The-tyrant-philosophers/Culture

Every entry currently tracked for this category.

Entry	Appears in	Notes
Allorwen circlecraft	City of Last Chances ch 43	the traditional practice of binding an infernal being into marriages and coming-of-age ceremonies; "the gift your family gave you, the blessing on your road"
Allorwen conjuring	House of Open Wounds ch 7	the magical tradition of Allor, involving pacts with Those Below; suppressed by the Palleseen conquest "Almost a decade" ago
Allorwen demon lore	Pretenders to the Thro ch 32	the scholarly framework Jack has learned, which holds that Hell is "not a place like the world" and cannot take in a human being
Allorwen traditions	House of Open Wounds ch 25; Pretenders to the Thro ch 5	the conjuration system of Allor based on individual artisanal contracts with demons; "semi-religion" governing Allorwen society; conjuration for carnality was banned under Pal statute; nine is an auspicious number
Allorwen vocabulary for demons	House of Open Wounds ch 25	a whole vocabulary that "splits these demonic hairs more finely" than Pel, which cannot translate the distinctions between a demon's nature and its personhood
barreau	City of Last Chances ch 15
Bracite rainbow myth	House of Open Wounds ch 21	the original Bracites walked roads that became rainbows, bringing them to a "promised land of plenty"
Bracite royalist loyalism	House of Open Wounds ch 30	the belief that the rightful king's return will "sweep the foreign filth from our shores and restore our land to greatness"; includes a one-armed general, wolfcat statues, and ritual dress (robes, ceremonial hat, chin-paint)
Bracite traditional dress	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 5	open-fronted robes, bare chests, ornate belts, single-edged knives thrust through the belt
Butterfly Houses	House of Open Wounds ch 22	Bracite religious/cultural institution where initiates perform a ritual that resembles butterflies; visitors receive dancers and entertainment
capped wages proclamation	City of Last Chances ch 38	a historical decree by the Old Duke forbidding workers to ask for more pay; rolled back after a march
Carcer faith	Pretenders to the Thro ch 10	an old religion whose sacristy was beneath the Pandaemonium; "now thoroughly defiled and disempowered"; the chapter treats it as the indigenous faith of the location
Champion's code	Pretenders to the Thro ch 36
chaq and hazard	City of Last Chances ch 27	a gambling game played at the Anchorage; Cheryn was a participant at Langrice's "famous high-stakes invitational"
Charter of the Temporary Commission of Ends and Means	Days of Shattered Fait ch 1	document displayed on the wall of Slate House; Palleseen members learn it by rote
Clarethism	City of Last Chances ch 21	the name, found "in the old books," for the faith Yasnic practises; Ivarn calls it "that old heresy" dead for two generations; its stricture for followers is "do no harm. Lift no hand against your fellows, nor incite others to"
coinsy	House of Open Wounds ch 36	a game of chance or gambling; Lidlet "won" a pair of gloves at it
Correct Thought	City of Last Chances ch 1-48; House of Open Wounds ch 2-26; Lives of Bitter Rain ch 3; Days of Shattered Fait ch 27	the overarching Palleseen governing ideology and code of rules; Brocklesby's career ladder, the legal framework, and the philosophy of discretion are all framed through it. Distinct from the five administrative Schools (Correct Erudition, Correct Appreciation, Correct Exchange, Correct Conduct, Correct Speech)
Cotto kinship	Days of Shattered Fait ch 8	a Cotto concept of extremely distant but real familial obligation: "in the sea blood smells blood"; Hullseer Orhuhst calls the stabbed Pal woman "niece-cousin"
Cotto sea-gods	Days of Shattered Fait ch 50	the Shark Queen and the Fisher King (her groom), and "all the sea-gods, the storm gods, the powers of sudden violence, hunger and rage"; the Cotto mark sacred sigils on ship-rails and deck for ceremonies at dusk
Cross	Pretenders to the Thro ch 16	a card game played in pairs "like a brace of fencers"; cards named include Head of the Serpent, Ruined King, Four Batons, Lovers
Culling List	Pretenders to the Thro ch 11-40
Demon-mask prohibition	Days of Shattered Fait ch 5	Usmai inherited the old Empire's loathing of demons; their representation is strictly controlled and forbidden even on a duelling mask
