Dragons and Destiny (51 page)

Murdoch: Human
Country in the southern continent ruled by the ex-convicts (and
their descendants) from the WCPS Electra

Nad:
Nothingness

Nadlian: Area
of land with no trees, grasslands

Nahoko: Lai :
Probe of the Diaglon

Numbers 1:10 ;
Dun, Vad, Lok, San, Rak, Olf, Tak, Zan, Echt, Duntan

Ondis: Insects
that live in swarms and who look like and live s similar life to
the locusts of planet Earth

Order of the
Grey Nuns: Teaching Order of Nuns of the Kingdom of Murdoch

Pilli: Small,
edible darting red fish found in the rivers of the northern
continent

Pison berry:
Poisonous green berry, which resembles the greenfruit

Plodder: Name
given to the type of travelling horse that Baron Ross favoured for
long journeys

PO: Petty
Officer

Pointy Peak:
Pointed mountain near Dunetown and used by mariners as a reference
point for navigation

Port Charles:
Eighth ward port in Argyll

Port Lutterell:
Main port of eastern Argyll, most of its traffic is composed of
merchantmen plying their trade between the mainland and the
islands, also the base for the Argyllian Navy

Priests of the
Holy Temple: Rulers of the Island of Hallam and members of a strict
religious sect

Ptatch:
Ride

Quorko: Lai and
Dglai : Scout ship of the Dglai

Raging Jezdic:
An Inn at Vada

Rai: Lai : Blue
skinned rtath of the Diaglon

Raki: Section
of the Avuzdel

Relentless:
Pirate slaver-galley

Rdha: A snack
meal

Relm: A piece
of paper or parchment of letter size

Rhan: Sun
(day)

Rhed: Hot

Redgeworg:
Dangerous soporific drug

Rhedhrehl:
Summer season

Ricca: A
rice-like crop grown in the south

Rtath: Pack

Rtatha:
Pack-range

Rtathen:
Pack-mates

Rtathlian:
Pack-woods

Rudtka: Larg :
Small southern burrowing animal like a rabbit with short ears

Ruza: Hero

Rocksprings:
Mining camp in the northern mountains of Argyll

Rybak: Planet
Wolf, home of the Lind and the Larg and named after James Rybak who
found it

Ryz: Battle
line

Ryzck: Troop of
Vada : made up of thirty-four vadeln-pairs and one commanding
vadeln-pair

Ryzcka: Vada
Troop Commander

Saint Joan:
Religious township in northern Argyll where Susa Julia was born

Saneln: Family
unit of four, two humans and two Lind, mated

Satalrdn:
Many

Sbnai: Lai :
Red skinned rtath of the Daiglon

Senis: Second
Staticum (year) officer trainees of the Garda of Argyll

Sheld: Dglai –
a measure of gravitational levels

Silver Star:
Honour Star awarded to brave vadeln-pairs of the Vada

Silver Star: An
Inn at Vada

Sitrep:
Situation report

Slammer: Army
slang for jail

Smaha: Red
numbing medicinal root

Southern Trade
Route: This runs from Settlement at the southeasterly tip of Argyll
to Vada, the Stronghold of the Vada in Vadath.

Standard:
Language spoken by the humans when they arrived on Rybak – as the
years progressed the language has shifted to take account of words
of Lindish and of the Larg

Stasya: River
which flowed into Stewarton during the early years, by the seventh
century barely a trickle because of the dam which was built in
AL200 to provide a clean water supply for the growing town

Staticum: The
year designations of officer trainees in the Garda. Training takes
two years and in the first year they are designated First Staticum,
in their second year Second Staticum. First year trainees take the
rank Juvenis, second year trainees the rank Senis

Stickleweed:
Maroon coloured, fast growing weed whose leave stick to clothes,
hair and fur

Stewarton: City
of Argyll, situated inland beside Lake Stewart

Stronghold: A
name used to describe the section within the town of Vada where the
Vada HQ is

Summoner of
Death: The name for the Boton amongst the Avuzdel

Supply Station:
Vada stations that are dotted around Argyll, Vadath and Lind for
the use of travelling vadeln-pairs

Susa: Commander
of a Lindar, of the Vada and of the three sections of the
Avuzdel

Susalai:
Supreme Commander of the Avuzdel

Susyc: Overall
Commander of the Armies of the North

Symington:
Baronage located in the Duchy of Brentwood

Tan: 0
(Zero)

Tarklei: River
in southwestern Lind

Technicians
Guild: Guild in Argyll and responsible for all technical
matters

Thed: Cold

Thedhrehl:
Winter season

The Exam: The
leaving exams sat by all most of those in Argyll and Vadath wishing
to go on to further education, the usual age for sitting these is
sixteen

Thibaltines:
Enclosed Order of Nuns of the Kingdom of Murdoch. They wear black
habits

Three of Five:
Dglai :Numerical name of the unmanned beacon the Dglai sent out
into space to seek out suitable planets for invasion

Tran: Moon
(night)

Tranet: Edible
freshwater flatfish

Vada: Cavalry
(Lind/human)

Vada: The
township that has grown up around the Vada stronghold

Vadath: Country
between Argyll and Lind on the northern continent, ruled jointly by
humans and Lind

Vadeln-pair:
Paired life-mate (Lind/human), often shortened to vadeln or
pair

Vadryz: Squad
of Vada : made up of eight vadeln-pairs

Vadryza: Vada
squad commander of which there are four in each Ryzck; of eight
vadeln-pairs each

Valdka: Cloudy
white alcoholic drink

Valley Farm: A
farmstead in the northern mountains of Argyll destroyed by
bandits

Volat: Needless
slaying of any creature

Vuz: Idiot (if
spoken loudly)

