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But... Stochastic Parrots.

⚔ MAGIC SYSTEMS

Hard Magic System — A magic system with defined, learnable rules and costs — think math with spells.

Soft Magic System — Mysterious, undefined magic that creates wonder but shouldn't solve plot problems.

Magic Cost — The price a caster pays to use magic: exhaustion, life span, blood, sanity.

Sympathetic Magic — Magic based on connection — affecting a thing by working on something linked to it.

Runic Magic — Spells encoded in written symbols or glyphs carved into objects or skin.

Elemental Affinity — A mage's natural bond to a specific force: fire, water, earth, air, shadow.

Mana Depletion — The state of exhausting one's magical reserves, causing physical or mental collapse.

Counterspell — A reactive spell cast to nullify or disrupt an incoming magical effect.

Ley Line — Invisible channels of raw magical energy flowing beneath a world's surface.

Sigil — A charged symbol that stores or triggers a magical effect when activated.

Blood Pact — A binding magical agreement sealed with blood, unbreakable by mundane means.

Wild Magic — Unpredictable, uncontrolled magical energy that can surge with catastrophic results.

Arcane Resonance — The phenomenon where two spells or artifacts amplify each other dangerously.

Null Zone — A region where magic is suppressed or entirely absent.

Weaving — The act of constructing a spell by layering strands of magical energy together.

Spell Anchoring — Binding a spell to a location, object, or person so it persists over time.

🏛 SOCIETY & POLITICS

Feudalism — A hierarchy where land is exchanged for military service and loyalty up the chain.

Theocracy — A government ruled by religious authority, where divine law is state law.

Oligarchy — Power concentrated in the hands of a small, often wealthy elite.

City-State — A self-governing city that functions as its own independent political unit.

Vassalage — A sworn relationship of service and protection between lord and subject.

Caste System — A rigid social hierarchy where birth determines one's role and rights for life.

Guilds — Professional associations controlling trade, craft, or skill-based monopolies.

Tribunal — A judicial body that judges crimes, disputes, or transgressions against a code.

Schism — A formal split within a religion or faction over doctrine or leadership.

Conscription — Mandatory military service imposed by the state in times of need or war.

Tithe — A mandatory tax — often to a church — representing a portion of annual income.

Shadow Court — An unofficial, clandestine power structure that operates beneath the visible one.

Emissary — An official messenger or diplomatic representative sent between powers.

Inquisition — An authoritative body tasked with rooting out heresy, dissent, or corruption.

Interregnum — The dangerous period between the death of one ruler and the rise of another.

🌍 GEOGRAPHY & COSMOLOGY

Liminal Space — A threshold zone between two realms — forests at borders, caves between worlds.

Ley Confluence — A point where multiple ley lines cross, creating a massive surge of raw power.

The Void — An endless, formless dimension of nothingness that exists outside all planes.

Mortal Plane — The primary physical world inhabited by non-divine beings.

Astral Realm — A plane of thought, memory, and psychic energy that exists between worlds.

Anchor Point — A location tied to a plane or reality, keeping it stable and accessible.

Blighted Land — A region corrupted by dark magic, catastrophe, or the lingering presence of evil.

The Pale — The dim, grey borderland between the living world and the realm of the dead.

Deadlands — Vast, magically drained territory where nothing grows and no magic functions.

Planar Rift — A tear in reality allowing passage between dimensions — dangerous and unstable.

Cradle Lands — The mythic original homeland of a race or civilization, often lost or destroyed.

The Deep — Uncharted subterranean world beneath the surface, full of ancient things.

Storm Sea — An ocean perpetually wracked by magical or supernatural storms.

Sanctum — A protected, consecrated place of safety, often magically warded.

Sky Citadel — A structure built on floating islands or clouds, unreachable by ordinary means.

⚗ LORE & HISTORY

Founding Myth — The in-world story a civilization tells about its own origin and purpose.

