Sythyry

October 15th, 2009 Author: sythyry

Strayway’s Crew

(Warning: this table inclues spoilers! Some of these people joined after the start of the story.)

Name	Species, Sex, Age	Partners, etc.	Job on the Ship	Wrongness	Notes
Arfaen	Cani woman, 40’s	Mellilot; mother of Quendry	Chief day chef	Traff	Clan Coryn; auxiliary clans Denn and ___
Blenny	Orren woman, 30’s	single	Assorted; mainly cleaning	Hideous and maimed. She is always partly in water-form and partly in land-form. Not our usual sort, I think — I don’t know who, if anyone, she would like to love.	Indentured to Sythyry
Calla	Herethroy co-lover, 30’s	single	Chief evening and night chef	Traff.
Dorze	Cani boy	*-eyes	none	Traff; stowaway	Golden retriever styling
Este	Rassimel man, 60’s	Phaniet	Supreme Repairiste Of That Which Is Splintered Assunder. Or, carpenter and handyman.	Traff.	Indentured to Sythyry
Feralan	Rassimel boy, age 10; son of Zascalle and Thiane, with technical help from Este.	too young by far!	Grand Assistant	Traff parents
Grinwipey	Khtsoyis man, 40’s	single	Armed Guard and Chief Couturier	Khtsoyis (which is not technically ‘wrong’ but not very far off)
Hops	Herethroy both-female, 30’s	Tingula	Steward	Both-female, traff	Being both-female and traff would be bad enough, but Hops is very political about it. I did not dare leave her behind in Vheshrame.
Inconnu	Orren youth, 28	none just now	As needed, but trying to work in the kitchen on Calla’s shift.	Traff.	Blatantly unabashedly traff. Traff is his life. For most of us, our consorts are our life, but traff itself is not.
Jyondre	Orren man, 30’s	Yerenthax	Native Guide to Srineia; Teacher of the Strange Tongue of Srineian; General Factotum	Traff. In Vheshrame, he was foreign, too, but not so on Srineia.	I no longer have a crush on Jyondre. I never did anything about it, even when I had one.
Kantele	Rassimel woman, 90’s	none	My secretary, as she has been for some fifty years.	Libertine, and/or traff.	I am still not sure whether she was in love with her late consort Hithiat or not, but they were together for some forty years, which has to count for something. A person of some stature; if she had not been traff, she surely would have been an esquire by now.
Lithia	Rassimel / Orren shifter hybrid girl, 30	none	passenger	shifter hybrid. A fortiori traff.	My ward; my responsibility.
Mellilot	Herethroy woman, 40’s	Arfaen; quasi-mother of Quendry	Kitchen staff; factotum	Traff
Ochirion	Rassimel boy, age 7; son of Zascalle and Thiane	none! Heavens!	Extreme Assistant	Traff parents
Phaniet	Cani woman, 60’s	Este	Wizard’s Assistant	Traff	My assistant in matters magical and mundane. I scooped her out of the on-again off-again Vheshrame Academy Traff Student Association. She knows most of my secrets, especially technical ones. A person of fairly high status; her father is a baron, though even if she was cisaffectionate she would not be likely to inherit the title herself. Clan Coryn; born 4320.
Quendry	Cani boy, age 7, child of Arfaen and, maybe sometime, Mellilot	none!	Supreme Assistant	traff mother; arguably abusive father	Clan Coryn, auxiliary clans Denn and ___
Rheng	Sleeth man, 40’s	none?	Guard	Sleeth, which is not technically wrong. Libertine.	I would not call Rheng traff; I would not call Rheng exactly capable of love for anyone but himself. But he will couple with whoever amuses him.
Sythyry	Zi Ri, 160	none, alas.	Chief Tourist. Refiller of the Great Vat of Money. Owner of the Strayway. Auxiliary Pilot. Auxiliary Couturier. Chief Smith. Chief Healer. Wizard. Gatherer of The Doom.	traff. Gathers The Doom.
Thiane	Cani woman, 40’s	Zascalle	Teacher of the Bouncing Youngsters	traff	A fair hand at sorcery, but she doesn’t do it very much anymore.
Tingula	Orren woman, 30’s	Hops	~~Keeping Hops out of trouble~~ Assorted Arrangements and Productions. Queen of Entertainments.	traff; performer	A juggler and songwriter.
Umbers	Herethroy girl, 30	none (?)	Assistant to the Assistants	both-female-chaser and alarmingly sophisticated pervert	“I am not entirely sure where she learned all of that … I don’t know half of it, and I’ve had well more than a century of reasonably exotic experience.”. Also, indentured to Sythyry.
Vae (Vaisessasilmin)	she-nendrai, 140’s	Oixe, but they can’t see each other for a century or so	Lieutenant Tourist. Terrifying Ophidian Defense Grid.	Monster. One of the scariest of monsters, in fact.
Windigar	Orren man, 50’s	none just now	Pilot	not wrong
Yerenthax	Gormoror woman, 30’s	Jyondre	Stereotypical Guard	traff	Yerenthax is an Academy-trained magic student with specialities in Destroc and Ruloc (naturally), as well as a reasonably skilled wielder of the battle-axe. Her love for Jyondre has been underlined in blood more than once.
Zascalle	Rassimel woman, 40’s	Thiane	Accountant. Chief Buyer of the Multitude of Necessities and Necessary Luxuries.	traff
*-Eyes	Orren girl	Dorze	none	Traff; stowaway.	Known as: Treacle-Eyes, Lost-Eyes, Eager-Eyes

