Guardians of the Desert (Children of the Desert) (48 page)

Ka
(
kah
): Honored (generic term).

Ka-s’a
(
kah
-ss-^
ah
): Honored lady (generic term).

Ka-s’eias
(
kah
-ss-^
ey
-as): Honored (mixed gender) group (generic term).

Kaen
(
kay
-en): Honored leader/supreme authority.

Kaenic
(
kay
-nick): Southern term for the most common Northern Kingdom dialect.

Kaenoz
(
kay
-nohz): Rough translation:
kingdom
.

Kahar
(
kay
-har) Pyramid-shaped chabi game piece representing wind. These pieces move in straight lines.

Kath
(
kath
): Rough translation:
servant
. Used with a variety of modifiers to indicate occupation and status;
s’a-dinne kath
indicates a kitchen or dining hall servant;
s’a kathalle
indicates a cleaning servant. When used in conjunction with
kath
, the female gender indicator (
s’a
) does not imply a female servant, but rather the concept of serving. The term
katha village
, while in common usage, is grammatically incorrect: it should properly be
va-kathe
, “village of intimate services”.

Kathain
(kath-
ayn
): Personal servants to a desert lord; generally offered to visiting desert lords as a courtesy, and considered an essential part of a new desert lord’s staff for at least the first two years. Duties range from amusing their lord with playful games to more intimate services. This peculiar word is the same in both singular and plural forms, (i.e.:
Tanavin was a kathain
;
The four kathain left the room; The kathain’s room was small
.)

Katihe
(kat-
tea
): Rough translation:
honorable intimacy
; obscure term rarely used in modern times.

Ke
(
keh
): Prefix or suffix indicating masculine/male aspects.

Ketarch
(
kee
-tarsch): Organized groups of healers in the south who focus on preserving old healing lore and researching new ways of healing.

Loremaster
: Combination historian, genealogist, and researcher; as a group, one of the major political forces behind the scenes in the southlands. Every Family has (or is supposed to have) a group of loremasters resident.

Mahadrae
(mah-
hahd
-ray): Rough translation:
chosen mother of the free people
. Proper title for the female Head of Aerthraim Family. A male leader would be
mahadran
; but that version has not been used for quite some time.

Micru
(mick-
rue
): Rough translation:
small death
; a small, black and tan striped viper found in rocky desert areas, whose poison is instantly fatal to large animals. Also the call-name of a member of the Hidden Cadre.

Nu-s’e
(
noo
-ss-^
eh
): Honored man of the south (female is
nu-s’a
); generic honorific in the absence of specific indicators.

Numaina
(noo-
main
-ah); plural
numainiae
(noo-main-
ay
): Proper title for a Scratha Family ruler.

Payti
(
pay
-tee): One of the Four Gods of the Northern Church pantheon; represents Fire. Payti’s “kind” incarnation is usually pictured as a short, plump man, with ruddy cheeks and a contagious cheeriness. In Payti’s “dark” incarnation, the form is that of a tall, beautiful woman with a seductive gaze that bewitches all men who gaze upon her to their destruction. Payti’s strength is that of the sun and the flame.

Protector
: Not all fortresses are protected by full ha’reye any longer; some are occupied by first or second generation ha’ra’hain. Those aware of the distinction tend to use the term ‘protector’ to refer to those ha’ra’hain bound to serve a particular Fortress.

Qisani
(key-
sahn
-nee): A rocky cavern complex in the southern desert, which was given, under a Conclave decision, to the Callen of Ishrai many years ago as a haven of their own. All the desert Families contribute to supporting the Qisani. The followers of Datda and Comos also have central havens, but they are more secretive about the locations. Blood trials conducted at any of the havens are considered the hardest of all possible.

Ravann
(rah-
van
; alt., rah-
vahn
): Similar to lavender in appearance and scent, but tends towards a darker leaf color, white flowers, and a slightly more acrid odor; only found south of Water’s End, largely around the Aerthraim Fortress lands. Adapted for desert living, very hardy, but does not transplant well.

Reeven
(
ree
-vehn): A ghost that seeks to possess living humans whenever possible; most dangerous during the dark of the moon, and generally driven away by (regional variances in the tale) the scent of lavender, rosemary, or pine. Usually strong-willed people, especially women, are seen as potential reeven after their death; the theory being that such people are be more likely to fight off the final journey into the afterlife, so as not to lose their earthly power.

S’a / S’e / S’ieas / S’ii:
Respectful address designators, analogous to
sir
and madam; specific to gender, and frequently parts of complex and highly specific expressions of relationship between the speaker and the person being addressed.

S’a
(ss-^
ah
): feminine

S’e
(ss-^
eh
): masculine

S’ieas
(ss-^eh-ahs): a group of mixed gender

S’ii
(ss-^
ee
): neuter; generally used to address a eunuch.

S’e-kath
(ss^
eh
kah
th): Personal servant to the lord of a fortress; the best are highly trained in scholarship, politics, and combat. Extremely well respected and dangerous.

