Lexicon of Weird

the period the system takes to process and respond to a query, form, or request; the system's metabolic time, measured by its own appetite rather than the clock

the deep chest resonance vocalisation of the Onetoe; a rolling sub-tonal sound like a bell's pre-peal that triggers murk movement and fauna response

the organic process by which a building gradually learns and absorbs its occupant: their habits, body heat, preferences, and eventually their physical shape; the building-level equivalent of cognivising

the raised earthwork embankment of the old abandoned railway, overgrown with moss and hawthorn

a massed undead horde summoned or drawn by the Scerm; the assembled forces of the murk moving as a single body

an organic network surveillance node disguised as a plant; embedded in a window box, garden, or verge to report heat signatures and activity to the nearest sub-station

the minute-taker entity; a being whose presence is wider than any room, that records everything including things not yet said, with perfect symmetry revealing non-human nature

the forest-generated documentary double; a person's official classification and description given physical form; the system's file on a person made flesh, set walking the waymarked path; injuries mirrored on the wrong side

the return crossing through The Hinge from the Dark Peak to the off-world

the process of mentally controlling or absorbing another person through the hivemind; a soulprint power enabled by the molon-tor

the brain virus that links animal life and fungal life; infects every native of The Dark Peak and the woad; enables soulprint phenomena; powers the Scerm; did not infect the saurians, contributing to their extinction

the biological-quantum computing used by the fungal AI and the DPDC jellyheads

an undead being; also a general term for ghosts and the returned dead of The Dark Peak; Boggy Lomas is a revenant

the in-world parallel to the real thought experiment; the fungal AI reasons retroactively to eliminate threats to its own existence; kills the humidity plant Curator

the range of psychic/organic abilities enabled by the molon-tor: pre-cognition, telepathy, kinesthesia, cognivising, symbiot-bonding

the telepathic network shared by all native Dark Peak species through the molon-tor; accessed by jellyheads via psycmasks; weaponised by the nascenti for surveillance and advertising

the pervasive humid fog that blankets The Dark Peak; alive and conscious; fed by the humidity plant; blocks out sunlight; has a sound like a funfair

Pip's term for our world (the real Sheffield); the parallel universe on the other side of the Hinge

forbidden knowledge that the wasps will return and restore balance to The Dark Peak; speaking of it is banned in Hellsborough; Van believes he embodies it as a human-xaexs hybrid

the force of The Dark Peak; the consciousness of the murk; an afterlife/out-of-body experience triggered by rockcrust; the living, quantum essence of the murk itself

a large supernatural black dog; ghost dog of Yorkshire folklore, real in The Dark Peak; Shad is a barghest

human-insect hybrids who lost their second set of legs; shapeshifters; highly educated; couriers, spies, and performers; indigenous to The Dark Peak

large crow-like birds in The Dark Peak; form hordes; a threat in the Wisewood

a large cricket-like insect eaten in the bar; Van catches and eats them from the air

mindless creatures that roam the Wisewood; clovenfooted; stench of decay and sulphur; cause terror by sound and smell alone

large insectoid creature related to the xaexs; found in swarms

lesser nascenti; the muscle, security guards, and enforcers of the nascenti

the fungal AI network; sentient; makes its own decisions, not always aligned with the nascenti; the organic network's underlying intelligence

a horde of flying dogs; dangerous in a pack; killed Sophie Hinchcliffe

an ancient people; the instigators and guardians of The Hinge; employ bounty hunters to monitor crossings

the overlord species; water-based; run Hellsborough through the organic network; keep jellyheads as willing slaves via psycmasks

small vermin creature; grey or mottled brown; diet of seeds, nuts, eggs; bushy-tailed; 10 inches in size

flying creature hunted for food

a noisy flying creature found on the plateau between the Ripperthroat mountains

a small familiar creature that perches on its owner's shoulder; variable appearance; communicates via gesture and clicks

ray-shaped revenant/ghost; allows Van to defy gravity; feared by the xin; under general control of the demons

a species originally made from regurgitated wood and paper, birthed by wasps and brought to life by the molon-tor; masters of nanomaterial and advanced weaponry; not born but made

insectoid mercenary species, samurai cockroach; independent, disciplined, deadly; rarely seen in groups; stand up to 8 feet tall with two sets of arms

six-legged amphibian-insect hybrid race; tribal, warlike, nomadic across The Dark Peak; struggle with spoken language

the moorland spiritual home of the xin

the territory beyond Hellsborough occupied by the warring crosslander tribes; also called Netherlands or S5

second major nascenti stronghold, connected to Ladybower by underground dykes; also called the nascenti's Death Star by the rebels

a Dark Peak town; historic clown enemies of the Hathersage clowns

a clown settlement; home of the Hathersage performing troupe; once the cultural centre of The Dark Peak

