Glossary

agathios (pl. agathia)—A young person in training to be a centarch. The Twilight Order searches out children with the ability to touch deiat and trains them as agathia from a young age. Agathia become full centarchs on being granted their cognomen.

alchemy—the process of refining and recombining ghoul arcana. Even broken, rotten remnants of the ghouls’ organic “machines” can be rendered down into useful by-products, from which an alchemist can create quickheal and other medicines, bombs, powerful acids, and a variety of other tools depending on the materials available. The Twilight Order forbids alchemy and considers its products dhak, so its practice is more common in the Splinter Kingdoms than in the Dawn Republic. A few products of alchemy, like quickheal, are so useful that the Order considers them legal, sanctioned arcana, provided they are made by a few carefully controlled suppliers.

arcana—any tool or implement of Elder origin, from rare and powerful weapons like haken or blasters to alchemical creations like quickheal. Common people generally have little understanding of the differences between types of arcana.

Auxiliaries—one of the two major branches of the armed forces of the Dawn Republic, along with the Legions. The Auxiliaries are by far the larger force but, unlike the Legions, carry no arcana weapons and armor, relying on ordinary human-made swords, spears, and bows. They are responsible for policing, keeping order, and local defense against bandits and plaguespawn, under the command of the local dux. Sometimes called by the derogatory nickname “Auxies,” especially by criminals.

bird—ordinary birds are common, but the term often refers to the large, flightless varieties used as beasts of burden. See loadbird, swiftbird, and warbird.

blaster—an arcana weapon that uses deiat in a crude fashion, firing bolts of pure energy that explode on impact. Like any arcana making use of deiat and not in the hands of a centarch, blasters are powered by energy stored in sunsplinters and useless once the energy is expended. The Legions use blasters as their standard ranged weapon. Pistol and rifle variants both exist, with the latter having greater range. Since charged sunsplinters can only be acquired from the Twilight Order or occasionally scavenged from ruins, functioning blasters are very expensive to acquire and a mark of status.

centarch—one of the elite warriors of the Twilight Order, capable of wielding deiat through a haken, unlike all other humans.

Chosen—One of the Elder races, along with the ghouls. All Chosen could use deiat, without the aid of tools like haken, and this power made them unchallenged rulers of a continent-spanning empire for centuries, with humans serving them. They were wiped out by the Plague, but in their final years they founded the Dawn Republic and the Twilight Order, to help humanity survive in their absence.

cognomen—Humans in the former Chosen Empire have either only a given name, or a given name and a family or clan name for city dwellers and elites. In addition, some people have a cognomen, a third name that describes some aspect of their history, character, or appearance. Cognomen are granted by general acclamation, not chosen, and trying to pick one’s own cognomen is the height of arrogance and opens one to mockery. Cognomen are not always complimentary but can be very hard to shake once applied. They are often two-word compounds: Rottentooth, Boldstep, Halfmask.

For centarchs, cognomen have a greater significance. They are granted, not by the centarch’s peers, but by the Kyriliarch Council when an agathios reaches the status of a full centarch. The cognomen matches the way the centarch manifests deiat, and the Council often chooses names held by past centarchs, with the oldest names conveying the most favor and honor.

construct—a semiorganic autonomous servant created by the ghouls using dhaka. Constructs come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, but many are roughly humanoid, with specialized construction for their particular role, such as armor, weapons, or extra limbs. They are typically built of artificial muscle and tissue layered over a metal skeleton, and sometimes resemble plaguespawn, although the latter are much more chaotic and strange. A device called an analytica provides the construct’s ability to understand instructions and make decisions, but only the ghouls understood how these function.

Dawn Republic—A nominally democratic state created by the Chosen as their numbers dwindled during the Plague. Originally, the Republic encompassed all the land that had been part of the Chosen Empire, but in the four hundred years since the Plague, much of the territory has broken away, forming smaller polities collectively known as the Splinter Kingdoms. Even so, the Republic remains the most powerful nation in the known world, with its capital at the old Chosen city of Skyreach.

