Worlds Beyond Glossary

## Strange Glossary

**Ardeyn**: a small world that is part of the Strange universe. *Ardeyn operates under the law of Magic and is influenced by Sumerian myths*. Citadel Hazzurium and Shalmarn are cities in this world. Any person killed in Ardeyn would be stuck there forever even if brought back from the dead.

**Alienation**: the game mechanic that expresses how The Strange tears apart those that venture into it.

**Atom Nocturne**: a city-sized cyberpunk recursion.

**Estate (the)**: the organization that monitors The Strange.

**Fictional leakage**: the phenomenon that causes pocket dimensions from Earth fiction.

**Gate**: a device to easily *translate* to and back from The Strange.

**Recursion**: one of the worlds / pocket dimensions of The Strange.

**Recursor**: a person who travels between recursions.

**Spark**: the ability some humans have to be aware of The Strange.

**Translation**: the passage from the normal world to the Strange, or back.

## Worlds Beyond Glossary

### Ardeyn

**Adwani (Hira)**: the captain of the airship *Storms Lament* renamed the ship previously known as *Storms Thunder* after its former captain–her father–was killed by a dragon. The first time Jade met her, this tall woman was wearing a hat with a big floppy brim that partially covered her face; her nice dark brown skin had definitely seen a lot of sun; she had a braid of long dark hair down the side. She was wearing a vest with its brocade fabric faded and high leather boots. Her sleeves were rolled up and she had a sword and another weapon on her hips. Inan started flirting with Adwani the first time they met in a bar and the two fully explored their connections in the captain's quarters the following night.

**Ardeyn**: the recursion where the Estate sends its newest recruits cut their teeth on Ardeyn is *an extreme High Fantasy sort of setting [...] It's not quite, like, medieval [...] it's, like, actually that kind of weird Fantasy modern hybrid, where it's like they have running water but no one really knows how ... Magic**.*

**Ash (Charlie)**: Charlie Ash is a former Estate agent in his late 40s. His deformed portrait, courtesy of treacherous spiders, suggests he has become a disagreeable, golf-playing drunkard.

**Blue Purd (Spiny)**: a creature hunted for its fur on Ardeyn.

**Claire**: the clerk at the Scroll & Tome who welcomes Estate agents at the exit of the translation gate in Ardeyn's Hazzurium.

**Elephant**: on Ardeyn, elephants are bobcat-sized, super-cute pests without natural predators, believed to have come from another recursion. They look like boars or tapirs, with their tusks and long noses. You can eat as much elephant as you like, especially out in the borderlands. Jade, who advises Inan that, in their line of work, *it's really good to be able to pretty much eat anything*, is particularly fond of elephant ears *covered in cinnamon and suga*r.

**Golden snoot**: a woodland creature with gold fur hunted on Ardeyn.

**Hazzurium**: the city built like a 32-story citadel (think Minas Tirith) at the other end of the Estate's gate to Ardeyn.

**Hurrok**: this winged horse with claws for hooves is a predator. Lauren borrowed hurroks from Tamora Pierce's books. Hurroks are more like horses than birds; they have no feathers and the noxious gas these *poser dragons* breathe comes from poison spurs in their mouths. They are edible and taste *like a platypus would*.

**Jab-jab**: the colloquial name of Ardeyn's equivalent of a turkey. Chat helped flesh out this large bird: **@androidk18**'s *jaj-jab-gams*; **@Lysander\_Gustav**'s *Delicious terror bird* (to which Lauren had to add: *a large bird with claws for legs*); **@ImpInMyHead**'s *Jab jab au vin*.

**Quephilim**: the Quephilim are jackal-headed and they're kind of like angelic beings. There is still a bunch of them around on Ardeyn, but they’re not nearly as common as humans.

**Sharp (Quinn)**: a retired Estate agent who vanished on Ardeyn.

**Scroll & Tome (the)**: this small book bindery in Hazurrium is the place where the gate to Ardeyn the Estate uses leads to.

**Sky barnacles**: an overgrowth of these can reduce the speed efficiency of an airship such as Storms Lament.

**Storms Lament**: the airship captained by Hira Adwani has a total crew of 5. It is not fancy and usually transports adventuring groups for a cut of their profits. Before Adwani's father was taken by a dragon—and probably made for a good meal—it was named Storms Thunder.

