Sythyry's Journal by Bard Bloom

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Glossary

The Prime Species
Cani	Prime Species	Dogfolk. See the World Tree web page [pron. KAY-nee]
Gormoror	Prime Species	Bearfolk. See the World Tree web page [pron. GORE-more-or]
Herethroy	Prime Species	Cricketfolk (3 genders: male, female, co-lover). See the World Tree web page [pron. HAIR-uh-throy]
Khtsoyis	Prime Species	Aerial cephalapods. See the World Tree web page [pron. kut-SOY-iss]
Orren	Prime Species	Otterfolk. See the World Tree web page
Rassimel	Prime Species	Raccoon folk. See the World Tree web page
Sleeth	Prime Species	Non-anthropomorphic panther folk. See the World Tree web page
Zi Ri	Prime Species	Miniature dragons. (one sex: hermaphrodite) See the World Tree web page [pron. zee ree]
General Glossary
Academy Bakery (Academy Branch)	bakery	The bakery that Floosh manages. It's the original branch of the Academy Bakery, though the owners have opened several new branches in fancier parts of town.
Academy Quarter	Part of Vheshrame	The neighborhoods around Vheshrame Academy. A socially mixed place, with students (who tend to be from the upper classes), businesses catering to students, and locals (who tend to be from the lower classes) and businesses catering to them.
Accanax	god	Creator god, responsible for Gormoror, Khtsoyis, and many many monsters; manages Destroc.
Across Saga	cafe	Low-key establishment catering to a specifically transaffectionate crowd: in particular, a middle- and lower-class one, viz. those social groups for which transaffection is less than wholly acceptable in Vheshrame.
adoueille	herb	A tincture of adoueille hides Zi Ri spikes and mouth-tendrils.
affan	Cani status	Situational Cani status. The Cani in charge of a particular topic has affan in that topic. It can be changed by formalized contests called choofs. Non-Cani use the term informally.
Alamme	River	Cold river of sap-scented water
alathzoin	incense	A rather subtle incense which Narngi adores
arhoolie	herb	spicy pungent peppery leaf! ow! Used in Yistreian cooking.
~athiesm~	philosophical stance	The position that the gods of the World Tree are simply mighty beings with immense powers, rather than divine beings with moral and spiritual authority. (This stance does not deny that the gods exist, created the World Tree and the primes, supply magic, and other matters of historical record and more-or-less direct observation.)
babywine	food	Wine with honey and pondygreen and powdered beetles, which mammalian babies are given as a tonic in Vheshrame. It is not the World Tree equivalent of baby formula.
Bank of Teleporting Hexagons	Bank	A commercial bank with branches throughout Ketheria. (Terrestrial innovations like interest-bearing accounts are rare on the World Tree. The Bank of Teleporting Hexagons, as of 4261, brings Sythyry's allowance from zir ~mother~ for a moderate fee: a fee which would be higher if zir ~mother~ were less well-known.)
Baron / Baronness	Title	A title in the lesser nobility. A Baron hereditarily owns and administers a village. Unlike "count", this definition is strict: no village, no barony. A "Great Baron" owns and administers several villages, and may be considered lesser or greater nobility depending on the circumstances.
Bfelmykh	city	A city (of nonprimes) on Umtangeia
Birkozon	Noun God	The god of Mentador. A bit wicked in most peoples' opinions.
Blafferblossom	Flowering plant	A big puffy bright purple-red sunflowerish sort of thing
blee	monster	Blee are small and generally inoffensive monsters. They look like non-anthropomorphic dogs, with four four-jointed arms on their backs. The hands of those arms have tiny eyes and tongues on two tentacles. Blee don't get much magic, but if they kill a prime they get more.
boilypot	implement	Many stoves, especially those intended to be left on, have a well holding two or three gallons of water, with a permanent spell to keep the water from evaporating while it boils.
both-female	nonstandard sex	A small fraction of Herethroy are born with both female and co-lover characteristics. This is considered unfortunate and socially unacceptable, or worse.
