Episode 38 Glossary
Characters
Bjorn: Keeper of Helvegen and principal pilgrim of the Nornian party. He learns that Bjor Kavaar was pregnant when he left Norn, accepts Kypheron's last flame, and survives a fall into the chasm beneath the Felrune Bridge.
Vyr: Witnesses Helvegen's hidden glow and confronts a memory of her dying father, whose final counsel challenges her lifelong anticipation of death.
Normandy Borthal: Relives his father's cruelty, renounces his Felric name at the brazier, and tries to protect Bjorn through a platinum ring linking their wounds.
Brill: Revisits his courtship of Cassily and the discovery of her murder. He burns the private love poem he wrote for her.
Bjor Kavaar: Bjorn's wife and a Shadow Claw who remained behind when Norn fell. Bjorn learns through the Wraith Wilds that she was pregnant at their final parting.
Cassily: Brill's murdered first love, seen through memories spanning their first meeting, courtship, and her death.
Magda Navaa: A trusted elder and former adviser to Bjorn who appears as a young healer in a cottage beneath the Felrune Bridge.
Valens Avarith: Veyan warrior seen through Kypheron's dying eyes as he hurls a radiant spear into the dragon god's chest.
Gods and Religion
Kypheron: Dragon god whose last flame burns at the great stone. Bjorn receives a vision of Kypheron's defeat and becomes the flame's new bearer.
Umtheras: Power of death revered by Vyr. The Dregda Moor guardian defies Umtheras by refusing to cross the veil.
Nornian Pilgrimage: An ancestral trial through the Wraith Wilds and across the Felrune Bridge. It demands truth, sacrifice, and confrontation with the pilgrim's past.
The Veil of Death: Boundary the Dregda Moor refuse to cross because they claim to have seen what waits beyond it.
Organizations and Societies
Dregda Moor: Fallen Nornian clan of mystics and shamans who mastered forces of life and death. Their collective spirits guard the route to Drag'Dah.
Shadow Claws: Warriors who remained in Norn with Bjor Kavaar while Bjorn led other survivors to safety.
Bjorn's New Tribe: The Dregda Moor's description of the companions attempting the pilgrimage beside Bjorn.
The Vey: Torrin's ancient people, seen in crystalline armor during Bjorn's vision of the Dragon War.
Creatures and Nature
Dregda Moor Guardian: Mummified, wraithlike figure whose yellow-green eyes and many voices embody the clan's refusal to pass beyond death.
Wraith Wilds: Frozen wilderness that manifests painful memories and truths as the pilgrims cross it.
Felrune Rook: Colossal undead bird depicted in earlier pilgrimage warnings. It abducts Bjorn and drops him into the chasm.
Chasm Wolves: Rabid wolves prowling the mire beneath the Felrune Bridge.
Thrice-Rooted Wood: Unknown golden wood forming Helvegen's inherited haft. It shines near the ancestral dead and repels Kypheron's flame.
Items and Technology
Helvegen: Bjorn's ancestral all-blade. Its inherited haft glows gold, sings to the Dregda Moor, and resists Kypheron's last flame.
Kypheron's Last Flame: Inextinguishable fire preserved in the brazier at the great stone and taken into Bjorn's body.
Isabella: Aronin's beloved guitar, sacrificed to the ancestral flame for a chance to help Helena.
Bjorn's Locket and Gilded Flower: Tokens connected to Bjor Kavaar and the cure Bjorn seeks for his niece. He gives them to the flame as his offering.
Platinum Warding Rings: Pair of rough rings made by Normandy to bind his well-being to Bjorn's during the crossing.
Magic and Cosmology
Wraith Visions: Supernatural memories that immerse travelers in the grief, guilt, and truths they have tried to avoid.
Ancestral Offerings: Personal objects burned at the great stone to release burdens from the past and petition the dead for guidance.
Kypheron's Death Memory: Vision experienced from the dragon god's perspective, revealing Valens's spear and Torrin's presence at Kypheron's defeat.
Dregda Moor Reanimation: Sickly yellow-green power that inhabits corpses, awakens the Felrune Rook, and allows the dead to dominate living minds.
The Crystal's Omen: The guardian points to Vyr's crystal and predicts that she will cross the veil the Dregda Moor reject.
Locations and Realms
Wraith Wilds: Blizzard-covered expanse between the glacier and the great stone where the past takes visible form.
The Great Stone: Sixty-foot ancestral monument covered with the marks of former pilgrims and standing behind Kypheron's brazier.
Felrune Bridge: Massive bridge leading across the final chasm to Drag'Dah. A fortified tower stands near its midpoint.
Drag'Dah: Frozen former capital of the Dregda Moor, visible as a black keep trapped within the glacier.
The Chasm Mire: Root-choked wetlands approximately fifteen hundred feet beneath the bridge where Bjorn survives his fall.
Magda's Cottage: Small home beneath the bridge where the young Magda Navaa treats Bjorn's wounds.
History and Lore
Fall of the Dregda Moor: The clan vanished centuries ago, yet its dead remain upon the pilgrimage route and refuse the afterlife.
The Dragon War: Ancient conflict in which Valens, Torrin, and the Vey confronted Kypheron. Bjorn experiences the dragon god's defeat firsthand.
Bjor Kavaar's Pregnancy: Truth hidden from Bjorn when he led Norn's refugees away, leaving the fate of his wife and unborn child unknown.
Helvegen's Inheritance: Bjorn reforged the axe head and grip, but the ancient haft passed between chiefs and predates his ownership.
The Pilgrims' Marks: Pictographs carved into the great stone by generations of travelers and reignited when Bjorn accepts the flame.