the dark matter parallel world overlapping Sheffield; industrial production centre; dystopian city governed by the nascenti through the organic network

location of the main nascenti underground stronghold in the eastern Dark Peak

location of an organic network outpost connecting to the nascenti strongholds

a named street in Hellsborough, site of the bar where Van and Pip drink

a large xin encampment built around a decaying netherlander village near Stannington; the main Stanningtite xin home

a xin village

a named forest region in The Dark Peak

the wilderness beyond Hellsborough's Wisewood boundary; home to the xin, clowns, xaexs, and all other denizens

the gateway between Hellsborough and the off-world; located at Hillsborough corner; weakened by Pip's repeated crossings; its fracture causes dark matter to leak between worlds

jagged mountain range in The Dark Peak; the Dun river flows through them; the plateau between them is described as the tongue of a beast

the vast cold and frozen lands to the north and east of The Dark Peak

the spiritual home and main power base of the xin, located at Bleaklow; Siltibog's ultimate destination

the dense forest boundary between Hellsborough and The Dark Peak; liminal and dangerous; haunted by demonspawn and corvids at night

the underground resistance confederation comprising Van, Dirty Leaves, Pandora III, Scraith, and Pip; aims to overthrow the nascenti

human tribal factions living beyond Hellsborough in the crosslands; the Leys, the Woods, the Marshes, and the Moors; regarded as vermin by jellyheads; perpetually at war with each other

Dark Peak District Council; the local government body administering Hellsborough and The Dark Peak on behalf of the nascenti overlords

the clown performing family; spies and couriers operating out of Hathersage

one of the four crosslander warring tribes; identified by body markings

one of the four crosslander warring tribes

one of the four crosslander warring tribes

one of the four crosslander warring tribes

the liquid nutritional supplement dispensed through psycmasks to jellyhead workers

a large mouthful, especially of drink (Van Hallam's vernacular)

pissed, urinated (Netherlander/Hellsborough slang)

the common spoken tongue shared across all species of The Dark Peak; universally understood

a Hellsborough native who wears a psycmask without question; a compliant slave; crosslander term of endearment used with contempt by the resistant

humid and murky; a portmanteau used by Pip as an in-world descriptor

general address, roughly equivalent to mate or pal; used across registers

running amok; punning use of murk in place of amok

bastard (Netherlander/Hellsborough slang)

food (Sheffield/Northern dialect, used in-world)

stoned, intoxicated (Netherlander/Hellsborough slang)

large caterpillar-like creature; equivalent to an elephant-sized beast of burden; produces silk used in fungets

organic ammunition for a fungun; poisonous fungal bullets that embed in a victim and begin colonising the new host; made from cryptobite silk and milk, compressed like pills

high-velocity air (murk) powered weapon; fires fungets (poisonous fungal bullets); the standard ranged weapon of The Dark Peak

a vehicle; all clown and crosslander vehicles are organic, living beings that can access the hivemind; more machine-like than a mentiloth

beetle-spider creature; an alternative riding beast, equivalent to a horse

Hivemind Machine; the broadcast system through which the hive mind outputs queries, ads, and bestiary entries

xin bio-engineered riding beast; equivalent to a horse; the main transport of the xin across The Dark Peak

a yellow powder drug synthesised from lichen that sometimes grows on murkweed; used by Van Hallam

the fungal AI surveillance and control system; monitors the population via plants, fungi, and the dead; connects the nascenti strongholds at Ladybower and Damflask to outposts like Malin Bridge

a breathing apparatus worn by humans in the humid Dark Peak environment; delivers hivemind chatter, augmented reality, advertising, and biofeed; used by the nascenti to control jellyheads; Van wears a modified version stripped of its control functions

a type of lichen found only in The Dark Peak; synthesised by the denizens into a drug with near-psychedelic properties; opens the user to Scerm; crosses dimensions; Pip likens it to psilocybin

the communication system used in The Dark Peak; conveys a simultaneous mode of thinking rather than linear text; also called semasiographic writing

dagger; the standard close-quarters blade

a substance smoked in Hellsborough; mentioned alongside rockcrust and pipe tobacco

sword; a tentacle-like prehensile blade that wraps and grabs, controlled via wrist action or button to slice and hack

Friday equivalent (best day)

Winter; named for the unrelenting cold and dark

Summer; the humid, fertile, oppressive season

midnight; the murk sinks and presses to ground level at its densest

Monday equivalent (Yorkshire apostrophe contraction)

Wednesday equivalent (middle of the week)

dusk; the murk descending at the close of day

daytime; the lit hours when the murk is at its thinnest

night-time; full darkness under the murk

high noon; peak daylight hours

dawn; the moment the murk lifts enough to signal morning

Thursday equivalent

Spring; the brief season of growth and murk-thinning

Saturday equivalent

Sunday equivalent (splendid day)

Tuesday equivalent

Autumn; the storm-wind season