Ingenia
Ingenia, ingeniae
Paranormal and intuitive abilities. Not well understood. Also, the people with these abilities. Usually, when describing the ability, the word is not capitalized; when indicating a person with an ability, it is. In Galantier, about one-third of the population show some ingenia; most of these are small and have limited uses.
Prosaic
Someone without any identifiable paranormal ability, or an action without paranormal assistance, such as natural healing.
Evocata, Evocator
Telepathic ingenia. Usually limited by distance and compatibility, described in musical terms as keys and chords.
Incendas, Incendiary
Fire-starting at a distance and/or paranormal control of fire. Usually limited to small fires, like candle flames.
Impathia, Impath
Emotional telepathy, the ability to read, comprehend and sometimes manipulate emotional states over a distance.
Inspica, Intuitive
Paranormal intuition. The ability to recognize patterns or behaviors or unconnected events as part of a whole.
Perceptio, Perceptive
Mind-reading. Usually limited by distance and skill.
Advocate’s Privacy
Formally, Privita. A subset of Perceptio and one of two primary requirements for Advocates. The ability to conceal and render inviolate one’s own thoughts and memories. Not all Perceptives have this ability; all Advocates must.
Advocate’s Memory
Formally, Memoria, also called Perceptive Archive. A subset of Perceptio and one of two primary requirements for Advocates. Eidetic memory of very large amounts of data, memory and thought. Not all Perceptives have this ability; all Advocates must. A Perceptive without Privacy can be a legal Archivist or librarian.
Odifera
A perceptual variation of Perceptio that abstracts a person’s character into scents. Highly personal and subjective, it is also rare.
Luminara
A perceptual variation of Perceptio that abstracts a person’s emotional weather as color. Closely related to the Life-Observer variation of Prospicas.
Prospicas, Observer
Ability to see over distance. Two types: Life-Observers can see what is alive (usually mammalian life) but not buildings, landforms, or plants. Map-Observers are usually remote viewers, but may have little control over distance or resolution. Both are usually limited by distance and skill.
Providias, Prognosticator
Precognition. Rare. Unreliable.
Propero, Transposer
The paranormal ability to move objects from a distance or without touching. Usually limited to small inanimate objects. Often limited by line of sight.
Puissance
The energy that seems to power and cause any ingenia.
Valenas, Healer
Paranormal healing ability. Can be trained for highly targeted applications, similar to medical school, or can be used like first aid with little skill. Limited by distance and skill. Mind Healers often have both Valenas and either Perceptio or Impathia, or both.
Visia
The ability to see or perceive ingenia and puissance.
Aquae
A minor ingenia; someone who can sense the presence of underground water or locate springs. Most can also sense contaminants in water. Exceptionally powerful Aquae can control water flows.
Vestigia
The ability to see or perceive the effects of ingenia and puissance, either as they’re happening or after the fact. A subset of Visia, often used to track individual Ingeniae or objects manipulated by them. Rare as a full ingenia, has few applications as a minor ingenia.
Weatherwitch
A subset of multiple small ingeniae (including minor Propero, minor Inspica) that allow relatively accurate prediction of weather conditions. Weatherwitches can rarely control conditions. Considered a minor ingenia.
Landwitch
A subset of multiple ingeniae, including minor Providias, minor Inspica, and Aquae, that allows relatively accurate prediction of land, weather and crop conditions in a single place. Land witches are tightly tied to their birth lands; their ingeniae may fail completely if they leave their land.
Animal Handlers
A subset of multiple small ingeniae (usually minor Perceptio, Valenas, Inspica, and Impathia) that allow relatively accurate communication and direction of domesticated animals. Animal handlers can understand what motivates a cat or what hurts a sheep, but cannot control or speak with the animal.
Botea, Botis
A subset of multiple ingeniae related to plant life, growth, and breeding. Some Botis can encourage exceptionally fast or lush plant growth, while others can heal plants in much the same way a Healer Heals flesh. Valued in gardeners, farmers, botanists, and others who depend on plant life. Moderately rare.
Lyria
An ingenia that focuses on the performance and creation of music as a means of influencing behavior or thought. It can also be used to produce music without a voice or instrument, and early training is primarily focused on music production. It is closely related to Perceptio, Impathia and Inspica, and uses the technology of Bibliach to embed puissance in words and music. Many professional musicians have some degree of Lyria, but professional ethics guide their use of certain aspects. Using their ability to coerce money or sex is disapproved of, and strongly policed.
Influentia
The paranormal ability to alter another’s perception of reality or emotional regulation. Unlike most Ingeniae, Influentia is primarily aggressive rather than defensive.
Ranks
Razin (m), Razia (f)
Monarch. Their spouse may be a Consort or Consorta rather than a regent.
Ascendar (m), Ascendara (f)
Nominated and approved (Elevation) successor to the Razin. Designated by Prim, Prima for first in line, Diat for second, Tret for third, Quan for fourth.
Prenceps (m), Prazia (f)
Child of a monarch. Usually an Ascendar, but may be denied Elevation for crimes or moral failings. Prenceps Mathes was denied Elevation.
