The Unholy Consult (Aspect-Emperor #4)

Akke?gni—he God of disease. Also known as the God of a Thousand Hands. Scholars have oft noted the irony that the Priesthood of Disease provides the primary repository of physicians for the Three Seas. How can one at once worship disease and war against it? According to the scriptures of the Cult, the Piranavas, Akke?gni is a so-called Bellicose God, one who favours those who strive against him over sycophants and worshippers.

Akksersia—A lost nation of the Ancient North. Though the White Norsirai of the north shore of the Cerish Sea lacked any sustained contact with the Nonmen, they gradually became the second great seat of Norsirai civilization. Akksersia was founded in 811 by Salawe?rn I, following the dissolution of the Cond Yoke. Though originally confined to the city of Myclai, her commercial and administrative capital, the nation gradually extended its hegemony, first along the length of the River Tywanrae, then across the plains of Gal and the entire north shore of the Cerish Sea. By the time of the First Great Sranc War in 1251, it was the largest of the ancient Norsirai nations, incorporating almost all the White Norsirai tribes save those of the Istyuli Plains. It fell to the No-God after three disastrous defeats in 2149. Akksersian colonists on the Cerish Sea’s heavily forested south shore would form the nucleus of what would become the Me?rn Empire.

Akksersian—The lost language of ancient Akksersia, and “purest” of the Nirsodic tongues.

Akkunihor—A Scylvendi tribe of the central Steppe. As the tribe closest to the Imperial frontier, the Akkunihor are the traditional brokers of Three Seas rumour and knowledge among the Scylvendi.

Algari (4041—4111)—A body-slave to Prince Nersei Proyas.

Alimir—“Divider” (Ihrims?). The legendary ensorcelled sword of the K?niüric High-Kings, famed for possessing the Edge Peerless, and when wielded with skill, capable of halving mammoths. Lost at the Battle Elene?t with Anas?rimbor Kelmomas in 2146.

Alkussi—A Scylvendi tribe of the central Steppe.

“All heaven cannot shine through a single crack …”—The famous line attributed to the poet Protathis suggesting that no man can be trusted with divine revelation.

Allosian Forum—The great judicial galleries located at the foot of the Andiamine Heights.

Allosium Mandala—Famed Nilnameshi prayer-tapestry prominently displayed in the Allosium Forum, famed for being the first to incorporate concentric design motifs.

Am-Amidai—A large Kianene fortress located in the heart of the Atsushan Highlands, raised in 4054.

amicut—A ration used by Scylvendi warriors on the trail, consisting of wild herbs and berries beaten into dried sections of beef.

Amiolas—Sorcerous, face-encasing helm allowing the wearer to understand Ihrims?, widely regarded as one of the most powerful Emilidic artifacts. Despite the miracles of sorcery, translation had (and has) remained stubbornly impervious to arcane facilitation. The genius of Emilidis was primarily metaphysical: he grasped the continuity of meaning and souls, how a sorcerous understanding of Ihrims? entailed a sorcerous unification of disparate souls. Inventing new forms of sorcery as he proceeded, Emilidis imbued his helm with the soul of Immiriccas Cinialrig, the infamous Malcontent, an Injori Ishroi condemned to die by Cu’jara Cinmoi, and given the choice by Nil’giccas between risking the Hells or dwelling forever as an amputated, interpreting soul.

The Amiolas surfaces in human histories at several junctures, including protracted periods where Kings and Grandmasters refused to wear what the Umeri called the Embalming-Skull, and the K?niüri, the Cauldron, fearing it to be a weapon (which it almost certainly became on occasion). According to Sohonc scholars, the Amiolas melted the contents of Immiriccas into the warmer waters of the wearer’s soul, creating a composite, a morass that would dry out for some, deepen for others. Ihrims? would come effortlessly, only twisted in every respect about the hard fibre of the Malcontent, the architecture of his ancient old soul. Though no records exist of wearers admitting to what had to be a profound transformation of identity, Mandate scholars report that Seswatha forever regretted demanding it from Nil’giccas, even though the information it provided allowed him and Nau-Kay?ti to steal the Heron Spear, and so save the World.

Ammegnotis—A city on the south bank of the River Sempis, raised during the Kyranean New Dynasty.

Amortanea—The merchant carrack that bore Achamian and Xinemus to Joktha.

Amoteu—A governorate of Kian, located on the southern edge of the Meneanor Sea. Like all the nations in the shadow of the Betmulla Mountains, Amoteu, or Holy Amoteu as it is sometimes called, grew in the influential shadow of Old Dynasty Shigek. According to extant inscriptions, the Shigeki referred to both Xerash and Amoteu as Hut-Jartha, the “Land of the Jarti,” or as Huti-Parota, the “Middle-Lands.” The Jarti were the dominant Ketyai tribe of the region, to which the Amoti and several others were tributaries before the Shigeki conquest. But with the extensive cultivation of the Shairizor Plains, and the slow rise of Shimeh and Kyudea along the River Jeshimal, the balance of power slowly shifted. For centuries the Middle-Lands found themselves the battleground between Shigek and her southern competitors, Eumarna across the Betmulla Mountains and ancient or Vapartic Nilnamesh. In 1322, Anzumarapata II, the Nilnameshi King of Invishi, crushed the Shigeki and, in an effort to secure his conquests, transplanted hundreds of thousands of indigent Nilnameshi on the Plains of Heshor, an act that would long outlive his brief empire (the Shigeki reconquered the Middle-Lands in 1349). With the collapse of Shigeki regional dominance in 1591, the Jarti attempted to reassert their ancestral control—with disastrous consequences. The resulting war gave rise to a brief Amoti Empire, which reached the length of the Betmulla to the frontier of the Carathay Desert. All the Middle-Lands would fall under the power of Kyraneas in 1703.

With the dissolution of Kyraneas, c. 2158, Amoteu enjoyed its second—and last—period of independence, though now the Xerashi, the descendants of Anzumarapata’s settlers, had become its primary competitors. This second “golden age” would witness Inri Sejenus, and the slow growth of the faith that would eventually come to dominate the Three Seas. After a brief period of Xerashi occupation, Amoteu would suffer a long succession of foreign overlords, each leaving its own stamp: first the Ceneians, who conquered the Middle-Lands in 2414, then the Nansur in 3574, and finally the Kianene in 3845. Despite the peace and prosperity enjoyed by other conquered provinces, the early years of Ceneian rule would prove particularly bloody for Amoteu. In 2458, while Triamis the Great was still in his infancy, Inrithi fanatics led the province in a vicious rebellion against Cenei. As punishment, Emperor Siaxas II butchered the inhabitants of Kyudea and razed the city to the ground.

Amoti—The language of Amoteu, a derivative of Mamati.

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