The Republic has a sometimes uneasy relationship with the Twilight Order and its centarchs. The Order was charged by the Chosen to defend the Republic and humanity, but not to rule it, and so normally stands apart from the daily running of Republican politics. However, the centarchs collectively wield unmatched power, and in addition the Republic’s elite military forces, the Legions, rely on Chosen-built weapons and armor that only the Twilight Order can maintain. The upshot is that the wishes and suggestions of the Order carry considerable weight with the Republican government, and centarchs are legally empowered to dispense justice and commandeer any necessary resources in pursuit of their missions.

The Republic is ruled by a Senate, which is theoretically elected, but the franchise is restricted to the wealthy, and senators almost always come from a small group of powerful families. The Senate elects two consuls every year to serve as chief executives. The Senate appoints a dux as military commander and chief magistrate to the various regions of the Republic, typically one per major city. The duxes command the Auxiliaries, who handle policing and local defense, with the Legions retained under the consuls’ direct control or seconded in small detachments as needed.

Deepfire—A city deep in the Shattered Peak mountains. Deepfire is an exclave, considered Dawn Republic territory in spite of being far outside the Republic’s borders, connected by a Gate under the Chosen fortress known as the Spike.

Originally, the mountain that stood where Deepfire is now hosted a major ghoul city—perhaps the ghoul capital, though stories are conflicted. The Chosen deployed a weapon of unparalleled destructive power against it. While the nature of the weapon is unknown, it blasted the mountain into a kilometers-wide crater and left a giant fissure in the rock known as the Pit. Immediately afterward, the Chosen’s forces began a systematic purge of the ghoul tunnels in the area that had survived the blast.

As the Chosen died out, the Twilight Order continued the purges. Humans from the surrounding areas flocked to the crater, since heat from the Chosen weapon—still burning at the bottom of the Pit—kept it warm in the depths of winter, and the Order and Legion presence provided protection from plaguespawn then devastating the former Chosen Empire. Scavenging in the tunnels eventually became a major industry, and the Order maintained their presence to manage it even after the ghouls had been wiped out.

Modern Deepfire is a divided city. The crater has long since been filled with buildings, and the edge of it marks the formal boundary of the Republic. Beyond that, the mountain is riddled with tunnels, and the people who live in them are called tunnelborn. Tunnelborn are not Republic citizens, and manufactories set up to exploit their cheap labor have become the city’s second primary industry. Tension between the tunnelborn and the Republic citizens living aboveground is common, exacerbated by the plentiful opportunities for smuggling and corruption available to Republic officials.

deiat—the power of creation, identified with the fire of the sun. The Chosen could draw energy from deiat to accomplish a wide range of spectacular feats, from destructive manifestations like balls of flame or bursts of raw force to defensive barriers and more. It could also be used to create unnatural substances, like the indestructible unmetal. More advanced uses of deiat required specialized tools, now called arcana. These devices, when powered by a deiat wielder, could accomplish wonders—the Gates that wove the Empire together and the skyships and skyfortresses that hovered overhead are notable examples, in addition to more mundane tools like blasters, watch charms, water treatment facilities, and so on.

deiat does have limits. It manipulates physical objects and properties—force, temperature, and so on—and does not interact with biological systems at any level except the crudely destructive. deiat tools also require a continuous flow of power, either from a wielder or a storage device like a sunsplinter, and cannot operate without the will of the wielder. In particular, the autonomous constructs used by the ghouls are impossible to create with deiat.

With the Chosen wiped out by the Plague, the only wielders of deiat remaining are the centarchs of the Twilight Order, who can use their haken—themselves a deiat-created tool—to draw deiat power, though more weakly than the Chosen could. Why some humans have the ability to wield deiat and others do not is unknown. Centarchs are typically limited to a particular class of effects—fire, ice, force, and so on—although all can use deiat to power arcana such as Gates and panoply belts. Only the most primitive of construction techniques are still known, but existing unmetal can be reforged and reshaped, allowing the creation of the armor of the centarchs and the Legions.

dhak—Originally, this term referred only to ghoul arcana produced using dhaka. In the centuries since the Plague War, its meaning has expanded and is now synonymous with unsanctioned arcana—arcana not in the very narrow categories approved for safe use by the Twilight Order. Possession of dhak is illegal in the Dawn Republic and grounds for immediate imprisonment or even execution, at the discretion of the arresting official.

dhaka—a form of supernatural power, distinct from the use of deiat, originally wielded by the ghouls. dhaka allows a wielder to influence biological systems and processes, to accelerate, change, or even give a semblance of life to nonliving things. It can heal wounds and alter living creatures and was used by the ghouls to create a great variety of living and semi-living tools—light sources, weapons, even vehicles. The most noteworthy were constructs, automata that could accept orders and act independently, a type of creation impossible even for the Chosen.

