recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Rashid edj-Zjani

Rashid Udamai edj-Zjani is the current vizier of coin in the Makkada Sultanate, serving beneath Sultan Farhata. They are the youngest person to ever rise to the rank of vizier in Makkada and a dedicated scholar and academic. They claim to have earned the position by dint of being one handed. According to their story, their predecessor, Dhari edj-Liha, often said "on the one hand" and "on the other hand" when discussing policy implications with the sultan. One day, exasperated, Sultan Farhata exclaimed, "For the love of God, find me a one-handed economist before I am forced to resign in frustration." Three months later, Dhari had plucked Rashid edj-Zjani from obscurity in the Udamai province and brought them to the capital: the desired one-handed economist. Sultan Farhata was so pleased by this, he promoted Rashid to a position in the central government on the spot. When Dhari retired, Sultan Farhata requested Rashid be promoted to his position and the council of viziers acquiesced, impressed by Rashid's dedication and single-minded focus.
Djinn

Djinn (also called: demons in Seprum and Kuan; eidolon in Ancient Henesia; spirits in Ju and Diao; and beings in Dhi) live in a dormant volcanic crater in the Forest between Dhi and the central island. According to legend, djinn can occupy a human body, controlling its actions and thoughts until they are exorcized or choose to leave. Without a body, they can appear as smoke or as fire. Though unconfirmed, most believe that Solas, the Spiral Emperor, is a djinn or related being. If this is true, that would make djinn immortal—as Solas claims—or at least non-aging. Dhi legend has stories of mysterious, invisible beings in the Forest for as long as they have lived in the region, which would make the current djinn old indeed.

There are no verified reports of dead or injured djinn or of djinn eating. They are likely neither predator nor prey to any species in the Forest. The exact location of the volcano where most djinn congregate is unknown. People who venture too close rarely return and Makkadi trade routes avoid it for that reason.

## Djinn in Religion

Sudhas believe djinn are neither good nor bad but instead have the free will to choose their own actions. In Kuan and Seprum, however, they are generally seen as malevolent. Kuan shamans are responsible for exorcizing anyone affected by a demon or spirit and, ideally, capturing the demon in question in a jar or other sealed object so they may be released into the Forest or killed. Parai believe djinn to be a rare example of a "cool" being, one who cannot suffer no matter what happens to them, as opposed to humans, animals, trees, and mountains, which are "hot" beings who can suffer. This makes them "suffering sinks," considered the Parai ideal. Yani believe they are remnants of dead humans who could not make the transition to the spiral after death and are to be pitied. Some geotheists scholars suggest that djinn are conscious geological processes, perhaps even the living incarnation of the Forest itself. Lykans and Henesians treated djinn as nymphs or dryads, the embodiment of trees in the Forest.
Spiromancy

Spiromancy (also called spiral-mancy, spiral magic, and spiral magecraft) is a style of magic that relies on the power of the spiral to cast spells, as opposed to the more limited power of the mage. Because the spiral contains vastly more power than even the strongest mage, even relatively inexperienced spiromancers (also called spiros and spiral mages) can overpower a hedge witch.

## Features

There is only one spiral, which all spiros use. Two forms of spell can be stored in the spiral: scripts and runes. Scripts are written Cobalt, a semi-complete language composed of eighteen symbols that can be placed into and survive in the spiral for long periods of time. The symbols correspond to no known human language, and it is hypothesized that other, as-of-yet undiscovered civilizations may have first created them. Once written, scripts cannot be removed from the spiral and everyone with access to the spiral can find and read them, given enough time and effort.

Runes are the part of a spell that is actually cast by a spiro or hedge witch, though corporal runes are less complex and generally less powerful than those grown in the spiral. Unlike scripts, runes are not saved in the spiral after they are cast, though any spiro has access to them and can cast them as they are growing.
Peaceful rune

Peaceful runes are runes that serve a purpose but cannot ever be used offensively or defensively on a battlefield. By some definitions, peaceful runes must also be harmless to cast too early or cast with simple typographical mistakes. Because they are harmless, well-trained dodos ignore peaceful runes.
Points

### Use

Upgrading and buying stuff

Points are the currency in the game.

## How to obtain

You can get points by doing these things:

* Killing players
* Killing NPCs

## Use

You can use points on:

* Upgrading
* Buying stuff

## Cost

You can also buy points for real money:

* 30,000 for £2.99/$4.00
* 80,000 for £6.99/$9.35
* 165,000 for £11.99/$16.03
* 345,000 for £22.99/$30.74
* 600,000 for £39.99/$53.46
* 1,300,000 for £74.99/$100.26
* 500 for watching an ad
Ea Pema

Ea Pema, who often went by Pei in Ju, helped translate Reo Yun-seo's theory of rune self-cycling into Gaon, Yak, and Lingua and disseminated her work, sparking an interest in self-cycling in Seprum and Ju.

