The world of Antyre

The world of the critically-acclaimed Antyre series is based on our own Regency period, complete with bloody court intrigues and a decadent nobility that willfully blinds itself to any indications of decline. The once-great kingdom of Antyre now serves as, for all practical intents and purposes, a vassal state to another, more powerful nation, and even the gods--disgusted by human behavior--have abandoned Antyre to its fate.

Glossary

  • Adiran

    Adiran, prince of Antyre: he is a young child, born damaged, and one of two people in Janus's path to the throne. He has a sweet nature and talents of his own.

  • Ani, the god of love & vengeance

    Black-Winged Ani, the god of love & vengeance is often represented by a crow or a crow-winged woman. Though the Itarusine/Antyrrian pantheon doesn't have a devil, if they did, She would be it. Bargains with Her rarely end well. Her image is found most often in ruined temples and decaying houses, any place that there has been sudden and inexplicable devastation.

    Ani rose up behind him, Her wings shutting out even that bloody light, a taloned hand reaching for Maledicte's shoulder. Maledicte's hand ghosted up, a pale spider in the darkness, and rested atop Her clawed foot; in protest or acceptance, Gilly couldn't tell. She bent Her face to Maledicte's, Her beak hovering closer and closer to Maledicte's eyes.
    "Mine," was all She said, but Her voice was as merciless as floodwaters.

  • Aris

    King Aris: King of Antyre, a man who brokered a surrender during the Antyrrian/Itarusine war that has proved to have ruinous terms. Aris is a scholar by nature, king by default, father by choice.

  • Baxit, the god of indolence & reason

    Baxit, the cat-headed god of indolence & reason was the first to grow weary of human demands. He is the patron god of scholars & poets. His image is often carved on thrones, though only his left-side aspect--that of reason--is solicited.

    Aris laughed. "I am merely a King and not a god." His laughter faded into bitterness. "And while some Kings can ape gods, make their will and their people's one and the same, I am all too aware that I am only a man. But I understand Baxit, who looked on His own court and despair, who forced the gods into oblivion. Were it not for Adiran, for other innocents who would suffer, I could do the same. Stop the struggle and let us fall--"

  • Chryses

    Chryses DeGuerre: one of twin aristocrats who would rather build engines than play at politics. Chryses is a spy in the antimachinist party, and reports to Janus.

  • Delight

    Dionyses DeGuerre (Delight): Chryses' brother, an engineer who works for Janus. A scandalous figure in the Antyrrian court due to his cross-dressing.

  • Earl of Last

    Michel Ixion, Earl of Last: Aris's brother, Janus's unloving father. A conservative and reactionary man whose greatest regret is that he was further down the line of inheritance than Aris.

  • Espit, the god of creation & despair

    Weeping Espit, the god of creation & despair, is often represented by a woman hiding her face while she weeps. When the gods departed the human realm, She was the first to flee. Her image is often found in workshops, nurseries, and mausoleums.

    "My poor son will be king, at least in name," Aris said. "Itarus will devour him entire." He shuttered his heart against the pain of that. On the fireplace mantel, the icon of Espit, god of creation and despair, mocked him from Her tangled web, Her laughing mouth at war with Her veiled, teary eyes. Aris, who had removed all other traces of the gods from his quarters, had let this one remain, perhaps simply because it was the loveliest version of Weeping Espit he had seen. It had something of his wife in it, in the way tears caught on Her smile.

  • Gilly

    Gilly: Vornatti's servant, Maledicte's friend, a young man who can sense the gods. Hard G for him; his name is derived from the scots (though there are no Scots in Antyre!) meaning one who tends.

  • Haith, the god of death & victory

    Haith, the horned god, the hooded god, is the god of death and victory. He is represented by a hooded man with his face downcast. Sometimes horns deform the shape of his cowl. He is rarely depicted, except by dying men in the fields of war, who sometimes sketch His shape in the dirt.

    "Death is a reclusive god, and difficult to court." Ivor said, "I know of only one who succeeded. Your Cold King, the first of the Redoubts. The battlefield poets had praised him in meter and verse so greatly that Haith heard his name echoing below and rose from His sepulchers to see such vitality for Himself. Redoubt stood, surrounded by dead soliders, facing his enemies all about him, and laughed.
    "Haith interceded, though no one recorded how, only that once Redoubt stepped out of His embrace, he walked through the streets, and all who opposed him died of it."

  • Ivor

    Prince-Ascendant Ivor Sofia Grigorian: a prince of Itarus, one of King Grigor's favored sons, determined to win himself a throne, either his father's, or Antyre's.

  • Janus

    Janus Ixion: the bastard son of the Earl of Last. Maledicte's love interest and the protagonist of Kings & Assassins. Though his name is greek in origin, I'm going with the latin pronunciation here also. So ja, as in halleluja, and a long u.

  • Maledicte

    Maledicte: the titular character in the first Antyre book, a street rat who makes a deal with the god, Ani. Pronounce the name in the latin fashion. Four syllables, short a, short e in the second & fourth, and an i that sounds like a long e.

  • Mirabile

    Lady Mirabile: if Maledicte had grown up in the courts of Antyre, this is who Mal might have become. Mirabile is scheming, murderous, and utterly self-involved. Her name is latinate: four syllables, with the stress on the second. Mee-rah-bill-ay.

  • Naga, the god of health & avarice

    Scaled Naga, the god of health & avarice, is represented by a sea serpent of inordinate size. He is the patron god of sailors, will see them safely to port, or crushed in His coils, depending on the value of the offering made to Him. Waters in His wake are said to be healing waters and his toothy image is a common sight sea-side.

    Gilly found them a table in the public rooms of the Glorious, the ice shop popular among the maidservants and merchants, secretaries, sailors, and laborers. Once a temple to Naga, the serpentine god of health and avarice, the rooms still boasted elaborate murals of undulating waves and scale; the columns were Naga rising from the sea depths, fanged mouths gaping and holding coats.

  • Vornatti, Baron

    Baron Vornatti: Gilly's master, an Itarusine nobleman living in Antyre, acting the role as auditor. He also acts the role of mentor to Maledicte.

  • Westfall

    Adam Westfall: an aristocrat more talked about than seen. He is an inventor and an egalitarian, seeing Antyre's future in machinery. He is a reluctant acquaintance of Mirabile's, and friend to Janus.