Glossary

By Dolores J. Nurss

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Note: This glossary changes constantly, receiving new entries all the time. Most of these words will not crop up in all stories. I have not written down all of the unusual words and terms that I have buried in my notes, but have concentrated mainly on those most pertinent to finished novels (which is why you will at first see more notes on Til Territories and the Charadoc than any other cultures) though I am trying to include as much as I can on missions, cultures and lands not yet formally written about--hundreds of cultures exist in my notes, and they all have their peculiar terminology. Please notify me if you find anything unfamiliar in my tales that I haven't yet catalogued for this letter. Thank you.
 

hachee:  A stew popular in Vanikke, made of equal parts finely chopped red meat, pickled with sweet spices and berries; and onions, sauteed in butter and made into a roux.

Halleluia, Mt.: A mountain just above the west end of the Great Gulf Road, just south of Resthaven and across from the Three Angels rock formation. Named for the sense of relief that travelers feel when it comes into sight, signaling the end of the Great Gulf Road on the Til Peninsula side.
 
Halls of Portraiture: An intricate network of halls which connects the various suites and offices of the Office of Cultural Agency, hung with painted portraits of all the greatest agents in Til history, interspersed with a few depictions of famous moments in agency.
 
Ham Theatre: A room in the Silverfoam Inn, with seats on a sloping floor facing a small stage, together with a backstage area containing an accumulation of backdrops, props, and costumes from previous performances. The Silverfoam provides this for guests who would like to improvise or formally stage any kind of performance for the other guests.
 
Hamalla: A village in the mountains of the Charadoc, a gathering-point in the llama trade. Once known for a famous religious retreat. The building still exists as a site of pilgrimage and is a stellar example of earth-sheltered architecture.

The Happiness Shark:  A boogieman of childhood folklore in Til Territories.  Believed to originate in a misguided effort in the early days of comorrans, to urge an unhappy child to picture a smiling, pink shark swimming through the air, gobbling up anything negative in the atmosphere.  Unfortunately, far from cheering the children up, they started to have nightmares about the Happiness Shark, who would not only eat negativity, but them as well, if they had bad thoughts.  This caused all manner of repressive neurosis, and quickly ceased to be common practice.

However, legends of the Happiness Shark continue to the present, whispered among children, often as a way to bully those whose whining annoys others.  The usual response from adults is to assure the subject that in fact there is no such thing.  Whenever they respond that maybe magentine could make the Happiness Shark real, it is best to also remind the child that magentine could also create an invisible bubble around one that such a creature cannot penetrate.

Happy syndrome:  A parasitic infection marked by hemorrhaging mucous membranes, found in the rainforests of the Southeastern Continent.  Named for Dr. Joseph Happy, who first isolated the organism.

harbor bazaar:  An open-air market that springs up spontaneously around a harbor, to buy and sell imports and exports.  After years some become entrenched enough to build stalls and even shops, yet still retain the name.

Harrison of Dhurbah, Saint: A saint of the Catholic Church (Roman Rite) who traveled on foot throughout Dhurbah from remote village to village, relieving isolation, comforting those on the verge of despair, and winning the conversion of those who had previously met the hardships of those early years with cannibalism and banditry. His legend purports that he miraculously changed snow into cereal for a starving village trapped in a blizzard. He was eventually martyred and eaten by a bandit tribe, whose leader later converted, haunted by dreams of the saint persisting in his work through him. Bones alleged to be his relics were scavenged from a garbage pit and may well belong to some other victim.

hare:  A vegetarian animal, about the size of a spaniel, with cloven hooves, long ears, and a slender, doglike tail.  The fur comes in gray, beige, cream, or taupe, but turns white with temperatures at freezing or below.  One of the swiftest animals on Novatierre.

Harvest Home: A holiday observed in various rural parts of the world honoring the gathering of the final harvest before winter, usually with much feasting, drinking, and dancing in or near the barns, silos, or freshly harvested fields. The custom often falls to the wayside when practitioners migrate to more urban settings.
 
The denizens of Til Territory farming communities wear fanciful costumes and tell stories around bonfires to feed the imagination, to prepare the mind to face the long winters ahead when mental stimulation falls to a minimum. Children also play pranks on each other and on their tipsy (and uncharacteristically vulnerable) elders.
 