S’iope
(s-^
igh
-o-pay): Lit. translation:
beloved of the gods
; implications of being neuter, all energy devoted to the gods. Term used to refer to the priests of the Northern Church. Disrespectful nickname:
soapy
.

Saishe-pais
(
say
-shh-
paws
; alt.
say
-she-
pays
): An expression of heartfelt gratitude, indicating that the one so addressed has shown great honor in his/her actions.

Sanahair
(sahn-ah-
hair
): Lit. translation:
shit boy
. The word ties into an obscure southern joke about kicking the person ranked just below you until there’s only the chamberpot contents left to kick.

Shabaca
(shah-
bah
-kah): A large dried gourd or cactus filled with pebbles or dried beans to make a rattle; common musical instrument in the southlands.

Shall
(
shawl
): A temporary, portable desert shelter.

Shassen
(
shass
-sen): Chabi game piece representing goods. Cubic in shape, the shassen moves one to three spaces in a straight line; it may never move diagonally or jump another piece, with the singular exception of unlocking the furun.

Sheth-hinn
(shethh-
hnn
): Assassin.

Split, The
: A time of great chaos and dissension, during which humanity and the ha’reye renegotiated the Agreement and much knowledge was lost.

Stibik
(
stih
-bic): A substance developed by the ketarches that temporarily weakens ha’ra’hain and ha’reye. Usually found in the form of a white powder, but sometimes as a concentrated, corrosive oil. It is illegal to bring stibik onto the land of an active ha’rethe; an even greater offense to use against a ha’ra’ha. Stibik was banned and ordered completely destroyed years ago; the ketarches, ever independent-minded, disobeyed the order.

Su-s’a
(sue-ss-^
ah
): Northern lady.

Syrta
(
seer
-tah): One of the Four Gods of the Northern Church pantheon; represents Earth. In his “good” incarnation, he is described as a leafy tree in spring or summer; when provoked to evil, he takes the form of a twisted, winter-stripped tree. He is credited with creating mankind and placing them in dominion over all beasts and growing things.

Ta
(
tah
): Prefix implying masculine aspects; usually involved in insults (see
ta’karne
).

Ta-karne
(tah-
carn
-ay): Insult. Rough translation:
asshole
.

Ta-neka
(tah-
neek
-ah): Insult; female version of
ta-karne
.

Tas-shadata
(
tahz
-shah-
dah
-ta): Rough translation:
fool, coward, idiot
.

Taska
(
task
-ah; alt.
tah
-skah): Courier and guide.

Tath-shinn
: Rough translation:
ghost of a female madwoman/assassin/murderer
; implies that a woman who would kill is insane, overly male, and impossible to handle even after death. Probably originated in the lower southwestern coastline region, among the Shakain. In the upper northlands, a similar creature is called a
shia-banse
: the ghost of a woman who died while under the influence of evil.

Te
(
teh
): Prefix indicating formality and honor; no gender.

Teth-kavit
(tehth-
kah
-vitt): Lit. translation:
Gods hold you, and blessings to your strength.

Teuthin
(
too
-thin): Rough translation:
meeting place
. Any agreed-upon neutral ground where all are seen as equal and violence is forbidden. Generally implies the presence of nobles of some rank.

Teyanin
(
tay
-ah-nin); plural:
teyanain
(tay-ah-
nayn
): A very old, small tribe which retreated to the mountains of the Horn after the Split. Originally the judges and law determiners of the desert, they’re now considered the guardians of the Horn.

Tharr
(
thahrr
): Rough translation:
the invisible ones
. A derogatory term used by the ha’reye and ha’ra’hain to indicate those humans who do not directly “serve” them (in essence, everyone but desert lords).

Thass
(
tass
; alt.
thass
): A person with great status, beyond even noble rank.

That in it
: Street-slang for
involved
; politically, not personally.

Thio
(
thee
-oh): Status.

Thopuh
(
thoh
-poo): Lit. translation:
blood of victory
. Also the name of a style of tea production currently monopolized by F’Heing. Thopuh tea grows stronger, more complexly flavored, and more valuable with proper aging.

Tibi
(
tee
-bee): A shallow oval bowl usually carried by travelers in the south; food is scooped from a communal bowl into one’s own tibi.

Toi, te hoethra
(
toy, teh hoe
-thrah): Lit. translation:
I swear to you I am speaking truth.

Ugren
(
oo
-ghren): A very rare universal bonding mixture; also used in the southlands to imply unbreakable permanence in an arrangement or situation.

Wae
(
way
): One of the Four Gods of the Northern Church pantheon; represents Water. Wae can take any form; in his kindly incarnation he is often drawn as a great, wavering blue horse made from the coldest water of the deeps. His dark side is depicted in forms with a dark, shiny surface, like treacherous black ice—often a snake is drawn for this. Wae’s strength is that of the waters, both still and quick, and the mountain glaciers.

Wailer
: Street-slang for the tath-shinn.

Ways, the
: A series of passages linking areas with an active ha’reye or ha’ra’hain presence. Travel through these passages generally requires the active cooperation of a ha’rethe or ha’ra’ha, and is essentially instantaneous regardless of intervening distance.