## Early Life

Ea Pema was born in Aksai to a Ju mother and Dhi wither. Her mother was semi-disgraced for marrying a foreigner against the express wishes of the Ea family matriarch, but as the only daughter of an only daughter, Pema was welcomed into the family, though her wither never was. Her mother ceased working as a diplomat shortly after her birth and the whole family moved to Seong, where the Ea matriarch ensured Pema received a proper education in the classics, languages, calligraphy, magic, and art. Her grandmother gave her the nickname Pei, a more traditional Daekon name, which stuck for the rest of her life.

Pema sat for the examinations at a young age and scored just well enough to get a local administrative position that involved little actual work. In her free time, she ingratiated herself into Seong's underbelly by paying the debt price for petty criminals to save them further punishment, then asking them to introduce her to their friends and leaders. In this way, she drew some unwanted attention from dangerous workers in the black market.

## Attempted Murder

Sometimes around the age of 20, Pema paid to have a fake healer freed from a local jail. The man had claimed to be trained in Dhi, though he actually had no training whatsoever and often hurt his patients with his 'treatments.' Unbeknownst to her, the man worked for a local gang, the Two Fingers, that had gained the enmity of the Syndicate, a multi-city criminal organization. By averting his execution, she had drawn their attention.

The fake healer was killed within a week without Pema knowing. The Syndicate, thinking Pema a regular aristocratic daughter, sent an assassin after her. When she was attacked, Pema—who had always been quick on her feet—used runes she had not planted to fight off the the assassin. Another member of the Two Fingers rescued her before the assassin could regroup and took her to a Two Finger safe house, where many people she had freed took shelter during storms or legal crackdowns. Grateful, these people agreed to help keep her alive. They put her in touch with Sarnai the Honeybee, who spent the next year undermining the Syndicate until, eventually, she had its leaders arrested or killed in the course of a single day and stepped into the vacuum they left behind with her own gang: the Hive.

Though offered a position in the Hive, Pema declined. During the machinations, she met Ahn Ji-yu and likely fell in love. She stopped meddling so much in the underworld and turned her attention to rune self-cycling.
Oracle of Vicis

The oracle of Vicis is a person, generally a wifere, who Henesians claim can see the future. The oracle lives in a temple atop a nearby hill and people seek them out to ask for advice and to hear their prophecies. Seprum emperors have low opinions of the accuracy of the oracle and tend to kill them whenever new ones appear.
Cymancer

Cymancers are generally female Kuan spiromancers who specialize in runes and scripts that work on arrows, a field of magic known as cymancy. They are a well-protected part of Kuan units and function as semi-integrated portions of the army. The cymancer rune canon includes: increased accuracy, range, and speed; disguising arrows; forcing arrows through shields, armor, and magical barriers; and making arrows more deadly when they make contact with a victim.
Emperor Aelius

Emperor Aelius, also known as Aelius Vesnia, ruled the Seprum Republic from 86 PS to 79 PS, when he died in battle. Emperor Aelius was the eldest son of Emperor Manius, the first emperor of a unified Seprum, and Aeliana Justina and Augustok Vesnia. His black hand, Felix Alasia, succeeded him.

Though Emperor Aelius set his sights on taking Hellen and uniting the continent as his father dreamed, he failed, dying during the first siege of Hellen.
Eu Nok

Eu Nok (Seprum: Inioc; Henesia: Enoclese; Makkada: Zjanok) is the name of the divinity of unknown purpose. The earliest images of Eu Nok appear in Ju, Dhi, Mauzji, and Henesia before the first Mauzji traders connected the three lands. Eu Nok always has a similar appearance: fiery red skin, skin as hard as stone, and coiled hair. They are generally gendered as a wifere. Most myths give them the ability to split into many identical parts and communicate with them all telepathically. Though they are recognized as a divinity in the Theist pantheon, most of their earliest myths define them as something older than the gods.

Eu Nok was part of the inspiration for the name Eniac, a team dedicated to advancing rune self-cycling. The team members consider Eu Nok their patron deity.
Demigod

In Henesian and Lykan myths, demigods are beings with both human and and godly parents. Though stories of demigods and their divine relations have entered Theist pantheons, before cultural exchange between the southern and eastern islands, demigods were an exclusively Seprum Henesian, and Lykan creation.

## In Art

Many pre-Manius statues depict demigods and gods. Both are shown in the prime of their youth, with curly or coiled hair, and unclothed or in formal clothing. To distinguish between the two in art, Lykans painted statues of deities gold and statues of demigods bronze or copper. Humans generally had black or brown skin. Contrastly, Henesian demigods had gold skin and their gods, brown skin, in statues and on vases and tapestries. Humans were drawn with black or olive skin. Seprum artists tend to follow the Henesian tradition.

Demigods generally look up and into the distance, or at a metaphorical representation of the spiral, such as the Forest canopy or rainfall, to represent their separation from their divine parent. Gods, on the other hand, always look at things of import: kings, magical objects, monsters, and so forth. They are rarely depicted as struggling, except possibly against another god, though their children are often shown as exerting effort or in the midst of intense suffering.