Any human can learn to wield dhaka, though the practice can be very dangerous, and much knowledge has been lost. After the Plague War, the dying Chosen created the Twilight Order, and one of its central commandments was to stamp out the knowledge and practice of dhaka forever. This has proven difficult, and the Order pursues dhakim down to the present day.

dhakim—a human wielder of dhaka. Illegal under penalty of death in the Dawn Republic, and even in the Splinter Kingdoms, often shunned and likely to be hunted down by centarchs. dhakim are widely seen as mad, conducting gruesome experiments and creating horrible diseases. Adding to this perception is the fact that dhakim can exert influence over plaguespawn, bringing the mindless creatures under their command. Very occasionally, a dhakim will establish a reputation as a healer and come to be accepted by their community.

Elder—something of the time before the Plague War, approximately four hundred years ago, when the Chosen ruled an empire and the ghouls lived underground. As most common people are hazy on the distinction between various types of arcana and ruins, Chosen and ghoul remnants alike are often referred to generically as Elder.

Forge—The headquarters of the Twilight Order, a mountain fortress not far from Skyreach. Built with the help of the Chosen at the Order’s founding, it is a colossal complex, large enough to accommodate the entire Twilight Order even at its height. As the numbers of centarchs have shrunk over the centuries, the Forge is now largely empty. It has three Gates, the only location to house more than one. The Order’s training, storage, and support facilities are located here, as well as the seat of the Council.

Gate—A Chosen arcana that allows instantaneous transport from one location to another. A Gate looks like a freestanding unmetal arch big enough to admit a wagon. When activated and powered with deiat, it fills with a silvery curtain and connects to a target Gate, allowing free passage between the two simply by stepping through.

Because Gates require a connection to deiat to power them and set their destination, only a centarch can activate one, and the Gate network is exclusively used by the Twilight Order. Many Gate locations are kept deliberately obscure, to prevent enemies of the Order from setting ambushes. In times of extreme danger to the Dawn Republic, the Order has used the Gates to transport Legions, giving the Republic military unmatched strategic mobility.

ghouls—One of the Elder races, along with the Chosen. Information about them was suppressed by the Chosen and later the Twilight Order, so little is known. They were masters of dhaka, produced many constructs and biological arcana, and lived largely underground. Depictions of ghouls generally show humanoids with bestial features. They rebelled against the Chosen, beginning the Plague War, and released the Plague, which eventually drove the Chosen to extinction. In retaliation, the Chosen wiped them out. The ghouls are also believed to have created the plaguespawn as weapons for use in the war.

glowstone—An inexpensive light source resembling a glassy stone, producing a dim blue light when shaken hard. An alchemical creation and generally sanctioned arcana.

haken—the most powerful Chosen arcana, and the signature weapon of the centarchs. Haken resemble bladeless swords, usually adorned with crystals. In the hands of a human with the right potential, they allow access to the energy of deiat. The wielder can generate a blade of pure energy, shaped according to the manifestation of their talent—fire, wind, force, and so on—and draw power to create a variety of effects or activate other Chosen arcana.

The haken were created by the Chosen in their final days to arm the Twilight Order and allow human civilization some access to deiat, and the secret of their construction has been long since lost. Fortunately, the centarchs have an instinctive ability to sense haken in general and their own in particular, so when they are lost the Order can generally recover them.

hardshell—A tortoise-like creature used as a beast of burden. Hardshells resemble common tortoises, but on a massive scale, standing nearly two meters tall at the shoulder and three meters at the top of the shell. They are rare and expensive and have to be trained from the egg to be responsive to their handlers’ commands. Though slow, they can pull enormous loads and are capable of subsisting on little water and poor forage. They are mostly used in deserts and other badlands where fodder is difficult to find.

human—Humans have always formed a vast majority of the population, both in the former Chosen Empire and beyond. After the Plague War and the destruction of the Elder races, humans are all that remain.