[All ages are in World Tree years. 3 World Tree years = 2 Earth years, so Este, in his 60's, is like a human in his 40's. -bb]

Dramatis Personae

This is supposed to include everyone. It may lag a bit.

Name	Species, sex, age	Location	Notes
Aiziju	Rassimel woman, old	Eigrach	Sorceress
Arfaen	Cani woman, 40’s	Strayway	Day chef; partner of Mellilot; mother of Quendry
Arvaky	Rassimel man, 80’s	Doöaru	Philosopher
Bazamvey	Norren man	Doöaru	Monster; philosopher
Beetheart	Herethroy woman	Pwishika	Farmer, investor
Blenny	Orren woman, 30’s	Strayway	Hideous and maimed; stuck partway between land- and water-forms
Brondigance	Rassimel / Sleeth shifter, old	Side-branch of Mrasteia	Experimental subject of Vae and Sythyry.
Lord Bwipin	Cani man, 70’s	Eigrach	Administrator of Clan Coryn in Eigrach.
Calla	Herethroy co-lover, 30’s	Strayway	Evening and night chef
Csessa	perdithorne woman	Doöaru	A perdithorne living on Doöaru’s back.
Doöaru	inistella	himself	A vast sky-monster with a colony of philosophers on his back.
Dorze	Cani boy	Strayway	Stowaway; consort of *-Eyes
Drogimargue the Nendrai-Slayer	Gormoror man	Dossimar	Warrior of Dossimar
Este	Rassimel man, 60’s	Strayway	Carpenter; lover of Phaniet
Feralan	Rassimel boy, 10	Strayway	Son of Zascalle and Thianne, with help from Este. Ochirion’s older brother. Grand Assistant.
Frise	Cani woman, 70’s’	Eigrach	Countess of the Plipil March; wife of Jempjinga.
General Gerxghar	Monster	Eigrach	Former (pre-prime) ruler of Srineia
Glekjinga	Rassimel man, 50’s	Eigrach	Herbador and Kennoc mage, spearman, adventurer. Very cisaffectionate.
Glishe	Cani man, 50’s	Eigrach	Officer in the Sky Pilots’ Guild
Grinwipey	Khtsoyis man, 40’s	Strayway	Armed Guard and Chief Couturier
Hark!	Norren woman	Doöaru	Monster; philosopher
Harulse	Herethroy woman, 40’s	Eigrach	Court Herald of Eigrach
Hithiat	Cani man, dead	Vheshrame	Kantele’s consort of about 50 years; died 4380.
Hops	Herethroy both-female, 30’s	Strayway	Lover of Tingula. Steward of Strayway. Political.
Inconnu	Orren man, 28	Strayway	Very traff young man.
Jempjinga	Cani man, 70’s	Eigrach	Lord Bwipin’s brother-brother; professional tree-mage and Clan Coryn branchwide treasurer.
Jyondre	Orren man, 30’s	Strayway	From Srineia. Lover of Yerenthax
Kantele	Rassimel woman, 90’s	Strayway	Sythyry’s secretary.
Kazrie oa Stamps	Rassimel woman, 70’s	Doöaru	Rassimel philosopher
La Hish, Kzip	Rassimel woman	Ooran Thrassen	One of the wizards of Oorah Thrassen.
Lampy	Rassimel woman, 60’s	Eigrach	Spell-seller and spell-inventer; Thenel’s girlfriend.
Lithia	Rassimel / Orren shifter hybrid girl, 30’s	Strayway	Sythyry’s ward
Lorquan the Episcopicide	Rassimel woman	Dossimar	Warrior of Dossimar
Mellilot	Herethroy woman, 40’s	Strayway	Partner of Arfaen; quasi-mother of Quendry; kitchen staff
Mintsie	Herethroy child	Pwishika	Child, rescued by Jyondre
Mmixamk	Cani man, 70’s	Eigrach	Mayor of Eigrach
