Encyclopedia of Science and History
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

SAIMAA was a seventy-four-gun ship of the line in service to the Drow navy from 10030 until 10044 when she was scuttled by her own crew when it became apparent that the (Second) Battle of Kevo Bay was lost. Previous to this she had terrorized the Elvish Navies and, after the beginning of the War of the Egyebrech, those of the Confederacy and the Republic as well. She was initially commanded by Captain Pannaksemme who had her until 10039 when he was appointed Queen's Admiral. After that she passed under the orders of Captain Metasilla who was killed in [March 10044] doing battle with four frigates, led by the 32-gun Insuperable, of the Republic navy. All four frigates were crippled or sunk, but it was as a result of damage sustained during this battle that the Saimaa was in port in [July 10044] when the invasion of Syllabus began. The ship was known for flying the "Shadow Ensign," a dusky flag crafted by the Court Weaver himself. The ensign was said to have been enchanted to instill fear into the hearts of opposing sailors. During her fifteen years of service, the Saimaa is known to have taken or destroyed sixty-two ships

SALIBRI (9461-9489) was Ghenjar's wife. A cripple since birth, he arranged for her to accompany him on every campaign and faithfully consulted her for decisions. She died at the age of 28 during childbirth, leaving no written records save one poem given to Ghenjar on their wedding day:

    I don't think he'll come today
to sit with me in this grassy field
like he did that once.
The sun's going down,
I'll have to crawl back again
without seeing him,
without watching him paint
nature's beautiful skies and
rough but lovely grass.
I hoped he would return and
maybe,

    
even,
paint me with his colors and make
me look tall and beautiful
like I have painted him day after day
in my mind: tall and strong, grinning,
walking toward me over the fields
without fear of my crippled legs.

    
I don't think he'll come today,
but maybe
tomorrow.
Maybe he will carry me back to my house
or across the field to the river
or far away where I have never gone
and make me feel like I'm walking.

SAMISSAL LARIS (9671 - 9715) was one of the outstanding sculptors of all time. His most recognizable works are a series of anthropoid fountains which spray water from their battle wounds. Samissal was born in Malmo to struggling farmers, but ran away from home at any early age to apprentice himself to a master sculptor. At the age of 22 he won First Prize in the annual contest of Supreme Prelate Agricola I; at 26 he won the commission to decorate the colonnade of the Marble Palace. His most notable works include the statue of Duncan Jacket in Malmo (9710), the Betrayed Cyrus (9699, owned by the MacDuff family of Jacketz), Brothers in Death (9704, in Distown), and the tomb of Agricola I (9701) in the crypt of Neorome. In 9713 he took on an apprentice, but began to quarrel violently with him after only a few months. During one of their arguments Samissal struck the boy with a hammer, killing him instantly. He was sentenced to a year in prison, a judgement that destroyed his spirit. He never tried to carve again and died only two months after his release. Samissal was born with the family name Laris but chose not to use it; he is universally known merely as Samissal.

SANS, UBERTINO (9948-) is a world famous researcher at UIP. He is the most prominent figure in the foundling area of hydroponics research, and also studies anthropology, especially the effects of technology upon civilization. He also chairs the Trollish department.

SANTALUM is a family of related hardwood trees whose wood is often used in the construction of high quality furniture and sacred statuary. The trees are slow growing and are semiparasitic on the roots of other species. Both the roots and Santalum tree proper are the source of an aromatic yellow oil whose odor can persist for upwards up five years. The red-purple variety, known in Sudibin as Zi Tan, is notable for being the only wood denser than water.

SCIPIO I (7362-7450, r. 7392-7443) was the sixth emperor of the Second Orcish Empire. He learned statecraft from Felix II during the last ten years of Felix' reign. By all accounts Scipio was an honest and hard-working king. His steady, uneventful rule is historically overshadowed by the fiery brilliance of Felix II and the tumultuous moral decrepitude of his successor, Seneca I. Scipio finished the construction of Library of Aenolea begun by Felix II. More generally, Scipio continued the policies and philosophies of his predecessor and added little of his own. Scipio was succeeded by Cassius Pitiris, the head of the Interprovincial Council, who ruled as Seneca I.

