A to Z Index

Aconite (Herbal): A plant that healers use to dull pain, among the deadliest of poisons, and dangerous in all but skilled hands.

Actinate (Lapidary): A natural blend of platinum-group metals that current metallurgy cannot separate.

Amber (Lapidary): Fossil tree resin, a niche store of value in parts of Eldland and a Skeldic trade good.

Ancestral First Ingots (Customal): The First Ingots a dwarf inherits from ancestors, kept apart as a physical genealogy.

Anvils and Hammers (Mechanica): Dwarven anvils follow the old premium pattern: a hardcast body with a hardened steel face forge-welded onto it.

Apple (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for apple, with the crab apple, the common orchard fruit and the fruit of cider; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Arbor Dianae (Mechanica): A rare, soft metal of the arcane domain, the foundation of the matrices in crafted magical devices.

Artillery (Mechanica): Siege engines, which dwarven fabrication could build to the level of ballistas, mangonels, and trebuchets.

Barley (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for barley, the grain of bread, porridge, and ale; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Beet (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for beet, a root and leaf crop of the garden; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Belladonna (Herbal): A nightshade, also called deadly nightshade, that healers use to ease pain and spasm, among the deadly plants, and dangerous in unskilled hands.

Betony (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for betony, a herb of meadows and woods, and one of the Nine Herbs; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Black Bryony (Herbal): A climbing plant of the hedgerows, acrid and poisonous in all its parts, unrelated to white bryony.

Bramble (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for bramble, the blackberry, whose leaves and roots are used as an astringent against diarrhea; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Brass (Mechanica): A gold-colored copper alloy made with calamine, a zinc ore.

Bronze (Mechanica): A copper alloy for which tin is essential.

Cabbage (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for cabbage, with kale, the main leaf crop of the cold months; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Calamine (Lapidary): A zinc ore, known and extractable in some places; high-purity calamine is a valuable commodity.

Caraway (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for caraway, an aromatic seed used for digestion and flavor; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Carrot (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for carrot, a sweet root of the garden; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Castor (Herbal): A tall plant whose oil healers use as a purge and people burn in lamps, though its seeds are deadly.

Chamomile (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for chamomile, a small daisy-like herb used for digestion and sleep, and one of the Nine Herbs; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Cherry (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for cherry, an orchard fruit; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Chervil (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for chervil, a delicate kitchen herb, and one of the Nine Herbs; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Chestnut (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for chestnut, a nut tree whose fruit is ground for bread in poor lands; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Clove Oil (Herbal): The oil of the clove, a dear spice of far countries, used to numb a toothache and as an antiseptic, and strong enough to harm if misused.

Coinage (Mechanica): The metal coins of copper, silver, and occasionally gold that carry large-scale and inter-regional exchange.

Comfrey (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for comfrey, a herb whose root was used to knit broken bones; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Copper (Lapidary): Coinage metal of the copper piece, which is round and the same size as the silver piece and is told from it by color and weight.

Coriander (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for coriander, a seed and leaf of the kitchen; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Cramp Bark (Herbal): The bark of the guelder rose, a muscle relaxant against cramps and in labor, one of the few remedies that old women of a village may give without risk to their reputations.

Cultural Tokens (Mechanica): Low-denomination exchange pieces that primitive peoples still use, given their lack of access to minting.

Dandelion (Herbal): A common weed that is also a food and a medicine, valued as a diuretic and for the liver and digestion.

Death Cap (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for the death cap, the deadliest common mushroom; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Dill (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for dill, a feathery herb and seed of the kitchen; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Dwarven Minting (Mechanica): Dwarves strike coin, and are generally considered good minters.

Dwarven Theology (Mysteries): Dwarven theology is very different from that of humanity, and in many ways orthogonal to it.

Einkorn (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for einkorn, the oldest cultivated wheat; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Elder (Herbal): A small tree of hedgerows and doorways, held to protect against witches and unlucky to bring indoors, with flowers and cooked berries used by healers.

Electrum (Lapidary): Metal of the square electrum piece, a semi-archaic regional coin preferred in free cities and independent trading centers.

Emmer (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for emmer, an ancient wheat grown since the earliest farms; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Ergot (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for ergot, a fungus of rye that causes the disease called St Anthony’s fire; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Eyebright (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for eyebright, a small herb used for the eyes; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Fava Bean (Herbal): A common bean that feeds the poor, dangerous to some, and the subject of an old warning from the Velasian imperial healers.

Fennel (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for fennel, an aromatic herb and seed used for digestion, and one of the Nine Herbs; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

First Ingot (Customal): The dwarven coming-of-age rite in which every dwarf produces a first gold ingot, the anchor of personal standing and credit.

Flax (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for flax, the plant of linen and of linseed; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Fly Agaric (Herbal): A mushroom used as an unreliable medicine, causing visions and death.

Foxglove (Herbal): A plant that healers and husbanders use as a specific for a disordered heart, dangerous in unskilled hands.

Garlic (Herbal): A plant strongly indicated as baleful to vampires, with effects that range from minor to total destruction.

