The Blinding Knife (110 page)

Lily’s Stem, the:
  The luxin bridge between Big and Little Jasper. It is composed of blue and yellow luxin so that it appears green. Set below the high-water mark, it is remarkable for its endurance against the waves and storms that wash over it.

linstock:
  A staff for holding a slow match at one end. Used in lighting cannons, allowing the cannoneer to stand out of the range of the cannon’s recoil.

Little Jasper:
  The island on which the Chromeria resides.

Little Jasper Bay:
  A bay off Little Jasper Island. It is protected by a seawall that keeps its waters calm.

loci damnata:
  A temple to the false gods. The bane. Believed to have magical powers, especially over drafters.

longbow:
  A weapon that allows for the efficient (in speed, distance, and force) firing of arrows. Its construction and its user must both be extremely strong. The yew forests of Crater Lake provide the best wood available for longbows.

Lord Prism:
  A term of address for the Prism.

lords of the air:
  A term used by the Omnichrome for his most trusted blue-drafting officers.

Lover, the:
  A statue that comprises the eastern river gate at Garriston. She is depicted in her thirties, lying on her back arched over the river with her feet planted, her knees forming a tower on one bank,
hands entwined in her hair, elbows rising to form a tower on the other bank. She is clad only in veils. Before the Prisms’ War, a portcullis could be lowered from her arched body into the river, its iron and steel hammered into shape so that it looked like a continuation of her veils. She glows like bronze when the sun sets, and the entrance to the city comes through another gate in her hair.

luxiat:
  A priest of Orholam. A luxiat wears black as an acknowledgment that he needs Orholam’s light most of all; thus he is commonly called a blackrobe.

luxin:
  A material created by drafting from light. See Appendix.

luxlord:
  A term for a member of the ruling Spectrum.

Luxlords’ Ball, the:
  An annual event on the open roof of the Prism’s Tower.

luxors:
  Officials empowered by the Chromeria to bring the light of Orholam by almost any means necessary. They have at various times pursued paryl drafters and lightsplitter heretics, among others. Their theological rigidity and their prerogative to kill and torture have been hotly debated by followers of Orholam and dissidents alike.

magister:
  The term for a teacher of drafting and religion at the Chromeria.

mag torch:
  Often used by drafters to allow them access to light at night, it burns with a full spectrum of colors. Colored mag torches are also made at great expense, and when made correctly give a drafter her exact spectrum of light, allowing her to eschew spectacles and draft instantly.

match-holder:
  The piece on a matchlock musket to which a slow match is affixed.

matchlock musket:
  A firearm that works by snapping a lit slow match into the flash pan, which ignites the gunpowder in the breech of the firearm, whose explosion propels a rock or lead ball out of the barrel at high speed. Matchlocks are accurate to fifty or a hundred paces, depending greatly on the smith who made them and the ammunition used.

matériel:
  A military term for equipment or supplies.

merlon:
  The upraised portion of a parapet or battlement that protects soldiers from fire.

Midsummer:
  Another term for Sun Day, the longest day of the year.

Midsummer’s Dance:
  A rural version of the Sun Day celebration.

Mirrormen:
  Soldiers in King Garadul’s army who wear mirrored armor to protect themselves against luxin. The mirrors cause luxin to disintegrate when it comes in contact with it.

Molokh:
  God of greed, associated with orange. See Appendix, “On the Old Gods.”

monochromes:
  Drafters who can only draft one color.

Mot:
  God of envy, associated with blue. See Appendix, “On the Old Gods.”

Mother, the:
  A statue that guards the south gate into Garriston. She is depicted as a teenager, heavily pregnant, with a dagger bared in one hand and a spear in the other.

mund:
  A person who cannot draft. Insulting.

murder hole:
  A hole in the ceiling of a passageway that allows soldiers to fire, drop, or throw weapons, projectiles, luxin, or fuel. Common in castles and city walls.

nao:
  A small vessel with a three-masted rig.

Narrows, the:
  A strait of the Cerulean Sea between Abornea and the Ruthgari mainland. Aborneans strangle trade between the Narrows by charging high toll fees to merchants attempting to sail the silk route, or simply between Paria and Ruthgar.

near-polychrome:
  One who can draft three colors, but can’t stabilize the third color sufficiently to be a true polychrome.

non-drafter:
  One who cannot draft.

norm:
  Another term for a non-drafter. Insulting.

nunk:
  A half-derogatory term for a Blackguard inductee.