Cafe du Fronde	Cafe	Student Hangout
Candledance	Restaurant	Yistreian restaurant in the Hour-Candle of Food style.
canical	adjective	Cani-like. Sythyry's personal idiom; zie uses an obscure adjective ending. The usual adjectival form, in Ketherian parlance, just changes the last vowel in "Cani", so it sounds more like "Canü". We translate it as "Cani" or "Cani-like".
charger	kind of horse	One of the several species of riding animal that we translate as "horse". Chargers are different from terrestrial horses in many ways; they have feathers as well as hair, and claws, and are omnivorous. They are aggressive and brave. Ordinary people generally prefer other kinds of horses.
Choinxeia	World-Branch	The world-branch (equivalent of "continent" on the World Tree) that Vheshrame is on
choof	Cani custom	A ritualized Cani contest for affan, dominance, in a particular topic.
chromodon	monster	One of the most dangerous monsters; taking the form of eight cats; capable of much magic.
chub-beetles	beetle	One of Sythyry's favorite takeout foods
Cisaffectionate	sexual orientation	Attracted to people of one's own species. Generally considered the best way to be, as "straight" or "heterosexual" is terrestrially. The antonym is transaffectionate.
cissy	slang	A cisaffectionate person. [Sythyry may have invented this word zirself; none of my usual linguistic sources know it. -bb]
cley	fundamental	The currency of magical force on the World Tree. Every prime has a moderate supply of cley, renewed each dawn. See the World Tree sourcebook for more.
co-lover	sex	One of the Herethroy sexes; the others are called "male" and "female". Co-lovers are considered the attractive, maternal, and weakest sex. (Females are supposed to be rugged, strong workers; males are in between.)
Common tongue	language	All creatures on the World Tree are born knowing a particular small language called the common tongue. (Nonsentients cannot speak it or understand it as such -- but a dog will be more likely to respond to "No!" in common than in any other language.) The common tongue is a very limited and unsophisticated language, with about two thousand words. Actual languages in use are based on it, but greatly elaborated.
Conlee	monster	Small songbirds: sentient, clever, dangerous with magic.
Count / Countess	title	A title in the greater nobility. In principle a count hereditarily owns and administers a county -- a big chunk of a city-state. There are eight land-owning counts in Vheshrame. Occasionally other extremely important people get the title, and pass it to their descendants; there are three such in Vheshrame.
cowardist	slang	Non-adventurer. A derogatory term, which few non-adventurers even know.
Curuneia	world-branch	A world-branch, directly below Choinxeia.
Darraden's	restaurant	A fairly expensive restaurant.
Day	unit of time	Astronomically, the time between successive times that Flokin the fire god lights the sun. Chronologically, about the same amount of time as an earth day. The sun's flame waxes for a third of the day, and wanes and dwindles for the next third, and it is not lit at all in the last third.
Dlesty	Empire	An empire, some 47,000 miles out on Choinxeia.
Doorwaying	crime	The crime of allowing a monster into a prime city. Doorwaying is commonly regarded as the worst crime by primes, and generally punishable by multiple executions and resurrections, ending in a resurrection only if the monster did no harm.
Duke / Duchess	title	In Choinxeia, the noble who owns and administers a city. The duke is the greatest of the great nobles in the city state, but is not formally the superior of the counts, since his territory is the city and theirs is the rest of the city-state. Greater nobility, and never doubt it. (The word and concept vary from world-branch to world-branch.)
Enchantment	magical discipline	The discipline of creating magic items. Considered by many (including, evidently, many of the gods) to be the epitome of prime magic.
esblembei	nut	A very large nut, bigger than a barrel. Served at fancy Herethroy village feasts. Quite rare.
Felonway	tree	A crooked tree with enticing yet dangerous blossoms, and long tendrilsome leaves. I think that Sythyry's description of their scent is to be taken metaphorically.
