Tales of Midbar: Secret Priest

Hider – a game piece in Fetmish which can be hidden inside another piece and revealed to surprise opponents.

High Families – once the ruling class of Midbar-Binah but lost most of their power during the Cataclysm. Still often held in esteem and unofficially granted privileges and many of them are still rich.

Hildment – faharni hipsick, Paxian minister of finance.

Hipsick (Semic) – the commonest korbar and the only one with no psychic powers. Unable to consciously recognize others’ korbarim but still unwittingly discriminate against psychics and particularly dislike anavim.

Holmiath – a tall, faharni nibeyah. Wife of Buxnir.

Holy Site – a place which is supposed to have some religious significance. They are all supposed to have relics hidden in them.

Holy Woman – a female Yohoist, normally a nibeyah, who’s been selected as a wife for a Yohoist priest. Must remain a virgin until the marriage. They are trained in matters relating to the Yohoist priesthood.

Homokorbarsexual (adjective) – having a sexual preference for partners with the same korbar (he’s homokorbarsexual). Relating to sexual relationships between people of the same korbar.

Homokorbarsexual (noun) – somebody who has a sexual preference for partners with the same kobar (she is a homokorbarsexual). Most people are homokorbarsexual.

Hoarse Spell – a spell that allows somebody to talk but not loudly.

Ice – a faharni anavah, apostle of Haprihagfen. Wife of Mountain, mother of River and Rainbow.

Idlan – a race with dark skin, hair and eyes and narrow, pointed noses. Mostly live in the east of the Great Basin and are mostly Winemakers.

Ifrac – a boy at Yoho Temple Academy who Clindar has a low opinion of.

Ildias – a large faharni Trulist hipsick who lives in Laraget. Son of Gintena. Brother of Zonlaria.

Jabna – idlan nibeyah teenager who lives in Laraget. Sister of Preldin.

Jaradin – apparently Wenifarg’s spouse.

Jarrinno – legendary warrior mage who’d supposedly lived when humans were developing space travel and had far-fetched adventures.

Jedris – a faharni Trulist hipsick at Yoho Temple Academy.

Jeldini – a lawyer in Laraget.

Kardria – a Trulist goddess.

Katchey (Semic) – A psychic korbar with powers mostly limited to telepathy and precognition. Tend to have eccentric and irrational personalities but hipsickim usually prefer them to other psychics.

Kellinaro – a great per-Cataclysm Yohoist exorcist.

Kellrid – town in the northern mountains of Pax. Has a railway station where you can catch trains to Grishnarl.

Kiard – a faharni Trulist hipsick who’s the master of Yoho Temple Academy.

Kindras – an anav prophet who’d lived on Earth long before humans developed space travel and is responsible for the main teachings of Yohoism.

Kindras Room – a meeting room in Laraget Temple.

King of Photoorganisms – a bar on the edge of Laraget.

Kledris – Midbar sephir where hairies are racist against nakeds.

Korbar (Semic, masculine) – Group of people with the same psychic abilities or lack of them. What korbar you belong to is determined by your genes. Most people prefer others of their own korbar, particularly as sexual partners (homokorbarsexuality). There are four korbarim: anav, hipsick, katchey and nibey.

Korbarism – Discrimination against people on grounds of their korbar. Contrary to Trulist teaching and illegal in Pax but it’s hard to prove and tends to be fairly common in practice.

Kreldi - the Trulist god of trickery and wisdom. Sometimes used to mean somebody who likes to make others look silly but isn’t terribly malicious about it.

Lacril – a private detective who lives in Laraget.

Landing – the first known arrival of humans on Midbar.

Laraget – a large city on the southern plain of Pax.

Lardnin – small bear-like XT’s, normally peaceful.

Latchmir – a nibey faharni Trulist controversial lawyer who’s also a controversial rabbi. Originally from Ermish but has been a resident of Laraget for some time. Husband of Anden and father of Clindar, Egrindreth and Attan.

Lerg – a devout Nuhara student at Yoho Temple Academy.

Light cycle – a three day cycle caused by interaction between the 18 hour rotational period of Midbar and the 24 hour cycle of the sapphires.