Muot	nycathath male	Doöaru
Muekar	Orren woman, 40’s	Eigrach	Duelist
Mynthë	Herethroy co-lover, long dead	Vheshrame	Sythyry’s consort and quasi-spouse, for most of Mynthë’s adult life. Mynthë died some fifty years before Sythyry’s Vacation.
Nangbang	Orren man	Oorah Thrassen	Former chieftan of the ecclesiastical störmgething of the Temple of the Dark Trinity.
Ochirion	Rassimel boy, 7	Strayway	Son of Zascalle and Thiane. Extreme Assistant
Oixe	she-nendrai, 140’s	distant	Vae’s mate, currently incubating and guarding their egg. While incubating, Oixe is unable to tolerate other nendrai in the area. Her familiar name is Oikusanghlirxat.
Otresto	Rassimel man	Ooran Thrassen	One of the wizards of Oorah Thrassen; Ecclesiastical chieftan of the Temple of the Dark Trinity in Oorah Thrassen.
Oonanau	Cani woman	Dossimar	A mighty, piratical sorceress of Dossimar.
Phaniet	Cani woman, 60’s	Strayway	Este’s partner; Sythyrys’ magical assistant. High status (daughter of a baron)
Pulla	Orren woman	Oorah Thrassen	*-Eye’s mother; Nangbang’s spouse
Quendry	Cani boy, 7	Strayway	Arfaen’s son, Mellilot’s quasi-son. Supreme Assistant.
Raliet	Cani woman	Eigrach	Friend of Thiane
Rehit	Rassimel man, 40’s	Eigrach	Sergeant of the City Guard of Eigrach; wielder of Festina Lente.
Rheng	Sleeth man, 40’s	Strayway	Guard
Sabatario	Herethroy woman	Eigrach	City guard
Sazandigraa	Zi Ri, 1000’s	Oorah Thrassen	Sythyry’s cousin and rival wizard.
Shadatei	chromodon	Srineia	A chromodon; the great monster of Srineia
Skirret	Herethroy child	Pwishika	Child, killed by skagganerax
Songuth	Herethroy woman, 40’s	Eigrach	Thenel’s servant
Sroflia	Herethroy child	Pwishika	Child, rescued by Jyondre
Sythyry	Zi Ri, 160’s	Strayway	Wizard; enchanter; minor nobility; traff; single. Keeper of diaries.
Thazavirza	Zi Ri, 3000’s	Jinteros	Horologist
Thenel oa Iretario	Rassimel man, 60’s	Eigrach	Tree-mage, spellbinder, traff.
Thiane	Cani woman, 40’s	Strayway	Partner of Zascalle. Teacher of the children.
Tingula	Orren woman, 30’s	Strayway	Partner of Hops. Juggler and songwriter.
Totalie	Orren man, 50’s	Seneschal of Glynubla House
Umbers	Herethroy girl, 30’s	Strayway	Assistant to the Assistants. Alarmingly sophisticated libertine.
Urgentia	Rassimel man	Ketheria	Sythyry’s “not-good-friend”; a wizard and skyboat maker
Vae	she-nendrai, 140’s	Strayway	One of the most terrible monsters on the World Tree. Cries a lot. Oixe’s mate.
Vlemo	Herethroy co-lover	Eigrach	Servant in the household of Frise, Bwipin, and Jempjinga.
Windigar	Orren man, 50’s	Strayway	Pilot
Yerenthax	Gormoror woman, 30’s	Strayway	Guard. Jyondre’s lover.
Zascalle	Rassimel woman, 40’s	Strayway	Accountant, purchaser, and lover of Thiane.
Zistacarri	Rassimel woman	Vheshrame	Apprentice to the treasurer of the Vheshrame Smith’s Guild
Zuzmaan	Perdithorne	Doöaru
*-Eyes	Orren girl	Strayway	Stowaway; consort of Dorze; changes her name frequently