Fessisandra and Ulute	play	A famous play. A tragedy.
Fisher-jabow	animal	Three-headed magenta storks.
floats-and-dashes	sport	A swimming sport, played mostly underwater and mostly by Orren
glirry	~jewel~	A flower, as hard as stone. Some glirries grow naturally -- many species of plant produce a few glirries for each thousand ordinary flowers they grow. Others, less prized, are flowers hardened by magic.
Gnarn	Verb God	Creator goddess; created the Sleeth and many [other] monsters; gives Mutoc
Ghaln-Yastrou Park	Park	A fairly nice park in the center of Vheshrame. Famous monument: the Pillar of Incangiophor.
Glade of Five Winds	place in Vheshrame	A public art project consisting of five kinds of trees surrounded by five small perpetual whirlwinds, so that the trees are growing in spiral shapes.
Ghu Navage Ghu	restaurant	Restaurant suitable for a casual student date.
Ghurmanesh	monster species	The shadows of lions, with no lions to cast them. They are remarkably mighty with fire magic. Sentient monsters, and not terribly unkind.
Gnessoise	liqueur	A very complicated and very crimson liqueur of berries, flowers, beetles, and fishes.
Greystark	River	River of grey, muddy water.
Halflight Gate	Gate	One of the gates in the Vheshrame city wall. It is small, inconveniently located, and the roads after it lead mainly to small villages and the nearer Verticals, so it is not well used. It does have good defenses though.
he, she, zie	pronouns	The system of pronouns in Vheshrame goes by species, not gender. There are pronouns for "the Rassimel" and "the Herethroy", where English has pronouns for "the male" and "the female". The system of pronouns in common use has one for each individual prime species, one for Rassimel, Orren, and Cani, one for any prime, and one for a monster. The formal system has a few more categories, including "a sentient, prime or not" and "a god or servitor of a god"), and uses different words for some species (If we were to translate "a Rassimel" as "re" in common speech, the formal pronoun would be "rehwe") but these sound very stilted, and are rarely spoken outside of a classroom or formal address. Translating Vheshramian pronouns properly is too awkward. We use the English pronouns "he", "she", and "it" whenever they apply. When they do not -- Zi Ri hermaphrodites, Herethroy co-lovers -- we use "zie" like "he/she", "zir" like "his/her", "zirself" like "himself/herself"
Heavybell Street	Street	The street in Vheshrame where most of the smithies are. The name is an old word for "anvil", or, perhaps, "noisy anvil".
"Here"	god	God of Locador, space magic. A vicious Lovecraftian sort of deity, particularly fond of black spikes and impaling people.
hethica	roots	Thin air-roots of the World Tree (or perhaps a symbiont thereof), which grow from the bottoms of some branches. They are very thin -- less than a quarter-inch in diameter -- and usually three to ten yards long. They are exceedingly tough and strong. Few primes have magical or physical force capable of cutting them. They are useful as very strong cords.
hezarion	metal	A metal with no terrestrial equivalent. It is deep red and very ductile.
Hollow Moon	Celestial body	An irregular celestial object with a hole torn through the middle, drifting irregularly in the sky, avoiding the other celestial bodies as best it can. Not well regarded.
Howling Horn of Hressh-Huu	broadsheet	One of the Vheshrame broadsheets, notable for its insightful editorials and precise facts.
Hren Tzen	creator god	The creator god who made the Zi Ri, and who manages the Verb of Sustenoc. Zir celestial eidolon is a Zi Ri surrounded by four bright rings. Zir favorite numbers are four and infinity.
Hryczdzau, the	region	A section of Yistreia at some moderate remove from the trunk, noted for spicy and fearsome food. Tamvaus is a Hryczdzavian restaurant. Ghirbis Vlaan is from the Hryczdzau.
illiocampus	food ingredient	A gourd, often candied
Insignificant Ruby Bone Chariot	carriage	The smaller magical carriage of the ky Fiaunrhel family. A construct in the shape of a gigantic, 11-legged, 25-eyed bone spider.
isednat	enchantment tool	A wooden tool for performing enchantments.
istricary	enchantment tool	A tool for performing enchantments
Kalspiren Pond, the	pond	A public pond in Vheshrame.
kag	incense	A nice incense, smelling loosely like buttered flowers.