Prophetic Verse — A piece of lore written in verse form that hints at future events.

The Before Times — The era before a major catastrophe that reshaped the known world.

Apocrypha — Forbidden or unofficial lore deemed too dangerous or heretical to preserve openly.

Relic Era — A historical age defined by the artifacts it left behind, now poorly understood.

Sundering — A cataclysmic event that split a continent, people, or magical system apart.

Living History — Oral traditions and songs that carry historical truth across illiterate generations.

False Chronicle — A historical record deliberately falsified by those who won a conflict.

The Silence — A mysterious gap in historical records no one can explain.

Ascension Event — The moment a mortal becomes a god, demon lord, or other transcendent being.

Lost Art — A school of magic or craft that was perfected in a past age and is now forgotten.

The Accords — A famous historical peace treaty, often the foundation of current geopolitics.

Mythic Recursion — When a legend mirrors real events so closely it becomes impossible to separate them.

Forbidden Archive — A sealed collection of knowledge too dangerous for general access.

Echoes — Residual magical impressions left in locations by intensely emotional past events.

👤 CHARACTER & CULTURE

Name Magic — A system where true names hold power — knowing one grants control over a being.

Taboo — A cultural prohibition so deeply ingrained it functions like an unwritten law.

Rites of Passage — Rituals marking the transition from one life stage or status to another.

Patron Deity — A god specifically worshipped by a city, family, profession, or bloodline.

Blood Feud — A generational cycle of violence between families, clans, or peoples.

Marked One — A person bearing a sign — birthmark, scar, brand — believed to signal destiny.

Exiled Order — A faction stripped of legitimacy, operating outside official sanction.

Oath Culture — A society where spoken promises carry enormous legal and spiritual weight.

Kenning — A poetic compound word used in place of a plain noun — 'whale-road' for the sea.

Death Customs — Ritualized practices surrounding burial, mourning, and the afterlife.

Animism — The belief that all things — stones, rivers, winds — possess spirit and awareness.

Cultural Memory — What a society collectively remembers, celebrates, and chooses to forget.

The Unspoken — A truth everyone in a culture knows but no one will openly discuss.

Hero Cult — Veneration of a legendary figure who has been elevated to near-divine status.

Blood Debt — An obligation owed to someone who saved your life, treated as legally binding.

🏰 ARCHITECTURE & ECONOMY

Bastide — A planned medieval town, built to a grid, often fortified and strategically placed.

Siege Economy — An economy that emerges inside a fortified city cut off from outside supply.

Barter Tier — The lowest economic stratum, where currency is useless and goods are exchanged directly.

Garrison Town — A settlement that exists primarily to house and supply a military force.

Mint Authority — The institution — crown, city, guild — with the legal right to produce currency.

Black Market — An unsanctioned trade network for illegal, taxed, or restricted goods.

Vault City — A settlement built around storing, protecting, or distributing a critical resource.

Toll Road — A controlled trade route where passage is taxed by the controlling faction.

Debt Bond — A legally enforced obligation compelling labor in exchange for cancelling a debt.

Mage Tower — A structure built to amplify, focus, or store magical energy — often isolated.

Undercity — A subterranean layer beneath a city, home to outcasts, criminals, and forgotten things.

Quartermaster — The official responsible for supplying an army, garrison, or expedition.

Living Walls — City fortifications grown from enchanted organic matter rather than stone.

Trade Tongue — A simplified shared language used across regions specifically for commerce.

Ruins Economy — When a civilization thrives primarily by looting and repurposing ancient structures.

⚡ WANT TO ACTUALLY BUILD YOUR WORLD? The Notion Worldbuilding Kit turns these 100 terms into a full living system — linked databases for factions, maps, timelines, magic rules & more. 🔗 Get your template here

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a little guide circa the 15th century

i can recognize white people as a whole have systemically oppressed POC in america, which is where i live 

most people when they make white people jokes only mean the shitty white people and i am not a shitty white person