Glossary

Accanax	Creator god. Ruler of Destroc, the Verb of destruction. Creator of the Khtsoyis; half-creator of the Gormoror; creator of many monsters. Younger brother of Gnarn.
affan	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.
Bahalizonne the Lar	Nendrai of Beltheia; reputedly slain by Drogimargue.
Bettangour’s Tales of Gods	A children’s book of historical myths.
Beltheia	World-branch, where Dossimar is.
Bromabu	A Srineian opera
Café Triumphant	One of the many cafés in Eigrach near Yupnup Pond.
Castle Wrong	Sythyry’s home in Vheshrame. It is a complex of four large buildings on adjacent plots of land. Some fifty people live there, most of them wrong in some way: Sythyry takes care of transaffectionates, both-females, and various other sorts of undesirables. Sythyry is their patron, providing them with rooms in Castle Wrong, jobs, protection, and, above all, company of friends and peers.
Choinxeia	The world-branch in Ketheria where Strayway and her crew come from; the branch of Vheshrame.
choof	A ritualized Cani contest for affan, dominance, in a particular topic.
cley	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.
chromodon	One of the terrible monsters of the World Tree. Eight cat-sized bodies with vicious poisonous sharky teeth, and vast amounts of quick and moderately-powerful magic.
cisaffectionate	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.
codelieth	A perfume with a spicy carrion scent. Much loved by Cani, not so much loved by others.
co-lover	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.)
combie	A geographical term for a branch with crosswise mountain ranges, running more or less from edge to edge.
common tongue	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	Songbird monster. They come in three sexes, like Herethroy. They live for about four years … except that, if they get some of a prime’s vitality, they can live for longer. They have two ways to do that: either a voluntary gift from a prime, or by killing a prime.
Cowardist	Rude adventurer slang for people who are not adventurers.
day	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.
The Dibbing of Jaraz	A Srineian opera.
doorwaying	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.
Dossimar	City-state on Beltheia, three branches above Srineia.
drumbers	A simple dice-game in Ketheria
Duncan’s Glory	Battle-barge of Dossimar
Eggnoster	Grinwipey’s uncle, who was involved in Something in Oorah Thrassen at some point.
Elphaeia	A world-branch eight levels down from Ketheria
Eigrach	The oldest city on Srineia; “Wicker City”.
Euphagy	Aspect or angel of Accanax.
Feathermom	Lithia’s name for Sythyry.
Festina Lenta	An enchanted rapier Sythyry made for Rehit.
Froliose	Spherical cloud structure, peculiar to Srineia.
Ghreptic Bookstore	A good bookstore in Vheshrame
gleddah	Srineian verb meaning “to carry”, but only said about people of low social status.
Glynubla House	A large house in Eigrach on Via Tydirdi, given to Sythyry by the city.
Gnarn	Creator god. Verb god of Mutoc, change. Creatrix of the Sleeth, the nendrai, and some other devastating creatures. Sister of Accanax.
Goldenprallow	A little town on Choinxeia.
Gurneia	A world-branch
Halflight 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	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”
Hren Tzen	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.
Ice Gleam	Sazandigraa’s airship
mripsis-flipsis	Srineian for higglety-pigglety
Inihithre	The first prime city on the World Tree; in Creitheia
inistella	A vast aerial intelligent non-prime, often inhabited by other people.
Iraz Varuun	Noun Goddess of Magiador: magic.
jhaafrilya	A Srineian delicacy
Jinteros	A prime city on Hybraeia (a branch of Ketheria) which makes good clocks.
Jungus	A border town between Eigrach and Heleshario.
Ketheria	The nine world-branches at the top of the World Tree; the birthplace of the prime species, and the most civilized place in the universe.
kippliwere	Srineian for “to want”, but a word only used by nobles.
krendayn	A mind-command drug. Victims can be given various commands, though none which violate morality or politeness.
Lavagrave	A prime city on the branch Casasneia
lozen	A hexagonal, magic-marked amber coin, worth about US$10.
magerium	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	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	In a triad of married Herethroy, the co-lover is called the “mari”, the man the “husband”, and the woman the “wife”.
mene	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	A very hard nut, comparable to bronze; used in many situations where metal would be used terrestrially.
Monster	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” and this discussion.
month	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 long. The months are Trandary and Hispis (Spring), Thory and Lage (Summer), Chirreb (First Autumn), Oix or Surprise (anomalous), Consimbs and Hivvem (Second Autumn), and Nivvem (Winter).
