what does that word mean?
Naturally, it wouldn't be a fantasy world without its own hyperspecific and foreign vocabulary. Read on for etymologies, contextualisations, and definitions of various words you'll come across in Misona! This is a work in progress.
C
- Clade (common noun) || plural: clades
- In biology, a natural group of all the descendants of a common ancestor, which may include multiple species and/or races. In Misona, a clade refers to a unique lineage with its own customs and religious affiliations. See cliearch, coravis, deoston, human, kadeis, lunagi, merfolk, or ostelle for an example of a clade.
- Cliearch (clade) || plural: cliearchs
-
- A cloud person, may refer to council members, executioners, or regular cliearchs.
- (When capitalised) The native tongue of cliearchs. Spoken entirely through the manipulation of air currents, rendering it inaccessible to learn for other clades. Certain individuals with highly attuned senses may learn to understand Cliearch, though.
- Cliearchy, The
-
- (When capitalised) The shifting mass of clouds settled high in the sky, the birthplace of all cliearchs and the permanent location of the Council of Cliearchy.
- A collective term for all cliearchs, analogus to humanity or humankind
- Closea (proper noun)
- The name of the underwater kingdom. Citizens are called Closeans.
D
- Deoston (clade) || plural: deostons
- A skeleton created directly by the moon goddess (See Luella's Descent) with considerable magical potential. The Council of Telluria is made exclusively of deostons.
- Ellipse, The (location)
- A skeletal ampitheatre that is home to the Elliptical Games, which ostelles participate in for a chance to become an athlete bounty hunter.
- Familiar (common noun) || plural: familiars
- Sufficiently magical beings can enter into contracts with other, often more powerful magical beings. This is called the familiar contract, and ties one's lifespan either to their master or to their master's lineage. See Illiary, fire spirits, or Wizard for more.
- Flamish (proper noun, archaic)
- The native tongue of the fire spirits who lived in Hotlands, prior to their extinction. Very magically potent language. While some of the nuance may get lost by speakers of other clades, it is still considerably more approachable than Cliearch, though somewhat less so than Maxillaria.
- Griefwoods (location)
- Located in the middle of the main continent, the Griefwoods are incredibly dangerous (especially for humans) and fairly mysterious. A forest as big as an entire country, it is said that the deeper in you go, the higher the trees get.
- Hotlands (location)
- A small continent to the southeast of the main one, the Hotlands used to host most of the fire spirits before they went extinct. Considerably cooler now than it was before, to the point where a few reckless humans have made their home on the periphery.
- Integration (common noun) || also: to integrate (verb)
- While it may generally refer to the process of joining or mixing with a different group of people, in Misona integration often refers to the specific process humans have developed for the incorporation and integration of non-Misonian humans into human society.
- Internet (WRDTYP) || plural: optional
- maybe come up with a slightly different name for it? look up the history of the internet
- Lotoum (location)
- The administrative capital of all lunagi, located in the northeast of the main continent, flanked by Griefwoods to its south and the ocean to its north. Was famous for its libraries once, but now all that's left of it is ruins.
- Luella's Descent (event)
- The name given to the visitation of the moon goddess unto Misona itself. It is also referred to as the unveiling of the moon. This is a rare and somewhat random occurance, but tends to happen at least a couple of times per century.
E
F
G
H
I
K
L
- (When capitalised) The language of lunagi. Though the word language is a bit of a misnomer, as it was actually closer to a dialect continuum, with some dialects having more mutual intelligibility than others. It is extremely insectile and very difficult for most clades to learn.
- A word describing lunagi and things related to them (e.g. lunagic fashion, lunagic food, lunagic literature).
M
- Mage (common noun, informal)
- Short way of referring to a magic user. Often implies an active user rather than just someone with the ability to perform magic.
- Magic (common noun)
- A mysterious and powerful force, thought to originate in part from the gods. Some clades are gifted with more inherent magical power than others, but the tradeoff tends to come at the cost of physical stability and/or strength.
- Maxillaria (language)
- The language of the skeletons. Considered the most accessible magical language, even if the lack of rattling bones somewhat curtails one's emotional expression while speaking it.
- Merperson (clade) || plural: merpeople or merfolk
- DEFINITION
- Misona (proper noun)
- The name of the entire planet.
- Molt (verb) || plural: optional
- DEFINITION
- Moonarch (WRDTYP)
- DEFINITION
O
- Ostelle (clade) || plural: ostelles
- DEFINITION
S
- Selkie (WRDTYP) || plural: selkies
- DEFINITION
- Spirits (WRDTYP) || plural: optional
- See Gods.
T
- Telluria, Council of (proper noun)
- Composed entirely of deostons (see Deoston) and the occasional ostelle (see Ostelle) observer, the Council of Telluria rules over all skeletons in Misona. Though they prefer to keep to a more hands-off approach, they still have the power and authority to directly affect the lives of each and every skeleton, regardless of where they may reside on the planet. It is rumoured that this council is collectively powerful enough to kill otherwise immortal beings.
- Telluric Republic, The (sometimes Telluric republic) || plural: optional
- The unified name for skeleton society, the Telluric Republic is vast, spanning the entire planet
U
- Umatoza (common noun) || plural: umatozas/dt>
- DEFINITION
- Ustaad (common noun) || plural: ustaads
- A cliearch mentor and parent of sorts. Cliearchs reproduce asexually, with almost all cliearchs having a single ustaad. Ustaads have power over their umatozas, namely when it comes to th
W
- Wingaway [Spell] (noun, informal, archaic)
- A wingaway, or wingaway spell, is a an informal term used to refer to a commonly used lunagi convenience spell that utilises simplified pocket dimensions in order to
- Wizard (common noun)
- A curiously human phenomenon, wizards are academically certified mages who have attended and graduated special, exclusive universities. These wizards, graded and governed by a circle of elders, are often funnelled into a variety of civil service jobs in service of the monarchy (i.e. the government).