In the lands formerly ruled by the Chosen, the human inhabitants display some differences from baseline humans in the rest of the world. They display a much wider range of hair, eye, and skin tones, are highly resistant to disease, and heal quickly. Women have control over their fertility and must consciously invoke it in order to conceive.

A tiny minority of humans have the ability to wield deiat with the assistance of a haken, and these are sought out as children by the Twilight Order to be trained into centarchs. Humans are capable of learning dhaka, though the Order works to suppress this as much as it can.

Inheritance, the—The founding text of the Twilight Order, written by the Chosen to provide guidance after their extinction. It gives a brief history of the Chosen, the Plague War, and the destruction of the ghouls, lays out the ideals and precepts of the Order, and establishes its basic structure and laws.

Kyriliarch—One of the twelve members of the Council that leads the Twilight Order.

Legions—One of the two branches of the Dawn Republic military, along with the Auxiliaries. The Legions are small in number but highly trained and equipped with arcana weapons and armor. They use blaster rifles and distinctive white unmetal armor, giving them power that no conventionally armed force can match.

Though they form the core of the Republic’s military and are concentrated against particular threats, the majority of the Legions at any given time are dispersed, sweeping for plaguespawn. The much more numerous Auxiliaries handle local defense, policing, and other duties.

Since only the Twilight Order has the ability to recharge sunsplinters, reshape unmetal armor, and perform other needed maintenance, the Legions are ultimately dependent on the Order’s centarchs to sustain themselves. This makes the Republic as a whole reliant on the Order, which has sometimes rankled Republic leadership. Legionaries are often seconded to the Order for duty combating plaguespawn and dhakim when the centarchs are spread too thin.

loadbird—The most common beast of burden in the former Chosen Empire, loadbirds are large flightless birds capable of pulling plows or wheeled vehicles. They look something like emus, standing roughly four feet tall at the shoulder, with a long neck that raises their undersized head much higher. Their legs are overdeveloped and heavily muscled, and their wings are small and vestigial.

Like their cousins warbirds and swiftbirds, loadbirds are controlled by a combination of reins and whistle commands; the better trained and more amicable a bird is, the more likely it can be directed by whistles alone. Loadbirds can be ridden but are slow and uncomfortable. Bred for strength, they can pull heavy weights alone or in teams.

Loadbirds eat mostly seeds and insects. They dislike thickheads, and clashes between the two species are notorious for causing problems.

Order—The Twilight Order.

panoply—A type of Chosen arcana that creates a defensive barrier, called a panoply field, around the user, absorbing incoming attacks. A panoply needs a constant supply of deiat to operate and so is not useful to anyone other than centarchs. It will deflect any energy blast or fast-moving object, drawing deiat energy from the user in the process.

A centarch using a panoply is impervious to normal weaponry, and the field will even stop blaster bolts or the blade of a haken. However, the energy drain to maintain the field in the face of sustained attack will quickly exhaust the centarch’s capacity to draw on deiat. Drawing too much power in too short a time will render a centarch unconscious and leave them unable to access deiat for several hours. Duels between centarchs are typically fought wearing panoplies, with the loser being the first to be knocked out in this manner.

Physically, the most common form of panoply is a broad belt of thin silver fabric, worn around the midsection, but other varieties exist with the same function.

Plague—a virulent illness that affected the Chosen during the Plague War. It was released by the ghouls in their rebellion against Chosen rule, and in spite of enormous efforts at combating it ultimately proved completely fatal to the Chosen, although it had no effect on humans. It is commonly associated with plaguespawn, who appeared around the same time, but the connection is not understood.

plaguespawn—Unnatural creatures created with dhaka that have afflicted the former Chosen Empire since the Plague War. It is commonly believed they were originally created by the ghouls as living weapons during the conflict and have run amok ever since.

Plaguespawn have almost infinitely variable forms. They appear as an assembly of organic parts into a vaguely animal-like shape, mostly muscle and bone, from a variety of mismatched sources. They can be as small as mice or as large as elephants, and there are stories of even bigger monsters. In spite of their hodgepodge, ramshackle appearance, they are universally vicious, fast, and deadly.

