The Mirror Empire (65 page)

Parajistas are also known as parajinas and wind wizards.

 

War between Dhai and Dorinah twenty years ago. Began when 800 dajians escaped Dorinah and demanded entrance to Liona, only to be crushed and killed by Dorinah legions when the Dhai would not open the gates. When the Dhai opened fire on the Dorinah, the war began. Its end is largely credited to Ghrasia Madah and Kai Javia Mia Sorai, who used both strategy and political savvy to placate the Dorinahs.

 

Leader of the Saiduanese people. Powerful Saiduanese families have traditionally gone to war for the title. Since it was established, eighteen different families have ruled Saiduan. When a new family rises to power, the prior family’s adults are killed and the children raised as slaves.

 

A slave of the Patron of Saiduan.

 

Name by which the world is commonly known in Dhai.

 

Captain-General in charge of a Saiduan military regiment. Maralah Daonia’s brother.

 

An Ora, and the defense forms teacher at the Temple of Oma. A sinajista.

 

A dancer at Kuonrada, in Saiduan.

 

The goddess of Dorinah’s primary religion, whose symbol is a great cat’s eye on a field of purple. Para, Sina and Tira are said to be her daughters. The Empress of Dorinah is also known as Rhea’s divine, as Rhea is her mother.

 

Shepard. Husband to Meyna Salisia Mutao and brother to Hadaoh Alais Garika, Lohin Alais Garika and Yisaoh Alais Garika.

 

Father of Kirana Javia Garika and Ahkio Javia Garika. Deceased.

 

Novice parajista at the Temple of Oma, with the ability to see through wards. Son of Finahin Humey Garika, Tadisa Sinhasa Garika, and Madinoh Ladisi Badu. Brother of Chali Finahin Badu.

 

Name of a Dhai city when those people were once an empire stretching from Saiduan to Hrollief. Best known as the city where the decisive battle between the Dhai and Saiduan was fought.

 

A student of Ahkio Javia Garika’s in Clan Osono.

 

Title used to denote the leader of the Dorinah Seekers.

 

A sea on the eastern coast of Dorinah.

 

A top general among the Tai Mora.

 

Large empire which rules the northwestern continent of Raisa. The continent itself is also called Saiduan. The empire is led by an individual called the Patron, the eighth in the country’s latest line of rulers. Powerful Saiduanese families have traditionally gone to war for the title of the Patron of Saiduan. Since it was established, eighteen different families have ruled Saiduan.

 

The conjurer-assassins of Saiduan. Sanisi carry weapons blooded and infused with the power of Para, Sina and Tira.

 

A small town in Dorinah where Zezili Hasaria’s mother lives.

 

Clan leader of Clan Osono.

 

The sea that separates Dhai and Saiduan.

 

Designation for those in Dorinah who can call on the satellites. Trained and employed for both military and public infrastructure projects.

 

Term used to refer to the gifted in Dorinah.

 

Coastal home of the majority of Dorinah’s Seekers. Seekers must train and have their licenses renewed here.

 

An Ora and mathematics teacher at the Temple of Oma.

 

Title among Saiduanese sanisi, indicating relative talent. Most powerful are Shao, then Ren, Tal and Shas.

Clan leader of Clan Saiz.

 

A dancer and old friend of Dasai and Luna. A former slave.

 

A prison in Saiduan, located northeast of Kuonrada.

 

Dhai name for one of the low winter months.

 

A heavenly body which appears above Raisa every 15-18 years, and is ascendant for five to seven years. Sina’s light is violet. Those who channel Sina may be able to rend/unmake flesh, transform or transmute organic substances, remove wards and call flame.

Sina is also known as the Lord of Unmaking.

 

Sorcerers who can channel the power of Sina when it is ascendant. Those who channel Sina may be able to rend/unmake flesh, transform or transmute organic substances, remove wards and call flame. Other names for sinajistas include transmuters, unmakers, destroyers.

 

A Dorinah seeker. Parajista.

 

Captain General of the southern legion in Dorinah.

 

One of Roh’s mothers. Also mother of Chali Tadisa Badu.

 

An outcast sanisi bound and warded to Maralah. Known among the Saiduan as an omajista.

 

Mysterious interlopers.

 

Former enemies of the Dhai four thousand years ago, when the Dhai were a powerful nation. They were wiped out by the Dhai, who in turn were decimated by the Saiduan.

 

Leader of Clan Raona.

 

Captain General of Dorinah’s western legion. Near-cousin to Zezili Hasaria.

 

One of Zezili Hasaria’s four sisters. Daughter to Livia Hasaria.

 

Clan leader of Clan Garika. Married to Alais, Gaila, and Moarsa. Father of Yisaoh Alais Garika, Hadaoh Alais Garika, Rhin Gaila Garika, Lohin Alais Garika and Kihin Moarsa Garika.

