve to push them a tiny bit further from the stack. Ahead of them, the occupants of the other barge did the same as the three small, square sails on each craft caught wind. A few dozen other boats, galleys, and barges of various shapes and sizes pushed towards the sunset. Aida figured they knew better than her where to go and shouted, perhaps unnecessarily, for the barges to head that way.

  When they'd gotten a kilometer or two from Jaxestack, the entire immense pillar of stone suddenly shuddered and groaned. Some combination of the dome's collapse at its apex and Aida's scream detonating in its bowels apparently broke something fundamental in the honeycomb of the stack. With the exaggerated slowness of the immense, massive fragments sheared off and fell to the sea or formed long cracks and tilted off like falling skyscrapers. The long trolley ropes or wires running off towards nothing ripped and plummeted, ending dangling from\ nothing thirty or forty meters away from where the stack's peak once stood.

  Immense waves churned the oceans surface into chop. For a moment, she thought the wallowing barges might capsize, but as the craft somehow stabilized, they found themselves propelled an extra half-a-kilometer.

  Within minutes, only a jagged outcropping of broken stone rose from the waves amid a cloud of settling dust. Jaxestack was no more.

  Next chapter: It's not over yet.

  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.

  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

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  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