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The Sword of Truth

The Sword of Truth is a series of 21 sword and sorcery novels and six novellas written by Terry Goodkind. The books follow the protagonists Richard Cypher, Kahlan Amnell, Nicci, Cara, and Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander on their quest to defeat oppressors who seek to control the world and those who wish to unleash evil upon the world of the living. While each novel was written to stand alone, except for the final three that were intended to be a trilogy, they follow a common timeline and are linked by ongoing events that occur throughout the series.

The series began in 1994 with Wizard's First Rule and Goodkind wrote eighteen more novels in addition to a novella titled Debt of Bones. The latest novel in the series, Heart of Black Ice, was released in 2020. As of 2008, 25 million copies of the series' books have been sold worldwide, and the series has been translated into more than 20 languages. A television series adaptation of the novels, titled Legend of the Seeker, produced by ABC Studios and broadcast via syndication, first aired on November 1, 2008. The TV series loosely adapts the book series, mixing together elements of several volumes.

Keith Parkinson served as the cover artist for all the novels of the first edition, apart from Wizard's First Rule and Blood of the Fold. New hardback and paperback editions of those two books were later published with new cover illustrations by Parkinson. Parkinson died on October 26, 2005, but not before completing the cover art for two more novels in the series.

Synopsis
The series is set in a world divided into two major regions: the New World and the Old World. The New World consists of three lands with Westland in the west, D'Hara in the east, and the Midlands between them. D'Hara is ruled by a magically gifted member of the Rahl family, while the welfare of the Midlands is decided by a council of representatives led by the Mother Confessor, who is also the leader of the Confessors. The Confessors are a group of women who each have a magical power to force a person to become entirely devoted to them. People touched by a Confessor's power will do anything for her or truthfully answer any question she asks, hence the name Confessor. Westland, a land of no magic, is also ruled by a council of representatives. The Old World is not introduced until the second book in the series and its geographical features are described in less detail.

The main character is a young man named Richard Cypher, a Westland woods guide whose simple life is forever changed after he becomes the Seeker of Truth, a champion of truth and justice. Over the course of the series, Richard learns about his heritage while seeking to stop the evil that others would unleash upon the world of the living. Because Richard refuses to sacrifice his values and lives his life as a free man, others begin to understand the nobility of man and what it means to be free. Each book is loosely themed around a Wizard's Rule, tenets by which all wizards should abide. The eleventh full-length novel, Confessor, concludes the series' central story arc regarding the invasion of the Imperial Order, an empire in the Old World led by Jagang. Warheart was the last novel in the series.

Introduction
The first book, Wizard's First Rule, takes place in the New World, some twenty or so years after two magical boundaries were raised to separate Westland, the Midlands, and D'Hara. The story deals with the growth of the D'Haran Empire under its leader, Darken Rahl, as he invades the Midlands, taking over its territories while seeking to gain control of an ancient power over life called the Boxes of Orden. The book begins a few weeks after the murder of Richard's father. Richard encounters a young woman by the name of Kahlan Amnell, the Mother Confessor who has come from the Midlands in search of the "Old One," a legendary wizard. He discovers that his best friend and mentor, Zeddicus Zu'l "Zedd" Zorander, is the wizard whom she seeks. Zedd appoints Richard the Seeker of Truth and gives him the Sword of Truth. The sword is said to work through perception; it will cut through anything that its wielder perceives to be a threat but will not cut anything or anyone the wielder regards as innocent. The Sword also amplifies anger, thereby granting its wielder added strength, agility, and conviction.

Richard, Kahlan, and Zedd journey to the Midlands in search of the last Box of Orden that Rahl needs to acquire before he can use the magic of Orden. Along the way, Richard and Kahlan fall in love. The first book concludes with Richard killing Rahl by tricking him into making a mistake, and with the revelation of Richard's true parentage.

Invasion of the Imperial Order
The series continues with Stone of Tears, which immediately follows the events that occurred in Wizard's First Rule. Unbeknownst to Richard, the opening of the boxes of Orden has torn the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead, allowing minions of the Keeper of the Underworld to come forth. Richard and Kahlan return to the Mud People (whom Richard and Kahlan befriend and defend in Wizard's First Rule) and decide to marry. However, before they can, they are separated when Richard is captured by the Sisters of the Light, sorceresses from the Old World who train men to become wizards. Richard is taken to the Old World while Kahlan goes to Aydindril to ask Zedd for help. On the way, she witnesses the beginning of the Imperial Order's invasion of the New World, led by Emperor Jagang. Upon reaching Aydindril, she discovers that her people have been swayed by the Order's corrupt morality; she is subsequently sentenced to death.

Meanwhile, at the Palace of the Prophets (the Sisters' home in the Old World) Richard learns more about magic, prophecies, and his identity. He escapes the Palace and returns to D'Hara to stop the Keeper from devouring the world of the living. The novel ends with Richard discovering that Kahlan is safe outside Aydindril with her identity shielded by Zedd. Kahlan is reassured that Richard has returned to the New World.

In the third novel, Blood of the Fold, Richard's plan to reunite with Kahlan is delayed by the arrival of beast-like assassins called Mriswith and by the advancement of Jagang's army into the New World. Having accepted his identity as a war wizard - and as the gifted son of Darken Rahl—Richard decides to claim the throne of D'Hara as a means of unifying the fractured Midlands, which, in Kahlan's absence, has weakened to the point of being unable to resist the Order. Kahlan, along with the sorceress Adie, is captured on her way back to Aydindril by the Blood of the Fold, a violent group of zealots who oppose magic on religious grounds. The Blood of the Fold are being tricked by Emperor Jagang, the leader of the Imperial Order, to do his bidding. After realizing that the Blood of the Fold have taken Kahlan and Adie to the Palace of the Prophets, Richard travels to the Old World to rescue them. He takes this opportunity to destroy the Palace, preventing Jagang from using the treasures it holds. While Verna, the new Prelate, leads the Sisters of the Light and their students to join the D'Haran army, Richard and Kahlan return to Aydindril and defeat the Mriswiths, as well as the Blood of the Fold.

The fourth novel, Temple of the Winds, tells of the struggles Richard, Kahlan, and their friends face as they attempt to stop a plague released by Jagang and to prevent him from seizing important items that will help him win the war. As Richard's ancestor Nathan Rahl receives books from Jagang under a tentative deal struck between them, he sends Zedd and Ann, former Prelate of the Sisters of the Light, to destroy the prophecies found within the Jocopo Treasure. As foretold by prophecy regarding the plague, Kahlan betrays Richard in order for him to gain admittance into the Temple of the Winds, wherein he stops the plague. However, the spirit of Darken Rahl appears in the Temple and refuses to let Richard leave unless he willingly contracts the plague. When Richard eventually returns, he and Kahlan forgive each other for their actions. With Nathan and Cara's help, Kahlan is able to cure Richard. The book concludes with Richard and Kahlan's wedding at the Mud People's village, where they are reunited with Zedd and Ann.

Directly following Temple of the Winds, Soul of the Fire revolves around Richard and Kahlan dealing with two threats: the gradual disappearance of all magic and the leaders of the nation of Anderith, who are considering surrendering to the Imperial Order. In so doing, Anderith would hand over control of the Dominie Dirtch, a weapon of mass destruction. Richard and Kahlan discover that a terrible magic known as the "Chimes" has been released and is draining magic from the world, causing magic to fail and creatures of magic to die. They head to Anderith, a place they believe to be connected to the Chimes. As Jagang's army marches towards Anderith, Richard attempts to save its people by urging them to join the D'Haran Empire, but he fails to persuade them. Meanwhile, Ann attempts to save the Sisters of the Light enslaved by Jagang but is betrayed by them and captured. She escapes with the help of her former student, who is a Sister of the Dark. The novel ends with Richard banishing the Chimes and deciding to return to Westland, where he will help Kahlan recover from injuries sustained in Anderith and wait until the people of the New World prove to him that they truly want freedom.

The next volume in the series, Faith of the Fallen, chronicles more than one and a half years of the characters' lives. Nicci, a Sister of the Dark and a follower of the Imperial Order, captures Richard and forces him to travel with her to the Old World by using a magical spell that allows her to control Kahlan's life. Prevented from following Richard, Kahlan and Cara rejoin the D'Haran army in the Midlands. Kahlan assumes control of the army and stalls Jagang's army from capturing Aydindril, the seat of power in the Midlands. When Kahlan finally realizes that she can delay but not stop Jagang's massive army, she travels to the Old World with Cara in search of Richard. Meanwhile, in the Old World capital of Altur'Rang, Richard has begun to inspire its people, including Nicci, to reconsider their moral code and to challenge the Order. The people of Altur'Rang rebel against the Order and declare themselves free of its oppression. Repenting, Nicci removes the spell from Kahlan and joins Richard and Kahlan in their fight against the Order.

Journey through the Old World
While continuing on from Faith of the Fallen, The Pillars of Creation differs from the other novels in the series in that its protagonists are not Richard and Kahlan, but new characters by the names of Jennsen Rahl and Oba Rahl, who are Richard's half siblings. Both are unaware that they are pristinely ungifted and immune to magic. Jennsen, who has spent most of her life hiding from the Lord Rahl (originally Darken Rahl), meets an Imperial Order spy named Sebastian, who fuels her hatred of the new Lord Rahl (Richard) by convincing her that the Order's beliefs are virtuous. She joins Jagang and his army as they launch an attack on the Confessor's Palace in Aydindril. After their defeat, Jennsen strikes a deal with the Keeper to surrender herself in exchange for Richard's death. Meanwhile, Oba follows the bidding of the Keeper, who is using him in his plan to enter the world of the living. In the novel's climax, Jennsen sees through the Order's lies and chooses to help Richard in his quest against Jagang.

