Dictionary
Some important terms blah blah
- Amartia: The ritual Scorpios engage in to extend their lifespans, involving the injection of a specially-crafted poison (by the same name) that trades several days of agony for another decade or so without aging. It's somewhat controversial, hence the name, as seeking immortality in general is seen as antithetic to the High Star's will.
- Anamnesis: The act of recalling previous lives. It's as difficult as it is uncommon as it is controversial; reincarnation is rare on Siderea and culturally connected with the High Star, who is known to have reincarnated after their death. Peering into your past life - if you had one - to find out why you received a second chance is considered disrespectful to one's past life, which likely was reincarnated in search of inner peace and detachment from one's burdens. Some methods of anamnesis are dangerous to the current life, as the previous life may be outright recovered and come to co-exist or even replace the active identity.
- Angels: Individuals who were sacrificed to the gods despite their distaste for unwilling sacrifices but maintained enough form to not die. Feeling it would be unfair to consider them dead but unable to justify reviving them, these individuals are instead granted the opportunity to continue life as aides to the gods. The Angels are given blessings, ethereal wings from the Vast Glow, a few scattered other abilities, and weapons resembling the Celestial Regalia (albeit without the same abilities, instead focused on disarming) known as the Empyrean Regalia. There are 15 of them, conveniently lining up with the gods to give each of them something of a personal assistant. They'll get their own post eventually.
- Anima mundi: The physical and comprehensible essence of Creation. It is capable of theoretically anything so long as the user has the creative confidence to bring their will into reality. Anima mundi is present in all things, as Entirety itself is made of it, but raw anima mundi is immensely rare. It appears as an azure liquid or solid with rippling light as though perpetually beneath a sunlit sky.
- Asterismorum: The magical language of Siderea, evoking the names of constellations and other asterisms to unleash associated energies. It isn't necessary to speak Asterismorum to use magic, but it's very common in modern times and those who can use magic aptly without "casting spells", so to speak, are admired for their talent.
- Azoth: A liquid found in chrysalises, secreted by polluxes, and innate in various amounts among all Siderean species. A specific cocktail of prima materia, anima mundi, and soul energy that is the catalyst for transformation. It's difficult to harvest safely - not that black markets care about all that - but is common to inject or ingest before attempting any sort of transformation spell, especially among races who don't have innate strengths in shapeshifting.
- Blessed: Someone who has been blessed by a god. The Blessed have easy mental access to their patron god(s) and enhanced magical capabilities related to their strengths.
- Blessing: Refers to both the concept of being blessed by a god and the physical marking itself.
- Carapace: A hard surface that's part of the anatomy of Cancers, Scorpios, and their cusps.
- Castor: The "human" part of a Gemini and their cusps, considered to be the "main" part and identity of the Gemini in question.
- Catasterism: The act of the creators ascending mortals into godhood, in reference to them being welcomed into the Cosmos and thus placed amongst the stars.
- Chrysalis: A tough but beautiful-looking egg that Libras and their cusps are capable of forming around them. The chrysalis will fill with azoth and its occupant dreams up their new ideal form and/or takes a big nappy, the chrysalis cracking open once they've completed their transformation and/or nap. It's tremendously difficult to open one prematurely, and a successful effort will typically have explosive results, endangering the occupant, the assailants, and causing reality-warping in the immediate area.
- Cords: The ethereal ribbon-like structures Pisceans have just above their tails. A Pisces' cords connect them to their dreamself and fade into the subconscious plane to do so. Should a Pisces' cords be damaged or severed, their ability to access their other half will be altered or completely lost.
- Core: A solid soul that any ordinary person is capable of touching. Libras and Aquarians both have them, making them more vulnerable in exchange for allowing them to manipulate their forms more easily, among other tricks.
- Corruption: The corruption of one's body and/or mind by exposure to excess prima materia, often due to liminal parasites or improper handling of prima materia itself. This has various effects depending on the level of corruption and locations, at times being little more than a cosmetic affliction but other times rendering one a mindless husk.
- Creators: The High Star (Frenzael), the Great Fade (Asena), and the Vast Glow (Humilia), who are responsible for Siderea's creation.
- Cusp: A hybrid between two "adjacent" species.
- Disappearing: The act of disappearing from the eyes of the world to achieve oneness with the Great Fade, be it permanently as sacrifice or temporarily for spiritual connection and/or the desire for aid. It's said that disappearing can allow one to travel across time and space, even off Siderea if the Great Fade takes kindly to you. I'll prob make a post about it someday.
