World Encyclopedia

Places, magic, the school and the words you meet in The Raven's Heir, explained briefly, with the chapters where they first appear.

No major reveals in the main text; those are tucked away in closed panels.

Places

Déynáir: The school for young Engle and Drúir: a castle with seven towers on an island the ordinary world cannot see.
Tés Aváir: The large town on the neighbouring island, where students go shopping and spend their days off. The ferry sails there from Déynáir.
The River: The broad, clear river in front of the castle. It carries Chris on the first day and grows narrower all autumn.
The Mountain: The dark, steep mountain north of the castle. Its upper part is off limits to all students.
The Hitlaro Bank: The bank in Tés Aváir, where a dwarf turns your key and the door to your vault changes with the age of your family line.
Anglien and the barrier: The land where Engle and Drúir live, hidden from the ordinary world behind a barrier. Chris crosses through the Little Belt under Borgsted Banke.

Dherak: The power all magic draws on. Angels and Drúir carry it inside them, and it can run out.
Amícûs: The animal you are bound to by magic for the rest of your life. You talk to each other in your thoughts.
Magic Words: Words like Ignis, Scutum, Defluo and Lux. They only work if you mean them, and they always cost something.
The Scent Sense: Chris can smell who people are. Every person has a scent of their own, and it changes with their mood.
The Stone Oath: A promise the castle itself holds on to. Whoever breaks it pays with their Dherak. The mark is a cold ring around the wrist.
Swords and blood binding: The students' swords and daggers are forged with their own blood, so only they and their bloodline can use them.

The Paths: The five paths at Déynáir. The island places the whole team after the island test, with no ceremony, colours, points or path tables.
The Island Test: Three days on a wild island, three scrolls and only three magic words. The students are already admitted. The island decides their path.
The Secret Passages: Hidden corridors in and under the castle. Chris finds the first by accident, and the friends map the rest with pencil and red chalk.

Angels and Drúir: The two peoples in Anglia who have magic in them. Déynáir is a school for young Engle and Drúir.
The Council and the Tuerier: The Council is the authority behind the archives, committees and reports. The Tuerier patrol Tés Aváir.
Currency: Three kinds of coin: gold dalers, silver talents and copper coins, where ten of one kind are worth one of the next.

Games and Duels: Magic stratego in the First-Year Room in the evenings and a duel without words in Haltora's combat lesson.
Winter Solstice: The shortest day of the year. The school closes for a fourteen-day holiday, when most students travel home, and the river keeps shrinking towards New Year.

The Time of War: A war of 27 years that began with conflict in the Council and ended with the barrier to the normal world.
The Thorn Wreath: The symbol on the seal of Chris' letter: a sword through a stone, a dagger laid across it and a wreath of thorn.