While demigods may carry or wear symbolic items to show who they are in art, they are optional. Gods, however, must always be represented symbolically, generally with an animal or plant. Before the Seprum Republic united the island, the olive branch was used for Exelsius, deity of the harvest, or Dei, the sun god, but Seprums co-opted the olive branch crown first for emperors (Manius, Aelius) and later for black hands (Augustus, Flavius). Other frequently used symbols were: grapes, cats, storks, dogs, horses, and lions.
Ballad of Rashni and Elaia

The Ballad of Rashni and Elaia is a three-hour play for twelve actors and dancers and a full orchestra that celebrates the perseverance and love between two women, Rashni from Rahm and Elaia from Masci. The story was immortalized by Mauzji playwright Harun edj-Rahm in 142 PS.

## Story

The play takes place on a split stage, with Rashni on one side and Elaia on the other. The chorus moves from one side to the other during the course of the play as the two women begin to understand one another. In the beginning of the play, Rashni catches sight of a lantern Elaia is carrying near the narrowest point between Bakr and Assa. Unsure how to get the woman's attention, she tries to jump up and down, scream, and eventually, lights a bonfire. Unfortunately, in the dark, neither Rashni nor Elaia can see one another, just that the other exists.

Luckily, the next day, they both returned to the same spot, this time in full daylight. They are still unable to communicate until, using corn meal and domesticated pigeons, they manage to fly a message across the Forest, at which point they realize they have no shared written language. They create a written language over the course of the play, eventually confessing their love to one another. The play ends with Rashni's death and Elaia, unsure what has happened, waiting on the other side of the Forest for a woman who will never appear.

### Script

The wordplay in the script is some of Harun's most effective. They make full use of Mauzji's range of languages to represent the rift between Rashni and Elaia as it shrinks over time. During the play, Rashni and Elaia go from speaking dramatically different languages in different styles to two dialects in the same family. In the most poignant scene, Rashni and Elaia trade lines from letters to one another, which fit into perfect rhythm and rhyme.

## Reception

Audiences warmed to the play over time, initially put off by its length and linguistic complexity. Modern critics consider it Harun's best, and possibly the best Mauzji play in history. It cannot be performed in its original language anywhere but Makkada, and even then, some of the language must be updated to make it more accessible, but a translation by Artemisia Grafi into Lykan, Lingua, and three Henesian dialects is still performed every few years in Vicis and Pompilius.

No single Dhi translation has taken off the way Artemisia's did and stagecraft is difficult for the Aleya. Its many languages and languages families, and multi-lingual population, make it a fertile ground, however, and multiple Dhi playwrights are working on introducing a version to at least the lowlanders.
Ciphramancy

Ciphramancy is the act of accessing the spiral either without a spiral tattoo or without the signifier that identifies the mage's action. Ciphramancy is banned throughout the Spiral Empire.

## Types of Ciphramancy

There are two types of ciphramancers, also called ciphras. Crackers break through the spiral wall mathematically. Vipers deface their own spiral tattoos or use someone else's tattoo to gain access anonymously or under a different signifier. Most vipers also obfuscate their current location when they gain access. The root "ciphra" comes from cipher, because the spiral wall resembles a cipher, and though it does not technically apply to vipers, the name stuck.
Eniac team

The Eniac team is the self-given name of a group of scientists who work on rune self-cycling in Seong. The team currently has eight members, from a wide variety of backgrounds. They are best known for their long-distance casting and planting experiments, both breakthroughs in the field.

## History

The original team had five members: Enkhtuya Hsia, Naeviok Nemi Reticula, Kyo Iseul, Ae Duri, and Mehdi Araka edj-Cheok. Kyo originally tried to recruit Ahn and Pema for the team, but a romantic falling out made that impossible. Kyo stumbled into the other four members of the team in 116 SE and they adopted the name Eniac as an acronym based on their names (Mehdi chose their place of birth instead) and its similarity to Eu Nok, divinity of unknown purpose.

Eniac first received a royal charter in 120 SE, which came with noble patronage and a small budget. After their first successful experiment in 124 SE, they joined Seong University, taking up residence on campus and using its resources, including a dedicated building for experimentation. Their 127 SE experiment brought them Empire-wide acclaim and they began hiring other interested spiromancers to speed up the pace of their work.

The current team has eight researchers and only two of the original team members remain.

## Long-Distance Magic

Eniac is best known for its long-distance planting and casting. Previously, mages could view all parts of the spiral with time but could only interact with nearby runes without risking incapacitation or death. Through a complex system of runes, and relying on both the spiral towers and spiral tattoos, they can in essence force a known mage at a known location to plant or cast a rune of choice.

The process has many steps. First, Naeviok and Kyo traveled to Bhatan in Dhi. Ae, Enkhutuya, and Mehdi went to the spiral tower outside Aksai. Next, knowing where they were, they searched that location for Naeviok's and Kyo's identifying keys, built into their spiral tattoos. Once they were pinpointed, they planted the rune, using Kyo's tattoo as a pointer. Across the continent, Kyo found themself forced to cast a rune without intending to. Unfortunately, because they had not entered the spiral in advance—intentionally, to avoid spoiling the study—they were forcibly thrown into the spiral, which caused irreparable psychic and mental damage.