In the eighth novel, Naked Empire, Richard and Kahlan are interrupted during their journey home to the New World when a man named Owen from the empire of Bandakar asks them to help free his people from the Order. Richard and Kahlan reluctantly refuse the request because they are needed elsewhere. In response, Owen poisons Richard and says that he will provide the antidote only if Richard agrees to help. Richard and Kahlan learn that the people of Bandakar are pristinely ungifted like Jennsen and Oba, and that they have been overrun by the Order because they have shunned all forms of violence, refusing to fight for their own lives. Richard eventually convinces them to rise up and drive the Order from their mountain homeland. In the process, Richard learns to restore his gift, which had failed because he misunderstood its true nature and purpose. Meanwhile, the Wizard's Keep in Aydindril is infiltrated by Bandakarian men that the Order has enslaved. The novel ends with Zedd and Chase reclaiming the Keep, and the defeat of the Imperial Order's army in Bandakar.

Chainfire
Three novels of the series, Chainfire, Phantom, and Confessor, were written as a trilogy called the Chainfire Trilogy, which brings the story arc concerning Jagang's invasion to an end. After recovering from an injury, Richard wakes up to find Kahlan missing and that no one remembers her existence. Richard discovers that the Sisters of the Dark kidnapped Kahlan and cast the Chainfire spell to erase everyone's memories of her, as well as most of Kahlan's memories of herself. However, Richard's mind was protected from the spell by the Sword of Truth. The Sisters use Kahlan to steal the boxes of Orden from the People's Palace in D'Hara, which they intend to use to unleash their master, the Keeper of the Underworld, into the world of the living. Unbeknownst to the Sisters, Jagang still has access to their minds and knows their plans. Meanwhile, Richard, using an alias, is captured by the Imperial Order, who are making their way to the People's Palace in D'Hara. Kahlan, who has also been captured by Jagang, sees Richard, and although she does not remember him, she feels encouraged to fight on and remember her past. After Richard and Kahlan escape from Jagang, they return to the People's Palace, where Richard defeats the Sisters of the Dark and Jagang. To remove the Chainfire spell, Richard must use the magic of Orden. With that power, he not only restores Kahlan's memories and others' memories of her, he also creates an identical world or parallel universe, to which he banishes all people who refuse to cease their assault on individuality and prosperity. Jennsen and the people of Bandakar voluntarily decide to go to this new world devoid of magic because, if they stayed and bred in Richard's world, magic would eventually die out. Richard then closes the gateway and separates the worlds. The series ends with the marriage of Cara and General Meiffert, and Richard's declaration that the traditional D'Haran devotions are no longer necessary, because everyone's life is their own to live.

Prequels
In addition to the novels, Goodkind wrote a short story titled Debt of Bones for the 1998 anthology Legends, edited by Robert Silverberg. It was published as a stand-alone novella in 2001. The story takes place in The Sword of Truth universe and is set a few decades before the events in the main series, focusing on the creation of the boundaries that separated Westland, the Midlands, and D'Hara in Wizard's First Rule.

Set millennia prior to the main Sword of Truth series, The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus was initially released on July 15, 2012 as an e-book; it was published in print in July 2015. The First Confessor covers a wide variety of information including the Wizards' War, the creation of the Sword of Truth, Confessors, and information about the damage done to magic with the Temple of the Winds. Terry Goodkind's website refers to the book as the "foundation" of the Sword of Truth series.

The Richard and Kahlan series
On April 2, 2010, a video went up on Terry Goodkind's official site and YouTube channel promoting a new Richard and Kahlan novel that was released on August 16, 2011. The Omen Machine takes place immediately after Confessor, beginning on the night of the wedding of General Benjamin Meiffert and the Mord-Sith Cara. A mysterious machine is found underground and it begins to give predictions, most of which are seemingly benign, but Zedd believes the machine must be destroyed until a prediction is given that scares him to death—one which, if true, will tear apart Richard and Kahlan's life as they know it.

Published on August 20, 2013, The Third Kingdom is the second novel in Goodkind's Richard and Kahlan series. Following an attack by the mysterious "half people" of the Dark Lands, Richard and Kahlan find themselves abandoned by their friends. Richard sets out on a quest to save his friends and meets the sinister Bishop Hannis Arc.

The third novel in the Richard and Kahlan series, Severed Souls, was published on August 5, 2014. Following the events of the previous two books, Richard must find a way to cure Kahlan and himself from the Hedge Maid's stain of death. Meanwhile, Hannis Arc and Emperor Sulachan march toward the heart of D'Hara.

Warheart is the fourth and final entry in the Richard and Kahlan series, published November 17, 2015.

The Nicci Chronicles
Taking place after the events of the four Richard & Kahlan novels, The Nicci Chronicles follow further exploits of former Sister of the Dark, Nicci, and former prophet, Nathan Rahl.

Death's Mistress
Released January 24, 2017, Death's Mistress is the first entry in the Nicci Chronicles series and the 18th novel, chronologically, in the Sword of Truth universe. Following the events of Warheart, Nicci decides to take her leave of Richard and Kahlan for a time. Nathan Rahl chooses to accompany her. They go on a mission to the Dark Lands to visit the witch, Red, who tells them of a vague prophecy that she will save the world. Nicci and Nathan's quest takes them across the known world and deep into a forgotten, unmapped region known as the Phantom Coast. Nicci saves a young sailor named Bannon, who joins them on their quest. Nathan begins to lose control of his magic, seemingly because prophecy itself has been eradicated. The trio crosses the Phantom Coast, fights off Viking-like Norukai and vicious sea monsters, stops a mad judge who froze an entire population with a cursed necklace, meets the last dragon left in the Old World, and discovers an ancient archive of arcane magic.

Shroud of Eternity
Shroud of Eternity, released January 9, 2018, is the second entry in the Nicci Chronicles series and is the 19th novel, chronologically, in the Sword of Truth universe. Picking up where Death's Mistress left off, Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon find Kol Adair, a mountain pass which leads to a field full of petrified soldiers. Nathan recognizes some of the soldiers' insignias, claiming them to be the army of a General Utros, a powerful military commander who served another would-be despot, Emperor Kurgan, 1,500 years prior. The following night, Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon encounter three strange young men who are destroying the statues. The three men lead them into the city of Ildakar which, an ancient city frozen in time. Recently, the shroud of protective magic around the city has begun to fail. Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon introduce themselves to the Ildakarians as official emissaries of Lord Rahl and begin trying to forge an alliance. They soon learn that Ildakar is a society ruled over by the gifted, who enjoy lavish lifestyles and enslave the ungifted. Prelate Verna Sauventreen and General Zimmer, having returned to Tanimura to lead an excavation of the Palace of the Prophets, decide to assist Nicci and Nathan.

Siege of Stone
Released December 31, 2018, Siege of Stone is the third entry in the Nicci Chronicles and is the 20th novel, chronologically, in the Sword of Truth universe. After a joining a slave uprising and overthrowing the leader of Ildakar, Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon begin working to rebuild the city. Commander Maxim, husband of the city's defeated leader, goes missing, and shortly thereafter, General Utros's army of stone soldiers awakens and renews its war on Ildakar in the name of an Emperor long dead. The Norukai King, Grieve, also begins planning assaults on Ildakar and the D'Haran Empire, hoping to conquer the world.

Heart of Black Ice
Heart of Black Ice, released January 21, 2020, is the fourth and final entry in the Nicci Chronicles and the 21st Novel, chronologically, in the Sword of Truth universe. After Nicci travels north to warn the cities of the Old World of the impending attacks, the leadership of Ildakar betray her and her allies, recreating the Shroud of Eternity and leaving them stranded. As the third Sliph, an emphatic supporter of old Emperor Sulachan, realizes that Nicci is her enemy, she decides to strand her alone in the ruins of the city of Orogang, somewhere in the mountains of the Phantom Coast. Bannon is captured and enslaved by the Norukai and the protagonists' army is vastly outnumbered by Utros's stone soldiers. Utros makes a deal with Grieve to unite their forces and declare war on D'Hara.

The Children of D'Hara
In 2019, Terry Goodkind began to release novellas following Richard & Kahlan after the events of Warheart. Richard promises Kahlan that they would help bring about a new Golden Age for their empire. The People's Palace is suddenly attacked by an amphibian race of beings from another dimension who call themselves the Glee. They wish to hunt man for sport and follow the commands of their queen, known only as the Golden Goddess. They can possess humans and disappear at will but are confused and terrified by magic. The Glee believe that they will no longer have to fear magic if they eliminate Richard's bloodline because he is the most powerful wizard alive. Kahlan learns that she is pregnant with Richard Rahl's children—a pair of fraternal twins.

Further works

 * The Law of Nines. Released August 18, 2009, this novel takes place in our world, one thousand years after the events of the Sword of Truth novels. It was written immediately following Confessor. A descendant of Jennsen Rahl and Tom is harassed by warriors from the Sword of Truth universe, and a sorceress named Jax comes to his aid as he tries to understand what these new enemies want.