In Pas Gurr, the citizens believe that the guardian spirits of field and orchard must be paid by a sacrifice for the harvest taken from their charges, but being a merry and mischeivous little folk, the sacrifice must also involve fun. Therefore the farmers either dance to excess, drink to excess, or both, their morning-after sacrifice taking the form of hangovers and stiff muscles. Thus the "wild ones" have had their due for another year and the stores will not spoil in the winter months. No Pasgurrian will ever admit to believing in these beings, but will insist to the inquiring anthropologist that everyone else does.

hasvin:  A vine common to higher altitudes in the eastern end of the Northeastern Continent.  Gray-green with long, lacy leaves, and a very coarse, hairy, fibrous body, it has evolved a high tensile strength in order to survive high winds while clinging to rocks.  In summer it grows long yellow-orange blossoms under its leaves, which offer refuge to pollinating insects.

Commercially valuable mainly for the fiber in its vines, useful for ropemaking, basketry, paper-making, backing for rubber materials, and a coarse cloth used chiefly for erosion-prevention and sandbags.  In some regions also valued for its fruit, the dinyee, which some candy, pickle, or make into juice.

Hauser, Wolfgang Arnold:  Marine biologist/geneticist.  Known for discovering the mechanism behind the unique yellow bioluminescence of tomopteris plankton, and later for the invention of clonevory, making lucrative use of his discovery.

 
Heartland Cliffs: High red cliffs on Til Peninsula, between Winnait Point and House of the Tree. Much celebrated in song, especially in the braided verse Til Anthem.

Heart of the City:  Somewhere in the miles of parkland, gardens, and nature preserves underlying Istislan Capitol is a simple sandstone fountain where water bubbles up into a natural dish that it has been eroding there since the founding of the city, and spills from thence into gravel, or possibly a stream.  No map will disclose its location, by law.  The normally pragmatic Istislani believe that it is good luck to find the fountain, especially if one stumbles across it all by oneself, and that one can bless oneself and others with its water.  Legend has it that the city will stand so long as the fountain flows, but Istislan Capital (and indeed the entire nation) will fall should the fountain crack, breaking its heart.  If it should ever dry up, then mercy itself is drying up and the residents must amend their ways.

heath:  A shrub or woody herb, with small round leaves of a yellowish graygreen color, which blossoms in spring with clusters of fragrant gray-violet or dusty rose flowers.  In autumn it bears clusters of tiny blue-violet berries, mostly seed, much coveted by birds and small mammals, but sometimes also dried and ground to make a sweet and nutritious pastry.  Sometimes herbalists make a tea of the leaves as a folk-remedy for cancer, but studies of its efficacy so far have been inconclusive.

It thrives on rocky alpine slopes where little else can grow, especially when sheltered between boulders.  Sometimes these slopes are also called heaths.  One must not confuse a Novatierran heath, however, with an Earthian heath, as found in ancient literature.  Although Novatierran heath and Earthian heather bear some resemblance to each other, the latter used to grow typically in flat or rolling lowlands, under wide-open conditions.

Helal:   Forgiveness, especially associated with deathbed forgiveness. Its roots lead back to pre-migration Islamic custom.  Based on a belief that God will forgive a sin if the one harmed by it also forgives, yet hold as punishable anyone not forgiven by the victim.

Helix Islands: Islands in the Sea of Byssinia. In the Vision of Nikolai Borisanov, he perceived himself as suspended above the Sea of Byssinia higher than his balloon had ever risen, and saw these islands suspended above the waters, spiraling in a double helix formation, and he intuited that he saw this as a manifestation of the DNA of Novatierre Herself.

hellbind:  A parasitic plant common to the upper latitude forests of the Northwestern Continent, without chlorophyl of its own.  In color it varies from yellow to a deep rust red, mostly in the orange range.  It has no leaves, but many branching stems, twigs, and tendrils.  It has thin, specialized roots that sink into other plants to feed off of their sap, and can send out more roots at every juncture of its twigs.  It is toxic to humankind and cattle, but most indigenous life forms instinctively avoid its bitter-almond smell.

helly-melly:  A slang expression used in Toulin for chaos, sometimes used as a noun, sometimes as an adjective or adverb, as, "The goods landed at the bottom of the cliff, helly-melly."  The earliest settlers used it as an expression of fear of a curse, but modern-day Toulinians have, for the most part, forgotten that superstition.