Odess:
  A city in Abornea that sits at the head of the Narrows.

old world:
  The world before Lucidonius united the Seven Satrapies and abolished worship of the pagan gods.

oralam:
  Another term for paryl, meaning hidden light.

Order of the Broken Eye, the:
  A reputed guild of assassins. They specialize in killing drafters and have been rooted out and destroyed at least three times. They are thought to have re-formed each time with no connection to the previous incarnation of the Order. Some say paryl drafters worked with the Order hundreds of years earlier. Shimmercloaks were the pride of the Order, always working in pairs.

Overhill:
  A neighborhood in Big Jasper.

Pact, the:
  Since Lucidonius, the Pact has governed the Seven Satrapies. Its essence is that drafters agree to serve their community and receive all the benefits of status and sometimes wealth in exchange for their service and eventual choice to die just before or after breaking the halo.

parry-stick:
  A primarily defensive weapon that blocks bladed attacks. It sometimes includes a punching dagger at the center of the stick to follow up on a deflected blow.

petasos:
  A broad-brimmed Ruthgari hat, usually made of straw, meant to keep the sun off the face.

pilum:
  A weighted throwing spear whose shank bends after it pierces a shield, preventing the opponent from reusing the weapon against the user and encumbering the shield greatly. They are becoming more rare and ceremonial.

polychrome:
  A drafter who can draft more than two colors.

portmaster:
  A city official in charge of collecting tariffs and the organized exit and entrance of ships into his harbor.

Prism:
  There is only one Prism a generation. She senses the balance of the world’s magic, can balance the magic, and can split light within herself. Her role is largely ceremonial and religious, not political, except for her balancing the world’s magic so that wights and catastrophes don’t result.

Prism’s Tower, the:
  The central tower in the Chromeria. It houses the Prism, the White, and superviolets (as they are not numerous enough to require their own tower). The great hall lies below the tower, and the top holds a great crystal for the Prism’s use while he balances the colors of the world. The annual Luxlords’ Ball is held there.

promachia:
  The institution of a person named to the office of promachos. It gives great, nearly absolute powers during wartime.

promachos:
  A title given the Prism during war. It allows for his absolute rule and can only be instituted by order of the entire Spectrum. Among other powers, the promachos has the right to command armies, seize property, and elevate commoners to the nobility. It is an ancient term meaning He Who Fights Before Us.

Providence:
  A belief in the care of Orholam over the Seven Satrapies and its people.

psantria:
  A stringed musical instrument.

pyrejelly:
  Red luxin that, once set alight, will engulf whatever object it adheres to.

raka:
  A heavy insult, with the implication of both moral and intellectual idiocy.

Raptors of Kazakdoon, the:
  Flying reptiles from Angari myth.

Rath:
  The capital of Ruthgar, set on the confluence of the Great River and its delta into the Cerulean Sea.

Rathcaeson:
  A mythical city, on the drawings of which Gavin Guile based his Brightwater Wall design.

ratweed:
  A toxic plant whose leaves are often smoked for their strong stimulant properties. Addictive.

Red Cliff Uprising, the:
  A rebellion in Atash after the end of the False Prism’s War. Without the support of the royal family (who had been purged), it was short-lived.

Rekton:
  A small Tyrean town on the Umber River, near the site of the Battle of Sundered Rock. An important trading post before the False Prism’s War.

Rozanos Bridge, the:
  A bridge on the Great River between Ruthgar and the Blood Forest that Blessed Satrap Rados burned.

Ru:
  The capital of Atash, once famous for its castle, still famous for its Great Pyramid.

Ru, Castle of:
  Once the pride of Ru, it was destroyed by fire during General Gad Delmarta’s purge of the royal family in the Prisms’ War.

Ruic Head:
  A peninsula dominated by towering cliffs that overlooks the Atashian city of Ru and its bay. A fort atop the peninsula’s cliffs guards against invading armies.

runt:
  An affably derogatory term for a new Blackguard inductee.

Salve:
  A common greeting, originally meaning “Be of good health!”

Sapphire Bay:
  A bay off Little Jasper.

satrap/satrapah:
  The title of a ruler of one of the seven satrapies.

sev:
  A unit of measurement for weight, equal to one-seventh of a seven.

seven:
  A unit of measurement for weight, equal to a cubit of water’s weight.