nendrai	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 and other unfortunate mental compulsions.
Nice Language	The language of the monsters of a distant branch, which Vae speaks and force-taught to Sythyry. Nobody else in the story speaks it. It is not nice.
-nob	Suffix indicating nobility in Srineian.
nobo	“A rather nasty word for a rather pleasant activity” (which Sythyry is probably not physically or emotional capable of doing.)
nolotham	Sacred incense of Accanax
nonprime	Anyone who is not of prime species. We use this term to translate the less offensive words, and “monster” for the more offensive ones.
Nupyup Pond	A public pond in Eigrach, where many Orren swim, and many people who like looking at swimming Orren come to observe and occasionally meet them.
nycathath	A mighty monster, in the shape of a brawny bat-morph nine feet tall; fierce and deadly in combat.
offirrah	A pungent and spicy condiment made from fermented chilis, garlic, and snakes.
Oix (or “Surprise”)	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.
Omblou	A principle river of inner Choinxeia.
Oorah Thrassen	A small but sorcerously-powerful city on the sky bridge in Ketheria; a frequent opponent of Vheshrame.
Ord Bord	A famous brothel in Eigrach.
perdithorne	Sentient monsters, looking like half-skeletal lynxes. They are very good at binding magic.
preps and fiaps	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.)
Pong the Wasserflorn	An easy game, suitable for four young players
Poptaloop	little sticky buns with a dot of sweet bean paste at the top
Pordaal	Somewhere up-tree from Eigrach.
prime	Member of any of the eight prime species
quen-vaah	A fruit which brings dismal dreams. Possibly Vae made it up.
roll’gainst	The opposite direction from the way the sun rolls.
rollward	The direction that the sun rolls.
scagganerax	Goat-unicorn fire monster; quite dangerous
scathnard	Sacred incense of Iraz Varuun
Serpent of the Vortex	A stupid board game
Sfthnidia trees	trees that shoot poisonous needles
shoggie	Slang for “Khtsoyis”. Informal and generally rather rude.
Snootloose	Quendry’s rag doll
Soothing Ointment	Xebec-o-war of Dossimar
spont	To spontaneously cast, viz. to improvize a simple special-purpose spell. (Informal usage.)
Star-Serpent	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.
störmgething	The ecclesiastical council of the Temple of the Dark Trinity.
Srineia	A forky world-branch, nine levels down from Ketheria.
Strayway	Sythyry’s sky-yacht. From the outside, it is a baroque seven-armed candelabra fifteen feet tall drawn by three-headed fire-breathing antelopes. From the inside, it is a vast and cryptic mansion.
Sun	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	The time that the sun goes out. 2/3 of the way through the day. (cf. terrestrial “nightfall”).
Surprise	see Oix.
Tabshiobrasa	A cheap hat-shop in Eigrach.
tapepy	A rare and expensive Verticals-spide of Srineia.
taptet	Sentient monsters, who look like small anthropomorphic deer. Good at making potions. Not very dangerous or imposing.
Terch	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.
Terrible Bean	sky-luzzu of Dossimar
traff	A slang term for “transaffectionate”, generally used as a noun. Fairly insulting.
Transaffectionate	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.)
transvective	A skyboat (such as Strayway) which flies by levitation, rather than wings or sails or teleportation or what have you. Very ordinary.
trunkward	Towards the main trunk. (Cardinal [polar] direction)
Ulcelarde	A prime skyship.
Ulmarn	A city-state on Choinxeia
unhistoried	In Srineia, people who have no historical status, and, in particular, those who are not descended from the original colonists.
Verticals	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.
Vheshrame	An important (though diminished) city on Choinxeia in Ketheria; the home of the crew of the Strayway.
Via Hoglolo	Street in Eigrach (leading to the gate by where Strayway is parked).
Via Ocken	Street in Eigrach; meets Via Hoglolo
Via Nupyup	A street in Eigrach going past Nupyup Pond.
Via Tydirdi	A street in Eigrach; the Coryn clan headquarters are there.
Virid	Creator goddess; maker of the World Tree itself, the Herethroy, and many plants; gives Creoc.
Wild Rush	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.
world-branch	A branch of the World Tree, corresponding to a continent in more spherical planets. Fifty miles wide or so, tens of thousands of miles long. Flat on top, which is where primes generally live.
World Tree	A very big tree, on which our story takes place.
year	243 days — that is, about 2/3 of an Earth year.
Zonsmi Oak	A remarkable tree on the Eigrach – Heleshario border.
Zonsmi Triangle	A triangle of land defined by some prior position of the Zonsmi Oak, its current position, and the town of Jungus; disputed territory between Eigrach and Heleshario.