Prava
Parliamentary body of the nobility; also the building in which they meet. Currently consists of 103 members, plus the Monarch and the Ascendars. Each Teregenitor has one vote in the Prava, while the Monarch consistently represents a block vote equal to 1/3 to 6/13ths of the Prava’s total. (Usually around 44%, but fluctuates depending on recent langreve grants and consolidations.) The Prava under Vohan consisted of 103 members plus 48 votes shared between Vohan (35), Rien (9), Laarens (3) and Savrin (1), for a total of 151. The number is always odd. The goal is to keep each langreve representing around 4000 people, but subdivision in certain areas is becoming very difficult, both practically and politically. Thus, most southern langreves near Cimenarum run between 10,000 and 15,000 people, while multiple northern and western langreves are under 2,000 in population.
Most Prava vote are simple majority (50% +1, rounded up) votes that include the Monarch’s block, so most votes at the time of Vohan’s death required 76 votes to pass. There are two exceptions: When selecting a Monarch from amongst the Ascendars, the Monarch’s block vote is in abeyance and cannot be cast and the vote must pass by 75% +1. Thus, the ascension votes for Vohan’s successor require 80 votes to pass. (103 Teregenis, plus Rien, Laarens and Savrin as voting members.) The second exception are for sealed ballot routine business. These are essentially preference polls with some binding effect. At those times, it is a one person, one vote scheme and are generally simple majority votes. They’re used for non-urgent and/or non-controversial matters, like end of term budgets, empowering diplomatic matters, emergency funding, and the succession plans. Sealed ballots usually pass at between 85 and 95%.
The Monarch’s block vote, in most matters, can be split at the Monarch’s discretion. In Vohan’s case, he delegated specific langreves from the Royal holdings to his heirs, but did not gift them. Few monarchs actually give the land to their heirs — Galantier has learned to prevent sibling rivalry amongst the Ascendars whenever possible. Each subsequent monarch may revoke any previous monarch’s Royal Writs without cause or prejudice, but no Monarch is required to do so.
The 33-46% Royal block exists specifically as a hedge against a popular but untenable idea and as a bolster for unpopular but necessary requirements. Its most famous use was 63 years after the founding, shortly after Juliana and Argentus assumed leadership after Galene, their mother, died. The Prava then numbered 15, plus the Dux and the Razia, and at the time, Galantier believed that the 2000 people living early Cimenarum were all the people left in the world. Juliana believed that Galantier must send three ships with crews of twenty each back towards Porsiria to discover what had happened to turn the sky grey for three years, and for pumice to wash on the beaches for another decade. They were aware of volcanoes; they suspected Mount Porsir had destroyed the Empire, but they had no proof. The Prava could not justify sending three percent of the population to die in the ash choked seas. Juliana and Argentus’ 6 votes, with 6 of the Prava, carried the vote. After six voyages and seven years, the expeditions finally found other living people. Galantier was the only Porsirian colony to survive more or less intact and without mass physical devastation.
The block was also used to prevent a war with Gorthania in the 4th century, and to permit immigrants who otherwise would have been barred. Vohan used it several times in the public interest, usually on matters of the western border, or to protect the rights of the freeborn.
Radicals
Not an organized group within the Prava. Currently an epithet for those promoting a group of political and legal changes. Doesn’t have a unified policy platform, just opposes the Reformist goals and ambitions. Compare to Occupy Wall Street or Black Lives Matter.
Royalists
An organized group of Teregenitors who spent most of Vohan’s reign cooperating with the Monarch. For the last quarter-century, they have been interested in adding to Galantier’s stock of knowledge and technology, in extending privilege and rights to all people in a measured, diligent way. Now opposed to Savrin’s reign and policies. Centrist, slightly left; compare to British Labour or German Social Democrats, or the Republican Party under Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Progressives
An organized group of Teregenitors who spent most of Vohan’s reign as a centrist party and sometimes cooperating with the Monarch. They are conservative centrists, mostly interested in extending their own privileges, but can be convinced that technical progress and extending rights is lucrative. They would call themselves fiscally conservative, socially liberal. German Christian Democrats are the closest equivalent. Mostly oppose Savrin’s reign and policies. Lots of interpersonal disagreements.
Reformists
An organized group of Teregenitors who spent most of Vohan’s reign opposing the Monarch. A new group; they consolidated their power when Rien was a teenager, specifically around her Elevation. They claim to be libertarian-right, but behaviorally, are hard-right with authoritarian leanings. Economically, they’re not even classical liberal; they’re kleptocrats who don’t believe government should regulate business. They oppose extending rights to those who have not earned them or been born to them. They don’t have a strong ethical platform since they’re a fairly new coalition.
Egalitarians
Not an organized group. They’re early feminists and early jacobins, combined, striving for equality and an end to the class structure. Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft would fit into the Egalitarians. Right now, they’re struggling for survival.
Optimus
The leader of the Prava. The member who has been seated on the Prava longest is the Optimus by default, but can and usually does recuse himself. Then the body holds an election for their choice. The Optimus must be elected by at least three-quarters of the members. The responsibilities are primarily administrative, maintaining the minutes, keeping the committee reports, and ensuring the body follows precedent and procedure. No term limits, but an Optimus can be removed if three-quarters of the body calls for his replacement.
Teregenitor (m), Teregenia (f)
Senior nobility, with seats on the Prava. Usually only Teregenitors have Prava seats. Usually a Teregenia is the spouse of a Teregenitor, but if the Teregenitor is unmarried, his unmarried sister or other female relative may hold the title until one of them marries.
