Pt0 - Index annotationum: terminologia et idiomata

Archivist’s Introduction: Prior to my relocation to Sortiarius, my work with the Adeptus Administratum instilled in me an understanding of the importance of contextualising documentation, particularly as it pertains to ensuring a modicum of objectivity around translated and interpretable passages. Please attend, below, to my abridged notes on the translations of terminology and idiom leveraged throughout my study of Aeldari sources relating to the Permorélian Cycle.

Acolyte Kaelan Korth of the Obsidian Spires

Aeldari Nomenclature

• Anhrathe Leadership Structures: Of all the Aeldari sub-types, the most ‘legible’ to humanity are the Corsair tribes. One suspects, examining the steep divergence between how they self-translate to Gothic versus how their idioms map to actual Aeldari language, translated (as best as I am able), that this may be entirely deliberate. See below; Gothic, phonetic translation, literal translation.
  • Baron (Poelta-Taic): Roughly, ‘The strut that holds’.
  • Captain (Uyraenta Macyl’n): Roughly, ‘A temporary/borrowed blade’.
  • Felarch: (Hraevyn Aioerar’Grenk): Roughly, ‘Cat herder’.
  • Prince (Tuaelyn’Rasse): Roughly ‘Receiver/gatherer/receiver of the void/barren’.
  • Reaver (Faechla’Ilywn): Roughly ‘Jagged spoon’.
  • Void Dreamer (Tueltae Ueswae’Vyr): Roughly ‘Truth-teller of lies’.
• The Blue Mon-keigh (Luinil Mon-keigh): Pejorative - ‘Tau’. While the term ‘Mon-keigh’ is variably used as a ‘catch-all’ for ‘lesser species’, this derivation appears to, in context, reference shared negative qualities between Tau and Humans.
• Chaos:
  • Slaanesh: Etymologically, the current dominant nomenclature - Slaanesh - appears to be derivative of the original Aeldari ‘Slaaneth’. In the present, the Aeldari have many names and euphemisms for Slaanesh, both as a matter of discipline and for the purpose of self-preservation. Due to the circumstances tying the birth of the Chaos God and the Fall of the Aeldari, true naming can - and does, routinely - forfeit Aeldari souls. These include Sai’Lanthresh, ‘She Who Thirsts’, and ‘The Great Enemy’. Within the Imperium of Man - where, that is, her existence is known - Slaanesh/The Prince of Pleasure are prevalent.
• Dark Kin (Drukhari): Notably, the cadence and context used to anchor this term heavily inflects meaning: for brevity, the translation ‘Dark Kin’ is used to broadly convey the general meaning as opposed to the specific shades of differentiation, aversion, and othering.
• The Deathless (multiple): Dependent on inflection and context, the common Aeldari terms for the Necrons/Necrontyr - Yngirae (Asuryani)/Oghyraen (Drukhari); sometimes conflated with or shortened as Yngir/Oghyr (as a kind of intentionally reductive metonymy) which more formally denotes the Necron’s former Gods, the C’tan - can and should be translated differently. It is odd, however, that in context the conflation reads closer to singularity, as if, to the Aeldari, the two are subsets of a singular. Irregardless. Translationally, some commonplace variations: ‘The Enmity which Defines’, ‘The Absence’, and, most commonly, ‘The Deathless’.
• Harlequins (Rillietann): A catch-all term to encompass the elusive Harlequin ‘sect’.
  • Archivist’s Note: Sources are equally unhelpful in delimiting specifically what the Harlequins are within Aeldari society, and in describing their scope. We can only discern how they are treated, textually, which is as a coherent and powerful ideological group operating within and between - but who are simultaneously independent from - Asuryani and Drukhari species-lines. The most common subsets of Harlequin ‘cells’ (‘Troupes’ would be the serviceable and typical translation):
    Athair: The Troupe master;
    Arebennian: The so-called ‘Solitaire’;
    Distaur: The ‘Mime’.
• The Hunger That Walks (Malaea Vantara): Tyranids. Fairly self explanatory in this case.
