Glossary of The Droughtlands

On this page you will find a general glossary covering the world of The Droughtlands, including the nature of the magic within it, those who utilise it, and some of the terms they use to identify the things around them.

Further below, you’ll find extended glossaries specific to each book, hidden in their drop down boxes to avoid spoilers.

The Magic of the Droughtlands

  • One of the rarest resources in The Droughtlands, water is necessary for the creation of the inks that enable traditional runic magic in The Droughtlands. Folk tales say that it once fell from the sky as rain, though it has been eons since then, with all rain having disappeared along with the extinction of the Hytharo.

    Now it is only found deep in the ground, retrieved with the help of complex drilling operations, or in that hands of daring explorers that brave the depths of the ruins left by those-of-glass.

  • The ink for the runic peoples of The Droughtlands is made with different recipes particular to each of them, but they all have one rare ingredient in common: water. Without it, they’re just vials of dried herbs, crushed pigments and powdered minerals.

    Ink is generally concocted and stored in small glass vials, from which about twenty runes can be painted on one’s skin. These are used sparingly, and one vial can sometimes last as long as a lifetime.

  • Runes are painted onto the skin, usually the forearm of one’s off-hand, before they can be cast out into the world. Each one represents a word, or a number of words, that reflect the intention of the effect that is to be achieved.

    The shape they take is of squares arrayed on an invisible, three by three grid. This, along with the rather flexible meanings and interpretations for what each rune represents makes this a rather robust written language in and of itself.

  • An axiom is the term given to a rune or set of runes that are sent out into the world with an intended effect. If each rune represents a word, then think of an axiom as representing a completed statement. With each rune already having a flexible meaning, this can lead to an axiom composed of the same runes to having vastly different effects, depending on the intention behind them.

    It’s for this reason the people of The Droughtlands reserve runes and axioms only for magic, and use a different form of written word for the preservation of knowledge.

The Remnants Of those-of-glass

“Those-of-glass” is the name that the people of The Droughtlands have given to those who built the various forbidden ruins that are scattered across the dunes. Little else is known about them, other than their magic being impossibly different from what the living are familiar with.

  • The ruins left by those-of-glass are as varied as they are confounding. The left over debris of such an advanced civilisation is so far beyond any of the means and technologies of the people of The Droughtlands, even in its ruined states. Most common is the collections of towers with walls of shattered glass and hyper-machined steel, but other forms have been observed, but only as far as their appearance.

    Little is known about their former purpose, and the bizarre phenomena that lingers within their bounds only make the matter more confounding. Places where all expected natural occurrences surprise even the wiliest of minds. Despite the possible riches that can be retrieved from within, ruins are often viewed with a sense of harsh taboo.

  • While the ruins left by those-of-glass are already dangerous places, filled with life-threatening fractures, the undercities that lie below them are far more hazardous. These cavernous spaces hold the roots of the ruined skyscrapers that are buried by the sweeping dunes of The Droughtlands.

    Few are brave enough to venture down here. Fewer still return. Of those, none do so unchanged. For it’s down in these places where there is the greatest risk of meeting a shadow dancer.

  • These spectral beings are said to have once lived, finding their fates within the ruins they now haunt as silent and unnerving guardians. Crossing one’s path is a sure omen of death, as the sheer thought of them is enough to drive one to a deathly madness.

    The effects of their magic or how they came to be is a mystery, and the foolish few who’ve tried to learn such things are rumoured to have turned into shadow dancers themselves.

  • o   This is the term given to the fields of unnatural phenomena often associated with places once touched by those-of-glass. This could take the form of anything from fields of strange lights that beguile and confuse, metal boundaries of twisted steel that spark with strange energy, or even places where time stands still.

    Efforts to catalogue and categorise these occurrences are arduous and unsuccessful, so the rights to name them often falls to the scavengers that escape them with their lives, sometimes with treasures in the form of paralicts.

  • Paralicts are objects or items with unnatural or otherworldly effects that are retrieved from fractures. While a thriving black market exists with the demand for their properties, which can help circumnavigate the need for precious water.

    Throughout various eras of The Droughtlands, paralicts have been heirloom-like treasures, collected to be used at the centre of industries, or even enough to entice a death sentence, if found in possession of one.

Runic Peoples

Telling which runes and which magics one will use is generally as simple as telling the colour of one’s eyes, unless they’ve found themselves a set of tinted goggles. Due to the different aspects of utility a diversity of them can provide, ideas of discrimination between them rarely go beyond name-calling.

