126411.fb2 Servant of a Dark God - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 48

Servant of a Dark God - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 48

TERMS AND PEOPLE

POLITICAL HIERARCHY

While there are many variations, the basic power hierarchy in the realms of the western glorydoms flows from the Glory down:

Glory

|

Lesser Divines

|

Territory Lords and Warlords

|

District Lords and Village bailiffs

There are still some small areas of the known world ruled by barbarian kings or chieftains, but almost all of these pay tribute to one Glory or another in the form of treasure, slaves, or Fire. The major western glorydoms include Mokad, Koram, Nilliam, Kish, Urz and Cathay.

THE SIX ORDERS OF THE DIVINE

• Fire Wizards

• Kains

• Skir Masters

• Guardians

• Green Ones

• Glories

Infamous Divines include the Goat King, the Witch of Cathay, and Hismayas, the ancient lord of the Sleth.

MAJOR MOKADDIAN CLANS WITH HOLDINGS IN THE NEW LANDS

• Birak

• Burund

• Fir-Noy

• Harkon

• Jarund

• Mithrosh

• Seema

• Shoka

• Vargon

KORAMITES

Hogan

River

Ke

Talen

Sparrow and Purity

Sugar

Legs

The Creek Widow/Matiga

MOKADDIANS

Argoth and Serah

Nettle

The bailiff of Stag Home

Bosser (captain of the Vargon Clan)

The Crab (territory lord with the most holdings of the Fir-Noy clan)

Fabbis (son of a wealthy Fir-Noy lord)

Leaf (the Eye of Rubaloth)

Lumen (the missing Divine of the New Lands)

Rose (sister to Argoth, wife of Hogan the Koramite)

Rubaloth (Skir Master of Mokad)

Shim (warlord of the Shoka clan)

ARMSMEN

Every clan has various martial orders within it. The ranks of the vast majority of these orders are filled with those who are not full-time soldiers, but farmers, laborers, and craftsmen. However, there are orders in some clans of elite and sometimes professional soldiers. The members of such orders are called armsmen.

BONE FACES

Barbarian raiders from the south who have begun striking Mokaddian holdings by sea.

DREADMEN

Those without lore who are endowed by Divines with weaves of might. When such weaves are worn, they multiply the wearer’s natural mental and physical abilities. However, the weaves carry a cost: worn too frequently, the body wastes, consuming itself to fuel the magic.

ESCRUM

A weave that binds the wearer to a master, allowing communication over long distances.

FRIGHTS

Not completely of the world of flesh, frights feed on Fire. They most often prey on the sick and dying, attaching themselves like great leeches.

GODSWEED

An herb with properties said to repel some creatures such as frights and the souls of the dead. The smoke from one thin braid can rid a house of an infestation for many weeks. But its effect does not discriminate between frights, ancestors, or even the servants of the Creators. Hence the saying: Take care to appease those you’ve chased with smoke.

KING’S COLLAR

A weave wrought by a special order of Divines called Kains. Such collars not only prevent a person from working magic, but also weaken the wearer to make them easy to handle.

SKIR

Orders of beings that inhabit the heavens as well as the deep places of the earth and sea. While invisible to the naked eye, many do exert power in the visible world and can be harnessed by those knowing the secrets. But not all are useful to man. Many orders of smaller skir are deemed insignificant, while other powers are so dreadful none dare summon them.

STONE-WIGHTS

A vanished race whose ruins are found in the New Lands. Some claim plague or war took them. Others find evidence they were destroyed by the Six themselves.

THE SIX

Seven creators fashioned the earth and all life therein. However, upon seeing that the finished work was flawed, the seventh, called Regret, wanted to destroy the work and begin again. The remaining Six, whose names are sacred, refused, but they were not able to overcome Regret. And so it is that the powers of both creation and dissolution still struggle on the earth.