Branch: A subdivision of a cult within the Centheosian church. Only denotes a separate ministerial focus and organizational structure, and not a difference of theology.
The Cenotaph: An antitheistic, self-described humanist cult, which broke away from Centheosia. They have taken credit for the assassinations of around half of Centheosia’s gods. The use of the prefix “Cen-” for their name is deliberate sacrilege. Though the term cenotaph refers to an empty grave for someone buried elsewhere, the use of the term here is understood as denoting one hundred such empty graves, to be filled by the Deicide. Rumored to have its roots in an esoteric Centheosian fraternal order.
Centheosia: “The Unity of the Hundred Divines.” A thearchical empire ruled by one hundred god-kings and goddess-queens. Every divine possesses their own kingdom and many colonies, but there are far more than one hundred cults within Centheosia. Some cults worship only one god, while others worship a selection of gods, or worship a particular aspect of one god, distinguishing them from other monotheistic cults of that god. Only a handful worship every god, and those few pantheistic cults are divided by subtle differences of theology.
Cord: A unit of length measurement still used by the people of Sunshade. A cord is approximately the length of a man's forearm, from the outside of the wrist to the end of the elbow, and was based on the forearm of the first crown prince of the Sunflower dynasty. Early in its reign, the Sunflower dynasty established and distributed official lengths of marked cord with threaded brass ends, as part of its response to the spread of counterfeit measurement devices toward the end of the previous dynasty.
The Deicide: A campaign of assassinations, waged by the Cenotaph against the hundred divines of Centheosia. Although the Cenotaph maintains that their only targets are the divines, many have reported that Cenotaphic assassins and lower-level thugs have also murdered priests, aristocrats and myriad petty lords and imperial mercantile magnates -- to say nothing of the common folk they have allegedly hurt as well.
Dwellings: Mysterious powers cultivated by dedicated practitioners. Sages and Magisters across the continent offer varying interpretations of the underlying physics behind these powers. It is generally agreed that they enable the practitioner to “shortcut” mundane actions over which they have gained mastery through constant practice, and to append these “shortcuts” together. As an example, someone who has dedicated themselves to both fire-making and the sport of shotput could append these skills together to produce and throw a fireball. Dwellings manifest across all manner of state and religious lines, though whether these powers are considered supernatural, preternatural or entirely natural is a matter of much debate. Those factions within Centheosia and the Cenotaph that are opposed to magic -- be that in denying the existence of magic, or condemning the use of magic -- go to great lengths to present these powers as entirely natural.
Epoch of the Gods: The first era of the Centheosian imperial calendar, heralded by the manifestation of the hundred gods and the Leviathann over what would become the Centheosian heartland. The current year, per this calendar, is 1633 EG.
Greatdrake: Wyverns ranging between five and twelve Cords high. Their scale colors tend to be of various shades of ocher, depending on the needs of camouflage. Most aggressive during springtide and summertide, when they are wont to leap at anything mobile nearby, including locomotives.
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Ikon: A pictographic language of sigils devised by Centheosia for the purpose of Indwelling. Ikons come in two styles: Simple and Liturgical. The Simple style, sometimes erroneously called "Simplified," was the original system, largely based on the tracks and bite marks of various animals. The Liturgical style came about later, when a convent of Centheosian missionaries proposed plans for adapting the Ikons into a general purpose writing system. However, the adaptations they devised failed to gain enough popularity to supplant the local writing systems of the areas to which the missionaries brought the updated system. Fortunately, the missionaries found unexpected success in the fields of musical notation and manuscript illumination, so much so that even the Cenotaph still uses their own variant of Ikons in these fields. Thus it became known as the Liturgical system.
Indwelling: As a verb, it refers to the process of infusing power into an object through secret ritual. As a noun, it refers to the power imbued into an object by said secret rituals.
Logos: Plural Logoi. The term refers both to a system of body postures, facial expressions and movements of the limbs and digits believed to alter one’s physical, mental, and spiritual states, as well as to the individual gestures of that system. Purposes include increasing focus, numbing pain, warding away malign spirits, and countless others. Derived from the sign-language devised by Centheosia, but has since been adopted for secular and other religious usage by her colonial states, including those of Sunshade.
Novitiate: The lowest rank of the “ordained” of the Cenotaph, the ordained being that faction of the Cenotaph permitted to fight and quest in their name. In general, this term means "the period of being a novice," and so its use by Centheosia to describe a person instead of a state is erroneous. In response, Centheosia asserts a spurious etymology for their term, by combining the words "Novice" and "Initiate." In any case, it is a gender-neutral term roughly equivalent to the Sibling rank of Centheosia.
Occultist / Occultress: A derogatory Cenotaphic term for the priesthood of Centheosia. It is a mockery of Centheosia’s initial missives to the faithful following the start of the Deicide. These missives held that the gods had not been slain, but had simply “occulted” themselves, withholding their miracles from humanity in response to the ultimate blasphemy of a mortal striking a god. In the years since, Centheosia has acknowledged the genuine deaths of certain gods, but the insult remains in use.
The People of the X: A group of imprecise, broad-stroke ethnographic distinctions, left over from the Sunflower dynasty. These correspond to the geographical areas of Sunshade which the first tribes of the land had settled into, and the histories, cultures, dialects and physical traits common to each nation which came from the first tribes. The most commonly used terms are the People of the Desert, the Steppes, the Clouds, the Sea, the Hills and the Mire. More specific terms exist, usually designating a landmark by which a particular nation makes their traditional home, or the circuit over which nomadic nations conduct their travel.
Shells: Sunshader slang term for coins. Originates from the fact that most of the Sunflower dynasty’s imperial coinage was minted in smithies near the southwestern coast, where seashells were commonly harvested for international trade. In later decades, newer coins were struck with designs depicting shells in reference to the term, sparking a wave of hobbyist coin collection.
Suncrest: Sunshader term for the time period roughly from mid-morning to early afternoon.
Sunshade: A small continent southwest of the heart of the Centheosian empire, and home to its own history of empire, the last era of which is widely called the Sunflower dynasty. The dissolution of that final dynasty, and the following interregnum of warring nations, led to Centheosia’s expansion into the land. Though almost every bit of Sunshader land was claimed as a colony by one Centheosian kingdom or another, dissent and unrest has been a constant problem for colonial rule, not to mention the great quantities of monsters that dwell upon the lands.
Sunwake: Sunshader term for the time period roughly from dawn to mid-morning.
Sunyawn: Sunshader term for the time period roughly from early afternoon to evening.