Lore

**WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD.**

### Hypertext

This is a list of all the blue linked terms in the game. The in-game description is italicized; normal text is commentary.

* Elaou - *The Elaou are the rulers of the kingdom of Elam and vassals to the Romani Empire. Prince Elaou-Fazil is the last representative of the Elaou dynasty.*
* Tarkhan - *A tarkhan is an officer of the Imperial Fleet. Tarkhans command the operational groups in a squadron.* (Derived from the Central Asian title tarkhan meaning a general or military governor.)
* Gerat - *Gerat is a vast desert located to the north of the Romani Empire.*
* Sayadi - *The Sayadi are the dynasty of the rulers of the Romani Empire, the oldest house in the known world.* (Possibly derived from the House of Saud, the ruling dynasty of Saudi Arabia; or from Sayyid, a title denoting a descendant of the prophet Muhammad)
* Elaat -
* Gathering - *The Gathering of Great Houses is an assembly of Romani dynasties that supported the uprising against the Emperor.*
* Khiva - *Khiva is the main city in Northern Gerat. The Lord governor of this city was the one who began the rebellion against the Romani Emperor.*
* Romani Empire - *The Romani Empire is the largest state in the known world. It was founded in the 1st century by the highest-ranking members of the Fleet. Duke Sayadi, chosen to rule the Empire, became the first hereditary monarch.*
* Daud - *Admiral Daud Sharif Rahmatovich is the commander of the First Squadron of the Expeditionary Fleet. He also happens to be your immediate superior.* (Only your immediate superior during the Prologue.)
* Harishid - *Former guardsmen of the king of Gerat. Some Harishids now serve the Lord Governor; others have taken refuge in the vast desert of Gerat.*
* Merisades - *A unit commander in Gerati king's personal guard.*
* Elaim - *The Elaims are a desert folk, the indigenous people of Gerat. The kingdom of Elam used to be independent, before Gerat became part of the Romani Empire.*
* Skobelev - *Admiral Skobelev is the commander of Second Squadron of the Expeditionary Fleet. His task is to provide communication with the capital. After the capture of Ur, the Second Squadron is to join the assault on Khiva.* (Possible reference to Mikhail Skobelev who participated in the real Khivan Campaign of 1873.)
* Bearing - *direction to the target relative to north (in degrees)*
* Romani - *The Romani are the most numerous people in Elaat. Many cities in Gerat were founded by the Romani after Helam joined the Empire.* Helam is presumably a former Romani Emperor. It is concievable that their ethnic group may have something to do with the Roma people of today.
* Doyen - *a doyen is a Gerati clan elder. Many clans were forced to join the Gathering of Great Houses, so many doyens would gladly join the war against Khiva if given the chance.* (borrowed from the French term doyen, ultimately from Latin, meaning a chief of ten men or a leading elder. Related to the English term "dean".)
* Qoda - *a qoda is a fragment of the book of St. Lyn, the only sacred book that survived the Calamity. Most qodas have been lost. The ancient families and dynsties of Elaat guard and treasure their surviving qodas.*
* Saint Lyn - *A saint of legend who lived in the age of Calamity. The owner and keeper of the last sacred book, they say he divided it among the future rulers of Elaat.*
* Muali - *"Mentor". It is an honorific reserved for sages and legal scholars.* (from Arabic mu'allim, meaning a teacher or learned scholar.)
* Shakhsi - *The Shakhsi, the Hidden People, ruled over Gerat before the Elaou conquered the land. The last of the Shakhsi live in bunker-cities. Their locations are a closely guarded secret. The people of Gerat revere Shakhsi greatly as the keepers of ancient wisdom.*

