Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) (91 page)

[3]
- In the immortal tongue, the word
kythe
means “to make known to,” as in
sharing one’s thoughts. Many denarae can read the minds of other denarae and of
humans, and a smaller segment of the population can project their thoughts into
another’s mind as well.

[4]
- Capital city and home of the Prismatic Order. The name is derived from the
dwarven word for “anvil”.

[5]
- All non-humans are grouped under the term “demi-human.” Dwarves and gnomes
are also called halflings by the taller races of the world.

[6]
- A
jintaal
consists of one paladin from each of the six primary Facets
of the Prismatic Order. For more information, see Appendix C in Volume 2 of
The
Barrier War
,
The Devil’s Deuce
.

[7]
-
Asolving
and
dekinting
refer to revealing and concealing evidence of immortal heritage. Documentation
from the ancient Merging War indicates immortal angels dekinting their wings
and appearing as humans, then asolving to resume their glorious, Heavenly
appearance.

[8]
- The essence of an immortal’s existence. It is roughly equivalent to a
mortal’s soul, but an immortal’s
āyus
is also the determinant of
their strength and individual sense of self. The exact nature of the
āyus
in a half-immortal is still being studied.

[9]
- The “Stone Book of Life” – the dwarven holy book, originally written during
the Dark Ages prior to the Epiphany and the Age of Lords. Many translations
have been written since, some considered contradictory to others.

[10]
- For details, see Volume 1 of
The Barrier War
,
Hunting The Three
.

[11]
- A term used to indicate demons who have drawn power from the death and blood
of mortals. The blood is not necessarily consumed by the demon, in some cases
mere contact seems to be enough. Some demons even seem to feed solely on the
terror and emotions of their prey, ignoring the physical body altogether.
Little is known about the phenomenon, as it would be impossible to study in a
controlled environment without disturbing and inhumane actions.

[12]
- One of the Choirs of angels. The list includes Seraphim, Dominions, Powers,
Cherubim, Erelim, Parasim, and Sarim. Seraphim are generally the most powerful
angels in Heaven, but there are very few in number.

[13]
- A mysterious religious radical, true identity unknown at this time. In the
immortal tongue, the name translates: “the wind of truth”.

[14]
- An alternate spelling of “Satan,” this is technically the correct spelling of
his name in the immortal tongue. The name “Shaitan” was corrupted and altered
over time and now appears as “Satan” in mortal languages.

[15]
- A sort of contest of will (or
āyus
) between two immortals. It is
theorized that this effect can also occur between an angel and a demon, but
experimentation has proven impossible given the inherent separation and
animosity between the two species of immortals. This sole instance is the first
known incident between an angel and a demon since before the Great Schism, but
because of the unique nature of the Gray paladin Birch, no definitive
conclusions can be drawn at this time.

[16]
- The immortal word “Amen” is traditionally used to close prayers in the mortal
world as a statement of affirmation. The word literally translates to “truth,
certainly” in the human tongue, but as with the entire immortal language, the
literal words only begin to express the complete meaning of a word or phrase.

[17]
- A famous human tactician who lived in Merishank during the Eighth Century AM.
Tiulk Hanzri was born physically crippled and never held a weapon in his life,
but he was responsible for much of the strategy used during his lifetime and
for centuries afterward.

[18]
- The structures in Heaven are crafted almost exclusively from angelstone, a
substance unique to the holy immortal plane. It most closely resembles white
marble, but cannot be damaged except by a cursed artifact or demonic touch. To
an angel powerful enough, the stone is as malleable as soft clay. The
Ash’Ailant
Stones that maintained the Barrier were made of angelstone and colored to match
the Facets of the Prism.

[19]
- Sections of the holy city, analogous to the “sectors” or “quadrants” into
which mortals often divide their cities. Research into the complete history of
the empyreans is still incomplete, but there are indications that each was once
overseen by a powerful angel.

[20]
- A demon-worshipping cult founded during the Age of Lords, primarily based in
the lands west of present-day Nocka. The Prismatic Order was originally founded
as a means of combatting them and stemming the influence of their teachings.

[21]
- A hierarchical ranking of angels in Heaven by type and power. Angels are not
separated by breed or species, as demons are. Instead, based on the strength of
their
āyus
and their function in Heaven, they exist in one of the
Choir rankings. It is possible for an angels to move from one Choir to another,
but it’s extremely rare.

[22]
- Translated from the original elven for use in Yellow Facet training. The
exact date of its writing is unknown, as the author died before its
publication. The finished manuscript was found amongst his belongings and
translated at the request of the Yellow Facet.

[23]
- The word for “holy warrior” or “paladin” in the immortal tongue.