Hendersnaad, Layne:  Pseudoscientist of Gueymaial.  Claimed to have proven that Mountainfolk had genetically jettisoned some degree of brain capacity in order to adapt to the thinner air of high altitudes.  She was not, however, a geneticist, but a psychologist specializing in education.  At first her statistics, nevertheless, looked compelling, her statistical sample generous, and her testing of intelligence flawless.  As often happens within academia, her control subjects were students.  However, as she could not find many Mountainfolk at her university, she took her sampling from a local prison.

This meant that the control group pre-selected for intelligence, as nobody gained entry into that institution without passing some rather challenging tests.  In contrast, the test-group preselected for stupidity; not only were these people who had turned to crime rather than achievement to get by in the world (which discrimination in Gueymaial made hard for that populace to avoid) but prison further narrowed the sampling only the ones who got caught.  To make matters worse, they were  "Hill-bandits" an ethnically diverse community, only ~30% of whom are actual Mountainfolk.

After initial acclaim for her "groundbreaking" research, peer reviews increasingly excoriated Hendersnaad for the flaws in her methods that made her  results worthless.  Instead of testing her premise on a more reasonable sampling (which admittedly would have posed challenges in Gueymaial) she became increasingly and unscientifically defensive of her original stance.  As she became an embarrassment, her university fired her.  Finding no employment elsewhere, not so much as a tutorial position, she walked, in despair, into a snowstorm in her negligee, and was never seen again in the flesh, though rumors persist about her ghost.

Herbs of Death: A ritual category of unrelated Novatierran-indigenous herbs that are 1) strongly and pleasantly scented and 2) highly toxic to human life. Some are hallucinogenic in minute doses. Used by the Alroyan cult, but not discovered by Alroy.
 
Heritage Prado: A park on the East Bank of Alonzo Harbor in Novo Durang,o containing archaeological digs and a collection of restored Early and Mid-Migration dwellings.
 
Hernandez, Alonzo Miguel: Charismatic leader of the Farmer's revolt, for which much property and many schools have been named.
 
Hernandez Island: Named for Alonzo Hernandez, a large island blocking most of the opening of Alonzo Harbor, making the waters within protected and calm. Commercially important from earliest Tilián history, Hernandez Island not only contains thriving shipping establishments, but also a well-maintained Old Town and one of the finest museums of the early colonies in the world. In addition, it holds the Istislan Embassy to Til (not to be confused with the Istislan Diplomatic Territories across the bay), the Tilián Port Authority, the harborage for the Tilián navy, residential districts, several natural parks and some avocado orchards.
 
hibiscus punch: A refreshing drink made of chilled hibiscus tea and fruit juices.
 
Hide Clan: That clan in Byssinia that specializes in leatherwork, but also in beasts of burden and preserved meats. It’s an old joke that the meats are as tough as the hides; if you say so in Byssinia, fancying yourself witty, only the children who haven’t heard it before will laugh.
 
The High Country: Informal name for land in and around Novatierre’s equivalent of the Himalayas.  The same name also applies, in a different language, to the higher reaches of the mountains of The Charadoc.
 
The Hill Cults: Any number of different nature religions that evolved in the mountains of the Southwestern Continent, or were carried over from the days of the earliest colonies, or any combination thereof. A common motif, indicating some transmission from community to community, was the central role of a goddess, angel, oread, or spirit of mountains and/or rock in general, or of a particular mountain, volcano, or boulder. Sacred sites usually involved some indentation or cleavage of rock or mountain, such as specific craters (active or dormant) passes, canyons, caves, tunnels, split boulders, waterfalls, pools, springs, and cenotes.
 
Contact with the ancestors also played a role, which later evolved into the invocation of ghosts common to the lower-caste mainstream. Ethics included reverence for and attunement with the natural cycles, responsibility to the smaller community as taking precedence over patriotism to the nation, independence from "city ways", reverence for family, and respect for self and others.
 
In 2624 the government of the Charadoc, perceiving the hill cults as subversive, set out on a covert campaign to eliminate them. Officially they went about this by a "counterinformation" program, including forced relocation of children to city boarding schools, but eventually resorted to violence and finally massacre. The last recorded instance of a hill cult ritual within Charadocian borders took place on September 14, 2638--and that recorded in the diary of a trooper sent to "clean out" the community. Nevertheless fragments of their folklore and customs still persist, often syncretically expressed in Christian worship.
 