- Dream Sea: The collective unconscious of Siderea - with offworld minds at times drifting in - which exists on a slightly higher plane. Subconsciouses of Sidereans can be accessed from the Dream Sea, with Pisceans working to give people pleasant dreams and eliminate nightmares. There are a ton of concepts linked to it, so it'll be getting its own post eventually!
- Dreamself: The half of a Pisces that exists in the Dream Sea.
- Dreamwork: The act of working in the Dream Sea, crafting dreams and banishing nightmares, so on and so forth.
- Eclipsing: The act of one being overwriting the identity of another, such as in in the cases of unbalanced Gemini fusions and Libras placing their cores into living vessels.
- Entheogen: Substances used to achieve higher spiritual states and perhaps touch higher planes. While common Earth ones can be used, naturally Siderea has some funkier things going on. Scorpio venom, Pisces blood, anima mundi, and prima materia are only a few of the odd things Sidereans use to ascend their minds.
- Evocation: Prayer with the intention of evoking a god or creator, be it summoning them forth or having them cast magic remotely. The former rarely succeeds, typically only in times of great need when called forth by groups. The latter is more common, especially among the Blessed.
- Facets: A small group of Sidereans, like the Angels, who were sacrificed to the gods. In the case of the Facets their physical forms were in disarray, at times the result of group sacrifices, and were given new bodies built with magic gemstones by Saint Karkinos. Like the Angels, Facets are granted immortality, mock god weapons known as the Lustrous Regalia, and serve as aides to the gods and saints. They'll get their own post eventually.
- Fadelike: A Siderean with an unusually high concentration of prima materia in their soul, giving them features akin to the Great Fade and greater mastery over prima materia. These fellas, alongside the similar folks you'll read about later, will get their own post someday so I'll elaborate more then!
- Fusion: The act of two or more Gemini dissolving their castors to combine into one being. This may be a standard form of fusion or a specific alternative to childbirth, combining into one form to be reborn as a new, united life together with limited to no memory of their past lives.
- Glowlike: A Siderean with an unusually high concentration of viriditas in their soul, giving them features akin to the Vast Glow and greater mastery over viriditas.
- Godless Lands: Specifically refers to a region in Siderea where severe weather and other excess natural energies are shunted off to, but some may call any given place as a "godless land" in general reference to places that seem out of the gods' eyes (such as black markets).
- Gods: The 15 gods of Siderea. The creators are also said to be gods, albeit foreign ones much greater than Siderea's gods. Which makes sense because, you know, they created/ascended said gods.
- Hesychasm: The act of depriving one's senses to attain closeness to the gods or creators, most commonly the Great Fade. It's an essential step to disappearing, should one seek it.
- Invocation: Prayer with the intention of initiating contact with a god or creator, usually for purposes of communication, receiving insight, receiving power, or having them speak through the invoker.
- Kenosis: The emptying of a Blessed's mind and will to invite their patron god into their form. This differs from invocation in that it requires a depth of connection and results in total possession. When possessed by a god, the god is capable of utilizing the full extent of their power in the Blessed's body and piloting it as easily as their own.
- Liminal parasite: Prima materia that has consolidated and fed on Siderea's ample anima mundi stores, developing an instinct to consume more "reality" to become "real". These entities develop abstract and eldritch forms, seeking out living beings to attach to and causing corruption in their hosts. They are most common in deep caverns and oceanic trenches, as they mostly originate from the planet's core.
- Lunar entities: Creatures that exist on the moon who are not in a state of lunasis (see below) and thus capable of being seen and interacted with by mortals. They tend to be rather eldritch in appearance, typically white in color with accents of prima materia and/or anima mundi.
- Lunasis: The state of having been ascended to the afterlife on Siderea's moon. Those in a state of lunasis exist on a plane slightly higher than the material and become capable of teleportation, flight, among other abilities. They, more or less, become ghosts, capable of only limited interactions with the living unless aided by magic or the gods.
- Modality: Cardinal, fixed, and mutable; three affinities affiliated with the zodiacs that determine natural combat roles. Cardinal is associated with offensive magic, fixed with defense, and mutable with support.
- Moon, the: Siderea's moon, which is roughly analogous to Earth's moon, really. It is where the dead who have lived lives worthy enough to be offered immortality reside, invisible to mortals due to those in lunasis ascending to a higher plane. There's a lot of concepts tied to the moon so it'll prob get its own post someday.
- Mortal: Though Siderea has several races that are technically immortal in that they do not die of old age, the term "mortal" is used to refer to all living Sidereans who aren't gods. When making a distinction between mortal and immortal species, they'll specifically be called, well, mortal of immortal species!
