Footnotes: Book 1

1. Their calendar year starts exactly eight days before the beginning of Spring Equinox (Around our version of March 12-14). Weeks last 8 days. Months last 32 days, with an extra day or two tacked onto each third month in order that the following month lines up with exactly eight days before the respective Seasonal Solstice/Equinox. Hectum would start around our version of mid August.

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2. Name of months in order: 1: Hladith, 2: Sharandith, 3: Trium, 4: Solsman, 5: Straiman, 6: Altruium/Hectum, 7: Randith, 8: Octum, 9: Deidith, 10: Tresdith, 11: Hvitman, 12: Dodecum

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3. Gabarut is a plant that temporarily removes the smell a person emits

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4. Kitseeths are cat-like on the lower half of the body, and human on the upper half. They have cat eyes, ears, and noses as well. They also have retractable claws on both their foot-paws and their human hands.

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5. Porta Lunae are rounded stone archways that are linked with a matching stone archway. These pairs of archways are written with spells and embedded with manesten, in order to allow people to teleport. This happens by stepping through one archway, and then stepping out the other, after activating through the evocation word of “Averta.”

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Sacculuses are magical bags embedded with manesten that open to large sealed underground storage chambers. This allows the owner to carry more items than would fit in the normal space that would allow for a bag. The bag also does not weigh more no matter the amount or weight of the items deposited in the bag. The evocation word to open these bags is “Aperta.”

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6. Common Terms for Elemental Fae: Nature Fae: Dryad, Water Fae: Naiad/Undine/Nix, Wind Fae: Sylph, Fire Fae: Lampades, Sun Fae: Asteria, Earth Fae: Oread, Lightning Fae: Nephele, Ice Fae: Nisse

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7. Stone is a unit of weight representing 15 pounds

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8. The aescels are a race of tree people.

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9. University classes are levels 1 to 6 with 1 being for first-year students, and 6 being for the last year of graduate students. The second number is to denote the subject of the class and remains the same for each subject no matter what year. It is different based on the school, as it is purely there for organizational purposes.

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10. The week lasts eight days with the first day of the week being Manday. The names of weekdays in order are Manday, Ildday, Vindday, Vandday, Traeday, Jordday, Guldday, and Solsday. Typically the class week goes from Manday to Guldday, with only Solsday off.

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Times are kept similar to the Roman system, where the zero hour is dawn, meaning our version of 6 am, the first hour, or 1 p.l. (“Post Lucem” or “after dawn”), is our version of 7 am and so forth.

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11. Tertiary school covers four years, from age 14-18. Primary school is from ages 5-8.

Secondary school is from ages 9-13.

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12. Fiaseeth are deer on the lower half and human on the upper half. They have the skin coloring of a deer, along with white freckles. They also have antlers and deer ears and noses.

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13. "May the gods and goddesses be with you": This is a generic well-wishing, not specific to any deity. It would be given typically when people are departing from each other for a long or an unspecified amount of time, or permanently. It is also given for special events, such as birthdays, holidays, weddings, births of children, and to those whose loved ones recently passed away.

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14. Coinage system as follows: 4 pennies to 1 copper; 5 coppers to one silver, 5 silver to one bronze, and 5 bronze to one gold (Bronze is valued more highly than silver because it is magic resistant, just like gold. This makes it impossible to magically steal.)

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1 gold coin weighs ⅛ oz, and would be the equivalent of 300$. 1 bronze coin weighs ¼ oz and is the equivalent of 60$. 1 silver coin weighs ¼ oz and is the equivalent of 12$. 1 copper coin weighs ½ oz and is the equivalent of 2.4$. A penny is copper and weighs ⅛ oz. It is the equivalent of 60 cents.

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Therefore 2 bronze would be 120$ for the wooden charm, 60$ for a 4 bolt vindsten to power the charm, and 24$ to mount the vindsten onto the wooden charm.