Pronator (m), Pronatia (f)
Subsequent nobility, the child of a Teregenitor and Teregenia. Pronators are usually next in line for the Prava seat, and can serve in the Prava while their fathers are alive under specific circumstances. Daughters are generally not in line for the seat. The first is Pronator/Pronemia [Surname]; subsequent children are Pronator diat/tret/quan [Surname]. Wives take their husband’s rank, no matter her natal status, so if a Pronatia marries a Pronemor, she becomes a Pronemia, and if she marries a freeborn man, she becomes freeborn and her children are freeborn. She also loses any inheritance and may be disowned.
Pronemor (m), Pronemia (f)
Subsequent nobility, the children of a Pronator and his spouse, grandchildren of the Teregenis, even if that Teregenitor is dead and his son (their uncle) has taken the seat. The eldest son’s children are Pronemor/Pronemia [Surname]; the second son’s children are diat Pronemor/Pronemia. Also aristocracy, but the further away, the more likely they are to be working at something. They are also entitled to shares of their family income, but even a 1% share is often not enough to support someone, and 1% is high for adult Pronemis. Primacy matters — a third son of a fourth son is likely to never come near inheriting. In the Pronemis, the gender designator and the primacy designator matter, thus their names: Samnel tret sune quan Paxular — meaning Sam is the third son of the fourth Pronator of Paxular. No wonder he signed up for the Army. Sam probably goes by Sam Paxular or Sam quan Paxular, and mostly tries to forget that his entire family has to get food poisoning if he’s going to inherit anything. The subsequent Pronemis tend to be either complete slackers, or complete self-starters, and are often the major players in any year’s marriage market. They need to climb.
All noble persons are bound to their house and langreve in economic, legal and social matters. They all require permanent permission of their seniors to marry, pursue education, take vows or contract business beyond the scope of their personal incomes. Most noble marriages are arranged to some degree. This matters more for the female half, who can be ordered to marry as their senior directs. In most cases, this doesn’t happen, but when it does, it can be disastrous. Noble adulthood is at age 16, or at presentation to the Monarch, whichever happens later.
Everyone above this line is considered nobility. Everyone below is considered freeborn.
Freeborn
A general term for anyone not a noble, and thus not tied to any house. Technically, children of subsequent Pronemis are freeborn, though they usually use their family name for the social advantage. All children born outside of marriage are freeborn unless and until their grandfathers accept them. If their grandfather is dead, too bad. Being freeborn or not matters relatively little for men, but can mean a significant difference in freedoms and liberties for women. Once a freeborn person reaches adulthood (age 20 for the freeborn), she can make any contract she likes, be it marriage, a religious vocation, a business venture, or education. Between the ages of approximately 15 and 20, parents may allow their children to pursue marriage, vocations or education, but the child requires permission and consent. Again, in most cases, parents do not order their children into disasters, but it does happen. However, for the freeborn, there is an absolute end — age 20. That doesn’t exist for the nobility.
Patrona, Patronae (pl)
The gentry, and the managerial class on the langreves. Patrona is not gendered — anyone can be a Patrona. Most langreves have many, at least two per settlement. Dense settlements often have several. This is both an old system that is eroding, and a reborn system, that is evolving into something like a local government. No two langreves use exactly the same rules for Patronae. This can get legally very messy. Pronemis sometimes become Patronae or leaseholders for their grandparents and aunts and uncles as a means of keeping management in the family.
Tenants
The common people who have agreed to a formal social-economic contract with a specific Teregenitor to provide labor in exchange for income, shelter, leadership and (in theory) access to decision making through their Teregenitor. Tenant contracts are usually long, often life-time contracts (20-65ish), though the contracts can be broken or altered by mutual consent. In some rare cases, the contracts are for a set number of years (80-100), and are considered to be heritable assets and debits for an entire family line. Still the most common form of labor and asset exchange in Galantier’s north and west.
Leaseholders
People who have agreed to a formal contract for the right to use a specific piece of land in exchange for an annual sum of money. This is becoming the more common form of labor exchange in the south of Galantier. Leases can be as small as a single house or garden, or as large as a single digit fraction of a langreve. Some leaseholders are extremely wealthy. The most common lease contract is a century, with a right of resale for the leaseholder.
The Curia
The social aspect of the nobility, centered around the Prava and the Karsai. Curiars are the social elite — tastemakers, trend-setters, and in many cases, the financial support for art and innovation. Most nobles are Curia, but not all Curiars are noble — very wealthy freeborn are marriage prizes. In recent years, the Curia’s influence has waned, since many of the younger male members have volunteered for military service, and their sisters have stepped into their absent brothers’ roles. Winter is still the primary Curia season, since that is the quiet season in a primarily agricultural economy, but compared to a generation before, the Curia is staid and tame.
Army Ranks
General
Title refers to one of three levels: Commander General, Brigade General, Lieutenant General. Any region will have one Command General, four Brigade Generals, and several Lieutenant Generals who oversee individual garrisons. Any general has significant autonomy in their specific range. All are addressed as General; their duties are not linked to their ranks. Laarens is a Lieutenant General; General Arken is a Commander General.
In the Rebellion forces, General is a single rank, immediately below the Ducia.
Commander
Reports to the Lieutenant General of a garrison. Most garrisons have several, responsible for specific duty structures.
In the Rebellion forces, Commanders report directly to the Generals and are responsible for up to a division, usually 50-100 people.
Captain
Reports to the Commander, responsible for several units with complimentary duties.
Not used in Rebellion forces.
