Age of will:
Age eleven is called the age of will. At this age, a Jiku child can declare her desire to enter the guilds. The Jiku believe that the power of will grows strong at this age, strong enough to shape the body and glide on the web.
Balshown (bahl-shown):
The oldest and most powerful of the living Energy Weaving masters. (excluding old ones and other hidden masters)
Berek (beh-rick):
Aspiring artist. Great natural talent at flow. Son of Yagrin’s dead brother, Bisal. Friend of Tzina, Yagrin’s daughter. 10 years old, when the first book begins.
Bintar (bin-tar):
Berek’s adopted father. A flow master.
Bisal (bee-sahl):
Yagrin’s dead brother, killed by a Krale attack. Berek’s father.
Bizra (biz-rah):
The race of non-humanoid, intelligent creatures that are native to the world. They are shape shifters, and can manipulate the energy web that underlies all physical reality with their thoughts alone. They communicate through images.
Bizra eyes:
A rare genetic trait, where the person is born with eyes that look similar to the Bizra, green with gold specks.
Most go mad and die before 5 years old.
The survivors are often infertile. It is common for those with Bizra eyes to give birth to children with the trait, if they reproduce.
Both Shazira (Yagrin’s wife), and Tzina (his daughter) have this trait.
Bondmate:
Life partner among the Jiku.
The ceremony creates an emotional bond, and activates the bondsense.
Mates can feel each others emotions directly through the sense.
Brewky:
Head of syndicate on Kizak fringe world.
Usually called by formal title of Hurka.
Chiwan (tchi-wahn): A great healing master.
City of Life – Closed City:
An ancient city with an impassable wall. Great knowledge is hidden within it.
Dahwee: Kizak religious group.
Dance of Hands:
Movements of hands over the body, which balance energy, and stimulate healing.
Deathstone:
Stone that can be linked to a person, and afterwards show whether he is living or dead.
Dilasa (dee-laah’-suh): An orphan girl on Sinesu.
Dream Hunter:
Someone who has visions of the future. No vision is absolute, but tells of a strongly possible future.
Some Dream Hunters get visual images, while others experience a knowing that they express in words.
Dream School:
A virtual school that a person can enter while sleeping.
One night of sleep time corresponds to a full year in the school. Each day in the school is completely utilized. There is no need for rest or sleep.
The Dream Schools are simulations, managed by an artificial intelligence within in the closed city.
The Dream Schools are used for rapid learning of guild skills.
One enters the Dream School of one’s choice by utilizing a device called the Dream Net.
Driga (dree-gah): Long knives from Jaina’s forest world.
Drilik (drill-ick):
A ceremony on Yagrin’s world, where a person declares a specific type of familial relationship with another (father, uncle, etc.).
This bond cannot be broken, and is treated in law the same as the corresponding blood relationship.
Egg:
- The rooms of the Watchtower are shaped like and sometimes referred to as “eggs”.
- A powerful artifact, key to the making of a new Fiklow queen.
Ekrisa (eh-cree-sah): Energy structure in star spirits. Star heart.
Embu (em-boo): One spirit that casts shadows in many worlds.
Energy Binder: Someone with energy talent, in the Fiklow universe.
Energy Web:
In this world, all of physical existence rests upon an organized matrix of energy, called the Energy Web.
In addition, inanimate physical objects have distinct energy patterns which give them their physical properties.
Living things have an energy body instead of an energy pattern.
It is infinitely more complex than a simple pattern.
Energy Weaving:
The art of manipulating the world through the energy web, energy patterns, and energy bodies that the physical world rests upon.
Far mind:
When Yagrin joins minds with others, some memories and feelings are shared.
When a large set of memories and feelings are shared, the new memories/feelings are stored in a part of the mind called far mind.
To make use of specific memories or skills, Yagrin must transfer the memories from the far mind to the regular mind, called near mind
Feldin (fell-din):
A marine animal that looks something like a seal.
But it’s ten inches long, with an expressive face that glows.
Their image is seen in the murals on the walls of the closed city.
Felerin( fell-eh-rin): Energy weavers.
Fiklow (fih-klow):
Aquatic, intelligent creatures. Ancient enemies of the Jiku.
Flow: Shape shifting.
Gen (jen): Short for gensai fong (hands of light).
A race of energy beings that Yagrin learns about in his travels as an old one.
They begin life as a humanoid, physical being, with golden fur, called Mehkeel.
If they complete the Gen training, they can be transformed into Gen, who can live without physical form, although they often take bodies temporarily.
Gayfal (gay-fahl): Sindar’s father.
- There are two guardians of the watchtower, one a flow master, and the other a weaver. They must be bonded.
- There are three ancient masters called guardians who live in the form of the Kishla. They guard the path which connects the Seven Towers to Yagrin’s world, Siksa.