### Spider Mansion

**Aranea Vidua**: the lady and spider mother that welcomed the group to—and as—dinner in the tiny recursion she shared with a butler / spider named Todd and a maid / spider named Maria. The trio were eventually squashed.

### The Wasteland (a.k.a Shiny & Chrome, a.k.a Fury Road)

**Agusta Lupe**: also referred to as The Wolf, she is the iron-fisted ruler of New Roma. Her fighters, including the people who picked up Dale and Jade after they arrived in the recursion, are called the *Howling Hunters* (or *Hunters* for short). This is how Jade and Dale first see her on her throne: *she is very broad-shouldered, very muscular, tan for being out in the sun for a long time; her hair is very voluminous; she's wearing half a cropped leather jacket and, like, chainmail; gauntlets on her hands, with spikes on the knuckles, spiked earrings...*

**Calamity (the)**: the event that made the Wasteland what it is *is nothing specific intentionally, **the recursion popped into existence as a post apocalyptic wasteland**, so there was never any actual event that lead to the destruction, and thus everyone who is from there just calls it 'the calamity' without really knowing what that means*.

**Fabio**: a member of Terra's Libera Forte.

**Gas Backs**: The Wasteland's currency, named after the US's *greenbacks*. The 'shinys' are the most valuable, they are old trading cards (apparently mostly pokemon). The name of the currency comes from very important resources: gas and oil.

**Hard Nox**: the burly, stocky person who introduces Pine to life as a gladiator in New Roma's Pits and outfits him with standard, not exactly brand-new, gladiator equipment.

**Libera Forte**: the Motorcyle gang led by Terra. Besides her, the gang comprises Fabio, Ralphio, Susan, Trix and Wreck.

**New Roma**: the ramshackle capital city of Agusta Lupe's empire is actually a collection of slums made of discarded material, some which has been piled up into makeshift towers. All of its inhabitants work for Agusta Lupe, either freely or as slaves. Guards let strangers in through the great gate or the smaller gate nearby for a ~~bribe~~ fee. Weapons are allowed inside the city. New Roma's Colosseum is the scene of gladiator fights that are New Roma's big attraction, from plebeians to Agusta Lupe herself.

**Ralphio**: a member of Terra's Libera Forte.

**Stabbin' Terry**, aka **Stabbentary**: this Howling Hunter is the sharpest knife in Agusta Lupe's drawer, especially compared to Steve.

**Steve**: this Howling Hunter is the sharpest knife in Agusta Lupe's drawer, especially compared to Terry.

**Susan**: a member of Terra's Libera Forte.

**Terra**: the leader of the Motorcyle gang known as Libera Forte. Terra has no love lost for Lupe, but there is little her 6-member gang can do against Lupe.

**Trix**: the androgynous member of Terra's Libera Forte with whom Inan rode toward New Roma.

**Wreck**: a member of Terra's Libera Forte who rode with and came to like Pine, she first lends, then reckons she's actually giving away, and finally kind of sells her motorbike to Oz and Inan so they can go to New Roma and help Pine, Dale and Jade get out. ===

### Hades

**Skeletal** (pronounced *skell-u-mini-um*): the quality of a thoroughly fleshed-out NPC, like the three judges at the gate of Hades.

### Transylvania

**Dracula**: the Lord of Vampires may be a formidable foe, all his might and his rage can but yield to the combined powers of Oz’s cunning and Styx water.

**Werewolf**: when a beam of the full moon touches, even the sweetest of ladies may get on all fours, howling and seeking to satisfy a ravenous appetite.

### Oz

**Laura (Wilson)**: Laura Wilson / Wilson-Dukes is, or was, engaged to Oz when Lexenberg disappeared. Oz never got to meet the child the fake Laura introduces to Oz in the spiders' home—their child—because Laura was still in labor then. When Oz looks up Laura Wilson in the Library, the index card says: *See also: Wicked Witch of the West*.. When the group catches up with her in Transylvania, she tells most of the truth about herself, gives Oz back his memories from their time together. She only reveals that she actually had twins with him, and not just the boy named Frank she first introduced, after she manages to revive the stillborn girl named Ella. Lauren gave more details about Laura in Behind the Screens Ep 15: *Laura isn't a grounded person*. Even though she existed from episode 2, she was only defined after Season 1, and how evil she was — a scientist with questionable morality —was established even later.