SCROLLS

SCA see Society for Creative Anachronism

SECTAN is an island in the western ocean which forms one of the corners of the Bermuda Parallelepiped. The island is barren and unihabited. The name of the island was derived from the middle orcish sec, the scientific word for impotence.

SETCO see Southern Expanse Trading Company

SHABAZZ is the Druidic god of Man. He is symbolized by an ornamental dagger, representing beauty, intelligence, and productivity. Sacrificial daggers, according to Druidic dogma, must be used every month or their wastefulness angers Shabazz who will exact terrible vengeance.

SHADOW ENSIGN see Saimaa

SHANG ISLAND is a small island in the middle of the Western Ocean. It was the site of gnomish civilization during their periods of immigration, but its most recent town was abandoned before 8500. The Northern Expanse Trading Company attempted to found a colony there in 10013; the effort failed due to "administrative problems," according to the company spokesman. It has been reported that Yarmouthian Viking Orcs use the island as a haven or, possibly, a headquarters for pirate activity.

SHANGRI-LAISM is a cultic religion which, according to their literature, stretch back almost 10,000 years. No one has ever stepped forward to prove or disprove this claim. They worship childish gods intricately carved in ruby and use the color maroon as their official insignia. They have recently predicted the calamitous end of the world in 10011; a presagement which failed to come true, even though the name "The End of the World" was popularly given to a subsequent battle near Gravesend on Pavimentum. They claim 100,000 members worldwide, a more accurate count would be about 1,000. They recently inaugurated a new saint--the first in thousands of years according to them-- Saint Ashley in 10003. The motives and reasons behind their peculiar organization and secrecy (including a cryptic language) is unknown to all outsiders, and, in this author's opinion, the insiders as well.

SHELLYWA is the goddess of Drow Elven supremacy. She is always portrayed as a gorgeous, black-skinned Drow with golden earrings and long, golden hair. Her symbol is a black and white mon. The number seventeen is particularly sacred to Shellywa disciples; the reason is lost in antiquity.

SHIELDS are mobile protection used in combat. Shields are constructed of heavy word, about an inch thick, banded by iron, and fitted with an iron disk near the center and a handle with binding straps opposite it. Several shield designs are available.

SHIMA, YUKIOMI (c. 6305-6355) was a famous novelist of the First Orcish Republic.

SHINN, HYLE (9915-9998) was the most prominent sociologist of the 100th century. He coined the term "evolution" and used it as the title of his thirty volume history of the world. His books, published in 9990 are still fundamentally correct in their details and are used as the standard textbooks in history, sociology, anthropology, and biology.

SIBALFS are taxonomically unclassified creatures found on Islands 2 and 4 in the Western Ocean. They are reported to have massive bodies, triple-jointed arms and legs, and no facial features. It is thought that they possess a crude means of communication as well as rudimentary intelligence and civilization. They have not been studied biologically or sociologically due to the difficulties involved. Sibalfs are intensely protective of their privacy and have never been known to attempt negotiations with any visitors.

SIOUX ISLAND [see-oh-UCKS] is a small, forested island off the western coast of the Confederacy. It is inhabited by four native trives, the Goths, Visigoths, Bulgarians, and Rosicrucians, who have all signed contracts with NETCo to allow timbering in their woodlands. Sioux Island was the site of a 10001 Bloodshade craze and a reported find of one of Beigebeard's treasure troves. Neither claim was ever validated and sheepish treasure hunters finally admitted that there was a general dearth of evidence indicating either money or material components were to be found there.

SLATHER BEASTS are monotremous mammals that live in the warmer waters of the Sprinal Current. Known for its epoxy-like saliva used in hunting and its powerful poison, the Slather beast is at the top of its food chain. Even so, it is still hunted by intrepid adventurers, for its scales are one of several components of the Dispel Magic spell. They live and hunt (at night) in small constant groups.