On repeat tests, Eniac solved that problem first by having the target meditate during a chosen timeframe, and then by designing more sensitive runes. Three years later, in 127 SE, they proved runes could also be cast long distance as well. The team is simplifying the process and trying to make it possible without standing in a spiral tower.
Ermes and Delpha

Ermes and Delpha feature prominently in Henesian myths about the underworld and afterlife. According to legend, Ermes was a demigod, the child of Dienos, the Henesian god of writing and poetry. He was gifted with a silver tongue, which got him into, and then out of, many scrapes in Henesian dramaturgy. His lover, Delpha, is either a wifere or woman, depending on the interpretation. In most versions, they die during a Hellen raid on Alsiné. When a reaper arrives to take their soul to the underworld, Ermes convinces it to spare them for three days.

Depending on the version of the story, in those three days Ermes and Delpha:

* Broker peace between Hellen and Alsiné
* Get married and have twins, thanks to a blessing from Andamaneis
* Gave a speech to the Xandrios diarchs that convinced them to join Alsiné in the war against Hellen
* Arrived in Xandrios to find one of the diarchs dead and tracked down the murderer using Delpha's knowledge of weaving
* Arrived in Xandrios to find one of the diarchs dying and convinced his reaper to leave his soul in exchange for the soul of the king of Aegius, which Ermes had access to due to a deal between the king and Dienos
* Traveled to Tumei
* Became gods
* Defeated the philosopher Emocles in public debate
* Assassinated the general of Hellen's army
* Became diarchs of Hellen
Academy (Seprum)

The Seprum academies refer to explicitly military institutions used to turn the children of Alleatan families into soldiers. By law, Alleatans must offer one child each ars, each generation or risk losing their Alleatan titles. In most cases, at a first offense, families are merely fined and paters are beaten. There are three academies in Seprum: one in White Cliff, one in Antioch, and one in Deos. Of the three, the one in White Cliff is considered the most prestigious and most black hands are recruited from its pool, though all soldiers who graduate from an academy are allowed to compete.
Parai meditation

Parai meditation (not to be confused with spiral meditation) is the act of sitting with an unpleasant emotion or in an unpleasant situation without dwelling or otherwise reacting negatively. The practitioner can focus on a specific past instance of discomfort, an anticipated future instance, or any emotions or pain being felt in the present. Parai meditation encourages Parai to cope with and accept suffering instead of passing it on to others.

Many Dhi healers suggest Parai meditation for people suffering from exogenous or painful thoughts or past trauma, even if they are not Parai themselves. To make the practice more secular, they have taken to calling it observational or metacognitive meditation.
Spiral Empire

The Spiral Empire is a collection of kingdoms, republics, and empires unified beneath the rule of the Spiral Emperor and protected from unrestrained use of the spiral by the spiral towers. The Empire currently includes the:

* Seprum Republic
* Kuan Empire
* Ju Kingdom
* Dhi Commonwealth
* Makkada Sultanate

Additionally, Kuan-occupied Diao is considered a member, though not an independent country. The Empire also all includes semi-autonomous regions, self-governing ethnic minorities, and city-states in the area. For instance, indentured servants are not considered citizens of Seprum but *are* considered citizens of the Empire. If it is defended by the spiral wall, it is considered part of the Spiral Empire.

## Principles of Membership

The unifying creed of all participants in the Empire is that unrestrained use of the spiral is dangerous and those who cast and plant runes should be monitored to ensure they bring no harm to the Empire's citizens. To achieve that end, all citizens who wish to practice spiral magic must have a spiral tattoo or they will be unable to access the spiral. The tattoo grants access but also makes spiromancers easy to track within the spiral. While it cannot prevent spiros from planting or casting certain runes, it can inform leadership if deadly runes are planted and make it easy to discover who wrote or cast a certain spell.

Additionally, all citizens of the Empire swear allegiance to the Spiral Emperor, who created the first tower and spiral wall and oversees all magic in the Empire.

## Expansion

The Empire will one day expand to encompass every civilization and every individual in the world. After the Second Spiral War, however, both Seprum and Kuan required respite to rebuild their armies and maintain their infrastructure. As a result, the Empire is presently at peace.
EmpiresoftheSpiral Wiki

Welcome to the Empires of the Spiral wiki!
Learn about the histories, cultures, and traditions of the five spiral empires.

## Image Gallery

Public baths in Meditas, the capital of SeprumLanterns lit in Qurash to celebrate the triumph of Afya the Bargainer over the rebels.A Makkadi caravansary

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Geotheism

Geotheism is a polytheistic or nontheistic religion, depending on practitioner, that holds that natural, geological processes are conscious and, in some sects, holy. Geothesists celebrate everywhere geology takes place, including the Aleya Range, around Mt. Galzjan in the Makkada Sultanate, and the edges of islands. Geotheism has mostly been supplanted by the more versatile Theism, though especially in Dhi, many people still worship deities that live in or are the embodiment of the most important mountains in the area.
Reaper

Reapers are beings in the Lykan and now Theist pantheon that carry the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Lykans believed a single human or god had a single soul with three parts: physical (the body, the island), mental (the brain, the spiral), and moral (the heart, the Forest). In some legends, reapers were humans, chosen after death for their ghost sight, or different beings entirely.

