Wednesday, August 14, 2013

[Glossary] II: Magic and Technology Terms

     A list of words and definitions (as I've come to know them) from Rift, specifically those that relate to technology, magic, and the kind of abilities the Ascended are able to employ to protect Telara!
Here is the list of terms and their definitions or descriptions*:

Magitech Definitions:

Ascended: Telaran warriors that died but were resurrected after the Coming of the Shade in order to fight against the forces of Regulos and the Blood Storm.

Comet of Ahnket: A mysterious and powerful sentient Tenebrean construct, vast and secretive with the ability to travel through the Planes and the cosmos with ease.

Empyrean Technology: Brevane's equivalent of Sourcestone tech, with the notable difference being it does not aggravate the Vigil, and it is far more stable and predictable than Sourcestone. It is used much in the same manner as the Defiant's magitech, and technicians on Brevane have been using it for thousands of years, before even the Blood Storm's arrival, to augment their defenses, constructs, and machines for every day use. When compared to Sourcestone tech, Empyrean does not match it in sheer raw potential, but it has vastly more potential in the long term due to its safer and more stable nature. It was this tech that drew Crucia's interest in Telara and while the other dragons greedily divided up their portion of the world, she made a beeline for Tempest Bay and the amazing wonders of the God Engines.

Failsafe Device: A mysterious but powerful magitech apparatus created by Orphiel Farwind that allowed Defiant Ascended to travel back in time and avert the apocalypse. It's origins are unknown as well as how it was created and how it actually works.

God Engines: Vast and powerful magitech artifacts created using Empyrean technology that have the potential for devastating power if in the wrong hands. The Tempest Engine, Sun Orb, and Infinity Gate are three such God Engines.

Machine Born: A term referring specifically to Defiant Ascended, who were not gifted a second life as with the Guardian Ascended, but were rather created out of technology and Sourcestone by prominent Ethian and Kelari scientists. Usually an insulting term coined by the Guardians.

Magitech: A unique and powerful tool that combines the powers of magic with the innovation of technology and machines. First discovered and used by the Ethians during the Age of Dragons, to help turn the tide of battle in the Blood Storm Wars. Magitech is powered by Sourcestone. In present day Telara, most of this information and skill is lost and the Defiants research the relics and artifacts of the past to employ their own brand of technomancy against the Guardians and the dragon cults.

Nalthema: A Kelari term, meaning a Kelari child born without the gift of being able to talk to the Spirits and lesser powerful beings that inhabit the Ember Isles and elsewhere. Such men and women are often pitied and shunned do their low social status and inability to commune with the Spirits.

Planar Attunement: Upon reaching lvl 50 in the game, your character officially becomes powerful enough for a new type of planar advancement, allowing the Ascended one access to multiple gifts granted by specific planes that you attune to. After a special ceremony, you gain an additional exp bar and level up your planar attunement much like your own leveling process. Each level awards Planar Attunement(PA) points.

Porticulum: A way of travel shown to Telarans long ago by Thontic, his gift to the sentient creatures of Telara. It allows a Telaran to instantly teleport from one location to another, but only after that Telaran has been to that specific location. The magic of porticulums was lost during the Age of Dragons, and after that, the Wards inhibited the use of them. After the Shade War, when the Wards were weakened, the Ascended discovered that the Porticulums could work again.

Project Omega: A phrase mentioned in the future timeline, likely referring to the research of resurrection. "Following the initial discovery of the Life Factory, more were found in the vicinity, and we expanded them for our purposes. When the Guardians destroyed Meridian, we shut ourselves away, creating magical fortifications to keep ourselves save to pursue Project Omega." -Knowledge Collective #1 inside the Life Factory

Quantum Stream Slivers: Alternate timestreams that became a problem after the breaking of the Ward, spilling their strange battles and twisted histories into the true Telara. Though being in a different place and time, everything in a Sliver is quite real. If you manage to find your way out of one, anything you carry, including wounds, will come with you.

Resurrection Forges: Designed by the Ethian Empire many years ago, these magitech devices aspired to return people from the dead. This ancient technology later became the basis for research into machine born Ascended.

Rune Technology: A mastery of magitech specific to the dwarves of Hammerknell that bonds Spirits into machines, and the machines would then power many of their great works. This technology eventually led to the tragic downfall of Hammerknell and serves as another reminder to the Guardians that magitech is a heretics tool.

