CALENDER

The Ghean year is roughly equivalent to Earth's year; 365 days, 12 months. The 12 months coincide to the Earth calendar so: January: Icingwind, February: Frostrule, March: Stormsend, April: Lambsborn, May: Jadeflower, June: Greenbough, July: Brightwillow, August: Highsummer, September: Leafturning, October: Harvestmoon, November: Deathseason, December: Hearthside.

While some of the other races have their own methods for marking the year, and name the months differently, these are the common names in Alastari for the months of the year, translated into whatever language that one happens to be speaking. Most of Alastari reckons years from the time of the last Chaos Wars, with the years equivalent to Earth's so: 1993 = 504, 1994 = 505, 1995 = 506, 1996 = 507, etc.

The Karnhorn Calendar is marked from the time the Karnhorn Priests came to Alastari; the years are equivalent so: 1993 = 239, 1994 = 240, 1995 = 241, 1996 = 242, etc. The name of the Karnhorn months are: January: Khurehz, February: Terrzak, March: Zerra, April: Rookell, May: Xhorghas, June: Fearza, July: Jomordon, August: Keesan, September: Xarten, October: Dedran, November: Iol, December: Sokor.

CATFOLK

See the Pride.

CATSEYE RIVER

The river that flows through Aruak City, Seam, and Solven. It runs into the Shadowbourn at Caleam.

CEHKYL

A copper coin of the Karnhorn Empire. It is small and round with a triangular hole in the center. Widely used by traders, merchants, and commoners. One-fifth of a jharl. (See Jharl)

CHAOS ARTIFACT

Any magical or technological artifact brought to Alastari through a Chaos Gate. They are rare, often powerful, and generally unpredictable, as many of them were made on worlds where the laws of physics or magic work differently than they do on Ghea.

CHAOS CREATURE

Strictly, a being (or the descendant of such beings) who arrived on Ghea through one of the Chaos Gates (which, technically, means that every race on Ghea with the exception of humans is a Chaos Creature...)

Less strictly, any race you don't particularly like.

CHAOS GATE

A magically created portal which leads to another dimension. Created by mysterious entities in the First Age of Alastari, the Gates have been used, abused and confused by countless civilizations since. In the Second Age, the Folstrom Empire used the Gates to raid countless dimensions, bringing back wealth and magic to Alastari. Most of the "chaos artifacts" (of which Sheila Greywand's wand is the most famous) date from this period. While most of the Gates lead to reasonably harmless worlds, a few are portals to worlds of warlike or otherwise dangerous creatures. No one knows the exact number or location of all the Gates, much less where they all lead to; for some time all the Gates have been sealed by Sheila Greywand.

A Gate consists of two nexus points, one in each of the dimensions connected by the Gate. Between these two points there is an environment called the linkworld which does not exist in any dimension, although beings using the gate generally perceive the linkworld as having and "up" and "down" and something to walk on. Theoretically, a linkworld may be occupied by an infinite number of creatures at once; however, linkworld environments are malleable. A sufficiently strong-willed person may structure the environment as he or she wishes by force of will; thus, a Gate may be blocked by someone entering the linkworld and "deciding" that it is only large enough to accommodate one being. As sitting in a nonexistent space willing it to keep everyone else out is one of the most tedious jobs in the universe, very few Gates were blocked on a permanent basis. Even a blocked Gate can be passed; it simply requires that someone with a stronger will or better control of what will they've got enter the linkworld and wrest control of it from the guardian. Such battles are generally visualized as physical or magical duels by the combatants, though since physical and magical law do not hold true in the linkworlds, they are probably neither.

For the last several hundred years the Gates have, for the most part, been sealed shut by the power of the Grey Wand. A number of minor, harmless Gates remain open by accident or design, allowing a certain amount of interdimensional trade. This mass closure was accomplished during the Eleventh Age, when the last great dimensional invasion occurred. After sending champions into the linkworlds to block the invading armies, Sheila used the Wand to close the Alastari-side nexus points.

It is Sheila's intention, once she gets enough warriors trained to her standards, to reopen the Gates. With a limitless supply of warriors, she can afford to rotate the Gate guardians and keep the Gates open on a safe and permanent basis...once, of course, the assorted nasties on the other end are convinced not to invade again.

CHAOS WARS

Any of several catastrophic wars in which one or more of the Gates has been opened and other-dimensional armies have invaded Ghea in general and Alastari in particular.

The first Chaos War occurred several thousand years ago at the very end of the Folstrom conquests. The beaten Folstrom retreated, opened a number of gates at random, and escaped through one which they sealed behind them. The Gates they left open disgorged a number of angry Chaos armies (the Folstrom had been busy stirring up every dimension they could reach. See Folstrom.)

There have been several similar wars since. The last Chaos War occurred about five hundred years ago. It was set off by the destruction of Cundi by the Raltuman pirates (see the Raltuman history for details.) During the devastation and madness wrought by the battling kingdoms and their mages, a number of Gates were opened. It was during this period that Sheila hit upon her plan of sending single champions into each Gate to block them. This she did, using mainly Shewish Giants. The Shews were able to block the Gates, thus preventing any more chaos creatures from entering Alastari. Sheila then used her wand to seal the gates permanently (with the unfortunate Shews still in them.)

The last Chaos War was responsible for the shape of Alastari today: the great Van Kingdom, which ruled most of modern Alastari, was wiped out, leaving its vassal kingdoms of Frafreja, Shew, and Krael to expand in the north, and the assorted horse-tribes of the Rirorni Plains to migrate up from the south.

It is not known for certain how many Chaos Wars there have been. Although the modern era is sometimes referred to as the "twelfth age of Alastari," not every age ended in a Chaos War, and there may have actually been more (or less) than twelve ages since the departure of the First Gods.

CHOMIRJ

High-placed member of the Andorian Assassins' Guild, subordinate to Soyenj. Chomirj is in command of the royal escorts or guards who accompany the king whenever he leaves the palace in Andor. He is a Fratsfan, typical of his race to look at--tall, lean, blond, but a little plainer in his dress than most courtiers. He's about 40, a widower with one half-grown daughter, Selia, on whom he dotes. He dislikes gladiators for the same reasons as does Traal Saru, because he sees them as usurping his function. His loyalty is to the ruling house of the Andorian League, and he has not completely accepted that Mickeal is not an impostor, and it would not be hard to convince him of this; in such a case, he would immediately transfer his loyalty to Priam.

COPPERBIT

A copper coin of Dullens, often adulterated with tin or nickel. Worth about 1/100 of a mark. A few copperbits will buy a drink at a decent inn. (See Mark)

CORUSCINE

A strong, light metal mined in Illis and the Twisted Lands. Thought to have been produced by the effects of destruction magics on silver ore. Extremely valued in swordsmithing. Small deposits are found all over Alastari. These deposits may be one of the main reasons that everyone wants to conquer the place.

CRYSTALFIRE GEM

A type of opaline gemstone, valued for its property of glowing in dim light or in the presence of magical energy. In the right hands it can also serve as a source of magical energy. Rather rare; may be found in either red-orange or blue-green varieties. Found mainly in the southern reaches of Alastari. A new vein was discovered in Dullens within the last several years; the previous main source was a mine near Trocar which is nearly played out.

CYCLE

A term of time relating to the rotation of moon, which more or less approximates two weeks. This is how arenas first started scheduling their fights. The moon has less to do with it these days than the actual passing of two weeks (14 days).