Vuz: Small
striped river animal (if spoken softly)

Walda: A long
thick leafed grass grown in both northern and southern continents
and used for fodder, thatching and other myriad uses

Waldathorn
brocade: A brocade based on the walda grass

Whitebush: A
plant that generated white roots that can be cooked and eaten

Western Isles:
A prosperous and large group of islands in the Great Eastern Sea
and allied to the Kingdom of Murdoch

Wral: Large
bear-like animals that inhabit the riverbanks of the snowy
mountains of the northern continent

Wylie Harbour:
Busy and prosperous harbour in southern Argyll

Xrndli:
Vulture-like raptor, after a battle they descend on the field and
eat the dead

Zandi: Bright
coloured snakes that live in the northern continent

Zarova: Long
necked camel-like meat animal

* * * * *

The Rybakian
Year

First Month of
Summer: Dunrhed

Second Month of
Summer: Vadrhed

Third Month of
Summer: Lokrhed

Fourth Month of
Summer: Sanrhed

Fifth Month of
Summer: Rakrhed

First Month of
Winter: Dunthed

Second Month of
Winter: Vadthed

Third Month of
Winter: Lokthed

Fourth Month of
Winter: Santhed

Fifth Month of
Winter: Rakthed

A Rybakian year
is ten months long. There are only two seasons, summer and winter.
The year begins with Dunrhed, the first month of summer because
tradition states that this was the month of landing. There are four
weeks, each ten days long, in a Rybakian month. A week is called a
tenday.

The Rybakian
Day

Midnight Bell :
First Nightbell : Second Nightbell : Third Nightbell : Fourth
Nightbell : Dawn Bell : First Bell : Second Bell : Third Bell :
Fourth Bell : Noon Bell : Sixth Bell : Seventh Bell : Eighth Bell :
Ninth Bell : Eve Bell : Eleventh Bell : Twelfth Bell : Thirteenth
Bell : Fourteenth Bell : Midnight Bell

The Dukedoms of
the Kingdom of Murdoch in Order of Precedence

North Baker:
South Baker: Smith: Cocteau: Van Buren: Gardiner: Brentwood: Sahara
(Vacant): Duchesne: Graham

Extract from
the Genealogical Chart of the Royal Family of Murdoch AL580 to
AL607

King Elliot X
(527-601) m. Contessa Janet van Buren (530-89)

* King Elliot
XI (b547) m. Contessa Mary Kirkton of the Eastern Isles (b550)

** Elliot
(567-574)

** Paul (b568)
m. Contessa Susan Baker (b572)

*** Elliot
(b590)

*** Susan
(b593)

*** Mary
(b596)

*** Janet
(b599)

** Mary
(571-593) m. Duke Raoul van Buren (b571)

** Janet (b575)
m. Earl Marcus Galland (b575)

** Xavier
(b580) m. Daughter-Heir Harriet Baker (b585)

* Janet (b550)
m. Duke James Kirk of the Western Isles (551-92)

* Robert (b552)
m. Daughter-Heir Eileidh Brentwood (b560)

* Mary (554-99)
(Nun)

* David (b555)
m. Kellessa Bethany Ross (b560)

** Bethany
(b580) m. Duke-Heir William Duchesne (b580)

** Ian (b586)
m. Kellessa Denise Brentwood (b590)

*** Pierre
(b607)

* Anne (b558)
m. Duke Pierre Cocteau (b554)

Members of the
Ruling Conclave of Murdoch AL599

Head of
Conclave (with casting vote) – King Elliot the Tenth (b527): North
Baker – Duke William (b550): South Baker – Prince-Duke Xavier
(b557): Smith – Duke David (b550): Cocteau – Duke Pierre (b554):
Van Buren – Duke Raoul (b546): Gardiner – Duke Alastair (b531):
Brentwood – Prince-Duke Robert (b552): Sahara – Crown-Prince Elliot
(b547): Duchesne – Duke William (b540): Graham – Duke Charles
(b580): Lord Marshall : Count Peter Duchesne (b565): Primate –
Archbishop Tom Brentwood, Primate of Murdoch (b540)

Members of the
Ruling Conclave of Murdoch AL607

Head of
Conclave (with casting vote) – King Elliot the Eleventh (b547):
North Baker – Duke William (b550): South Baker – Prince-Duke Xavier
(b557): Smith – Duke David (b550): Cocteau – Duke Pierre (b576):
Van Buren – Duke Raoul (b546)

Gardiner – Duke
Alastair (b531): Brentwood – Prince-Duke Robert (b552): Sahara –
Crown-Prince Paul (b568): Duchesne – Duke William (b561): Graham –
Duke Charles (b580): Lord Marshall - Count Peter Duchesne (b565):
Primate – Archbishop Tom Brentwood, Primate of Murdoch (b540)

Relationship of
Baron Philip Ross to the Duke of van Buren and the Royal Family

* Baron James
Ross (b549) m. Thanessa Briony Allstorm (b550)

* Anne Ross
(550:99) m. Duke Raoul van Buren

** Duke Heir
Raoul van Buren (b571) m. Princess Mary (571-93)

*** Raoul
(b593)

** Anne van
Buren (b575) m. Baron Philip Ross (b571)

Rank Structure
of the Garda

Commissioned
Ranks (ascending order): Juvenis (First Year (Staticum) Officer
Trainee: Senis (Second Year (Staticum) Officer Trainee: Coronet (or
Second Leftenant): Leftenant: Captain: Major: Colonel:
Major-General: General: Field Marshall - Non-commissioned Ranks
(ascending order): Infantryman/woman – Trooper (Cavalry): Corporal:
Sergeant: Sergeant Major: Regimental Sergeant Major

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