  • Archivist’s Note: It is notable how singular - almost dismissive - the Aeldari term for the Tyranids is, both in form and usage. I believe the root of this is…simply put, existential aversion to the somewhat singular nature (both in purpose and state of being) of this species.
• Kinless (Uaeldar) - Asuryani Outcasts: Rangers, Corsairs.
• Kin to our Kinless Kin (Aeldar-yn-Uaeldarnae): A common greeting/classification denoting the state of friend or ally to either a specific cohort of Outcasts or all.
• Memory Crystal (Haelina Enyaliae): a technology comprised of wraithbone-infused, psychoactive crystal. Enables an Asuryani to psychically store a memory for posterity, or, less commonly, communication.
  • Archivist’s Note: It is worth noting that the experience of interfacing with a memory crystal is…intimate, in the sense that it is both sensorily and cognitively holistic. The recipient functionally ’becomes’ the originator of the memory, recalling it as if their own with the subjectivity and nuance that experience suggests. However. Beyond memory being inherently subjective, and beyond Asuryani memory crystals being typically meant for private archiving rather than collective, when used across species-lines, it must be noted that cognitive equivalency is not necessarily one-to-one. In using these stones - where available - for my research, a key issue has become clear: despite inhabiting, in the moment, Aeldari interiority, translating that understanding in post leaves one…academically dissatisfied with the output.
• The Path System (Ai’elethra): A series of structured and rigid behavioural templates for dedicating oneself to a ‘calling’ within Craftworld societies. Critically, the goal of the Path System is to anchor oneself within a ‘calling’ to avoid the excesses and escalations associated with Slaanesh. Best known to us are the ‘Path of the Warrior’ and ‘Path of the Seer’, but within Aeldari society, all pursuits and vocations have their corresponding, structured path: the ‘Path Circuitous’, for example, being a bureaucratic Path; the ‘Artisan’s Path’ corresponding to focus on material creativity. Asuryani tend to cycle through Paths overtime, ‘mastering’ a vocation before moving on. One can become ‘lost on the Path’ and unable to deviate. Most famously, in relation to the Path of the Warrior, such individuals become Exarchs. This state of affairs typically results in such intense focus, skills and even memories relating to life before the path are lost.
• The Permorélian Cycle (Rhana-Permoréliae): A prophecy defined by the Aemira Exodites with Farseer Vae’ethryn Lec of Ulthwe as its central heroic figure. Typically translated as ‘The Prophecy of the Half-Dark Star’.
• The Restless Plague (Kelerae Qolae): alongside Arakhia (The Children of Destruction) and Orkead (assumed loan-word derivation), many Aeldari, particularly from Craftworld Ulthwe, refer to Orks as Kelerae Qolae (The Restless Plague).
  • Archivist’s Note: There is some linguistic complexity, here, as I have become aware of some sources external to our corpus which make reference to an altogether different species - ‘Kelerae’ - known to the Aeldari, and implied to be allies, or even sibling-species in the struggle against the C’tan/Necrons known as the War In Heaven. The extreme derivation (and mythic ossification) around such usages confounds a clear interpretation of why these terms accord, and it may simply be coincidental.
• The Time of Leaving (Lyulenwae): delineates the period of time on Craftworld Iyanden, following an ideological schism occasioned by the rise of the Ynnari faction, the Seer Council granted those who wished to permission to leave the Craftworld for the Ynnari cause.
• The Tri-fold Fork/the Fractured Path (Nael-Raccinae Lanya): Exarch Jae’ettra Yvorla’s (Alaitoc; Warp Spiders Shrine) characterisation of Saerith Veth and Vae’ethryn Lec’s positioning within the Prophecy of the Half-Dark Star. Hints at their entanglement/mutuality and gestures towards the other ‘key players’, fungible to the core cycle.
