The Sinai Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia Volumes:
1: A'Matu'd to Akwavi
2: Amazonia to Ashtoreth
3: Assassins' Guild to Berryswort
4: Blakat to Cantrip
5: Captain-Astromancer to Cloudmelon
6: Cold Shower to Desolate Band
7: Diagnostitorium to Emperor-Potentate
8: Ephasto to Flying Khattaman
9: Fnerf to Goliath
10: Gooshurm to Hammersong
11: Harvest Tide to Ihtoli Maqahamok
12: Ikara to K'trinzhai
13: Kadiban to Knights Templar
14: Kooshkie to Lapi
15: Learning Machine to Matu'd'arum
16: Maw to Nik-Nik
17: Niton to Pantheon
18: Paquebot to RTR
19: Rahktor to Roses, Sanctuary of
20: Rotbiter to Saskanar
21: Savanite Sign to Shadow, Sphere of
22: Shekelodeon to Skedat
23: Skeek to Squibbit
24: Srinala to The River Runs
25: Thistlebark to Underside
26: Unity Day to Wires
27: Witch to Yodhzakaro
28: Yodh to Zolk
Index - New - Submit an entry

(term) (location) Paquebot
PAK-baht
Paquebots are floating refueling stations on the ocean that are considered to be extensions of the nation that supports them. Examples would be "Little Rephidim West" and "Little Rephidim East", which lie along a route that crosses between the continents of Ai and Ur over the ocean. While paquebots may seem like little towns or sometimes even cities, they are quite rarely self-sufficient, relying upon incoming supplies (typically borne by water) which they can then relay to airships which simply can't carry that much weight on the long trans-continental journey.

(location) (legend) Paradys
PAIR-ah-dyse
Paradys has long been legend among the Vartans, a sky island that would appear, then disappear into some Forbidden Zone, making pursuit impossible, supposedly made of gold and crystals and other shiny things. Thus, it was only natural that this should be the subject of the final quest of an old Vartan hero, Shokar, and the crew of his airship, "Shokar's Silver Bell".

In very recent history, Paradys has been rediscovered, though it is still hard to reach, and it has been revealed that a Sphinx colony (half-Vartans who insist on calling themselves Vartans) has long been on there ... along with a colony of jaguar-morphs which, unfortunately, were almost entirely destroyed.

(location) Pashodinar Memorial Arena
pah-SHO-dihn-ahr
A gargantuan coliseum built partially from a stone gorge, located in Nagai City in the Savan. This arena hosts the most attended games in the Nagai Empire, including the famed Annual Slitherball Championships.

(term) Pax Rephidim
The "Rephidim Peace" is a term that refers to Rephidim's role as a stabilizing force on Rephidim, as it controls the airways. While Sinai has and will always have wars so long as there are nations to fight and things to fight over, Rephidim has, by and large, kept the peace on this planet.

(location) Pilgrims' Road
[not common knowledge outside of Nordika and/or religious circles]

Pilgrims' Road is a path that cuts through a mountain pass from Gallis to the Sanctuary of Order, just into the edge of the Forbidden Zone of Bosch.

This path is regularly patrolled by warrior-priests from a number of different sects who share a desire to combat the madness of Bosch -- While they can't drive back Bosch, they maintain a series of wards and shrines set along this road, which seem to be sufficient to hold at bay the bulk of the horrors of Bosch. However, safety cannot be guaranteed for travelers on this road, so the pilgrims who brave the horrors of Bosch to visit the Sanctuary of Order most often travel in large caravans.

Pilgrims are warned not to stray from the path, despite the trickery that Bosch may throw at them: temptations, terrors, or attempts to cause confusion. The only solace is that, for whatever reason, Bosch cannot replicate the image of the Sanctuary of Order, nor of the wards and shrines that can be found along the path. For some, it is not the stay at the Sanctuary which is the true objective of the pilgrimage ... but rather the passing of the trials presented by the journey itself.

(item) (fauna) Plaguebringer
The Plaguebringers were long thought monsters or weapons of legend, but the War of the Plaguebringers made it painfully clear that they were indeed real, as they descended upon Rephidim.