Ketheria	place	The nine world-branches which were initially at the top of the main trunk. (Another set of branches is growing above Ketheria now, but slowly.) Primes were created in Ketheria, and Ketheria is the center and heart of prime civilization. Vheshrame is in Ketheria. (The word also is used for the oldest and most civilized part of Ketheria, near the main trunk; a region that does not have a precise definition, but Vheshrame is part of that too.)
king / queen	title	The ruler of a city-state. Unlike a duke, a king is the superior of everyone else in the city-state; he can give orders and expect them to be obeyed. Few city-states in Ketheria formally give this sort of authority to their ruler. Even in city-states where the ruler has achieved it (as in Vheshrame), the title "duke" is often used.
Kio-Koila	Restaurant	A fairly fancy restaurant not far from the Pillar of Incangiophor.
kirieth	incense	A common incense with a slightly mystical and largely undeserved reputation for increasing perceptions of spiritual truths.
L'��p��e ��pic��e	Club	Vheshrame Adventurer's Club
live-tank	appliance	A fishtank intended for keeping fish alive for eating for a day or two; common in Orren kitchens.
Legeriat	branch of government	The publicly-elected assembly of Vheshrame, with twelve members. Very loosely comparable to a senate or parliament. Generally inferior in power to the Duke (in Vheshrame -- legeriats are stronger in some cities).
lozen	currency	A hexagonal, magic-marked amber coin, worth about US$10.
Lumber Swalle's	tavern	A tavern, somewhat outside the city walls, at which nobles frequently stop when they ride for fun.
Magerium	organ	The part of the World Tree body which connects the mind to the spirit. It has no physical component. It is heavily involved in magic.
magic sense	mode of perception	The means by which most World Tree natives, including primes, perceive magic. It is a distinct sensory mode from the terrestrially-available ones. Primes consider it a secondary sense (as humans consider smell and taste) -- useful and pleasurable and occasionally critical, but less vital than sight or hearing (or, for Cani and Sleeth, smell). Magic sense is ordinarily not active save to intense magic, rather as if one kept ones' eyes closed ordinarily. We use terms from other senses when describing magic-sense impressions.
mari	spouse	In a triad of married Herethroy, the co-lover is called the "mari", the man the "husband", and the woman the "wife".
Mavespike	perfume	A strong, pure-scented perfume. Connotations of aggrevated innocence.
Mene	kind of region	A city-state in its entirety. In formal usage, Vheshrame is a city; Vheshrame Mene is the whole of the city state, including villages, countryside, populace, and so on. Informally, "Vheshrame" can refer to either one.
Meng	material	A very hard nut, comparable to bronze; used in many situations where metal would be used terrestrially.
Merklundum Harnipsundum the Dog who Killed a Fish	god	The god of Aquador. Notably inactive, even by the standards of the World Tree gods.
Mherobump	monster	A species of strong, sentient, fairly well-liked rhinoceros morphs. See the World Tree sourcebook for more details.
Milkrather Grill	Cafe	A bad place to get sallad.
Mnenorzion	metal	A metal not available terrestrially. Dark violet, veined with lighter violet lines that drift slowly; it is softer than lead and lighter than water, used mainly in jewelry.
Moffingrinder's Bookstore	bookstore	A bookstore in the Academy Quarter, run by a Khtsoyis. It is known for having low prices, a mediocre selection of textbooks and other practical matters, and a large selection of pornography.
Monster	category	Any person who is not one of the eight prime species is regarded by the primes as an inferior and probably dangerous sort of person. There are magical, biological, and theological reasons for this opinion, but to a typical outside observer these reasons are minor and irrelevant. Primes generally do not allow monsters to come in to prime cities; see "doorwaying".
