Xygia: About -2650, tribes from central Sumir migrated to the land of Argrathia, interbreeding with the remaining Argrathian stock.  Bringing new farming techniques, they prospered and formed a complex society.  By -2000 Xygia was a powerful empire.  By -1000 it had grown to cover most of eastern Sumir.  By year 0, most of Xygia was conquered by Magnus the Great.  After the death of Magnus in year 7, Xygia again became an independent kingdom, although Zaeri had become the dominant faith.  In year 9, Kafira Kristos began teaching in Xygia.  In year 13, she was tried for heresy and crucified.  Almost immediately her small cult expanded into a religion.  In 16, Kafirism became the dominant religion in Xygia.

Year: A year consists of 375 days.  The yearly calendar established by King Magnus the Great, consists of twelve 30 day months and one 15 day month.  The months are, in order: Restuary, Festuary, Treuary, Quaduary, Pentuary, Sexuary, Septuary, Octuary, Novuary, Decius, Magnius, Kafirius, and Hamonth (Half Month).

Year in Hell, A: A Year in Hell by Abban Keiman tells the story of a midshipman in the Brech navy.

Zaer, Kingdom of: The Kingdom of Zaer was one of the successor states of Magnus the Great’s Zur Empire.   Kafirism became the official religion of Zaer in year 129, and for 300 years, some of the worst persecution of ethnic Zaeri occurred there.  Zaer and neighboring Mirsa combined in 1744 to become modern Mirsanna.

Zaeri: The Zaeri religion began in ancient Zaerphon as an offshoot of the Ballar Pantheon.  In Neo-Zaerphon, Zaeri became a monotheistic religion and over the next two thousand years, spread over northwest Sumir.  One of the new converts to Zaeri was the Kingdom of Archero, where great works based on Zaeri themes were created.  This inspired King Marius of Zur to conquer Archero and to adopt Zaeri as the official religion.  When his grandson, Magnus the Great, conquered the known world, he spread Zaeri religion across the continent.  But in year 16, a variation of Zaeri, Kafirism, rose to replace the original church.  By modern times, Kafirites dominate the world.  Fewer than 5% of humans are Zaeri adherents.  Modern Zaeri worship in shrines, relatively small and unobtrusive houses of worship, and are led by a religious teacher called an Imam.

Zaeritown: The portion of any city that it predominantly Zaeri in population, the term Zaeritown may be fairly innocuous as in its use in Birmisia, or it may refer to ghettos as in Freedonia.

Zaerphon: A huge empire built from the ashes of Ballar, ruled by the priest-kings of the god Jormah (who had been a sky deity of the Ballar pantheon).  Over the course of 700 years from -2600 to -1900, the Zaeri (worshippers of Jormah) gradually became a monotheistic religion.

Zeets: A derogatory term for those of the Zaeri faith or ethnicity.

Zur, Empire of the: The most important ancient civilization, Zur was founded by migrants from the northern coast of Sumir.  From about -1100 until -180, Zur remained a small empire, copying the culture of the Olgons and the Zaerphon.  In -180, King Marius began expanding, conquering Archero (converting to Zaeri) and defeating the Tu-Riven.  When Marius died in -19, his grandson Magnus succeeded him and began a great journey of conquest around the continent.  When he completed, his “unification of the world,” Magnus declared a new birth of civilization, established a new calendar, and spread the Zaeri religion across the known world.  When Magnus died in year 7, his empire split into eight successor states.

Zurelendsviertel: A Zaeri ghetto in the Freedonian city of Gartow, Zurelendsviertel was home to as many as 100,000 ethnic Zaeri crowded together at gunpoint by order of King Klaus II.  Many thousands died of starvation, while others were murdered by Freedonian soldiers.