Hillfolk: (Translation, consistent in meaning through several dialects) The name given to themselves of the so-called “Bandits” of Gueymaial. Once thought to be disaffected members of urban Gueymaialan society, the Til Agent Merrill Ambrey discovered that in fact they constitute a separate cultural/ethnic group entirely. As near as he could piece together, they derive descent from Bedouin and Somali colonists who happened to land in this region, intermingled with the Mountainfolk who gravitate towards higher elevations throughout Novatierre. Their “backwardness” comes from the challenges of desert peoples finding themselves in snow-country, whereas the earlier-arriving contingents that formed the Gueymaialan government already had adequate preparations for that kind of climate, giving them the freedom to preserve more of their technology and pre-Novatierran lore.
 
Hillhollow Village: An isolated, largely self-sufficient village in Til Territories, nestled amid the hills west of Alonzo Valley (and connected to a spur of Alonzo Valley to the north.) The last cohesive survivor of an Irish expedition that quickly merged with the Tilián community, it has a rather conservative consensus government led by community elders. Suffrage extends to anyone over fifty years of age. Their colors are green and indigo.
 
hind: A mountain-dwelling herbivore about the size of a donkey, very slender and graceful, with curling horns.
 
hinoba: A shrub of the deserts of the Eastern and Southeastern continent, growing in spare and open globes, having thin, deeply lobed, graygreenleaves, as well as graygreen stems and thorns that also perform photosynthesis in the skin. Prized for its brief but abundant flowers, consisting of six long, thin, yellow-streaked red petals, with very long yellow stamens. Chefs dry and powder these flowers to create a spice that is primarily tart, but also slightly sweet and peppery. It has melonlike overtones. The resinous stems can also be used for incense, usually as a lemony note in combination with other scents, rarely used by itself. The dried leaves are sometimes put in animal bedding to drive away biting insects. Hinoba produces tiny, dry, black berries that are too hard to eat. Alleged medicinal properties have not been proven, but folklorists claim that a tea from the leaves can break a fever, though unpleasant in taste.
 
hir, hirs: The hermaphroditic pronoun for "him", "his", "her", "hers" or "its". Used for A) persons without clear-cut gender, B) persons of the Alien species or C) generic persons.
 
history-quilt: A quilt sewn in patchwork, sometimes enhanced by embroidery and molé, to depict a family’s history. The older the quilt, the more valuable the heirloom, especially if belonging to a family of some distinction, or with a famous or notorious member, but they usually only come on the market when a family line dies out.
 
Hluros Strait: The strait between Molchis and Ghazelistan, rich in islands of indeterminate and sometimes contested provenance. However, as the citizens of these islands will freely obey either government so long as the demands do not become too taxing, and as their dubious status facilitates duty-free trade, both governments tend to leave it a moot point.
 
Hodges, Millicent Anne: Chief proselytizer for the Disciples of the Hermit at the group’s inception, and eventual wife of its founder, Wayne Moranesco. Laceworks and crocheting made by her hand to help finance the group have become collector’s items of considerable value. Some allege them to have healing properties.
 
holy integrity: In the performance of public vows among the Tilián, atheists and agnostics swear by their holy integrity. Similarly, in moments of silence when others pray, the atheists and agnostics among the Tilián use the time to get in touch with their own holy integrity, to review and reassert their personal ethics.

holy snake:  A rare variety of "flying snake" (though not actually a snake, having vestigeal limbs and gliding-wings) indigenous to the continental coat of the Mabhrathan Sea, chararized by its pattern of rose spots on white.  It derives its name from the use of its venom-spray in religious ceremonies of the snake-cults of Mabhrathan, with some spillover into neigbhoring Pakashk.  No one has found any discernible difference between its venom and that of any other variety of flying snake.

Holy Symbol: The concept that symbols have as much or more power as tangible reality. Perverted by the Alroy cult into the premise that the reasoning inspired by tangible reality must be subordinated to symbolic ideation. Since this is unsustainable for long periods of time by persons dwelling principally in tangible reality, the struggle to attempt such a sustained state produces a person incapable of reasoning competently for hirself and therefore highly manipulable by other persons skilled in using symbols but not subjugated to them.
 
