Backlash- When a practitioner loses control of the magic they are channeling. This often results in serious injury or a burnout.
Burnout- The result of a human practitioner channeling too much magical energy. This usually kills the practitioner outright. In rare cases, it will leave the person alive, but unable to connect with the energy around them. Most survivors go insane from the loss.
Demon- Incorporeal creatures
that come from the Rift, a realm of pure chaos. They live in the energy that
exists between, and overlaps, all the realms. They can only affect the
physical realm by binding to a human host.
Earth- Existing in the mortal
realm, it is a unique world of ambient magical energy that acts as a
crossroads for other dimensions.
Fae- Also known as faeries.
A broad term used to cover any physical being from another dimension
(this excludes demons).
Ghost- A
physically manifested thought projection fueled by a fragment of its
creator's soul.
Imbuer-
A fae capable of imbuing objects with a specific memory, emotion,
thought, or enchantment.
Halfer- A human with any
amount of fae blood. Many halfers don't even realize they have any
fae in them. Since a registered halfer is restricted in the type of
career they can have, and they are often the victims of prejudice and
hate crimes, many halfers choose to hide their nature despite the
harsh consequences if they are found out.
Human- The
majority of the population in the mortal realm, indigenous to Earth.
Necromancer-
A sorcerer who has bonded with a demon. A necromancer has the
ability to open rifts through which demons can come. A demon cannot
exist in the physical realm without a host however, so necromancers
can open pathways into recently deceased or dying humans, turning
them into zombies. A powerful necromancer may even be able to open
pathways into healthy humans, creating rifters.
One Earth-
A secular group that preaches tolerance of people from all realms.
Paladin- A
human trained by the Church to kill sorcerers. As part of their contract, every
sorcerer is paired up with a paladin. The paladin is responsible for
protecting the soul of their sorcerer. If at any time the paladin
suspects their sorcerer may be in collaboration with or controlled by
a demon, they are charged with killing the sorcerer to prevent them
becoming a rifter.
Paranatural-
Anyone who is not an ordinary human.
PTF-
The Paranatural Task Force. An international agency charged with enforcing the treaty that ended the Faerie Wars, and
maintaining the peace between humans and all things paranatural.
Practitioner-
A human with an innate affinity for magic, tends to run in families.
Purity-
A religious sect that ostensibly broke off from the Church. They preach the extermination of all non-humans.
Reader- A
fae with the ability to glean the history of an object by handling
it.
Rift- The space between realms, a place of energy and chaos where demons reside.
Rifter-
A human who partners with, or is possessed by, a demon. When a practitioner draws power, they connect to the chaotic realm of energy where the demons reside, known as the Rift. The more energy the practitioner draws, the easier it is for a demon to find and attack them. An average human is quickly overpowered by a demon and
loses control. The demon then does as much damage as it can in a short amount of time, usually resulting in the death of the host. A sorcerer may be strong enough
to co-exist with the demon for a time, adding an element of stability
to the equation, and giving them phenomenal power as a Necromancer.
Shifter-
A type of fae that can change shape, some to a single alternative,
others to several.
Sorcerer-
A practitioner who is licensed to practice the dark arts. Sorcerers
were trained extensively during the Faerie Wars as the humans' best defense
against the fae. It is a lifetime contract: Training in the most
powerful offensive arts in exchange for service until death. Since
the signing of the peace treaty, no new sorcerers have been created. There are only a
handful left.
Thrall-
A person who's mind is being controlled by another and has lost their
free will.
Treaty-
The peace treaty stipulates that any full-blooded fae must live on
one of the fae reservations, and must receive permission from the
PTF to travel through or temporarily reside on human land. Halfers can live anywhere, but they must register with the PTF and are restricted from holding "sensitive" jobs, like police, teacher, government employee, etc. Any halfter
found lying about their true nature is arrested and extradited to a
reservation for a minimum of one year before they are allowed to
petition for probationary status. Any full-blooded fae found off the
reservation without a visa will be either extradited to the
reservation or executed depending on the circumstances as reviewed by
a PTF hearing. Humans hold no jurisdiction within the reservations,
but the fae agree to hand over any fae proven guilty of committing
a crime against humanity outside of a reservation (in most cases the
dead body of the guilty party is handed over).
Vampire- A
human brought back from the brink of death by a piece of demon-tainted
soul. Through blood, vampires feed on the life force of humans to
nourish the demon portion of themselves, which cannot otherwise remain in the mortal plain and would eventually rip them apart. Originally created when
a fae illusionist was raped by a human rifter.
Wastes- Lands devastated by
the Faerie Wars. Found mostly in Europe and at the sights of large battles, wastes are places where Sorcerers drew upon a great deal of energy and left a dead "hole" in the world where nothing can grow.
Wasters- Those people who
live in and around the wastes.
Werewolf- A
human who turns into a large wolf at the full moon. First created when a
fae shifter shared blood with a plague-ridden mortal, the disease is passed on through blood contact.
Witch- A
human practitioner who is licensed to practice white or Wiccan arts.
Zombie- A corpse or near-corpse possessed by a demon. A demon can fully
inhabit a corpse, but the body will decay at an alarming rate. If a
demon finds its way into a human on the brink of death, it can
sustain the spark of life for a time, allowing it to function longer
before decay sets in. If the host is healthy when a demon possesses them, they becomes a rifter, not a zombie.