Kretatics

Bearing green eyes, Kretatics employ their abilities through the manipulation of metals. This generally involves the creation of arcanites, though can also include the detection of distant metals, other Kretatics, or other magnetic phenomena. All this gives them a predisposition to practicality and an inherent need to be in control.

  • An important way for Kretatics to identify each other is through their magnetic resonance. It’s a latent signature unique to each individual and the arcanites they create, and is generally only detectable by other Kretatics. This signature trait is how the currency of The Droughtlands, small coins known as reels, is regulated, making them nearly impossible to counterfeit.

  • Arcanites are the term given to the contraptions and machines that Kretatics create through their axioms. It’s a largely all-encompassing term, and can refer to something as simple as a small, self-propelled wheel to an entire factory-like machine.

    Controlling arcanites is a constant thing, requiring Kretatics to dedicate a portion of their mind to their creations. The former example would be like a thought in the back of one’s mind, whereas the latter would have the controller in a near-comatose state.

    Due to the above, and the costly use of ink, there is still a drive to create arcanites or entirely inert machines that rely on other forms of force, drive or energy.

  • Most of a Kretatic’s wheelhouse will focus on controlling the arcanites they create, which will come down to using certain runes to impart elements of magnetism to bind metal together, to give it some degree of sensory response, and even a level of intelligence or autonomy.

    Other applications include magnetic pulses to detect metal, waves of magnetic force to scramble the senses of other Kretatics, and even purges of other Kretatic’s control from arcanites, either to disable or destroy the constructs.

Hytharo

Extinct for a matter of thousands of years, little is known about the red-eyed Hytharo in the era of The Droughtlands where the stories are set. A great deal appears to have been forgotten about them, yet the emergence of one from a ruin in the southern sands gives a new opportunity to learn about them. (See The First Hytharo series.)

According legend, they once controlled the storms that quenched The Droughtlands, and it was their final sacrifice at the time of their extinction that sealed the water into the sky itself, only to be breathed. Perhaps it’s possible to undo this, but the consequences of this would be unimaginable.

  • Gifted with the realm of the storm itself, a Hytharo is able to withstand strikes by lightning and other similar energies better than others, but not entirely.

  • A Hytharo’s main weapon is lightning. A force that is impossible to dodge and impossibly devastating, it means that a lone Hytharo is almost unrivalled on a battlefield. However, such a deadly application doesn’t translate well into non-combative purposes.

  • Casting a single bolt of lightning is almost enough to end another’s life, but other runes can manipulate these axioms into having wider-ranging effects, such as lingering fences of deadly sparks, lethally charged weapons or hovering balls of energy that rain death upon those below.

Reythurists

Matching the sky itself, the blues eyes of the Reythurist are a telling sign of where their abilities lie. Their manipulation of the air itself has them dubbed often as wind weavers. They are usually messengers, scouts, or any other role that requires the traversal of vast swathes of land.

  • Reythurists have some of the keenest senses of all among The Droughtlands, and are able to sense the slightest disturbance in the air. In fact, a great deal of a Reythurist’s skill has little to do with their axioms in the first place, as these gifts give them an almost supernaturally fast reaction time.

  • One of the first things discovered by Reythurists was that sound is simply the manipulation of air itself. This allows them to throw their voices, or utterly silence areas.

    They can also use their summoned wind to shift great quantities of sand, allowing them to quell a sandstorm or create one.

  • Ubiquitous for their ability to take to the air, the axioms required to do so are, for some, the only ones they need to learn. However, those with the minds inclined to do so, and the water available to them, have experimented a great deal with just how much air can do, sometimes with explosive results.

Curiktics

Gifted with the affinities of the sun, yellow-eyed Curiktics are the very example of a walking double-edged sword. Their axioms allow them to cast out balls of fire, or blinding flashes of light, while also enabling them to cauterise wounds shut. With this suite of abilities, they make for ideal soldiers, as long as they can get their hands on enough water.

  • Even without runes, Curiktics aren’t without their gifts. Their vision is unparalleled, both in the face of blaring sunlight and in the deepest glooms. They also find themselves to be slightly more resilient to fire, themselves, and have a keen sense for changes in temperature.

  • As mentioned above, Curiktics can access two different sides of their abilities. It makes for an inquisitive, if fiery, nature as they push the limits on how flexibly they can interpret their own axioms to unlock a greater suite of abilities.

    With fire, they can use it both for its obvious offensive applications, yet they also can employ it to heal flesh wounds and other injuries, fusing them together as lumps of scarred and burnt flesh.

    Light, on the other hand, is a more experimental field to be explored, with some experiments even finding interactions with a Kretatic’s magnetic resonance.