While they use animal matter in their bodies, plaguespawn are not biological creatures in the normal sense, and are powered by dhaka. They do not eat, excrete, or reproduce as true animals do. Instead, their sole drive is to find and kill animals, the larger the better, and humans preferentially above all others. After killing, the plaguespawn disassembles the corpses using dhaka and incorporates them into itself, sometimes completely altering its own form in the process. Plaguespawn thus grow larger the more they kill, though there may be an ultimate upper limit on this process.

It’s not well understood how new plaguespawn come into existence. Small plaguespawn have been observed to “bud” from larger ones, and areas infested with plaguespawn tend to become more infested over time. On the other hand, areas swept clean and safe for years can suddenly be subject to plaguespawn outbreaks. One theory is that the Plague itself is still present in the atmosphere and periodically causes plaguespawn to form spontaneously. The Twilight Order maintains that plaguespawn outbreaks are caused by dhak and dhakim, and hunts them relentlessly.

dhakim do have a connection to plaguespawn through dhaka, and can exert control over them. Absent this control, the monsters are nearly mindless, driven only to hunt and kill. The more powerful the dhakim, the more and larger plaguespawn they can control.

The threat of plaguespawn is ubiquitous throughout the former Chosen Empire. In the Dawn Republic, a large proportion of the Legions at any given time are engaged in plaguespawn sweeps, repeated at multiyear intervals throughout Republic territory. Along the borders, the Auxiliaries keep constant watch for incursions. This keeps Republic territory reasonably safe from plaguespawn attack, though the effort involved is enormous and periodic outbreaks still occur. In the Splinter Kingdoms, with their lesser resources, such sweeps are impossible and plaguespawn attacks are a fact of life. Towns and villages are walled, houses are fortified, and travelers go well armed. Fortunately, the mindlessness of plaguespawn means they are usually no match for the well prepared.

Plague War—The conflict that brought about the destruction of the Elder races and the fall of the Chosen Empire. The specific events of the war have largely been lost in the chaos of the times, but an outline is preserved in the histories of the Twilight Order. The ghouls rebelled against the rule of the Chosen, and when their rebellion was suppressed they unleashed the Plague, which eventually wiped out the Chosen completely. The dwindling Chosen, however, were able to exterminate the ghouls in turn, and then founded the Twilight Order and the Dawn Republic to help their human former subjects survive in the wreckage of their empire.

pony—A small equine sometimes used as a mount or beast of burden. More expensive and less capable than loadbirds, thickheads, or hardshells, ponies are relatively rare, and primarily used as status symbols by the wealthy.

quickheal—An alchemical creation that functions as an anesthetic, prevents infection, and promotes rapid healing. It can be made either in a liquid form or as waxy, chewable tablets. Sanctioned arcana when produced by an Order-approved alchemist.

Republic—The Dawn Republic.

sanctioned arcana—arcana or alchemical products approved by the Twilight Order for general use, including quickheal, glowstones, and other staples. All other arcana and alchemical products are considered dhak by the Order. Sanctioned arcana is always expensive and in limited supply, which creates constant problems with smugglers selling dhak.

skyfortress—The largest class of skyship created by the Chosen Empire. Only eight of these massive vessels were ever built. During the Plague War, they were used to deliver the most devastating of the Chosen’s weapons against the ghouls. Of the eight, three were lost over the sea in a last-ditch attempt by the Chosen to find land outside their continent-wide empire, in the hopes of escaping the Plague. The other five were either grounded and eventually destroyed, or crashed due to mishap or ghoul attack. One, the skyfortress Grace in Execution, overhangs the city of Grace and was the original reason for its settlement.

Skyreach—The capital of the Dawn Republic, and former capital of the Chosen Empire. The heart of Republic wealth and power, and the home of its Senate and ruling class. The huge Chosen buildings that form the heart of Skyreach would be impossible to inhabit without a continuous supply of sunsplinters charged with deiat to power their elevators, ventilation, water, and so on, and so only here, with the cooperation of the Twilight Order, is something like the Chosen’s old standard of living maintained. Living in such a tower is a mark of extremely high status, only available to the hugely wealthy and powerful.

skyship—Any of the wide variety of flying vessels used by the Chosen. These ranged from small one-man skiffs to the massive skyfortresses, generally taking the form of flattened teardrops, with the pointed end being the bow. They were some of the most advanced and complex arcana the Chosen created. Many were destroyed in the Plague War, and while the Twilight Order maintained a few during the first few decades of its existence, they quickly broke down beyond human capacity to repair. No operational skyships are currently known to exist, though there are always rumors among scavengers.

