Infernaut - appendix (Incubata)

Glossary of terms in Incubata:

Ra: The name of Satan in Incubata. The demons often add one of a dozen epithets to the name of the Devil when addressing him: i.e. Shan (hence Ra-Shan), which is a cross between “shining” and “blinding”. The suffix –d connotes “of/to/with”, thus “Ra-d” becomes “of/to/with the Devil” but “rad” can mean “war”, “aesthetics” and is also the root for “radaret” (or “that/those which is/are natural/by nature”) and “radiant” (youth, or literally, “he/she/those who are of/for/part of satan/war/aesthetics).

Krat: “Demon” in incubata, but also “power” and “self.”

Ur: “To be” in Incubata, conjugating as “ur-it” for the third person singular and plural, as in “she/he/they is/are”. However “ur” sometimes connotes a word untranslatable into human languages, something that signifies the moment after an encounter but just before recognition, something in between “lack of Knowledge” (as in lack of “True Knowledge,” not to be confused with “Understanding”) and “passing state,” or roughly, “he/she/they of the void”.

Ne: An inquisitive word signifying “Is it not?” but also the past tense “could it have been?” and also the future tense “will it be?”.

Tset: The third person singular and plural of the infinitive verb “tserey”, indicating possession, but rather less “to have” and more along the lines of “to wield power over” or, more literally, “to be above”, thus “he/she/they dominate(s)…”.

Tsem: First person singular and plural of tserey, indicating possession and literally meaning “I/We over all else”.

Se: I/we, but also “something” or just “thing”.

Har: A hybrid of “han” (before/in front of/away) and “ur” (to be). Broadly meaning “this/these” but also “other” (i.e. beings other than demons), and in rare circumstances, “weak”.

Tzinursilan: “People”, but rather “those who exist in time”, from “tzin” (time, change, flux) and “ursy” (life, but literally “occupying”, from “ur”, to be, and the suffix –sy, from the root “syne”, or shadow). Thus, literally, “those who are shadows in time”. Also used to signify ghosts, and anything that is a contrast of something small and something immense (i.e. a ripple on an ocean, a fluttering leaf in a forest, a star in the universe, a grain of sand on a planet, a philosopher in an idea, etc., all are tzinursilan)

Ye: “True”, but literally meaning “brain, heart, stomach”, all of which are considered an interconnected organ called “Ye” (distinguished from secondary organs like the liver, lungs, kidney and intestines, all of which are called “yesynet”, literally “shadow organ.”)

Um: Best interpreted as “the Way”, or the “right path”. Can also mean “letting go” or “giving up”, but in a positive sense.

Krishit: The third person singular and plural of the infinitive verb “krisherey”, which has no direct translation, but signifies a fateful action, or doing something fateful, preordained by something other – or greater – than any of those who are about to do it. When used with “tset” as in “um-tset” it means to “hold the way.”

Ghur: “Book.” Also, “universe.”

Kurna: “Threshold,” “gateway,” “entrance,” “beginning.” Also, “key.”

Shan: Something in between “blinding” and “shining,” but also “glorious,” and in rare cases, “meaningless,” or “empty.”

Huridved: From “hurid” meaning “heart” (as in soul, rather than as an organ) and also “finality,” “end,” or “termination.” “Huridveri” means “of/from/to/with the heart” but also signifies finality, or literally, “dead heart.” The suffix –d is the very rarely-used second-person singular, only ever used to refer to the Devil. It’s an archaism in this sense, and has come to signify prepositions or alternative meanings and words in almost all other cases (i.e. Ra, Ra-d). The only other time the second person singular suffix “–d” is used is when referring to oneself, since there is no separate word for “Me” or “I.” Because demons have no conception of independent or individual existence, they refer to themselves as the person being beheld in the eyes of the one they are talking to, thus “you” or in most cases simply as “Se,” I/We. In other words, demons only sense their existence in the eyes of the beholder.

In: “Inside” or “in,” and also “hidden” or literally “away from the eyes” (“ie” – pronounced “yee-ye” – means “eyes” in Incubata, and “in” signifies “without eyes” due to the suffix “-n” and the dropping of the last vowel). Can also mean “silence,” albeit rarely.

Kraa: “Kran” means “cave,” but also “escape,” and in some cases “lie” (as in “not-true”). “Kraa” means “s/he/they of the cave.”

Chentisivenit: Literally “s/he/they of the written,” from “chentesey,” meaning “to write,” and also “to live” (i.e. to be animate). Thus “chentisivenit” can also mean “s/he/they who live/are animate.”

Hur: A word which indicates linear repetition rather than circular (i.e. “chentisivenit hur-e” meaning “those of the written who write in turn,” or alternatively meaning “the end of our days…” in which the repetition is implied in the act of dying, during which is retraced the life left behind before death is consummated in non-being, or “inessence,” from the Incubata word “urin.”