Major
Reports to the Captain, responsible for 2-4 units with the same duties.
Not used in Rebellion forces.
Sergeant
Reports to the Captain, responsible for one unit. Same usage in Rebellion forces, but reports to Commander.
Corpsman
Reports to the Sergeant. Rank and file member.
Justiciar Advocate General
Military law enforcement and justice officer. Out of the chain of command. Reports to the Lieutenant General of a garrison, or to the Brigade or Command General. May be either a lawyer (counselor) or an Advocate, but is usually an Advocate.
Advocate General
Military law enforcement and justice officer. Out of chain of command. Reports to Judge Advocate General. Is assigned to both prosecution and defense. May be either a lawyer or an Advocate.
Militia, Militiae
Reserve forces, consisting of every Galanteran veteran, whose officer class consists of every graduate of the War College. Not a standing force. Disorganized. Unfunded.
Buildings
Karsai
Seat of government. Monarch’s home. Originally a fortress designed to shelter the whole of the population and withstand major environmental calamity, the country has long since outgrown the emergency shelter.
Felicita’s Rose
A very old rose, now a tree, that the third Monarch and Galene’s granddaughter, Felicita, planted in the Karsai after structural completion. The plant itself is about one thousand years old, and now is the centerpiece of the Presentation Hall, in the center of the Karsai. While most Galantierans are cremated and their ashes stored in ashariam, the House of Galene has scattered the ashes of the Monarchs and their family beneath Felicita’s Rose for about nine hundred years.
Prava House
Legislative building. Newer than the Karsai, built of wood and brick. Round.
Judicatura
Houses the high court and the legal arms of the ministries. Newest of Galantier’s three governmental buildings. Four long rectangles, joined at alternating ends.
Welces’ Square
The paved open area between the Karsai, Prava House and the Judicatura, often used for public gatherings.
Sanctum
The general term of a temple’s holy space.
Asheriam, asheria (pl)
The sacred repository for ashes in Galantieran practice. All temples practice cremation, and all temples have a space set aside for storage of ashes and memorial plaques. Most faiths encourage the remembrance of the dead.
Paele
Primary residence and hereditary seat of a Teregenitor. The administrative center of a langreve.
Legal practice
Clerk
The first level of legal practice in Galantier. Equivalent to a paralegal in modern practice. Clerks can take depositions, create and file routine paperwork, and attend hearings. Clerks in training for Advocacy may also do some, but not all, memory work.
Counselor
Also known as a lawyer. A legal representative for a client, public or private, in any legal matter. Admitted to the bench. The Galantieran legal code uses ingeniae as a technology, but the code does not require ingeniae for enforcement, so prosaic people are not barred from legal practice. However, because the system now uses ingeniae, most lawyers are partnered with Advocates or are part of practices with Advocates on staff. Lawyers handle mostly civil and minor criminal legal matters. Similar to solicitors in the British system.
Advocate
A lawyer with a specific ingeniae skill set, usually Perceptio or Impathia. An Advocate can read minds for memories, store those memories and transmit them to other Advocates, with near-perfect clarity. Their primary talent is to store memory, both their own and that of their clients, and submit it as testimony. They primarily practice criminal law.
Magistrate
A local level judge. Primarily tasked with adjudicating small civil, family and minor criminal matters. Advocacy is not required for Magistrates, but all Magistrates must be Counselors admitted to the bench. Magistrates can be appointed by the local Teregenitor or by the Monarch, or by a local governing council.
Mediator
A local level judicial administrator, usually for interpersonal, family and civil matters. Mediators exist to ease the burden of local adjudication on the Justiciar system. Mediators are Counselors or Advocates. Both parties to the dispute must agree to the the specific Mediator and both parties are equally responsible for paying the Mediator. Should mediation fail, the case can be sent to the Magistrate, then the Justiciar or Circuit Justiciars, then to the High Judicatura.
Justiciar
A local or regional level judge, whose court hears local, serious crimes and local, serious civil matters. Not all langreves have a full-time or permanent Justiciar. Most are attached to cities. Appointed by agreement of the Monarch, Chancellor and the High Judicatura. Most are Advocates, but this is not required.
Circuit Justiciars
A local or regional level judge whose court covers multiple langreves or outlying parts of langreves. They hear serious crimes and civil matters, and are required when any matter directly involves a Teregenitor or their immediate family. Their benches are mobile, on a circuit. Appointed by agreement of the Monarch, Chancellor and the High Judicatura. Most Circuit Justiciars are Advocates since they are mobile benches.
Judicatura
The middle level of the appeals process in Galantier. The Judicatura consists of all Justiciars for a region or city, and they review cases originally heard by their peers. They have the options of reversing the original opinion, sending the ruling back to the original Justiciar with additional information, or upholding the original decision, which can then be appealed to the High Judicatura. Appointed by the Monarch and High Judicatura, with consultation from the Prava and the Chancellor.
High Justiciar
The senior justiciars for all of Galantier. One of thirteen Justiciars assigned to the High Judicatura. Hears only appeals cases. Appointed by the Monarch with the consent of the Prava.
High Judicatura
The highest bench in Galantier, consisting of thirteen High Justiciars. All are Advocates and have been so for several centuries, but this is not a requirement of the office, per historical precedent. Prior Justiciar experience is not required. Usually, between four and six of the thirteen were in civil or private practice before being appointed to the High Judicatura, so that the bench remains familiar with bench procedure. Most cases before the High Judicatura are heard by one or three Justiciars; full panels of the High Judicatura are rare, and almost always are the most difficult cases that forge new precedent. Their decisions can only be altered by the Monarch, not by the Prava. They have limited power over the Prava.
