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Glossary

"When in doubt, the Cadwë word for it is whichever sounds rudest."

Working glossary of Cadwallon-specific terms. In-world usage, not Daggerheart mechanics. Wikilinked where the term has its own note.

A

B

  • Barhan — of Alahan; one of the three tongues that shaped the Cadwë language.
  • basiliege — a magical oak (or statue) in Petropolis that grants unfailing fortitude to those who sleep beneath it.
  • Bran-Ô-Kor — the desert orc nation; the larger of the two orc homelands, where the rebel orcs fled in 852. (see Orcs)

C

  • Cadwë — a citizen of Cadwallon. The adjective and the noun.
  • Cadwë Dream — the feedback loop between the city's longings and Desire's dreams.
  • catacrypts — the developed underground crypts beneath Ghieronburg (built 961).
  • Coiling Emissaries — the six hooded figures who have visited the Duke every [[Day of Ashes|Day of Ashes]] since 999.
  • Cynwäll — "the exiled." The ancestral elven branch of the Ways of Light, whose lost city Cadwallon is built upon.

D

  • Day of Ashes — annual; the dread anniversary on which the Coiling Emissaries appear. (see Calendar)
  • Day of Flowering — annual; commemorates the Dogs of War clearing the bewitched jungle of Lanever. (see Calendar)
  • dramatis — an Incarnate who has fully integrated the divine spark and become a unique character role rather than a mortal. Duke Den Azhir is dramatis, and unincarnable — the divine cannot leave him.
  • ducat — Cadwallon's local coin. Minted by the Guild of Goldsmiths; the Goldsmiths skim every conversion to the continental klû.

E

F

  • fayree — a small, native magical creature of Cadwallon's groves, concentrated in Arcadia under Baron Mardi's Truce. (see Fayrees)
  • fief — one of the eleven administrative divisions of Cadwallon. Each is ruled by a Peer. (see Fiefs)
  • Free Calendar — Cadwallon's 22-month year. (see Calendar)
  • Free City — what Cadwallon calls itself.
  • free leaguer — a chartered member of the leagues; the institutional descendants of the Dogs of War.

G

H

  • Houses of Peers — the noble lineages descended from Vanius's 21 lieutenants.

I

  • Incarnate — a mortal carrying a divine spark; one of the gods' workarounds for being exiled from Aarklash.

K

  • Khorda — the original name of the orcs in Syharhalna's cloning tanks. (see Orcs)
  • klû — the goblin coin of No-Dan-Kar. The continental currency standard inside Cadwallon.

L

  • Labyrinth — the divine maze around Desire's prison; the deepest layer of the Underground.
  • litioc — a grey-walled creature/feature of the Labyrinth; touching one blinds the toucher.

M

  • grove — a surface-shoot from the Garden of Desire; a thin spot between the city and the god beneath it.
  • Meanders of Darkness — one of the three Alliances.
  • Militia — the Duke's standing enforcement arm (distinct from the Free Leagues).
  • mutagen — a Syhar specialty; Syharhalna's alchemists lead the continent in this discipline.

N

  • Noesian — a Cynwäll sage; one of the keepers of pre-Cadwë memory.

O

  • omnimancer — a Cadwë mage who works across multiple magical disciplines (as opposed to a specialist like a tarot-mage or Sihir).
  • onyr — a dream-stone; magical material used to channel emanations of Desire.
  • Ophidian — one of the Serpent people created by Vortiris. Most followed him into the Labyrinth in 255; a few holdouts remain.

P

  • Paths of Destiny — one of the three Alliances.
  • Peer — a vassal of the Duke ruling a fief. Cadwallon has eleven fiefs but talks of "the ten Peers" because the Ducal Enclave is administered by a steward.
  • Possessed — the renegade Mid-Nor dwarves; bodies sewn from victims' skin.
  • purepale — strip-leaf fabric harvested from the Vegetal Entrails; used by the Dressmakers for mood-fabric.

Q

R

  • Rag'narok — the prophesied apocalyptic war the gods have been preparing for through their Incarnates.
  • Realms — the elemental/mystical pocket-worlds the gods were exiled to.
  • Ruby-Heart — a famous Free League; Duke Den Azhir's former league.

S

  • shrew — the old (now-derogatory) term for free leaguers, used before the [[The Akkyshan Offensive|983 offensive]] when they were poor catacrypt-pickers. Still used by the Circle of Explorers for the deepest underground specialists.
  • Sihir — a Cadwë magic-user, particularly one working with magical creatures.
  • slogre — the slow, apathetic ogre cousins of Ogrokh's warrior clans; concentrated in Ghieronburg.
  • Steel Hearts — one of the named Dogs of War companies; Yelmor's unit.
  • strip-leaves — see purepale.

T

  • tarot-mage — a specialist in the tarot magic Vanius's cards established. Split between Open Hand and Closed Door factions.
  • technomancer — particularly a Syhar one; creators of the orcs and other mutagenic projects.
  • Three Alliances — the three philosophical blocs of Aarklash (Light, Darkness, Destiny).
  • Tractor — the Architects' civic project begun 999; secret deep-bore toward the Labyrinth.
  • Truce — Baron Mardi's compact regulating the magical creatures of Ghieronburg, renewed each decade since 962.
  • Twilight — the spirit said to have been sacrificed into the Automaton when the Cynwäll repaired it in 834.

V

  • Vegetal Entrails — narrow underground tunnels colonized by grove-vegetation; source of purepale and elegratia.
  • vestige — a pre-Cadwallon ruin or relic (Ophidian, Cynwäll, or Sphinx). The Ophidian Vestiges are the most famous.
  • Voyager — a magician who walks the Realms beyond mortal senses.

W

See Also