Divinati cosmology	House of Open Wounds ch 39	Alv describes Erinael as "a creature of radiance," "the receptacle of divine power," an angel in Divinati philosophy, "a class of being that dwelled Above, as demons did Below"
Divinati healing	House of Open Wounds ch 41
divine tattooing	City of Last Chances ch 19	Nihilostes bears "the insect features of her god" tattooed on her body; the ritual "took two days of agony as she sweated and writhed in the smoke"
Festival of Milk and Flowers	Days of Shattered Fait ch 11	a Usmai festival after which the Alkhand renews treaties with the nation's strange allies; includes a "frog god's writ" granting a night of licence; Gil slept with Dekamran during it
Fisher King cult	House of Open Wounds ch 47; Days of Shattered Fait ch 28-35; Pretenders to the Thro ch 4-41	a conquered people's religion, "consigned to the pyre of a murdered history" by Correct Speech; name, practices, rites, regalia, holy places, and priests all erased; only a handful of scraps survive, gathered clandestinely by collectors like Thurrel
hooley-hooley language	House of Open Wounds ch 21	Jack's native tongue; Tallifer uses the term dismissively; speaking it in the open risks Correct Speech attention
Jarokiri religion	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 1	suppressed; holding religious views is "expressly banned"; the priestess is called "a sacrificer of children, a slave to monstrous divinities"
Jarokiri shepherd song	House of Open Wounds ch 21	an old song from the grazing lands of Jarokir; Lochiver plays it on his flute to stave off the group's nerves
Loruthi literature	Pretenders to the Thro ch 39	books printed by the people of Lor in Pel but using the language subversively; a war-effort project to spread "morally corrupting literature" behind enemy lines
Mahanic teaching	City of Last Chances ch 45	religious doctrine Lemya grew up with: "The cursed were without hope. They must lift it or perish and be damned."
Mahanic Temple faith	City of Last Chances ch 10
Mahanism	City of Last Chances ch 1	dominant faith that expanded to "fill all the available faith"; actively spoke against other religions
Maric poetry	City of Last Chances ch 6	an art form the Palleseen restrict to Pel instruction; "you literally couldn't convey Maric poetry in the language of the Occupiers"
Misery and Wickedness	Days of Shattered Fait ch 36-42; Pretenders to the Thro ch 34	Caeleen's creed and revolutionary motto; the only leverage the powerless have on the world, recast as nobility
Moerend creed	Pretenders to the Thro ch 37	the Moeribandi morbid religion, "very, very concerned with death, and the stewardship of that which endures beyond it"; held that "demons were the great enemy of humanity"; "light on massacres and exterminations"
Moerendi theology of death	Days of Shattered Fait ch 14	speaks of death, reward, and return; the Moerends believed in judgment and rebirth for the dead
Moeribandi ornament	Days of Shattered Fait ch 18	grey, sombre decorative tradition of the old Empire; tapestries of the dead judged by death-gods, paintings of skull-faced Almuers, actual collected bones
monastic dissolution of marriage	Days of Shattered Fait ch 13	in Usmai, taking monastic vows dissolves all marriage bonds; a spouse may leave by entering an order, "from the least beggar to the Alkhand"
Moru	Days of Shattered Fait ch 18-25	a religious tradition or sect within the Moerend death cult; acolytes wear loose robes, its texts are "dusty" and "vast," and its practices include sacred self-starvation and skull-face paint
Moru painting	Days of Shattered Fait ch 19	a death-cult practice involving skull imagery painted on the face; Premath had it done; the servants were stopped from shaving his scalp, so his hair is growing back
Moru scripture	Days of Shattered Fait ch 21	the earliest scripture of the Successor States; identifies demons as the Enemy because the old Empire fought the Despotate which "had demons up the wazoo"
Old Morib	Days of Shattered Fait ch 39	"the ancient Imperial tongue," now used only in religious rite; Arkanith speaks his address in it
Oloumanni chaos cults	House of Open Wounds ch 24	"nasty little chaos and murder cults" of Oloumann carried across the Palleseen Sway by the Palleseen conquest itself
Orundama	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 9	Thunder Month, the Usmiat rainy season lasting almost three months; the waterfall doubles in volume
