Glossary for the Vestiges of Magic Setting

Adhova. The continent belonging to the hominin species, located in the southern hemisphere of the world. Often referred by people as ‘the Continent’.

Age of Magic. A legendary era that existed before the Rending, with epic magic, dragons and wizards. It ended when the Dark Emperor was defeated at the Battle of Reladon. Most modern-day people believe it was an age of legends and folklore, rather than a genuine history.

Amarune. The moon. In Harmonism, they have a multitude of different personas. Associated with fate, chaos and mystery. The patron of the Indigo World.

Anchor. An item that connects a ghost to the material world. Usually, a personal item or part of their remains.

Baron, the. A reference to Brandas Clearwater; the Beachside Strangler. Lukie’s murderer.

Battle of Reladon. The legendary battle between Light and Darkness, where the Dark Emperor was defeated by General Hawkbow. This moment is considered the year ‘1’ in the modern calendar.

Bellsday. The sixth day of the week. A holiday.

Breakwater Bay. The small, regional coastal town where Lukie and Tamlyn grew up.

Cache Object (or item, or artefact). Items carried by vestige-bearers that contain the power of the pacts with their patrons.

Cage. A wandering monster hunter, or preserver, that Lukie encounters in Final Night. He holds one of her cache objects.

Calendar. The Unified Calendar has twelve months of 28 days, and one month of 29 days.

Circle of the Light. A dominant religion that revers the Precursor, and the Heroes of the Hawkbow.

Dark Emperor. The legendary villain who attempted to rule the world two thousand years ago. He was defeated by the Heroes of the Hawkbow at the Battle of Reladon.

Eltharim. People with special, distinctive traits such as ‘gem’ colored eyes or metallic hair. They are descended from ancient nobility and believe that these traits grant them special privileges.

Elystane. One of the Seven Saints and a Hero of the Hawkbow. A female human priestess known for preferring negotiation to violence.

Ghost Lord. A powerful undead, who has created a ghost realm within Tenebra. They can empower the dead to return to the world as a revenant by granting them a vestige.

Ghost Realm. A stable piece of reality within Tenebra created and sustained by a ghost lord—built from their memories, obsessions and passions. Souls can survive in these realms but are subject to the whims of their ruling ghost lord. Also known as a ‘memory palace’. Revenants can also build ghost realms, but these are unstable compared to ones crafted by their patrons.

Ghost. An incorporeal soul that either exists within Tenebra or can exist in the physical world with an anchor.

Gravebeast. A type of undead creature—usually a sapient being twisted into bestial form by a ghost lord. They can exist in corporeal nature in the physical world, but become incorporeal to hunt and possess mortals.

Harmonism.  A religion focused on the veneration of nature spirits. Said to have been brought by elves to the Stormfields. Many city areas and parklands contain Harmonist garden shrines.

Hawkbow, Heroes of. The seven legendary heroes who defeated the Dark Emperor at the Battle of Reladon. They are venerated in the Circle of the Light as the Seven Saints.

Hawkbow. General Sharo Hawkbow. The leader of the Heroes of the Hawkbow, who fired the arrow that killed the Dark Emperor at the Battle of Reladon. The arrow contained the spell that unleashed the Rending.

Hominin. A member of one of the four types of dominant species, native to the continent of Adhova. They are humans, elves, dwarrow and ogres. They are considered to be different species but can interbreed with each other.

Indigo World. A name for the supernatural world, sealed off from the Golden through supernatural pacts and ancient rituals.

Krondirim. The people descended from the Dark Emperor’s fallen legions that invaded the eastern portion of Adhova after the Battle of Reladon. Most of the modern day Stormfielders are from this ethnicity.

Lanes of the Dead. A realm on the edges of Tenebra where souls can travel to their true afterlife.

Magic. There are two main types. Extradimensional energy (such as spectral energy from Tenebra) is the flow of energy from another supernatural dimension, which allows reality to be overwritten. This can be used by a person with a vestige. Intrinsic energy, the natural magic of the world, is in a broken, scarce and unstable state after the Rending. This collects in relics which can be used by Occultists. A person attuned to one type of magic can’t use the other.

