The Unholy Consult (Aspect-Emperor #4)

Age of Warring Cities—The era following the dissolution of Kyraneas (c. 2158) until the rise of Cenei as a dominant power in 2349, characterized by perpetual warfare between the cities of the Kyranae Plain.

Aghurzoi—“Cut Tongue” (Ihrims?). The language of the Sranc. It was long disputed among the C?nuroi whether the Sranc could be said to possess any language at all given their lack of souls. Among those who had long, hard experience of the Sranc, their possession of language was a murderous fact. But Quya sages such as the venerated Yi’yariccas asked how Sranc words could mean given their lack of experience altogether. What could a language without meaning possibly be? The answer that eventually became dogma was that the Sranc tongue was a form of “Dark Speech,” speaking without consciousness of speaking, exchanging “Dark Meaning,” which, although nowhere allowing reflection, or choice of words, served the bestial requirements of the Sranc quite fine. Damial’isharin—a Siolan Ishroi who found himself trapped for five days (hidden in a dead fall) in the heart of an itinerant clan camp—famously claimed the Sranc possessed social customs and regimes very nearly as complicated as their own. Based on his account, several scholars (such as the famously heretical Lurijara) went so far as to argue that all language was dark, and that meaning was the province of the sorcerer and the Gods alone. Few lent credence to such extreme views, however.

Agmundr—A province of northeastern Galeoth, located beneath the Osthwai Mountains, south of Bayal.

Agnotum Market—The main bazaar of Iothiah, dating back to the days of Cenei.

agoglian bulls—Ancient Kyranean symbols of virility and fortune. The most famous examples are found in the Hagerna opposite the Vault-of-the-Tusk.

Agongorea—“Fields of Woe” (K?niüric). The famed “Field Appalling” in the days of the Ancient North. The blasted lands to the west of the River Sursa and north of the Neleost Sea. Given extant Nonman accounts of Arkfall, most Three Seas scholars believe (as, indeed, their Far Antique counterparts believed) that Agongorea was an unnatural consequence of the debris thrown up by the impact of the Inc?-Holoinas.

Agonic Collar—A sorcerous artifact of the Ancient North, reputedly crafted by the Mihtr?lic Gnostic School. According to Mandate scholars, the purpose of the Agonic Collar was analogous to that of the Uroborian Circle utilized by the Anagogic Schools of the Three Seas, namely, to inflict excruciating pain on the wearer should he attempt to utter any sorcerous incantation.

Agonies—The name for the Gnostic Cants of Torment, a reputed specialty of the Mangaecca.

Ainoni—The language of High Ainon, derived from Ham-Kheremic.

Ajencis (c. 1896—2000)—The father of syllogistic logic and algebra, held by many to be the greatest of all philosophers. Born in the Kyranean capital of Mehtsonc, he is reputed to have never once left his city, even during the horrific plagues of 1991, when his advanced age made his death a near certainty. (According to various sources, Ajencis bathed on a daily basis and refused to drink water drawn from city wells, claiming that these practices, combined with a distaste for drunkenness and a moderate diet, were the keys to his health.) Many commentators, both antique and contemporary, complain that there are as many Ajencises as there are readers of Ajencis. Though this is certainly true of his more speculative works (such as Theophysics or The First Analytic of Men), his work does possess a discernible and consistent skeptical core, primarily exemplified in The Third Analytic of Men, which also happens to be his most cynical work. For Ajencis, Men by and large “make their weaknesses, not reason or the world, the primary measure of what they hold true.” In fact, he observed that most individuals possess no criteria whatsoever for their beliefs. As a so-called critical philosopher, one might have supposed he would eventually share the fate of other critical philosophers, such as Porsa (the famed “Philosopher-Whore” of Trys?) or Kumhurat. Only his reputation and the structure of Kyranean society saved him from the vicissitudes of the mob. As a child, he was allegedly such a prodigy that the High King himself took notice of him, granting him what was called “Protection” at the unprecedented age of eight. Protection was an ancient and hallowed Kyranean institution; the Protected were those who could say anything without fear of reprisal, even to the High King. Ajencis continued speaking until he suffered a stroke and died at the venerable age of 103.

Ajokli—The God of thievery and deception. Also known as the Four-Horned Brother. Though listed among the primary Gods in The Chronicle of the Tusk, there is no true Cult of Ajokli, but rather an informal network of devotees scattered across the great cities of the Three Seas. The lack of any organizing institutions has transformed the Cult into the skulking, criminal embodiment of its skulking, criminal Master. The high priests of the Cult, insofar as it possesses any, are its Narindar, the most deadly of the most deadly assassins.

Ajokli is oft mentioned in the secondary scriptures of the different Cults, sometimes as a mischievous companion of the Gods, other times as a cruel or malicious competitor. In the Mar’eddat, he is the faithless husband of Gierra. In the Book of Gods he is nothing less than the dread enemy of mankind, the one God too hungry to remain in the Outside. In the Book of Hintarates he is the same, but depleted for his endless grasping, and so reduced to craft and insinuation. The fractured image presented in the scriptures is expressed in the sheer number of names used to reference him or his work: the Trickster, the Thief, the Four-Horned Brother, the Bald-faced, the Grinning God, Immortal Malice, the Prince of Hate, the Rake, among others.

Ajowai—A mountain fastness in the north Hinayati Mountains that serves as the administrative capital of Girgash.

akal—The defunct base monetary unit of Kian.

Akeokinoi—The fortress watchtowers the Nonmen raised upon certain peaks of the Occlusion during the Second Watch.

Akirapita, Shodd? (4099—4123)—Eldest son of Shodd? Rapita III, King of Nilnamesh, and perhaps the most brilliant and resourceful Orthodox general of the Unification Wars.

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