Chancellor
The Monarch’s primary legal administrator. Most Chancellors are counselors, not Advocates, because their primary role is to interpret the law rather than serve as the Monarch’s counsel.
Metropolita
Cimenarum’s law enforcement arm. They do not create law, but administer it in accordance with precedent, statute and Royal Writ. Each city may have a Metropolita or a City Guard. Most smaller settlements do not have a formal Guard or Metropolita presence. In Cimenarum, the Metropolitan Administrator is appointed by the Monarch in consultation with the Chancellor and the High Judicatura, and officers are hired by the Administrator’s office. In the other cities, the local Council appoints the head.
Technology
One-Armed Archer
A mechanical machine for firing dense flights of unaimed arrows. Dozens of arrows are held by paper chains for firing by a pulley-driven firing device. Heavy, used for fixed defense rather than in mobile units. Design similar to a ballista or very large crossbow.
Hypocausta, hypocaustae
A central heating system similar to a radiator system. Pipes or channels are built into the structure of the building to circulate hot water through the mass of the walls and floors. They operate by radiant heating. When they work, they work well, but are prone to leaks and blockages and rely on the thermal mass of brick and stone construction. Most are attached to a pressured hot spring rather than relying on pumps, but smaller systems can use a wood or oil fired boiler and gravity. The Karsai’s hypocausta is notoriously finicky after nine hundred years of continuous use.
Vapor light
Gas lighting by marsh (biomethane) gas. Biodegradable waste, human and animal, is placed in a sealed digesting tank to ferment. The gas is piped under pressure for lighting and some heating applications. The tanks must be vented and cleaned periodically, at which time the remains are used for fertilizer. Tanks can explode.
Tree-oil
The product of pressing oil-fruit. About one fifth of the early pressing is both edible and appetizing, and is used as a food. The remainder of the fruit oil and all of the kernel oil is used for fuel oil.
Fuel oil
The inedible form of oil-fruit oil, then mixed with potash, lye and alcohol. It is not explosive. It transports easily and remains liquid below freezing, so it can be pumped to elevated tanks. It burns via gravity-fed wick in cast-iron or ceramic furnaces and boilers, like kerosene/paraffin heaters.
Fire oil
A refined form of fuel oil, similar to napalm or Greek fire, mixed with sodium. Highly explosive and flammable, does not extinguish with water, explodes when exposed to oxygen or water. Floats on water. Usually packed into ceramic spheres for transport and use, though it can be sealed in glass vials. Its manufacture is a strictly controlled state secret. Is used in all cannons and most bombs.
White phosphor
Refined phosphorus. Produces a very bright, white light when burned that can be seen over long distances. Small pieces can be placed in a glass bottle and set alight for portable, bright lighting, but not indoors. Extremely expensive and hot.
Heliograph, helio-towers
Galantier’s fastest long-distance communications. Large mirrors mounted at the top of tall platforms reflect sunlight or phosphor light in code. The platforms often serve double duty as fire-watch stations and messenger stations and may serve as post-rider stations. The service is available for varying fees, depending on urgency and distance, to the public. Messages can be relayed in hours, but are necessarily short. A standard message is fifteen words, unencrypted other than the flash code, and may take days to deliver in bad weather. Military and governmental business always have priority over public messages.
Steam-launch
A shallow, long, narrow boat designed for rivers that uses a steam boiler for propulsion. Designed to navigate shallow water and carry cargo. Private launches are smaller and faster than the public launch. The public launch runs daily; the full length passage from Reva to Crooksmouth takes eight days, including a change at Cimenarum.
Broadsheet
A newspaper, printed on large, cheap sheets of wood pulp paper. Most broadsheets are 2-3 densely printed pages. In Cimenarum, the broadsheets print every other day or third day. Outside the major cities, they print every tenday or once a quarter. Most are inexpensive, costing five to ten teanders. Journalism is still a new technology, and is not necessarily objective or interested primarily in fact.
Ministries
Women and Children
The newest ministry. Primarily an advocacy for those members of Galantieran society with the least access to formal power. Works closely with Mercy.
Chancery
Law enforcement and prosecution. Works closely with Judicatura.
Plenipotenitary
Diplomatic corps. Works closely with Trade.
Trade
Oversees imports and exports, collects taxes and tariffs. Works closely with Plenipotentiary and Land.
Exchequer
Oversees the Treasury, the mint and the accounting. Works closely with Quartermaster.
Judicatura
Law interpretation. Works closely with Chancery.
War
Oversees recruitment, training, supply and mobilization. Works with everyone, and nobody. Was smallest ministry until Spagnian war first erupted. Is now largest.
Knowledge
Formerly the head of the Royal University and Library, now oversees all of Galantier’s schools and training conversatories. Coordinates standards and funding. Works closely with Healing.
Mercy
Coordinates charitable endeavors and oversees the Famine Coffer. Works closely with Women and Children.
Healing
Coordinates Healing, the training of Healers and Healer’s assistants, and the development of knowledge specific to Healing and curative work. Works closely with Knowledge.
Quartermaster
National inventory, national statistician, national assessor. Works closely with Exchequer and Land.
