Glossary
UNITS OF TIME
moon: a basic unit of Alsean time, similar to our month but 36 days long. Each moon is divided into four even parts, called ninedays.
cycle: the length of time it takes the Alsean planet to revolve around their sun (13 moons, or approximately 17 Earth months).
tick: about an Earth minute but a little shorter.
piptick: one 100th of a tick (about half an Earth second).
tentick: ten ticks (gotta love base-10 math).
hantick: 10 tenticks, kind of like an Earth hour but longer. One Alsean day is 20 hanticks.
GEOGRAPHY
ARGOLIS: the northern continent of Alsea
Blacksun is the major city of Argolis, and capital of Alsea. Located in a great valley (called Blacksun Basin) in the central mountainous area of the continent, Blacksun is famous not just for the State House but also for the sheer size of its Temple of Fahla, the largest on Alsea.
Granelle, a small producer town, is a short transport ride west of Blacksun.
Koneza is home to the High Security Detention Center, a.k.a. “the pit.” It’s located far north of Blacksun, across the mountains and in the dry high plains.
PALLEA: the southern continent of Alsea
Whitesun is the major city of Pallea, located in the north-central part of the continent.
Whitemoon, located on the northernmost point of the continent, is the largest shipping port on the north coast. Besides the shipping commerce, Whitemoon is famous as the home of the Sensoral Institute, the most prestigious empathic training institute on Alsea. Though smaller than Blacksun’s, the Whitemoon Temple of Fahla is thought by many to be the most beautiful on the planet.
Redmoon, further south, is home to a major nuclear fission facility.
Last Port is the southernmost city of Pallea.
GENERAL TERMS
artisan: honorific for a crafter.
bondmate: an Alsean who enters a bond of love, responsibility and protection for another through the services of a bond minister.
boren: deer-like grazing animals.
cintek: the Alsean monetary unit.
dokker: a farm animal similar to a cow. Slow moving and rather stupid, but with a hell of a kick when it’s angry or frightened.
dokshin: vulgar term for feces of a domestic animal.
fanten: a farm animal similar to a pig, used for meat.
grainbird: a small black and red seed-eating bird common in agricultural fields. It is known for singing even at night, leading to an old perception of the birds as lacking in intelligence—hence “grainbird” is also a slang term for an idiot.
grainstem powder: powder derived from crushed stems of a particular grain, which yields a sweet taste. Commonly used in cooking; also used to sprinkle over fresh bread.
horten: an Alsean delicacy, usually used in soup. It comes from a plant that, once harvested, stays fresh for a very short time and must be processed immediately. Due to that short window of time, fresh horten is very expensive and usually served only in the nicer restaurants.
hyacot: a tree whose twigs, when snapped, provide a long-lasting scent. Used in fine restaurants and as a room freshener.
joining: sexual relations. For Alseans, a joining is a simple act without cultural expectations of continuing relations. Sharing one's body is not necessarily intimate, but sharing one's emotions certainly is. For this reason, a Sharing is considered to be an act of much greater significance. Lovers may join yet never Share, and a Sharing between lovers is almost always preceeded by a joining. The two acts can take place simultaneously.
kiral: honorific for a warrior serving in neither the Guards nor the Mariners.
kyne: honorific for a builder.
length: a standard of distance equalling one thousand paces. Somewhere between one and two kilometers.
molwine: the curved apex of the pelvic ridges on both male and female Alseans. A very, very sensitive sexual organ.
molwyn: Fahla’s sacred tree, with a black trunk and fine light leaves. A molwyn grows at the center of every temple of decent size.
panfruit: a common breakfast or dessert fruit.
probe: to push beyond the front and examine emotions that are not available for a surface skim. Probing without permission is a violation of Alsean law.
raiz: honorific for a producer.
reader card: a slim electronic device for loading and storing documents. Also receives messages.
reese: honorific for a merchant.
shannel: a traditional hot drink, used for energy and freshening one’s breath. Made from the dried leaves (and sometimes flowers) of the shannel plant.
skim: the act of reaching out to sense any emotions that an Alsean is not specifically holding behind her or his front.
Sharing: the act of physically connecting the emotional centers between two or more Alseans, resulting in unshielded emotions that can be fully accessed by anyone in the Sharing link. It is most frequently done between two lovers or bondmates, but is also part of a bonding ceremony (in which all guests take part in a one-time Sharing with the two new bondmates). It can be done between friends or family, or for medical purposes, but this is less common. Forcing a Sharing against the will of a participant is a violation of Alsean law.
shek, shekke, shekken and shekking: Alsean variations of the f-word.
sonsales: a person who, unlike most Alseans, is not empathic to even a small degree. To the average Alsean, a person who cannot sense another's emotions at some level—at the very least, those of a family member or lover—is truly blind.
thornstalk: a very fast-growing weed.
tyrees: bondmates who share a rare physiological connection between their empathic centers. A tyree could be considered somewhat analogous to a soulmate, except that tyrees have physical symptoms and consequences of their bond.
warmron: an embrace. Warmrons are only shared between lovers, or parents and children—and only until the child reaches the Rite of Ascension. A warmron is too close to a Sharing for it to be in use at any other time.
winden: a large mammal, adapted to an alpine environment, and the fastest animal on Alsea. Winden travel in herds and, due to both their wariness and their speed, are rarely seen by Alseans.
wristcom: wrist-mounted communication device.
zalren: a venomous snake.