These living "vehicles" are apparently giant insects with mechanical components that served in the arsenal of the Sabaoth of Babel, until their destruction in their ill-fated assault on Rephidim. These giant fliers get their name from their weapons of choice: They carry within them biological weapons -- poisonous spores, disease-ridden vapors, and sometimes swarms of smaller bugs, such as horribs.

While the Plaguebringers are armed to resist most any blow, it was discovered that they have two weak points: their wings, and the "eyes". The pilot resides in a hollow space in the head behind the latter, making him vulnerable to attack.

(role) (legend) Priest-King
In the Early Expedition Era, a large country of Savanites in what is now the territory of Xenea had its capitol in the City of Hands, located in a canyon along the Xenean River. The ruler of these Savanites was known as "Priest-King", signifying his position as both religious and political leader of these people, and ancient records suggest that he was a mage as well - though these suppositions are still considered to be highly controversial, especially within what remains of the Nagai Empire.

At some point, this "Savanite Empire" collapsed, and over the years, the formerly ruling Savanites became slaves to those races their ancestors had once enslaved. In recent years, however, the City of Hands was rediscovered, and a settlement of escaped Savanite slaves formed there, choosing a woman known alternately as "Jezebel", "Third-Vision" or "Third-Eye" as their leader, as a new "Priest-King". (Sometimes, this is translated as "Priest-Queen", but the original hand-sign is gender neutral.)

5 New Year of 6103 RTR, Xenea became an independent territory, with its capitol situated in the port city of Safar, its first recognized ruler being Priest-Queen Jade-Eyes (also known as "Azhtar"), sister of the former Priest-Queen.

(location) (legend) Primus
PRY-muhs
Primus is one of the many names ascribed to the sun, a yellow star, of the solar system of which Sinai is a part. It is also the name of the rune associated with the Sphere of Light.

(item) Processing
"Processing" is performed by Rephidim Temple on all Exiles that are brought to the offices of the Inquisition. It involves the use of some items of especially high technology, not fully understood even by its users, that allow Exiles from other worlds to quickly learn Rephidim Standard. After that, it is the duty of the Inquisitor to learn about the Exile -- whether this Exile possesses any magical powers or special skills or abilities, from what world the Exile came, how he/she/it got here, and so forth. It is also necessary to find out how the Exile may be able to fit into society, especially since part of the traditional process is that the Exile must pay the cost for his own Processing -- again, by tradition, one gold Shekel.

(term) (legend) Procession
Sinai lacks for any moon, but it does possess a ring, which is known to Rephidim culture as "The Procession". From the ground, it appears as a long trail of "stars" which move ever so slightly faster than the real ones behind them across the night sky. Some of the larger "travellers" figure strongly in astrology in many Sinai cultures.

The ring is so named because ancient myth holds it to be a procession of the recently departed souls making a pilgrimage to the land beyond the stars. The larger points of light follow fairly consistent orbits (despite frequent collisions with smaller chunks of space debris) and have been attributed with names corresponding to major persons of history long past -- the names having survived much longer than the memory of what exactly made the owners of them worthy of such immortality in legend. These "guides" are held to remain forever in the Procession, leading the way to the lands beyond.

(fauna) Ptera
TERR-ah
Pteras are winged pseudo-reptilians that can be found over a wide range over Sinai, even more so since they are favored for beast-drawn airships. They are prized for their tolerance of temperature extremes, their exceptional endurance, and also that they can be trained. They can be found "wild" in any number of areas on Sinai, as well as occasionally roosting on the smaller sky islands.

(item) Quantometer
This Chronotopian invention is occasionally found in use during First One site expeditions, or else on better-equipped airships, used to measure instances of "quantum uncertainty" -- the phenomenon that accompanies areas where magic works more strongly, and technology tends to fail. In abstract, the quantometer consists of one or two redundant devices of differing levels of complexity, expected to react with varying degrees to an increased level of quantum uncertainty -- in theory the way a device for measuring temperature might be made by putting two strips of metal together that expand at different rates with temperature, resulting in the needle bending to one side as temperature rises. The result of the quantometer is not nearly so easy to discern, however, given the inherently random nature of the phenomenon, thus only being of use to specially trained technicians, and even then without great accuracy. Nonetheless, it can serve as an advance warning of an unmarked Forbidden Zone or other phenomenon ... or some devices have even been used as a means of determining altitude in "instrument only" flight conditions.

