We're twenty-six chapters into the story and jumping in the middle of it starts to be challenging. The serial novel format favors simple worldbuilding and I'm notorious for complicating it. Thus I've compiled most of the terminology that has appeared so far. A similar summary will appear after each part of the story.
If you're interested in the names, I've drawn them from ancient Sumerian language dictionaries. I'm using it liberally, so if any of you knows better, don't cringe too much. Incidentally, this is also the tongue (together with Akkadian) that Tolkien rehashed as Mordor speech (some of it went to dwarves). Therefore, to an untrained ear, it might sound evil.
Azurian names are mostly Latin and Greek, but overall it's an antiquity melting pot, just like most fantasy worlds are a medieval melting pot.
Characters:
Anki – or His Most Luminous Golden Imperial Majesty, a monarch of the ancient Unsagga empire from a thousand years ago, currently in spirit form. Has a symbiotic bond with Nua.
Flavius Aetius Ahenobarbus the Third – son of an Overlord (which city – to be revealed), an explorer bent on rediscovery of the ancient magic technology for his own devious means. Currently dead.
Hala – An elderly Unsagga woman tinkerer living in the Bottoms. Instead adopting cats, she created a self-styled orphanage/shelter. Called "Auntie" by her adopted children.
Nua – the protagonist. Nineteen year old. A street urchin – short and underdeveloped. In the ancient Unsagga tongue her name means literally "no one's there".
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Dictionary
Azuria – a federation of city states, ruled by the Council of Overlords.
Bottoms – the lowermost circle of the Overlord's Mercy, where poor people live.
Ether – sorcerous energy used to run and craft magical technology or cast spells. In pure, liquid form it's combustible and extremely dangerous.
Explorer – an adventurer that makes his living by exploration and looting of the ancient ruins.
Forsaken - an Azurian slur for the ancient Unsagga sorcerer kings.
Girtablil – a monstrous human-scorpion hybrid.
Goliath – a miracle of technology and sorcery, a metallic giant operated by a humanoid pilot. Ancient goliaths measure approximately 60 feet. Contemporary – half as much.
Great Sun, Utu – elder brother, the main sun of the World.
Lilin – mythological monsters that resemble succubi.
Musushu – a reptile used either as a pack animal or a mount.
Overlord's Mercy – a city state where Nua lives. In the ancient times known as Eshunna.
Rabasa – mythological monsters, resembling feral vampires.
Three Sisters – three moons of the World.
Trickster Sun – Sa'utu, younger brother, the second sun of the World. It appears as a small, dim red disc. Depending on the time of the year it is visible for an increasing part of the night since sunset, then – shortly – for the whole night, then for the decreasing part of the night until dawn. The nights when it's visible for the whole night and the days when it's invisible at night are celebrated as holidays and festivals in different parts of the World.
Udug – an immaterial being, a ghost. An equivalent of daimon in Azurian.
Unsagga – one of the World's ethnicities. Dark haired with shades varying from brown to deep black and skin varying from tawny to brown. Their eyes give off a golden reflection and they're able to see in the dark. Treated with contempt by the rest of Azurians, they don't have full citizen rights.
Ushumgar – an ancient goliath.
Zalag-Uzu Kalam, The Empire of Dawn and Dusk - the ancient empire of the Unsagga.