v . c e n s u s

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Terminology,

■ Bless (v.) “to consecrate or sanctify by a religious rite; make or pronounce holy” (courtesy of Dictionary.com ). Blessing may only be done by Malakihm when a human has reached full positive karma (+10₰ ). When a Malakh blesses a human, said human willingly sheds their mortality for immortality as a divine creature under the constant guidance of the Malakh who blessed them until they have reached the proper “age” of one month a fully-fledged Malakh.

■ First Generation Immortal (n.) First Generation Immortals are those Malakihm and Deimos who are “naturally born,” or, rather, created as they were. These creatures are truly creatures, having never been human. As sterile beings, they are incapable ot reproduction as a human would know it, but they are at the same time capable of creating Second Generation Immortals via hexing or blessing. For more information on Malakihm and Deimos and their specific abilities, see iii r a c e s. First Generation Immortals must be pre-approved by administration.

■ Gestalt (n.) “the body of specialized procedures and methods used in any specific field so as to effect a desired result; a skill pertaining to battle.” (courtesy of Dictionary.com) Ranging from common, every day techniques (Rank F) to very rare and difficult to master techniques (Rank S), Gestalts are merely the actions which, at some cost of mana, living creatures in Sheol may use to cause damage or other effects during battle. The amount of mana, or energy, it takes to perform a Gestalt is dependent upon its difficulty, which corresponds to its rank; likewise, the damage a Gestalt may inflict, if any, relates to its rank. Gestalts are tagged by the categories to which they belong, including, but not limited to: offensive, defensive, long-range, close-range, multi-range, neutral, counter, supplementary, basic, elemental, projectile, and lethal. Most Gestalts are considered “street legal,” belonging to a master skill set to which all Sheol citizens of any race have access without having to pay. However, by paying a fine of silver, some citizens may be able to purchase permits to create and the sole “rights” to a custom Gestalt of their making. The price and rank of custom Gestalts increases with the number purchased; for more information, see iv t h e g e s t a l t p r o j e c t.

■ Hex (n.) “an evil that has been invoked upon one; (v.) the act of causing such an evil” (courtesy of Dictionary.com ). Hexing may only be done by Deimos when a human has reached full negative karma (-10₰ ). When a Deimon hexes a human, said human willingly chooses to have their mortality tainted with the demonic immortaility promised to them at the cost of their soul. They are also guided by their superior until they have aged one month as a fully-fledged Deimon.

■ Karma (n.) “the good or bad emanations felt to be generated by someone or something” (courtesy of Dictionary.com ). Accumulated by the demonstration of “good” or admirable acts (positive karma) or by the demonstration of “bad” or deplorable acts (negative karma), Karma is used by Deimos and Malakihm to manipulate the fate of humans in Sheol. Most residents of Sheol begin with zero karma on a scale of negative ten to positive ten; some extraordinary cases begin their secondary lives with a small accumulation of karma, but never more than five points in any direction. Every good act begets one positive karma and every bad act begets one negative karma—these points are capable of cancelling each other out, just like adding positive and negative numbers together in math cancels out one or the other. While humans are unaware of their plight in this tug of war for their souls, at full positive karma (+10₰ ) a human may be blessed by a Malakh, while at full negative karma (-10₰ ) a human may be hexed by a Deimon, or else have their soul devoured and thus lose their life.

■ Second Generation Immortal (n.) A human who has given up his or her soul and mortality in order to become a Malakh or Deimon. For more on the process of becoming a Second Generation Immortal, reference the entries on blessing and hexing. More information may be found on the races at iii r a c e s.

■ Silver(n.) The currency of Sheol, signified by the symbol §, silver is good for anything from purchasing Gestalts to making both in and out of character purchases. Ironically, silver has nothing to do with a character’s social standing and as a result cannot raise or lower status. Rather, silver is determined by the number of posts made.

■ Tag (n.) “label or strip, to identify, classify, etc.” As mentioned in their entry, each Gestalt will be tagged with one or more tags, a comprehensive list of which may be found on the page detailing Paperthin Hymn’s Gestalt Project. Tags are labels for Gestalts which give a brief overview of a Gestalt’s type, range, difficulty or lethality, and any miscellaneous categories it may belong to.

■ Void (n.) “a vacuum.” Though commonly used to describe empty or useless vacuums of darkness, the term has come to have a rather different meaning in Sheol. While most humans who arrive here have no particular abilities except for some student and academy faculty elementalists, there are those exceedingly rare individuals who, on some whim of fate*, have acquired a special ability of sorts. These abilities are what the denizens of Sheol, from poor Rozen to rich Wisterian, call Voids. However, some truth exists to the original definition of the term, for such great powers often have great downsides. The presence of a Void harnesses most all of a being’s natural energy, and, for this reason, will generally nullify any chance of elemental control; Voids are literal vacuums for living energy, regardless of their output. Moreover, those Voids often come with such downsides that they leave the users with the same empty darkness of their namesakes in their hearts. Many question whether a Void is a gift or a curse.

*Voids are, for out-of-character clarification, gifted at random by administrators. Unless you have received permission to create a first generation immortal, there is a very high chance you will not acquire a Void, and if you do it will be one that an administrator creates rather than a custom made Void.