Vereva/Terms

General
A list of terms used in the world of Vereva alongside their definitions. This idea contains Ideas, concepts and holidays.

Directory

 * To search through races, click here
 * To search through animal species, click here
 * To search through plant species, click here
 * To search through geographical features, click here
 * To search through continents, click here
 * To search through countries, click here
 * To search through technologies, click here
 * To search through sciences of Vereva, click here

Aelven Aging Factor
The Aelven Aging Factor is a reference to which Aelves grow old. Aging an average of ten times longer and ten times slower than races with the base factor. An Aelf's life consists of 39 years of infancy and 80 years of childhood and adolescence, reaching adulthood at 150 years of age. The average life span of the Aelf rests at 632 years, marking the average span of adult life to last 482 years.


 * Page(s) of reference: Aging of Aelves

Age of Science Day
Age of Science Day is a holiday in Lorelei that marks the anniversary of the nation as well as promotes the continuity of the Age of Science. The day is community-oriented, being held in parks and city squares large enough to hold a few hundred people. The progression of the celebration begins with a showing of new patented inventions by Lorelei's numerous inventors around noon, followed by fireworks in the early evening. After fireworks, the social standard is to dine out. Most restaurants in Lorelei spend months preparing for the holiday.


 * Page(s) of reference: Holidays of Lorelei

Alpha
In Minotaur culture, the Alpha is the political leader of the Kahremite Empire who earns his status not through election, wealth, skill or merit, but through a smell secreted through his or her skin.


 * Page(s) of reference: Alphas and the Government, Kahrim, Minotaurs

Beating Heart
Vereva does not spin as it rotates around its sun, thus its sun faces the western side of the planet at all times directed at a focal point in the desert country of Bevesta. The sun's focal point is known as the Beating Heart and is the hottest place on Vereva, opposite of Pönt Mirvë. The Beating Heart acquired its name through two different concepts. Beating derives from its geography: lava fields and sandseas that flow and bubble up endless, boiling eternally. It gets the name Heart from the idea that the goddess Bevesta is assumed to have risen back to heaven there, making it the most sacred place on the planet; the heart of Majicium.


 * Page(s) of reference; Beating Heart, Geography of Vereva

Betas
In Minotaur culture, the Betas are secondary leaders of descending power who scent allow them to act as runners-up to the Alpha.


 * Page(s) of reference: Betas and the Government

Bevesta
Bevesta refers to a goddess as well as a Verevian nation.

Bevesta (deity)
As a deity, Bevesta was a mortal goddess who, while pregnant, had fallen to the mortal realm little more than 20,000 years ago. As recounted by folklore, the sentient races nursed her back to good health and helped her climb back to heaven. Because they were so kind, she granted each race a gift that would become inherent to themselves as a reward. The goddess was said to have given birth to her son Xahl on Vereva who she left in the mortal realm, entrusting him to watch over the world. Making a tragic mistake, the goddess use up her powers to grant gifts and return home before she could make Xahl immortal. The Bevesdane royal family are believed to be direct descendants of Xahl and therefore the goddess herself.


 * Page(s) of reference: Bevesta, Majicium

Coming of Age
On Vereva, each racial culture has its own rite of passage for adolescents to undergo when entering adulthood called the Coming of Age. Some coming of age processes are cultural required prerequisites before entering the job force, such as those of the Minotaurs and the Thaumaturges. For Dwarves and Humans, the coming of age is not obligatory, but evading it is socially unacceptable. The Aelves also have an important rite of passage that has become a global culture called the Grand Tour.


 * Page(s) of reference: Coming of age

Crown of the Royals
The Crown of the Royals is a spell still in effect in Bevesta. The spell reveals to the public the identities of the Bevesdane royal family through turning their hair shades of green which is unnatural to all sentient faces of Vereva. The identity is kept public through the cultural tradition of extended hair growth and the prospect of never covering one's head, one of the most prominent religious taboos.


 * Page(s) of reference: Appearance of the Thaumaturges, Bevesdane royal family

Cry for Help
The Cry for Help is a new age religious holiday in Bevesta. The holiday was establihed after the Thaumaturge's loss in the Heaven's War and is a somber tradition in which Bevesdanes gather in larger numbers in attempt to pray for the forgiveness of Bevesta and earn back Majick.


 * Page(s) of reference: Heaven's War, Holidays of Bevesta, Majicium, Majick

Day of Reckoning
Following War Week, the Day of Reckoning is a special holiday in Kahrim in which youths return from Horn Molting. On this day, scents (as well as horn shape for males) are compared and a new Alpha may be crowned if any of the youth's scents are stronger than that of the current Alpha.