Splinter Kingdoms—portions of the former Chosen Empire that have broken away from the Dawn Republic. After the Plague War, the Republic asserted authority over the entirety of the old Chosen Empire, but maintaining control over such a vast area proved impossible in the face of rebellions and plaguespawn attacks. Some regions were abandoned as the Legions retreated to a perimeter they could keep clear of plaguespawn, while other cities declared themselves independent under local rulers or ambitious warlords. The Republic crushed some of these rebellions, but strained resources meant that others had to be accepted.

Life in the Splinter Kingdoms is generally more dangerous than in the Republic, without the arcana-armed Legions to keep order and suppress plaguespawn. However, this varies greatly from polity to polity. In spite of their name, not all the breakaway states are monarchies—there are free cities, republics, and other political experiments, sometimes changing rapidly as they war with one another. As a general rule, the farther from the Republic they are, the smaller and less stable they become, with larger kingdoms like Grace, Meltrock, and Drail being stabilized by the opportunity to trade with the Republic.

While dhak is illegal in the Republic, its status in the Splinter Kingdoms varies. Some attempt to maintain the Republic’s ban, while others, like Grace, embrace dhak and encourage its creation and sale. Smuggling across the Republic border is a major business. The Twilight Order asserts that its centarchs have the right to go anywhere in the old Chosen Empire to hunt dhak and dhakim, but as a practical matter some Splinter Kingdoms are openly hostile to Order agents, and they must move secretly there.

sunsplinter—an arcana device that serves as a deiat battery, storing power for future use by other arcana. Most notably used by blasters as a power source. Only someone with a connection to deiat can refill one, so fully charged sunsplinters are rare and expensive.

sunstone—an arcana light source, powered by deiat, which produces bright white light. Controlled by deiat and requiring periodic infusions of power to keep operating, so used only by the Twilight Order or Republic elites.

swiftbird—A cousin of the loadbird and the warbird, specialized for riding. Generally resembles a loadbird, but with longer, leaner legs. Contrary to its name, the swiftbird specializes not in speed but in endurance. A warbird might outrun one over the course of a short charge, but a swiftbird can keep up a rapid pace for ten to twelve hours a day with sufficient food and water, allowing riders to cover long distances.

thickhead—A large reptilian creature used as a beast of burden. Thickheads resemble giant lizards, with short tails, tough, scaly skin, and bony protrusions around their skulls. They are tremendously strong and can pull very heavy loads, although their fastest pace is not much more than a walk. They are also very sure-footed and can traverse almost any terrain. Slow and expensive to maintain compared to loadbirds, they’re used for particularly heavy burdens or as pack animals over bad roads.

Though thickheads look fierce, with their beaks and spiked skulls, they are pure vegetarians and display almost no aggressive behavior. Their smell tends to rile loadbirds, who sometimes snap at them or shy away. When threatened, a thickhead lowers itself to the ground and puts its forepaws over its face, protecting its vulnerable eyes and belly and relying on its tough hide to repel an attacker. Once hunkered down, they are notoriously difficult to get moving again.

Twilight Order—an organization created by the dying Chosen, in the last days of the Plague War, to give humans the ability to use deiat and sustain civilization after their extinction. Key to this purpose are the haken, Chosen arcana that allow the few humans capable of drawing on deiat to wield its power.

The purposes of the Twilight Order are to defend humanity as a whole, especially from plaguespawn and ghouls; to suppress knowledge of dhaka and destroy dhakim, as part of that defense; and to make sure the power of deiat is wielded for the common good. These themes are laid out in a book called the Inheritance, which details the history of the Chosen and the Plague War and explains the goals of the Order.