Ginger (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for ginger, a warm root of far countries used for nausea and digestion; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Gleam (Lapidary): A soft, ductile metal that can be hammered into foil and onto iron as a rust-proof coating.

Gold (Lapidary): Coinage metal of the gold piece, occasional in large-scale and inter-regional exchange; dwarves treat gold as the pinnacle store of wealth.

Grape (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for grape, the vine of fruit and wine; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Hacksilver (Customal): Cut or broken pieces of silver valued by weight rather than form.

Hardcast (Mechanica): A metal made from bog iron, similar to wrought iron and with all of wrought iron’s characteristics.

Hardcast Works (Mechanica): The architectural-scale constructs of hardcast, which only the dwarves have the metallurgical skill to build.

Hawthorn (Herbal): A thorny tree of hedges, held a ward and a danger by old lore that learned people now doubt, though belief remains in the Markish backwaters.

Hazelnut (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for hazelnut, the nut of the hedgerow and the coppice; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Heft (Customal): The dwarven measure of material importance: an ingot is real, and a pile of the same metal is not.

Hellebore (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for hellebore, an old poison and remedy of the buttercup family; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Hemlock (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for hemlock, a tall poisonous plant, the poison of Socrates; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Hemp (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for hemp, the plant of rope and coarse cloth, and of seed; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Henbane (Herbal): A nightshade that healers use to dull pain and bring sleep, dangerous in unskilled hands, and long called the witch’s plant.

Honor and the Ingot (Customal): The dwarven code governing the breaking of a First Ingot, liens, counterfeits, and bankruptcy.

Hops (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for hops, the climbing plant whose cones flavor ale and serve as a mild sedative; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Horehound (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for horehound, a bitter herb used for coughs; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Hyssop (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for hyssop, a bitter aromatic herb used for coughs and chest complaints; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Ingot (Mechanica): Refined metal in its finished form; dwarves hold a gold ingot to be the perfected final form of the metal.

Iridium (Lapidary): A very dense metal that has not been isolated and occurs only within Actinate; the name is a referent for world-builders and is not used in-game.

Iron (Lapidary): Metal worked by smiths; deposits that yield superior metal are sought, and control of them gives leverage over arms production.

Lead (Lapidary): A metal treated in Viniculum exactly as in the mundane world, with all its alloys, pewter among them.

Ledger Bones (Customal): The durable bones, usually actual whalebone, on which the Skelds inscribe their trading ledgers.

Leek (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for leek, a mild staple of the garden and the pot; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Lemon Balm (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for lemon balm, a lemon-scented herb used to calm the nerves; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Lentil (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for lentil, a small pulse of dry ground; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Lettuce (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for lettuce, a salad leaf of the garden; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Licorice (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for licorice, a root of the Mediterranean used for coughs and as a sweetener; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Lupin (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for lupin, a pulse grown for fodder and as a bitter food; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Luponius (Vitae): A figure of legend, the analogue of Mithridates, who looked for Theriac.

Madder (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for madder, the plant of red dye; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Mandrake (Herbal): A rare nightshade whose great root is shaped like a man, prized as a sedative and to dull pain, and whispered to serve magic.

Meadow Saffron (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for meadow saffron, an autumn crocus used against gout and poisonous; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Mercury (Lapidary): A metal treated as in the mundane world, with the same dangers, and vital to the production of Arbor Dianae.

Millet (Herbal): A small grain of the distant domains beyond our southern lands, known to the Markish only at second hand.

Mint (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for mint, an aromatic herb used for digestion and nausea; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Mint Charters (Customal): The royal charters that permit a lord to mint coin, issued as political grants.

Mithril (Lapidary): A valuable, lightweight metal that dwarves take immense risks to acquire.

Monetary Systems (Customal): Value is layered, local, and context-dependent; no unified monetary model exists.

Mugwort (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for mugwort, a wayside herb, the first of the Nine Herbs; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Mullein (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for mullein, a tall woolly herb used for coughs and chest complaints; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Mustard (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for mustard, a seed grown for its pungent condiment; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Nettle (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for nettle, a stinging herb used as food and medicine, and one of the Nine Herbs; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Nickel (Lapidary): A metal found in ores that is metallurgically a poison, so its presence makes an ore deserving of more purification.

Nwyf (Mysteries): The diffuse metaphysical substrate of arcane magic, which passes through nearly all matter.

Oak Bark (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for oak bark, a strong astringent used against diarrhea and in tanning; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Oats (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for oats, the grain of cold and wet lands, and of fodder; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Olive (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for olive, the oil tree of the south; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Onion (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for onion, a staple bulb of the garden; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Opium Poppy (Herbal): A rare plant of far countries, hard to come by, said to bring sleep and ease pain, with powers that are uncertain.

Osmium (Lapidary): A very dense metal that has not been isolated and occurs only within Actinate; the name is a referent for world-builders and is not used in-game.

Panther Cap (Herbal): A mushroom used as an unreliable medicine, causing visions and death, and more dangerous than fly agaric.

Parsley (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for parsley, a green herb of the kitchen; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Parsnip (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for parsnip, a sweet root that stands through winter; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Pea (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for pea, a staple pulse of the field and the garden; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Pear (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for pear, an orchard fruit; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Pig Iron (Mechanica): Iron poured in the hottest dwarven furnaces, a mechanical oddity that has been observed but not fully researched.

