Marakiz—The tallest of the Scarlet Spires.
Mark, the—The name for what is otherwise known as the “bruising of the onta.” Aside from the Ps?khe, which may or may not be a true sorcery, all sorcerous manifestations and practitioners exhibit what is called the Mark. Various descriptions of the Mark have come down through history, but there seems to be little consistency in the accounts, apart from the experience’s ephemeral nature. According to religious accounts, the Mark is akin to the disfiguring of criminals, the way the God reveals the blasphemers in the presence of the righteous. But apologists such as Zarathinius point out that if this is indeed the case, then it is more than a little ironic that only the blasphemers can see the Mark. In secular accounts, textual analogies are typically resorted to: seeing the Mark is akin to seeing where text has been scratched away and overwritten in ancient documents. In the case of sorcery, since the amendments to reality are as flawed as the Men who do the amending, it stands to reason that some essential difference would be visible.
Marsadda—The former capital of Cengemis, located on the coast of Ce Tydonn.
Marsalees, Urdr?s? (4094— )—Ordealman, Palatine of K?tapileth.
Martemus (4061—4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, Nansur General, and aide to Ikurei Conphas.
Martial Prohibitions—Collection of edicts determining the conduct of Ordealmen when engaged in pitched battle.
Massar ab Kascamandri (4089—4132)—Ordealman, Believer-King of Kian, leader of the Kianene contingent in the Great Ordeal of Anas?rimbor Kellhus, the younger brother of Fanayal ab Kascamandri. He was often called the “Kneeler,” both in praise (by the Zaudunyani) and in condemnation (by the Fanim). Famed for severing his own ear to demonstrate his devotion to Anas?rimbor Kellhus, he would be killed by Sranc at the Battle of Irs?lor in the autumn of 4132.
Massentia—A province of the central Nansurium, called “the Golden” because of the bounty of her wheat fields. Given the profound cultural impact of the Ceneian Empire, the name has long been a byword for bucolic prosperity across the Three Seas.
Maumurine Gate—An immense gate located at the southernmost point of Momemn’s walls.
Mbimayu—The Major sorcerous School of Zeum based in High Domyot, functioning under the auspices of the Satakhan, much as the Imperial Saik once served the Emperors of Nansur.
Mbotetulu (c. 1340—1426)—Ojogi-Dynasty Satakhan credited with the first true unification of Zeum.
Me?rji (4074— )—Man-of-the-Tusk, Galeoth thane, client to Prince Coithus Saubon.
Medial Screw—Great stair that plumbs the entirety of Cil-Aujas.
Medicine-wig—Traditional headdress worn by members of Zeumi royal bloodlines, denoting their status as “Healers of the Many.”
Meerskatu, Sholis (4092— )—Ordealmen and Exalt-Captain of the Pillarians.
Mehtsonc—The ancient administrative and commercial capital of Kyraneas, destroyed in the Apocalypse in 2154.
Meigeiri—The administrative and spiritual capital of Ce Tydonn, founded in 3739 about the Ceneian fortress of Meigara.
Meigon (4002— )—A member of the D?nyain Pragma.
Mekeritrig (?— )—“Traitor of Men” (K?niüric). The mannish name for Cet’ingira, the Nonman Siqu who revealed the location of Min-Uroikas to the School of Mangaecca in 777, and who would become a ranking member of the Consult during the Apocalypse. See Mangaecca and Apocalypse.
Memgowa (2466—2506)—The famed near antique Zeümi sage and philosopher, primarily known in the Three Seas for his Celestial Aphorisms and The Book of Divine Acts.
Memkuri, Apsa (4080-4112)—Man-of-the-Tusk, Ainoni client of Lord Uranyanka rumoured to have been murdered by the Scarlet Spires.
memorialists—Those members of a Scylvendi tribe, typically the old and infirm, entrusted with the memorization and recitation of the Scylvendi oral tradition.
memponti—A Sheyic term meaning “fortuitous turn.” In jnan, the most auspicious moment to make one’s purposes clear.
Men—With the possible exception of the Sranc, the dominant race of E?rwa.
Meneanor, Sea of—The northernmost of the Three Seas.
Mengedda—A ruined city in the heart of the Mengedda Plains, famed as the battleground where Anaxophus V struck down the No-God with the Heron Spear in 2155.
Mengedda Plains—The natural geographical frontier between Shigek and Nansur, just south of the Unaras Spur and north of the Gedea Highlands. As the site of innumerable battles, the fields are widely reputed to be haunted.
Men of the Tusk—The warriors of the First Holy War.
Me?ri Empire—A lost nation of the Ancient North. Founded as a trading stronghold by Akksersian colonists c. 850, the city of Kelme?l grew rapidly, and its people, the Me?ri, progressively asserted more and more authority over the neighbouring White Norsirai tribes. By the time Borswelka I was declared King in 1021, it had become an aggressive, militaristic city-state. By the time his grandson Borswelka II died in 1104, it had conquered most of the Vosa River Basin and had established trading contacts with Shir to the south through a series of forts along the River Wernma. Strategically situated, and without any regional competitors, the Me?ri Empire, as it came to be called, flourished as a mercantile nation. It collapsed with the destruction of Kelme?l in 2150 during the Apocalypse.
Mepmerat (4084— )—Imperial Mathematician belonging to the court of Anas?rimbor Kellhus I.
Mere—Sacred lake that forms the floor of the Holy Deep at the very foundation of Ishterebinth, once renowned for its purity, now choked with putrefaction.
Metagnosis—Complication of the Gnosis discovered and elaborated by Anas?rimbor Kellhus over the course of his tenure as Aspect-Emperor. A great deal of speculation regarding the metaphysics and the capacities of the Metagnosis have arisen since Our Lord and Prophet first used it to strike down the Cishaurim at Shimeh. Aside from descriptions of its exercise, the sum of our knowledge of the discipline turns upon a single passage in the Novum Arcanum:
All sorcery proceeds on the basis of two inner voices, because the soul, as subject, remains inside its meaning, and so blind to that meaning. Only by speaking to our speech do we create something absolute, an overlap of contingencies. This becomes the godlike spark, the manifestation of human will upon obdurate matter. But as a mole can only see tunnels, so are sorcerers cursed to remain blind to the Metagnosis, for it exceeds their craft as I exceed them. To speak a third is to distill the all-solving binary, to seize the voices of the two, and so fix, not only the meaning, but the relation between those meanings, to render Absolute our fleeting acquaintance with the Absolute, and to work miracles.