Soul Attunement: An Ascended's ability to change the elements of nature to their will, harnessing vast elemental and planar power for their own use. This ability is obtained through the souls of those slain long ago or during the Shade War who then impart knowledge onto the host body and soul.

Sourcestone: Elementally-charged metal that was used by the Vigil to create the physical world of Telara. It is used by the Guardians as a sacred gift of the gods and the Defiants use it as a simple tool to power their machines.

Sourcestone Matrix: A complex net of Sourcestone and magitech that makes up the body of a Defiant Ascended.

Sourcestone Technology: The infusion of sourcestone with machines and magic to create beings and objects with amazing power and ability. Used exclusively by the Defiant as a source of power for their cities, experiments, and even their new saviors, Sourcestone Tech is the source of contention between the two main factions of Telara and is an abomination in the eyes of the Vigil. It is unstable, unpredictable, and powerful enough to destroy entire Empires. It was first discovered by the inventive Eth during the Blood Storm Wars when they were researching more effective and long range weapons against the Dragons and their followers. The Defiant Ascended are created using this technology.

Technomancy: A category of magical abilities that affect technology, or magical powers that are gained through the use of technology. Tactician souls are a prime example of this.

Temporal Flux: A machine that powers the Failsafe Device, a generator that uses a vast amount of Sourcestone and power that breaks the temporal weave, allowed a fixed time travel.

Tenebrean Ascended: A group of unknown Ascended who do not originate from our Telara. They appear to be the biggest threat facing Telara at the moment, according to Aia the Goddess of Fate.

The Ward: A mysterious and powerful barrier surrounding Telara that protects the world from both Regulos and invasions by planar rifts from the elemental planes that surround and touch the special nexus that makes up Telara.

Wardstone: A kind of mystical cornerstone to the Ward. Guardian Wardstones are blessed and protected by the vigil and are often surrounded by devout warriors. Defiant Wardstones are manufactured machines made of magitech that augment the Ward with technomancy. As each Wardstone is targeted and destroyed by planar creatures and minions of the Blood Storm, the Ward weakens, allowing the dragons and other powerful beings more leeway on Telara.

Magical Definitions:

Area of Effect: A spell that effects more than one target within a predetermined radius.

Artifice: The creation of magical technology. Magically imbued machinery. Such items are called artifacts or relics.

Elemental Magic: A school, or schools, or magic that deals with the natural or unnatural elements found in a caster's surroundings, such as Air, Fire, Death, and Life magic.

Enchanter: A person who uses magic or sorcery, especially to put something or someone under a spell.

Evocation: Calling forth. The branch of magic most associated with flashy, obvious effects. When a caster throws lightning or calls forth a fireball to decimate foes, that is called evocation.

Invocation: Summoning magic. Usually involves calling up a supernatural entity to do your bidding. Generally strong, high level magic. Like the ability to summon a Faerie minion for a Cleric, or the training a Warrior undergoes to call forth the spiritual essence of a saber-tooth cat as a battle companion. These such companions can be literal slaves to the caster's bidding, or if you want to RP it a different way, they can be much-loved comrades, wherein the caster protects their summoned minions as they would a fellow in arms.

Magic: To move, change, or create using a supernatural force or a force that is not something seen or done by physical force or exertion. There are many types of magic such as Pyromancy (magic involving fire), Necromancy (magic involving death and conjuring up undead creatures) Chloromancy (the type of magic that Mages use in order to heal their allies, which involves both death and life magic), Shamanism (spiritual magic), Ward Magic (creation of barriers and magical protections), and many more types that Mages and Clerics both utilize in the game.

Mana: A generalized supernatural font of power or magic, which may be concentrated in persons or objects. The well of magic that a spellcaster has access to. When a caster's mana is drained, or empty, the caster suffers effects, RP wise, such as weakness, dizziness, fainting, etc. Or, gameplay wise, the caster is unable to continue casting spells and is vulnerable to attack as spells are a caster's main defense.

Potion: A liquid with healing, magical, or poisonous properties.


*I did a lot of research into these terms to make sure that, as far as I know, all the descriptions are accurate for Rift! This information, as well as the game of Rift and its world, doesn't belong to me, but rather to the awesome Trion Worlds! As I gain more knowledge in Rift and explore more of the higher end content I'll come back and edit this!

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