Outreach Appointments Manual	Days of Shattered Fait ch 34	the short-form document defining the Resident's three duties, approved by the Temporary Commission of Ends and Means
Pal canon	House of Open Wounds ch 11	the Palleseen literary/official canon; excises writers whose work is deemed irrational even in metaphor
Pal doctrine	Days of Shattered Fait ch 44	a Palleseen/Pallesand principle: "You had to show people the error of their ways"
Pal marching song	House of Open Wounds ch 23	a song "comparing a variety of named officers to the arse ends of pack animals from across the world"; known by most of the regulars
Pal philosophy	House of Open Wounds ch 1	"the Pal philosophy prefers to strip away the trappings of ritual from its magical practices," though Prassel still uses gestures "for concentration."
Palleseen theology of death	Days of Shattered Fait ch 14	colloquially "the Pals"; holds that a ghost returns to the fabric of the world upon release
Pel	City of Last Chances ch 1-48; House of Open Wounds ch 4-50; Lives of Bitter Rain ch 5-10; Days of Shattered Fait ch 1-47; Pretenders to the Thro ch 2-37	the Palleseen language, "the perfect language, easy to learn, clear in meaning, the ideal means to communicate Correct Thought"; distinct from the now-extinct native Palleseen
Perfection	City of Last Chances ch 48; House of Open Wounds ch 8-10; Lives of Bitter Rain ch 1-2; Days of Shattered Fait ch 37; Pretenders to the Thro ch 7-31	the Palleseen ideological product they export; territories must "accept perfection" to enter the Sway
Preamble to On The Practice of Provincial Assimilation	Days of Shattered Fait ch 43	a document approved by the Temporary Commission of Ends and Means, prescribing removal of non-collaborating administrations and control-claimants in inducted territories
Scapegoat at the gallows	City of Last Chances ch 9	the practice Guame expects after a great man's death: "the first thing those in power wanted to see was the sacrifice of the lowly"
Seadragon cult	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 3	a Faraslendi religion whose altars "run red every spring-tide" with sacrifice; Lasaret considers it "exactly the sort of thing perfection cannot co-exist with for long"
Snailness	Days of Shattered Fait ch 16	the ideologically pure concept the village monks revere; they avoid snails as food by doctrine
spring-tide	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 3	a recurring Faraslendi observance (roughly six months away) at which the Seadragon cult sacrifices
Targallen's work on Parabolic Lensing	Pretenders to the Thro ch 21	a mathematics text Aspel is reading; "the ancient and true mathematics that describes all possible worlds"
Taumachy	Days of Shattered Fait ch 8-48	mentioned in the final battle: "Taumachists" fight alongside the defenders; animated wooden animals (a crab the size of a mule, toy tigers, a jointed serpent) are used as weapons
Tevits	Pretenders to the Thro ch 4	a card game of sacred/divinatory origin, secularised by soldiers; three cards per player plus a face-up spread of "fates" in the centre; originated outside the Archipelago
the Alborandi severance	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 9	Usmiat custom by which a spouse enters the Alborandi order to dissolve marriage bonds; once a year the masked monks unmask at the pools so freed members may go free
the Allorwen ritual wedding	Pretenders to the Thro ch 20	a form of symbolic union (as the Allorwen do with demons) that the narrator used to gain access to the necropolis's power; she calls her status "Consort"
the approved canon	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 2	the limited body of Palleseen-approved literature and poetry; the poet who coined "Rain Life" has been excised from it
the ball game	House of Open Wounds ch 28	a sport played in the Magnelei stadium with a hard ball, underdressed Bracite participants, and extremely enthusiastic crowds; incomprehensible to outsiders
The Boat Songs	Pretenders to the Thro ch 10	songs of the fishing fleet and trading costers; banned by the Loruthi under penalty of death for even humming a line; now sung as rebellion with the Pals at the gate
the Bracite fox saying	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 5	"They hold them up, so you look out in the fields and you see the tail, but... maybe the fox isn't there?"; a saying about false flags and phantom threats; Bracinta supposedly has magic foxes