SLATER (pop. 4,500) is a small town on the southern side of the Anisole Peninsula. Slater is an important stop on ETCo and SETCo trading routes; it is a popular spot for the export of lumber cut from the Bending Branch Forest. Unfortunately, the Slater harbor is subject to fairly frequent sea storms which cuts down on its economic security. It is for this reason that the largest lumber transportation company, Cobbett Timber, bases its fleet in the protected Jackson Bay instead of the more commercial Slater.

SLAVALE (pop. 55,000) is a large port city on the north of Gailinia. Historically populated by high elves (founded 6226), it has a large dwarvish quarter and a sizable human population as well (about 1,000). Slavale is known for its jewelry, fine weaponry, and elegant fashions that are copied immediately by multiracial designers around the world. Slavale is also known for tolerace in personal and legal matters; there were 35 mixed- race marriages there during 10032. Slavale was partially destroyed by a massive fire in 7666, but was quickly rebuilt with the help of hired mercenary armies.

SOCIETY FOR CREATIVE ANACHRONISM is a leisure organization, populated mainly by college students, who romanticize about the past and stage mock battles with wooden clubs.

SOLON (8760-8810?) was a fanatical fire dwarf leader who helped establish the fire dwarves within the Southern Sprines, three hundred years before Roland Roundhead founded a surface dwarven colony within those majestic mountains. Solon was born poor and weak, the son of convicted murderer and a prostitute. He trained incessantly with weapons, though, until he could best the local weapons master. His new-found skills in hand, he challenged local politcal and military leaders to duels and slew them all honorably. After taking control of the local government and police forces--this is all while the fire dwarves still lived under an uneasy truce with the goblins--he had the king of the fire dwarves assassinated and the head wizard imprisoned. Basking in his newfound power, he unleased a lightning raid against the goblins; elite commando units, one led by his wife, Veronica, slaughtered entire barracks of sleeping goblins. In less than three years he had cleared the southern Sprines of their former inhabitants and began to force the fire dwarves into the mountains and motivate them to build an underground empire. The rest of his life he put into the administration of his vast empire. Unfortunately, the death of his wife in an avalanche in 8808 filled him with despair. He left the kingdom to his son and wandered off taking only his closest lieutenant. He returned in 8810 to bury his lieutenant in his family's burial ground, and then left for good; what finally happened to him is unknown. Solon pioneered the use of irrigation within the moutains, and directed the creation of an extensive running water/sewage system within the mountains themselves.

SORCEROR'S TETRAHEDRON This is a basic concept, developed in 10009 by the human philosopher Benoit Jackson to describe the pentachotomy of magic. The four vertices of a tetrahedron, symbolically equidistant from the center represent Biomancy, Physomancy, Telemancy, and Chronomancy. The center of the polyhedron represents pure magic or Sorcery. Though this was just a useful creation to describe society's view of magic, some magicians have gone to great lengths to find astronomical, chemical, biological, geographical, religious, and historical references to tetrahedra that would confirm the shape to be metaphysically "something more" than a curious invention.

SOUTHERN EXPANSE TRADING COMPANY (SETCo) is the largest commercial firm operating in the eastern ocean. In 9975 three smaller companies, all based in Jacketz, merged their operations and created the Southern Merchant Coalition (SMC). The SMC lasted until 9998 (absorbing two other companies in the process) and slowly built a martime commerical network including Gailinia, eastern Vyrica, Allotrope, Symtheta, Botnia, the Republic and the Confederacy. In 10001 the board of directors voted to change the name of the from SMC to the Southern Expanse Trading Company simultaneous with a revamping of the corporate structure to that a public, stock-issuing corporation rather than a partnership amongst five companies, a move brought about by a need to acquire additional capital quickly to avoid the newly-emergent Northern Expanse Trading Company from making serious inroads on SETCo territory. The move was largely successfully. Today, in 10038, SETCo remains based in Jacketz where the board of directors meets. Directors serve seven year terms and are elected, two per year, to staggered terms. By tradition, voting takes place in the company auditorium (usually leased to the city for civic performances) in July to allow as many stockholders as possible to attend.

