Episode 13 Glossary
Characters
Vyr: Remembers her upbringing in Cada'Vercia and her uncle's forbidden lesson that Umtheras demands balance, not killing for its own sake.
Ryphus: Revered Umtheran ruler whose face has not been seen for generations. He conducts Laritha's funeral and carries the light-devouring Oriun Blade.
Imra: Vyr's mother and a senior figure among the Blades of Nas. She expects Vyr to prove herself worthy of the order.
Fyra: Imra's veiled right hand among the Blades of Nas. Vyr escapes her physical challenge and places a blade at her throat.
Nas: Queen of the Umtherans, head of the Blades of Nas, and the Quiet Lands' greatest assassin.
Vyr's Uncle: Imra's twin brother and Vyr's mentor. He urges Vyr to think independently and preserve the dangerous truth of Umtheras's balance.
Father Patches / the Hidden Father: Whisper's grandfather and secret head of Gavra's thieves. He revises his command into a mission to bring back the Heart of the Chain.
Flagle Shoeflam: Dockmaster who provides the vessel arranged by the Lion and confirms that it can reach the Shattered Isles, but not the mainland.
Alderian Titus: Ancient enemy who confronts Torin in living darkness, threatens Gavra, and claims that Torin's power still restrains him.
Cecil / Xandra / Zandra: Zandra's personal name is Cecil, while Xandra is the name under which she was worshiped as a god. She seeks pure light for someone she loves.
Ned Flan'Deres: One of Zandra's armored guardians, a member of the Golden Inquisition from distant Adra.
Len: Zandra's other guardian. He silently threatens Normandy after overhearing Zandra reveal her identity.
Ernan: Reveals that he remembers little of childhood, bears chain-shaped scars on his wrists, once found belonging aboard a ship, and was later abandoned in Scarsden.
Aggie: Grows quiet after hearing a song from the Tangled One across the sea and becomes increasingly withdrawn during the voyage.
Gods and Religion
Umtheras: Umtheran god of Shadow. Public doctrine emphasizes that life must end, while Vyr's uncle teaches that the deeper principle is balance.
Xandra: A divine identity associated with Cecil's former worship. Cecil rejects the person she was under that name and says her remaining power is fading.
Azeron: Divine dragon revered by Zandra's guards and by the woman Zandra loves. Zandra believes Azeron failed to answer when that woman needed him.
The Tangled One: Sea goddess who calls the unworthy into the water. Aggie hears her song while Lily's Song crosses the Sequestered Sea.
Eth: Goddess of New Beginnings. The Festival of Drowning attempts to cleanse sins and protect worshipers from the Tangled One's call.
Father Patches's Psalms: Religious verses carried by Brill from his grandfather. Brill uses them to comfort Th'Marck and respond to Aggie's fear.
Organizations and Societies
Blades of Nas: Elite fighting and assassination order of the Quiet Lands, led by Queen Nas. Imra and Fyra hold authority within it.
Dread Stalkers: Pirate company divided for the voyage. Seventeen named members sail aboard Lily's Song, while the remainder stay in Gavra.
Golden Inquisition: Order from Adra represented by Ned Flan'Deres and Len. Ned names Lord Joseph Carthagin as one of its great authorities.
Arcanium: Brill confirms that it studied black glints supplied by Yore and Gander and had recently connected darker mine products to plague outbreaks.
Yore and Gander: Shipping concern sharing the ouroboros symbol with the Arcanium. It mines or transports glints for Arcanium study.
The Chain: Mainland power whose Heart the Hidden Father orders Whisper to recover. A distant mass execution reveals its brutal doctrine of strength through links.
Stygian Seven: Ancient black-armored enemies led by Alderian Titus. Zandra's concealment continues to interfere with their search for the party.
Creatures and Nature
Umtheran Wolves: Animals raised around Cada'Vercia. A young boy helping Vyr tend them evokes one of the few smiles in her memory.
Darkling: A being that may result when a black glint corrupts a person quickly enough. Rue explains that regaining sentience could take centuries.
Black Glint Corruption: Prolonged contact can sicken, kill, or transform a person. The speed depends in part on the victim's goodness and inner light.
The Presence Beneath the Sequestered Sea: An unidentified danger remembered by the travelers as Lily's Song leaves Gavra's reefs.
Items and Technology
Oriun Blade: Ryphus's unique black sword, which appears to pull surrounding light into itself.
