A Broken Paradise (The Windows of Heaven Book 3) (46 page)

Tubaal-qayin –
The biblical Tubal-Cain, father of the metallurgy of hard common metals like bronze and iron. He is also called
T’Vul-qayin
in the Aztlan dialect and
‘Baul-qayin
in Kush. A memory of him in pagan myth as Hephaestus among the Greeks and Vulcan among the Romans.

‘tween-ager –
A pre-flood adolescent. Because of the difference in life spans, the story has youngsters hit puberty at around ages 25 to 35 with a biological adolescence that lasts to age 55 or 60.

Udaha
and
Tzuillaeha –
The biblical Adah and Zillah, wives of the Cain line’s Lamech of Genesis 4.

Ufratsi –
The pre-Flood River Euphrates of Genesis 2, which probably had no geographic correlation with the post-Flood river of that name.

Under-world –
The place of the dead. Analogous to the Hebrew
sheol
or the Greek
hades
and
tartarus
.

unicorn
and
tricorn
– Considered quasi-dragons, and to be domesticated, these creatures were used as heavy pack beasts and armored cavalry mounts; though many also remained in the wild. Their fossils are the ceratopsian dinosaurs, the unicorn being
Monoclonius
and the tricorn being
Triceratops
. The word
unicorn
is actually of more recent Roman origin (as is the word
dragon
, from the Saxon
draugl
). I used it in the story with poetic license.

U’Sumi –
A’Nu-Ahki’s middle son. The biblical Shem.

Virgin, the –
The constellation
Virgo
, which represents the woman who brings forth the
Promised Seed
to deliver humanity from the Curse.

Watchers –
An order of what Jews and Christians would call
angels
. In terms of fallen angels, it is a synonym for the sons of God that rebelled before the Noahic Flood, and “married” human women to produce corrupt offspring called
giants
or
titans
. These creatures are distinct from the original angelic rebels, though only in that they fell a little later (according to the Enoch Manuscripts), and were guilty of taking human women as their wives in some sense. In the Windows of Heaven this “wife-taking” is achieved in a number of ways, some highly sophisticated, others quite primitive. In some tribes the “priest” is said to embody the “god” in a primitive animistic way (as in demonic possession with hallucinogenic plants), and he takes the women he wants. This is how Varkun’s crude cult operates in the story. In other societies, certain of the Watchers take a fleeting quasi-physical form, and in some, there is a great degree of advanced technology involved. The Bible gives us no chronology of exactly when the angels fell or if they all fell at the same time or not. I do not claim that the Enoch accounts (which are not considered canonical Scripture by either Jews or Christians) are necessarily accurate records. They seem to suggest the pre-Flood world was a time of flux for those we call angels. Some distortions in the texts are evident, though there is potentially some dim history there. Because of the Bible’s silence on the exact chronology of angelic rebellion, I have gone with some of the more detailed “Enoch” versions of these events, but only as far as they don’t contradict what the Scriptures clearly say on the subject.

Work, the –
The formal name of the commission that Q’Enukki gave to his sons to print their father’s scrolls, to warn the world of the coming World-end judgments, and the hope of the Comforter and the Seed of the Woman.

W
orld-end –
A term for two world-destroying cataclysms predicted, according to Josephus (95 AD), by Adam. It is the anglicized fictional root word for the Hebrew
mabbul
, which is a unique term used only for the global Noahic Flood in Scripture. Other normal floods of the Jordan and Nile that are mentioned in the Old Testament are a different Hebrew word. According to Josephus, Adam predicted that the world would be destroyed twice, once by water, and another time through fire.

wurm –
Used as a broad term for carnivorous dragons whose fossils are today categorized as the various therapod dinosaurs from gigantic
Tyrannosaurus Rex
to relatively small
Velociraptor
. The word is ancient Anglo-Saxon. I chose to name pre-Flood fauna in Saxon terms because they are descriptive yet simple.

wyverna –
A form of horned or crested
wurm
, the larger of which are classified today as
Gorgosaurus
, and the smaller as
Dilophosaurus
. Also derived from an early Saxon taxonomic term for a bipedal dragon, though fictionally, the reverse is supposed to be true.

Yawam
– An ocean or sea, as in
Yawam Assuri
—Ocean of Assuri.

Y’Raddu –
The biblical Irad of Cain’s line in Genesis 4, and his lands. Root name of the pre-Flood
Eridu
of ancient Sumer.

Zaqen
and
Zaqenar –
The root term for the Hebrew
zaken
, which means
elder
. In this story, a
zaqen
is an elder with governmental authority in a clan. If one is of princely lineage, like A’Nu-Ahki, one becomes a “First Tier”
zaqen
at the age of 350. At 400 one becomes a “Second Tier”
zaqen
, and gains an additional tier of rank after that for every century they live. A 900-year-old man graduates to the Seventh Tier.

Also by K.G. Powderly Jr.


DDawn Apocalypse Rising –
Book 1 of
The Windows of Heaven

TThe Paladin’s Odyssey –
Book 2 of
The Windows of Heaven
.


TThe Tides of Nemesis –
Book 4 of
The Windows of Heaven
.


GGate of the Gods –
Book 5 of
The Windows of Heaven

OOne Faith – Many
Transitions: World-views in Church History
(Non-fiction)

TThe Ancient Landmarks of American Culture: Why Some Things Should Never Be Moved
(Non-fiction)