Land
National resources. Builds roads, garrisons, dams. Manages Royal holdings and consults with Teregenis or their representatives on natural resources. Works closely with Exchequer, Quartermaster, Trade.
Religion
Conversatory
A religious intentional community. All of the Pantheon faiths and most of the syncretic faiths have established at least one conversatory; most of the foundation faiths have several. The term is directly related to conversation, as a place of dialogue with the deity. The suffix -vast in a place name indicates a conversatory. Most conversatories have an educational or service purpose as well as religious. Rules governing conversatory life are dependent on the specific faith and practices; thus, Archilian, Sardani and Lunagan conversatories are not segregated by gender and chastity is not required, while Teandrian, Hermachian and Cleatarni are rigidly segregated and regimented. Old Order Lethians established only one conversatory; New Order Lethians do not use the term, but call their religious communities Chapters and their establishments Chapterhouses.
Cresaria, Cresarians
Goddess of herders, domesticated creatures, pastures, dairies, spinning, weaving. One of the Four Sisters faiths brought from Porsiria. Festival in autumn, originally after the first freeze but now the last half tenday of Storis.
Archilia, Archilians
Goddess of wisdom, knowledge, education, healing. Also called Sophism. One of the Four Sisters faiths brought from Porsiria. Most politically active and culturally liberal. Has been influential in Galantieran government. The Galantieran version is a heretical sect. Festival is midsummer.
Dominatum
Archilia’s most prized scholars. The honor is strictly posthumous and is applied to people who were considered particularly kind, wise, cunning, or brave. In colloquial terms, to nominate someone for the Dominatum is to praise them highly.
Wisdomians
One of several orders of priests within Sophism, dedicated to preserving human knowledge at all costs. They are trained as solo and small group warriors and medics as well as priests. Wisdomians are unique to the Galantieran heretical sect of Sophism.
Fordea, Fordeanites
Goddess of trees, forests and the wild. One of the Four Sisters faiths brought from Porsiria. Festival is in early spring, when the trees bud.
Iolantha, Iolanthans
Goddess of grain, land, harvests and farming. One of the Four Sisters faiths brought from Porsiria. Festival is in early summer, associated with first shearing.
Lunaga, Lunagans
Goddess of the moon, love, midwifery, childbirth, and in certain aspects, war. One of the Twin Goddess faiths, brought with the Founders, but originated in what is now Farenze. In Farenze, it is heresy and has been exterminated. Usually aligns with the Four Sisters politically. Culturally liberal. Festival is the last full moon of winter, the second tenday of Glacilis.
Renara, Renarans
Goddess of fire and smithing. One of the Twin Goddess faiths, brought with the Founders, but originated in what is now Farenze. In Farenze, it is heresy and has been exterminated. Festival is the middle full moon of winter, the second tenday of Algidis. Is associated with two sets of seasonal hot winds that blow counter to normal wind patterns, one in midsummer and one in winter.
Corsaria, Corsari
Goddess of water, rivers, streams, lakes, wells. Older than the Four Sisters or Brothers, brought from Porsiria, much closer to animism. Usually live and let live. Fading. Spring festival associated with snow melt.
Sardan, Sardani
God of the sun, light, heat. Has aspect of passion. One of the Brothers faiths brought from Porsiria, but usually aligns with the Four Sisters in politics and culture. Sardani priests do not wear any metal. Festival at Last Summer’s Night.
Solarium
Sardani holy space, unique to Sardani practice. Solariums are glass rooms, much like a greenhouse. Sardani practice includes nudity in the solarium, so most solariums are within a ring building. In milder climates, a solarium is not necessarily a glass building.
Teander, Teandrian
God of balance, coin, trade, justice. One of the Brothers faiths brought from Porsiria. Rarely aligns with the Four Sisters politically, culturally very conservative. Musical. Has theological disagreements with most of the other faiths. Festival is autumn, first tenday of Frumentis.
Cleatarn, Cleatarni
God of storms, weather, skies, lightning. One of the Brothers faiths brought from Porsiria. Opposes the Four Sisters and all of the other faiths in theology. Aligns with Teandrians and Lethians politically. Conservative. Festival in late spring, associated with thunderstorms.
Lethis, Lethian
God of cold, winter, decay, death. Originated in Galantier. In midst of schism. Old Order grew slowly, coexisted with others. New Order has grown rapidly, denies all other deities exist. Winter work and worship, but not a festival.
Cubilata
A sacred dying space, used exclusively by Lethians. In Old Order practice, a cubilata is a small room where the dying are placed for final care, including some levels of both passive and active euthanasia. The Old Order allows the withdrawal of food and water, and the administration of large doses of analgesics to relieve pain. New Order Lethians have altered the practice, and now close the room with bricks to prevent the dying person from leaving. Very few people who aren’t Lethian have seen a cubilata, but the word and concept are known. To enter or place someone in a cubilata is incubilation.
Hermachians
Relatively new faith, founded by Archilian and Sardani mystics. Has aspects of both and believes in a savior incarnation (Hermache) born of union between both gods. Has evolved far from either faith. Has been deeply involved in government since inception.
Pantheists
An official, ecumenical faith that acknowledges all eleven deities and may participate in some, but not all, of their rites. Mostly practiced by the upper nobility and Royal House as a means of withholding official privilege to any sect to maintain a level of religious neutrality.