Likhatzot (Semic but with irregular and inconsistent grammar) – hipsickim resulting from breeding nibeyim with katcheyim. This means they have one recessive alele for both the nibey and katchey genes. Breeding two likhatzotim together will, out of every 16 children produce, on average: 9 hipsickim, 3 nibeyim, 3 katcheyim and 1 anav or anavah.

Lop – a cartoon rabbit.

Love Priest – a male Trulist priest who dresses like a priestess. Acts as a pimp for the Temple Prostitutes.

Maclan – a hipsickah attending Yoho Temple Academy.

Mage – Somebody who has a large number of associates bound to them by a magis and has had some training and vowed to follow certain rules. All magi belong to the Mage Guild.

Mage Council – the group who are in charge of the Mage Guild. This term is often casually used to refer to the Mage Guild.

Mage Guild – organization which all magi belong to.

Mage Hall – a hall of residence at the University which is occupied mostly my magi.

Magic detector – an artifact, normally similar to a monocle, visor, pair of glasses, hand mirror or magnifying glass in appearance. Most or all of it is transparent material and if you look through it, associates and bindings will be visible as well as magic residue.

Magic Residue – Only detectable to a magis or by using a magic detector. Appears on people and things that have been near associate magic recently.

Magis – Often considered a special type of mage. Somebody with an inherent ability to detect and manipulate bindings and associates without using artifacts. All magises are associated with one of five Holy Sites, except for the Wild Magis. The only way to be a magis is to be conceived at or near the Holy Site associated with a magis who has recently died. It’s unknown how a new Wild Magis is selected. At any time, there is only one magis associated with each Holy Site, except for the Vineyard Magis, where there can be more. All magises are nibeyim and can be either sex, except for the Vineyard Magises who are always anavot.

Malchut – where Yoho’s avatar was born.

Malgaric – an ancient religion, once widely practiced on Earth (Binah) but which had died out before humans developed space travel. However, a Trulist sect assimilated it’s deities and many of its exciting myths are still well known. Some of its practices have also been incorporated into Winemakerism.

Mard – a nibey schoolboy who goes to Yoho Temple Accadamy.

Mardna – a glildac Yohoist hipsickah likotzah who converted to Nuhara. Wife of Tarasas. Mother of Dwendra.

Master – an antiquated Faharni term for a person in charge, still used for the person in charge of a school, equivalent to a Head Master in Britain or a Principal in the USA.

Mechanism – hypothesized system connecting Holy Sites, Magises etc. into a system to defend Midbar.

Megaliths of Roglin – mysterious Holy Site in the desert to the south west of the Great Basin. Seldom visited.

Miandri – a faharni Trulist katcheya mage from Drintac. Daughter of Yoldasia by her first husband. Step-daughter of Garis. Sister of Aflingia and Screld.

Midbar – a rocky planet intermediate in size between Mars and Venus and marginally habitable for humans. It orbits Bet, which orbits Aleph, the source of most of Midbar’s natural light. Midbar’s rotational and orbital period around Bet are both 18 hours, the length of Midbar’s natural days.

Midbar-Binah – somewhere important.

Midbar-Teradriel – version of Midbar.

Midsummer Festival – Trulist festival in the middle of summer, commemorating the marriage between Rholdaz and Clarmiria.

Mildras – a teenage faharni Trulist nibey. The avatar of Strumeg. Officially a Temple Prostitute.

Minris – a village in the Tarm valley where it hardly ever rains. Minris Vineyard is its only Holy Site.

Minris Massacre – a mysterious event in Minris, in which 24 people were killed by unclear means. The victims included a pedophile who was attacking a girl at the time. This happened the same day that Aublelma and Mildras apparently became avatars.

Minris Vineyard – a large Holy Site in Minris that’s a strange vineyard, run by Haprihagfen. Associated with the Vineyard Magis.

Mod – autonomous entity, often a living organism and possibly a human, that’s been constructed or modified by nanotechnology.

Mountain – a faharni Haprihafen anav. Husband of Ice and father of River and Rainbow. Expert on time travel.

Mountain Goat – a seedy bar at the west end of Minris. Consists of low walls around tables and chairs and a bar.