• The Twisted Skein (Nurmea Faile): Used in reference to Humanity specifically, typically in the context of their relationship to fate; adherence to either Imperial or ‘Chaos’ ideologies.
  • Archivist’s Note: Some oblique references, once translated, must be further contextualised: We must also bear in mind the fundamentally more esoteric (needlessly so, some may argue) nature of Aeldari language. Two phrases…one long fallen into disuse, ‘Nurmea Faile’, and one routinely encountered amongst those of the Seer Paths, ‘Crunn-an-Urath’, are essentially synonymous. These roughly translate to ‘The Twisted Skein’ and ‘Fate’s Web’, respectively. Despite having fallen into disuse, the derivative terminology of ‘Nurmea Faile’ - ‘Ranya Tae’ (The Misguided Path) and ‘Rista Tae’ (The Sundered Path), have become relatively commonly used for a different, though somewhat correlated, purpose: Pejorative differentiations between those humans beholden to the Imperium of Mankind (The Path Misguided) and those beholden to the divinities of the Empyrean (The Path Sundered). I would be remiss to not comment on the reductive framing by the Aeldari; perhaps not lacking nuance and indicative of ideological bias (clearly intentional). Note: ‘Crunn-an-Urath’, the newer synonym, speaks to complexity and reflects Aeldari conceptions of their own relationship to fate (in their estimation), while the Ranya/Rista Tae dichotomy illustrates much about Aeldari preconceptions of Mankind’s fundamental capacity for navigating their ‘skeins’. The note on esotericism is deceptively critical herein: as a relic of ‘Pre-Fall’ Aeldari lexicon, ‘Nurmea Faile’, ‘ Ranya Tae’, and ‘Rista Tae’ - in terms of their near-exclusive present application to Humanity - are inextricably woven into Aeldari perspectives on their own defining catastrophe as cyclical, recursive, and mirrored beyond their own delimited cultural context.
• The Unheard Prayer (Ularaea Lairae): Denotes the Tau species.
  • Archivist’s Note: As is common, this is actually one segment of a binarised term: the ‘Unheard Prayer’ (Ularaea Lairae) and the term ‘Dischordant Prayer’ (Yalesta Lairae) are commonly used to differentiate between the Tau Empire and the Farsight Enclaves Tau respectively.
• Veil and Knife (Nurtalae ar Tuvae): An ancient Aeldari children’s game designed to passively train psychic fortitude and aptitude. One child takes the role of ‘Veil’ (attempting to mask a thought), and the other the role of ‘Knife’ (attempting to ‘pierce the Veil’ and discern it).
• Void Shadows (Kumaeo-Unwyn): A sect within Craftworld Iyanden whose remit is the recovery of Spirit Stones from non-Aeldari groups. Comprised of both record keepers from Iyanden’s ‘Path Circuitous’, and those from other Paths - primarily warrior, seer and outcast paths - who act as agents for the mission as a whole.
• Webless (Liantae Ualanya): An atypical (prior Aspect Paths are typically not discussed within Asuryani society) pejorative classification for former Warp Spider Aspect Warriors who left the Shrine to wander (Outcasts).
• Ynnari: Used to denote the followers of Ynnead (God of Death, emergent via the ‘Rhana-Dandra’ prophecy cycle), and their ‘emissary’, Yvraine.

Kingdom of the Sorcerers Nomenclature

• Cult of Knowledge: one of the nine current Cults of the Kingdom of the Sorcerers: Change, Duplicity, Knowledge, Magic, Manipulation, Mutation, Prophecy, Scheming, and Time.
• Kingdom of the Sorcerers: Founded by Magnus the Red and centred on Sortiarius (recovered from the Empyrean and established in the Prospero System) with Tizca (recovered and reconstituted on Sortiarius) as its capital, the Kingdom of the Sorcerers was established with the utopian vision of providing a safe-haven for those touched by the warp from the Imperium of Man’s oppressive persecution.
• Order of the Loom: An intelligence-gathering network within the Cult of Knowledge, tasked with acquisition of materials pertinent to the security of the Kingdom.