A high-fantasy, post-apocalyptic novel series

Glossary

Amma - The innerworld, the continent divided between East and West.

Azhura - The outerworld, the cluster of realms the dead pass into.

Czi - The force of energy which infuses all living things (earth, water, air, flesh and metal). To call it "magic" isn't really accurate, since it is really the naturally occurring forces of life and death. Czi is involved in natural phenomena but is also able to be manipulated through drawn wards called czi-ju. The dying counterpart of typical czi is byohhczi.
Heike Tal - The large grasslands in the center of Amma. While once used only to refer to the grasslands on the Western side, it now refers to both West and East.

Hhurva - An expletive frequently used by Tyr Sangtan Oni. The /Hh/ is pronounced as a guttural /h/.

Kild - A term for either a person or a group of people. Kild is a term interchangeable with 'person', 'people', or 'sentient being'.

Kiva / Kivans - A race of kild who populate Amma. They are bipedal, goatlike creatures and live near exclusively in the frozen mountains and tundra in the north of the continent. Kiva, also sometimes called Kiva-Hei before occupation, is the city state they live in.

Oni - A race of kild who populate Amma. They are the most humanoid, with horns, fangs and brightly colored skin. They have a reputation for being nomads and fierce warriors.

Saiverh - literally 'the final year', saiverh is the term Tverkild use to refer to the apocalypse that befell the West.

Sycz - the village/strongholds that Tyr Sangtan Oni live in. Traditionally, Oni were and still are nomadic, so for Tyr Sangtan Oni, living a sedentary life is a marked difference. Each of the three Oni clans lives in their own sycz positioned somewhere outside the city walls: the Xang sycz is in the northern side of the valley, the Karhela are in the south, and the Yiezo are in the western hills. While they were originally built as fortresses and have served as them in the past, they are mostly residential. The insular nature of Oni villages makes them relatively poor and a sycz is often overcrowded, overgrown and generally derilect. The sycz are also not allowed to have their own arsenals due to fear of an Oni uprising. In construction, sycz are built with strong outer walls of rammed earth about a meter thick, and are often a square, oval or circle shape. They host several rings of building inside for Oni to live and work in. A real-life inspiration for the sycz is the tulou built by the Hakka people.

Tverkild - A race of kild who populate Amma. This is more of an umbrella term for different varieties of beastfolk.

Tyr Sangta - The city-state Oracle Bone mainly takes place in.

Umerha - a drug sold across the West and Tyr Sangta. It has narcotic effects and is used to relieve pain and relax. Crude and poorly refined umerha is hard or chalky, but in its highly refined form it is a deep blue, viscous liquid, hence why umerha also translates to 'ink'. The sap can be harvested, refined and smoked, but the leaves of the plant can also be dried and smoked as a cigarillos for a softer effect.