Traitor Savant (Second Seal of the Duelists) (36 page)

Elements
: Flame, Water, Wood, Air, Earth and Shock

Eward Raalgat
: a shy Waarden boy in Bayan’s hex

Fabian
: one of Philo’s assistants and guards

Feast of Many Harvests
: a late autumn festival celebrating the end of the fertile season

Feast of Tuq
: the day on the old Aklaa calendar that marks the beginning of the spring season, roughly corresponding to Low Spring on the official Waarden calendar

Femke
: Empress of the Waarden, wife to Emperor Jaap, mother of Juriaan and Sebastiaan

Firedust
: the mysterious ingredients that form the colorful, noisy explosions of fireworks. Also the name of Calder’s Flame avatar

Firedust Guild
: a licensed guild that uses the secret knowledge of exploding powder to entertain audiences during feasts, festivals and holidays

First Singer
: title for the singer in charge of the Temple of Ten Thousand Harmonies. His or her duties include overseeing the training of all singer students, managing the Temple’s outposts and their saleable goods, assigning chanters’ duties across the empire, and deciding when and for which purposes the magic of the Full Choir will be bestowed

First Tuathi War
: 803-960 IC, during which the Tuathi captured Marghebellen, Gallenglaas and much of Helderaard, where they destroyed the Duelist Academy’s first, loosely organized campus. The Waarden duelists finally brought the war to a close when they discovered a previously unknown magical technique that gave Elementalists a distinct advantage over anima casters in battle. The shift in power forced the Tuathi to sue for peace and settle across their captured lands or flee across the Maam Ardcath

Frits
: one of Philo’s assistants and guards

Full Choir
: an outdoor assembly of every singer in the Temple of Ten Thousand Harmonies. Due to the perfect acoustics in the bowl-shaped Temple grounds, the magical potential of songs performed by the Full Choir is nearly limitless, and can stretch for thousands of miles

Gael
: one of Philo’s Kheerzaal assistants, a Dunfarroghan eunuch

Gaarana
: the Dancing Duelist, master of a lost duelism style

Gallenglaas Day
: a Waarden holiday in late winter, celebrating the province’s return to imperial rule in 1691 IC after being in the hands of the Tuathi since the Second Tuathi War

Gamay
: a mature seerwine pitcher plant which grows in the forest near Pangusay

Gerrolt Visser
: Academy Groundsmaster, a gruff man with a deep love of all plants

Ginina
: a baker of skill at the Eshkin ancestral estate on Wisnuk Bay, and Kiwani’s birth mother

Godsmaw
: the Karkhedonian term for the Gyre

Greer
: the Academy’s head Meditation Instructor

Graela
: one of Tala’s Solo classmates

Gushgirls/gushlings
: half-smitten fans

Gyre
: the dangerous circular sea located in the northeast part of the empire, bordering Pallithea and Helderaard, south of the independent realm of Karkhedon. Known for its frequent, deadly storms and swift, swirling currents

Hahliq
: the leader of Savitu’s small band of warriors, he perished during the Battle of the Kheerzaal

Hall of Seals
: the assembly room for all Academy gatherings. A circular dais is surrounded by six sections of benches representing the six elements. Teachers, students and other staff sit in the sections favored by their skills or talents

Hanna
: Head Duelist at the Muggenhem duel den

Head Duelist
: the duelist responsible for the upkeep, public relations, and duelists of their duel den. They approve all client choices of duelist and schedule all duels for their den

Hedrick voorde Helderaard
: the old emperor, Jaap’s father, now deceased

Hegemon
: title of the ruler of Karkhedon

Helderaard
: principal province of the Waarden Empire, in the center of its lands, containing Akkeraad, the capital city

Helma de Rood
: Master Duelist who lived a century ago and died fighting in the War of Steel. Her sacrifice for the empire earned her and her descendants the honorific “de Rood”

Hex
: a group of six duelists assigned to train together after passing their basic exams. A hex is also the basic military unit of the duelist army in times of war

Hex house
: a small building where members of the same hex can gather on campus. Hex houses are laid out in six rows of six, built up the side of a steep hill. Each row of hex houses is traditionally given an elemental designation

Hexbirds
: cousins of the crow, hexbirds have lived among duelists for millennia. They’re believed to be smarter than crows, lucky, and perhaps even infused with a little magic

Hexing
: casting hexmagic in the forms of two or more avatars, elements, or magics at the same time

Hexling
: mildly derogatory term for a student assigned to a hex

Hexmagic Duelist
: the third rank a student can achieve at the Duelist Academy, and the highest most students ever hope to achieve. Hexmagic Duelists can manifest all six elemental avatars and can combine elemental magics with their hexmates to create nearly anything, except living creatures

High Ways
: Imperial roads stretching between major cities, maintained by the empire to facilitate trade and travel

Idle
: to control an avatar’s motions, but not cast any spells. To Idle an avatar, the duelist must maintain the shape of the sacred motion that matches the avatar’s element.

