1.7 Dictionary of Common Terms

o Abilities
 - Individual spells or physical skills. Many abilities come together to create a single skill (see below).

o Affinity
 - Some areas, either because of their history or mortal actions, are more 
   inherently pro- or anti- magick, or even leans more towards the favor of 
   demons. When you spend too much time in an environment of the opposing affinity to yours, you suffer some mild effects until it dissipates.
 - See HELP AFFINITY for more information.

o Altar
 - A character made structure upon creating a cult. This will allow them to 
   sacrifice creatures and players to their cause, granting them belief and faith towards their new religion. 
 - See HELP CULTS for more information.

o Balance
 - Most attacks use either balance or equilibrium. Your actions are generally 
   restricted during the time you are recovering balance after using it.

o Belief
 - The power of a cult. This is used to gain rituals, create rooms, become a sect, evolve an Entity, and much more.

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

o Circles
 - Refers to the general alignment of an organization or character in relation to their use of magick and demonology. There are three circles of alignment in 
   Imperian: anti-magick, magick, and demonic.
 - See HELP CIRCLES for more information.

o Class
 - An outdated term for a profession (see below).

o Credits
 - Credits are a type of IRE currency. You can earn up to 20 free credits per day by doing certain things in the realm. You can also buy credits from the credit market, other players, or through Imperian's website.
 - See HELP CREDITS for more information.

o Cults
 - A cult is an organization in which players who wish to explore a certain kind of shared belief in more details can congregate. Cults can also evolve into sects.
 - See HELP CULTS for more information.

o Doubloons
 - Doubloons are items that can be traded to captain Felton in exchange for a temporary artefact. You gain doubloons by hunting in certain areas.
 - See HELP DOUBLOONS for more information.

o Entities
 - Originally, the administration of Imperian played the roles of Gods in-game. 
   Over time, those roles were abandoned in favor of a system where volunteer 
   administrators act as "Entities", mystical beings tangentially related to the 
   Gods, who attach themselves to Cults and Sects to support mortal efforts.

o Equilibrium
 - Most attacks use either balance or equilibrium. Your actions are generally 
   restricted during the time you are recovering equilibrium after using it.

o Faith
 - Your personal faith allows you to gather strength to use your rituals within 
   your cult or sect.

o 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.

o Guild
 - A guild is a formal organization of players bound together by an ideology. Along with this generally comes a guildhall for the guild members to relax and study in, as well as a hierarchy within the guild. Examples of guilds are the Wardens, the Stormweavers, and the Wraithweald.
 - See HELP GUILD (or HELP 8) for more information.

o 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.
 - See HELP OOC for more information.

o Inventory
 - The general name for the list of all the items you are holding, wearing, or 
   wielding.
 - See HELP INVENTORY for more information.

o Learning
 - Learning is the process by which you raise your skill levels. Find a tutor, 
   such as another player who has the skill you wish to learn, or an NPC such as 
   Bina or Aranel. Then, you will LEARN <skill> FROM <tutor>.

o Lessons
 - You must have these to learn and raise your skill levels.
 - See HELP LEARNING for more information.

o Leylines
 - Leylines are streams of Diachaim flowing across the land, and they affect the affinity of the area they are in. The affinity of the leylines can be changed by using shards.
 - See HELP LEYLINES for more information.

o Mobiles
 - Computer-controlled animals, monsters, or characters. Often shortened to mobs 
   or referred to as denizens.

o MUD (Multi-User Dungeon)
 - Sometimes used as a generic term for all multi-user text games or as a term for a certain segment of them.

o NPC (Non-Player Character)
 - A sentient mobile, generally humanoid.

o OOC (Out Of Character)
 - Something that is said as if it is from "you", the player behind the character. Anything public and most things private are considered IC rather than OOC.
 - See HELP OOC for more information.

o Profession
 - The term used to denote what skills and abilities you are capable of achieving, as well as a loose indication of your character's beliefs or values. This was once referred to as a person's "class", and is similar to a character archetype in other games.

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

o RP (Roleplay)
 - This term, as used in Imperian, means to do things and say things as if you are 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 roleplaying.

o Sects
 - Sects are evolved cults, and often accept an Entity.
 - See HELP SECTS (and HELP ENTITIES) for more information.

o Shards
 - While the exact origin of shards is unknown, they are widely believed to be condensed energy. Shards are used in organizational research, for influencing leylines and in use for certain abilities. Harvesting shards will mark you open to PK (so you might die).
 - See HELP SHARDS for more information.

o Skills
 - Sets of abilities. View SKILLS to see which ones you have. Multiple skills, 
   when combined under a profession, are known as skillsets.

o Spamming
 - In the context of Imperian, 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.
 - See HELP SPAMMING for more information.

o Spawnwave
 - Spawnwave areas are certain areas in the realm which, once completed, will grand you daily credits.

o Trans
 - A shortened form of Transcendent, which is the utmost level of achievement in a skill. Players who have learned all of the abilities in each of their 
   profession skills are referred to as "tri-trans", and when a player learns the maximum amount in every skill they possess, they are known as "omni-trans'.