Amrafada: Capital city of Rafada, on its northern coast.

  Antantur: Major city of the High Summer Union, just south of its border with the Republic.

  Beardogs: Eyanna Vogh’s small band of military specialists, named (logically enough) for a breed of canine used in bear-baiting, to evoke an image of a small but formidable foe which can bring down larger enemies. Prior to the story, they were famed as masters of a technique for controlling turned and taken men for military use; in reality they make and wield cambions.

  Blemish: The contagious curse or magical plague which first struck Siocaea in Ky 338. The Blemish works in three distinct phases. First a victim is “touched,” showing slight and superficial deformities over a small area of their body, usually confined to scales or fur. At this stage the Blemish may be spread by any direct contact, even from unaffected skin. Once it progresses deeper and modifies the victim’s anatomy, they are considered “turned.” They may display violent tendencies, and can spread their affliction by clawing, biting, or otherwise breaking skin, but not through casual contact. They are only considered “taken” when their bodies are entirely monstrous, and they have lost all human reason. If suffered to live a taken person may continue growing indefinitely, though this is rare.

  Boghen: The indigenous people of Siocaea, typically fair- or red-haired and paler than Siocenes. Considerable intermarriage has occurred since the conquest, but a sizable population of mostly pure-blooded Boghens remains in the mountainous interior of the peninsula.

  Cafrelon: Siocaea’s largest island, just off the southwest coast of the peninsula. Currently held by the High Summer Union.

  Cambion: A powerful synthetic creature made from human blood and extracts (ichor and adjuvants) from the bodies of Blemish-afflicted men. Cambions live for only a brief time, hours to days, before disintegrating, and act with the intentions of the human who donated their blood. The ratio of blood to ichor in their composition shapes their power, reliability, and longevity; more blood makes a longer-lived beast with a more stable temperament, while ichor increases power at the expense of lifespan.

  Carbern: A relatively small city which serves as the capital of the Wild Range.

  Convention: Name of both the written constitution of the Dewrose Republic and of its parliamentary body of landholding military aristocrats (peers) who have the right to confirm most royal decisions.

  Dewrose Republic: The largest Siocene state by land area. Formed from areas forcibly pacified by the Siocene gentry after the Ravening. Ruled by the King with the advice and consent of the Convention. Views itself as the rightful successor to, or continuation of, the pre-Blemish Kingdom of Siocaea.

  Dundan: A large, mostly arid country far to the south of Siocaea. The first foreign colonizers of Syoshen Vukh, driven off the continent in 144 pK. A few Dundanites have immigrated to the country in the five intervening centuries, and many of the its oldest sites, such as Marransheel (Mar An Shil), have Dundanite names.

  Garba: The major river of the Wild Range.

  Groye: The shorter and more southern of the two rivers flowing into the Gulf of Tefeia in western Siocaea.

  Hausan: Capital of the High Summer Union.

  Hell’s Park: A former royal preserve in the south of Siocaea, now overgrown and deliberately infested with turned men by the High Summer Union to seal off the land border.

  High King/Queen: Archaic title used by Boghen royals, referring to the bearer’s authority over various tribal chiefs in an era of less centralized government. Finally abandoned by Rucio II in favor of the simpler “king” in Ky 49. Revived briefly by Eyan Vogh in the Third Century, then by Eyanna Vogh more than a century later.

  High Summer Union: State comprised of the southernmost tip of Siocaea, the large adjoining island of Cafrelon, and sundry outlying islands. Split from the Dewrose Republic in 369 after a declaration of martial law. The Union is a democracy and maintains close ties with Rafada, to the south. It is the peninsula’s greatest maritime power by a considerable margin.

  Kerigzana: The cold and mountainous land north of Siocaea. Kerigzana is populated by ethnic groups related to the Boghen, and was politically divided and poorly developed prior to the Blemish (which struck it significantly later due to scant trade links with the outside world).

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  Ky: Abbreviation for Kingdom Year. Dating convention used since the accession of High King Rucio I to the throne of Siocaea.

  Mandra: The river which flows into the sea past the Free City of Pasavana.

  Nehm: Boghen concept of the moral law of the universe. Nehm is understood to be something less personal than a deity but of greater power than any of the Boghen gods; it is the guiding will of the cosmos, which individuals may choose to support or oppose, and in opposing court their own destruction. Individuals, families, and nations have their own nehm or right purpose as well, with all the different subsidiary nehm working together to bring about the greater purpose of the universe. Believers in Nehm often practice divination using a multicolored braid of cords, whose different strands represent different individual actors.