Publications

 * The Nicci Chronicles and Children of D'Hara both start after Warheart and run in parallel

TV series adaptation
In July 2006, Goodkind announced on his official website that he had entered into negotiations with The Evil Dead and Spider-Man director Sam Raimi and producer Rob Tapert to bring The Sword of Truth to life as a TV live-action weekly series. According to the article, Raimi, Tapert and Joshua Donen planned to begin work on the Wizard's First Rule live-action weekly series in May 2008. Raimi & Tapert also wanted Goodkind to remain intimately involved with the project. The show was renamed Legend of the Seeker because the producers wanted to be able to continue the series beyond the first book, and they felt the title Wizard's First Rule was too restrictive. It premiered on November 1, 2008.

There are significant differences between the events of the novels and those of the series. In a February 2008 letter addressed to the fans, Terry Goodkind wrote, "The nature of TV syndication requires that each week's episode be a story in itself, meaning that while the TV series will follow the background story of the book, it will not be able to follow the book exactly because there would be parts that would make an incomplete episode." He later confirmed: "Sam Raimi and his team want to keep the TV series true to my vision, so rest assured that I am going to be intimately involved in the writing of each of the episodes. If you love the book just the way it is, then enjoy the book for what it is and come to the TV series prepared to enjoy the show for what it is."

The TV series ran for two seasons, concluding May 22, 2010 with a total of 44 episodes.

Wizard's Rules
A thread woven through the original series are the 11 "Wizard's Rules", which are practical teachings given to young wizards. The first rule appears in Wizard's First Rule. Further rules are mentioned on occasion, afterwards.

 * 1) Wizard's First Rule: "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they're afraid it might be true. Peoples' heads are full of knowledge, facts and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."
 * 2) Wizard's Second Rule: "The Second Rule is that the greatest harm can result from the best intentions."
 * 3) Wizard's Third Rule: "Passion rules reason."
 * 4) Wizard's Fourth Rule: "The Wizard's Fourth Rule, he called it. He said that there was magic in sincere forgiveness, in the Fourth Rule. Magic to heal. In forgiveness you grant, and more so in the forgiveness you receive."
 * 5) Wizard's Fifth Rule: "Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie."
 * 6) Wizard's Sixth Rule: "The most important rule there is, the Wizard's Sixth Rule: the only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason. The first law of reason is this: what exists, exists, what is, is and from this irreducible bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. It is the foundation from which life is embraced. Thinking is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts nor are they a means to discover them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality; it is our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss that we refuse to see. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason's light. In rejecting reason, refusing to think, one embraces death."
 * 7) Wizard's Seventh Rule: "Life is the future, not the past. The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew. As rational, thinking beings, we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices."
 * 8) Wizard's Eighth Rule: "Talga Vassternich. Deserve Victory."
 * 9) Wizard's Ninth Rule: "A contradiction can not exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole. To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy - to imagine something is real simply because you wish it were. A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions. Faith is a device of self-delusion, a sleight of hand done with words and emotions founded on any irrational notion that can be dreamed up. Faith is the attempt to coerce truth to surrender to whim. In simple terms, it is trying to breath life into a lie by trying to outshine reality with the beauty of wishes. Faith is the refuge of fools, the ignorant, and the deluded, not of thinking, rational men. In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life. In such an exchange, you always lose what you have at stake."
 * 10) Wizard's Tenth Rule: "Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self."
 * 11) Wizard's Eleventh Rule: "The rule of all rules. The rule unwritten. The rule unspoken since the dawn of history... But Barracus wanted you to know that it's the secret to using a war wizard's power. The only way to express it, to make sure that you would grasp what he was intending to tell you, was to give you a book unwritten to signify the rule unwritten."
 * 12) Un-numbered Wizard Rule One: "There will always be those who hate and always will be." Meaning, one shouldn't waste time trying to defeat or fix people who are driven by hate, as the act can often cause hatred to worsen, or spread to others.
 * 13) Un-numbered Wizard's Rule Two: "All things must die. There is no choice in that, only in how we choose to live."
 * 14) Un-numbered Wizard's Rule Three: "You can destroy those who speak the truth, but you cannot destroy the truth itself."
 * 15) Un-numbered Wizard's Rule Four: "Life gives dimension to time."

Creatures
Throughout the series, various magical creatures & beings were brought up, or made appearances. Some of them were from actual mythology, others were fictionalized by the author & others were based on existing mythology, but with unique twists in the original idea.

First appearance—Chainfire; Last appearance—Confessor
 * Beast, The—A formless entity created to hunt and kill Richard. It comes and goes as it pleases from the Underworld and assumes a different form each time.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—Confessor
 * Bird Man—Among the nation of the Mud People, a high ranking holy man exists, known in the series only as the Bird Man. He is able to call any bird he wishes to himself, can read signs from beyond & often participates in, or leads, many magical ceremonies.

Appearance—Soul of the Fire
 * The Chimes—groups of shape shifting, elemental, fairy like creatures who kill people and taint magic by existing in worlds with magic. They were long banished to the Underworld, but came back briefly in one book. They are known as the Reechani, Sentrosi and Vasi.

First appearance—The First Confessor; Last appearance—The Children of D'Hara 5: Into Darkness
 * Confessor—Confessors are a magically formed race of women given the power of Confession. They can force anyone to fall so madly in love with them that they will do anything the Confessor asks. Prior to the beginning of the series, they had taken to ruling over the Midlands, a loose connection of separate lands confederated under them. They primarily used their powers to force confessions of criminals and to dethrone would-be tyrants. All Confessors wear matching black dresses, except for their leader, who wears white. The leader of the Confessors is the Mother Confessor. Their only weakness is that they can only use their powers once, and then need time to rest and recharge. This time varies from Confessor to Confessor.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—The Nicci Chronicles
 * Dragon—Just like dragons from medieval lore. There are various dragon species, but only a few types are ever met. Some dragons even have the ability to speak and reason, but there are allusions to other species which are kept as pets for hunting purposes. Given how dangerous they are, humans have long hunted them for their own protection, making them increasingly rarer. In the Sword of Truth universe, their existence is linked to magic so that, if magic dies out, so do they. Nicci once attempts to kill an elderly dragon with Wizard's Fire, but it has the opposite effect, actually seeming to heal and de-age the creature.

First appearance—Blood of the Fold; Last appearance—Confessor
 * Dreamwalker—a person with the magic to see into people's minds, and even control them, both through pain and humiliation, as well as literally, like a puppet. They were created as a weapon and are marked with solid black eyes. The only Dreamwalker in the series was Emperor Jagang.

Appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Death's Mistress
 * Adjudicator—a wizard who used an amulet to turn the "guilty" to stone. Was driven mad with power and decided all people were guilty of something or other and must be made to suffer for it.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—Confessor
 * Gar—A nightmarish creature best described as a cross between a gorilla, a bat and a gremlin that hunts through the use of Blood Flies. It wipes Gore from prior meal on its stomach to feed the biting flies, which then stay close and spread out to attack and flush out further prey for the Gar. Two species are made note of- long tailed and short tailed, with the latter being the smartest.

First appearance—The Children of D'Hara 1: The Scribbly Man; Last appearance—The Children of D'Hara 5: Into Darkness
 * Glee—A reptilian race of beings from an entirely different world, who use a device to enter Richard's world to hunt humans.

First appearance—The Third Kingdom; Last appearance—Warheart
 * Half People—soulless monstrosities who kill and canabalize the living in order to try to gain a soul through eating the dying alive. Some of them have Occult Powers. They were created by Emperor Sulachan.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—The Pillars of Creation
 * Hearthounds—Underworld creatures who take the form of wolf-like beings when in this world. Came out at night from within the boundary. It was theorized that the name came from their hunting by listening for one's heartbeat.

Appearance—The Omen Machine
 * Hedge Maid—a sort of witch with access to Occult Powers. Her mouth is sown shut, as her scream is lethal. She can call spirits and control the dead.

Appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Death's Mistress
 * Lifedrinker—A wizard who used a spell to save his life from cancer, which caused him to nearly bleed the entire world dry.

Appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Death's Mistress
 * Life's Mistress—a former sorceress who misused a spell to try to repair the damage done to a fertile valley, which turned her into a giant plant monster, gave her control over plants and the ability to change humans into nymph-like soldiers who followed her will.

First appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Shroud if Eternity; Last appearance—The Nicci Chronicles; Heart of Black Ice
 * Morazeth—a variation on the Mord-Sith that only existed in the city of Ildakar. They use an Agile Knife, rather than an Agiel, and were primarily used to train arena fighters for the amusement of the Ildakaran upper class, as well as serving as bodyguards. They are minimally dressed in black leather, buzz cut their heads and are covered in welted magical runes that protect them from magical attack.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—The Children of D'Hara 5: Into Darkness
 * Mord-Sith—Used in the series primarily by the House of Rahl, Debt of Bones noted that the use of them was once more widespread and later books confirmed that others can utilize them. They wear skin tight, leather jumpsuits and their hair in a long, single braid. Kidnapped and torturned into insanity as children, they serve as torturers and bodyguards. The magic of their weapons ensure that they must have a master in order to have power. A Confessors touch is an excruciatingly violent and painful death to a Mord-Sith.

First appearance—Stone of Tears; Last appearance—Blood of the Fold
 * Mriswith—reptilian monsters created from people long ago. They can become invisible and are expert fighters.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—Confessor
 * Night Wisp—a fairy like entity that only appears as a ball of light and speaks with a child like voice. Their survival depends on companionship and they will grow weak and die without their own kind near. They usually live in colonies, but only one such place is ever visited within the series.