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15. Gold coin vouchers are a form of paper currency that are supposed to be equivalent to a gold coin. They are redeemable at banks for gold coins. People trade with them as if they are the coins themselves.

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16. 480 gold is the equivalent of 144,000$. It is to be noted that this is only if she used flammesten to trade out her blood. Since flammesten is the least expensive magical gem, trading her blood out for anything other than fire magic would be more costly.

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17. Solstefar is the god of sun, justice, wisdom, foresight, knowledge, and fatherhood. He is known for being patient, level-headed, and fair. He is revered by all diurnal races. His festival is the Summer Solstice. The month Solsman is named after him. The list of gods and goddesses in the pantheon are Solstefar, Tolilla, Tresimir, Sharana, Deimar, Ranook, Strigha, Hvitbon, and Hlathanna.

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18. Tresimir is god of fire, war, metallurgy, machinery, and smithing. He is known as being hot-headed, holding grudges, and being good with his hands. He is revered by humans, lampades, dwarves, and gnomes. His festival is the Winter Solstice. The month Tresdith is named after him.

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19. Fleecing the buck means to take back from the ones in charge.

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20. Hlathanna is the goddess of nature, spring, motherhood, and birth. She is known for being kind, giving, and loving children and mothers. She is fiercely loyal, but can also be vengeful to those who spite her. She is revered by all surface races but is particularly revered by druidic peoples, aescels, dryads, satyrs, and centaurs. Her festival is the Spring Festival. The month Hladith is named after her.

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21. Druids are a race of sylvan elves that have the ability to draw magic from nature or whatever magic element of which they are the practitioner. Druidic love is a term that has come to mean polyamorous relationships within a coven. There are two main reasons for the meaning of this term.

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First: Because there is a three to two ratio of female to male across the druidic races, it is not uncommon to have certain small polyamorous colonies, in which there are a few druids who serve as sires to the colony, while the females engage in coitus with only one of the males, and sometimes the females of the colony as well. The children in these colonies are primarily raised by the females, with greater male involvement only in the rearing of the sons. It is to be noted that the majority of druids live in groups with monogamous relationships.

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Second: Certain mostly female witch covens that are after the order of Hlathanna, also called the druidic order, will have one or two males as sires for the whole coven, and also engage in coitus with each other. Certain all-female covens after the druidic order will engage in coitus with outside men, only for the purpose of becoming pregnant, and then afterwards only engage in coitus with other females in the coven. It is to be noted that the majority of witch covens after the druidic order allow their members to marry men and engage in regular monogamous relationships with both men and women, both inside and outside the coven, with no polyamorous relationships between coven members. However, these types of covens are not as widely discussed.

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There are also covens who claim to be after the druidic order who will swear off both males and children entirely and engage in only female coitus. However, this type of coven is rare and considered blasphemous to the majority of worshippers of Hlathanna, as she is the goddess of childbirth. Therefore to swear off men completely and thereby children entirely is considered by many to be a perverted form of worship.

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22. Sharandith is the second month of their year. It starts twenty-three days after the Spring Equinox. It would start around our version of mid-April.

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23. Manday is the first day of the week. The following are eight days in the week: Manday, Ildday, Vindday, Vandday, Traeday, Jordday, Guldday, Solsday

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24. Randith is the seventh month of their year. It starts eight days before the fall equinox. It would start around our version of mid-September.

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25. Tolilla is the goddesses of the two moons. The one representing the big moon is called Morsolva (Mor-SAHL-vah), and the one representing the little moon is Lillestrala (LI-leh-STRAW-lah). Together they are referred to as Tolilla. They are twin goddesses. Tolilla is the goddesses of the moons, the night, twins, communication, teleportation, transformation, and magic. Tolilla is known for being merciful, and also compassionate, and giving to those in pain or great need. They does not look kindly on those who are cruel to those suffering.

