The Unholy Consult (Aspect-Emperor #4)

Carythusal—Also known as “the City of Flies.” The most populous city in the Three Seas, and the administrative and commercial capital of High Ainon.

Casidas (3081—3142)—A famed philosopher and historian of Near Antiquity, best known for his magisterial The Annals of Cenei, and famed for his youthful tenure as a galley slave.

caste-apparati—A term for hereditary officials in Three Seas bureaucracies.

caste-menial—A term for the suthenti, or the hereditary labourer caste.

caste-noble—A term for the kjineta, or the hereditary warrior caste.

caste-priest—A term for the nahat, or the hereditary priest caste.

castes—Inherited social statuses. Though weaker in the so-called Middle-North, the Inrithi caste system is one of the central institutions of Three Seas society. In a technical sense, there are almost as many castes as there are occupations, but in practice they fall into roughly four different groups: the suthenti or labouring castes, the momurai or transactional castes, the nahat or priestly castes, and the kjineta or warrior castes. Elaborate protocols supposedly govern all interactions within and between castes to ensure the observances of various privileges and obligations, as well as to minimize ritual pollution, but in practical terms they are rarely adhered to unless in the pursuit of advantage.

caünnu—The Scylvendi name for the hot southwestern winds that cross the Jiünati Steppe during the height of summer.

Celestial Aphorisms—One of Memgowa’s most celebrated texts.

Celmomas II, Anas?rimbor (2089—2146)—The implacable foe of Golgotterath in the early days of the Apocalypse, and last of the K?niüric High Kings. See Apocalypse.

Celmomian Prophecy—The dying words of Anas?rimbor Celmomas II to Seswatha on the Fields of Elene?t in 2146 to the effect that an Anas?rimbor would return at “the end of the world.” Given that the prevention of the so-called Second Apocalypse is the Mandate’s entire reason for existence, it is perhaps no surprise that most Mandate scholars think the Celmomian Prophecy authentic. Few others in the Three Seas credit their claims, however.

Cememketri (4046— )—The Grandmaster of the Imperial Saik.

Cenei—A city of the Kyranae Plain that arose from the Age of Warring Cities to conquer the entire Three Seas. Cenei was destroyed by the Scylvendi under Hori?tha in 3351.

Ceneian Empire—The greatest Ketyai empire in history, embracing the entirety of the Three Seas at its greatest extent, from the Atkondras Mountains in the southwest, to Lake Hu?si in the north, to the Kayarsus Mountains in the southeast. The primary agent in the creation and maintenance of this empire was the Ceneian Imperial Army, which was perhaps the best trained and organized in history.

No more than a minor river trading town in the days of Kyraneas, Cenei emerged from the Age of Warring Cities as the pre-eminent city of the Kyranae Plain. The conquest of Gielgath in 2349 sealed the city’s regional dominance, and in the ensuing decades the Ceneians under Xercallas II would secure the remnants of what had once been Kyraneas. Xercallas’s successors continued his aggressive, expansionist policies, first pacifying the Norsirai tribes of Cepalor, then waging three consecutive wars against Shigek, which fell in 2397. Then, in 2414, after conquering Enathpaneah, Xerash, and Amoteu, General Naxentas staged a successful coup and declared himself Emperor of Cenei. Though he would be assassinated the following year, all his successors would avail themselves of the Imperial institutions he created.

Triamis I became Emperor in 2478, beginning what most scholars consider the Ceneian Golden Age. In 2483 he conquered Nilnamesh, and then Cingulat the following year. In 2485 he defeated a great Zeümi host at Amarah, and would have invaded the Satyothi nation had not mutinies among his homesick troops prevented him. He spent the next decade consolidating his gains, and striving against the internecine religious violence between followers of the traditional Kiünnat sects and the growing numbers of “Inrithi.” It was in the course of negotiating settlements that he became friends with the then Shriah of the Thousand Temples, Ekyannus III, and in 2505 he himself converted to Inrithism, declaring it the official state religion of the Ceneian Empire. He spent the next ten years putting down religious rebellions, while at the same time invading and occupying both Cironj (2508) and Nron (2511). He then spent ten years campaigning across the eastern Three Seas against the successor nations of the old Shiradi Empire, first conquering Ainon (2518), then Cengemis (2519), and finally Annand (2525).

Ensuing Aspect-Emperors would marginally add to the extent of the empire, but its boundaries remained fairly stable for nearly eight hundred years, during which time the language and institutions of Imperial Cenei and the Thousand Temples would be stitched into the very fabric of Three Seas society. Aside from periodic wars with Zeüm, and the interminable wars against the Scylvendi and Norsirai tribes across the empire’s northern frontier, this would be an age of unprecedented peace, prosperity, and commerce. Only the periodic civil wars, usually fought over succession, posed any real threat to the empire, and in writings from the time the assumption is that the empire was eternal.

Though Cenei itself was destroyed by the Scylvendi under Hori?tha in 3351, historians traditionally date the collapse of the Ceneian Empire in 3372, when General Maurelta surrendered to Sarothesser I in Ainon.

Cengemic—The language of Cengemis, a derivative of Sheyo-Kheremic.

Cengemis—The province that once marked the northern limit of the Eastern Ceneian Empire. After the collapse of the Eastern Empire in 3372, it enjoyed independence until overrun by Tydonni tribes in 3742.

Cepalor—A region of temperate, semi-forested plains extending east of the Hethantas from the Nansur frontier to the southwestern marches of Galeoth. Since the fall of Kyraneas, Cepalor has been inhabited by Norsirai pastoralists known as the Cepalorae, who have long been tributaries of the Nansurium.

Cepaloran—The language group of Norsirai pastoralists of the Cepaloran Plains.

Cerish Sea—The largest of E?rwa’s inland seas.

Cerjulla, Sheorog (4069—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, Tydonni Earl of Warnute, claimed by disease at Caraskand.

Cern Auglai—Fortress and pirate entrepot located on the coast of Thunyerus.

R. Scott Bakker's books