Im: “Like,” “as,” “similar to,” but actually from “i” (eye) and the suffix “-m” which doubles the noun it is suffixed to. Thus literally, “im” signifies “an eye and its double/identical copy.”

Toorad: From the word “tooray,” meaning “element,” or something important or essential. “Toorad” can mean “of the essence” in literal terms, but usually just means “water.” It is also the name of the elixir in Incubata.

Sek: “Evolving,” from the infinitive verb “serey,” or “constant becoming,” from the root “se” (I/We)

Haraad: From the word “haraay,” meaning “happy” (literally “in equilibrium,” or “well-placed”). “Haraad” can signify anything which makes “happy” or feel “well-placed.” Thus any inebriating substance like wine or hallucinogens, or state of being – like death (now archaic) – can be considered “haraad.”

Vit: From “virey,” meaning both “birth” and “death” (in place of the archaic “haraay”). “Vit” means, “s/he/they who is/are born/die.”

Shad: From “sharay,” meaning “hard,” as in “substance,” or “material.” When something develops fully, comes to maturity, or realizes its potential, it is considered to be “sharay.” She, he or they that achieve “sharay” are referred to as “shad.”

Huret: Truth (related to “hurid”), also something permanent, intransient, something that remains or stays.

Shen: Hollow, empty, dark. When preceded by “huret” it can mean to vacate or to leave – and in certain rare cases, “to be born” or “to die” (which are considered the same thing), although the verb “virey” is now preferred in most cases.

Kara: All, everything. Also “black” (literally “lacking color”)

Tsin: Indifference, similarity, sameness. Sometimes also used to refer to cattle and humans.

Ettem: Thing (literally “occupying space and time”)

Translations of Incubata:

Part II, Page 62, Line 24

Thus, “Har-tzinursilan Ra-d tset urit-ne?” translates in the first level to:

“These people/souls belong to satan, do they not?”

In the second level to:

“Does youth not fade like a ripple in time, under the spell of what once was, and what has never been?”

And in the third level:

“These fickle ghosts bowing before their own ignorance, are they those whom time has left to wallow in this void you rule?”

The answer to which, “Se-tsem urit, Krat, Se-tsem urit”, translates in the first level as:

“I rule over the void, demon, I rule over the void”

And on the second level as:

“We have their fate in our grasp, our power has substance with them”

The demon’s response, “Ye, Ra, ye. Um-tset urit!”, translates at the first level as:

“True, Satan, true. We hold the way forth.”

While the second level signifies:

“The true way lies through the heart, our lord, even the way of ghosts.”

And on a third level as:

“These souls will follow in our wake, the way we once followed in theirs.”

Page 63, Line 54

“Um-tset krishit ghur shan-ne?” translates in the first level as:

“You/we hold the way toward the book in which this path is inscribed, do you/we not?”

And on the second level as:

“If they let go under our grasp, will this universe not crumble with them?”

And on the third level as:

“Has it not been seen that writer and written inhabit the same realm, and our way is but a word in a book?”

But the fourth meaning forms acrostically through the first three meanings to form an additional sentence:

“The way in our grasp/ is written in a book/ and the writer is the universe in a word.” (Note that this level of communication is almost never used among the demons themselves, and is usually only reserved for what are perceived as crucial moments (or in Incubata “intsurshinaa” or “pregnant interstices in time”) and communicated only between demon and Devil.

The Devil’s response, “Se-tset kurna shan ur,” translates on the fourth level primarily as:

“We see beyond void and being, we pass through all and all passes through us, even though we are blind to this knowledge.”

However, on the first level it translates as:

“We hold the key to our own paths and on to the blinding void.”

On the second as:

“The threshold of knowledge shifts like the sands, and always away from our grasping hands.”

On the third as:

“The glory of being lies in the realization that I is We, and We are nothing but leaking time and fading space.”

Page 66, Line 49

“Ra-Shan, huridved!”

Translates first as:

“Our shining lord, your light suffuses the eternal heart.”

And secondly as:

“Fading warrior, your end is at hand.”

To which the Devil’s response, “In Kraa chentisivenit hur-e,” translates as:

“In the Cave is written the end of our days, from this there is no escape…”

But the devil’s mastery of Incubata unites the two levels of meaning into one sentence, thus:

“…but that which is written writes in turn, and reflects in the silence of the Cave.”

Page 67, Line 15

“Im toorad sek haraad vit shad, im toorad sek haraad vit shad, im toorad sek haraad vit shad…” translates in three levels:

“Like water into wine, their substance is born…”

And:

“Birth and death, the double facet of eternal becoming…”

And:

“In the essence of the elixir, the body becomes its potential.”

Part III, Page 12, Line 38

“Huret, huret shen… Kara har-e tsin ettem,” are the final words of Incubata in the autothanatography. These words have only one meaning:

“Stay or leave… it amounts to the same thing.”