The Unholy Consult (Aspect-Emperor #4)

Munu?ti—A powerful Scylvendi tribe from the interior of the Jiünati Steppe.

Murathaur—Wracu of Far Antiquity, called Ilnimili, or “the Silver,” for his crest, a feature that was likely responsible for his other common cognomen, “the Dragon of Knives.” Famously slain by Cilc?liccas, who thenceforth was known as the Lord of Swans.

Muretetis (2789—2864)—An ancient Ceneian scholar-slave famed for his Axioms and Theorems, the founding text of Three Seas geometry.

M?rminil Halls—The great subterranean plaza of Cil-Aujas.

Mursiris—“Wicked North” (Ham-Kheremic). The ancient Shiradi name for the No-God, so named because his presence was for so long sensed only as an intimation of doom on the northern horizon.

Mursidides, Eselos (4081–4132)—Ordealman, Believer-King of Cironj, leader of the Cironji contingent in the Great Ordeal of Anas?rimbor Kellhus, called “the Cunning” for his near bloodless conquest of Cironj during the Unification Wars, and killed in the Battle of Irs?lor in 4132.

Muraw—“Gate of the Word” (?meri). The bastion protecting the main entrance to the Library of Sauglish.

Murussar—“Gate of the Cage” (?meri). The ceremonial bastion marking the entrance to the “Cage,” or Issarau, the outland quarter of Sauglish.

Musyerius, Keles (4072–)—Ordealman and Mysunsai sorcerer-of-rank.

Myclai—The ancient administrative and commercial capital of Akksersia, destroyed in 2149 during the Apocalypse.

Mygella, Anas?rimbor (2065–2111)—The famed HeroKing of A?rsi, whose deeds are recounted in The Sagas.

Mysunsai—“The Bond of Three” (Vaparsi). The self-proclaimed “mercenary School,” which sells its sorcerous services across the Three Seas. Perhaps the largest of the Anagogic Schools, though far from the most powerful, the Mysunsai are a commercial result of the 3804 defensive amalgamation of three minor Schools during the Scholastic Wars: the Mikka Council from Cironji, the Oaranat from Nilnamesh, and the (Cengemic) Nilitar Compact from Ce Tydonn. Under the terms of the infamous Psailian Concession during the Scholastic Wars, the Mysunsai assisted the Inrithi in their Ainoni campaigns, an act for which the School was never forgiven, though it did much to confirm the School’s exclusive commercial interests to its customers.

N

Nabathra—A mid-sized town in the province of Anserca, whose markets control the regional distribution of wool, the province’s primary commodity.

Nagogris—A large New Dynasty city on the upper River Sempis, famed for her red sandstone fortifications.

nahat—See castes.

Nail of Heaven—The northern star that, aside from being the brightest in the night sky (it is sometimes visible in daylight), provides the axis from which all other stars revolve. The Nail is universally extolled by Men as a “guiding light,” a means of navigation and calendrical time keeping, the Nonman, who call it Imburil (or “Newborn” in Aujic), view it as a sinister harbinger of doom, as the star that occasioned the Arkfall.

Na?n (4071–4111)—Man-of-the-Tusk, sorcerer of rank in the Scarlet Spires, slain by Chorae at Anwurat.

Nangael—A fiefdom of Ce Tydonn, located along the Swa Marches. Nangael warriors can be readily identified by their tattooed cheeks.

Nanor-Ukkerja I (1378–1556)—“Hammer of Heaven” (K?niüric from Umeritic nanar hukisha) The first Anas?rimbor High King, whose defeat of the Scintya in 1408 would lead to the founding of K?niüri and begin what most scholars regard as the longest-reigning dynasty in recorded history.

Nansur—See Nansur Empire.

Nansur Empire—A nation of the Three Seas and self-proclaimed inheritor to the Ceneian Empire. At the height of its power the Nansur Empire extended from Galeoth to Nilnamesh, but it has been much reduced by centuries of warfare against the Fanim Kianene.

Though the Nansur Empire has witnessed its fair share of usurpers, palace revolts, and short-lived military dictatorships, it has enjoyed a remarkable degree of dynastic stability. It was under the Trimus Emperors (3411–3508) that the “Nansur” (the traditional name for the district surrounding Momemn) emerged from the chaos following Cenei’s destruction to unify the Kyranae plains. But true Imperial expansion did not occur until the Zerxei Dynasty (3511–3619), which, under the rule of successive and short-lived Emperors, managed to conquer Shigek (3539), Enathpaneah (3569), and the Sacred Lands (3574).

Under the Surmante Emperors (3619–3941), the Nansurium enjoyed its greatest period of growth and military ascendancy, culminating in the rule of Surmante Xatantius I (3644–93), who subdued the Cepaloran tribes as far north as the Vindauga River, and who even managed to capture the ancient Nilnameshi capital of Invishi, thus very nearly restoring all the so-called Western Empire that had once belonged to Cenei. But his practice of debasing the talent in order to finance his endless wars fairly wrecked the empire’s economy. By the time Fan’oukarji I embarked on his White Jihad in 3743, the empire still had not recovered from Xatantius’s excesses. His Surmante descendants found themselves embroiled in never-ending wars they could ill afford, let alone win. Scarce resources and an intransigent commitment to the Ceneian model of warfare, which seemed incapable of coping with Kianene tactics, conspired to render the empire’s decline an inevitability.

The dynasty of the most recent claimants to the Imperial Mantle, the Ikurei, arose as the result of a coup brought about by the turmoil following the loss of Shigek to the Kianene in 3933 (in the so-called Dagger Jihad of Fan’oukarji III). A former Exalt-General, Ikurei Sorius I reorganized both the Imperial Army and the empire, changes that allowed him and his descendants to defeat no fewer than three full-scale Fanim invasions.

Though the First Holy War ended the threat of Fanimry once and for all, it also led to the demise of the Nansur Empire—or at least its relegation to something possessing diminished significance. Momemn remained an Imperial Capital, but one serving the interests of a far different Empire.

nansuri—Name of the short, thrusting swords used by Ordealmen for close-quarter melee, so-called for its resemblance to the Columnary shortsword upon which it was based.

Nansurium—See Nansur Empire.

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