the Cleansing	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 7	the public divorce rite of Usmai; the wife removes her jewellery, unbinds her hair, receives a mask from the Alborandi, and leaves as one of them
the dawn service at the Lighthouse	Pretenders to the Thro ch 24	a ritual of watching the sun over the sea, instituted by the Pope of Tides, binding all Fisher King cult members to early attendance
The Day of Milk and Flowers	Days of Shattered Fait ch 9-31	annual festival in Usmai involving the burial of surrogate demon-jars, the frog Kakrops emerging from his cave, public dancing, garlands, and a suspension of normal sexual mores for one day and night
the Faraslandi sea cult	Days of Shattered Fait ch 17	a religious group; one of its priestesses performed "the magic fish thing" and has been arrested
The Fisher King's cult	Days of Shattered Fait ch 36-40	a resurgent sea-cult devoted to "the old lord of the isles," the Fisher King; induction involves a cliff-edge fall, blood-mixing, and tasting of blood and rain; the Palleseen suppressed it before this book's period; its god is "the old lord of the isles" and its followers revere "blood and fear and death"
The Great Night	House of Open Wounds ch 11	Palleseen writer's phrase for the world of superstition and unreason; the writer was excised from the Pal canon for personifying an abstract
the Hospitaller pamphlet	Pretenders to the Thro ch 34	the document the Hospitallers cult is built around; Jack does not own a copy
the light-goes-out belief	Pretenders to the Thro ch 15	the teaching, held by multiple religions, that "with each conjuration, a little light goes out of the world to be locked in the coffers of the Kings Below"
The Marriages of Orllemande	Pretenders to the Thro ch 24	a book in verse with woodcut illustrations, encoding Allorwen arcane lore in symbols and allusions; one of the items the Widow has Jack retrieve from the Varinaen
The Night of Milk and Flowers	Days of Shattered Fait ch 10	the night of the Day of Milk and Flowers, when Kakrops grants permission to transgress social and marital boundaries; music, tokens, acrobats, and the exchange of favours across all districts of Alkhalend
the old religion of Ffen	Pretenders to the Thro ch 3	referenced once: criminals were offered to the justice of Ffen, the Crab
the old work songs	City of Last Chances ch 34	songs "that came into the city with the fieldhands when the factories first opened," sung by the Hammer Districts crowd
the Os-Fferegh clan kin network	Pretenders to the Thro ch 15	the practice by which displaced residents of Eres Ffenegh beg at the doors of clan kin for shelter during the siege; those refused, immigrants, outcasts, or the stubborn "hunkered down and barred their doors"
the Pal curse	House of Open Wounds ch 42	a cultural epithet for Palleseen ambition; "just ambition, the old Pal curse. Two young stars vying for the same firmament"
the Pal fencing tradition	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 2	fencing taught among orphanage students on a "star-shaped piste"; a "garnish" to an officer's skillset; Ostrephy's disapproval prefigures a coming institutional condemnation ("the stern eye of perfection won't start to frown at the tradition for at least another decade or so")
The Peak and the Port	City of Last Chances ch 32-38	a patriotic song of Ilmar, banned by the Palleseen along with "so much else"; an obscene student version also exists
the Pledge	House of Open Wounds ch 40	a form drafted by Lidlet by which a soldier pre-commits to accepting God's faith if healed; Jack calls it "insurance with God" and rejects it as sacrilege
the Precepts	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 2	Palleseen doctrinal texts; children expected to recite them without hesitation
the prisoner docket	House of Open Wounds ch 3	a document signed off by a processing NCO assigning a prisoner to a unit; Banders notes that high-ranking officers "only read the headings and not the details"
the Pursuit	City of Last Chances ch 4	the elaborate courtship game the Armiger families passed down, now practised by Lodge soldiers; the anticipation and seeking matter more than consummation
the roster	Days of Shattered Fait ch 47	a special roster on Outreach's books for Palleseen who have killed a king or equivalent; considered a matter for commendation.
