Apalite: citizen of the Carthaki district of Apal, formerly a nation-state to the far south and east of Carthak district (home of the capital), sister district/nation-state to Amar

beak head: hole in the point at the front of a ship used as a privy by sailors

belowstairs: palace slang for high-security cells under the oldest part of the palace, some particularly magicked to hold the strongest of mages

B.H.E. (Before Human Era): name given to the years before H.E., the Human Era. B.H.E. means the time when humans and immortals lived together, before increasing strife between them drove a group of mages to assemble in Carthak in order to create a working of magic that would exile the immortals to the Divine Realms (supposedly their original home). Common belief is that they succeeded in 852 H.E. and began in 836 B.H.E, though some are of the opinion that the spell covered only the Eastern Lands and the Southern Lands to the Roof of the World, the Yamani Islands, the Copper Isles, and perhaps the easternmost parts of the islands and countries west of there. It is even thought there are both very small and very large and powerful immortals tucked away in the lands supposed to be covered by the spell, which, in any case, has lasted a long time without renewal. It was destroyed when it was worked, and only partial copies remain.

Black God (of Death): one of the Great Gods, those who reign over all the world under various names. The Black God is usually represented by a tall human shape in a black robe and cowl. He is seen as soft-spoken and kind, the reliever of pain and suffering. People come to his realms to rest, recover from, and forget their lives before they are reborn into new bodies. His priests and priestesses are robed in the same manner as he is. They prepare and bury or burn (depending on the family’s choice) the dead and look after widows and orphans without family. They say prayers for the dead and look after graves. It is also their jobs to look after pigeons and doves, who supposedly carry the spirits of the dead to the Peaceful Realms, where the Black God reigns.

broken seal: street slang for losing one’s virginity, as in “she broke her seal” or “he broke his seal”; from breaking the seal on a document

cackleheads: slang for feces-brained

canoodling: sexual experimentation or having sex

cantrip: academic word for a spell

commandeer: command, seize for use (usually military)

Common: Common Eastern, the language shared by Tortall, Tyra, Maren, Galla, and Sarain

Crone: aspect of the Great Goddess, goddess of the underworld, aging women, wisdom, secrets, healing, the waning moon, and the natural fading of life

cross juggling: pattern in which the right hand throws the balls to the left hand and the left hand to the right hand, so they cross in the space between hands

detail: soldier’s slang for duty or work

Divine Realms: home of the gods and the creatures known as immortals; also called the Realms of the Gods

Ergwae: people of Carthak’s deep mountain valleys and western deserts, known for ornately woven and braided white turbans and embroidered scarves worn by men and women alike

Graveyard Hag: patron goddess of Carthak, a minor trickster and goddess of surprise changes in fate elsewhere in the Eastern Realms and Copper Isles; goddess of the crossroads and of gambling, represented by dice and a dicing cup, rats, and hyenas; also known as the Lady of the South (polite form of address), taken from the position of her statues in her temples and arenas

Great Mother Goddess: one of the Great Gods, those who reign over the world under various names. The Great Mother is usually represented by one of three aspects: the Maiden, goddess of girls and virgins, the hunt, the waxing moon, and spring; the Mother, goddess of women, childbirth, sex between women and men, summer, gardening, marriage, the full moon, and protection; and the Crone, goddess of the underworld, aging women, wisdom, secrets, healing, the waning moon, and the natural fading of life; also called the Three-Fold Mother and the Gentle Mother (this last more popular in the past two hundred years than at present).

gumat: city street toughs, Carthak

Hag-curst: reference to the patron goddess of Carthak, the Graveyard Hag

Harvest: August 1; the celebration before the hardest work of the harvest begins. The first fruits of the harvest are offered to the gods, and feasts are held.

Hekaja: Carthaki goddess of healing

immortals: creatures exiled to the Divine Realms 795 N.E. (Northern Empire)/211 B.H.E. (before the Human Era), including winged horses of both kinds and all three sizes, merpeople, giants, ogres, centaurs of both types, Stormwings, unicorns of all three sizes, basilisks, Coldfangs, griffins, spidrens, tauroses, sunbirds, winged apes, and wyverns

insensate: without senses, unobservant

instructor: teachers in the Lower Academy who are juniors and seniors in good standing in the Upper Academy and who teach classes in exchange for wages, dormitory housing, and library access

Jinda: person from the distant western realm of Jindazhen

kaygow: rude term among Hulak’s people for a scavenger animal

Kyprish: adjective for the people of the Copper Isles; from the name of their national god, Kyprioth

Lady of the South: alternate, more polite form of address for the Graveyard Hag by those who don’t want her attention; taken from the traditional position of her statues in her temples and in arenas

leatherfoot: soldier slang for a long-term soldier whose boots and feet have reached the same level of hardness

Lower Academy: junior school for the Carthaki School for Mages, usually for students ages ten to fifteen

lozenge: pill

Matasarab: Thak for festival of the spring equinox

mead: Northern-style honey wine

member: penis

Midwinter: holiday that occurs on and around the longest night of the year; the morning after the longest night marks the return of summer’s sun. It is celebrated by a week of feasting and gift-giving.

Minoss: god of justice, courts, and trials

Mithros: Great God of the sun, law, and war

Mortal Realms: part of the universe where those beings and creatures who are born and will die exist

nit: copper Carthaki coin

Old Thak: original language for early Kingdom of Carthak; now mage language taught throughout Eastern and Southern Lands and Scanra

orris: another term for iris, a scent sacred to Hekaja and to healers, as well as myrrh, myrtle, and poppy

pizzle: male animal’s sexual organ

pounded, being: having sex

ragze: long-term homosexual partner in Carthak

ragzewi: homosexual in Carthak, any individual who is homosexual

Realms of the Gods: another term for the Divine Realms, the home of the gods and the creatures known as immortals

rue: hardy evergreen plant with a nasty odor and bitter, nauseating taste; for health and for clearing the mind and house

Saturday: day of the week set aside for religious observances

Shakith: blind goddess of seers

sigil: sign or figure

Sign (against evil): drawn on the chest as an X with a straight line through it; it is a star, a sign of protection against evil accidentally caused by oneself, as in thoughts that might be bad, or against harm that might come to one

soppish: soppy, sentimental, milksop, weak

spinster: woman who spins thread from fiber: wool, flax, or cotton; usually a young, unmarried woman of the lower or slave classes

stain(s): bum stain, scoundrel

stillroom: room in houses or small facilities in which herbs are dried and kept and medicines made and stored

sunbird: dull in color; the size of a heron as adults; able to control their size in the Mortal Realms; in the Divine Realms they fly straight up during the day, spinning, wings outstretched, flashing brilliant colors in salute to Mithros

Sunday: Sun’s day, best day of the week to start new ventures

sunwise: from right to left

Thak: contemporary common language of Carthaki Empire

thaka: gold Carthaki coin

thaki: silver Carthaki coin

Upper Academy: senior school for the Carthaki School for Mages, usually for students sixteen and up

walk out: form of dating; couples went walking

wandermage: mage who travels and does not answer to any one employer

ward: protect, particularly with magical spells

widdershins: counterclockwise, preferred direction for magic working

Winter’s Crone: in the Eastern Lands, the ancient goddess who introduces the deepest cold of the season; she holds good fortune for those with the courage and stamina to seek it from her. She is a goddess of northern magic: her chief temple is in the City of the Gods.

working: alternate term for spell-work

zoeg: Thak term for a homosexual relationship