The Apotheosis is a blood ritual, normally carried out at the time of the Rebirth and in the Umbilicus, overlooking the Plain of Thrones, when the Candidate—elected by the Chosen—is transformed into the God Emperor, the incarnation on Earth of the Twin Gods, when his blood is turned to ichor and They become fully divine
The Green God—also known as the Lord of the Dance, the Jade Faced God and the Lord of Life—is one half of the Twin Gods
This is an alternative name for the land that the Plainsmen call the Earthsky
the Hidden Land is another name for Osrakum, the land within the Sacred Wall of it crater
The Three Gates refers to the three gates that defend the Canyon entry into Osrakum; they are the primary defences of Osrakum
Military leathers, commander’s leathers or simply ‘leathers’, is an all in one battle suit, of bleached leather, that the Chosen wear when on active military service as a robust form of the ritual protection
The ‘elixir’ is a drug fed to the Wise to allow them to sleep for long periods of time. They believe that it extends their lives far beyond the span of normal men
The Twelve are the Grand Sapients who oversee the twelve Domains of the Wise
A deadman’s chair is a device associated with the watchtowers of the Guarded Land—each tower generally having four chairs: one facing up the road and the leftway, another down; two more looking out across the land—one in each direction
A deadman’s chair insures that the lookout sitting on it remains awake by threatening his life should he fall asleep: the seat itself is a freely rotating drum astride which the lookout sits; to stop himself falling off, the lookout must keep a grip on a bracing hoop. This hoop is a fixed structure surrounding the ‘chair’
A dragon towers also has a deadman’s chair up its mast
