Mini Glossary (before I forget- I'm going to start doing this for all future pages where necessary)

“Histoire tragique” - A disparaging reference to a genre of baroque tragedies, epitomized by Matteo Bandello and purportedly based on real events. In the English-speaking world they are best known through Shakespeare’s plays- most notably “Romeo and Juliet”, which borrows its plot and names from a translated Bandello story. Ambrosine clearly doesn’t think much of them- or of sentimental fiction in general.

“née Marie Clérisseau” - Ambrosine means to say this is her “maiden name”, before she (presumably) adopted the name “Gérin” after her husband.

“Salonnière” - The comtesse was a woman who hosted “salons”, social gatherings for promising writers, artists, philosophers- and in this case, sorcerers. Salonnières were immensely influential gatekeepers- acting as sponsors and literary agents who dominated the cultural landscape of their world, effectively controlling who did and did not “make it”.

“Grey Bannerman” - Not a historical term, for those who may be wondering. This one is completely unique to the world of KOS. It refers to the “Grey Banner” of the sorcerer’s military unit. Not as exciting as you might think- given that KOS sorcerers can’t throw fireballs or cast magic missile. But you’ll hear a lot more about this later.

“Courtesy Title” - A title without substance (I.e. not land-based and with very little legal significance). The only thing this title can really tell you about someone is that they want to be perceived as nobility, but either don’t have the background or the inheritance to lay claim to something more serious. It could even be completely made up.