SPRINAL TAP. The Sprinal Tap forms the northern end of the Sprinal ranges that is the backbone of Ilico to the eastern sea. The uppermost reaches of the Tap are covered by the glacier, while the lowermost are covered with dense forest. In 9966 Horgan Mickelson wrote in his diary:

    It is impossible to describe the interior of the Tap as anything but eerie, what little we have seen, that is. The colors are pure and somber, there is hardly any noise, fog is omnipresent and undulating. It is impossible to predict anything before you see it; nature has taken a perverse pressure in making her lands as uncertain as possible. It is a very tiny exaggeration to say that the very birds laugh at you when you turn your back. The region abounds with ferocious animals--many found nowhere else--and difficult-to-pass terrain. This is no place for the light-hearted campers, mind you.

The Tap has long been known to radiate minor levels of magical radiation and has resisted all modern attempts at exploration and colonization motivated by indepedent discoveries of valuable ore and organic deposits with the cliffs. The latest, an attempt in 9970 by Sherrenbone Enterprizes (over Horgan's dissuading advice), ended in failure with a plague. The Tap consists of a large number of valleys and lakes connected by ridges, ravines and paths through the highest mountains of the Sprines. No map of the area exists. It is unknown if any ancient cultures lived in the area, though many of them have tales which mention it: gnomes, for instance, speak of Ghenjar's favorite hunting locale lying "ten miles straight west of the harbor of blue stones."

SPRINES are a long mountain range that run from Iceland through Pieschland and LaCoast and into the Confederacy of Dun Cess. Their massive nature (10,000-20,000 feet high) have prevented many invasions from the east as well as any serious settling projects on the eastern coast. They support sparse coniferous forests and several volcanoes along their length. They were inhabited by the Dwarves until the 9400's when the Gnomish and Elvish War pushed them out. After that gnomes became the principle race of the Sprines. The Sprines are divided into three major sections, from the north to the south they are called: the Sprinal Tap, the Northern Sprines, and the Southern Sprines. Mountain Trolls make up a small fraction of the total population of the Sprines.

SQUIGGLE PIPES are a neccessary piece of chemical research equipment. They consist of a single tube (usually glass) that is coiled around an imaginary cylinder, several inches in diameter. Squiggle pipes oriented in a counterclockwise manner (as seen from above) are considered "normal." Those oppositely oriented are called Squaggle Pipes.

STOUTSTONE is the surname of a famous clan of surface dwarves who have contributed many of the soldiers and politicians of that race's recent history. The first recorded member, Cody Stoutstone (9407-9437) died defending the Temple of Tiffan from marauding elves and gnomes during the War in the Southern Sprines (9430-9436). His son, Nicholas Stoutstone, went on the help found new dwarvish civilizations on Allotrope while improving its army and founding the first dwarvish navy ever.

STYROFOAM PEANUTS are the fruit of the Styrofoam tree, a native plant of northern Ilico. They are edible and nutritious but unpalatable. Because of their elastic nature, they are often used to transport fragile equipment when it is in danger of being jostled or dropped. Styrofoam peanuts are about an inch long, slightly curled, and light brown in color.

SUDIBIN are anthropoid creatures closely enough related to elves to be scientifically considered a subrace, though their physical appearance is markedly different where facial features are concerned. Hobgoblins most resemble dark elves, but have coarser features and greater physical attributes. They have always been a warlike race, but one that prefers the small, intraracial conflicts over women and cows, than the grandiose, all- encompassing, philosophical wars of the other races. The feudalistic hobgoblin "empire" occupies much of southeastern Vyrica; outside of this domain they are quite unheard of. Few hobgoblins travel abroad and those that do are motivated almost solely by commercial interests and return as quickly as possible to their homeland. There is a great belief among the hobgoblin people that to die outside of one's homeland is a great disgrace to oneself and ones family. For this reason they are nervous about leaving and always anxious to return to their homes in order to minimize the chance of misfortune befalling them while away. Hobgoblins are established users of lithomancy and hydromancy. Hobgoblins refer to their own race as the Sudibin, an old elvish word meaning something akin to "the impressive." The sudibin have their own language, markedly different from elevaise. The social organization is patriarchial and based on clans and the concept of honor. Ritual suicide is common when "dishonor" has been suffered. Their military development has also differed, being isolated from other civilizations. The typical noble sudibin warrior, called a samurai (plural: samurai), wears the daisho of swords consisting of the longer katana and the shorter wakizashi. Less noble warriors use the naginata spear. Martial arts are common.