  • The hurling of balls of fire used to be a key fighting technique until the proliferation of other, more capable and less resource hungry weapons took their place, so a great deal of fire comes down to the aforementioned healing abilities, which is manifested through tightly controlled jets of searing fire shooting from their fingers.

    Glow orbs are another common sight in The Droughtlands, small balls of light with a glass-like surface that are used to illuminate most cities. They last a great while, and are largely indestructible, so the creation of them is one of the first things a Curiktic learns to do.

  • Characters (roughly in order of appearance):

    Spiric: Spir-ic

    Grethard: Greth-ard

    Byreth: By-reth

    Vehli: Veh-li

    Leerukhart: Lheer-rue-cart

    Vorric: Vorr-ic

    Tetran: Tet-tran

    Arallak: Ar-a-llak

    Greely: Gree-ly

    Voss-Ela: Voss-El-a

    Braiyth: Bray-ith

    Objects:

    Respark: Re-spark

    A paralict often found in areas cursed by lightning. Taking the form of small orange discs of ceramic appearance, they spin perpetually. Attempts to stop this motion have disastrous and explosive consequences.

    Molten Flux:

    Molten flux was a self-replicating liquid metal that was injected into fresh corpses to create autominds. It was highly volatile and would quickly swell to fill whatever container it existed in, to the limits of surface tension. Contact with skin was lethal. Despite these dangers and the punishment for being found in possession of a single drop, it was the subject of a roaring trade until it was destroyed at the end of a time known as The Flux Catastrophe.

    Automind:

    An automind is a fresh corpse that has been reanimated by molten flux. Entirely docile, autominds are used by some Kretatics to control arcanites far larger and more complex that they are normally able to.

    Places:

    The Droughtlands:

    The name given to the stretches of desert wasteland which is known to those who live upon it.

    Breggesa: Bre-gges-a

    The largest city in the Droughtlands, an enormous trade hub at the crossroads of several regions and home of the Academy of Breggesa.

    The Lightning Cage:

    An area of ruins left by those-of-glass, one of the largest in the region. Extremely difficult to enter, due to the seemingly impenetrable fence of ancient lightning from which the place gets its name.

    Kurkress: Kur-kress

    A mining town nestled in the mountains to the west of The Lightning Cage, which draws great mineral wealth by extracting the excavated remnants from a dormant ruin left by those-of-glass.

    Revance: Reh-vance

    Revance is the gargantuan walking fortress that wanders across the Droughtlands, both as a cargo hauler and a mercenary outfit. Despite being one gigantic arcanite, its creator and controller are still unknown.

    Basarod: Bas-a-rod

    An ancient citadel which serves as one of the primary trade hubs in the region of the southern sands, standing largely independent from Breggesa.

    Kyrea: Kye-re-a

    Factory town infamous for its factories and the murky underworld of autominds and traders of molten flux that supply them.

    Iroka: I-row-ka

    Mining town that serves as a trade hub at the end of Revance’s journey across the Droughtlands, the beginning of which lies just outside of Breggesa.

  • Coming soon.

  • Characters:

    Rettic: Ret-tic

    Archarus: Ar-cha-rus

    Hanwark: Han-wark (the “wark” sounds like “quark”)

    Anora: A-nor-a

    Pelstow: Pel-stow

    Places:

    The Droughtlands:

    The never-ending dunes of The Droughtlands are sparsely populated and even less settled. Long drained of any liquid water, its inhabitants live a scavenger’s life, hydrated by an ancient act of magic performed by the extinct Hytharo that locked the water into the air.

    Breggesa:

    The largest city in The Droughtlands, an enormous trade hub at the crossroads of several regions and home of the Academy of Breggesa.

    Revance:

    Revance is the gargantuan walking fortress that wanders across The Droughtlands, both as a cargo hauler and as a mercenary outfit. Despite being one gigantic arcanite, its creator and controller are still unknown.

    The Ruins of those-of-glass:

    The mysterious towers poking out of the dunes in clusters across The Droughtlands are seen as places of unpredictable danger, yet this doesn’t stop brave and foolish souls from venturing into their depths in search of powerful treasures or secret magics.

  • Characters (roughly in order of appearance):

    Ryza: Rye-za

    Yuvet: You-vet

    Ferrick: Fer-rick

    Holm: Holme (like the word “home”, but with an “L” in it.)

    Tyrag: Tie-Rag

    Ditric: Dye-trick

    Ruka: Rue-ka

    Haven: (as the word “haven”.)

    Gry: Gri (the “I” sound as found in “eye”.)