Ignaas witten Oost
: an influential instructor on the Academy campus, the minor Waarden noble is the empire’s only Master Duelist. He takes over the position of headmaster, but continues to teach his own private hand-picked students

Imee Magittang
: Bayan’s former lovemate. Daughter of Isagani Magittang

Imperial Duelist
: a duelist of any rank assigned to the Kheerzaal

Indentured
: a servant with a finite number of years to serve. Indentureds usually enter service due to financial need or to learn a valuable trade with a master tradesman or guild, such as the Firedust Guild

Invocation
: a combination of sacred motions that open the duelist up to either elemental magic in general, or a specific element, or avatar-level spells. The Elemental Invocation is usually performed at the beginning of a duel or a bout of arena practice at the Academy, but during a trainee’s first semester on campus, it is performed only once a day, at the beginning of the day, in order to tame and focus the trainee’s magic through daily exposure to the sacred motions and with meditation. Other, more specific invocations are performed after the duelist has invoked elemental magic, in order to bring about specific kinds of spells.

Isagani Magittang
: a wealthy Balanganese merchant, father of Imee

Isos Sarantis
: a distant cousin of the Hegemon of Karkhedon, an ally of Casper voorde Helderaard and Savitu Tammaba

Iyanu K’mokamo
: a fierce noblewoman who schedules banquets for the emperor and his guests. Wife to Wateyo tes’Eshkin, adoptive mother of Kiwani t'Eshkin, her only child

Jaap voorde Helderaard
: His Imperial Majesty, ruler of the Second Waarden Empire, younger son of Emperor Hedrick

Joord
: one of Philo’s assistants and guards

Joos de Rood
: the Academy’s history teacher, descended from the last Master Duelist in imperial history, Helma de Rood

Jujufish
: small, inquisitive fish that live in Balanganese rice paddies. Eaten by people and swamp vipers

Jurgen
: one of the Academy’s Meditation Instructors, dismissed for illegal smuggling

Juriaan voorde Helderaard
: younger son of Emperor Jaap

Kah
: a hexbird who shared a room with Bayan, Odjin, Calder, and Eward

Kakios Phokapolou
: a patient killer for hire, killed after attempting to assassinate Kiwani in the middle of her skill duel with Bayan

Kalabao
: a domesticated bovine, used for farm work and cart transport in Balanganam

Karkhedon
: a neutral land across the Godsmaw from Helderaard. Its inhabitants share a cultural heritage with the Imperial lands of Aeolis, Kallichon, and Pallithea

Kendesi
: an older student, she’s a member of Taban’s hex

Kheerzaal
: the imperial campus, comprised of the royal palace and the headquarters of all imperially run businesses and services

Kilik
: an indentured man who was in service to, and colluding with, the mad princess Qivinga

Kipri Nayuuti
: Philo’s former assistant, a eunuch of the Second Class. He receives his first assignment as the newly created position of Cultural Liaison at the Duelist Academy

Kiwani t'Eshkin
: daughter of Wateyo tes’Eshkin and Iyanu K’mokamo, powerful nobles in the emperor’s good graces. Ambitious and proud, Kiwani had her life all planned out before her magic manifested. Learning that she isn’t nobility, but merely the adopted child of indentured workers, has crushed her, and her magic suffers. On the advice of a sint, Kiwani leaves campus to seek the truth about her origins and come to terms with her true identity

Kobus vooren Zeegat
: sterile husband to the mad princess Qivinga, murdered by her hand

Konrad
: one of Philo’s assistants and guards

Kuvi
: Kipri’s uncle, who died trying to assassinate Emperor Jaap during the Battle of the Kheerzaal

Laarwyck
: a Waarden-dominated province east of Helderaard, whose citizens speak with a thick country accent. Doc Theo’s land of origin

Last Starflower, the
: the name given to princess Qivinga when her realm lost its bid for freedom during the Raqtaaq Wars

Lailani Lualhati
: one of Bayan’s sisters, aged ten

Lemmert
: one of Philo’s assistants and guards

Liliwa Lualhati
: Bayan’s mother

Lost Starflower, the
: Aklaa people’s name for the Last Starflower, when she was stolen away by Emperor Hedrick

Lotte
: Philo’s personal chef during his travels in Balanganam, and employee of the royal kitchens before and after her time with Philo

Low Solstice
: the shortest day of the year

Low Spring
: the first day of spring according to the Waarden calendar

Mambajao
: the broad, silty river that flows past Bayan’s home. It was considered too wide and dangerous to cross with a bridge, until Surveyor Philo Sallas arrived

Marco
: a false name adopted by Caspar voorde Helderaard during his years in Karkhedon