Montargne	theatre	A theatre a few blocks from the Ducal Palace.
Month	unit of time	Astronomically, the amount of time it takes the sun to roll entirely around the World Tree on its celestial track around the rim of the universe. It is twenty-seven days, q.v..
~mother~	Zi Ri term	Zi Ri are hermaphrodites; this is the word for the one parent that a Zi Ri grows up with, for those Zi Ri who grow up with only one.
Muffantando's	Restaurant	Restaurant near the Great Temple of Virid; not very good.
nendrai	monster	One of the most-feared kinds of monsters on the World Tree; lizardly people with endless and subtle Mutoc magic in their tails, and considerable instinctive greed for the property of primes.
Nice Language	language	The Umtangeian language, as spoken in Bfelmykh.
Nhopp Nhiffem	town(?)	A small town owned by Lady Quissenden
Nihondras Day	holiday	The celebration of the invention of the oven, on 9 Nivvem. The primary form of observation is that Rassimel bake or buy Nihondras Day Cakes and give slices to all their friends.
nonprime	category of person	Anyone who is not of prime species. We use this term to translate the less offensive words, and "monster" for the more offensive ones.
Noultevviam	town	Part of the Quissenden Estate
Nycathath	monster	A brawny, large bat-morph, with considerable physical and magical might.
O Zi Ri (etc.)	Term of address	For primes, species is the main social distinction: as important as sex, age, and rank for humans. Many terms of address, pronouns, and other things are tagged with species markers. Mostly we do not translate them into English: "Does he know her?" might be more accurately rendered "Does that Rassimel know that Cani?"
obgrathious snyyg	unreal	A fictional creature or force, perhaps invented by Ghirbis Vlaan, which devours the feathers of sleeping people on their first day in a house. "snyyg" means "to sing" in Ghirbis' native language.
offirrah	condiment	Fermented snakes with garlic and hot pepper. Yum!
ogomtacus	enchantment tool	A tool for performing enchantments
Oix (or "Surprise")	month	An anomalous month, in which the air elementals and Hressh-Huu the Airador goddess are allowed to play with the weather. It is usually either fiercely hot or fiercely cold.
Oorah Thrassen	city-state	A small but magically powerful city-state, which has foiled many assaults by the Choinxeian League.
Pararenenzu	god	Ruler of the Verb of Kennoc; creator of the Orren. A god with great skill at amusing zirself, and, once in a while, others.
Pazi-Pazi	cat	Sythyry's pet cat.
piffish noodles	food	A student food sort of dish that Real-Eel makes.
Prime Species	concept	One of the eight species Cani, Gormoror, Herethroy, Khtsoyis, Orren, Rassimel, Sleeth, and Zi Ri. The prime species were created by the seven creator gods, as all the World Tree species were; but they were created with certain special privileges; e.g. the eight prime species are identified by words in the gods-created common language (q.v.), and no others are; and the prime species are given connections to all the magical arts at birth, and no nonprime species is. The prime species have a strong and rich civilization, which generally excludes nonprimes -- and Sleeth and Khtsoyis to some extent as well. See the World Tree sourcebook for more details.
Pratter's Inn	inn	A cheap, grungy inn in a cheap, grungy part of the Academy Quarter.
preps and fiaps	stuff	Bits of bone and leather and such that Sleeth carry, all items susceptible to Sleeth intuitive Ruloc Corpador, for help in manipulating non-Corpador things. Nobody seems to know which are preps and which are fiaps. (The phrase is used ordinarily only in the plural.)
Psent	city	One of Vheshrame's neighbors, a member of the Choinxeian League, currently under some suspicion or other. The Archrathmy of Psent is a semi-secret organization which probably runs the city.
