Tempt the Devil (The Devil of Ponong series #3) (37 page)

tamtuk
– Ponongese. A fried dumpling made from
jikal
root
mash, usually
filled with highly seasoned meat.

The Book of Carnal Bliss
–
Traditional Ingosolian erotic literature. This is actually a collection of
works that include poetry, drawings, hygiene, and reproductive health
information.

thiree
– Thampurian slang.
Member of the Thirteen Families of Thampur. This is the ruling class, although
the royal family is not included in the thirteen. These families are (in no
particular order): Zul, Muul, Kortun, Orul, Quonn, Karour, Turul, Himuun,
Zournn, Mirtyat, Rheun, Tooruun.

tikkut
–
A mild spice. “A grain of tikkut” is something unnoticeable or without meaning.

tiuhon
(tea)
– Ponongese. Bitter tea made from the bark of the tiuhon tree. Reduces
fever and swelling.

tumejra powder
– Ponongese. Deep yellow spice from ground root, prized for its color
more than the flavor it adds to dishes.

upslope
–
Away from the ocean/uphill.

vapor ghoul
– A black lotus addict in the final stages of the
addiction. Signs are unnaturally red lips, pale skin, and skeletal thinness.

vapor nightmare
– A frightening or disturbing dream while
taking vapor.

water pipe
– An afternoon pastime for gentlemen with nothing better to do than
gossip.

white
(or
blue
)
jellyfish
(
medusazoa
)
– Sea of Erykoli. Bioluminescent jellyfish that glow white light.

Wolf Slayer
– Ponongese nickname for QuiTai, used mostly by Ponongese who live
outside Levapur.

Names of Races and Beings

Gods

Erykoli
–
Thampurian. Goddess of the Sea.

Goddess of Mercy,
the
– Thampurian. The daughter of Erykoli (the sea) and Kiruse (the
sun).

Hunt
–
Ponongese. Goddess of the Hunt. The Sung clan are her priestesses.

Kiruse
–
Thampurian. God of the Sun.

Monsoon God
– Ponongese. The Su clan are his priestesses.

Moon Goddess
– Ponongese. The Chi clan are her priestesses.

Oracle, the
– Ponongese. Goddess of Justice and Vengeance. The Qui clan are her
priestesses.

Ponongese
:

The Ponongese are natives of the Ponong Archipelago. They
are one of the “shiftless” races, in that they do not fully shift between a
“human” form and an animal form, but rather combine elements of both. They have
fangs and are venomous. Their venom is a combination of a neurotoxin and a
paralytic that can be fatal in sufficient doses. It provides a psychic link
between them and their prey. Their eyes are perhaps their most striking
feature, with a narrow, bright yellow iris surrounding an oval pupil, and an
inner eyelid. Many races from the continent use the racial slur of “snake” to
describe them, but they are mammals.

Ponongese clans:

Qui

The
Qui
are
said to be from QuiYalin province, but no such place exists except in folk
tales, where it is the court of the gods, where souls are weighed. They are
from the island of Quinong, which lies across the Ponong Fangs from the big
island of Ponong. The Qui are the priestesses of the Oracle.

QuiTai
–
Former actress. Former prostitute. Former mistress of the King of Houltan and
at least one ambassador. Scourge of Levapur. Formerly the Devil’s Concubine,
and now the Devil. She rules the criminal underworld of Levapur.

QuiZhun
–
QuiTai and Jezereet’s daughter, killed by Petrof for Cuulon and Turyat, who
were following Ravidian orders.

Rhi

The
Rhi
are
from Cay Rhi, a small island off the west coast of Ponong. Their sarongs are
prized for the vivid colors and botanical prints. The Rhi mostly make their
living from the sea, although some worked at the small aqua plantation on the
far side of the island. Before the time of peace, the Rhi’s warriors regularly
raided the coastal villages of Ponong and were feared for their brutality.

RhiFa
– A
man who escaped from Cay Rhi with QuiTai and RhiHanya.

RhiHanya
– Helped QuiTai and others escape from slavery on Cay Rhi in the
bioweapons aqua plantation taken over by the Ravidians. Later became one of
QuiTai’s lieutenants.