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Tolilla is also the ones who carries the deceased to the land of the dead. Lillestrala carries the souls of those who die as children, those who commit suicide, and those who die the most tragic deaths. Morsolva carries almost everyone else. Those who are exceptionally cruel or vicious in life are rejected by the goddesses and must make the journey themselves, often becoming lost. If the loved ones of those who have passed on are worried about whether or not Tolilla has carried or rejected them, they may appeal to Tolilla about the good deeds or struggles the deceased faced while alive, in hope that Tolilla changes their mind.

Worship of the goddesses Tolilla, along with the celebration of Tvilling, has fallen out of favor with the general populace since the demise of the lunar fae. They are still worshiped by certain monastic groups of druids and humans.

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26. The grading scale is given on a scale between 0-5. 5 is a score between 95-100, 4 is a score between 85-94, 3 is 75-84, 2 is 65-74, 1 is 50-64, and 0 is 0-49.

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27. "Pa Ranooks brise": This phrase means “By the breezes of Ranook.” Ranook is the god of wind, travel, sailing, navigation, mathematics and counting. He is also considered to be a clever and sometimes mischievous god. He is revered by the sylphs, elves, nox, cyclops, and by all coastal cities. His festival is the Wind Festival, and the month of Randith is named after him.

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28. This means that a non-magic person has a 4% chance of being forcibly conscripted during their life.

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29. The author would like to note that it is extremely dangerous to be on a roof without proper safety equipment, let alone fall asleep on a roof, so please don’t actually do this!

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30. AGB stands for ‘After the Great Breakthrough.’ The current year in the story is 250 AGB.

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31. Straiman is the fifth month of their calendar year, and would take place during our version of mid July to mid August

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32. Octum is the eight month of their calendar year. It starts during our version of mid October.

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33. The standard of modesty in human culture is thus: people don’t see people’s legs above the lower calf. It is okay if the legs are covered in pants or thick stockings. But exposing one’s legs or wearing sheer stockings is a sign of sexual wantonness or prostitution. The only exception to this rule is for those engaged in fighting, sports, or other physically taxing endeavors, or if the race is unusual like a centaur, naga, or spiderfolk.

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34. "May the eyes of the goddesses see you safely to your destination, and look upon you with compassion": This is a well-wishing specific to the goddesses Tolilla. It would be given when someone is making a long or arduous journey.

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35. "May the goddess allow you to grow and flourish": This is a well-wishing specific to the goddess Hlathanna. It would be given when people are separating for a long or unspecified amount of time, or permanently. It would also be given for momentous occasions, such as a birthday, holiday, wedding, or birth of a child.

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36. Sharana is the goddess of water, rain, river, streams, lakes, beauty, and change. She is known for being beautiful, but also capricious and often ambivalent towards those who do not pay proper homage to her. She can also be moody at times. She is revered by all races above ground. Her festival is the Rain Festival. The month Sharandith is named after her.

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37. Adlp is an abbreviation for ‘ad legalis proposita,’ which means ‘for legal purposes.’ This abbreviation is placed when someone’s actual first or last name is unknown, but for legal purposes, the name specified following the abbreviation is assumed, in order to identify the individual for legal purposes. It is commonly used for species that might only have first names, or when a stranger is killed but only one name was given to the locals. It is also used for extramarital affairs resulting in children, where the last name of the mother is put as the father’s last name, when her last name is either unknown or withheld for privacy concerns.

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38. Nox are a nocturnal race. Some have acclimated to diurnal schedules to interact with human society, but they wear dark glasses to protect their eyes from the bright light.

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39. "May the goddess give you great abundance": This is a form of well-wishing coming from the goddess Deimar (Pronounced: DAY-mawr). Deimar is the goddess of the earth, precious metals, farmers, harvest, abundance and prosperity, gratitude, and peace. She is known for being kind, matronly, and doting, but is sometimes slow or late for things. She is revered by farmers, miners, and underground races. The Harvest Festival is her celebration. The month of Deidith is named for her. Cassandra would be specifying this greeting to Deborah because it is the harvest season.

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