**Lexenberg, NE**: the town whose disappearance, his loved ones included, started Oz's personal quest and his reluctant collaboration with the Estate. Lexenberg belongs to the Oz recursion, where Laura Wilson returns it from Transylvania.

**Wicked Witch of the West (The)**: this person started life as an angry child in the world of *The Wizard of Oz*. Since then, she has been looking for *Ozma* in various recursions for a long time. Oswald "Oz" Dukes is one of several Oz she has met. She became his girlfriend as **Laura Wilson** but he was not the one she was looking for. Oz found all of that information in the Library, in a book called *The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West*.

### The Jungle of Oqaineya

**Feedback**: *Feedback, in this experience, is sexual gratification*.

### Astoria

**Dante**: the King of Astoria knew Jade twenty-three years ago. They had a son together, named Harper.

**Royal Huntsman (The)**: this Hunter was sent to Paradiso to arrest Ronan Wise. He succeeded.

**Sayana**: Sayana is the queen of Astoria.

**Tall Dark (The)**: this mountain is the den of the dragon that has plagued Astoria for too long.

### Atom Nocturne

Atom Nocturne is the recursion Inan comes from.

Champions: these three champions are ready to psychically fight it out in the Splendor Dome:

* **Soma Kitsune**:*sponsored by the Nisi family, she/her, worked for Twilight Tech, Asian*. The group find out she was duped into doing dirty work for the September project until Dale's data convinced her to switch sides.
* **Arion Telsin**: *sponsored by Katra family, they/them, Polynesian*. This introvert manages to see through Inan's deception — after Sarah gets a series of several terrible rolls —and evade her questions.
* **Keris Olistrad**:*sponsored by Darth family, he/him, white*. He accepts Pine's challenge and is defeated as Pine's series of head-butts followed by a kick draw first blood before his own mind blades have a chance to hit.

**Jaqueline**: this colorful character, who also goes by Jack, owns the boutique where Inan has her friends acquire outfits for the gala. Jaqueline finds a new muse in Oz and ends up planning Oz's weddings.

**Larc**: this character was introduced in a flashback-like scene that treacherous spiders in a tiny recursion created for Inan. *Larc (She/Her) was Inan's tutor on Atom Nocture. She guided Inan from when Inan began to talk until Larc died just a few years ago. Larc is very near and dear to Inan -- there is no doubt that Inan would take drastic measures yo protect Larc's memory/image*

**Nissi (Juno)**: a female diplomat, Juno Nissi is one of Inan's parents.

**Nissi (Minerva** and later **Hera)**: a female diplomat, Minerva / Hera Nissi is one of Inan's parents.

**Red Snapper**: this shot is a little pod that you snap. *It is full of this bubbling, glowing, goopy effervescent fizz on the top, THC ... You put the whole pod in your mouth and you snap it; it's edible*. *They're Tide pods; okay, they're Tide pods*. In Atom Nocture, you can eat Tide pods.

**Rigel Darth**: this longtime friend and rival of Inan's decides to leave old family feuds aside. He also takes a liking for Pine. Lauren gave more details about Rigel Darth in Behind the Screens Ep 15: he was not established until the end; Lauren didn't want him to be just like the Sage so instead of making him another bad character, she made him eager to negotiate a new relationship with Inan and leave the rivalry of their teenage years behind.

**Splendor Dome**: this airborne arena is the seat of regular psychic fights in Atom Nocturne.

**Twilight Tech**: this Atom Nocturne-based company does Import / Export with other recursions. Working for them allowed Soma Kitsune to spend time on Earth, Ardeyn and a few other recursions.

### Misc

**Cetus**: after returning from Hades, Inan brings a dog to the briefing for the next mission. She calls him Cetus and translates with him to the Library. *Cetus is a medium to large sized dog that is all black with a white/pink nose and super pointy ears*. The name, very similar to Ceto, is a nod to Inan’s time in Hades.