The number three held ritual importance to reapers. Humans had three souls. Humans, gods, and demigods were the three beings destined to care for and protect the world during the coming of the lava. Bodies should be left alone for a ritual three days after death to give reapers time to work. This has sprouted the theory that reapers are simply dirae in another form.
Black hand

The black hand is the highest ranking of the three hands that serve and advise the Seprum emperor. Black hands, also called generals or Dex, command the emperor's armed forces, oversee training at the academies and of conscripted legions, and handle day-to-day logistics. While the emperor states the goal of an attack, it is generally the black hand's job to determine how to best meet that goal with the resources available. Though all soldiers must obey the orders of the emperor, even if they conflict with those of the black hand, most modern emperors avoid confused leadership.

Black hands are considered de facto heirs to the throne unless the emperor has a trained and adult son who is willing to step into the role. The current black hand is Domitus "Dex" Qualia, who serves Emperor Fenix.

## Competition for Black Hand

Black hands are recruited through a competition that is open to all graduates of a Seprum academy. Because competitions involve both physical skill and strategic ability, winners tend to skew young, an intentional design choice to balance out older emperors. While the exact trials change each time they take place, they always include a test of:

* Physical strength
* Physical endurance
* Dexterity
* Speed
* Hand-to-hand combat
* Leadership
* Fortification construction or entrenchment
* Diplomacy and etiquette
* Offensive strategy
* Defensive strategy

Trials take between one and three decans and the winner is certified by the commandants of all three academies.

### Trials of Claudius Cetus

Claudius Cetus defeated two soldiers in unarmed combat on the second day of his trials and earned the only perfect score on his physical aptitudes of any black hand. He faltered only in his defensive strategy, almost losing control of the fort during a simulation, and entrenchment, which he called, "Glorified hole digging," adding that, "If you seek a black hand who can dig a trench at the drop of a shoe, consider Brutus or Clydus and leave me be. If I never dig a hole again, I shall be happy."

## Black Hand Diversity

All but two black hands have been men, and those two were wifere. Because so few women attend the academies, the pool of eligible women is small. They are also less likely to opt to compete in the trials as it's entirely possible to be injured or killed during them.

Most black hands are ethnically Seprum, though three were all or part Henesian or Lykan.
Bari edj-Makkar

Bari edj-Makkar, also known as Sultan Bari or Bari the Compromiser, was the first sultan of Makkada after invasion by the Kuan-Seprum army. He took control in 30 SE. Originally, to limit the power of the elai, Emperor Tacitus and Black Hand Dex wanted to put a member of a religious minority on the throne, most likely a Makkadi Theist. Bari explained that this would result in all-out revolt from the elais and suggested a compromise: Makkada would maintain only a small standing army, under the control of the sultan and council of viziers, and in exchange, only Sudhas could take the role of sultan. This is known as the first compromise.

Bari named his dynasty the Makkada Dynasty, after Makkar, where he was born. However, as part of the second compromise, he placed the capital in Qurash, a seat of power of the Qurakka clan, to appease Uther edj-Qurash, who also desired the throne. His third compromise in the first year was a tax instituted on all non-Sudhas in the sultanate, which brought the strongest elais to his side.

He continued strengthening the power of the sultan and his council of viziers throughout his tenure. His attempts to empower the Makkadi military, however, as both Emperor Tacitus and Jamlyn Saj disliked the idea of a powerful Makkada. He considered this his biggest failing when he stepped down.

Sultan Bari was succeeded by Sultan Tarik, his son, in 47 SE.
Elai

Elai are Sudha holy people and the interpreters of scripture. Elai spend between three and five years studying Sudhai holy texts and precedent and most can recite vast passages from memory at a moment's notice. Besides their role as guides to and stewards of Sudhai scripture, they also act as community leaders and organizers of charity.
Jobmania Wiki

**Welcome to the Jobmania Wiki!**
**Jobmania - Eternal Dungeon** is a roguelike mobile game made by Aubjective with art by Aekashiks. The game uses collectible card-game mechanics similar to *Slay the Spire*.

* Abilities
* Crafting
* Getting Started
* Heroes
* Jobs
* Materials
* Relic

Social Link

Discord

Reddit

Facebook
Binarist

Binarists are people who believe there are only two genders and that physical traits are unrelated to a person's gender expression and their socialization. Wifere, under binarist beliefs, are actually the opposite gender, so wifere with external genitalia are women and those with internal genitalia are men. Furthermore, some individuals may dress and act as one gender by identify as a different one—gender expression is separated from gender identity.
Gong Chae-won

Gong Chae-won was a Ju botanist and biologist best known for her theory of slow change. Gong credits her discovery to an anonymous peasant who tended a royal orchid garden and the introduction of the Diao army, and their repeating crossbows, to Fei during unification.

Gong scored well in her examinations, which gave her a high position in Fei government. At the time, higher positions generally involved less work and she used her free time to start a garden, design the first Ju greenhouse, and travel. Though she never trained as a spiromancer, she had some skill with finding the spiral and designing runes. When she discovered the twelve runes of measurement, she realized botany could be studied by any mage.