Gunal (goo-nahl): :
- The name of the desolate Fiklow home world.
- The name taken by every new Fiklow queen.
Grandmother: An energy pattern which acts as a key to energy shields.
Greeting the Sun:
Daily meditations and prayers, done in the midst of a graceful dance, at dawn.
Healing Body – Listening Body:
The Healing Body is an energy body which is sent forth from the fire body to see the balance in the world, and to heal or destroy.
Heart Fountain:
The Heart Fountain is said to be a fountain of energy that permanently changes anyone who bathes in it.
It enlarges the pathways within us that carry energy, and thereby enlarges the strength of our emotions.
The books say “Only two friends TOGETHER can enter and leave its presence in peace.”
Holokai (ho-lo-kai):
Legendary spirit that serves the creator, dissolving the world at the end of a great cycle, and returning all to chaos, ready for a new creation.
Ilaz (ee-lahz): Tshuan prince. Keela’s brother.
Ilisak (ee-lee-sahk): Shazira’s only sister
Ina (ee-nah): Daddy
Inta (in-tah): Uncle
Jaina (jay-nah):
Chief in the forest world that Yagrin travels to from the vats.
Jiku (jee-koo):
Name of the humanoid race that settled Yagrin’s world.
Kalmil (kahl-mill):
Intelligent, shape shifters who live in Jaina’s forest world. They usually take the form of great cats.
Keela (key-lah): Princess of Tshuan.
Keesha (key-shah): Fiklow commander.
Ketkin (keht-kin):
- Somewhat intelligent water creatures which are kept as pets by the Fiklow. They have a poisonous sting that the Fiklow are immune to.
- Name given to the weapons used against the energy hunters.
Kishla (kee-shlah):
Enormous, colorful birds who are curious and intelligent. They communicate with each other through complex songs.
Krale :
Monstrous creatures of black stone who attack the inhabited cities of the world at night. They have destroyed all of the cities, but one that is now protected by the Watchtower. The Krale live in the same land as the Bizra.
Kralestone : Fragments of black stone, from Krale bodies.
Kwaya (kwah-yaah) : Name of a Tshuan healer
Makish (mah-kish): A powerful old one. Last of the mind weavers.
Mayla (may-lah):
Name of the artificial intelligence who is the guardian of the closed city.
Sometimes referred to as the “master intelligence.”
Mayru (may-roo):
Energy creatures which can evolve into Star Spirits. They’re found only on a few planets, in the molten, fiery inner part of a planet, or within its ocean.
Mehkeel (meh-keel):
Humanoid race that gives birth to the energy beings called Gen.
Memcube:
Storage device which projects a multi-sensory and emotional experience. Common recording media for knowledge.
Mindstone:
Stones found in wet sand at low tide that heal the mind.
Mind Twister:
Skilled in mental warfare. Builds mental worlds and traps others within them.
Mother:
One of twelve fundamental patterns which underlie all energy forms.
Neebol (knee-bowl):
Young Mehkeel man who completes Gen training and is transformed.
Neyima (neh-yee-mah):
Kizak identity that Yagrin assumes on the Kizak home world.
Nival (knee-vahl):
An energy being. First meets the narrator on Earth. Then assists Yagrin in his travels to the Bizra.
Niyta (knee-tah): Leader of the old ones. A great healer.
Old One(s):
Ancient masters of Energy weaving and flow. They were transformed 1000 years ago into a childlike form. They live in a hidden place in the hills of Tshuan. Outside of their cave, their eyes have tremendous destructive power.
Oodah (oo-dah): Mommy.
Pathfinder:
Skill of finding and opening energy gateways between two distant places.
Sea of Possibility: Sea of energy that connects the many universes.
Seklu (seh-kloo):
Energy beings, descended from the Fiklow, who live in a world tied to the artifact.
Sehtoo (seh-too): Ancient Kizak energy warriors.
Seven Towers:
A world mentioned in legend, where many energy masters went after the last war.
Some legends say that great help will come from that world, and other legends say that great evil will come from there.
Neebol and Vala (of the Gen) have gone to this world, but their fate there is unknown.
Seven Wells:
There are seven energy wells in the energy bodies of many beings. These wells have many uses, and can be used to move between worlds.
Shazira (sha-zee-rah):
Yagrin’s bondmate (wife) in this world.
A talented master of flow (shape shifting), and one of the two guardians of the Watchtower.
Shilann (she-lahn):
Captain of the ship that crossed the probability sea, and brought the Jiku to Yagrin’s world.
Siksa (sick-sah): Lightning. The name for Yagrin’s world.
Sim: Simulation. Virtual reality.
Sindar (sin-dahr):
Path builder. The name of a legendary character in stories, and the name of an energy pattern.
The word and the pattern are visible on the wall of the ancient city.