Heart of the Chain: Object or person Father Patches orders Whisper to bring back from the mainland in exchange for Gram's freedom.
Hidden Father's Dagger: Perfectly balanced, black-etched blade given to Whisper as a unique mark of the Hidden Father.
Stalker Coin: Whisper gives the recovered coin to Father Patches as a down payment for protecting Lily and Madame Iris. It is no longer a party asset.
Lion's Medallion: Token presented to Flagle Shoeflam to confirm the Lion's arrangement at the East Wharf.
Tomorrow Doll: Ancient Veyan doll that counteracts the companions' fading recognition of Torin and reveals a fleeting Veyan tower at sea.
Fist-Sized Black Glint: The hard core extracted from the dead mimic. Rue takes it because he can handle it without suffering ordinary corruption.
Ouroboros Necklace: Artifact recovered from Ceptholda. Brill recognizes its symbol as shared by the Arcanium and Yore and Gander.
Whisper's Mother's Key: Whisper's treasured family keepsake, now given to Ernan as a symbolic key to finding his lost people.
Ernan's Collected Keys: Assorted keys Ernan gathered for Whisper because he misunderstood Whisper's attachment to the single key from his mother.
Dark Scepter: Weapon wielded by Alderian Titus. Zandra says it was taken from Torin or his father, though Torin suspects it originally belonged to Titus.
Magic and Cosmology
Ithelion: Torin identifies it as a lake of pure light enclosed by impassable mountains. Its power nourished Veyan magic and faith.
Glints: Mineral byproduct created when the Ithelion infused the rock around it. Recently mined black glints appear unnaturally dark and dangerous.
Untelling Effect on Torin: When Torin is absent, the companions' memories and concern for him thin without their awareness. The Tomorrow doll temporarily restores his reality to them.
Veyan Sea Tower Vision: Shared image of an intricate glasslike tower rising from the water. Torin believes it may be a remnant of his erased civilization.
Cecil's Fading Divinity: Cecil says she has spent most of her power and does not recover it through ordinary rest. Tyve's darkness also weakens her guardians.
Helena's Light Vial: Necklace inherited from Stefon. Its glow releases a memory of Tel'Dorath and of a light he says can guide her wherever she needs to go.
Th'Marck's Invisibility: Becoming visible consumes a limited reserve. He says another pure glint could restore his ability to appear and disappear.
Black Water: Vyr and Torin conclude that the water drawn from Eth's statue may reflect the darker side of a faith balanced between light and death.
Locations and Realms
Cada'Vercia: City of the Dead in the Quiet Lands, carved from jagged black rock above a legendary solarium filled with souls.
Quiet Lands: Umtheran realm bordering the land of the dead, where spectral loved ones may appear and outsiders rarely survive.
East Wharf: Gavran departure point where Flagle provides the Lion's vessel and the travelers assemble their final roster.
Sequestered Sea: Lightless water crossed during the week-long passage to the Shattered Isles.
Shattered Isles: Frozen archipelago west of Scarsden. The travelers arrive to find one coastal settlement burning.
Tel'Dorath: Luminous Vanari homeland shown in Helena's memory, filled with high white structures and abundant life.
Adra: Distant eastern land described by Ned Flan'Deres as home to the Golden Inquisition, Garifon, Boran Keep, and floating kingdoms.
Gavra: City left behind under threat from Titus, Silas, political upheaval, and the damaged northern wall.
History and Lore
Umtheran Funerary Rite: The dead are honored, dismantled, and consumed as a final gift, reflecting the belief that death completes life's purpose.
Forbidden Balance Teaching: Vyr's uncle considers the balanced meaning of Umtheras more truthful and more dangerous than the militant doctrine of Cada'Vercia.
Torin and Titus: Titus claims Torin's continuing power prevents his advance and that terror in Gavra will weaken that restraint.
Veyan Erasure: Torin concludes that his civilization was deliberately removed from history after a cataclysm involving meteors, war, and the black-armored knights.
Crystal Ships of the Vey: Torin remembers sailing the seas in crystalline vessels when stars were visible and his people lived without present-day suffering.
Ernan's Lost Childhood: Ernan remembers trauma, chain scars, life aboard a ship, abandonment in Scarsden, and travels through New Norn and the Silent Forest, but not his birth family.
Doctrine of the Chain: An armored executioner declares a victim too weak to be a link, and thousands answer that the Chain grows strong one link at a time.