Her work with orchids reminded her of the DIao army. When Diao soldiers faced Kuan archers, they found themselves outmatched, so they created the repeating crossbow, which soldiers could fire quickly and accurately without need for incredible strength. Kuan cymancers responded by increasing the range of longbows, so Kuan horse archers could kill Diao soldiers without getting in range of the crossbows. Similarly, orchids fought one another and other plant species for the best soil and access to the sun. What if survival also motivated plants to change and improve, not just humans? Thus was born the theory of slow change.

In writing her ideas down, Gong built on the ideas of Guk, So, and many other botanists. She is credited with creating the first unifying theory of biology. Her ideas of sparked dozens of further theories and hundreds of intense debates. Modern Ju students still read her notes and the premier school of botany is named after her.
The Skulk

**The Skulk** is a group that is seen in the *Foxtrot: Foxes in Arms* series. It refers to the group of eight foxes who serve as the main protagonists of the series. Six of them are service foxes, serving in the United States Navy or the United States Marine Corps, while two are more average civilians. Despite their different statuses, they have gone on a number of adventures and have gone out of their way to help others and participate in the fight against Arian Torres and his empire. While they do have their disagreements from time to time, they are shown to genuinely care for each other and will generally not hesitate to help each other out.

## Members

### Justin Redding

A male red fox who is the oldest of the group and serves as a fighter pilot within the US Navy, being the flight leader of VFA-242. His younger brother is Tom Redding, and his girlfriend is Scarlett Wilde.

### Scarlett Wilde

A female red fox who is the newest member of the group (as of 2023) and the second oldest member of the group, serving as a US Navy fighter pilot. Her boyfriend is Justin Redding.

### Swefred Hayden

A male swift fox who is a US Navy medic as well as a cowboy who hails from Texas, being quite proud to do so, though not to Justin's level.

### Arthur Snow

A male arctic fox who may be seen as the unofficial leader of the group (debatable) and is the captain of the US Navy battleship USS *Missouri*. His girlfriend is Vienna North, and his younger brother is Sewell Snow.

### Vienna North

A female arctic fox who serves in the US Marine Corps, commands the Torrent Regiment of the 7th Marine Division, and is arguably the best fighter of the group. Her boyfriend is Arthur Snow.

### Tom Redding

A male red fox who is one of two civilians of the group, despite being pretty tough himself, and is English-born, unlike many of the others. His older brother is Justin Redding and his girlfriend is Jess Silver.

### Jess Silver

A female silver fox who is the most reserved of the group, but is still supportive of everyone else. Presently a civilian and hails from Canada. Her boyfriend is Tom Redding, and she has an older brother named Jesse.

### Sewell Snow

A male arctic fox who is the youngest of the group. Despite his relative maturity, he is quite energetic and still has some young charm. Serves in the US Navy as a commodore sometimes. His older brother is Arthur Snow.

## Emblem

The emblem of the Skulk is a fairly simple one. It depicts a fox, akin to the members of the group, overtop a crossed sword and anchor. The anchor symbolizes the USN and USMC, which six of the eight main characters are part of. The sword symbolizes the group's role in the series primarily as warriors who protect their home; not just the United States, but the world at large from the likes of Urocyia. Even the two civilians, Tom and Jess, have been seen as being able to step up when needed, so they could still be included. The white stars atop the emblem are a nod to the main logo of the series.
Calendars in the Spiral Empire

Each year in the Spiral Empire has 360 days, broken in twelve thirty-day months. Months are further separated into decans—ten days each—and weeks—five days long. Months are grouped into four four-month seasons in Seprum, Makkada, and parts of the triple kingdom: winter, spring, summer, and autumn. In Dhi and Ju, there are three seasons: monsoon, summer, and autumn. Days have twenty-five hours, broken into sixty minutes, each of which has sixty seconds.

## Month Names

The names of the months vary by location.

Days are generally numbered, either one through five or one through ten. In some regions of Henesia, they are named after gods.
Rai

The rai is a tribal leader in Kuan society. Before Tsasi Saj declared himself leader of all the Kuan people, rai was the highest-ranking position available and central political actors. It fell to the rai to distribute animals, goods, and people to fighters and other important families after winning a battle, a role that now falls to the saj, with rai presence to advocate for themselves and their people.

Today, as some Kuan citizens leave the steppes and live in other kingdoms, serve as traders or diplomats, and move away from their traditionally nomadic lifestyles, and now that the Kuan Empire is at peace save for some skirmishes with the Ma'hea people, the role of the rai in society has diminished, while the role of the saj has become more like that of a king or emperor.

For rai with populations that live predominantly in the heart of the empire, their power is similar to what it was historically. They oversee marriages and funerals; negotiate with other rai for land access, animals, and people; and select who will serve in battle or bureaucracy when the saj calls for them. Rais with populations that live predominantly non-traditional lives have mostly ceremonial power. These rai serve roles similar to generals or centurions in Seprum.
Ryuk Min

Ryuk Min is the second known temancer, the sole student and inheritor of Hwangbo Yeol-jeong, who founded the field. She was born blind and used a cane to navigate. Her parents initially feared she would be unable to provide for herself or her family, but she proved a skilled needle pointer, which in turn made her a precise mage when she turned her attentions to the spiral. She continued creating complex, interlocking patterns in her spare time, claiming it helped her think through tough problems.

