VAIN: Chief Xaphan city located on the Planet Wunderland. The city was founded by the House of Conwell in 000002ax. The city of Vain is fabled for its ability (along with the whole planet) to appear in places it shouldn’t be, and then disappear. Vain is said to have once appeared on Onaris, Tubruk, and the planet of Caroline.

Vain is known for its practice of buying and selling mental imprints known as Slates. The Street of Knowledge is the center of this trade.

VALENHELM: The black fortress of Valenhelm was the original bastion of the Sisterhood of Light. Located by the sea, due north of the mouth of the River Seven, the facility is ancient in the extreme and rather obsolete, however, it is still used by the Sisters for purposes unknown.

VATS OF FATE: Ten volcanoes said to be located in the western reaches of Planet Midas known for their arcane properties. Those willing to brave the perils of the volcanoes and endure the pain of dripping their extremities into the lava will have amazing qualities infused into their bodies. Each “Vat” was said to produce a different characteristic though it has not been specified what those properties are. The Xaphan witchdoctor Zahuti dipped all ten of his fingers into the vats.

VELTRO: The graveyard at Veltro, located somewhere in the northwestern section of the Great Armenelos forest is the final resting place for the Sisterhood of Light. Its exact location is unknown and few outside of the Sisterhood have ever seen it.

VENERA: Type of ancient starcraft developed by the Elders and used by the Sisterhood of Light and the Science Ministry. Not overly swift, they do however possess very advanced scanning equipment, out-performing the modest scanning provisions on active Fleet vessels. Venera craft were distinctively nautiloid in appearance.

VEERBEAK: A type of charm or totem usually made of hammered gold used primarily on Bazz for the purposes of disrupting monitoring devices.  Depending on the make and complexity of the veerbeak, they can be very effective at cancelling out not only monitoring equipment such as cameras and other sensors, but arcane devices as well.

VENDRA, LADY OF CONE (03092ax) (Sta, W) Remnath: Lady Vendra of Cone was a young socialite from Remnath. Falling in love with the handsome Stenstrom, Lord of Belmont at a Nether Day ball, she was enraged to discover that Lord Belmont had been stolen right out from under her by Lady Jubilee of Tyrol, a social rival of her older sister. Heartbroken and humiliated, Vendra stormed out of the ball and developed a powerful and long-lasting hatred of Lady Jubilee that never abated. After nearly fighting her to the death at a party, Vendra discovered that Lady Jubilee (an alleged sorceress) was too powerful to confront head on, instead, Lady Vendra turned her attention to her loved ones. She attempted to have Lord Belmont killed in space with explosives. She then declared Wirguild against Lady Jubilee and bided her time, waiting for the proper moment to strike. When Jubilee had a son, Vendra decided to have him killed. When she attempted to abduct Lady Jubilee’s son, the Sisters interceded and imprisoned Lady Vendra in Twilight 4 for ten years, until the League Ex- Commons requested her release. During that time, Lady Vendra developed a hatred for the Sisters that rivaled her hatred for Lady Jubilee.

Having discovered that both the Mad Lord of Walther and his “enemy” Lord Sedgwick of Kold were actually working for the Sisters, Vendra decided to destroy the both of them. Using powerful potions, she caused both men to fall hopelessly in love with her and then set them against the other. The two met in battle, this time for real in the city of Rustam, and their struggle flattened most of the city. Killing Kold, Walther soon lost his mind thank to Lady Vendra, and he wandered about in madness. Eventually, the Sisters had to kill him, for he was spewing their various secrets out to the public.

After the death of Lady Jubilee (or natural causes) the rage Lady Vendra felt, quickly faded and she experienced great remorse for the things she had done.

VERDIS: Other (House Fallz) —A beautiful weapon to behold, the VERDIS is, nevertheless, considered a rather poor LosCapricos weapon. It is a large jeweled net, the interior of which is covered with serrated blades. In theory, any person caught in this net would be cut to pieces. The trouble is the VERDIS is so large and heavy that it is impossible to use with any effect. The legend that the ancient fathers of House Fallz were giants rings true here.

VERTI-HOVI PARK: (qv: Vertical/Horizontal). Numerous parks in the city of Vain where people who have had their minds stolen are taken to be made show of by the locals.

VERTUS: 1)An ancient and obsolete Vith method of measuring time. It is a frustrating system and is seldom used in the modern League except for a few Vith Great Houses who use it to inscribe gravestones. 2)Dialect of Old Vith spoken by several Households, including the House of Conwell. In modern times, Vertus is exclusively spoken in the city of Vain.

