Field Guide
Glossary
Vocabulary of the New World, spoiler-free and alphabetized.
A
- Abhorists
- Remnants who worship the Ascendants and self-brand in imitation of their markings.
- “Archie”
- The Messenger's nickname for Angus Archard — used purely to irritate him.
- Ascendant(s)
- Warriors already claimed and marked (by facial branding) to fight for Order in the Reclamation.
C
- The Cataclysms (“the Great Cats”)
- The cascading series of natural and man-made disasters that devastated the old world and gave rise to the New World.
- Chrysalis
- The dormant, transformative state a harvested soul enters before emerging as a battle-ready Ascendant or Descendant.
- The Curator
- The unseen entity that decides who is claimed as Ascendant or Descendant. No prayist has ever met them directly.
D
- Descendant(s)
- Warriors already claimed and marked (by facial piercing) to fight for Entropy in the Reclamation.
E
- Elationists
- Remnants who worship the Descendants and self-pierce in imitation of their markings.
G
- The Gift
- A prayist's inherited praying power — also a euphemism, not always a welcome one, for the burden of possession itself.
- The Godless
- Remnants who deny the existence of any god; the exclusive pool from which prayists are chosen.
- Great Ones
- Informal term for the powerful, physically manifest beings that appear among surviving human settlements.
H
- Harvesting (also Reaping, Reaving, Conscripting, Taking)
- Overlapping terms for a prayist's act of claiming a soul for the Reclamation.
- Homeostasis
- The delicate balance a prayist must maintain between souls taken for each side; falling too far out of balance risks escalating, potentially fatal penalties.
I
- Inbetweeners (Tweeners)
- People destined to remain on Earth after the Reclamation regardless of outcome, identified by a lack of facial markings.
J
- The Jesus Man
- In-world vernacular for Jesus, referenced as a historical/religious figure predating the current cosmic conflict.
L
- Lore-beasts
- Supernatural creatures of myth and legend now loose in the world, aligned with neither Order nor Entropy and pursuing their own agendas.
M
- Marked
- Individuals already identified, via hidden markings, as destined Ascendants or Descendants — whether already taken or still living among their communities.
- Matron
- A recurring, unsettling figure encountered tending the vulnerable (the sick, the very young); her true nature and allegiance are left deliberately unclear.
- The Messenger
- The enigmatic intermediary who relays assignments from the Curator to prayists.
N
- The Nether
- The dangerous lowland regions beneath the risen plateaus, home to Revenants and lore-beasts.
- New World
- The post-Cataclysm world as it now exists.
O
- Old World
- The world as it existed before the Cataclysms — our present-day reality.
P
- Prayist
- A person tasked with locating and harvesting souls for the Reclamation, possessed by an entity of Order or Entropy — or, uniquely, both.
- Purgatory
- The place where Order and Entropy's forces were sealed away for ages prior to their recent return.
R
- The Reclamation
- The prophesied final battle between the forces of Order and Entropy.
- Remnants
- The general surviving human population, not destined to ascend or descend.
- Revenant (“Ghoulie”)
- A person killed by a prayist who fails to be claimed for either side, and who rises again as a hostile undead creature.
- Roamers
- Unsettled Tweeners who wander the land, often in groups, having been driven from communities over feared — if false — markings.
S
- Soulless
- Bodies left behind, still living, after their souls have been harvested.
U
- Unmarked
- Individuals not yet identified as destined Ascendants or Descendants.