the Stick-Man dare	House of Open Wounds ch 44	an orphanage game in which children sneak into the sea-caves at night to strike the Fisher King statue; "the Stick-Man" was what the children called the defaced statue of the Fisher King
The Synthesis of a Rational Alchemical Framework	House of Open Wounds ch 32	Ollery's treatise; gave alchemy a logical, rational framework acceptable to the Schools; revolutionised medicine and other fields; saved Ollery from execution
the True Speech	Days of Shattered Fait ch 11	the Tesemer word for their own language, which they are losing; they "desperately lard" their fading memories of it with significance
The Varatsin marriage to the Wood	City of Last Chances ch 47	a symbolic wedding of the city to what lay beyond the Wood, practised under the Varatsins and the old covenant; the keeper of the Anchorage officiated; the practice died with the Varatsins
the waiver of authority	House of Open Wounds ch 27	a mandatory extension-of-duties form signed by Scaffesty requiring Prassel to bottle the ghosts of patients who die in the experimental hospital without individual consent
Toad religion	Days of Shattered Fait ch 27	the "local toad religion" of Usmai whose god was killed approximately twenty days prior; understood to be the Usrani worship of Kakrops
Usmai duelling tradition	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 8	the ancient practice in which men fight with clavar and women with skia; men cannot duel women; practiced in sand circles
Usmiri	Lives of Bitter Rain ch 10; Days of Shattered Fait ch 1-34	the language of Usmai
Varatsin coat of arms	City of Last Chances ch 40
Zenotheus's doctrine	City of Last Chances ch 19	Zenotheus lays eggs in the hearts of kings, harbinger of upheaval and change, bringer of chaos; permits Its followers and priests to "have a good time"; It is also "the Bringer of the World's Wounds"
chaq	City of Last Chances ch 3-27	"that ancient clash of tiles and symbols of obscure origin"; played in tile-forts with face-up and face-down pieces
circle houses	City of Last Chances ch 2-43	establishments where one can have "something conjured up in the image of his heart's desire"; a trade the Allorwen in Mirror Allor control
Copper as the metal of magicians	Pretenders to the Thro ch 13	in Os-Fferegh / Allorwen practice, copper is the metal of conjurers; Kaele and others dye their hair copper to signal the Pandaemonium's dual brothel-and-conjuring function
mance	City of Last Chances ch 15
Maric winter underwear	House of Open Wounds ch 3	Maric underwear extends to the knees with a built-in vest, owing to bitter winters; Marics lack a tradition of en masse unisex washing facilities
Os	Pretenders to the Thro ch 26
poetic houses	House of Open Wounds ch 26	a local Bracite tradition where one drinks superior tea, listens to verses, and has one's future read from tea leavings
the old factory songs	City of Last Chances ch 6	Maric songs from the riverside mills before the Occupation; singing them is "Incorrect Thought"
the old School song	Days of Shattered Fait ch 28	a reference to a song associated with Correct Speech interrogation methods; Dalry is "actually hurt" that Gil assumes he still practices