  Nehmpegyin: Capital of Syoshen Vukh. Sits atop Siocaea’s largest oilfield, but lacks the capacity to exploit it.

  Nistrale: The larger of the two rivers flowing into the Gulf of Tefeia.

  Orphan: A peer whose Teniet or fief is not actually held by the Dewrose Republic. Orphan peers are typically given some nominal post to administer until such time as their Teniet can be recovered, and receive half a vote.

  Paore: Largest river in Siocaea, which runs from the hills above Nehmpegyin down to the sea at Marransheel.

  Pasavana: Major city in the northwest of Siocaea, an important industrial center prior to the Blemish. In recent years it has drawn a large number of neighboring towns into its orbit, and “the bounds of the Free City of Pasavana” now encompasses more than twenty thousand square miles of territory. Its formal independence dates to the start of the feud between the Dewrose Republic and High Summer Union, in which it declared itself a neutral power with no firm ties to either belligerent.

  Peer: Title of a voting member of the Convention of the Dewrose Republic. All peers are required to be men of the Teniveccia, a similar but substantially older institution. Peers are local administrators and military leaders in addition to their role in the Convention.

  Peyanni: The people of the Yan Islands in the far south of the world. The Peyanni play no direct role in this story, but as the ancestors of Rafadians and Siocaeans they play a significant role in its history.

  Pil Neng Say: City adjacent to Tal Tem Noor’s stationhall, and thus the effective capital of the Protectorate.

  pK: Pre-Kingdom, convention for designating dates prior to the accession of High King Rucio I.

  Protectorate: Polity which formed around Pil Neng Say in the wake of Abbess Noor’s rise to power. The monastics govern with a light hand and are mostly interested in preserving pilgrimage routes and a support network for their vocational lives.

  Rafada: Country situated along the northern coast of Dundan, from which it was usurped by Peyanno mercenaries in 86 pK. Peyanno/Rafadian adventurers later invaded Siocaea and forcibly married into its royal family; modern Siocene culture is essentially a fusion of Rafadian and Boghen customs, and after four centuries the two countries are culturally quite distinct.

  The Ravening: Period of extended, peninsula-wide violent disorder following the appearance of the Blemish. Began in 343, largely quelled by 350. Much of the violence was inspired by and done in the name of an apocalyptic variant of Sojourner theology, contributing greatly to the sect's unpopularity.

  The Reclamation: Disastrous attempt by the Dewrose Republic to invade the High Summer Union in the year 375.

  Siocaea: The once-united country where The Blemished Age takes place. A peninsula roughly 800 miles long from north to south, together with several nearby islands.

  Sojourners: A Dundanite religious tradition centered on belief in reincarnation to better or worse worlds as a reward or punishment for one’s conduct during life. Beyond that the term encompasses a diverse variety of beliefs, but most Sojourners in Siocaea (where they are concentrated in the east) are nontheistic and loyal to Abbess Tal Tem Noor at Pil Neng Say. Sojourners are broadly disliked but generally tolerated, as all official efforts to stamp out the religion backfired.

  Syoshen Vukh: Literally “the Rising Land,” ancient Tusam (Boghen) name for Siocaea (which derives from it). Also the name used by Eyanna Vogh for her territory in the center of the peninsula.

  Tefeia: Major city in the west of the Dewrose Republic, site of its principal arms factory prior to the start of the story.

  Teniet: The major fief held by a Teniveci, or (technically) the portion thereof held by a Teniroz in a Teniveci’s name.

  Tenirozzia: “Holders of Honor.” Singular, Teniroz. The lower rank of nobility established by reforms in the early years of the Siocene Kingdom. A Teniroz has the right to administer a small region on behalf of its Veccian, and to marry the Teniveccia. Technically the term Tenirozzia encompasses the Teniveccia as well, but is usually understood only to mean only the lesser nobility. The Tenirozzia outnumber the Teniveccia by an enormous margin, and in the years immediately prior to the Blemish many families were essentially indistinguishable from commoners.

  Teniveccia: “Holders of Land.” Singular, Teniveci. The upper rank of nobility established by reforms in the early years of the Siocene Kingdom. Teniveccia have the right to hold and administer Tenietti or fiefs for the crown, and to marry into the royal family.

  Tusam: The language of the aboriginal Boghen people of Siocaea’s interior highlands.

  Wild Range: State which seceded from the Protectorate in 378, seven years before the start of the story.

  Yan Islands: Homeland of the Peyanni people—ancestors of Rafadians and Siocenes—in the far south of the world.