(term) Quantum Uncertainty
This is an obscure theory that sometimes surfaces in scholarly circles to explain the strange phenomenon of technological devices of high complexity working better at higher altitudes on Sinai, and more erratically toward the surface.

The theory has its ties in long-lost sciences dealing with the make-up of matter, and the term itself is believed to have been coined long ago, perhaps back in the Expedition era. The theory is that some force within the heart of Sinai has an effect on the movements of particles that make up matter, disrupting their natural order. The closer one is the surface, the greater this influence has on particles, thus making matter behave in slightly unpredictable ways.

Due to the regulatory nature of biological matter, it seems that living beings are not affected in quite the same way complex machines are, but there still is a higher incidence of mutation on the surface ... a phenomenon which may well be linked to Quantum Uncertainty.

Peculiar devices such as the Chronotopian Quantometer are designed to "measure" this phenomenon, though -- by definition -- without a high degree of accuracy. Quantum Uncertainty generally increases with a decrease in altitude, but it also increases within places known to be unfused with high levels of magic -- such as Forbidden Zones and ancient First Ones sites.

(location) Quicksilver
Tenth planet of the Primus System, discovered by means of the Gateway Tower. Dubbed "Quicksilver" by the Exile explorer, Envoy of Lothrhyn, in reference to the planet's appearance through the Gateway as a giant, spherical mirror, reflecting the stars. It has also been tentatively (and somewhat controversially) dubbed "Dagh" by some astronomers who insist on the tradition of naming the planets after obscure gods and goddesses of the Olympian pantheon.

(term) RTR
n/a
Rephidim Temple Reckoning is the standard by which the calendar for most events in Sinai's history is held, as time is measured by the Priests of Rephidim Temple. Since Sinai's language is not English, the exact "abbreviation" would represent different characters, but for the purpose of abstraction (and maintenance of sanity, lest everyone have to learn a new language just to roleplay), "RTR" represents the commonly-accepted acronym, and is often considered to represent "Rephidim Time Reckoning" by those who would not wish to give the Temple any more credit than is necessary. To calculate the current year from AD to RTR, you can roughly get by with adding 4100 to the real-world year. (Add 4099 if it is the month of January, because Sinai's "New Year" is February 1st.) So, for example, if it is, in our world, February 1st, 1997 AD, on Sinai it will be New Year's Day, 6097 RTR. On January 31st, 1997 AD, it would be 1 Day Before New Year's, 6096 RTR.

Encyclopedia Volumes:
1: A'Matu'd to Akwavi
2: Amazonia to Ashtoreth
3: Assassins' Guild to Berryswort
4: Blakat to Cantrip
5: Captain-Astromancer to Cloudmelon
6: Cold Shower to Desolate Band
7: Diagnostitorium to Emperor-Potentate
8: Ephasto to Flying Khattaman
9: Fnerf to Goliath
10: Gooshurm to Hammersong
11: Harvest Tide to Ihtoli Maqahamok
12: Ikara to K'trinzhai
13: Kadiban to Knights Templar
14: Kooshkie to Lapi
15: Learning Machine to Matu'd'arum
16: Maw to Nik-Nik
17: Niton to Pantheon
18: Paquebot to RTR
19: Rahktor to Roses, Sanctuary of
20: Rotbiter to Saskanar
21: Savanite Sign to Shadow, Sphere of
22: Shekelodeon to Skedat
23: Skeek to Squibbit
24: Srinala to The River Runs
25: Thistlebark to Underside
26: Unity Day to Wires
27: Witch to Yodhzakaro
28: Yodh to Zolk
Index - New - Submit an entry

Home Page
Player Guide
Log Library
Recent Logs
Encyclopedia
Dramatis Personae
Art Gallery
Moz Ezley Asylum