[24]
- The immortal term for their method of reproduction. An existing angel or
demon divides its
āyus
asexually and, in the case of demons,
creates another of its kind. (With angels, the newly formed angel’s Choir would
be determined by the relative strength it possessed upon creation. For more
information, see Appendix E) The new immortal is genesed fully-formed and does
not undergo any form of infancy, but depending on the amount of strength the
original immortal imparts from its
āyus
, the newly formed being may
be quite weak and incapable of forming a definite, individual personality until
it grows in strength.

[25]
- This no doubt refers to General Ethan Bryce, who commanded the Horam Imperial
Army in the Third Century AL during the First Heretics War in the east. Twenty
years after the general’s death, the empire began to dissolve from within and
was subsequently overrun and destroyed forever at the onset of the Second
Heretics War.

[26]
- This phenomenon has yet to be properly researched, although theories abound.
In general, substances in Heaven (and presumably in Hell) seem to obey
different laws of reality than are observed in the mortal realm. Physical
states of matter are less defined, which accounts for the solid ground
seemingly made of clouds and the ability of immortals to travel faster than
would seem physically possible. Indeed, the determining factor most often seems
to be that of perception rather than an immutable law.

[27]
- Translation: “For God! For Uriel!”

[28]
- The River of Fury is an endless stream of liquid flames so intense that even
most demons cannot bear prolonged exposure to its infernal presence. Its
waters, when specially cursed, create the substance known as “Hellfire”.

[29]
- Weapons, armor, and any other items created instantly by an angel or demon
are crafted from the
āyus
of the immortal and are literally an
extension of their being. Thus, more powerful immortals will create more
powerful weapons and defenses, but against a foe who is still stronger, it can
act as a liability; any damage incurred to the items is felt by the immortal
directly as an attack on its
āyus
. Whenever possible, most
immortals will prefer weapons and armor crafted by (immortal) smiths such as
Dem. Uriel’s Sword of Light is among the most powerful weapons ever forged by
the tripartite smith of Heaven.

[30]
- Approximate translation: “To the childris we come, the dealers of death!”

[31]
- The most powerful balrog in immortal history: though he was a demon lord, his
strength rivaled that of Daella prior to the Great Schism. He disappeared
during the Merging War and is presumed to be destroyed, though no immortal has
claimed credit for his demise.

[32]
- The deepest pit of Hell where the demon king resides.

[33]
- Balrogs typically carry whips woven from strips cut from the flesh of the
damned, or else from another demon. Demonic flesh is, of course, more powerful,
and some balrogs even use their own flesh.

[34]
- Prior to the Barrier War, gnomes on the main continent used only unpowered
hang-gliders and hot-air balloons. It was only with the return of the Dale
gnomes that propeller-powered aircraft and motorized gliders were revealed to
the rest of the world. (See Volume 2 of
The Pandemonium War
,
The
Devil’s Deuce
.)

[35]
- Ancient gnomes did indeed have their own language, but it was abandoned for
the more flexible human tongue before the Epiphany. The few scholars to make a
serious study of the language have noted there was rarely more than one
definition for any word, nor more than one word with the same or similar
meaning. These limitations and the close trading associations with humans
throughout history are thought to be the primary reasons the language died out.

[36]
- Demonic possession is quite rare, and records indicate it is forbidden in
beasts for the demon’s own safety. The immortal becomes bound by the physical
limitations of the host animal, including its lack of sentience and
intelligence, and supposedly any number of demons became trapped this way.
Dragons are reputed to be much more intelligent, however, which presumably made
them better hosts. Angelic records of this type of demonic activity are scant,
and there are no known records of angels performing any similar possession on
man or beast.

[37]
- A metal found only in the immortal planes that, once forged, cannot be melted
down or broken. Since the Great Schism, the substance has been almost
impossible to find and work, and angelic scholars have posited it was a feature
of Pleroma itself. Legendary weapons and armor were supposedly crafted from the
metal and gifted to a few favored mortals, but all such artifacts have long
since vanished in history.

[38]
- The void between planes of existence.

[39]
- The palace of Hell is one of the only things ever constructed from the
substance known as demonstone. Mephistopheles forbade any to work with the
stone without his express permission, and gifts of demonstone were doled out to
favored underlings. The most famous piece of demonstone, aside from
Mephistopheles’s palace itself, is the anvil at the Hellforge.

[40]
- Translated from the original elven. Elven scholars insist the human
translation does not do justice to the original. They refuse to even discuss
translations in dwarven.

[41]
- Excerpt from a memo from Orange Paladin Janek jo’Baerth (deceased) to the
Seraph Mikal, High Seat of the Celestial Council, recorded in 1037 AM.

[42]
- For more information, see Appendix D, sections III and IV.

[43]
- The text presents the argument that had God intended more immortals, He would
have created more, and thus taking such creation out of God’s hands was an
impious and prideful act. The unknown author further claims that the “blame”
for this act was cast on Yariel to cover up such an act by the paragon of
Heaven, Gabriel.

[44]
- For more information on the shared physical preferences of the angelic
Choirs, see Appendix D, section III.

[45]
- The void between planes of existence.