The Silver Mage - Katharine Kerr [229]
Etheric Double The true being of a person for a single lifetime, the electromagnetic structure that holds the body together and that is the actual seat of consciousness.
Falcata (Latin) A curved and weighted saber derived from the earlier falx, an ancient weapon, carried in our world by Hispanic tribes of the second and third centuries BC, independently reinvented by Gel da’Thae swordsmiths.
Gerthddyn (Dev.) Literally, a “music man,” a wandering minstrel and entertainer of much lower status than a true bard.
Gwerbret (Dev. The name derives from the Gaulish vergobretes.) The highest rank of nobility below the royal family itself. Gwer brets (Dev. gwerbretion) function as the chief magistrates of their regions, and even kings hesitate to override their decisions because of their many ancient prerogatives.
Lwdd (Dev.) A blood-price; differs from wergild in that the amount of lwdd is negotiable in some circumstances, rather than being irrevocably set by law.
Malover (Dev.) A full, formal court of law with both a priest of Bel and either a gwerbret or a tieryn in attendance.
Mach-fala (Horsekin) A mother-clan, the basic extended family of Gel da’Thae culture.
Mazrak (Horsekin) A shape-changer.
Rakzan (Horsekin) The highest ranking military officer among the Gel da’Thae regiments, a position that bestows high honor on the mach-fala of the man holding it.
Rhan (Dev.) A political unit of land; thus, gwerbretrhyn, tieryn rhyn, the area under the control of a given gwerbret or tieryn. The size of the various rhans (Dev. rhannau) varies widely, depending on the vagaries of inheritance and the fortunes of war rather than some legal definition.
Scrying The art of seeing distant people and places by magic.
Sigil An abstract magical figure, usually representing either a particular spirit or a particular kind of energy or power. These figures, which look a lot like geometrical scribbles, are derived by various rules from secret magical diagrams.
Tieryn (Dev., from Gaulish tigerinos) An intermediate rank of the noble-born, below a gwerbret but above an ordinary lord (Dev. arcloedd.)
Wyrd (trans. of Dev. tingedd.) Fate, destiny; the inescapable problems carried over from a sentient being’s last incarnation.
Wyrd, Portion of, also known as the Pars Fortunae or Caput Dra conis, in the Greggyn system, an astrological term for the position of the Earth within a horoscope; in the Elvish system it represents Aethyr. Deverrian astrologers have conflated the two meanings over the years.
A NOT ON DATING
Year One of the Deverry calander is the founding of the Holy City, or, to be more accurate, the year that King Bran saw the omen of the white sow that instructed him where to build his capital. It corresponds roughly to 76 CE.
TABLE OF INCARNATIONS
TABLE OF INCARNATIONS