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configuration, and octave range of litirs vary greatly, the inclusion into
this class of instrument being determined by the presence of a soft-wood
sounding board joined to an extended neck from whose tip strings of metal,
web, or gut are stretched. The one differentiating factor between the class
litir and its cousin, rissir, is that a rissir must be bowed, while a litir
may be plucked or struck, but never sounded by use of another device that is
stringed; hence, a "standing rissir" and a "standing litir," though to eye and
ear not "dissimilar, are considered by musicians only distantly related.
luricriwn: (S) A highly malleable, ductile metal, grayish black in color, used
as a catalyst in metallurgy (luricrium salts) and in jewelry, luricrium is
highly conductive and considered "rare," although it occurs naturally in
deposits of up to 10 percent purity in those areas previously exposed to
high-intensity fission reactions.
Nin Sihaen: (S) Silistra's most westerly city, Nin Sihaen lies above hide
crill, amid the Sihaen-Istet hills, beyond the Karir-Thoss river. From the
Sihaen-Istet, she receives stra ore and some gemstones for trading, but
remains (as she has been since her founding), a self-contained economy, as
much because of her inconvenient and isolated location as from any conscious
or predicated attempt on the part of her Well-Keepress to maintain her
dependent city in its reclusive, , hermitical posture.
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Janet E. Morris oejri-anra: (Parset: "returning of moons.") A method of
casting razor-moons which obliges the weapon to describe a circle and return
to the hand that cast it. The object in oejri-anra is not to embed
" the razor-moon in the target, but to touch-strike with sufficient force to
mark, but lightly enough not to alter the moon-caster's trajectory. The
greatest difficulty of the game is not, as might be expected, encountered in
causing the razor-moon to perform in the desired manner, but in reclaiming it
without harm to one's own hand. To this end, thick parr gauntlets with
stra-armored palms are often used while boning one's skill. In moon-casters'
circles, however, use of these protections in actual competition is considered
an admission of cowardice, a negative assessment by the moon-caster of his own
prowess. (The type of razor-moon used in oejri-anra is without exception the
crescent; only a fool would put a returning cast on a full disk.)
ornithalum: (P) An igneous rock, cerulean to azure in tone, quarried almost
exclusively in the southern regions. Prized both for its permanence and its
beauty, ornithalum remains the most prestigious material (exempting gol) for
structural art.
Orsai: (S) The first pass of the Silistran calendar; the pass of winter
solstice, which occurs either on first first or on first second Orsai.
razor-moon: (S) Although the variations of razor-moons are extensive, we will
discuss here the two major types: the full disk, or one-way razor-moon; and
the crescent, or returning.
The full-disk razor-moon, like its cousin the crescent, may be made of either
steel or stra. It is in general smaller, never exceeding a hand's width in
diameter. The central thickness of the full disk may be up to fifty times that
of the honed outer edge, which has no "grip" or blunt area by which the moon
may be caught or
WIND FROM THE ABYSS
367
grasped, making it, unlike the crescent, a weapon against which there is
little or no defense. The full disk is an exceptionally lethal weapon, and in
competition is never cast against an opponent, but only at an inanimate
target.
The crescent moon, sharpened along every edge but the outermost central
mid-curve, varies in size but is seldom smaller than the full disk or larger
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than twice that in diameter. Because of its "returning" qualities, it is
favored for competitive sport but seldom used in combat situtations, where one
runs the risk of finding one's own projectile caught by the enemy and launched
back upon the caster.
Razor-moons remain basically a boot-sheathed weapon, although some
moon-casters have lately begun bearing them in arm-scabbards that hold five or
six of the smaller variety strapped to the forearm.
Se'keroth: (St) The legendary blade of which Laore wrote, and with which, by
all accounts, he was slain. The premechanist legend of the sword of severance
differs quite markedly from the four-volume epic the Stoth adept produced in
his youth, and which was later used as evidence against him in his trial and
subsequent condemnations, but it is Laore's version, subsumed with revolution
and revelation, that is quoted in the text. (See Appendix 1.) The blade
itself Se'keroth of the fire-gemmed hilt was reclaimed by Khys at great
personal peril in the last pass before the onset of Haroun-Vhass. With six
lesser priests, he crossed the Embrodming and liberated the sword from the
Brinjiiri Laonan Museum, in the midst of that enemy's capital. The escapade
has never been subject to procedural documentation, but Khys, who in many
respects emulated Laore both in his life and his death, risked his hide-place
to acquire the blade, which he believed
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Janet E. Morris was the genuine artifact. His own research and attempt at
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