The Prime Species (and all others)

Cani	Dogfolk; very social; very good at smelling. Cani live in big families of a dozen or so adults, which you can call packs if you like. Status is very important: at any given time, one Cani holds affan in each topic. The affan-cook is in charge of cooking; the affan-singer, in charge of singing. The contest to decide affan is called a choof. I think Cani rule the World Tree.
Gormoror	Bearfolk; big and strong and wild. Sexually dimorphic: men are more ursine, women less so. Stereotypically barbaric and heroic. If they give their Word of Honor, they cannot break it.
Herethroy	Cricketfolk. Two arms, two legs, two limbs that can be either. Three sexes: female (strong and worky); co-lover (attractive and motherly); male (in between). There are more females than co-lovers, and more co-lovers than males. The most populous prime species, so they rule the World Tree. Fairly agrarian. (Both-females are a very rare intersexed condition: part female, part co-lover, and entirely despised.)
Khtsoyis	Aerial seven-limbed octopi. Considered brutal, stupid, and thuggish, not without good reason.
Orren	Otter people; quick and smart and slinky and swimmy. In the water they turn into non-morphic otters. When excited, they can go into a Wild Rush, in which they do whatever seems right at that point very quickly. They are dangerously cute (in my opinion), and thus, they rule the World Tree.
Rassimel	Raccoon people; clever and obsessive. They learn very fast. They are very smart. They rule the World Tree by smartness.
Sleeth	Non-anthropomorphic panthers, generally blue, green, or black. They are vicious and hunty, and they speak funny. They can manipulate animal materials telekinetically in simple ways without paying cley for it, unlike most other people. This does not make up for them not having hands. They are regarded as little better than dangerous monsters.
Zi Ri	Small hermaphroditic dragons. By “small” I mean “about the size of a large housecat” — much smaller than anyone else. We breathe fire, like overgrown candleflames, and we enjoy resting in fires. We do not age, which is why I often complain that all my college friends are dead of old age and I’m barely more than a child to my family. We are exceedingly rare, in large part because reproduction is very painful — it hurts to think about it, even. (Nonreproductive body-play, on the other hand, is quite fun.) We do not rule the World Tree, because we are terrible at ruling anything.

Sythyry’s Notes on Some Important Words

“Traff“, or “transaffectionate” for formal, refers to people who commit the socially-unforgiveable crime of being capable and indeed eager to love members of all seven prime species, and thus incapable of loving their members of their own. I am traff; my consort of many decades was a Herethroy co-lover, though zie usually lived as an Orren or Rassimel man. As a Zi Ri, the half-sibling of the secret ruler of Vheshrame, and an important civic functionary, I could generally get away with it — though I was considered to be single for all civic occasions. People with less influence get considerably more trouble. Castle Wrong is my way of protecting and assisting traff people.

“Traff” is a rude word when used by one who is not traff and not known to be quite sympathetic. “Transaffectionate” is clinical but neutral. Oh, and “cisaffectionate” is the opposite of “transaffectionate”; most people are cisaffectionate. Some of us call them cissy, but not to their muzzles.

Traff is not to be confused with being a “libertine“, which frequently includes carnally amusing onesself with the genitalia of anyone available regardless of species. Traff means love; libertine means body-play. During Vheshrame’s heydey, being a libertine was somewhere between acceptable and required for the upper classes; now it is a matter of private interest and public shame only. Castle Wrong has always had a libertine streak, and some of our private parties have been notably libertine, though I have barely attended them.

Neither is traff to be confused with being a “monster-lover“, romance or body-play with members of non-prime species. Monster-loving is a crime, and sensibly so. There are frequent whispers that I am Vae’s lover. I am not. As proof of this, I note that (a) Vae’s jealous and insanely violent mate Oixe knows all about me, and (b) I am still alive.

Monster, of course, means anyone who is not one of one (or more, in Lithia’s very unusual case) of the eight prime species. Monsters may be considered people, or not, depending on what they are: Vae is certainly a person. Most World Tree monsters are dangerous to primes in some way or another; Vae more than most. Consequently, the greatest crime on the World Tree is doorwaying, viz., allowing illegal monsters into prime cities. Vae, despite a hundred twenty-five years as a loyal friend to Vheshrame, has never actually been in the city. I would probably be executed a couple times if she ever got in; more if I had actually helped her. She knows this, and does not try.