Her two most important contributions to the field of temancy are the rune Yecheug, which predicts future weather, and her small but dedicated group of students, who kept the art of temancy alive in her weather lab until it became widespread and other labs cropped up across Ju and the Empire.

Ryuk might've lived her whole life in obscurity but for a surprise visit from Minju. The queen's advisor planned a tour through the farmlands and gardens of a nearby estate, along the bank of the River Je. Ryuk's runes predicted torrential downpours that afternoon and evening. Scared Je would flood its banks, possibly sweeping the queen away, Ryuk raced out after them to warn of the danger. The queen's advisor tried to prevent Ryuk from meeting Minju, but the queen was impressed at Ryuk's resolve and heard her out. The sky looked clear, though, and she didn't want to cancel her walk. Instead, ahe ordered the advisor to send a boat down the Je, just in case it flooded. Two hours later, when the Je did flood, that boat saved Minju and she hired Ryuk on the spot. Newly empowered, Ryuk hired an all-blind staff for her new laboratory of temancy.
Dodo

A dodo is a spiromancer who casts runes before they are fully grown. While the rune will take no effect, casting it prematurely prevents an enemy spiromancer from using it later. While technically mages because they enter the spiral and handle runes, dodos are generally magic novices, incapable of planting or creating their own runes.

## Historical Uses

During the siege of Hellen, the diarchs ordered all peasants to cast every rune they found in the spiral. When the attacking Seprum army realized inexperienced spiros were handling runes, they started planting fast-growing runes that caused explosions when cast, killing thousands of civilians, who had packed into small spaces in the city proper to remain safe from Seprum catapults.

A southern Diao magistrate recruited farmers as dodos to launch a sneak attack on a Kuan base camp. As a result, Kuan spiros started selecting battlefields in advance and planting runes that would be full grown by the time the conflict began.

Ju spiromancers made heavy use of dodos during their initial defense against the Kuan. However, Kuan cymancers designed encrypted spells that killed everyone shot by a Kuan arrow. When the generals realized they were killing their own people, the dodos were quickly retired.
Spiral guard

The spiral guard probably exist and, if they do, are responsible for guarding the Spiral Emperor, when he desires it, and the tower on the central island of the Empire. When the Emperor first made himself known to Seprum and Kuan, he was flanked by a guard on either side, though reporting is unclear about whether they were Seprum and Kuan soldiers, controlled by a djinn or some other force, or entirely new beings. When he attended the coronation of Emperor Junius, he also had a guard in attendance, six this time, possibly all Kuan citizens. It is now customary for the Emperor's official appearances to include a guard of some sort, though he dislikes calling them the spiral guard. When a member of the Kuan-Seprum army suggested they were a sort of spiral guard, the Emperor also rejected that. To the Emperor, at least, "spiral guard" seems to refer to something specific, and possibly ineffable.
Hedge magic

Hedge magic (also called corporal, corporeal, and body magic) is any spell cast under the power of the caster alone, e.g., without the use of the spiral. Practitioners of hedge magic are called hedge witches. The terms hedge wizard (for wifere) and hedge magician (for men) have both fallen out of style. The umbrella term mage refers to anyone who casts spells, including hedge witches.

## Methods

Because hedge witches do not use the spiral, they can only cast glyphs, a simple type of rune that does not call on any scripts. Before casting, the hedge witch must first grow the glyph, which they do by drawing it on their body in ink or dyes. Once drawn and activated, glyphs fade to invisible, the color becoming darker over time as they grow. When the glyph appears in the same color as the original dye, it is ready to cast and cannot grow any further. Note, this means it is impossible for hedge witches to kill themselves by casting a spell that has grown too powerful, as spiromancers can.

Once a glyph is cast, it disappears off the hedge witch's body, even if it was tattooed or written in permanent ink.

### 1. Strength Conservation

The strength to grow a glyph comes from the hedge witch, not an external source. That means, a hedge witch growing a glyph will have less energy as it grows. This means hedge witches can kill themselves by attempting to grow too many glyphs at the same time. Hedge witches also need to be careful to maintain their strength while growing glyphs by avoiding strenuous activities. It is possible for a hedge witch to engage in too much physical labor while growing a glyph and pass out or, in rare cases, die.

Glyphs can only be activated by the person whose body they are drawn upon. In Kuan, enemy mages sentenced to death are expected to activate a powerful rune drawn upon their body, thereby killing themselves, but it is impossible to force a mage to do so. Before the death penalty was outlawed in Dhi, this was also the preferred method of execution, as it is fast and painless for the mage in question.

### 2. Power Inconsistency

A spiromancer's ability depends almost entirely on their skill at mereology and script writing. Hedge witches, on the other hand, vary somewhat in power based both on their level of physical activity—more active hedge witches are weaker—and other factors, some known, some unknown. In general, women and certain wiferes are stronger hedge witches than men.
Kuan-Seprum army

The Kuan-Seprum army is composed of Kuan horse archers, heavy and light cavalry, and cymancers and Seprum light and heavy infantry, engineers, ballistae, and logistics specialists. The armies merged as a part of the treaty at the end of the First Spiral War and united all subsidiaries of the Spiral Empire. As part of their unconditional surrenders, Diao and Ju citizens serve in the army, Dhi spiromancers support the army as medics, and the Makkada Sultanate ensures the army is well supplied.