 

A heavenly body which appears above Raisa every ten to twelve years, which enjoys six to eight years of ascendance. Those who can call on Tira may be able to restore and heal flesh, grow/train/control plants and plant-based lifeforms, create wards.

Tira is also known as the Lord of Life.

 

Term for those who can channel the power of Tira when it is ascendant. Those who can call on Tira may be able to restore and heal flesh, grow/train/control plants and plant-based life-forms, create wards.

Tirajistas are also known as tirajika, restorers, gardeners, spinners.

 

Country on the southeastern shore of Grania, led currently by a King named Saradyn of Lind. Prior to his rule, the country was a morass of warring city-states controlled by Penelodyn, cousin to the Empress of Dorinah, and the Thief Queen, a former commoner turned warmonger.

 

Leader of the Seekers in Dorinah.

 

Gatekeeper of the Temple of Oma. A tirajista.

 

A Dorinah seeker. Sinajista.

 

Mythic term for omajista.

 

A sanisi in Saiduan. Tirajista.

 

Daughter of Alais and Tir Salarihi Garika. Sister of Rhin Gaila Garika, Hadaoh Alais Garika, Lohin Alais Garika and Kihin Moarsa Garika. Yisaoh once contested Javia Mia Sorai for the title of Kai.

 

Captain general of Dorinah’s eastern legion. Zezili’s mother, Livia Hasaria, is Dorinah and her father a dajian, but her mother claimed her and ensured her status as a free Dorinah as opposed to a dajian slave. Her title is Syre.

 

The smallest of Raisa’s three moons.

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not have come to be without the help of my agent, Hannah Bowman, who shepherded this novel through endless rounds of revisions – a couple of which turned out to be a burning down and rebuilding from the ground up (seventeen page edit letter!). It’s been great to have an agent involved in this process from pitch to proposal to publication day. Thanks, Hannah.

I’d also like to thank the folks at the Wellspring Writers’ Workshop, in particular Bradley Beaulieu and Gregory Wilson, for their detailed feedback on what I though was a polished manuscript, but turned out to be a very rough, very early draft.  Thanks for wading through endless disconnected travelogues and peeling out all the good stuff.  For feedback on later versions of the book, thanks go to Dave Zelasco.

There’s a lot of other invisible work that goes into bookmaking, and for that I have to thank my amazingly dedicated assistant, Danielle Horn Beal, who not only organized the entire wiki for this series but became the point-person for entering line edits on those numerous drafts and helping me collect, format and research work for ongoing projects while I kept my head down working on this. I would not have been able to manage such an extraordinary year of apparent productivity without her.

Copyeditors are another unsung hero of the business. Thanks to mine for this project, Richard Shealy, who was really the person we made that wiki for… I cherish all of my copyeditors, as it is a skill I sorely lack. Thanks for patience with the made-up plants and endless Robert-Howard-like word rep.

It also makes a huge difference at the publisher level when you have a true team at hand who’s both passionate about your work and great at what they do. Thanks to everyone on the Angry Robot team for giving this book a shot. Thanks to Amanda Rutter for a rather sobering edit that helped me enter the panicked state necessary to take the book to the next level. Thanks to Marc Gascoigne for the easiest cover development process ever (“Looks great, Marc! Carry on!”) and thanks to Caroline Lambe and Michael Underwood for tireless marketing and publicity support. I do not envy them their jobs, and wholly appreciate and understand the pressures they’re under to position and publicize so many books. Thanks, finally, to Lee Harris for taking the ultimate chance on this series.  We’ll see how things wash out.

Living with a writer who is always talking about other worlds and fake people can be a chore, so thanks to Jayson Utz for endless plot and creepy worldbuilding conversations. “How about the swords sprout out of their wrists!?” is just one example of the kind stuff that pops up in these conversations and eventually makes it into the books. Thanks for all the fish.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t thank the science fiction and fantasy writing and reading community as a whole – agents, editors, fans, casual readers, and all – for supporting both me and my work through oftentimes grueling business entanglements and gut punches. It’s a tough business, and you all make it worth getting up again.

Thank you.

 

The Big Red House

Ohio

Spring, 2014  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kameron Hurley is the acclaimed author of the novels
God’s War,
Infidel
, and
Rapture
, a science-fantasy noir series which earned accolades such as the Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer and the Kitschy Award for Best Debut Novel. Kameron has also been a finalist for the Nebula Award and the Locus Award.

ANGRY ROBOT

A member of the Osprey Group

 

Lace Market House                     Angry Robot/Osprey Publishing

54-56 High Pavement                                     PO Box 3985

Nottingham                                   New York

NG1 1HW                                                      NY 10185-3985

UK                                                USA

 

www.angryrobotbooks.com

Worlds begone

 

An Angry Robot paperback original 2014

 

Copyright © Kameron Hurley 2014

 

Map by Steff Worthington

 

Kameron Hurley asserts the moral right to be

identified as the author of this work.

 

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library.

 

UK ISBN 978 0 85766 555 3