Web novels, Velindar's Lyre.
Robert Mann
Three Oak Hill: A moderately sized village located in a flat meadow under a hill and nestled between two streams. The three oaks for which it was named are long gone. Recent expansions have caused the small bridges that straddle the streams to become jammed on occasion, and there is talk about making new and larger bridges. The single largest building is the theater 'Auditorious de Evadel', named after the owner and star Evadel.
The Wefender (Waif ender): One of two streams running past Three Oak Hill. The theater 'Auditorious de Evadel' is located across the bridge and a few hundred paces, when coming from the village.
The Desedrae (Day said ray): The other of the two streams running past Three Oak Hill. It is slightly larger than the Wefender, and has a good quantity of fish during most seasons. There is mostly wilderness past the bridge across the Desedrae, with the exception of several buildings dedicated to the fishing industry.
The War of Twelve: Named for the twelve noblemen who fought to control the Kingdom of Heanril (Hay-ahn-rill) around 380 years ago. Ended by Miranda Higglemin destroying a portion of the Raedin Falisma, thus providing a show of power suitable to stun all twelve factions. This was shortly followed by her ascension to the throne, and subsequently Queen Miranda ruled until her death.
Raedin Falisma (Rye dean Fall ees ma) : Also known as the 'Shroud of the Gods', this is a magical storm that covers the majority of the world. The edges move very slightly, but never more than within a small and defined zone. The storm can be removed (destroyed) in part with a powerful magic, but doing so has side effects. There are very few mages powerful enough to even split part of the storm in an attempt to destroy it, with eleven recorded attempts in the past millennium. Of these, only 2 were successful, and only 1 prior known success exists.
Water and Ice: Where water and ice are common parts of nature, they are not common resources for drinking. Water must be purified in some way, or drinking it can make a person sick, possibly killing them. Boiling is a known method, but alcohol and alchemic magic are more common and generally cheaper. Pure drinking water is a luxury for the villages, where a mix of water and beer is far more common. There is no concept of underage in regard to this 'light' or 'quarter' (a common mixture ratio being 1 part beer and 3 parts water) beer. Ice is even more of a luxury, as in most warmer climates it requires magic of some kind, with alchemic being the cheapest option.
Smalgor: A type of lesser fiend. This one is actually a small fire based creature, that burns constantly. When left with no fuel, the flames burn as if burning a scentless wood. When given fuel, the flames and smoke take on properties based on the fuel. A Smalgor can control the smoke it produces to some extent, and uses that ability to perform nefarious deeds. Being of demonic origin, Smalgor can be bound with rituals of dark magic. The weakness of a Smalgor is ice, but with most cases it will attempt to use the smoke, or shift itself, to prevent an ice based attack from hitting home.
Rynthalis (Rin tall ice): Rynthalis is a magical natural phenomenon in an isolated region. A form of mixed lightning and ice, it exhibits both sets of properties in full. The actual form of the magic is illusive, and reproduction by magi has only been accomplished at a very weak level. Living in proximity to the phenomenon eventually starts to corrupt the nature (blood) of a being, and in order grants them resistance toward the cold and toward electrical damage, gives them some ability to form Rynthalis on their own... although this requires sentient though, and eventually leads to enough of an alteration that they can no longer breed with others of the same species. The alterations may coincide enough that 2 beings with close exposure levels may breed, which has lead to a small but thriving number of adapted creatures, including a tribe of humans.
"put a poker on the lord's saddle": A phrase used to express disbelief at the audacity used in upsetting somebody. Some stablehand, upset at his lord, and placed a sharp tack in position to express his displeasure. His punishment was strict, and perhaps it was the example that was made of him that placed the phrase into use. Whatever the case, it is now used as a rhetorical observation that you upset someone.
Sand *for those wondering!*: Sand does not become glass directly. Rather, it is the silica in sand that turns into glass. The melting point for silica is higher than many metals. Considering this, the most likely result of brief exposure of sand to fire is merely hot sand. In fact, this was a common tactic in the defense of castles (sand was both cheaper than oil, and easier to clean, making it a far better choice than boiling oil in most cases.) Thus, the sand that hit the fiend did not turn into little shards of glass, and in fact the silica that was in it did not come close to the melting point. However, the rapid heating and contraction from the flame and freezing did cause some granular disturbances... and as such some portions of the sand are finer. They are now the nice sand you would want at a beach!