First appearance—Chainfire; Last appearance—Confessor
 * Priestess of the Bones—A job passed down through a tribe of Nomadic people in southern D'Hara. It was prophecies that a certain someone would one day need her help. Can use her pet Raven to carry dreams to others nearby that she wishes them to see.

First appearance—Pillars of Creation; Last appearance—Confessor
 * Pristinely Ungifted—Someone born without even a single spark of the gift for magic within them, causing magic to be entirely nonexistent where they are concerned. They can only be harmed by it indirectly and can't be sensed by those with magic. They came about as an accidental consequence of the Rahl family attempting to bypass the progressive loss of magic in their world to ensure that they will always have a gifted heir in every generation. Every child of a Pristinely Ungifted individual inherits the trait, making people fear that their existence will destroy magic forever if they are not all killed.

First appearance—Stone of Tears; Last appearance—Warheart
 * Prophet—a type of wizard who can also deliver prophecies. However, this type of wizard goes extinct following the events of Warheart.

Appearance—Stone of Tears
 * Screeling—Underworld creature which takes the form of a dried up, desiccated, human corpse in this world. They have needle-like teeth, golden eyes, claw-like nails and walk on all fours. They adapt to the world of the living slowly, but are extremely powerful and violent.

Appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Heart of Black Ice
 * Sea Serpent—Exactly as the name implies. The Norukai people worship them as gods.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—The Children of D'Hara 5: Into Darkness
 * Seeker of Truth—a type of avenging warrior created by wizards long ago to force truth out into the open and lead people towards more wise lives. They are given a weapon known as the sword of truth to accomplish the task, but must still be the right kind of person in the first place.

First appearance—Stone of Tears; Last appearance—Confessor
 * Seer—someone who has prophetic visions at will, but not always clear or obvious ones. They have no other abilities beyond this, seemingly. The only Seer in the series was Jebra Bevinvier.

First appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Death's Mistress; Last appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Heart of Black Ice
 * Selka—Aquatic creatures created from people long ago to engage in Marine warfare. They live in the ocean south of the Old World.

First appearance—Stone of Tears; Last appearance—Confessor
 * Sisters of the Dark—a group of sorceresses who turned to the worship of the Keeper of the Underworld for a variety of personal reasons. They murdered and stole the gift from Wizards to get power equal to a wizard, and gained Subtractive Magic from the Underworld in return for their service. They were all originally Sisters of the Light and hid in plain sight. The Sisters had a hard time rooting them out, as it was their law that wrongful accusation of being a Sister of the Dark was seen as attempted murder and carried with it a death sentence.

First appearance—Stone of Tears; Last appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Heart of Black Ice
 * Sisters of the Light—a group of sorceresses who tried to fill in the gap of training young wizards who had no wizard teacher themselves in the use of their powers. They were a semi-religious order who worshipped the Creator and lived in the Palace of the Prophets together, until it was destroyed. They later took up residence in the Wizard's Keep.

First appearance—Stone of Tears; Last appearance—Temple of the Winds
 * Skrin—Underworld creature that takes the form of a giant, hairless dog with horns when in this world. It is said that they are the physical embodiment of the force which keeps the dead in the Underworld and the living in this one.

Appearance—Naked Empire
 * Slide—a wizard-weapon which can steal souls to use for special spells and can possess any living thing with eyes to see through them.

First appearance—Blood of the Fold; Last appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Heart of Black Ice
 * Sliph—a creature created to transport people great distances through a series of underground tunnels. They are made of a substance similar to Mercury/ Quicksilver and work through the individual asking for a destination, breathing in the creature and allowing it to pull them under and take them there. They can only go to pre-determined places, where Sliph Wells have been constructed. They were once people. Although it was believed that "The" Sliph in the Wizard's Keep was the only one, two others have since appeared in the series who go by different names.

Appearance—Faith of the Fallen
 * Sorceror—a sort of antithesis to a wizard. They are noted to have similar powers, but their powers are equal and opposite and don't work correctly against one another.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Heart of Black Ice
 * Sorceress—the female equivalent of a wizard, but usually arguably weaker. They cannot do some of the things wizards are known for, such as creating Wizard's Fire.

First appearance—The Children of D'Hara 3: Wasteland; Last appearance—The Children of D'Hara 4: Witch's Oath
 * Warlock—noted as the male equivalent of a Witch Woman. They can do everything a witch can. The only Warlock in the series was Moravaska Michec.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—The Children of D'Hara 5: Into Darkness
 * War Wizard—a unique and rare type of wizard who is extremely powerful and has varied potential skills
 * Witch Woman—can see into the future and create illusions. Are usually feared and persecuted. Shota is the best known in the series, but there have been several so far.

First appearance—Wizard's First Rule; Last appearance—The Children of D'Hara 5: Into Darkness
 * Wizard—a generic term for several types of male gifted individuals with unique powers.

Appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Heart of Black Ice
 * Zhiss—A creature resembling a swarm of angry insects. They attack anything that moves as one and drink blood until their victim dies. They arrived on a comet and took over the ruins of the city of Orogang.

Magic
Various magical relics, artifacts and powers come up throughout the series as well. These are explained below.

 * Additive Magic—Magic of the world of the living. Can only add to or create.
 * Agiel—Choice weapon of the Mord-Sith. A leather rod in a gold chain. It is powered by the bond to their master and can inflict any sort of damage the user wishes. It often causes like pain to the user in return, as they usually use the same Agiel that they were tortured with themselves.
 * Agile Knife—a small wooden handle with a pop-out needle on one end. The choice weapon of Morazeth. Inflicts pain when a rune is touched.
 * Books of Prophecy—various books in which the words which go along with the visions of Prophets are recorded. They help to trigger the same visions in other Prophets who read them. Some are spelled so that others can't understand them, or remember anything that they say within.
 * Bond, The—Created by the Alric Rahl. Anyone who swears allegiance to the Lord Rahl becomes protected. In return, pure blooded D'Harans always know exactly where their Lord Rahl is at all times.
 * Boundary—Created to break Westland, the Midlands and D'Hara up to force the end of a war between the Midlands and D'Hara. It is a wall made of the Underworld itself breaching up into the world of the living and glows green. Anyone who walks through it died instantly.
 * Boxes of Orden—three boxes keeping safe the power to control just about everything. An instruction booklet called the Book of Counted Shadows was created to aid in the process of acquiring that power.
 * Central Sites—hidden tombs and crypts filled with esoteric books of Prophecy. Created to keep books safe for the time when they would be needed the most.
 * Chainfire Event—a spell meant to make people forget that a person exists. It erases all memory of the individual, rebuilds new memories when missing memory is discovered and makes it impossible for new memories of someone to form, rendering a person as good as invisible.
 * Con'dar (Blood Rage)-- a special Subtractive power capable of being tapped by some Confessors. Puts them into a trance, allows them to call down lightning and makes their Confession powers unlimited.
 * Containment Field—a room spelled to be hermetically sealed in terms of magic. Allows people to do spells in isolation, or try to work on or dismantle spells that could be dangerous.
 * Confession—A power given to Confessors. It wipes clean everything a person ever was or cared about and fills them instead with a desperate, burning desire to please their Confessor by any means necessary.
 * Constructed Spells—spells attached to an item. They can be activated at any time through a built-in trigger.
 * Gateway—a device which allows people to travel between worlds.
 * Grace, The—religious and magic symbol which represents the Creator and the gift
 * Han—the technical term for a person's magic. Sometimes also referred to as the spark of magic, or the gift.
 * Journey Book(s)-- built in pairs, they allow two people to communicate in writing, no matter how far away they are.
 * Language of Creation—a magical, symbol language keyed to physical forms magic takes on when visible.
 * Law of Nines, The—a magical law which means that things that come in sets of three are inherently more powerful, but three sets of three sets is even more powerful.
 * Occult Power—the reverse power to the gift. Can achieve things the gift normally cannot, like manipulating the wear of time upon a person or object and manipulating life and death itself.
 * Omen Machine—the physical manifestation of Prophecy in the real world. It was hidden beneath the People's Palace for untold generations and is somewhat sentient.
 * Quillion—a crystal used to absorb and transfer magic from one person and give it to another. Only works if the person is skinned alive first.
 * Rada'han—a metal collar which takes control of a person through their magic. Used by the Sisters of the Light to keep trainee Wizards under control.
 * Shroud of Eternity—magical veil which removed the city of Ildakar from time and space.
 * Subtractive Magic—the opposite of additive magic. Mainly comes from the Underworld. People were once born with it, but fewer and fewer came about over time. Can only destroy it make things vanish.
 * Sword of Truth—The key to the power of the orden created by the Orden Sect is its two different spells, the white one is the mainstay of the cult's power, carried by real seekers and used in anger and compassion.
 * Temple of the Winds—magical archive which is somewhat sentient. Was sent to the Underworld 3000 years ago to protect its dangerous contents from misuse.
 * Towers/Valley of Perdition—several towers built in line to create a shifting boundary of illusions to cut off the New World from the Old World 3009 years ago.
 * Verification Web—a spell used to understand what another spell is by viewing what it would do and how in a safe environment. Usually done within a Containment Field.

Reception
The novel series frequently enters lists of top fantasy novels. In 2011, an NPR poll of 60,000 readers from among 5,000 fantasy novels nominated, found the series as the 62nd most popular fantasy/science fiction novel of all time. The series has an average rating of roughly four stars on Goodreads, with some of the novels having received thousands of reviews.