- Nepsis: An underground society - both literally and metaphorically - run by Geminorum, dedicated to monitoring Siderea's unseen places. They dismantle black markets, monitor conspiracies, collect secrets, save history, track people of interest, so on and so forth. Most "employees" of Nepsis have Geminorum and/or Aquari blessings and consist by those whom Geminorum trusts.
- Piscite: An iridescent mineral made from the corpses of Pisceans who have sunk to the bottom of the ocean and become compressed by pressure and geological mechanisms. It is both extremely rare and extremely illegal due to being Corpse Desecration: the Rock. It can be used as a focus for magic or turned into a powder, in any case allowing non-Pisceans - including offworlders - to gain full consciousness and faculty within the Dream Sea.
- Plane: A plane of existence, which one can be attuned to by raising or lowering their vibe. Listen just go read the TWEWY notes bc I plagiarized vibes n shit from there. This mostly comes into play with the gods being able to tune their vibe into a higher plane, allowing them to exist around mortals without being perceived. The afterlife on the moon is on a higher plane, allowing the moon to look completely normal to mortal eyes when it's actually bustling with life and filled with structures.
- Pollux: The outer skin of a Gemini, which can be shifted about freely. A pollux may or may not be an individual in and of itself, but is generally considered as secondary to the castor. Polluxes are the immortal half; should the castor die, the pollux can survive if it finds a host to latch onto or another Gemini to join with.
- Prima materia: The physical and comprehensible essence of Chaos. It is capable of theoretically anything so long as the user believes in their potential to achieve the outcome they seek. Prima materia is present in all things, as nothing in Entirety is 100% understood and absolute, but raw prima materia is hard to come by - albeit not as rare as raw anime mundi. It appears as a starry liquid or solid, as though cut from the night sky.
- Reincarnation: The act of a soul, after death, being reborn as a new life. Reincarnation is a rare outcome on Siderea, usually granted to souls who have suffered greatly or otherwise never got to experience a satisfying life. A certain type of Gemini fusion, as mentioned early, is considered a type of reincarnation. The word reincarnation is also used in cases where a living person obtains a new identity, typically with memory loss as well. There are a number of ways this could be achieved, but you'll only find the opportunity in Siderea's darkest and strangest places.
- Saints: The 14 heroes blessed by the gods to take the Astral Regalia and fight against Rigel. They are legendary figures on Siderea, with festivals throughout the year being dedicated to them. Some are still alive, but most have since died and been granted a comfortable afterlife on the moon. They have some special abilities, but I'll go into these dudes in their own post!
- Scattering: The most common "afterlife" for Sidereans. When being judged by Librae, the usual result is that one's soul shatters and dissolves into the Soulstream; the background magical energy of Entirety, occasionally birthing "new" souls. Sidereans generally don't find the concept distressing, instead finding the idea of their soul becoming infinite potential and living infinite new lives a comfort.
- Soul: The physical embodiment of one's conscious, identity, and general existence. Among Sidereans the soul is stored in the heart but on a higher plane, leaving it invisible and intangible to those who cannot tune their vibe high enough. Libras and Aquarians are the exception, as their souls are cores instead; see that entry for more.
- Starlike: A Siderean with an unusually high concentration of anima mundi in their soul, giving them features akin to the High Star and greater mastery over anima mundi.
- Theophany: The manifestation of a god or creator before mortals, typically associated with the act of them arriving with some sort of divine purpose rather than, like, stopping to get some fries from McMallos or w/e.
- Theosis: The act of offering one's soul to the gods or creators, so as to achieve oneness with them after death and grant them further power. Common among the devout. Note that this is different from sacrifice: sacrifice involves offering souls other than your own and is deeply frowned upon to the extent of being forbidden. Should the sacrificed be willing, the act of sacrifice is not considered sacrifice and rather flashier theosis.
- Uranometria: The leading text on Asterismorum, written in ancient times by the scholar Enoch and widely available to this day.
- Vessel: The body of a Libra, which need not be their birth body. Anything a Libra can jam their soul into can serve as a vessel, including other beings, but the term "vessel" tends to refer to natural Libran bodies and specifically-designed extra bodies modeled after Libras. Alternate terms may be used for specific kinds of vessels: host for living vessels, mannequin or doll for vessels designed for fashion, unit for vessels intended for combat usage, etc.
- Viriditas: A pale, glowing, light green substance hailing from the Vast Glow (Humilia) in her effort to make something similar to prima materia and anima mundi for Sidereans to utilize. It's nowhere near as powerful as its inspirations, but still a highly potent substance with immense healing, purifying, anesthetic, and calming capabilities. Humilia has been quite generous with it, blessing Siderea with flora and springs that produce it in abundance.
- Wakeself: The half of a Pisces that exists in the waking world.