    Maligar: Mal-i-gar

    Rettic: Ret-tic

    Archarus: Ar-cha-rus

    Objects:

    Molten Flux:

    Molten flux is a self-replicating liquid metal that is injected into fresh corpses to create autominds. It is highly volatile and will quickly swell to fill whatever container it exists in, to the limits of surface tension. Contact with skin is lethal. Despite these dangers and the punishment for being found in possession of a single drop, it is the subject of a roaring trade.

    Automind:

    An automind is a fresh corpse that has been reanimated by molten flux. Entirely docile, autominds are used by some Kretatics to control arcanites far larger and more complex that they are normally able to.

    Places:

    The Droughtlands:

    The name given to the stretches of desert wasteland which is known to those who live upon it.

    Breggesa: Bre-gges-a

    The largest city in the Droughtlands, an enormous trade hub at the crossroads of several regions and home of the Academy of Breggesa.

    Revance: Reh-vance

    Revance is the gargantuan walking fortress that wanders across the Droughtlands, both as a cargo hauler and a mercenary outfit. Despite being one gigantic arcanite, its creator and controller are still unknown.

    Kyrea: Kye-re-a

    Factory town infamous for its factories and the murky underworld of autominds and traders of molten flux that supply them.

    Iroka: I-row-ka

    Mining town that serves as a trade hub at the end of Revance’s journey across the Droughtlands, the beginning of which lies just outside of Breggesa.

  • Characters (roughly in order of appearance):

    Ryza: Rye-za

    Holm: Holme (like the word “home”, but with an “L” in it.)

    Tyrag: Tie-Rag

    Calict: Cal-ict

    Yuvet: You-vet

    Ditric: Dye-trick

    Ruka: Rue-ka

    Archarus: Ar-cha-rus

    Avesta: A-vest-a

    Gry: Gri (the “I” sound as found in “eye”.)

    Maligar: Mal-i-gar

    Ferrick: Fer-rick

    Sarova: Sa-ro-va

    Fynis: Fi-nis

    Drestil: Dres-til

    Rettic: Ret-tic

    Cardan: Card-an

    Objects:

    • Automind:

      • An automind is a fresh corpse that has been reanimated by molten flux. Entirely docile, autominds are used by some Kretatics to control arcanites far larger and more complex that they are normally able to.

    • Revance-Pattern Rifle:

      • Mass-produced weapons that were carried by the soldiers of the walking fortress, these weapons are now up for grabs for those brave enough to scavenger the hazardous battlefield where Revance fell. They fire devastatingly heavy slugs of lead one at a time, and are only effectively wielded by either crack-shots or in the many hands of a chaotic rabble.

    The various states of Molten Flux:

    • Molten Flux:

      • Molten flux is a self-replicating liquid metal that is injected into fresh corpses to create autominds. It is highly volatile and will quickly swell to fill whatever container it exists in, to the limits of surface tension. Contact with skin is lethal. Despite these dangers and the punishment for being found in possession of a single drop, it is the subject of a roaring trade. It is the base state of this liquid.

    • Blazing Flux:

      • Blazing Flux is the by-product of having too much molten flux in one place, however its properties in this state is poorly documented due to how hazardous it is. It manifests as a highly volatile gas that spreads rapidly, having a similar effect on the living as its liquid state, meaning it can quickly turn those unlucky enough to be in an enclosed space with it into autominds with significant damage to the flesh. After a period of separation from the liquid flux it originated from, it will return to a liquid form itself, yet it is rare for someone living to witness this.

    .

    Places:

    • The Droughtlands:

      • The name given to the stretches of desert wasteland which is known to those who live upon it.

    • Breggesa: Bre-gges-a

      • The largest city in the Droughtlands, an enormous trade hub at the crossroads of several regions and home of the Academy of Breggesa.

    • Revance: Reh-vance

      • Revance was the gargantuan walking fortress that wanders across the Droughtlands, both as a cargo hauler and a mercenary outfit. Despite being one gigantic arcanite, its creator and controller are still unknown. After the violent mutiny and subsequent showdown with the survivors of the former, it now lies in pieces outside the stricken town of Iroka.

    • Basarod: Bas-a-rod

      • An ancient citadel which serves as one of the primary trade hubs in the region of the southern sands, standing largely independent from Breggesa.

    • Kyrea: Kye-re-a

      • Factory town infamous for its factories and the murky underworld of autominds and traders of molten flux that supply them.

    • Iroka: I-row-ka

      • Nestled in a protective valley, Iroka was once a mining town that served as a trade hub at the end of Revance’s journey across the Droughtlands, the beginning of which lies just outside of Breggesa. Now the town only hosts the scattered remains of Revance’s surviving conscripts and is blighted by the scars of the battle they fought, along with the pools of molten flux hidden within it.