Episode 04 Glossary
Characters
Vyr: Remembers her first act of Ethomancy while serving the Blades of Nas. Draining an outsider's life creates an Ix crystal, awakens an intoxicating hunger, and convinces her uncle that they must flee Cada'Vercia.
Vyr's Uncle: Conceals Vyr's new crystal, warns her not to tell her mother or the other Blades, and begins preparing their escape from the Quiet Lands.
Whisper: Reunites with the Stalkers after abandoning their Andros job. He persuades Magrit and Tavros that the strange companions surrounding him may lead to a far greater reward.
Ernan: Rejoins his former Stalker associates and continues west with Whisper and the travelers.
Elroy "Ego" Derger: A replacement recruited for Whisper and Ernan's missed heist. Black-glint dust infects him outside Calgary, but Th'Marck removes the darkness and changes his disposition to neutral good.
Crumb: A Stalker recruited for the failed Andros job. He helps Ego open the contaminated barrel but avoids the infection that takes hold in Ego.
Magrit Marigold: The commanding member of Whisper's former Stalker company. She accepts his explanation provisionally and escorts the group toward Gavra.
Tavros: A heavily armored lieutenant of the Stalkers and representative of the Residuum. He places Whisper on probation and expects him to report upon reaching Gavra.
Old Maggie: A dangerous, slum-born Stalker who threatens Whisper for abandoning the Andros operation.
Bitter Bick Bitters: A Stalker wounded through the spleen during the failed heist. Normandy secretly uses magic to save him before the company reaches Calgary.
Slim: The only Calgary witness deliberately left alive by Silas. A white mage emerges from his broken mirror and kills him because he remembers something that should remain forgotten.
Snake Eye Joe: Captain of the Dread Stalkers. He agrees to travel toward Gavra after the party explains how to leave the Wintere Woods.
The White Lady: The distant ruler or leader whom the Dread Stalkers hope to cure with a source of pure light.
Silas Palligref: The transformed Gavran captain responsible for Calgary's destruction. He and the remaining black-armored figures continue toward Gavra and seize another caravan.
Th'Marck: Draws the black-glint corruption from Ego, claims that he made an ancient choice he is trying to undo, and explains that Tyve needs both light and darkness.
Rue: Receives a stuffed wolf from Slim's daughter, sees a vision of someone carrying a child into the sea, and begins teaching Normandy the language he remembers instinctively.
Gods and Religion
Nas: Queen of the Umtherans and leader of the Blades of Nas. Vyr serves her order during the memory of her first act of Ethomancy.
The White Lady's Fading Light: The Dread Stalkers describe their ruler's illness as the loss of the radiant flame within her heart. They believe only the purest possible light can restore her.
Light and Darkness in Balance: Th'Marck argues that neither light nor darkness can be wholly forsaken because Tyve requires both to survive.
Organizations and Societies
The Stalkers: Whisper and Ernan's criminal company. Magrit, Tavros, Old Maggie, Bitter Bick, Ego, and Crumb return from a failed heist in Andros with stolen Velpan cargo.
The Residuum: A higher authority within the Stalkers represented by Tavros. It will decide whether Whisper's explanation and promised reward compensate for abandoning the Andros job.
The Crystalline Order: A group of white, regal mages capable of moving through broken glass and killing without leaving visible wounds. One silences Slim and warns the travelers that they are being watched.
Dread Stalkers: Approximately twenty stranded pirates led by Snake Eye Joe. They possess expedition supplies and gold but have lost their ship and cannot navigate Tyve's land.
Velpan Trading Company: One of Gavra's wealthy trading houses. The Stalkers steal its wagon and sealed Shattered Isles cargo from an Andros storehouse.
Blades of Nas: The deadly Umtheran order Vyr serves during her memory. Her uncle fears what its members and Vyr's mother would do if they learned of her Ethomancy.
Creatures and Nature
Tyve's Plague: The corruption carried by black-glint dust. It enters Ego quickly after the barrel opens and can be removed only through Th'Marck's unexplained intervention.
Wintere Woods: A white-barked forest beneath the Triune Mountains. Its misleading winds confound the stranded Dread Stalkers and render their compasses useless.
Items and Technology
Ix Crystal: A crystal formed when Vyr drains the life and soul from her first victim. Her uncle hides it against her body and calls it part of her now.
Black-Glint Barrels: Twelve heavy, iron-bound containers stolen from a Velpan storehouse and marked with a Shattered Isles crest. They contain drained glints and infectious black dust.
Black Glints: Glints whose light has been removed or exhausted. Burning them pulls surrounding light inward and glasses the earth beneath the burial pit.
Stuffed Wolf: A toy given to Rue by Slim's daughter after her rescue from the well. She believes her father's light will protect the travelers through it.
Dread Stalker Gold: A chest of gold recovered from the pirates' wreck. It may help them acquire transport, although Gavra values glint more highly.
Magic and Cosmology
Ethomancy: Vyr's ability to drain life, absorb vitality, and condense a victim's soul into an Ix crystal. The power creates an immediate craving to use it again.
Crystalline Passage: The white mage enters Calgary through a shard of broken mirror, while additional shapes appear to move beneath the glass until the mage withdraws.
Green-Eyed Control: Silas leaves Slim with a ring of verdant light around his eyes and an obsessive need to remember the fear and regret awakened during Calgary's massacre.
Black-Glint Decay: Th'Marck describes drained glints as light that has lost its way. Their corruption can infect both bodies and souls.
Rue's Remembered Language: Writing the ancient alphabet feels like composing music and awakens a ripple of recognition within Rue as Normandy begins to learn it.
Locations and Realms
Cada'Vercia: The City of the Dead in the Undying Quiet Lands. Vyr and her uncle return there after her first act of Ethomancy while secretly preparing to escape.
Calgary: A small farming village east of the Wintere Woods. Silas and two companions burn it, slaughter much of its population, and force neighbors to turn upon one another.
Andros: The port where the Stalkers' heist fails. They steal the Velpan wagon only after missing their intended objective.
The Shattered Isles: A prison and mining colony whose crest marks the stolen black-glint barrels.
Gavra: The destination of the travelers, Stalkers, Dread Stalkers, and Silas. The converging groups approach the capital for very different reasons.
History and Lore
Vyr's First Soul: Vyr's first use of Ethomancy reveals that her power can capture more than physical life and begins the chain of events leading her uncle to plan their flight.
Massacre of Calgary: Silas and two controlled companions raze the village, compel its people to murder one another, and leave Slim alive as a witness to terror he cannot fully remember.
Silencing of Slim: A Crystalline Order mage kills Calgary's last direct witness because he remembers what should remain forgotten, connecting the Order to Silas's atrocities without revealing its allegiance.
Cure of Ego: Th'Marck removes the Plague from Ego by taking away the darkness within him. The cure saves Ego but leaves his inner balance permanently altered.
Alliance with the Dread Stalkers: The travelers agree to guide Snake Eye Joe's stranded pirates to Gavra, joining their search for the mainland to the pirates' mission to save the White Lady.