**Danglies**: the assortment of potions and suchlike Dale carries, dangling from the inside part of his coat.

**Kaylin Ophor****, a.k.a.** **Electric Lady**: this NPC from Fall's Harbinger was first killed by the group on Ardeyn. She was killed again when she tried to get vengeance in Hades. Her nickname comes from the lightning bolts she has used on the group. Ophor, whose first name the group has never known, is killed, for good, in the Jungle of Oqaineya, with a gunshot to the head that prevents her from collapsing the whole recursion.

**Ling (Jay)**: this colleague of Jade's at The Estate got stuck in Hades after being separated from his group. This took place after Jade's temporary disappearance in the Strange. He first introduced himself as Marcos when Oz, who had noticed he was following Jade's group, confronted him.

**Parsons (Mike)**: this character from Dale's past first shows up in the scene the spiders trying to eat the group in their tiny recursion-mansion. *Mike Parsons is an older mentor of Dale. He disappeared in 2008 after watching "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Mike believed that the only explanation for why the movie could be so bad was that it was actually a coded message as to the real location of the crystal skulls, and he went off into the Amazon in search of them. The last time Dale saw him, was when we dropped him off at the train station*.

**Pumpernickel!**: this code word for danger was introduced in one of the first missions and was used several times since, up to the very last episode.

**Quake**: Pine's sister, she makes an appearance in a dream provoked by spiders. She returns, in the flesh, as a gladiator in the Wasteland. *She is the muscle where Pine is the speed*. Quake's full name is *The stone that quakes as she screeches into the night*.

**Riley Howell**: the Field Operative Lead for The Estate is usually seen around briefing rooms at the Seattle Estate campus, before and after missions. Like Jade, he had a bad experience in the Strange. Unlike Jade, he has heeded doctors' advice and refrained from translating again ... until time came to go and save Jade. This mission is worth returning to Ardeyn with Inan's group. Riley has a leg up on the group regarding the Strange, and this mantra he keeps repeating: *Keep your wits about you!*

***Them***: According to Dale, *they* *are the masterminds behind everything.* To Pine, who wonders who *them* are, Inan offers her own conjectures: *they must be some sort of high council*, *that has an intense knowledge of what's happening ... and a well-rounded responsibility to address, and either make wrongs, or right them, depending on what they want*.

**Valerio (Maya)**: this doctor as The Estate has been the go-to person for Strange-related health matters.

**Wise (Rowan)**: according to a book in the Library, referred to as *The Life and Times of Rowan Wise*, this former agent of The Estate left The Estate, bummed around for a while and did nothing interesting until they became the Sage in Sanzut. The book also reveals where he continued to after leaving Sanzut, as well as an explanation of his disappearance from Sanzut that sent Pine and Quake on a quest: *And then I left them behind*.