Comitae
A cultural group once based in the lands east of Mount Porsir, who were defeated and enslaved by Imperial Porsiria and the orthodox Archilians in the decades before Mount Porsir’s explosion, and whose homeland was permanently destroyed when Mount Porsir blew. They are both a faith and an ethnicity. The ancient Comitae organized themselves into several houses, as family groups. When they were enslaved, they were divided and sent to various nobility considered loyal to the Emperor. Galene was then a young bride to her elderly husband, and sympathized with the Marrim Comitae who were sent to her. Over the next few years, her advocacy for Comitae rights drew her into multiple conflicts with the Imperium. When Galene was sent into exile, the Comitae in her care were stripped from her. She provided them with ships to escape slavery. Galene’s exiles and the Marrim Comitae planned to meet after their separation, but the explosion caused them to miss each other.
The Comitae have spent the last thousand years as nomads and outsiders. They will coexist but do not assimilate into their host nations. They rarely intermarry and do not usually accept converts to their culture, so have often become a pariah people. They’ve spent the last two generations in Spagna, but were expelled or escaped genocide again. Laarens brought them into Galantier under his protection as immigrants, and distributed their few thousand people to Royalist and Progressive households.
The Comitae are strictly nontheist humanists. They do not acknowledge any deity. They have several thousand years of written history, plus many more millennia of oral history.
The Comitae bring a wealth of knowledge about Ingeniae, healing, chemistry and wards, as well as a well-tested system of communication using bonded pairs of Ingeniae.
Territory
Langreve
A grant of land given by the Monarch in perpetuity to a Teregenitor and his heirs. Early grants were very large, with the (usually fulfilled) expectation that the langreve would be subdivided between the heirs on the consent of the Monarch. Langreve creation has slowed in recent centuries as Galantier has reached the limits of the unoccupied landmass. All land not expressly granted is the property of the Monarch. Langreves have specific conditions for maintenance, usually in terms of taxation and productivity. A grant can be rescinded if the Monarch finds that the current Teregenitor is unable to administer it to the terms of the grant. Langreve is the general term. Grants that primarily consist of forested land may be called silvagreves; coastal grants may be called margreves. Sometimes abbreviated as ’greve.
Leasehold
A subdivision of a langreve granted by the Teregenitor to a subordinate, either in perpetuity or for an extended time period. Leaseholds can be inherited, and the terms of maintenance are similar to those between the Monarch and the Teregenitor. Sometimes abbreviated as ’hold.
Freehold
A subdivision of a langreve granted by a Teregenitor for perpetuity. Freeholds can be sold like any other property and the Teregenitor cannot object. Rare.
Time
Tenday
The primary cycle of work and rest days in the Galantieran calendar. Most working cycles are six or seven days of work and three or four of rest, though seasonal variations are common. The Galantieran government works on a seven-three cycle. Days are given ordinal names: Firstday or Prime, Secondday, Thirdday. Most organizations are closed or quiet on three of Eighthday, Ninthday, Tenthday or Prime. The calendar consists of thirteen months of three tendays in a 390 day year. Unique to Galantier; developed during the Cataclysm and maintained after contact with the rest of the surviving civilizations.
The new year begins on the day after the winter solstice which is fixed to the last day of Festivis. Alglidis and the first half of Glacilis complete winter. Spring consists of Imbris, Prosilis and Prunalis. Summer begins at the end of Prunalis and proceeds through Orcharis, Fervenis, and Solestis. Autumn begins on the fourth day of Segilis and continues through Frumentis, Storis and Faculatis. Winter begins on the second day of Festivis. The month names are almost the last fragments of Ancient Porsirian still in use.
Food
Beanpaste
Pulverized cooked beans or bean flour cooked in water, mixed with edible tree oil, usually with spices, vinegar and salt. Similar to hummus. Often eaten with flatbread.
Flatbread
A lightly leavened bread, usually sourdough, patted into a round or poured as a batter and baked or fried on a griddle. Similar to pita, tortillas or pancakes. Many variations.
Fish sauce
A thin, salty, fermented liquid rich in amino acids, resulting from the fermentation of small, difficult to eat by-catch. Similar to nuac mom in Vietnamese cuisine, or garum.
Cheria
Small, tart, red berries. Tree and bush variations. Often preserved in honey and used in fruit soups and tarts.
Cassia
The aromatic bark of some southern trees. Often mixed with crystallized honey, tree sugar syrup or beet syrup, or added to boiling water as a flavoring. Similar to cinnamon.
Fondal
A dry mixture of beregan leaves, spices, dried milk solids and crystallized honey. When added to hot water, makes a chai-type hot beverage. Many variations.
Beregan
A low bush prized for its leaves. When fermented, dried and pulverized, the leaves dissolve in boiling water, leaving only a fine grit. Beregan has a strong stimulating effect, similar to caffeine. Oil distilled from its bark is somewhat antiseptic.
Acantha
A primarily medicinal mushroom. Raw or dried, it causes hallucinations, usually mild, and can be used recreationally. When steeped in pure alcohol, the medicinal properties are concentrated and can be reduced to powder with the addition of salt and soda. In liquid form, it is primarily used as a local anesthetic, mostly for teeth or minor skin surgeries. However, most Ingeniae are highly sensitive to concentrated acantha. Alone, it causes euphoria and disinhibition; when mixed with alcohol, it causes significant memory loss. Used illicitly as a rape drug and aphrodisiac.
Stenhop
A primarily medicinal mushroom.