RhiLan
–
RhiHanya’s cousin. Kyam Zul’s neighbor. She hid QuiTai in her apartment from
the colonial militia following the escape from Cay Rhi and helped nurse her
back to health.

RhiLiet
–
RhiLan’s eldest son.

RhiNyam
–
Died on Cay Rhi at the bioweapons aqua plantation.

RhiTeek
–
RhiLan’s daughter.

Pha

Levapur sits on the ancestral lands of the
Pha
clan, which are bordered on the
north by the Sea of Erykoli and the south by the Pha River. They agreed to
allow the Thampurians to settle on their lands, which led to the entire
archipelago being claimed as a colony by Theram Zul for the King of Thampur.
The rest of the Ponongese will never forgive them for this.

PhaJut
–
Brothel owner in the Quarter of Delights. Former employer of QuiTai and LiHoun.

PhaSun
–
Sex worker at the Red Happiness.

PhaNyan
–
QuiTai’s lieutenant. Killed on Cay Rhi by Ravidians.

PhaChiu
–
Her stall in the marketplace is known for the best tamtuk dipping sauce in
Levapur. Don’t even ask what’s in it; her burly sons will escort you out of the
town square.

Members of other clans from the interior or
coasts of Ponong

SunYan
–
A professional dominatrix and worker at PhaJut’s brothel.

SungHi
–
QuiTai’s lieutenant, tortured and mutilated by a radical faction of the
colonial militia under orders of Colonel Hurust.

ChiHui
–
QuiTai’s lieutenant, tortured and mutilated by a radical colonial militia under
orders of Colonel Hurust.

FalLoun
–
While PhaChiu may make the best dipping sauce for tamtuks, FalLoun’s fillings
could make the gods weep with joy. If she catches you buying a tamtuk from
PhaChiu’s stall, she will never let you eat another of hers.

Thampurians

Thampurians
are
one of the fully shifting races, from a human form to a sea dragon form. Like
most fully shifting races, they consider their human form to be superior to the
shiftless races. Despite being strong swimmers in sea dragon form, they built
an impressive fleet of merchant ships (junks), which brought wealth and power
to the small country.

House of Zul

Kyam Zul
– Grandson of Theram Zul, Governor of the Crown Colony.

Hadre Zul
– Grandson of Theram Zul, cousin to Kyam, commander of the
Golden Barracuda
, pride of the Zul
family fleet.

Grandfather Zul
(
Theram
) – The richest and
most powerful head of the Thirteen Families of Thampur, cousin of the king.

Liragme Zul
– Kyam’s mother.

Nashruu Zul
–
Kyam’s wife and cousin.

Khyram Zul
– Nashruu’s son.

Malk Zul
– Captain of the
Winged Dragon,
and for seven glorious months, the
Golden
Barracuda
.

Virham Voorus
– Captain in the colonial militia. Exiled to Ponong eight years ago.
Kyam’s secret half-brother.

Other Thampurians

Cuulon
–
Chief Justice of the Colonial Government. Turyat’s best friend. Former police
captain in Thampur, exiled to Ponong for arresting and brutally beating two
sons of the House of Turul.

Turyat
–
Governor of the Crown Colony after Theram Zul returned to Thampur. Ruled for
forty years. Forced out of office after the rice riots.

Mityam Muul
– The finest legal mind in Thampur, often called the nation’s sage uncle.

Simarn
–
Nashruu Zul’s personal maid.

Colonel Hurust
– Commander of the colonial militia. Family connections barely saved him
from execution after he was caught dealing black lotus in Thampur. After he
executed all the Rujicks in Levapur (except Petrof) he decided to take over their
black lotus business.
 

Major Rheagus
– Colonel Hurust’s secretary.

Ma’am Thun
– A school teacher exiled to Ponong after her husband’s senseless death
by drowning.

Hirun
– A
captain noted for his persecution complex and lack of friends.

Korours
–
A plantation owner on Cay Rhi who married a Ponongese woman. He, his wife, and
children were tortured and then killed by the Ravidians, who took over their
remote aqua plantation to convert it into a bioweapons facility.