Poptaloop	bun	little sticky buns with a dot of sweet bean paste at the top
Quelldrie House	house	A rentable run-down old mansionlet in the Academy Quarter, which Sythyry, Ghirbis Vlaan, Anoof, Narngi, Dustweed, and Agrimony live in, from the middle of 4261.
quill-devil	animal	A living tangle of feathers, known for creating fires as it hunts small animals. If killed, they explode in a violent sentient firestorm.
Remorshka	monster	A very large crab with eight tiger paws and a tiger tail tipped with a big fireball. A dangerous (but nonsentient) monster.
Rabeza	city-state	A small city-state allied with Vheshrame.
Rampaging Bird	appetizer	skewered fatty bird bits, grilled, served with pepper-vinegar sauce.
Roll'gainst	cardinal direction	The opposite direction from the way the sun rolls.
Rollward	cardinal direction	The direction that the sun rolls.
roselantern	Flower	A flower, growing on a thorn bush (with clusters of long spiky straight azure thorns). The blossoms come in every color from crimson to scarlet to brilliant red, and grow in the shape of a boxy inelegant six-sided prism. The scent is intense and fairly pretty.
RuCo	form of magic	(slang) Ruloc Corpador: the form of magic for levitating and moving flesh, bone, leather, etc.
Rusunder	City	City-state; ally or client state of Vheshrame; enemy of Ulmarn
Scalminatore's	restaurant	An upper-class restaurant.
Scawn	monster	A small and not terribly smart rattish sort of sentient monster, with species delusions about Sleeth.
Scyanturge	monster	One of the great monsters of the World Tree: a bear with thorny wings, capable of immense feats of Destroc.
Senagar's Bar	bar	An unexceptional student hangout. It has some small back dining rooms which can be rented cheaply, often used by informal student associations. It also has the cheapest fig wine near campus.
shoggie	prime species	Slang for "Khtsoyis". Informal and generally rather rude.
Skeropythrope	Magical tool
Slaenflower	flower	A blue wildflower
slootly	slang	Slang for "absolutely", initially by the Countess Gloun
Some Kind of Largesse	restaurant	A restaurant serving pjedly.
speargrass	plant	A long pointy frondy sort of grass or fern kind of thing.
spont	verb	To spontaneously cast, viz. to improvize a simple special-purpose spell. (Informal usage.)
Sprowlween Hall	Building	One of the academic buildings. The Green Tile Classroom is in it.
Square Nollie's	restaurant	Student hangout.
Star-Serpent	Celestial body	An animate and probably sentient swirl of star-mist that wanders around the sky, sometimes chasing the Hollow Moon. Some natural philosophers think that its purpose is to shine the stars; others claim that it is simply an artistic flourish of the gods.
St. Andawhale	Inn	A country inn vaguely near Threeze, in Vheshrame Mene
Stark-deer	animal	A variety of deer.
Sun	Celestial Body	The World Tree sun is a large lamp in the shape of a crystal sphere. It rolls around a track in the sky, circling the World Tree once a month. Every morning, Flokin the fire-god lights the lamp. It attains its full intensity of flame at noontime, and dwindles and goes out at sunout. Sometimes it leaks. The sun is eighteen degrees above the horizon in Ketheria.
Sunout	time of day	The time that the sun goes out. 2/3 of the way through the day. (cf. terrestrial "nightfall").
Surprise	month or season	see Oix.
Swifthorse	species of animal	One of the several animals we translate as "horse". Swifthorses are more like Earth horses than they are like Earth antelopes or goats, though they share some features with all three. Their heads have no horns.
Tamvaus	Restaurant	New restaurant serving Yistreian food.
Taptet	monster species	Small deermorphs. They are not very powerful. They make useful but dangerous potions.
Tascernel	flower	A small orange flower
Teapot Street	Street	Where Sythyry et al's apartment is.
Terch	currency	A coin consisting of a small seashell with a dot of amber melted into the center. Formally worth 1/27th of a lozen, some 25-50 US cents; but the two are not fully convertable.
thaumocle	implement	A magical tool: a gadget which allows easier inspection of the structure of magic.
tharuspex	implement	A magical tool with seven eyepieces; a helpful adjunct to many forms of scrying.
thirrline	songbird	A rare but undistinguished songbird.