### Other terms and characters

**POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD.**

* Elaat - A word that may mean "known world," or may be the name of the planet on which Highfleet takes place. The world could be inspired by the land of Elam, one of the many ancient precursors of what is now Iran. The word might be inspired by the Hebrew given name Eliyathah ( אֱלִיאָ֫תָה ), which means “to whom G-D will come."
* Kharu - a (former) moon of the planet Highfleet takes place on. Presumably one of at least two as Daud suggests eclipse as cause of the sudden Darkness during the Campaign even though Kharu has long since been destroyed.
* The Undoing/Catastrophe/Calamity - cataclysmic event which happened thousands of years ago when the ancestors of the Romani shattered the Kharu. The fragments fell on Elaat, creating massive craters. An accompanying EMP (electromagnetic pulse) "wiped out the minds of the old world's machines.”
* Deus in Nobis - Latin for "God Within Us".
* Emperor Kerim Shah II - current ruler of the Romani Empire.
* Salem - the only known city in the Romani Empire. Presumably the capital? (possibly derived from Hebrew Shalem, a city commonly identified with Jerusalem, as well as the origins of the English placename "Salem". This may also be referenced in the name of the protagonist, Mark Sayadi Salemsky, with "Salemsky" meaning "of Salem".)
* Keilah - third month of the Gerati calendar.
* San - fourth month of the Gerati calendar.
* Sevchah - type of food crop in Gerat.
* Samykh - type of food crop in Gerat.
* Ghash - recreational drug with painkiller properties.
* Tannaim - "blessing-bringer" (possibly influenced by the Hebrew term Tannaim meaning a sage, but unclear.)
* Sahib - term of respect (derived from the Arabic term sahib meaning "friend" or "lord".)
* Noyon - term of respect (derived from the Mongolian term noyon meaning prince or commander of thousands of men.)
* Amir Al-Matar - term of respect (derived from Arabic, meaning "Emir of the Airfield".)
* Alsahir (title) - term of respect with unknown exact meaning. Two characters in the game are referred to as such: the mysterious masked Elaim who convinced crew of Sevastopol to travel to Ur and a Tarkhan boy looking to avenge his father.
* Grand Duke Mark Sayadi Salemsky - player character in the game. Only son of the Emperor. Commander of the 3rd Task Force of the Expeditionary Fleet during the Prologue, and (seemingly) the entire Imperial Fleet during the Campaign.
* Pyotr Ignatovich Shahin (Pyotr Shanin, son of Ignat Shanin) - Mark Sayadi's aide during both Prologue and the Campaign. Former infantry general, it is suggested that he was asked to accompany the Grand Duke by the Emperor himself.
* Prince Fazil - last of the Elaou family/dynasty, the current legitimate ruler of Gerat. Holds one piece of the qoda.
* Imran-Harish - First Tarkhan the player can recruit during the Prologue. Former Harishid.
* Omar Khan - "infamous" for reasons unknown. Son of Rasouf. Presumed dead by most. Holds one piece of the qoda.
* Alsahir(character) - his father was murdered by Harishids in service of Lord Governor. Attempts to kill the Governor, can be convinced to spare him.

### Tarkhan influence

These are the descriptors that appear when Tarkhans offer you their help in Khiva.

* Prince Fazil: Elaou Dynasty
* Imlan-Harish: Harishid Guards
* Omar Khan: Khans of Gerat
* Duchess Isi: Isi Clan
* Nadir Bek: Pirate Clans
* Shuja-e-Sani: Knights of Dustum
* Yitzak-Ra: People of Ra
* Yemelyan Gulyaev: The Free
* Admiral Wan: Renegades
* Alsahir: Hidden People

### Qoda Fragments

These are all qoda quotes as they appear in the game as pictures. Fragments 1-3 are held by Prince Fazil, fragments 4-6 by Alsahir, fragment 7 by Omar Khan, and fragments 13-15 by the old doyen.

*1 Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?*

*2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.*

*3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted of grief; and we hid as if it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.*

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for ouriniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him: and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us.

*7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.*

*13. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.*

*14. As many were astonied at theel; his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:*

*15. So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.*

### Caravan Stories

The caravan driver greets you warmly. "Life is too tough these days, too tough," the caravan leader tells you in dismay. "We used to move at night to stay safe, away from the clans and their ships. But now our caravans are disappearing even in the dead of night! We thought it was the work of pirates, so we went to them to pay the customary ransom. But the clans knew nothing of our missing caravans! Take heed, Grand Noyon - something is amiss in the desert. The End Times are nigh.

The caravan leader invites you into his tent and shares his deepest concerns with you. "Grand Noyon, the stars that guide us are disappearing!" You hear emotion in his voice as he continues. "I refused to believe it at first, but the Star of the East, Al-Jharmi, has not been in the sky for a month. The charts I bought in Meshed are useless now that Al-Jharmi is no more." "These are the End Times, Grand Noyon, the End Times." The Elaim shakes his head in sorrow.

For some time, you enjoy the warmth of the caravan fire and hot coffee. "Gerat has never seen such rain!" the caravan leader tells you, shaking his head slowly. "For the first time ever it rained in Keliah, the third month of our calendar. And we all said, ah, the Allmighty has blessed this year!" Then, in the month of San, it rained again. And the peasants were overjoyed. "Come to us when the second moon wanes," they told us, "and bring twice as many people, for there will be a great harvest!" "But when I visited them again, all joy was gone from their faces. Ever since we left, it has rained every week. The sevchah never rose and had begun to rot, and the samykh had been struck down by a strange illness... these are the End Times, Grand Noyon."

The caravan leader, a tall, grunt man, relays to you the grim news of recent days. "Refugees are fleeing the Great Sea in droves, gracious Noyon! They are without number - far too many. They offer gold and riches for a safe journey, but they bring misery without end. Too many of them are sick... al wadah! Ishvan's caravan has had pyres burning for third day in a row. So many dead... these are End Times, Grand Noyon."