1.8 Glossary

What follows is a list of terms and acronyms that may be unfamiliar to you but
that you may encounter while playing Achaea. It is not a comprehensive list but
should be enough to get you by.

Abilities
 - Individual spells or physical skills. They are grouped together in
   SKILLS.

Admins
 - The admins -- Meletus, Anytus, Lycon, and Lathis -- are admin that handle
   out-of-character issues with adventurers such as requests for help or
   adventurers acting inappropriately. Makarios and Nicola are Achaea's 
   Co-Producers and are in charge of the day to day running and decision 
   making for Achaea.

Afflictions
 - Particularly in combat, your character may be afflicted with a variety of
   ills, from paranoia to paralysis. Learning to cure these is important and
   forms one of the core skills in a good combatant. 
 - See also HELP CURING SYSTEM.

Balance
 - Most attacks use either balance or equilibrium. Your actions are much
   restricted during the (generally short) time you are recovering balance
   after using an ability that takes balance.

Bound Credits
 - See Credits, Bound.

Channels
 - Channels are a way of speaking to a group of people without being in the
   same location. See HELP CHANNELS for more information.

City
 - Usually refers to one of the various adventurer-run cities such as Ashtan,
   Hashan, Mhaldor, Cyrene, Targossas, and Eleusis.

Clan
 - An adventurer-created organisation used for a variety of purposes.

Class
 - A set of three skills. Similar to a profession. Examples of classes are
   Druid, Priest, and Monk. As an example, when you join the Monk class,
   you will initially gain the skills of Tekura and Kaido, and will
   eventually receive a third skill: Telepathy. (See HELP CLASSLIST.)

Credits, normal
 - A form of in-game currency that may be sold on the credit market,
   transferred to other characters, or converted into Bound Credits.

Credits, Bound
 - A form of in-game currency that may be used to purchase artefacts, convert
   into lessons in order to raise skills, buy housing credits, and more.

Denizens
 - Inhabitants of the realms that are not adventurers.

Dormant
 - Some use this term to refer to Immortals whose attentions have been turned
   away from mortal affairs, usually for an extended period of time.

Endurance
 - A measure of your overall level of physical exhaustion. Not the same as
   health, which measures wounds.

Equilibrium
 - Most abilities use balance or equilibrium. Your actions are restricted
   during the time you are recovering equilibrium.

Grace
 - The state of being in which you are both prohibited from doing and
   protected from aggressive actions. It is gained by dying, and may be
   rejected by typing RENOUNCE GRACE. The command GRACED will show you who is
   on-line and in grace. Grace will last no longer than approximately 15
   minutes.

Guides
 - Romeo and Juliet are characters whose sole purpose in life is to help
   newbies. They are known as Guides.

Guilds
 - A guild was a formal organisation of adventurers bound together by an
   ideology and class, now all disbanded in favour of the new type of
   organisation called a House.

Health
 - A measure of your character's physical well-being, expressed as a number
   from 0 (dead) to a variable maximum based on a number of factors.

Herb
 - Myrrh, Echinacea, Kelp, and any other harvestable plant that may be
   used to heal or prevent afflictions (see HELP HERBS).

Holobombing
 - The practice of flying magi dropping holocaust globes from the skies.

Honours
 - Refers to the set of text displayed when one types HONOURS <adventurer>.

Humgii (animal)
 - Cute little animals with voracious appetites. Just give something to a
   humgii, and it will eat it. It will eat anything and so can be used as a
   garbage can. Known for their rather gassy dispositions.

IC (In Character)
 - This means something you have done while you are your character. Everything
   you do, aside from private talking, is automatically considered to be
   in-character, even private talking can be considered IC, if one party
   chooses to do so.

Inventory
 - The general name for the list of all the items you are holding, wearing, or
   wielding.

IRL (In Real Life)
 - Sometimes used to refer to things outside of Achaea. Also 'otherworldly.'

Learning
 - Learning is the process by which you raise your SKILLS. Find a tutor, such
   as another adventurer who has the skill you wish to raise higher than you,
   or a denizen such as EPICURUS. Then, you will LEARN <skill> FROM <whomever>.

   See HELP LEARNING for more details.

Lessons
 - You must have these to learn (see LEARNING) and thus raise your SKILLS.

Level
 - A measurement of how much experience you've gotten. You'll be informed
   whenever you go up or down a level, and you may gain free lessons or
   Bound Credits when you do so.

Logos
 - A word in classical Greek and neo-Platonic philosophy meaning the cosmic
   reason giving order, purpose, and intelligibility to the world.
   As in: Sarapis, the Logos, who is Lord of Creation.

Mana
 - A measure of your mental fortitude. Used to power most spells.

Mobiles
 - Denizens. Inhabitants of the realms that are not adventurers.

MUD (Multi-User Dungeon)
 - Sometimes used as a generic term for all online persistent worlds or as a
   term for a certain segment of them.

NoT (North of Thera)
 - A major intersection on the Prelatorian Highway that is
   south of Ashtan. Since Thera was destroyed and rebuilt, it is now
   technically North of New Thera.

NPC (Non-Player Character)
 - An inhabitant of the realms that is not an adventurer.

OOC (Out Of Character)
 - Referring to things outside of (or foreign to) Achaea, like
   a popular performing figure or sporting team or the European Union.
   All public things in Achaea must be IC, for example: MARKET, NEWBIE,
   HT, SHOUTS, and CT. Most private things are also IC, such as says.

Order
 - A religious Order is a collection of adventurers organised in a
   formal hierarchy that worships a particular Immortal.

Renown
 - An automatically earned currency that transforms into bound credits, up to
   a daily cap! See HELP RENOWN. 

Room
 - An area of space of varying size. Your character will always be in a room.
   A location.

RL (Real Life)
 - Sometimes used to refer to things outside of Achaea.

RP (Roleplay)
 - This term, as used in Achaea, means to do things and say things as if you
   were your character. Speaking of anything your character couldn't know
   about, or doing anything your character wouldn't do by virtue of his or
   her personality, is poor RP.

Rurin (person)
 - A servant of Phaestus who, for quite a long time, maintained a lucrative
   monopoly on the sale of many goods in Ashtan, Shallam, and Hashan.

Shrine
 - A structure constructed by highly-ranked followers of a God. Offerings may
   be made at the shrine, strengthening your God, and shrines may be
   sanctified or defiled to strengthen or weaken them.

Skills
 - Sets of ABILITIES. Type SKILLS to see which ones you have.

Spamming
 - In the context of Achaea, spamming means sending repeated, unwanted text at
   someone for the purpose of annoyance. It is not acceptable to spam someone
   simply because he or she chooses not to respond to you.

Trans
 - Transcendent. The utmost level of achievement in a skill.

Willpower
 - A measure of your overall level of mental endurance. It is to Mana as
   Endurance is to Health.