Prodigal Steelwielder (Seals of the Duelists Book 3) (37 page)
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Authors: Jasmine Giacomo
Tagisaa
: Sivutma’s home village in Nunaa
Takozen
: the Academy’s Flame Instructor, he holds the rank of Avatar Duelist
Tala
: a half-Waarden, half-Balanganese singer at the Temple of Ten Thousand Harmonies. Though she possesses perfect pitch and a skill for remembering songs, she sometimes suffers crippling performance anxiety in the form of hiccups. She learns Doc Theo is her father, and he teaches her how to overcome her anxiety. Because she can portal, she acts as a go-between among the Hexmates for Philo, the emperor’s spymaster
Talent Tournament
: a three-day event allowing freshly ranked Elemental Duelists to exhibit their skills during duels. The students leave campus and duel each other in a duel den picked by the Duelism Office at the Kheerzaal. Talent Tournaments make for great entertainment, drawing crowds from nearby towns and villages, many of which have their own duel den, thus increasing a duelist’s likelihood of receiving a bid for assignment if he or she performs well. Many Elemental Duelists never advance to the next rank, so this showing of talent is their only opportunity to influence citizens to bid for the duelists’ placement. Duelists who reach the rank of Avatar Duelist get to attend another Talent Tournament, after which the bidding on duelists is significantly more cutthroat due to their larger skill set
Tallacht
: capital of the Western Empire, sacked in 1539 IC, now historical ruins
Tarin Hajellis
: a passionate girl, part Akrestoi, part Dunfarroghan, with rare red hair. She and Kipri are lovemates, but their relationship suffers unique difficulties because he’s a eunuch. Her magic is unstable when she’s emotionally vulnerable, so someone needs to physically interact with her on an intimate level to prevent her from suffering a catastrophic collapse on the dueling sand. At her duel den in Kwaranaak, that person is Taban, her hexmate
Tegen
: term for the recipient of magical attacks during training workouts. Duelists are each other’s tegen
Telling
: a Balanganese feastday tradition, involving a seerpool and seerwine. The seer fasts for a day, then consumes a large quantity of seerwine. He or she enters an altered state and observes reflected ripples from the surface of a seerpool and uses them to predict the future. Tellings are considered parlor tricks amongst the Balanganese, but the more superstitious amongst the Waarden believe them to be accurate foretellings
Temple of Ten Thousand Harmonies
: the enclave of the reclusive Singers, in the mountains of Pallithea. Located in the mountains near the Godsmaw, it is comprised of towers and underground structures set in and around a perfect hemisphere of stone, which amplifies the singers’ song magic to epic proportions
Teos
: a duelist at the Muggenhem duel den, and friend to Calder
Teresseren Unification Day
: an Waarden holiday in early summer, marking the day in 1710 IC that Pinamuyoc came under imperial rule for the first time, creating the sea power that was the Teresseren Empire
Theo Willemsen
: Head Chanter at the Academy Chantery. Called Doc Theo by his patients and friends, he’s traveled the length and breadth of the empire during his long service as a chanter, spending time in Bayan’s homeland of Balanganam as well as serving at the front during the Raqtaaq Wars. Following the defeat of Ignaas witten Oost, the First Singer grangs Doc a small group of chanters on the Academy campus
Third
: the third class of eunuchs, comprised of volunteers seeking safety and guaranteed employment in imperial service in exchange for any future children. Often, Thirds come from poor or large families or escape dire straits
Tilaa
: the language of the Raqtaaq people. Tilaa is also the name for the Aklaa concept of speaking things into existence, for willing the world to change, or forcing fate. The rulers of Aklaa bore the title of Voice of Tilaa
Timbool
: Bayan’s farm hound. Later, Bayan’s second Earth Avatar, formed to resemble his dog in large scale
Tjaard Staasen
: the Academy’s Water Instructor, he holds the rank of Avatar Duelist
Trade Duelist
: a duelist of Avatar rank or higher who has served in duel dens for twenty years. They transition from using their magic in duels to using it in a trade of their choice, usually selected according to the duelist’s strongest element. Trade Duelists perform normally impossible tasks using their avatars, such as constructing a bridge across the previously uncrossable Mambajao River in Balanganam
Trainees
: unranked students at the Duelist Academy. They wear heavy iron bracelets and practice the six sacred motions, spell forms, and meditation daily for two seasons or so, before they’re ever allowed to cast magic
Treinfhir
: the clan name of the Tuathi anima caster who fought Bayan and his hexmates at the Battle of the Kheerzaal
Tuathi
: nomadic clans of horsemen who live in the hills west of the Maam Ardcath. Historically, they have clashed with the Waarden and their allies on numerous occasions, and once sacked Akkeraad, forcing the emperor to flee. The Dunfarroghan are their “domesticated” descendants. The Tuathi are known for their warlike ways, their disdain for the soft, settled lives of imperial farmers and merchants, and for the use of the unnatural and forbidden anima magic
Tuq
: god of the Raqtaaq. His worship is forbidden now that the Waarden Empire has made the Raqtaaq lands into mere provinces. The sacred soil in which devout followers of Tuq kneel and pray is severely restricted, but certain powerful individuals can still smuggle some from its location on the old Aklaa palace grounds
Tuur Langlaren
: Headmaster of the Duelist Academy and a Hexmagic Duelist
Twervel Sea
: a southern sea between Shawnash’kote and Raqtaaq provinces
Uunaq
: an indentured handmaid who was in service to, and colluding with, the mad princess Qivinga
Vagary
: a roadside bandit, from the old empire term “vagaries of travel”
Valio
: a province in the Corona, a precious jewel in the crown of
Yl Senyecho
Victory in Pallithea Day
: a summer holiday that celebrates the end of the War of Steel
Villagers
: specifically, the inhabitants of Peace Village. Also a general term used by duelists to refer to anyone who doesn’t possess magic
Void, the
: a state of emotionless detachment. Duelist trainees are taught to embrace the Void long before they’re allowed to cast spells, since emotional outbursts make elemental magic go wild
Voraan
: Head Duelist of the Katacha duel den
Waarden
: the ruling people of the Waarden Empire. Their blood type is dominant over all others. Sometimes nicknamed “wisp”
War of Secrets
: Tuathi term for what the Waarden call the First Tuathi War
War of Steel
: the shortest war in imperial history, between Karkhedon and the Teresseren Empire, due to the empire’s determination to wipe the forbidden metal from their lands, as well as all those who wielded it
Warmaster
: the rank held by selected powerful duelists, and the Academy Headmaster, in times of war. The headmaster is responsible for marshaling the students and teachers into battle hexes, though such desperate circumstances haven’t occurred since the Second Tuathi War
Waskukone’yen
: a citrus-scented flower export from Kemada
Wateyo tes’Eshkin
: one of the emperor’s Lord Ministers, and a wealthy, powerful nobleman in his own right, he controls the Ministry of Ways and employs Philo Sallas as his best surveyor. Married to Iyanu K’mokamo, father of Kiwani t’Eshkin
Wekshi
: the Academy’s Wind Instructor, she holds the rank of Avatar Duelist
Wisnuk Bay
: a bay in Kemada, surrounded by fertile land that is populated by wealthy families with long noble ancestries, like the Eshkin family
Yewakma
: a Kemada town where Odjin runs his potioneer business
Yl Senyecho
:
Coronàl
term for the ruler of the Corona
Zahira
:
Yl Senyecho
’s consort, a mysterious woman who was also the lover of Baltanarmo’s imperial father, and his before him. She does not seem to age