The influence of Goodkind's political philosophy in his writing has been noted by reviewers and commentators and has led to divisive reactions about his novels, with some criticizing their Objectivist themes and others praising them. Goodkind himself was open about this influence and was described as an invigorating contrarian who enjoyed stirring up controversy. He has been criticized for writing female characters who adhere to sexist stereotypes and for frequently subjecting them to sexual violence, though he stated his stories were centered on "strong female characters" and once objected to a book cover he considered sexist.

title: The Sword of Truth


text:
Medieval Muslim Algeria

Medieval Muslim Algeria was a period of Muslim dominance in Algeria during the Middle Ages, spanning the millennium from the 7th century to the 17th century. The new faith, in its various forms, would penetrate nearly all segments of society, bringing with it armies, learned men, and fervent mystics; in large part, it would replace tribal practices and loyalties with new social norms and political idioms.

The first Arab military expeditions into the Maghreb, between 642 and 669, resulted in the spread of Islam. These early forays from a base in Egypt occurred under local initiative rather than under orders from the central caliphate. When the seat of the caliphate moved from Medina to Damascus, the Umayyads (a Muslim dynasty ruling from 661 to 750) recognized that the strategic necessity of dominating the Mediterranean dictated a concerted military effort on the North African front. In 670, therefore, an Arab army under Uqba ibn Nafi established the town of Al Qayrawan about 160 kilometers south of present-day Tunis and used it as a base for further operations.

Abu al Muhajir Dinar
Abu al-Muhajir Dinar, Uqba's successor, pushed westward into Algeria and eventually worked out a modus vivendi with Kusaila, the ruler of an extensive confederation of Christian Berbers. Kusaila, who had been based in Tilimsan (Tlemcen), became a Muslim and moved his headquarters to Takirwan, near Al Qayrawan.

This harmony was short-lived, however. Arab and Berber forces controlled the region in turn until 697. By 711, Umayyad forces helped by Berber converts to Islam had conquered all of North Africa. Governors appointed by the Umayyad caliphs ruled from Al Qayrawan, capital of the new wilaya (province) of Ifriqiya, which covered Tripolitania (the western part of present-day Libya), Tunisia, and eastern Algeria.

Paradoxically, the spread of Islam among the Berbers did not guarantee their support for the Arab-dominated caliphate. The ruling Arabs alienated the Berbers by taxing them heavily; treating converts as second-class Muslims; and, at worst, by enslaving them. As a result, widespread opposition took the form of open revolt in 739–40 under the banner of Kharijite Islam. The Kharijites objected to Ali, the fourth caliph, making peace with the Umayyads in 657 and left Ali's camp (khariji means "those who leave"). The Kharijites had been fighting Umayyad rule in the East, and many Berbers were attracted by the sect's egalitarian precepts. For example, according to Kharijism, any suitable Muslim candidate could be elected caliph without regard to race, station, or descent from Muhammad.

After the revolt, Kharijites established several theocratic tribal kingdoms, most of which had short and troubled histories. Others, however, like Sijilmasa and Tilimsan, which straddled the principal trade routes, proved more viable and prospered. In 750 the Abbasids, who succeeded the Umayyads as Muslim rulers, moved the caliphate to Baghdad and reestablished caliphal authority in Ifriqiya, appointing Ibrahim ibn al Aghlab as governor in Al Qayrawan. Although nominally serving at the caliph's pleasure, Al Aghlab and his successors, the Aghlabids, ruled independently until 909, presiding over a court that became a center for learning and culture.

Rustamids
Rustamids or Banou Rostom, an Ibadi Islamic berber state, appeared in 776 AD, founded and led initially by Abdurrahman ibn Rostom. Its capital was Tahert in the northeast of what is now known as Algeria. The Rustamid state spread all over the north African coast from Tlemcen to the area now known as Sert in northern Libya, though it is slightly hard to get precise frontiers of this state. During the Rostomid ruling, its capital was a cultural and a scientific metropolis of the Great Maghreb, attracting many scientists, such as Ibn Khaldoun, where he wrote his popular book called "Al Mukadima", which was likely to be known as the first book about sociology. The fall of the state was after the defeat against the Fatimids and putting out the last leader, Yakdan Ibn Mohamed, in 909 AD.

Banu Ifran
In Algeria, Tlemcen was the capital of the Kingdom of Banu Ifran in the time period before Islam to 1068. The Banu Ifran waged uprisings against the foreign occupiers: the Romans, the Vandals, and the Byzantines. They pledged to the side of the Kahina, against the Umayyad in the 7th century. In the 8th century, they mobilize around the dogma of sufri to revolt against the powers of the Umayyad and Abbasids. In the 10th century, they created a dynasty facing the Fatimids, the Zirid, the Umayyad, the Hammadid, and the Maghraoua. The Banu Ifran was defeated by the Almoravids and the coalition of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym - Hammadid, towards the end of 11th century. The Ifrenides dynasty was recognized as the only dynasty that has defended the Africans People in the Maghreb.

Zirid
The Zirid Dynasty, which ruled over parts of North Africa from the 10th to the 12th century, was one of the most significant Muslim dynasties in medieval Algeria. Founded by the Berber general Ziri ibn Manad, the Zirids established their capital in the city of Ashir, located in modern-day Algeria. The dynasty's early years were marked by political turmoil and conflict with other Muslim powers, but the Zirids eventually emerged as a dominant force in the region, with their influence extending as far as Sicily. The Zirid rulers were known for their patronage of the arts and sciences, and their court was a center of learning and culture. However, the dynasty's decline in the 12th century paved the way for the rise of other powers in the region, ultimately leading to the fragmentation of North Africa. Despite their relatively short reign, the legacy of the Zirids continues to shape the cultural and political landscape of Algeria and North Africa to this day.

Fatimids
In the closing decades of the 9th century, missionaries of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam converted the Kutama Berbers of what was later known as the Petite Kabylie region and led them in battle against the Sunni rulers of Ifriqiya. Al Qayrawan fell to them in 909. The Ismaili imam, Abdallah, declared himself caliph and established Mahdia as his capital. Abdallah initiated the Fatimid Dynasty, named after Fatima, daughter of Muhammad and wife of Ali, from whom the caliph claimed descent.

The Fatimids turned westward in 911, destroying the imamate of Tahert and conquering Sijilmasa in Morocco. Ibadi Kharijite refugees from Tahert fled south to the oasis at Ouargla beyond the Atlas Mountains, whence in the 11th century they moved southwest to Oued M'zab. Maintaining their cohesion and beliefs over the centuries, Ibadi religious leaders have dominated public life in the region to this day.

For many years, the Fatimids posed a threat to Morocco, but their deepest ambition was to rule the East, the Mashriq, which included Egypt and Muslim lands beyond. By 969, they had conquered Egypt and in 972, the Fatimid ruler Al Muizz established the new city of Cairo as his capital. The Fatimids left the rule of Ifriqiya and most of Algeria to the Zirids (972–1148). This Berber dynasty, which had founded the towns of Miliana, Médéa, and Algiers and centered significant local power in Algeria for the first time, turned over its domain west of Ifriqiya to the Banu Hammad branch of its family. The Hammadids ruled from 1011 to 1151, during which time Bejaïa became the most important port in North Africa.

This period was marked by constant conflict, political instability, and economic decline. The Hammadids, by rejecting the Ismaili doctrine for Sunni orthodoxy and renouncing submission to the Fatimids, initiated chronic conflict with the Zirids. Two great Berber confederations – the Sanhaja and the Zenata – engaged in an epic struggle. The fiercely brave, camelborne nomads of the western desert and steppe as well as the sedentary farmers of the Kabylie to the east swore allegiance to the Sanhaja. Their traditional enemies, the Zenata, were tough, resourceful horsemen from the cold plateau of the northern interior of Morocco and the western Tell in Algeria.

In addition, raiders from Genoa, Pisa, and Norman Sicily attacked ports and disrupted coastal trade. Trans-Saharan trade shifted to Fatimid Egypt and to routes in the west leading to Spanish markets. The countryside was being overtaxed by growing cities.

Contributing to these political and economic dislocations was a large incursion of Arab beduin from Egypt starting in the first half of the 11th century. Part of this movement was an invasion by the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym tribes, apparently sent by the Fatimids to weaken the Zirids. These Arab beduin overcame the Zirids and Hammadids and in 1057 sacked Al Qayrawan. They sent farmers fleeing from the fertile plains to the mountains and left cities and towns in ruin.

For the first time, the extensive use of Arabic spread to the countryside. Many sedentary Berbers who sought protection from the Hilalians were gradually Arabized.

Almoravids
The Almoravid movement developed early in the 11th century among the Sanhaja confederation, whose control of trans-Saharan trade routes was under pressure from the Zenata Berbers in the north and the state of Ghana in the south. Yahya Ibn Ibrahim, a leader of the Godala tribe of the Sanhaja confederation, decided to raise the level of Islamic knowledge and practice among his people. To accomplish this, on his return from the hajj (Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca) in 1048–1049, he brought with him Abdallah Ibn Yasin, a Moroccan scholar. In the early years of the movement, the scholar was concerned only with imposing moral discipline and a strict adherence to Islamic principles among his followers. Abd Allah ibn Yasin also became known as one of the marabouts, or holy persons (from al murabitun, "those who have made a religious retreat").