Marmaruk. The planetary ring. Once a moon, he shattered into a ring during the Rending. In Harmonism, he is seen a spirit of war, strife, grief and anger.

Occultist. A person who can wield the magic used in relics.

Patron. An other-dimensional entity that can grant a vestige to a mortal. After the Rending, they were sealed in their home dimensions and can only interact with Zheist through their vestige-bearer.

Precursor. The legendary creator of the world. After creating the world of Zheist, they left to create other worlds.

Preserver. A type of vestige-bearer. Wandering monster hunters, who make pacts with ancient heroes for power.

Reave. The act of stealing a soul.

Reladon. The holy city, from where the Precursor made the continent of Adhova and the hominins. Now at the bottom of an inland sea after the Rending.

Relic. An object, usually crystalline, that collects unstable intrinsic magical energy. Occultists collect relics (or relics find them) and can attune to them to perform a particular magical effect. Relics are dangerous—some may poison or taint an occultist, or be too powerful for someone to control.

Rending, the. The last spell cast in the world, which banished all enchantment, and ended the Age of Magic. Embodied on an arrow that General Hawkbow shot at the Dark Emperor, winning the Battle of Reladon. After the Rending, all extra-dimensional entities either died, or became sealed forever in their native dimensions. The spell wasn’t perfect—magic in the modern day is still possible and remains around the cracks, accessed through relics or vestiges.

Rent. Refers to a tear through the Veil into another dimension.

Revenant. A type of vestige-bearer. An undead being. They start off as a shade with Tenebra after death and can return to the world as a corporeal undead being after making a pact with a ghost lord.

Royal Empire. The former Royal Empire of the Stormfields, which officially ended in 1973.

Seastrider. A human ethnic group, located around the islands to the northeast of Adhova. Famed as merchants, and founded Adhova’s Fourth Great Empire.

Shade. An undead being or ghost trapped in Tenebra.

Soul. A concept that encompasses your identity, memories, and spiritual essence. While functionally immortal, it can also be stolen, drained and devoured.

Spectral Energy. The magic associated with death, Tenebra, and Revenants.

Standard. The ‘standard’ language of the Stormfielders (Krondirim), which they attempted to make the dominant and only language in Adhova.

Stonewilder. A human ethnic group based on the colder, southern parts of the Continent. Common to the southern edges of the Stormfields.

Stormfields. A nation on the eastern coast of Adhova, founded by the fleeing remnants of the Dark Emperor’s army.

Tenebra. The Underworld. Another realm or dimension that traps ghosts who are too burdened by regret to move on. A hostile environment.

Underworld, see Tenebra.

Varuval. A human ethnic group. Traditionally, the indigenous population of the Stormfields that were displaced and assimilated after the Krondirim invaded the region. Many of their primary sources were erased by the Krondirim. Usually stereotyped as lower-class works, peasants and ‘dirtfarmers’.

Veil. The barrier between the physical world and the other dimensions.

Vestige-Bearer. A person who has a vestige.

Vestige. A soul fragment of a powerful extra-dimensional entity, granted to a mortal after they strike a pact. This enables the transformed mortal to channel energy from their patron and cast magic, but in exchange they become their patron’s agent (see also vestigial or vestige-bearer). Lukie made a pact with her ghost lord to become revenant. Other types exist—Cage referred to making a pact with an ‘ancient hero’ to become a preserver.

Vestigial. Not commonly used, often derogatory—it refers an agent of a patron, who having made a pact with a mortal, has created a ‘vestigial’ part of themselves to be their agent in the human world.

Vharmarun. The Sun. In Harmonism, associated with lawfulness, stability, life and the hearth. Protector of the Golden World.

Wanwood. An elven nation bordering the Stormfields with its own ruling monarchy.

Zheist. The world. It orbits Vharmarun, the Sun, it has one moon (Amarune) and a planetary ring (Mamaruk). It has five continents and is home to six different sapient species including hominins, orcs, featherdrakes and kraken.