In its unperverted, original intention, it is the basis for a great deal of mysticism and has considerable value.

Holy Thursday: The date upon which many Christian communities celebrate the Last Supper. Charadocians observe it as a major holiday, an important precursor to Easter. Old feuds are laid aside on this day and courts close down; legally no lawsuit or prosecution may be heard on Holy Thursday. Anyone incapable of at least concealing a grudge on this date will thereafter suffer fearful ostracism as for someone obviously damned. The evening's ritual begins when the leader or most powerful person in a community, neighborhood, extended family, or collective washes the feet of the rest of the assemblage, starting with the person of least social status. He or she generally does this nude except for a towel wrapped around the loins, using the end of the towel to dry the feet. Feasting and merrymaking follows.
 
Some critics of this custom say that it renders the austerities of Good Friday pointless, since fasting and asceticism are no sacrifice following a night of excess. Others say that the general atmosphere of forgiveness is a necessary precursor to the redemptive power of the Passion.
 
Holumbria: A peninsular nation roughly occupying what on Earth would be Iberia. A nation of multiple merged cultures (now indeterminate in origin) it considers itself a democracy but in fact functions more as an aristocracy. Known for its achievements in the arts, it possesses several world-class symphonies, theaters, and art museums. It also has a lively ranch culture and exports beef, leather, and other cattle products.
 
Holumbrian Sea: The rough equivalent of the westernmost tip of what on Earth would be the Mediterranean. Starting with the Teeth of Cana’a directly West, which open onto the Lesser Ocean, and moving clockwise, the Holumbrian Sea is bordered by Holumbria, Llangdan, Mediterrae, Afriqué, and ...[I have not yet dreamed of the nation west of Afriqué that would complete the circle. It might not even be inhabited. Or there might be more than one nation along that coast.]
 
Home for Co-Dependent Spouses: A residential treatment facility in Til Institute, for wives, husbands, and lovers who have endangered themselves and/or others through excessively suborning their will to a dysfunctional relationship.
 
Homesick Hill: A hill south of Til Institute, no doubt named by an early colonist who missed Earth. Touches Mt. Phantom to the west.
 
Homestead Village: A community in the valley between Mt. Scarsteep and Mt. Homestead, at the apex of land which spreads out northward to the fertile flood-plain of the Cattle-Wade River. One of the oldest communities on Novatierre, the original inhabitants lived on the high-ground while farming the lowlands beneath them. Later they gave over some of the land (protected by dikes) to dairy-farming and small-scale ranching, driving their cattle across a ford in the river during the summer low-season, but the mainstay of Homestead Village has always been truck-farming. Its colors are ocher and lime green.

Homestead Village Banyan:  An enormous banyan tree in the center of homestead village, transported with considerable difficulty from Earth by one of the earliest known colonial expeditions.  Allegedly old even then, the banyan has already lived centuries here on Novatierre.  The fertile soil apparently agrees with it.  On two occasions the Homesteaders have had to tear down buildings to widen the village square to accommodate its expansion.

honey-beetle: A metallic-green beetle with black and gold eyelike spots on the wings. Much like bees imported from Earth, it makes its own honey, although in minute quantities.

honey-bear: A stocky, arboreal mammal, about the size of a sheepdog, resembling a miniature version of Earth's bear.  Its short, velvety fur varies from ruddy brown to black, with variable cream markings.  It has sharp, charcoal claws, for climbing, defense, and digging roots.  Vegetarian in diet, it also raids hives for honey when it gets the chance.  Found in the rainforests of both western continents.

honeyplum: A fruit indigenous to Novatierre, found in the temperate zone of the Northwestern Continent.  The low-growing tree has large, palmate leaves, and thick and gnarly trunks resembling the oak except for the height and shaggy red bark, providing a ruddy burlwood prized for furniture carpentry.  It bears golden-yellow blossoms, and a fruit which visually resembles the Earth plum, in color green-tinged amber with an auburn blush on the sun-exposed side.  However, instead of a stone it has a double-row of six small, black seeds (toxic, containing small amounts of botanical cyanide.)  The flavor resembles honey with an undertone of tarragon.