VERY MARY: Other (House Caroline) –An odd weapon used solely by ladies of House Caroline, the VERY MARY is a type of garter worn on the leg. Should danger befall a lady of Caroline, the VERY MARY instantly transports them away from danger to their ancestral home in the Hala region of Kana. This teleportational effect continues to this day, even though the Carolines left the League and became Xaphans long ago. Though Xaphans, the Carolines always maintained a friendly relationship with the League and those occasional Caroline ladies who suddenly appear in the ruins of their ancestral home can always expect assistance in either returning to their Xaphan world, or in relocating in the League.

VITH: An ancient, austere tribe located in the northern reaches of Kana symbolized by the rose, the Vith were, in the beginning, the only group able to communicate with the huge, life-giving Elders.  The Vith bore the brunt of the attacks from the savage Haitathe and spent much of their early days on Kana either hiding from or fighting them.

In return for their services, and to assist them against the Haitathe, the Elders heaped Gifts upon the Vith, including long life—and immortality if they so chose—eternal youth, resistance to disease and a vast assortment of mental and body powers. The Old Vith were marked blue by the Elders, blue-skinned, blue-haired, but as they spread out and began propagating with the Non-Vith, the Browns, the Blue trait became more and more rare, as did the Gifts. The Vith founded the Sisterhood of Light to investigate and explore the Gifts given to them by the Elders. When the Elders began dying, being replaced by the more cavalier Xaphans, it was a small fragment of Vith who, in their need to serve, went to the Xaphans to serve them instead. The fleeng Vith left many ruins all around Kana and their architecture is considered the finest ever created by the Elder-Kind.  The great ancient leader Homma of Telmus Falls was a Vith.

The Vith are loyal and brave and always eager to meet a challenge.  They are honest and will go to great lengths to keep a promise.  They are said to be immune to the cold of the north, and are fearless as well.

Most Vith Households mint their own currency. Vith currency is known as a hader and are usually on-par with SBL solaris.

VITH, MOUNTAINS OF: Range of jagged, snowy mountains in central Vithland bordered by the Great Westron Mountains to the southwest and the smaller Tartan headlands to the east. Vith lore tells that the land there was once flat and that Subra of the Mark, a great Vith heroine, planted the mountains using seeds from the Stone Breaker plant watered with Shadow tech to protect the southwestern reaches from the Haitathe hoards. Given the ragged nature of the mountains and the remote location, the Mountains of Vith are the least inhabited area of Kana.

VITHLAND: Large are of the northern (or “Upper”) continent of Kana that was populated primarily by the Vith and the Halas. A rugged, mountainous place, Vithland was home to most of the twenty Houses that fled to the Xaphans during the Great Betrayal.

VORSHAM CONSORTIUM:  Xaphan financial institution hailing from several Houses, primarily resposible to generating capital to continue the League/Xaphan armed conflict. One of the ventures the consortium oversees is the selling of Gifted individuals (IE those possessing the Gifts of the Mind) to various entities, particuarly the Empire of Ming Mooreland. They also rang a ring of pirates who traded in Monamas for the purposes of fighting them in various areas until the ring was quashed.  The Consortium is one of the more well-run and organized of Xaphan entities.

VORTEX: Vortex magic is one of the 3 schools of Magical thought in the League along with Gellar and Psy. Vortex magic is directly related to Shadow tech and how it functions in the continuity of the universe. The Xaphan Black Hat Sisterhood is the most well-known practitioners of Vortex magic. In the League, the Xandarr 44 is a legal practitioner of Silver tech.

VULPEX (Vith: “Hands of Heaven”): Legendary spirit, entity or construct that guarded the House of Blanchefort during the age known as the Splendor of the Vith. Per Vith writing, the Vulpex came from the sky behind walls of raging storm clouds. It was described variously as a colossal pair of hands, or long arms and hands coming down from the sky, easily large enough to pound whole armies into the ground at once. No other parts of the Vulpex were ever described, only long arms and hands emerging from thick clouds. The Vulpex defended the Blancheforts from Haitathe hoards and other warring Vith households for centuries.

The Vulpex is often considered to be one of the legendary Bower Chests–mystical constructs built by the Great Houses of the Vith to defend their lands and treasures. Like all of the other Bower Chests that once prowled the whole of Vithland, the Vulpex disappeared at the end of the age and was never seen again. At Castle Blanchefort, the Vulpex Door at the southern end of the Palantine Courtyard is carved to resemble a pair of great hands clasped together in prayer.

VUNKULA: Other (House Grenville) —One of the most cosmopolitan of the LosCapricos family, it is a belt that can be worn like any other. The end of the tail normally sports either a barb or a hand-like attachment. Attached to the back of the belt is a segmented metal tail, usually made of a combination of gold, silver, platinum and other assorted jewels. A skilled practitioner may animate the tail and it will move as if alive. The tail can move with great speed, and is often dipped into various powders and ointments for a variety of effects.

VUNKULAS created for ladies are typically smaller and more delicate than those intended for men.

copyright 2015, Ren Garcia