Plantain (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for plantain, a common wayside herb used for wounds and stings, and one of the Nine Herbs; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Platinum (Lapidary): Legacy coinage metal of the Velasian era; platinum coin is valid but extremely rare, and human societies cannot melt it, though some dwarven holds can, with effort.

Platinum First Ingot (Customal): A First Ingot made of platinum: a considerable social event, and a conspicuous display of standing.

Plum (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for plum, an orchard fruit; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Purification (Mysteries): A lower-level spell that refines minerals by redistributing electrons and bonds, and so is available for industrial purposes.

Radish (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for radish, a quick pungent root of the garden; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Rhubarb (Herbal): A plant whose root is presented as beneficial and eaten as a healthy food where it grows naturally, though its leaves are poisonous.

Ricin (Herbal): The poison in castor seed, which does not figure as an isolated substance in Viniculum.

Rue (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for rue, a bitter herb used as a protection against plague and as an antidote; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Rye (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for rye, the bread grain of poor and cold soils; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Sage (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for sage, a gray-leaved herb of the kitchen and the sickroom; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Silver (Lapidary): Coinage metal of the silver piece, and the basis of hacksilver: cut or broken silver valued by weight rather than form.

Skeldic Rings (Customal): Rings that Skeldic lords award to their warriors, some for honor and some to carry value.

Skeldic Trade with the Dwarves (Customal): What the Skelds trade to the dwarves: amber, wood, tar, naphtha, food, and the right to peat and bog iron.

Skeldic Traders (Customal): Small commercial entities that normally trade in silver or, for greater sums, in gems.

Skelds (Gentes): An honor-based, Viking-resonant people of warriors, farmers, tradesmen, and rough artisans.

Sorghum (Herbal): A staple of the people of the south, known to adventurers who visited those far provinces, and known primarily for its durability as a peasant staple.

Spelt (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for spelt, a hardy ancient wheat; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

St John’s Wort (Herbal): A leafy herb held to improve vision, used by healers and by the arcane alike.

Star-steel (Lapidary): Meteoritic iron, found as fallen masses and worked by hammering.

Steel (Mechanica): To the dwarves, primarily a category of magnetic iron materials that serve a purpose, giving the metal a mechanical benefit: harder, more workable, more resistant, or a combination of these.

Tansy (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for tansy, a bitter herb used against worms; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Telvari Exchange (Customal): How the Telvari handle value: through obligation and allocation, taking coin and goods only as temporary carriers.

The Ratchet (Customal): The tendency of coin inside the dwarven system, platinum above all and gold to a lesser degree, to pass into ingots.

Theriac (Mechanica): A fabled antidote, rumored to be a blend of minerals and animal factors, that Luponius looked for.

Thyme (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for thyme, a small aromatic herb used for coughs and as an antiseptic; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Tin (Lapidary): Metal essential to bronze, with limited sources, and so a candidate for economic control.

Turnip (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for turnip, a hardy root for people and stock; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Valerian (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for valerian, a herb whose root is a mild sedative; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Vervain (Herbal): The holy herb, used by healers for fevers, wounds, and ulcers, and held to guard against witchcraft and plague.

Vetch (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for vetch, a pulse grown for fodder and eaten in poor years; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Walnut (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for walnut, a nut and oil tree of milder lands; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Watercress (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for watercress, a plant of clean running water, probably the lamb’s cress of the Nine Herbs; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Wayfarers (Customal): Young dwarves who go on the road in itinerant groups, each carrying a dwarven craft with it.

Wealth and Kin (Customal): How dwarven Wealth is bound up with family, clan, and marriage, and who takes part in it.

Wealth and Riches (Customal): Dwarven division of bullion into two pools: Wealth, which is sealed away from the market, and riches, which are spent.

Weregild (Customal): Skeldic compensation for a killing, set by the lord and roughly reckoned by the dead person’s rank.

Wheat (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for wheat, the bread grain of good soil; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

White Bryony (Herbal): A climbing plant with a great root that healers use as a purge, too poisonous for general use, and often sold as false mandrake.

Willow Bark (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for willow, a tree whose bark is the mundane remedy for pain and fever; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Witch Hazel (Herbal): The first medicine a household reaches for, a gentle astringent for the skin, also taken for coughs, and used by diviners to search for water.

Without a First Ingot (Customal): A dwarf who cannot acquire the assets for a First Ingot stays constrained in social position, whatever his age.

Woad (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for woad, the plant of blue dye; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Wolfsbane (Herbal): Another name for aconite, strongly indicated as baleful to lycanthropes, with effects that range from minor to total destruction. See Aconite for the fuller entry.

Wormwood (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for wormwood, a very bitter herb used against worms and fever; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Yarrow (stub) (Herbal): Name reserved for yarrow, a wayside herb used for wounds and bleeding; its treatment in Viniculum is not yet recorded.

Yew (Herbal): A long-lived tree of churchyards and bowyers, nearly all of it poisonous to people and livestock.