Glossary
GLOSSARY
ANCIENT TONGUE: The language of Ur Dinyé’s long-dead monarchs and scribes that persists in use across academia and the upper class.
ASSARIUS ( pl: assarii): A bronze coin of Ur Dinyé. The head of the coin is engraved with approximations of the many Saints or their emblems. The tail sports the seal of the Metals Guild, verifying the coin to be authentic.
AUREUS ( pl: aurei): A gold coin of Ur Dinyé. The head of the coin is engraved with approximations of the seven Elsar or their emblems. The tail sports the seal of the Metals Guild, verifying the coin to be authentic. An aureus is equivalent to ten denarii or a hundred assarii.
BIRRUS: A woolen half-cloak of sorts worn over the head and shoulders.
THE CODICES: The eighty-three manuscripts depicting and detailing the workings of the seven High Elsar, seven Dark Elsar, and two ambiguous Elsar. A collection of firsthand and secondhand events, The Codices are sacred to Elsarians, those who worship the Elsar.
CORPUS JURIS TOTUS: The collated volumes of Ur Dinyé’s body of law and legal procedure.
DAMNATIO AD METALLA: A phrase meaning “Damned to the mines” in the ancient tongue. The severity of the punishment depends on the mine and its Minewarden.
DENARIUS ( pl : denarii): A silver coin of Ur Dinyé. The head of the coin is engraved with approximations of the seven Elsar or their emblems. The tail sports the seal of the Metals Guild, verifying the coin to be authentic. A denarius is equivalent to ten assarii.
THE ELSAR: The pantheon of gods worshipped in the Elsarian religion. They are divided into High Elsar (Charity, Harvest, Radiance, Temperance, Truth, Wisdom), Dark Elsar (Avarice, Discord, Famine, Indolence, Pestilence, Ruin, Deceit), and Ambiguous Elsar (Wrath, Death, Time). The gods are considered benevolent, malignant, and mercurial, depending on who is asked.
INSULA ( pl : insulae): Apartment-style buildings occupied by lower-income Urds.
IUDEX ( pl : iudices): An Urd judge.
LUGENS: Healers whose specialty it is to examine the dead and autopsy their bodies.
THE NAADUIR: The minor pantheon of gods, comprised of humans who achieved deification through devotion to the Elsar. The Naaduir are divided into Saints and the Wretched, who are presumed to respectively serve the High Elsar and the Dark Elsar.
NEUTRALIS: An individual whose gender identity and/or gender expression expands outside the traditional gender binary.