The Almoravid movement shifted from promoting religious reform to engaging in military conquest after 1054 and was led by Lamtuna leaders: first Yahya, then his brother Abu Bakr, and then his cousin Yusuf ibn Tashfin. With Marrakech as their capital, the Almoravids had conquered Morocco, the Maghrib as far east as Algiers, and Spain up to the Ebro River by 1106. Under the Almoravids, the Maghrib and Spain acknowledged the spiritual authority of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, reuniting them temporarily with the Islamic community in the Mashriq.

Although it was not an entirely peaceful time, North Africa benefited economically and culturally during the Almoravid period, which lasted until 1147. Muslim Spain (Andalus in Arabic) was a great source of artistic and intellectual inspiration. The most famous writers of Andalus worked in the Almoravid court, and the builders of the Grand Mosque of Tilimsan, completed in 1136, used as a model the Grand Mosque of Córdoba.

Almohads
Like the Almoravids, the Almohads found their initial inspiration in Islamic reform. Their spiritual leader, the Moroccan Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart, sought to reform Almoravid decadence. Rejected in Marrakech and other cities, he turned to his Masmuda tribe in the Atlas Mountains for support. Because of their emphasis on the unity of God, his followers were known as Al Muwahhidun (unitarians, or Almohads).

Although declaring himself mahdi, imam, and masum (infallible leader sent by God), Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart consulted with a council of ten of his oldest disciples. Influenced by the Berber tradition of representative government, he later added an assembly composed of fifty leaders from various tribes. The Almohad rebellion began in 1125 with attacks on Moroccan cities, including Sus and Marrakech.

Upon Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tumart's death in 1130, his successor Abd al Mumin took the title of caliph and placed members of his own family in power, converting the system into a traditional monarchy. The Almohads entered Spain at the invitation of the Andalusian amirs, who had risen against the Almoravids there. Abd al Mumin forced the submission of the amirs and reestablished the caliphate of Córdoba, giving the Almohad sultan supreme religious as well as political authority within his domains. The Almohads took control of Morocco in 1146, captured Algiers around 1151, and by 1160 had completed the conquest of the central Maghrib and advanced to Tripolitania. Nonetheless, pockets of Almoravid resistance continued to hold out in the Kabylie for at least fifty years.

After Abd al Mumin's death in 1163, his son Abu Yaqub Yusuf (r. 1163–84) and grandson Yaqub al Mansur (r. 1184–99) presided over the zenith of Almohad power. For the first time, the Maghrib was united under a local regime, and although the empire was troubled by conflict on its fringes, handcrafts and agriculture flourished at its center and an efficient bureaucracy filled the tax coffers. In 1229, the Almohad court renounced the teachings of Ibn Tumart, opting instead for greater tolerance of opposing views. As evidence of this change, the Almohads hosted two of the greatest thinkers of Andalus: Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl and Ibn Rushd (Averroes).

The Almohads shared the crusading instincts of their Castilian adversaries, but the continuing wars in Spain overtaxed their resources. In the Maghrib, the Almohad position was compromised by factional strife and was challenged by a renewal of tribal warfare. The Bani Merin (Zenata Berbers) took advantage of declining Almohad power to establish a tribal state in Morocco, initiating nearly sixty years of warfare there that concluded with their capture of Marrakech, the last Almohad stronghold, in 1271. Despite repeated efforts to subjugate the central Maghrib, however, the Marinids were never able to restore the frontiers of the Almohad Empire.

Zayyanids
From its capital at Tunis, the Hafsid dynasty made good its claim to be the legitimate successor of the Almohads in Ifriqiya, while, in the central Maghrib, the Zayyanids founded a dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Tlemcen. Based on a Zenata tribe, the Bani Abd el Wad, which had been settled in the region by Abd al Mumin, the Zayyanids also emphasized their links with the Almohads.

For more than 300 years, until the region came under Ottoman suzerainty in the 16th century, the Zayyanids kept a tenuous hold in the central Maghrib. The regime, which depended on the administrative skills of Andalusians, was plagued by frequent rebellions but learned to survive as the vassal of the Marinids or Hafsids or later as an ally of Spain.

Many coastal cities defied the ruling dynasties and asserted their autonomy as municipal republics. They were governed by their merchant oligarchies, by tribal chieftains from the surrounding countryside, or by the privateers who operated out of their ports.

Tlemcen prospered as a commercial center and was called the "pearl of the Maghrib." Situated at the head of the Imperial Road through the strategic Taza Gap to Marrakech, the city controlled the caravan route to Sijilmasa, gateway for the gold and slave trade with the western Sudan. Aragon came to control commerce between Tlemcen's port, Oran, and Europe beginning about 1250. An outbreak of privateering out of Aragon, however, severely disrupted this trade after about 1420.

Marabouts
The successor dynasties in North Africa—Marinids, Zayanids, and Hasfids—did not base their power on a program of religious reform as their predecessors had done. Of necessity, they compromised with rural cults that had survived the triumph of puritanical orthodoxy in the 12th century despite the efforts of the Almoravids and Almohads to stamp them out.

The aridity of official Islam had little appeal outside the mosques and schools of the cities. In the countryside, wandering marabouts, or holy people, drew a large and devoted following. These men and women were believed to possess divine grace (baraka) or to be able to channel it to others. In life, the marabouts offered spiritual guidance, arbitrated disputes, and often wielded political power. After death, their cults—some local, others widespread—erected domed tombs that became sites of pilgrimage.

Many tribes claimed descent from marabouts. In addition, small, autonomous republics led by holy men became a common form of government in the Maghrib. In Algeria, the influence of the marabouts continued through much of the Ottoman period, when the authorities would grant political and financial favors to these leaders to prevent tribal uprisings.

European offensive
The final triumph of the 700-year Christian reconquest of Spain, marked by the fall of Granada in 1492, was accompanied by the forced conversion of Spanish Muslims (Moriscos). As a result of the Inquisition, thousands of Jews fled or were deported to the Maghrib where many gained influence in government and commerce.

Without much difficulty, Christian Spain imposed its influence on the Maghrib coast by constructing fortified outposts (presidios) and collecting tribute during the 15th and early 16th centuries. On or near the Algerian coast, Spain took control of Mers el Kebir in 1505, Oran in 1509, and Tlemcen, Mostaganem, and Ténès, all west of Algiers, in 1510. In the same year, the merchants of Algiers handed over one of the rocky islets in their harbor, where the Spaniards built a fort. The presidios in North Africa turned out to be a costly and largely ineffective military endeavor that did not guarantee access for Spain's merchant fleet. Indeed, most trade seemed to be transacted in the numerous free ports. Moreover, from the 16th to the 18th century, sailing superior ships and hammering out shrewd concessions, merchants from England, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and Italy, as well as Spain, dominated Mediterranean trade.

Why Spain did not extend its North African conquests much beyond a few modest enclaves has puzzled historians. Some suggest that Spain held back because it was preoccupied with maintaining its territory in Italy; others that Spain's energies were absorbed in obtaining the riches of the New World. Still another possibility is that Spain was more intent on projecting its force on the high seas than on risking defeat in the forbidding interior of Africa.

Privateers
Privateering was an age-old practice in the Mediterranean. North African rulers engaged in it increasingly in the late 16th and early 17th century because it was so lucrative, and because their merchant vessels, formerly a major source of income, were not permitted to enter European ports. Although the methods varied, privateering generally involved private vessels raiding the ships of an enemy in peacetime under the authority of a ruler. Its purposes were to disrupt an opponent's trade and to reap rewards from the captives and cargo.

Privateering was a highly disciplined affair conducted under the command of the rais (captains) of the fleets. Several captains became heroes in Algerian lore for their bravery and skill. The captains of the corsairs banded together in a self-regulating taifa (community) to protect and further the corporate interests of their trade. The taifa came to be ethnically mixed, incorporating those captured Europeans who agreed to convert to Islam and supply information useful for future raids. The taifa also gained prestige and political influence because of its role in fighting the infidel and providing the merchants and rulers of Algiers with a major source of income. Algiers became the privateering city-state par excellence, especially between 1560 and 1620. And it was two privateer brothers who were instrumental in extending Ottoman influence in Algeria.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Medieval Muslim Algeria


text:
Talk:Rank of an abelian group

Untitled
When the article says:
 * A^n is isomorphic to B^n

should this be
 * $$A^n$$ is isomorphic to $$B^n$$,

or is this a special notation I don't know about?

 * Missed this, sorry... fixed. Dysprosia 09:02, 9 Aug 2003 (UTC)

something about p-ranks? (rank $$r(A)$$ of an abelian group $$A$$ is the non-torsion rank $$r_0(A)$$ plus sum of p-ranks $$r_p(A)$$ for every prime p).

More Examples
How about explicit examples of abelian groups of rank greater than 1? Kerry (talk) 22:54, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Rank of an abelian group


text:
FY

Fy or FY may refer to:

Aerospace

 * Convair XFY Pogo, an experimental aircraft
 * Fengyun, a series of Chinese weather satellites
 * Firefly (airline), Malaysia (IATA code: )

Places

 * FY postcode area, England
 * North Macedonia (NATO country code: )
 * Fengyang, China

Science

 * Yield strength, of a material
 * Feynmanium, or untriseptium

Other uses

 * Fushigi Yûgi, a manga (1991–1996)
 * Fiscal year, in business
 * West Frisian language, spoken in the Netherlands (ISO 639-1: )

title: FY


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Prehistoric North Africa

The prehistory of North Africa spans the period of earliest human presence in the region to gradual onset of historicity in the Maghreb during classical antiquity. Early anatomically modern humans are known to have been present at Jebel Irhoud, in what is now Morocco, approximately 300,000 years ago. The Nile Valley region, via ancient Egypt, contributed to the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age periods of the Old World, along with the ancient Near East. Note that much of ancient Egypt is not prehistoric.