Sinesu (sea-nay-sue):
The home planet of the Jiku before the Fiklow wars.
the Spiral:
An energy being that spreads through the galaxies of the Fiklow universe, and consumes the energy of intelligent beings, killing them.
Tchisang (chi-sahng): derogatory word for a traveler.
Teyus (tay-us): current Kizak emperor.
Three bodies and flow:
The first body is a “hard” physical body, called the stone body.
The second is the pattern body, an energy body that has a shape somewhat like the hard one, and feeds it.
The third body is the fire body. It is formless, but often takes the shape of an egg.
In flow, we transform the hard body into another shape.
This is done through the pattern body.
The most common way is to put an energy mask over the pattern body.
The hard body changes shape, according to the mask.
The pattern body can also be replaced, the old pattern body hidden away.
Even masters rarely do this.
Too long with a foreign pattern body, and the master forgets who and what she is, and stays in that form forever.
Some masters can hold a foreign energy form, and remember themselves for a couple of days.
Others can hold it only a few hours without danger.
Some pattern bodies make it hard to move energy.
Transform into one of these, and you can’t change back.
The Kishla is a relatively safe shape.
The Bizra have great power to manipulate energy.
Their fire bodies are different than ours.
There is a unique relationship between their fire and pattern bodies.
Transform your pattern body into Bizra, and your fire body is affected.
It’s easy after that to transform your pattern body into almost any form.
But you cannot return to a person’s shape.
Once a Bizra, never a man (Jiku) again.
Traveler :
An intelligent being whose mind travels to another universe/reality and enters the body of someone in that world.
Some entities take on forms drastically different than their native bodies.
Others take on similar forms.
Still others take on the form of their twins in this reality.
1) Some travelers are only observers, and are not even noticed by their hosts.
The old ones travel as hidden observers, using vats which support their bodies while they are gone.
2) Most travelers take over the body of someone in another world.
Their original bodies are asleep, unconscious, or in some altered state of awareness while they travel.
The original host memories are partially merged with their own.
The original host personality is erased.
2a) Some travelers choose to abandon their native reality.
If their original bodies die while they are traveling, their awareness remains in their new body.
2b) Other travelers eventually return to their original bodies.
The original host personality does not usually return.
3) Embu are spirits who have shadows in multiple universes. There is one central spirit that binds them together. In times of great need, one shadow can travel to another universe, and take over the body of its twin in another reality.
The resulting life has great power, but the original body dies.
The traveler absorbs some of the memories and talents of his twin.
The narrator is this type of traveler who takes over the body of his twin from another reality.
Some of the original Yagrin’s memories and talents are absorbed.
The rest of Yagrin is gone forever.
Tshuan (chew-on): Hill people with unusual ways, believed to be descended from ancient wizards
Tzina (tzee-nah):
Yagrin’s daughter. A talented artist and musician, and an apprentice in the Flow Guild. She’s 11 years old at the beginning of the first book.
Vala (vah – la) : Neebol’s Gen teacher.
Vendik (ven – dick) : Leader of Fiklow union.
Vitsa (vit – sah) : Vicious sea creature on Kizak fringe world.
Watchtower:
An energy lighthouse, built with the aid of the Bizra, it is used to protect the last inhabited city in the world from the nightly attacks of the Krale.
(Diagram of the Watchtower)
Weska (wes – kah): Sindar’s mother.
Weyku (we – koo): The first Gen.
Whisheeku (whi-she-koo):
The dark star. A strange symbol associated with the first Gen and Neebol.
Whispering Hills:
Royal children came to the Whispering Hills, a day before the age of will, and spent their last night as children, alone on the hills.
Wikza (wick-zah):
Ancient creature within the sea, awakened when a Mindstone is returned to the sea.
Window of Dreams:
Ancient collection of visions from the greatest DreamHunters.
Wilu (we-loo):
A tall flowering plant, somewhat similar to a sunflower
Winsin (win-sin):
Those who are declared dead by the council., breaking all legal bonds and family relationships.
Wintu (win-too):
Greatest of ancient Dream Hunters.
Wintzal and Mind Weavers (win-tzahl):
Mind Weavers can build impenetrable mental shields within another’s mind, which the individual can use to guard against mental attack.
The mental shields are called mind spheres, mind walls, mind shields, or wintzals.
Yagrin (yah – grin):
A master of Energy Weaving and one of the two guardians of the Watchtower. He is the narrator’s physical and spiritual twin in this reality. The narrator’s awareness takes over Yagrin’s body when the narrator first travels to this world. Some of Yagrin’s memories are absorbed by the traveler, but Yagrin’s original awareness is erased.
See traveler. The narrator is the third type of traveler, the one who lives in and joins multiple universes.
Zias (zee-oz):
Berek’s adopted mother. An energy weaving master.