The core of the Order are the centarchs. Every human capable of wielding deiat that the Order is able to locate is brought to the Forge to become an agathios, a centarch trainee under an experienced teacher. When they are deemed ready by their master, usually by their early twenties, they receive their cognomen and are declared a full centarch. Apart from the Kyriliarchs, all centarchs are theoretically peers, and free to choose their own path, though in practice a great deal of deference is paid to seniority and unwritten tradition. Centarchs, wielding deiat through their haken, travel throughout the Dawn Republic and beyond, fighting plaguespawn and hunting dhak and dhakim.

The governing body of the Order is the Council of twelve Kyriliarchs. Generally senior centarchs, these members are nominated by the other centarchs, approved by the Council, and serve for life. Only a majority of the Council can issue directions that centarchs are bound by the laws of the Order to accept. The Council sets broad policy for the Order, directs centarchs to particular areas of trouble, and rules on intra-Order disputes and transgressions.

In addition to the centarchs, the Order includes supporting staff of several sorts. The Forge is maintained by hereditary families of servants, who do manual labor in the fortress. An extensive logistics service handles supplies and tracks the vast storehouse of arcana the Order maintains, and a courier service uses the Gates to provide rapid delivery of information. Arcanists help maintain equipment and work with centarchs in the field to research arcana. Another group, called scouts, supports the centarchs directly on missions and maintains outposts and intelligence-gathering operations throughout the Republic and the Splinter Kingdoms, working undercover where the Order is not welcome.

While the Order is not in charge of the Republic, nor subject to the instructions of the Republic Senate, the two groups maintain an uneasy but close relationship. The Inheritance instructs the Order to stay out of mundane politics, to preserve their independence and reduce temptation to corruption. But the Order has traditionally been willing to intervene when the Republic is threatened, and the power of the centarchs is the ultimate guarantor of the Republic’s continued status as the most powerful nation in the remains of the Chosen Empire.

unmetal—a material used by the Chosen for a wide variety of purposes. Unmetal is lighter than steel but enormously stronger, essentially indestructible except against deiat. Even deiat takes significant time and effort to damage it. It can have a variety of colors and finishes but is usually identifiable by its iridescent sheen.

With the fall of the Chosen, the means of creating unmetal has been lost, but enormous amounts remain from various Chosen ruins. Modifying and repurposing them is obviously a challenge, however. The Twilight Order retains a limited capacity to reforge unmetal, which they use to create equipment for themselves and the Legions.

vulpi (pl. vulpi)—a livestock animal raised for meat, with a unique life cycle. They are omnivores and will eat nearly anything, but can thrive on grasses and weeds. Vulpi are born small and helpless, but rapidly grow into boisterous, playful creatures resembling both pigs and weasels. This yearling phase lasts for approximately their first year or two. Toward the end of it, they mate repeatedly, and females store enough sperm to last for the rest of their lives. They then mature into breeders, nearly doubling in size and becoming squatter and ill-tempered. For the following year or more, the females will give birth to litters of pups every eight to ten weeks.

Finally, the mature vulpi enter their final stage of life, during which they are called terminals. They become sessile and increase enormously in size (up to tenfold if provided with plenty of feed), and their legs atrophy and are eventually lost in the vast bulk of their bodies. In this phase they are extremely efficient eaters and produce little waste. On their own, terminals simply die of starvation, but properly tended and eventually slaughtered they produce large amounts of high-quality, pork-like meat. Vulpi is a staple throughout the Dawn Republic and the Splinter Kingdoms. Culled at the yearling or breeder stage, they can also provide useful leather and other by-products.

warbird—A rarer cousin of loadbirds and swiftbirds, warbirds are large, flightless birds bred for combat. They resemble loadbirds but retain larger wings, which they flap for stability while kicking. Unlike their more docile cousins, warbirds have long talons on their toes and a sickle-like claw on the back of their foot, and are capable of tearing an unarmored human to shreds.

In battle, warbirds are typically equipped with armor and have blades affixed to their beaks, while carrying an armored rider who fights with a lance or spear. Outside the Republic (where the Legions with their arcana weapons remain the dominant military force) warbird-riding cavalry is often the preeminent military arm.

Warbirds are more difficult to train than their cousins, and more expensive to keep, eating mostly large insects and rodents. They are therefore expensive, and owning one is usually a mark of status.