Episode 20 Glossary

Characters

• Mathias Ephelthine: Ancient Vanari voice bound to Normandy. He reveals his part in the Syphus expedition and demands that Normandy reunite two stolen light fragments with the Ithelion.

• Eho Zyltrix: Archmage who sealed the Dio Ostium, led the expedition into Tyve, and later escaped while abandoning the rest of the Syphus Order.

• Eirin Melosis: Brunette Syphus mage shown with the power of a storm behind her.

• Horatio Vinvese: Member of the Syphus expedition whom Normandy has apparently encountered in earlier memories.

• Draxus Cale: Plate-armored warrior of the Syphus Order whose face remains hidden in Mathias's vision.

• Angelette Thedon: Young member of the ancient expedition, identified by Mathias among the Syphus Order.

• Bikthar Kaylin Moon: Vey agent dressed entirely in black. He serves an unnamed mistress, uses layered illusions, and calls Torin's companions vessels for a coming storm.

• Wylas Velpa: Head of the Velpa Trading Company, found at the Piln bridge garrison with an armed entourage while seeking asylum from political enemies in Gavra.

• Zharls Huckley: Infected traveler surrendered by Torin to the Plague Court after darkness appears around his eyes.

Gods and Religion

• Ithelion: Great source of light at Tyve's center. The Syphus Order stole a fragment, and Mathias claims restoring its pieces will help heal the land.

• Dio Ostium: The Door of God, a thousand-foot gate leading toward the heart of Tyve and sealed by Zyltrix through fate itself.

• Sethis and the Evenfall: Twilight goddess and realm sustaining the four-Vey prison of the Dark Scepter. Torin's dream shows the first visible crack in that defense.

• Light of Piln: Sacred and life-sustaining radiance emitted by a stolen fragment of the Ithelion. It abruptly fails at the episode's end.

Organizations and Societies

• Syphus Order: Ancient magical company that entered Tyve, sealed the Dio Ostium, and removed a piece of the Ithelion. Mathias describes it as the stronger precursor to the Crystalline Order.

• Crystalline Order: Later order scorned by Mathias as an inferior imitation of the Syphus Order.

• Plague Court: Masked Malben authorities who kill infected patients under the language of assistance and permanent isolation.

• Velpa Trading Company: Commercial power led by Wylas Velpa. Its leader is accused of moving against the Marquis and now seeks refuge in Piln.

• Yore and Gander: Shipping company whose marked grain caravan passed toward Piln with at least one black-clad escort.

• Iron Chain / Rusticulum: Mainland power whose symbol matches the ring Whisper recovered from his mother's shipwreck. Its rise destroyed Norn and absorbed or broke resisting peoples.

Creatures and Nature

• Rue: Darkling companion who can consume darkness and light but not ordinary food. A black glint makes him grow slightly and feel angry.

• Darklings: Shadow beings that feed upon light or darkness and prefer not to enter Piln's radiance.

• Kalinky Hog: One of six village hogs, secretly drained to death by Vyr during the night.

• Odo: Bjorn's wolf, traveling safely with the caravan and receiving Vyr's quiet companionship after she feeds.

• Piln Flora and Fauna: Flowers, trees, and deer thrive beneath the Ithelion light, in sharp contrast to most of darkened Tyve.

• Malben Black Growth: Contamination in the destroyed mills remains associated with coughing, darkened features, and the tainted grain shipment.

Items and Technology

• Helena's Ithelion Light Vial: One stolen fragment of the central Ithelion and one of the two lights Mathias orders Normandy to restore.

• Piln Lighthouse Fragment: Second light Mathias wants Normandy to steal and carry to the Dio Ostium.

• Tangible Writ Duplicate: Temporary illusion made physical by Normandy and handed to Wylas. It is later dispelled and cannot provide him entry.

• Eight Real Writs of Passage: Remain with the party because Normandy gives Wylas a duplicate rather than an original.

• Darkness-Storing Glint: Formerly held by Vyr, then fed to Rue and consumed.

• Iron-Coconut Glister: Small packet worth about five gold offered to Rue as an experiment and consumed without an immediate catastrophic effect.

• Whisper's Chain Ring: Ring recovered from the wreck associated with his mother. Bjorn recognizes its walls-and-chains design as likely tied to the Rusticulum.

• Isabella: Ernan's stolen guitar and a constant source of comfort while he avoids revealing the full story of his early life.

Magic and Cosmology

• Fate-Sealed Door: Zyltrix invokes fate while lightning and a tentacle-like force fuse the Dio Ostium shut.

• Mathias's Bargain: Restoring the light fragments will supposedly heal Tyve, free Mathias, restore Normandy's youth, and allow Normandy to retain his borrowed magic.

• Layered Veyan Illusions: Bikthar speaks through projections positioned around Malben, appearing to shift location whenever one image dissolves.

• Tangible Illusion: Normandy can create an object that looks and feels real for up to eight hours. He uses the ability to counterfeit a writ without surrendering an original.

• Vyr's Hunger: Draining the Kalinky hog gives Vyr euphoric relief but leaves her only partly satisfied, confirming Ildren's warning about escalating need.

• Cracked Vey Statue: Torin's Evenfall dream reveals a crack in one of the four figures restraining the Dark Scepter, though none has fully broken yet.

• Piln's Protective Radiance: The Ithelion light suppresses Tyve's surrounding darkness, supports abundant life, and produces low auroras around the lighthouse.

Locations and Realms

• Malben: Town left with burned grain stores, an active illness, and warnings traveling to Piln and Gavra.

• Shim's: Tavern where Torin retrieves Zharls and hands him to the Plague Court.

• Kalinky: Village of roughly eight houses on an island along the bridge route to Piln.

• Great Bridges of Scarsden: Hours-long timber-and-rope crossings connecting high island plateaus above the Sequestered Sea.

• Piln Bridge Garrison: Fortification occupied by Gavran soldiers and Wylas Velpa's entourage, positioned before the final crossing.

• Piln: Fortified city built around an immense, ancient lighthouse containing a fragment of the Ithelion.

• Dio Ostium: Gate toward central Tyve where Mathias wants both stolen fragments restored to the greater light.

• Evenfall: Twilight realm where the Dark Scepter remains bound and one supporting statue has begun to crack.

History and Lore

• Syphus Expedition: Roughly twelve centuries earlier, six named members reached Tyve's center, took part of the Ithelion, and returned toward the coast before Zyltrix abandoned the others.

• Theft of the Ithelion: Mathias openly says the Order took the light for power, complicating his claim that its restoration is now intended to save Tyve.

• Piln's Dependence: The stolen light suppresses darkness, nourishes crops and wildlife, and protects the surrounding island. Removing it without an alternative could condemn the population.

• Whisper's Mainland Connection: The ring from his mother's wreck may connect his unknown parentage to the Iron Chain that rules much of the mainland.

• Vey and Early Barbarians: Torin remembers that the Vey taught Bjorn's distant ancestors to forge weapons and fought beside them against Kypherion.

• Companions' Purposes: Helena seeks her brother and restoration of her people's light; Whisper seeks his origins; Torin seeks the Vey and the Ithelion; Normandy follows Mathias's bargain; Vyr seeks Demantrius; Bjorn seeks a cure for his niece and respect for New Norn; Ernan claims to seek family and companionship.

• Failure of Piln's Light: The lighthouse goes dark moments after the company discusses the danger of removing its fragment, before they reach the city proper.