A Flight of Ravens by John Conroe (thriller books to read TXT) 📗

Lady Kardian’s partner in not giving damns.

Lady Rubella Dominick – A cougar of a different sort.

Lord Dorian Hatch – Asshat.

Steven Grantell – Heir to High Family Grantell, asshat wannabe.

Kyle Bonlee – Spare Heir to High Family Bonlee, noble waste of space.

Lord Reis Leica – Head of High Family Leica, mining family, Lady Jean’s father, Savid’s maternal grandfather.

Lord Samuel – Head of minor family, asshat.

Myers Jacquis – Heir to Jacquis family.

Sylvanians:

The Paul – Timon Fontroy – Ruler of Sylvania and Head of the Church of Lud, massive asshat extraordinaire.

The Paul Elect – Jameson Fontroy – Heir of Sylvania, son of Timon, asshat in study.

Restin – Sylvanian Lash

Silver Girl – Female woldling with eslling powers (multi-second range see-er), birth name was Loral.

Woldlings:  Sylvanian biologically engineered shock troops.  Generally, about twenty percent larger than most humans, and much stronger and faster than human normal.  Armed with clawed hands and excessive dental weaponry.  Crafted from human stock by Lud Priests.

Others:

Ambassador Toman Elwin – Mandrigan ambassador to Montshire.

Queen Millis – Ruler of the Kingdom of Mandrigo.

Bishop Miller – Head of the Church of the Apostle of the Punished, official church of Montshire.

Doctor Eltienne – Royal physicker.

Marshall – The royal armorer.

Ann Shedly – Jolanna’s friend.

Neil Slinch – Head of the Kingdom Overwatch Directorate: the Ravens.

Masters Blythe, Tark, and Mortimer – Local managers of the Haven office of Pottle & Strevis, procurers of antiquities.

Calliope – Ex-Montshirian army medic.

Colonel Erser – Head of the Royal Guards of Montshire

Major Quint Morang – Montshire army infantry

Captain Bascomb Porter – Cavalry officer.

Captain Jonathon Jens – Cavalry officer and Jolanna’s husband.  High Family Jens’ spare heir.

Larst – Docent working for the Holy Assembly of Reformed Wickedness in Pit.

Gwen – A parson of the Holy Assembly of Reformed Wickedness (Berkette’s official religion), in Pit.

Siril Ossiman – A criminal dealer in secrets.

Dorn – Siril’s muscle-headed minion.

Carl Mewcomb – Scholar from the Royal Academy.

Montshire Capitalization Concern (MCC) – A diversified business owned by the Shadows whether they know it or not.

Rik – A strategy game that combines elements of warfare with territory accumulation.

Cherttah – A ball game involving strategy, violence, and… a ball.

Bolter – A projectile weapon of the Shadows.  Stacked steel tubes, usually with dual triggers mounted to what we would call a pistol grip.  Uses the natural compressed gas of quava kelp pods to propel various metal bolts or drugged darts. Highly proscribed technology.

Quava Kelp Pods – See above. Grows in the waters off Lachia.

Death Rattler – Deadly viper indigenous to Nengled.  Uses both neurotoxic and hemotoxic venom.

Caffe – A new hot beverage grown on islands off the southern Lachian coast.  The stuff of life… I’m likely drinking some as you read this.

Currency

The currency of all Nengled is based upon small steel ingots. The base unit is a rustie, high carbon steel that… rusts.  An ingot is standardized at roughly enough steel to make a small useful item, more often combined with others to make stuff.  Four to seven rusties could make a small knife.  A rustless is an ingot of stainless steel, equivalent in value to five rusties.  A wootie is an ingot of Wootz or Damascus pattern steel, equivalent to ten rusties.  A shiner is a small ingot of silver and is valued at fifty rusties.  A glimmer is gold and valued at two hundred rusties. Nails are used as small denomination coin, with roughly twenty nails to the rustie.

Steel types vary and not all steels carry the same value.  Most of the steel in Nengled is reclaimed from the ruins of the Punished, so banks almost always partner with a blacksmith shop so the smith can appraise the steel and assign a true value.

Measurement:

Span – Same as a meter.

T-span – 1,000 spans.  Equal to a kilometer.

T-rams – 1,000 rams.  We might call it a kilogram.

New Characters and more Stuff

Lieutenant Ty Berill – Royal guard officer

Veese – Queen Ilana’s elderly gardener.

Brent Upton – Eldest son of Paddy Upton, Shadow killed in Sylvania.

Welton Upton – Youngest son of Paddy.

Treena Upton – Paddy’s wife, Sissa’s sister-in-law

Sissa Newberry – Ash’s wife, Paddy’s sister.

Rose Leighton – Soshi’s adopted daughter, Shadow-in-training, formerly a pickpocket.

Calpin Torqness – Castle seneschal

Tupper – Lord Rucian DelaCrotia’s steward

Lord Arcwin DelaCrotia – Rucian’s father, Savid’s paternal grandfather, deceased.

Urso – Ex-RRS soldier, Shadow renowned for woldling killing prowess with an axe.

General Ewald – Head of Montshire Military

Carson Mackmore – Montshire Minister of Commerce

Kisen – An older Shadow.

Fontina – A top Raven agent.

Urmak – Green solution that unmasks Shapers.

Shaper – An individual Tainted by the Paul who can mold their facial features to look like others. Experts in makeup and hair as well as copying body language and voices.

Tina – New server at the Knife and Needle. Drew Holden’s sister.

Porye – Coastal city and only significant Montshire port.

Freyla Slost – Raven agent in Porye

Gawron Tarpinian – Regent of Stoneport in Berkette, which is just to the south of Porye.

Turgeon Collind – Magistrate of Kittwell in Mandrigo, just north of Porye.

Scorpion sand striker – A multijointed armored sea worm that lies buried in the ocean bottom and strikes prey with a single venom-tipped claw, then drags them below the sand with heavy jaws.  A possible mutation of the bobbit worm.

Seventy Day War – Montshire’s most recent war with Sylvania.  The Paul was forced to the peace table when the RRS, under Savid’s command, completely disrupted his woldling hordes.

Deacon Kittleby – Holy Assembly official charged with destruction of Tainted artifacts.

Twist Line, Sailor’s Rest, Ale’s Well – Pubs located in Porye.

Andru – A half-Mandrigan, half-Nuk agent, proprietor of Wearable Wovens.

Nuk – Race of Tainted survivors similar to Drodacians who live under the ice fields of the far north.  Shorter than regular men, but broader and more powerful.

Kazilionum – Essling tailor.  A Knower and Impresser.

Gibson Macklin – Mayor of Porye.

Indigo eel – A freshwater eel with a paralytic toxin.

Father Crandall – Porye’s leading clergy member of the Church of the Apostle of the Punished.

Kultin – Mayor Macklin’s secretary.

Carter Toothaker – The king’s rook – King Helat’s personal assassin and fixer.

Egg – The Royal jailer of