Fruit soup
A hot, sweet soup, often served in winter, usually made from berries, either dried or preserved. Often garnished with cream, fresh or sour, or butter, just before serving. Childhood favorite.
Poppy paste
Raw opium. A poppy seed pod is shallowly sliced while still green. Leaking fluid oxidizes and dehydrates into a gum that is collected. Often smoked or eaten in the raw form.
Solemnium
Poppy paste dissolved in brandy, usually with some flavoring. Similar to laudanum. One of the few ways to regulate the strength and dosage of poppy paste. Primarily a soporific and analgesic.
Passionflower
The dried leaves and flowers of the passion flower plant, which are smoked as an intoxicant. Often called pash.
Frumentia
A sparkling wine, usually lightly sweet to dry. Red, white and pink varieties are common. Frumentia are initially fermented in glass tanks rather than wooden barrels, then bottled under pressure, well before fermentation is complete. Similar to champagne.
Hemp brandy
A tincture of hemp, used primarily as an analgesic. Smoked and eaten hemp flower is also known and used, for pain and for recreational purposes.
Amusements
Tosca
A ball game that can be played anywhere there is a length of space. The width of the space is not critical, though informal and formal rules exist for most variations. Teams of players — at least two but as many as ten on a side — attempt to get a leather ball from the center of the space to the opposite end. The players can use any body part except their hands to get the ball there. Often rough.
Cicera
A betting game characterized by bluffing, shifting alliances and mathematics. Often dishonest. Played with dice and markers.
Supper stories
Folk tales, cultural myths, and fantastic stories told to children during meals as an inducement to eat. Similar to fables or fairy tales. Also, an euphemism for bullshit.
Measurements
Millia, milliae
Unit of distance, defined as one thousand military paces, or the length of a battalion (1000 troops) in single-file formation. A military pace is equivalent to two steps, when the right foot has touched ground twice. A military unit is expected to be able to cover four milliae per hour in good weather on flat ground. About two kilometers or one mile. Subdivided into smaller, standardized units (chains, rods, furrows). Has been standardized for surveying to 5,000 feet, but is extremely flexible in actual practice and usage.
Hour
The amount of time it takes a pure wax candle, one inch in diameter, to burn one inch, which equals one twelfth of the time between tide turnings. Measured in heartbeats, candles, public clocks and bells, and by the wealthy, with pocket clocks and table clocks.
Money
Teander
The basic unit of money. Bronze, stamped octagons. A teander usually buys about five pounds of flour, or a one pound loaf of bread, or a serving of protein. Originally produced by and for the Teandrian temple. Currently, the median wage for a non-contracted laborer is about 10 teanders a day. In the median community of 250 Tenant-contracted people with 50-100 people not yet under Tenant contract, 10 teanders a day will provide for a single shared room with floor bedding and scant heat, 2-3 communal baths each tenday, simple food including standard ale and cheaper wine, 3-4 complete kits of clothing a year, and 100-200 teanders of discretionary funds a year. It won’t support a family, but it will support a young person just starting out. While teanders are used for daily transaction, and are often cracked or broken for smaller sums, such as for cups of fondal, stuffed buns, or (in urban areas) street food like noodles or flatbread, most people are not paid in teanders, since very few people are paid by the day. 10 teanders a day will not support a single adult even in shared housing, in Cimenarum. It’s barely possible in Julianasport and Crooksmouth.
5, 10 and 20 teander coins exist, but are falling out of circulation. Paper transactions — treasury drafts –and bills of account are taking the place of mid-range and large exchanges. The major exceptions are inns and taverns, which require coin, and very small transactions.
Half-royal
25 teanders, round, small, silver alloy. Starting daily wage for most newly contracted Tenants. Median household income for two adults and two children on a ‘greve is in the range of a half-royal a day. Median daily wage for shop clerk, service jobs, dock-workers, and other low-paying urban jobs. A newly contracted Tenant has a right to one private room, food including ale and wine, sufficient fuel for moderate warmth provided by the langreve. This is a bare-bones, oatmeal and roommates living in Cimenarum, with no safety net except the Temples and the Famine Coffer. A clean, comfortable, secure room in a good but not excellent Cimenarum inn runs 20-25 teanders per day.
Royal
50 teanders. Round, thicker, wider, milled edge, silver alloy. Median daily wage for 5+ year contracted Tenants. Median daily wage for a typesetter, Healer’s assistant, skilled artisan, or a legal clerk in Cimenarum. Median cost for solid, well-made but not precisely custom boots, or a basic suit of not-custom clothing.
Magna
100 teanders. Round, milled edge, gold. Largest coin in circulation. Median daily wage for a hospital Healer, most builders, a senior Advocate or Counselor just entering into private practice on partnership track. The plural for the coins is magnas; when used to refer to a multiple of one hundred teanders, the plural is magnae, as in, give six magnas (coins) paid six magnae (six hundred teanders, paid by whatever form.)
200 teanders
The price of a prepared ermine skin, or of a tanned reindeer hide, or for one 60 foot long x 2 foot diameter log. 200 teanders will purchase a used riding pony with tack, but not one trained for harness. What the Karsai steward estimates it costs to maintain one person in the Karsai per day.
300 teanders
Cost to purchase 150 gallons of fuel oil or a ton of barley. Cost of one complete kit of armor for either light infantry or light artillery. Usual cost for a middle-aged, fertile army mare on the surplus market.