Three Antlers To Happiness	restaurant	Student restaurant
Threeze	Orren village	The village where Floosh's family lives; on the banks of the Alamme.
traff	slang / insult	A slang term for "transaffectionate", generally used as a noun. Fairly insulting.
Transaffectionate	sexual orientation	Attracted to people of other species. A World Tree analog of "homosexual" or "bisexual", but of course species matters more than gender. Transaffection is perfectly acceptable in some places for some species, absolutely abhorrent in others, and everywhere in between. In a cosmopolitan place like Vheshrame, it is generally tolerated, though not taken as seriously as cisaffectionate attachments. Herethroy tend to be conservative, disapproving of transaffection. It is generally, though wrongly, assumed that anyone who is more than a touch transaffectionate is uninterested in their own species and is interested in all the other prime species except perhaps for Khtsoyis and/or Sleeth. (Attraction to monsters is a separate and far worse perversion; in Vheshrame it is officially considered a precursor to doorwaying, and punished quite terribly simply as a precaution.)
Tulterillo's	restaurant	A fairly good and fairly expensive restaurant. Very innovative. Often good.
turquoya	tree	A tree with a hard, dense, light blue wood.
Ulgrane	monster species	A sort of eight-legged giant bird, generally with strong air and water magic; the species is commonly regarded as air pirates.
Ulmarn	City	City-state that Yarwain is from; an ally or client state of Vheshrame.
Umtangeia	World-branch	A world-branch far distant from Vheshrame, where Vae has friends.
Uontamv	city	A city on Yistreia, far distant from Vheshrame; Ghirbis Vlaan comes from Uontamv.
Verticals	region	The vertical parts of the World Tree: the sides of the branches, the trunk, etc. Primes are rarely willing to spend the effort required to tame and live in the Verticals, so they are generally wild and dangerous; monsters live there. Since world-branches are only so wide, the Verticals are never more than about thirty miles from the heart of even the most civilized city.
Virid	Verb God	Creator goddess; maker of the World Tree itself, the Herethroy, and many plants; gives Creoc.
Vheshrame	City	A big, important city-state, where most of the action takes place, and where Sythyry is going to school
Vulblossom Street	District	The district near the docks of Vheshrame, but not quite at them. Most Khtsoyis in Vheshrame live there. Sythyry considers it the most dangerous district in town -- though other people may reasonably consider the Nobles' Quarter, or even the Academy Quarter with all its wizards, to be more dangerous.
Wenezza	drug	A potent, often-illegal herbal aphrodisiac.
Wild Rush	state of mind	Orren, in sufficiently urgent situations, are known to go into a wild rush, in which they act very quickly but with less than usual common sense.
Winsies	flowers	Cheap, common flowers, often orange.
xrossie	slang	Slang for "transaffectionate", generally used as a noun. Usage is mixed, from friendly to unfriendly.
yavalle	dye	An expensive dye that produces a luminous green, the color and brilliance of noontime sunlight through an emerald.
Year	unit of time	One World Tree year is 243 days, about 2/3 of an Earth year. A World Tree year is nine months, q.v.; it is a full cycle of the seasons.
yilliat	plant	Yilliat flowers are pleasant. Wide round Yilliat leaves are used fresh for wrapping things; they become tough when dry, and are used for scrap paper or minor notes. Yilliat berries are small and tart. Yilliat vines grow quite well in Vheshrame, and the leaves are common.
Yistreia	World-Branch	One of the other world-branches of Ketheria; from Sythyry's point of view, a distinctly foreign but still civilized continent.
yuldakai	monster	A medium-power monster, in the form of a gaunt tall Rassimel with pincers over its hands. Yuldakai are physically impressive and have minor magic.

Sythyry's Journal				by Bard Bloom
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