Aemilia

The First Scenario of Of Iron & Thorns — the first land where Italian local history becomes playable myth. Its cities, canals, castles and cursed bloodlines are the opening theatre of the Fourth Era.

Anno Imperii

The year of the Empire — the dating system used within the Regnum Italiae by those loyal to the Sacrum Imperium.

Anno Lacrimarum

The Year of Tears — the name given to the Fifth Era, the age that begins after the First Trumpet. Not yet open.

Apostema

In The Corona Hack: a humoral disorder, a suppurating condition of the body or spirit. A mechanical state of worsening constitution.

Bononia

The city the world calls Bologna — one of the great commune-cities of Aemilia, seat of the oldest university in the West, contested between Guelf and Ghibelline power.

Charismata

Miraculous gifts granted by divine grace — the powers of sanctified characters in The Corona Hack. They are neither spells nor supernatural abilities in the ordinary fantasy sense.

Condotta

A contract of mercenary service — the formal agreement binding a free company or individual soldier to a commune or lord for a fixed term and price.

Damnation

In The Corona Hack: a measurable spiritual condition. Characters accumulate damnation through sin, pact and transgression. It has mechanical consequences in this world.

Ghibellines

The imperial faction — those who support the authority of the Holy Roman Emperor over the Italian communes and territories.

Guelfs

The papal faction — those who support the authority of the Church and the Pope over the Italian communes and territories.

Infraworld

The antechamber of Hell — the membrane separating reality from the infernal, where dungeons, catacombs and flooded crypts sit closest to the world below.

Mutina

The city the world calls Modena — a commune of Aemilia on the ancient Via Aemilia, contested between communal factions and episcopal authority.

Night of Screams

A cataclysmic event in the history of the world — the night when something broke and the world did not fully heal. Its precise nature is not public knowledge.

Regnum Italiae

The Kingdom of Italy — the Italian appendage of the Sacrum Imperium. A land of communes, marches, bishops and ancient roads, nominally imperial but riven by internal conflict.

Sacrum Imperium

The Holy Roman Empire in the world of Of Iron & Thorns — the imperial power that claims dominion over the Regnum Italiae and whose authority is perpetually contested by the papacy.

Sanctity

In The Corona Hack: a measurable spiritual resource. Characters accumulate sanctity through righteous action, pilgrimage, relic-contact and liturgical practice. It can be spent and lost.

Treuga Dei

The Truce of God — a medieval peace ordinance prohibiting violence on sacred days and protecting certain persons from attack. In The Corona Hack, breaking the Treuga Dei has mechanical and spiritual consequences.