Climate

Human habitation in North Africa has been greatly influenced by the climate of the Sahara (currently the world's largest warm desert), which has undergone enormous variations between wet and dry over the last few hundred thousand years. This is due to a 41,000-year Axial tilt cycle in which the tilt of the earth changes between 22° and 24.5°. At present (2000 CE), we are in a dry period, but it is expected that the Sahara will become green again in 15,000 years (17,000 CE).

During the last glacial period, the Sahara was much larger than it is today, extending south beyond its current boundaries. The end of the glacial period brought more rain to the Sahara, from about 8000 BCE to 6000 BCE, perhaps because of low pressure areas over the collapsing ice sheets to the north. Once the ice sheets were gone, the northern Sahara dried out. In the southern Sahara, the drying trend was initially counteracted by the monsoon, which brought rain further north than it does today. By around 4200 BCE, however, the monsoon retreated south to approximately where it is today, leading to the gradual desertification of the Sahara. The Sahara is presently as dry as it was about 13,000 years ago.

These conditions are responsible for what has been called the Sahara pump theory. During periods of a wet or "Green Sahara", the Sahara becomes a savanna grassland and various flora and fauna become more common. Following inter-pluvial arid periods, the Sahara area then reverts to desert conditions and the flora and fauna are forced to retreat northwards to the Atlas Mountains, southwards into West Africa, or eastwards into the Nile Valley. This separates populations of some of the species in areas with different climates, forcing them to adapt, possibly giving rise to allopatric speciation.

Lower Paleolithic
The earliest inhabitants of central North Africa have left behind significant remains: early remnants of hominid occupation in North Africa, for example, were found in Ain el Hanech, in Setif (c. 200,000 BCE); in fact, more recent investigations have found signs of Oldowan technology, which has been dated between 2,000,000 BCE and 1,470,000 BCE.

Middle Paleolithic

Early anatomically modern humans are known to have been present at Jebel Irhoud, in what is now Morocco, approximately 300,000 years ago.

Human groups of Nazlet Sabaha, Egypt engaged in chert mining, as early as ~100,000 years ago, likely for use as tools.

In the Sahara, Aterians camped near lakes, rivers, and springs, and engaged in the activity of hunting (e.g., antelope, buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros) and some gathering. As a result of a hyper-aridification event of Saharan Africa, which occurred around the time of Europe's Würm glaciation event, Aterian hunter-gatherers may have migrated into areas of tropical Africa and coastal Africa. More specifically, amid aridification in MIS 5 and regional change of climate in MIS 4, in the Sahara and the Sahel, Aterians may have migrated southward into West Africa (e.g.,  Baie du Levrier, Mauritania; Tiemassas, Senegal; Lower Senegal River Valley).

Affad 23 is an archaeological site located in the Affad region of southern Dongola Reach in northern Sudan, which hosts "the well-preserved remains of prehistoric camps (relics of the oldest open-air hut in the world) and diverse hunting and gathering loci some 50,000 years old".

Upper Paleolithic
The Iberomaurusian culture seems to have appeared around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, sometime between c. 25,000 cal BP and 23,000 cal BP. It will have lasted until the early Holocene, c. 11,000 cal BP.

Archaeological evidence has attested that population settlements occurred in Nubia as early as the Late Pleistocene and from the 5th millennium BCE onwards, whereas there is "no or scanty evidence" of human presence in the Egyptian Nile Valley during these periods, which may be due to problems in site preservation.

Mesolithic

The Capsian culture was a Mesolithic and Neolithic culture of the Maghreb that persisted between 8000 BCE and 2700 BCE.

The engraved Central Saharan rock art of the Bubaline Period was created between 10,000 BP and 7500 BP.

The engraved Central Saharan rock art of the Kel Essuf Period was created prior to 9800 BP.

The painted Central Saharan rock art of the Round Head Period was created between 9800 BP and 7500 BP.

Laboratory examination of the Uan Muhuggiag child mummy and Tin Hanakaten child, concludes that the Central Saharan peoples from the Epipaleolithic, Mesolithic, and Pastoral periods possessed dark skin complexions.

Neolithic

Neolithic agriculturalists, who may have resided in Northeast Africa and the Near East, may have been the source population for lactase persistence variants, including –13910*T, and may have been subsequently supplanted by later migrations of peoples. The Sub-Saharan West African Fulani, the North African Tuareg, and European agriculturalists, who are descendants of these Neolithic agriculturalists, share the lactase persistence variant –13910*T. While shared by Fulani and Tuareg herders, compared to the Tuareg variant, the Fulani variant of –13910*T has undergone a longer period of haplotype differentiation. The Fulani lactase persistence variant –13910*T may have spread, along with cattle pastoralism, between 9686 BP and 7534 BP, possibly around 8500 BP; corroborating this timeframe for the Fulani, by at least 7500 BP, there is evidence of herders engaging in the act of milking in the Central Sahara. The engraved and painted Central Saharan rock art of the Pastoral Period was created between 7500 BP and 2800 BP. One of the earliest Libyco-Berber inscriptions in Africa are found in Wadi Mertoutek, near or within a petroglyph, which may be the depiction of a bovid, and may be associated with a pastoral community during a period of pastoralism.

Human remains were found by archaeologists in 2000 at a site known as Gobero in the Ténéré Desert of northeastern Niger. The Gobero finds represent a uniquely preserved record of human habitation and burials from what is now called the Kiffian (7700 BCE – 6200 BCE) and the Tenerian (5200 BCE – 2500 BCE) cultures.

The classic account of the riparian lifestyle of this period comes from investigations in Sudan during World War II by British archeologist Anthony Arkell. Arkell's report described a Late Stone Age settlement on a sandbank of the Blue Nile which was then about 12 ft higher than its present flood stage. The countryside was clearly savanna, not the present-day desert, as evidenced by the bones of the most common species found in the middens — antelope, which require large expanses of seed-bearing grasses. These people probably lived mainly on fish, however, and Arkell concluded, based on the totality of the evidence, that rainfall at the time was at least three times that of today. The physical characteristics derived from skeletal remains suggested that these people were related to modern Nilotic peoples, such as the Nuer and Dinka. Subsequent radiocarbon dating firmly established Arkell's site to between 7000 BCE and 5000 BCE. Based on common patterns at his site and at French-excavated sites already reported from Chad, Mali and Niger (e.g., bone harpoons and a characteristic "wavy line" pottery), Arkell inferred "a common fishing and hunting culture spread by negroid people right across Africa at about the latitude of Khartoum at a time when the climate was so different that it was not desert." Hunter-fishers, who created the wavy line pottery in 6700 BCE, were black African rather than Mediterranean in origin and showed signs of intentional cultivation of grain crops instead of simply gathering wild grains.

Several scholars have argued that the Northeast African origins of the Egyptian civilisation derived from pastoral communities which emerged in both the Egyptian and Sudanese regions of the Nile Valley in the 5th millennium BCE.

According to American historian and linguist, Christopher Ehret, the physical anthropological findings from the “major burial sites of those founding locales of ancient Egypt in the fourth millennium BCE, notably El-Badari as well as Naqada, show no demographic indebtedness to the Levant”. Ehret specified that these studies revealed cranial and dental affinities with "closest parallels" to other longtime populations in the surrounding areas of Northeastern Africa “such as Nubia and the northern Horn of Africa”. He further commented that the Naqada and Badarian populations did not migrate “from somewhere else but were descendants of the long-term inhabitants of these portions of Africa going back many millennia”. Ehret also cited existing, archaeological, linguistic and genetic data which he argued supported the demographic history.

Dotted wavy line pottery and fishing cultures have also been located in the Lake Turkana region in poorly dated contexts. By 3000 BCE, it does not appear that the Turkana Basin was populated with harpoon and dotted wavy line pottery users, but fishing remained an important part of peoples' diets into the late Holocene.

The engraved Central Saharan rock art of the Caballine Period was created between 2800 BP and 1000 BP.

The engraved and painted Central Saharan rock art of the Cameline Period was created from 2000 BP onward.

Maghreb
As of about 5000 BC, the populations of North Africa were descended primarily from the Iberomaurusian and Capsian cultures, with a more recent intrusion being associated with the Neolithic Revolution. The proto-Berber tribes evolved from these prehistoric communities during the late Bronze- and early Iron ages.

The late-Neolithic Kehf el Baroud inhabitants were modelled as being of about 50% local North African ancestry and 50% Early European Farmer (EEF) ancestry. It was suggested that EEF ancestry had entered North Africa through Cardial Ware colonists from Iberia sometime between 5000 and 3000 BC. They were found to be closely related to the Guanches of the Canary Islands.

Egypt
In Ancient Egypt, the Bronze Age begins in the Protodynastic period, c. 3150 BCE. The archaic Early Bronze Age of Egypt, known as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, immediately follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c. 3100 BCE. It is generally taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until about 2686 BCE, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture and many aspects of religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic Period. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age was the largest city of the time. The Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BCE when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley (the others being Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom).

Maghreb
The Maghreb transferred from the Mesolithic stage to the Neolithic stage between the 6th millennium BCE and 5th millennium BCE, then entered an intermediary period between Neolithic, Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age probably in the 2nd millennium BCE, although they never truly transferred into either the Chalcolithic Age or the Bronze Age, remaining in between them and the Neolithic Age.

