Episode 03 Glossary
Characters
Rue: Learns from Th'Marck that he may be what emerged from the ancient box. At Ephthalas, a hidden voice identifies him as one of the last Vey and allows him to choose the companions who will share his mission.
Helena: Watches the darkness grow within her vial, receives Phineas Moon's warning about the eclipse, and recites the Harbinger of Light prophecy inside Ephthalas. Her words ignite the ceremonial brazier.
Vyr: Keeps watch beside Helena, discovers Th'Marck stealing from the camp, and helps communicate with him through the mixture of Sylvan and Abyssal in his speech.
Ernan: Guides the travelers through Scarsden, shares songs around Phineas Moon's fire, and accompanies the party up the ceremonial path within Ephthalas.
Whisper: Experiences a memory of an earlier visit to Graham inside the Reef. He carries messages for Connor Fagen, pays Thorig Billdigger to protect Graham, and reaches his grandmother before the memory ends.
Phineas Moon: A pale, blue-skinned traveler from the lands beneath the Lighthouse of Piln. He camps with the group, travels with a panthex, warns them about the eclipse, and secretly pursues a personal mission in the surrounding darkness.
Th'Marck: A small, blue, antennaed creature who has followed the party since Rue emerged from the box. He claims to have guarded its contents since its creation and decides that he must now protect Rue.
Normandy Borthal: Carries the amulet representing Aggie's family to the summit and performs a ceremony over it. The rite gives him a fleeting vision of himself handing the same amulet to someone in the past.
Bjorn: Leads much of the climb up Ephthalas and interprets Aggie's burial as the gaining of two ancestors who will continue watching over her.
Aggie: Remains below during the ascent after entrusting Normandy with her family's amulet. The rites performed at the summit finally allow her to feel that her parents have been honored.
Graham: Whisper's grandmother and mentor, imprisoned deep within the Reef. She remains warm and composed despite nearing the drowned levels of the prison.
Connor Fagen: The incarcerated leader of the Stalkers. Whisper receives a coded message from him to carry outside the Reef.
Thorig Billdigger: A cook inside the Reef. Whisper pays him to make sure Graham receives food and is treated well.
Gavel: Connor Fagen's immense but kindly protector inside the Reef. He asks Whisper to carry a message to his beloved Perry outside the prison.
Silas Palligref: The transformed Gavran captain leading two remaining black-armored followers. He destroys a village with the Scepter of Astarius and converts a survivor into another controlled servant.
Gods and Religion
Solaris: The God of Light whose final gift is said to be flickering beyond Tyve's sea and mountains. The voice within Ephthalas warns that the world will burn if the light dies.
Sarexian Eclipse: The alignment in which Sarexis passes before the sun and Lunaris. It weakens the veil between worlds, extinguishes Tyve's great lights, and reveals the sealed chamber within Ephthalas.
Harbinger of Light Prophecy: Helena's lifelong prophecy concerning a child born from darkness, skies of fire, seas of bone, and darkness born of light. Reciting it activates the brazier before the Veyan door.
Aggie's Burial Rite: The ceremony through which Normandy, Bjorn, and Helena honor Aggie's parents. Their prayers promise to protect Aggie and guide her family away from the darkness.
Organizations and Societies
The Vey: A forgotten people who once climbed the ceremonial passage within Ephthalas. The hidden voice recognizes Rue as one of their last survivors.
The Stalkers: The criminal company connected to Whisper and Graham. Connor Fagen directs its imprisoned members from within the Reef.
Seven Black-Armored Knights: The group now reduced to Silas Palligref and two visible followers. They slaughter a village and use the scepter's green light to add another controlled person to their ranks.
Light-Washed: People whose families have lived for generations beneath the Lighthouse of Piln. Phineas explains that the great light draws the soul toward the skin, producing his pale blue appearance.
Creatures and Nature
Panthex: Phineas Moon's enormous feline companion, resembling a blend of panther and bear. Its glowing features allow it to blend into Tyve's darkness while scouting for Phineas.
Odo: Bjorn's wolf. He remains below Ephthalas to protect Aggie during the group's ascent.
Abyssal Falls: The waterfalls pouring from Ephthalas. During the eclipse, their apparent darkness ignites with points resembling black stars.
Tyve's Living Darkness: The tangible darkness surrounding the party beyond the protection of glint. It deepens during the eclipse and nearly extinguishes ordinary torches inside Ephthalas.
Items and Technology
Rue's Box: The ancient container opened when Rue first appeared. Th'Marck claims that he was created or appointed to guard what lay within it and decides that its vanished contents must be Rue.
Pure Glint: Rue's exceptionally bright glint. Its light causes Th'Marck intense pain and provides the group with a way to repel him.
Aggie's Amulet: The worn necklace representing Aggie's dead parents. Normandy carries it to the summit, where touching it during the burial ceremony awakens a fragment of memory.
Scepter of Astarius: The green-jeweled scepter carried by Silas Palligref. It allows him to impose the same unnatural control upon a surviving villager that now governs the black-armored followers.
Phineas's Wine: A thick, metallic-smelling drink offered to the party by Phineas. Its unusual strength and true nature remain unexplained.
Magic and Cosmology
Veyan Recognition: The voice within Ephthalas identifies Rue as Vey, remembers him as a child, and recognizes his chosen companions as part of his mission.
Chosen Companions: Rue's acceptance of the travelers despite their flaws causes the Ephthalas voice to address all of them as chosen. Their shared purpose becomes tied to preserving a distant light.
White Shadows: The reversed shadows produced when Helena activates the black ceremonial flame. They return to their normal darkness after Rue chooses the group.
Weakening Veil: The boundary between worlds becomes thin during the Sarexian Eclipse. The change reveals hidden magic within Ephthalas and allows its ancient voice to reach the party.
Green-Eyed Control: The power carried through the Scepter of Astarius. A survivor's eyes shine green before his body begins moving with the same unnatural manner as Silas and the other armored figures.
Locations and Realms
Ephthalas: A towering stone formation sacred to the original people of Scarsden. Its worn ceremonial path leads to a sealed Veyan chamber revealed during the eclipse.
Ephthalas Summit Chamber: A hewn passage behind the Abyssal Falls containing an unlit brazier and a stone door carved with a tree, celestial bodies, and a crown. The voice says the door will open when Rue and his companions are ready.
The Reef: Gavra's cold coastal prison, built above the crashing sea. Whisper's memory follows its cells downward toward Graham and the drowned level.
Lighthouse of Piln: One of Tyve's great sources of protective light and the origin of the recast condition. Its beam vanishes during the Sarexian Eclipse.
Ithelion: The distant pillar of light visible across Tyve. It goes dark alongside the Lighthouse of Piln when Sarexis obscures the sky.
Gavra: The capital selected as the party's next likely destination. Its library may hold answers about the light, the Vey, and a route beyond the mountains.
History and Lore
Ceremonial Ascent of the Vey: Rue's vision reveals that Ephthalas was once a complete Veyan temple approached by an ordered procession. Millennia of erosion have reduced its stairway and architecture almost to natural stone.
Choice at Ephthalas: Rue names the travelers as his companions, and the hidden Veyan power accepts them. The moment transforms a collection of strangers into a group sharing responsibility for a dying light.
Whisper's Life in the Reef: Whisper has longstanding relationships with Graham, Connor Fagen, Thorig Billdigger, and Gavel. His memory shows how he moves between the prison and the Stalkers' world outside it.
Village Massacre: Silas Palligref and his remaining followers kill a farming settlement after its people stand in their way. The scepter then transforms one survivor into a controlled replacement.