In slang, "Honeyplum" can be a term of endearment.  If the relationship ends, the aggrieved sometimes calls hir ex "Honeyseed."

hoof-mite: A parasitic insect that infests the soft area within the hoofs of ungulates, caprids, equines, and other hooved animals, or the crevices between pads in the feet of camelids and pachyderms. The mites breed in damp grassy areas, then lay their eggs in nests of flesh that they scrape out for their young which, in the larval stage, require animal protein to reach full size.
 
The first sign of infestation is an irritable animal constantly stamping, scraping its feet, and trying to lick or bite inside the hoof or pads. The lesions caused by the hoof-mite lead to infection and lameness, temporary or permanent, and can cause death to livestock through gangrene or septic shock. Footbaths of delousing solution are the standard prophylactic. Post-infection treatment requires antiseptic washes and a general antibiotic where available.
 
Hoof-mites are believed to have originated in Oolang-Gyorny, but have spread through commerce to all moist parts of the world. Many nations have instituted strict quarantine procedures to limit infestations.
 
hopper: Colloquial name for any insect resembling the grasshoppers, crickets, or locusts of Earth--insects with large back legs that hop great distances. Also called “meadow-shrimp.” All varieties are edible and nutritious.

Horo:  The Darvinian God of Time, eldest of the Upovae and chief mate of Timora, yet who fathered Ario on the human woman Melle.  Portrayed as  having half of his hair and beard white, and the other half black.  His priests garb his naked statue in colors and clothing suitable for the season, and in paintings artists portray him as attired according to whatever season the picture displays.  He usually has his shrines in business districts, always with a clock, sundial, calendar, or hourglass on the premises somewhere.  Businessmen particularly show him devotion, imploring him for stability and regularity.  Darvinians show him particular honor on every solstice, equinox and quarter-point.  They give him, as offerings, seeds set up to sprout on his altar; the priests then eat the sprouts.

Hospitality Museum: A museum in Til Institute which hosts traveling exhibitions from other countries.
 
housefather (male) or housemother (female): A person who runs a commoran, licensed to rear children adopted by Til Institute. A surrogate parent.
 
House of the Tree: A mysterious building sometimes visible, sometimes not (masked by illusionism for the most part, though few know the secret as to why some can see it and others not) on a promontory of the south end of the Heartland Cliffs, marked by a tree that had become bent to the ground, only to grow back upwards again, in a kind of curving L-shape. Children can see it when they are ready for testing to discover the nature of their Gift. It will entice them in. They will find inside a long, dark corridor with many doors. The door which they choose, and the nature of what they find within, will reveal to them what their particular Gift might be. Further tests will fine-tune the optimal application.
 
hovergem: A one-person seat equipped with GEM capabilities, maneuverable within buildings and tight spaces, for the benefit of those with nonfunctional or underfunctional legs or feet.

huddle-call:  A bird-call used by a dardie in distress from cold.  The dardie lingers longer into winter than other birds in the mountains of the Charadoc, searching for the carrion of animals that have died of the cold.  They get through the weather by frequently huddling together.  But if a dardie should get separated from his flock, and feel in desperate need of warmth, e will cry out in a call similar to the mating song but with a few notes at the end of a higher pitch.  If all goes well, hir flock will find hir and warm hir.  If, however, they have gone too far away, or if e has shown hir weakness in not keeping up, or if the available food requires triage, e will die alone.

Normally of interest only to ornithologists, this trait of the Dardie has historical importance.  Some have speculated that the whistle-code of the Egalitarian Rebels in the Charadoc began with the huddle-call, as the signal for a soldier separated from hir troop and in need.  Officers of the Charadocian government rarely included Mountainfolk, and they had no familiarity with this call.  They assumed that they heard the lowland mating-call and thought nothing odd about a snow-call in the jungle.  And many of those bred in cities didn't know one bird call from another anyway.  From this the rebels might have gotten the idea of varying bird calls slightly for their signal-system.

human sacrifice:  The act of slaying a human being as an offering of worship, placation, or bribery, usually to a deity.  Rarely practiced, even among religions that permit or call for it, usually being reserved for extreme situations.

Til Territories enforces strict laws regarding this practice, which satisfies neither those who believe it ought to be banned altogether, nor those who say that any such restrict freedom of religion, but which we believe navigates an ethical tightrope to the best of our ability.  The sacrifice must have passed hir adulthood tests.  E must additionally pass a rigorous psychiatric examination to guarantee full power of consent.  E must not show any motivation stemming from temporary, curable circumstances, such as lost love or feelings of worthlessness.