## Notes

1. ↑ *NftE*: the definitions here are compiled from explanations during the show. I am going for show-accurate over game-accurate. Feel free to download the free preview book.
2. ↑ Direct quotation from the MCG page to which this entry links.
3. ↑ NftE: Taking my cue from the show. I only know that it is part of The Strange.
4. ↑ NftE: spelling provided by Lauren.
5. ↑ See Ep 4.
6. ↑ See Ep 4. *NftE*: But did they rock the boat?
7. ↑ See Ep 4.
8. ↑ See Ep 1.
9. ↑ Description by Lauren, in Ep 4.
10. ↑ See Ep 3, with additional information from Jeannine.
11. ↑ See Ep 2. It may owe its name to its excited discoverer pronouncing *Bird* in a weird way.
12. ↑ NftE: spelling confirmed by Lauren.
13. ↑ As first suggested by @Iffrithiel in chat.
14. ↑ See Ep 5.
15. ↑ See Ep 2.
16. ↑ *NftE*: Sources: Lauren's description in Ep 5 and this page.
17. ↑ *NftE*: Lauren has also cosplayed Alanna, a character of Pierce's.
18. ↑ All of these details are also from Ep 5.
19. ↑ Name supplied by Banzai.
20. ↑ See Ep 4.
21. ↑ *NftE*: I am using a definition given by Lauren in Ep 5. Quephilim are part of the official Ardeyn lore by MCG.
22. ↑ See Ep 1 and later.
23. ↑ See Ep 5.
24. ↑ Lauren called it *the less nice airship that they are on*.
25. ↑ See Ep 3.
26. ↑ *NftE*: Name given by Lauren.
27. ↑ NftE: Lauren named her after the Latin title for Empress.
28. ↑ See Ep 6 and Ep 7.
29. ↑ *NftE*: Explanation by Lauren. Emphasis mine.
30. ↑ See Ep 6 and Ep 7.
31. ↑ Introduced in Ep 6.
32. ↑ *NftE*: all of the entries in this section are based in large part on information I got directly from Lauren. This entry is the closest to being *verbatim* Lauren.
33. ↑ See Ep 6.
34. ↑ *NftE*: and highly recommended, I'd venture.
35. ↑ See Ep 6 and Ep 7.
36. ↑ *NftE*: Stabbentary is my rendition of what I heard. Lauren replied this when I asked which spelling was correct: *Both spellings for Terry would probably be correct (it's the apocalypse), I hadn't written their names down during the session*.
37. ↑ Introduced in Ep 6. The "sharpest knife" comment is mine.
38. ↑ Introduced in Ep 6. The "sharpest knife" comment is mine.
39. ↑ Introduced in Ep 6.
40. ↑ Introduced in Ep 6.
41. ↑ *NftE*: there may have been some innuendo in their riding scene together. After all, it started with Pine talking about missing *having a horse between my thighs*, which, in the parched, horseless Wasteland Wreck could only take as some kind of euphemism.
42. ↑ See Ep 6.
43. ↑ Thanks, Iffrithiel.
44. ↑ See Ep 8 to get the pronunciation joke. The episode is worth it.
45. ↑ See Ep 3, with additional information from Nathaniel.
46. ↑ See Ep 10.
47. ↑ See Ep 13.
48. ↑ *NftE*: the names of the twins are *based off the author of the Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum*. Info courtesy of Lauren.
49. ↑ *NftE*: that is in the Library episode (Ep 10), which is the first episode of Season 2.
50. ↑ See Ep 13.
51. ↑ See Ep 10.
52. ↑ See Ep SP1. This explanation becomes necessary when Quake, who has not understood what Lily meant by *They'll meet up to give feedback*, offers to give both Carmin and Light feedback himself, and explains that *I give my brother feedback all the time*.
53. ↑ See Ep 18.
54. ↑ See Ep 17.
55. ↑ See Ep 18.
56. ↑ They are introduced in Ep 20 and actually seen in Ep 21.
57. ↑ *NftE*: Information kindly provided by Lauren.
58. ↑ *NftE*: Information kindly provided by Lauren.
59. ↑ *NftE*: Information kindly provided by Lauren.
60. ↑ *NftE*: This NPC was shaped by Inan. Lauren provide the spelling.
61. ↑ See Ep 3.
62. ↑ Test courtesy of Sarah.
63. ↑ Source: Sarah (as alluded to during Ep 4).
64. ↑ Source: Sarah (as alluded to during Ep 4).
65. ↑ PSA from Sarah: *Don't actually do Tide pods, kids.*
66. ↑ See Ep 21.
67. ↑ See Ep 20 and Ep 21.
68. ↑ See Ep 21.
69. ↑ See Ep 10.
70. ↑ Description courtesy of Sarah.
71. ↑ See Ep 1 and later. As pointed out by @Lysander\_Gustav in Ep 2's chat, danglies *are an interesting synonym for inventory*.
72. ↑ *NftE*: complete name kindly provided by Lauren.
73. ↑ See Ep 8 and Ep 9 for her appearance in Hades.
74. ↑ *NftE*: well, maybe.
75. ↑ See Ep 8 and Ep 9.
76. ↑ See Ep 3.
77. ↑ Text courtesy of Banzai.
78. ↑ See Ep 3.
79. ↑ Appears in Ep 6. Her identity is revealed in Ep 7.
80. ↑ As told by Claudia in Ep 7.
81. ↑ Thanks, Lauren.
82. ↑ *NftE*: Lauren added, when she gave me the info: *though I've probably said it differently a few times*.
83. ↑ See Ep 15.
84. ↑ And a limp to prove it.
85. ↑ See Ep 15.
86. ↑ See Ep 5.
87. ↑ See Ep 10.