Awakeners by Sheri S Tepper

Melancholies: Wandering pseudo religious bands of the Noor who collect coin for the Queen of the Noor in the cities of Northshore. Noor. The: The black people of the northern moors, from whom the Melancholies come.

Northshore That area of land immediately to the north of the World River which is occupied with separated townships.

Pamet A fiber crop in which arm long pods open to reveal sheaves of white strands used in making cloth.

Potipur: Chief god in the Thraish trinity. Also the largest moon.

Priests of Potipur: Awakeners assigned to Temple duty, distinguished by blue-painted faces and mirror-decked garb.

Puncon: A spicy fruit, most often used in jam and confections. The bloom of the puncon tree.

Rivermen: A heretical group who put their dead in the River.

Servants of Abricor: Another name for the fliers who frequent the bone pits.

Song-Fish: A shallow-water fish that grows to great size and which sings in the evenings and early mornings, the pitch and tempo dependent upon the size of the fish (smaller fish having higher, more frequent tonal eruptions).

Sorting Out: Theologically, that process by which the dead are sorted into categories of worthy and unworthy.

South shore: The land to the south of the World River, considered almost mythical.

Split River; Split River Pass: A river originating in a mountain lake in the Teeth of the North, running both north and south from that point. The pass cut by that river. The shortest route from the Chancery to Northshore, ending in the town of Vobil-dil-go.

Stilt-lizard: A lizard with very long rear legs that stalks the shallow waters of the River or swamps, snapping up small fish or aquatic bugs.

Strangeys, the: Creatures of vast size and unknown habits living in the World River.

Strinder’s Isle: An island not far from Northshore that is occupied by a tribe of Treeci and a few surviving members of the Strinder family.

Talkers, the: Infrequently hatched members of the Thraish who have the talent of articulate speech over and above that found in ordinary Thraish.

Tears of Viranel: A fungus that reanimates recently dead bodies or takes over live ones, changing the composition of the flesh.

Teeth of the North: The mountain range separating Chancery lands from the moors of the Noor and Northshore.

Thou-ne: Township. Birthplace of Peasimy Plot. Site of the origin of the crusade.

Thraish. the: Race of large, carnivorous fliers in the world north of the World River. A flier can lift a small person easily. Two or more of them can carry a large adult human. While light-boned, their talons and beaks are formidable weapons.

Towers, the: One in each township, residences of the Awakeners.

Towns, the Areas along Northshore, each approximately thirty miles wide, largely agricultural, usually centered on a village or urban area, extending northward into unsettled or Noor country. Typical towns are Thou-ne, Baris, Cheeping Wells, Xoxxy-Do, and so forth. There are 2,400 towns on Northshore.

Treeci: A race of ground-dwelling Thraish whose wings have atrophied because of their diet.

Viranel: Third, female, deity in the Thraish trinity. Also the third moon.

Vobil-dil-go: Township. Some distance west of Thou-ne. Historically called the site of the embarkation of the Noor.

Xoxxy-DO: Township. Birthplace of Thrasne.

SOUTHSHORE

When Pamra left Thou-ne, moving westward along the River road, some thousand of the residents of Thou-ne went after her. Most of them were provisioned to some extent, though there were some who went with no thought for food or blankets, trusting in a providence that Pamra had not promised and had evidently not even considered, Peasimy Plot, for all his seeming inanity, was well provided for. He had a little cart with things in it, things he had been putting by for some time. The widow Plot would have been surprised to find in it items that had disappeared from her home over the last fifteen years or so. There were others in Thou-ne who would have been equally surprised to find their long-lost belongings assisting Peasimy in his journey.

The procession came to Atter, and though some of the Thou-neites dropped out of the procession, many of Atter joined it. Pamra preached in the Temple there, to general acclaim. Then came Bylme and Twarn-the-little, then Twarn-the-big—where the townspeople made Pamra a gift of a light wagon in which she might ride, pulled by her followers—then a dozen more towns, and in each of them the following grew more numerous, the welcome more tumultuous. Peasimy himself began to appoint “messengers” to send ahead with word of their coming. It was something that came to him, all at once. “Light comes,” he told them. “That is what you must say.” As time went on, the messages grew more detailed and ramified, but it was always Peasimy who sent them.