Ingosolians

Ingosolians
are
often called the ultimate shifters. They can shift anywhere along a continuum
between male and female genders, but are always “human.” The Ingosolians are
also known for their love of inventions and the arts.

Jezereet Karula
– QuiTai’s spouse and business partner, retired actress, and sire of
QuiZhun.

Lizzriat
– Owner of the Dagon Pearl, a casino.

Inattra
–
Madam of the Red Happiness after Jezereet’s death.

Evoreet Karula
– Jezereet’s sibling.

Ikoreet Orsuna
– A great philosopher from antiquity, renowned across the continent.
Founded the first university on the continent. Set forth the first rules of
scientific methodology and logic that are still taught as the basis of critical
thinking.

Gernert
–
An actor in Jezereet and QuiTai’s former troupe.

Inaza
–
An actor Jezereet and QuiTai worked with.

Lisudtan
Islanders
(also known as
Li
Islanders
)

Li Islanders
are a shiftless race with the hearing and sight of a jungle cat; thus referred
to as cat-men. They are stealthy, secretive, and excellent climbers.

LiHoun
- On his
native island, he is simply known as Houn. As a member of a religious minority,
he was unable to find steady work at home. His fate wasn’t any better in
Ponong, but he never had enough money to return home. His lung worm infection
is incurable.

LiHoun’s wives and
children
– These sisters are a racial minority in their homeland
because they have spots down their spines while the majority race have rosette
dots. They fled to Ponong at the same time as LiHoun, but not with him.
Similarly marooned, they formed a clan with him. They work for the funicular
company as rail inspectors.

Ravidians

A “shiftless” race with pale skin and white-blond hair.
They have a prominent bony neck ruff that protects their necks from attack.
They also have a sharp dewclaw on both feet that can gut prey. Much is said
about their savagery, but how much of it is true is unknown. They are second
only to the Ingosolians in their scientific advances.

Rujicks

From the northernmost lands of the continent, where the
males and females live apart. Commonly known as werewolves, they are tall and
muscular. While they are often referred to as hairy barbarians, they have a
tradition of poetry and music unrivaled on the continent.

Petrof
–
Forcibly evicted from his home keep in the stark fjords of northern Rujick, he
wandered the continent for several years. Despite being small for a Rujick, he
worked as muscle for several criminal enterprises in Houltan, Ingosol, and
Chimit before finding his way to Ponong on a smuggler’s ship. There, he worked on
plantations sporadically but made most of his money in the criminal underworld,
mostly in contract killings and black lotus. He was hired by Cuulon and Turyat
to kill all the Qui on the island. He only missed one, a mistake that came back
to haunt him. The rest of his pack found his fascination with QuiTai puzzling,
but he admired her fearlessness. After she made him the mysterious Devil, he
secretly understood she was the key to his power. As such, she could take it
away as easily as she gave it to him. He feared her for that. He also desired
her more because of that danger she posed to him.

Casmir
–
The model for heroic statues in Rujick, this tall, muscular, gravel-voiced
werewolf was most often chosen by Petrof to keep watch on QuiTai, as well as
sometimes serving as her maid. He was one of the few werewolves to witness the
mob in the marketplace tearing his fellow countrymen apart limb by limb after
QuiTai paralyzed them and handed them to the mob in retaliation for the Full
Moon Massacre, so his hatred and fear of her are greater than the rest of the
pack.

Ivitch
–
The bloom of youth was still on his cheeks when he came to Ponong. He grew
older on the island but never grew up. Stupid and evil is a bad combination,
and he was plenty of both.

Houltans

Houltan is one of the biggest countries on the continent,
but much of the land is artic desert. It shares a long border with Rujick that
is mostly unpopulated. Many Houltans are still nomadic herdsmen with the great
migrating ruminant herds of the northern tundra. The only known race with three
shifting forms- person, dog, and fire. One of the ethnic minorities in their
easternmost province take the form of firebirds rather than as open flame.
Houltans are known for their ribald sense of humor, love of theater, and vast
repertoire of drinking songs. If a Houltan ever pours a tiny glass of
Furskvaszer for you, sit down and grab hold of the table before you drink it.
Also, don’t have any plans for the next two days.