SUPREME PRELATE is the title assumed by the spiritual and temporal leader of the Universal Church. There is scholarly disagreement about whether the title is assumed for life, but in practice it has been held until death or abdication. Whenever the office is vacated, an election is held among the Prelates Major to fill it with one of their own number. Pericles I assumed the office in 10010 upon the death of Rural III. The Supreme Prelate resides in the Marble Palace in Neorome in the Confederacy.

SURFACE DWARVES are a nation of dwarves. They resemble their sister cultures in almost all respects, save their lighter skin and predominant green, hazel and grey eye colors. They are predominantly right-handed and range in height from 4'6" to 5'0". Though dwarves are steretypically miners and metalworkers, the surface dwarves have historically been an agrictultural and merchant race; they have been the object of racism stemming from economic jealousy, especially during the waning period of the Dwarvish Renaissance which saw surface dwarves ostracized from deep, fire, and celtic dwarf communities. Surface dwarves live primarily in the great cities of Allotrope where they serve as middlemen for the mountain-dwelling deep and fire dwarves and the rest of the world which has need of Allotrope's minerals.

SURFACE GNOMES are an anthropoid race, found mainly on the island of Botnia. Though most gnomes are subterranean dwellers, surface gnomes moved above ground during the Fourth Gnomish Resurfacing; they adapted to above ground conditions and flourished in present-day Pieschland, LaCoast, and Botnia. It was only with the human migration from Iceland to central Ilico that saw the surface gnomes forced from Ilico. Most surface gnomes today live on Symtheta or Botnia; Botnia is more densely populated and is more representative of traditional gnomish culture. Symtheta, less isolated and on the major ETCo and SETCo trading routes, is home to quite modern cities and gnomes assimiliated into the universal culture. Most surface gnomes are 4'2" to 4'8" and left handed. Almost all surface gnomes have brown eyes, dark hair, and light brown skin, whereas subterranean gnomish subraces often have black eyes and darker, almost black, skin.

SWINBURNE was a medium-sized town of 12,000 in Pieschland whose population mainly centered on mining and refining. Soon after joining a Pieschland Allied Defensive Force, organized Mayor Sugyp of neighboring Milton, a traitor stole the military and architecture plans of the town and its mines and sold them to the deep gnome army during the Second War of Ilican Succession. The town was destroyed in 10010 and completely leveled. The last mayor was Joe Hardy, who took office in 10000 after bravely leading an expedition that repelled a gnomish scout party from the city's iron mines.

SYLLABUS ISLAND is a small, 12-mile diameter island located to the southwest of Gailinia. It was inhabited by the Drow Elves after the Elvish Uncivil War of 9625-9640. It has two principle towns, both ports, Haamerlinna on the north, and Jaarvenpaa on the south.

SYLVESTER, ARINTATA (9620-9691) was a high-elf magical engineer who discovered the first feasible method of fixing high powered biocorpromancy spells. This discovery of an inorganic magic- retaining chemical allowed the synthesis and sale of high-power heal and regeneration magics for the first time. For his discovery, Arintata was posthumously given the 9992 Cyromank Award for Industrial Magic. Arintata was an eccentric man who preferred the company of his Dierfin dogs to mankind. His autobiography, Sylvester is little more than 60 pages written on the opinions of one man on the futility of war; a poor source for information about this brilliant theoretician.

SYMTHETA is an island in the eastern ocean populated mainly by surface gnomes. Being on the major trade routes of SETCo and ETCo it is much more assimilated into "standard" culture than the other island home of surface gnomes, Botnia. The city cities on Symtheta, Dendrite, Axon, and Synapse are ruled by am executive 12-member board called the Ecclesia, made up of four members from each town.

SYNAPSE (pop. 5,500) is a surface gnome farming town on the island of Symtheta.