Though the Empire has entered a temporary peace, they continue training together all across the islands. Their next targets will be the Ma'hea, to the northeast of Kuan; the Uatla, to the north of Makkada; or Tusei, to the southwest of Seprum.
Urocyan Imperial Ground Forces

The **Urocyan Imperial Ground Forces** **(UIGF)**, colloquially known as simply the **Urocyan Army**, is the official ground warfare service branch of the Urocyan Army Forces, and is one of the main branches of Urocyia. The army has a long and rich history, and by the time of the series beginning, the UIGF has been growing into one of the most powerful ground forces in the world. Well over 800,00 soldiers total the Army's numbers in the 2010s, and over the course of Urocyia's history, they've been at the forefront of all the wars and conflicts Urocyia's been a part of.

In *Foxtrot: Foxes in Arms*, the UIGF is seen as a major antagonistic faction, with Imperial soldiers commonly seen going head to head with many of the ground forces of the United States, namely the US Army and US Marine Corps.

## Rank Structure

### Officers

From lowest to highest, the UIGF's officer ranks include the following:

1. Junior Lieutenant
2. Lieutenant
3. Captain
4. Major
5. Lieutenant Colonel
6. Colonel
7. Brigadier General
8. Major General
9. Lieutenant General
10. General
11. Field Marshall (Special Grade)
Liminal

Liminals are primarily Boreal species whose exact definition is a topic of much academic debate. There are three popular definitions:

* Liminals are beings that live primarily in the Forest and can either communicate or have access to knowledge of the future or of distant places that a human in the same circumstance would struggle to gain access to
* Liminals are animals that cannot die or be killed
* Liminals are animals with no compulsion to obey natural laws the way all other beings and objects do

The first definition has gained the most traction in Seprum, where nearby liminals like moirai and keres trade in information about the future in order to lure humans to their doom. The third definition is most popular in Dhi and Ju.

Concerted studies of liminals almost always fail because they are nearly impossible to find and even harder to keep in captivity. Though most liminals can communicate to some extent, they rarely wish to do so with human, nor do they seem to understand themselves. Some liminals even reject knowledge about themselves, either fearing it or acting like it physically pains them to know.
Ahn Ji-yu

Ahn Ji-yu was an archivist in the fourth of Ju's six national libraries who, with the help of Ea "Pei" Pema and Kyo Iseul, rediscovered and translated Reo Yun-seo's work in rune self-cycling. With Kyo and Pei, she distributed translated copies of Reo's notes to Seprum, Makkada, and Dhi, though there was little initial interest in the theory from outside Ju. Funding difficulties made their research impossible to continue and she ceased working in rune self-cycling a little before Kyo founded the Eniac team.

## Archival Work

Ahn took the examinations at a slightly later age than normal, due to some reading difficulties she encountered as a child. Her family was just high ranking enough for her to accept a respectable position in the fourth of Ju's six national libraries, which are designed to keep copies of important historical and artistic works safe in case of invasion, flood, hurricane, or fire. Despite her title, she was put to work as a simple archivist, which meant frequent spot checks and fifty or one-hundred percent reviews to ensure everything in the ledger was accounted for. She also ordered transcriptions from local monasteries and distributed them to national or local libraries across Ju.

During one spot check, she stumbled upon a misfiled note from Reo Yun-seo's collection. Intrigued, she read through all of Reo's work in a few days, bringing home copies to share with Pei. The two decided to pursue rune self-cycling themselves on an ad hoc basis. Pei realized they needed a temancer's help to understand all the writings—Reo herself was a temancer—and Kyo had recently arrived at the Seong library, looking for help designing a rune that allowed blind people to read text. With Kyo's help, they disseminated Reo's work.

## Relationships

Ahn was likely in a romantic relationship with Pei for much of her adult life. The two lived together for many years and wrote frequent letters when apart. Ahn traveled to Dhi with Pei when Pei's parents died in an avalanche and reportedly spoke at the death rites. They gave each other pet names in their letters, though their true meaning is difficult to translate. During the middle of her life, many suspect Ahn and Pei were also in a relationship with Kyo.
Emperor Crispus

Emperor Crispus, also know as the boy king, the mage, and the avenger, succeeded Emperor Albanus, who he also killed. Crispus is thus far the only trained spiromancer to be emperor of Seprum. He was born missing his left leg below the knee, so he never attended an academy or trained with the army, instead dedicating himself to mage-craft. At age fifteen, his father was killed by his black hand. Emperor Crispus dedicated the next two and a half years to avenging him and claiming the throne for himself, even as the senate favored Albanus.

Emperor Crispus retired in 60 SE to spend more time with his family, though some suspect his black hand, who succeeded him, may have pressured him to leave. Before abdicating, Crispus warned the senate that mages were unfit to be emperor--it put too much power in a single position.