Egypt
The Iron Age in Egypt corresponds to the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. Iron metal is singularly scarce in collections of Egyptian antiquities. Bronze remained the primary material there until the conquest by Neo-Assyrian Empire in 671 BCE. The explanation of this would seem to be that the relics are in most cases the paraphernalia of tombs, the funeral vessels and vases, and iron being considered an impure metal by the ancient Egyptians it was never used in their manufacture of these or for any religious purposes. It was attributed to Seth, the spirit of evil who according to Egyptian tradition governed the central deserts of Africa. In the Black Pyramid of Abusir, dating before 2000 BCE, Gaston Maspero found some pieces of iron. In the funeral text of Pepi I, the metal is mentioned. A sword bearing the name of pharaoh Merneptah as well as a battle axe with an iron blade and gold-decorated bronze shaft were both found in the excavation of Ugarit. A dagger with an iron blade found in Tutankhamun's tomb, 13th century BCE, was recently examined and found to be of meteoric origin.

Maghreb
Iron-working Phoenician colonization along the coast and trade with the inland caused the Maghreb to rapidly transfer from this intermediary stage to the Iron Age.

title: Prehistoric North Africa


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Pupa

A pupa (: pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages thereof being egg, larva, pupa, and imago. The processes of entering and completing the pupal stage are controlled by the insect's hormones, especially juvenile hormone, prothoracicotropic hormone, and ecdysone. The act of becoming a pupa is called pupation, and the act of emerging from the pupal case is called eclosion or emergence.

The pupae of different groups of insects have different names such as chrysalis for the pupae of butterflies and tumbler for those of the mosquito family. Pupae may further be enclosed in other structures such as cocoons, nests, or shells.

Position in life cycle
The pupal stage follows the larval stage, or in some cases a prepupal stage, and precedes adulthood (imago) in insects with complete metamorphosis. The pupa is a non-feeding, usually sessile stage, or highly active as in mosquitoes. It is during the pupal stage that the adult structures of the insect are formed while the larval structures are broken down. The adult structures grow from imaginal discs.

Duration
The pupal stage may last weeks, months, or even years, depending on temperature and the species of insect. For example, the pupal stage lasts eight to fifteen days in monarch butterflies. The pupa may enter dormancy or diapause until the appropriate season to emerge as an adult insect. In temperate climates pupae usually stay dormant during winter, while in the tropics pupae usually do so during the dry season.

Emergence
Insects emerge (eclose) from pupae by splitting the pupal case. Most butterflies emerge in the morning. In mosquitoes, the emergence is in the evening or night. In fleas, the process is triggered by vibrations that indicate the possible presence of a suitable host. Prior to emergence, the adult inside the pupal exoskeleton is termed pharate. Once the pharate adult has eclosed from the pupa, the empty pupal exoskeleton is called an exuvia; in most hymenopterans (ants, bees and wasps) the exuvia is so thin and membranous that it becomes "crumpled" as it is shed. Measuring the timing of this emergence is of interest to chronobiologists because the process is regulated by circadian clocks in many species, necessitating different assays to measure eclosion timing.

Pupal mating
In a few taxa of the Lepidoptera, especially Heliconius, pupal mating is an extreme form of reproductive strategy in which the adult male mates with a female pupa about to emerge, or with the newly moulted female; this is accompanied by other actions such as capping of the reproductive system of the female with the sphragis, denying access to other males, or by exuding an anti-aphrodisiac pheromone.

Defense
Pupae are usually immobile and are largely defenseless. To overcome this, pupae often are covered with a cocoon, conceal themselves in the environment, or form underground. Some species of Lycaenid butterflies are protected in their pupal stage by ants. Another means of defense by pupae of other species is the capability of making sounds or vibrations to scare potential predators. A few species use chemical defenses including toxic secretions. The pupae of social hymenopterans are protected by adult members of the hive.

Types
Based on the presence or absence of articulated mandibles that are employed in emerging from a cocoon or pupal case, the pupae can be classified in to two types:
 * Decticous pupa – a pupa with articulated mandibles. Examples are pupae of the orders Neuroptera, Mecoptera, Trichoptera and few Lepidoptera families.
 * Adecticous pupa – a pupa without articulated mandibles. Examples include the orders Strepsiptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera and Siphonaptera.

Based on whether the pupal appendages are free or attached to the body, the pupae can be classified as one of three types:
 * Exarate pupa – appendages are free and are not usually encapsulated within a cocoon. Decticous pupae are always exarate; some adecticous pupae are as well. (Neuroptera, Trichoptera, Cyclorrhapha of Dipterans, Siphonaptera, most Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and few Lepidoptera).
 * Obtect pupa – appendages are attached closely to the body and are commonly encapsulated within a cocoon. Some adecticous pupa are obtect forms. (Most Lepidoptera, Nematocera and Brachycera of Dipterans, Staphylinidae and Chrysomelidae Coleopterans, many Chalcidoidea Hymenopterans)
 * Coarctate pupa – enclosed in a hardened cuticle of the penultimate larval instar called a puparium. However, the pupa itself is of the exarate adecticous pupal form. (Cyclorrhapha of Dipterans).

Chrysalis

A chrysalis (chrysallis, from χρυσαλλίς, chrysallís, plural: chrysalides, also known as an aurelia) or nympha is the pupal stage of butterflies. The term is derived from the metallic–gold coloration found in the pupae of many butterflies, referred to by the Ancient Greek term χρυσός (chrysós) for gold.

When the caterpillar is fully grown, it makes a button of silk which it uses to fasten its body to a leaf or a twig. Then the caterpillar's skin comes off for the final time. Under this old skin is a hard skin called a chrysalis.

Because chrysalises are often showy and are formed in the open, they are the most familiar examples of pupae. Most chrysalides are attached to a surface by a Velcro-like arrangement of a silken pad spun by the caterpillar, usually cemented to the underside of a perch, and the cremastral hook or hooks protruding from the rear of the chrysalis or cremaster at the tip of the pupal abdomen by which the caterpillar fixes itself to the pad of silk. (Gr. kremastos 'suspended')

Like other types of pupae, the chrysalis stage in most butterflies is one in which there is little movement. However, some butterfly pupae are capable of moving the abdominal segments to produce sounds or to scare away potential predators. Within the chrysalis, growth and differentiation occur. The adult butterfly emerges (ecloses) from this and expands its wings by pumping haemolymph into the wing veins. Although this sudden and rapid change from pupa to imago is often called metamorphosis, metamorphosis is really the whole series of changes that an insect undergoes from egg to adult.

When emerging, the butterfly uses a liquid, sometimes called cocoonase, which softens the shell of the chrysalis. Additionally, it uses two sharp claws located on the thick joints at the base of the forewings to help make its way out. Having emerged from the chrysalis, the butterfly will usually sit on the empty shell in order to expand and harden its wings. However, if the chrysalis was near the ground (such as if it fell off from its silk pad), the butterfly would find another vertical surface to rest upon and harden its wings (such as a wall or fence).

Moth pupae are usually dark in color and either formed in underground cells, loose in the soil, or their pupa is contained in a protective silk case called a cocoon. The pupa of some species such as the hornet moth develops sharp ridges around the outside called adminicula that allow the pupa to move from its place of concealment inside a tree trunk when it is time for the adult to emerge.

Pupa, chrysalis, and cocoon are frequently confused, but are quite distinct from each other. The pupa is the stage between the larva and adult stages. The chrysalis generally refers to a butterfly pupa although the term may be misleading as there are some moths whose pupae resembles a chrysalis, e.g.: the plume winged moths of the family Pterophoridae and some geometrid moths. A cocoon is a silk case that the larvae of moths, and sometimes other insects, spin around the pupa.

Cocoon

A cocoon is a casing spun of silk by many moths and caterpillars, and numerous other holometabolous insect larvae as a protective covering for the pupa.

Cocoons may be tough or soft, opaque or translucent, solid or meshlike, of various colors, or composed of multiple layers, depending on the type of insect larva producing it. Many moth caterpillars shed the larval hairs (setae) and incorporate them into the cocoon; if these are urticating hairs then the cocoon is also irritating to the touch. Some larvae attach small twigs, fecal pellets or pieces of vegetation to the outside of their cocoon in an attempt to disguise it from predators. Others spin their cocoon in a concealed location—on the underside of a leaf, in a crevice, down near the base of a tree trunk, suspended from a twig or concealed in the leaf litter. Contrary to popular belief, larvae do not completely liquify inside the cocoon.

The silk in the cocoon of the silk moth can be unraveled to harvest silk fibre which makes this moth the most economically important of all lepidopterans. The silk moth is the only completely domesticated lepidopteran; it does not exist in the wild.

Insects that pupate in a cocoon must escape from it, and they do this either by the pupa cutting its way out, or by secreting enzymes, sometimes called cocoonase, that soften the cocoon. Some cocoons are constructed with built-in lines of weakness along which they will tear easily from inside, or with exit holes that only allow a one-way passage out; such features facilitate the escape of the adult insect after it emerges from the pupal skin.

Puparium
Some pupae remain inside the exoskeleton of the final larval instar and this last larval "shell" is called a puparium (plural, puparia). Flies of the group Muscomorpha have puparia, as do members of the order Strepsiptera, and the Hemipteran family Aleyrodidae.

title: Pupa