The ledger

A guide to the realm

Houses, gods, the oaths that power them, and the names you will hear. Nothing here gives away what happens in the book.

Houses

Crowmania

House of Cock

Seat
Cock Castle, Crowmania
Oath
Holy · DawnGlass

The crown of Crowmania. It holds Cock Castle, Roost Keep, Cock Harbor, Pilgrim’s Gate and the fortress on the Throat, and it watches the river from behind cleaner plate than its neighbours.

  • King Indigo

    King of Crowmania. Holds a DawnGlass oath.

  • Queen Lucy

    Queen. Born to House of Hen; her marriage binds the Eastern Hills to Cock.

  • Prince Nezz

    Prince and heir. Wears the shard-compass.

  • Goss

    Old captain. Keeps the prince within arm’s reach.

First in Book I · v7

Eastern Hills

House of Hen

Seat
The Eastern Hills
Oath
Frost · FrostGlass

The eastern crown, tied to House of Cock by Queen Lucy’s marriage.

  • Queen Lex

    Queen of the Eastern Hills. Mother of Queen Lucy.

First in Book I · v7

Stone Hills

House of Wells

Seat
Deepwell, the Stone Hills
Oath
Earth · StoneGlass

A mine-city house. Routes, ore and old knowledge the other houses would rather stayed buried.

  • King Oridan

    King of Deepwell.

First in Book I · v7

Scratch Forest

House Greenwood

Seat
Treehatch, Scratch Forest
Oath
Wind · WindGlass. Keep the forest; take no part in wars.

Keepers of Scratch Forest and Echo Forest, the neutral crossings and older living boundaries.

Members to come.

First in Book I · v7

Crow Marsh

Wet Peck

Seat
Wet Peck, Crow Marsh
Oath
Water · LiquidGlass

The marsh house. It fights with river, reed, mud and ambush, and keeps one eye on the god-turtle under the water.

  • Old King Karl

    King of Wet Peck. Marsh-steel, not pretty plate.

  • Drix

    Karl’s son. Carries the first word of the war upriver.

  • Orin

    Guardian. The god-turtle of Crow Marsh, twenty stories when he wishes.

First in Book I · v7

Gods

Holy

Arcolos

The Dawn King

AR-koh-lohs. God of dawn, oath, judgment and protection, and of the terrible mercy of light. Holy is a force with an agenda, not an automatic good.

First in Book I · v7

Void

Yezmir

The Void King

YEZ-meer. Void is speed, silence, absence and merciful escape: an agenda, not a morality. He speaks when the living are trying to be quiet, and Nezz hears him.

First in Book I · v7

Water

Orin

God-turtle of Crow Marsh

Sleeps under the marsh. Karl offers him a small spit of respect and hopes he keeps napping.

First in Book I · v7

Fire

Ashmother

God of AshGlass

History coming.

First in a later volume

Frost

Frostmere

The Frost Queen

History coming.

First in a later volume

Earth

Halde Stonebearer

God of StoneGlass

History coming.

First in a later volume

Lightning

Caelion

God of PowerGlass

History coming.

First in a later volume

Water

H’to-O

God of LiquidGlass

History coming.

First in a later volume

Wind

God of the wind

WindGlass (name to confirm)

History coming.

First in a later volume

Sound

God of sound

VibeGlass (name to confirm)

History coming.

First in a later volume

Power

The nine Glasses
ElementGlassOath verbGod
HolyDawnGlassProtectArcolos
VoidVoidGlassTakeYezmir
FireAshGlassBurnAshmother
FrostFrostGlassFreezeFrostmere
WindWindGlassGustTo confirm
WaterLiquidGlassSaturateH’to-O
EarthStoneGlassBuryHalde Stonebearer
SoundVibeGlassDeafenTo confirm
LightningPowerGlassEnergizeCaelion

  • Glass Oath

    A binding spiritual contract. Power comes through an element, a god or a governing principle, and every oath carries an obligation. Breaking, bending or exploiting one costs something spiritual and something practical.

  • Echo

    The pressure of a person’s power, feeling, oath and intent. Echoes are sensed as weight and pressure. They are never a number.

  • Pi Gates

    Sealed thresholds beneath the realm’s great seats. Old warnings say a gate is not opened by force, blood or command. It judges.

  • Guardians

    Great beasts bound to a house and its land. Orin, the god-turtle of Crow Marsh, is the one the marsh worries about.

  • Choice-trace

    The residue a consequential decision leaves on a person: an oath kept or refused, a mercy, a sacrifice.

Glossary

Cock Castleplace
Seat of House of Cock.
Cock Eyesterm
What the realm calls its lamplighters.
Cock Fortressplace
The forward defense of Crowmania, on its ridge above the Throat. A Pi Gate is sealed beneath it.
Cock Harborplace
Crowmania’s harbor.
Crow Marshplace
Black water, reed and fog on the western edge. Home of Wet Peck.
Crow Riverplace
The river through the marsh. Fortresses, Karl says, don’t like owing rivers.
Crowmaniaplace
The heartland of House of Cock.
Deepwellplace
A mine-city descending through layers of contested stone. Seat of House of Wells.
Eastern Hillsplace
The lands of House of Hen.
Echo Forestplace
A Greenwood forest of neutral crossings.
Echo-Domeplace
The great dome Zilla is built on and around.
Forty-Day Warterm
The war that begins on the first dawn of Book I.
Leglessfaction
The name at the head of the Pale Dawn.
Little Spoonplace
A tavern in Zilla where pockets get heavy and rumors get traded.
Pale Dawnfaction
Legless’s host from the west: disciplined, oath-bound, and convinced conquest can be a holy correction. They arrive looking like a tax visit.
Pilgrim’s Gateplace
A House of Cock gate on the road behind the fortress.
Red Ditchplace
The approaches below Cock Fortress.
Reed Causewayplace
A half-stone, half-log road across the marsh toward the Crow River.
Roost Keepplace
A House of Cock stronghold in Crowmania.
Scratch Forestplace
Greenwood’s forest, home of Treehatch.
Shard-compassterm
Splinters of Glass Oath bound in leather and thread, tuned to the Pi Gate beneath Cock Fortress. Less a north than a home-note. It tugs.
Squack’Ka’Saarplace
The Crow Realm. The houses argue over it.
Stone Hillsplace
Mine country of House of Wells.
The Choirfaction
Studies thresholds and living vessels with sound, repetition and pain, and keeps its books in sound.
The Cock-pitplace
Zilla’s market square.
The Labyrinthterm
Spoken of in whispers. What the realm says about it is the public version.
The Throatplace
The ridge country between Crow Marsh and Pilgrim’s Gate that Cock Fortress guards.
Treehatchplace
Seat of House Greenwood in Scratch Forest.
We Rise at Dawnterm
The motto of Oath of the Peck.
Wet Peckplace
Old King Karl’s marsh seat.
Zillaplace
A free city on the Echo-Dome: trade, spectacle, criminal leverage, and powers older than the arenas.