Often a voluntary sacrifice suffers from a terminal or incurable and agonizing condition.  Not all religions, however, accept "flawed" sacrifices such as these.  In such cases the sacrifice usually comes from a person in one of the religious orders of that faith, or a person of the local royal line, or a "saint" of the community.  It can, however, also come from a felon with a sincere belief that in this way e can make amends.

In cases of child-sacrifice, throughout the world, a Til agent will try to intervene by offering to take the child to Til Institute, effectively making that child legally dead to hir nation of origin.  Often infiltrators, too, will convert and shift the religion from within.  Our only failure in this regard has been right on our doorstep, with the Disciples of the Hermit.  We have found the cult impossible to infiltrate, and cannot stop their choices short of a full-on assault and dissolution of their community.  Fortunately, they practice deliberate human sacrifice exceedingly rarely.

Hungry Pass: A high pass in the Charadoc, with no road to or from it, with rainshadow-desert on one side and inhospitable stone on the other. Historically used only by outlaws and revolutionaries whenever more hospitable passes became unavailable.
 
Hunter’s Forest: A forest upslope of Sandurste, rich in wildlife. Hidden somewhere in it (probably to the southwest) lies the Village of Misanthropes. At its northwestern end it holds Hunter’s Forest Anthropological College. It also holds Hunter’s River and its tributary, Smoky River.
 
Hunter’s Forest Anthropological College: A postgraduate college under the aegis of Til Institute, but located on the other side of the gulf, in a spur of Hunter’s Forest, nestled between The Mountain of the Red Buck King and Mt. Pathworn. It specializes in the study of anthropology–a most essential subject for the Tilián. To study in this gorgeous, natural environment is a reward for the best of students.
 
Hunter’s River: A river through Hunter’s Forest.
 
hunter-thorn: A thorny vine found in the Molchian Penninsula which produces trumpet-shaped blue or violet blossoms in spring, and small, pointed leaves that (depending on variety) come in dark green, grey green, or dark green with yellow rims.
 
Hunter-thorn is known for its peculiar mode of propagation. Its seeds lie in the base of its thorns, together with certain symbiotic bacteria. The thorns break off into passing animals, releasing a poison. The animal travels some distance from the mother-plant before dying, aiding in seed distribution. Then the bacteria hastens the host’s decomposition, providing a fertile bed for the seed to sprout in.
 
hunting-owl: A very large, horned owl, reddish brown with cream and black markings, sometimes trained for nocturnal falconry.

huphra:  A freshwater "seagrass" grain native to northwestern marshes of the Northeastern Continent. In addition to its water purifying properties, and ready weavability as a soft yet strong fiber for mats and basketry, it produces a delicious grain, resembling quinoa in appearance, with a rich, nutty flavor.  It grows completely underwater until summer, when the tops emerge above the surface and ripen in the sun.  However, when plucked while still green and submerged, the grains are much sweeter and more tender, containing sugars not yet converted into starch.  People like to eat these by pulling the strands through the teeth and dislodging the seeds into the mouth.  However, they have a poor shelf life at this stage, so most of the harvest waits for the dry stage, when it can store well for the rest of the year.

hydrostation: A power-station fueled by hydrogen. It usually starts with a slight initial outlay of power from another source, such as water, solar, or wind, with which it splits water into oxygen and hydrogen. Then it burns the hydrogen to create much more electricity. Because of the volatile nature of the process, these stations are usually isolated from the communities they serve. This isolation has favored use of the property for laboratories dealing in other dangerous materials as well--a controversial policy.
 
hyperactivity: The inability to sit still and concentrate for a useful length of time. Unlike the Ancients, who considered this a lifelong diagnosis, The Tilián classify hyperactivity as an often changeable symptom, due to any number of variables, each requiring a different response. However, since Til Institute receives a constant influx of children from less than ideal backgrounds, resulting in hyperactive behavior from a wide range of causes, the Tilián have protocols for teaching such children, until such a time as their condition subsides, if ever.
 
Hystrediamma Sea: The equivalent of the eastern two-thirds of what on Earth would be the Mediterranean Sea on Earth, separated by the Sea of Holumbria by the Islands of Mediterrae. Alleged to breed the tastiest fish in Novatierre.