 * Page(s) of reference: Alpha, Holidays of Kahrim, Minotaur Culture, Scent of the Alpha

Diurnal Eye
Diurnal Eye is the name of the sun around which Vereva orbits. Vereva's sun and moon are worshipped in the common religion as well in other minor religions thoughout the world. Most religions have similar folklore that express the two celestial bodies to be eyes of gods, keeping a close watch over Vereva.


 * Page(s) of reference: Diurnal Eye

Dwarven Aging Factor
The Dwarven Aging Factor is the basis by which Gnomes and Dwarves age. At approximately 2.34 times the rate of other races (and 23.4 times the rate of Aelves), these two races age the fastest, reaching adulthood at the age of 6.


 * Page(s) of reference: Dwarven Aging Factor

Election Day
In Lorelei, Election Day is a judicial holiday taking place on the day a new prime minister is elected celebrated via parades and fireworks. It is obligatory that the new leader give a speech to address the populace on this day.


 * Page(s) of reference: Holidays of Lorelei

Envijë
A body piercing under the bottom lip in Kahrim, called an Envijë, is the most common of Cultural Minotaur piercings. The piercings, which are held as the most sacred part of Minotaur culture, are said to represent different social statuses of the wearer. The envijë represents that the wearer joined the Kahremite Army as a voluntary participant, an honor of the highest esteem to the Kahremite peoples.


 * Page(s) of reference: Kahremite Army, Minotaur Culture, Minotaur body piercings

First Drizzle
The first rain of Kahrim's rainy winter season is celebrated with a children's holiday called the First Drizzle which is used to show appreciation to the gods for keeping Kahrim's plains fertile for another year. On this day, children are let out of school to play many rain-related games. A traditional game functioned by having a short race through the rain with the winner of the race being the person who finishes driest, an easy judgment to call because of Minotaur odors. Only the winning child would traditionally receive a gift. Today, most Kahremite parents buy presents for all children on this day.


 * Page(s) of reference: Holidays of Kahrim

Graduation Day
In Lorelei, where knowledge is a concept almost sacred, Graduation Day is a de facto holiday in which many denizens (somewhere around 30% of the population) from around the country attend the nearest university to watch the graduation ceremonies of youths becoming scholars. Lorelei lacks the definite Coming of age that the other nations have, though many are starting to lean toward attending a university and graduation as the mark of coming into adulthood.


 * Page(s) of reference: Coming of age, Holidays of Lorelei

Grand Tour
The Grand Tour is a Coming of Age rite of passage began by the Aelves at the end of the Heaven's War. The Grand Tour is a trip around the entirety of Vereva, visiting each nation, that traditionally ends in the ruins of Itanstale in Eidriel. Its purpose is to teach youths the horrors of the global conflict that led to the extinction of the Giants and the Gnomes to dissuade further generations from war. As Aelf culture became better known around the world, the Grand Tour gained recognition as a general rite of passage an by 19435 all races began to participate in large numbers.


 * Page(s) of reference: Coming of age, Grand Tour

Heaven's War
The greatest known conflict in recorded history on Vereva is known as the Heaven's War. The war began when the Thaumaturges of Bevesta took charge to spread their empire and influence on a global scale, believing themselves to be the rightful proprietors of Vereva. The war, fought primarily on the soils of Eidriel, lead to the destruction of the civilizations of two sentient races—the Giants and the Gnomes—whose Dragoons and Wyrmhearts were no match for Bevesdane Majick.


 * Page(s) of reference: Heaven's War

Human Aging Factor
The Human Aging Factor refers to the aging rate of most sentient races. The aging rate is similar to that of Earth's humans where one full year accounts for one unit of aging, eg: 2 years old, 3 years old. On Vereva, Humans, Minotaurs, Thaumaturges and Giants age this way.


 * Page(s) of reference: Human Aging Factor

Hydrophant
In militaries around the world, special battalions were formed by cavaliers who rode Beasts into battle. Among these were the Hydrophants, who rode in on hydra to battle on sea. Hydraphancy was considered the most dangerous of the cavalier battalions and therefore the most honored. Unlike Dragoonism, Hydrophancy existed alongside conflict done by vehicles of the same means (water). Today, only the land variation of cavaliers, called the Wyrmheart is still used while the air and sea variations have fallen obsolete due to Human's advancement in technology.


 * Page(s) of reference: History of Vy Mirvë, History of Vereva, Hydrophants

Larger Races
The term Larger Races is used to reference all races that kept Humans as slaves over the long history of slaveryin Vereva. These races included the Minotaurs, the Dwarves, the Giants, and the Thaumaturges. The term was coined by the Humans who referred to the other races as larger not because of their size, but because of their capabilities that kept them superior to Humans.


 * Page(s) of reference: History of Slavery

Liberation Day
Liberation Day is a traditionally Human holiday in Lorelei that occurs on the first day of the year. The day is used to show thankfulness for the Humans' newfound freedom from oppression and the rights to free will and free thought. Liberation Day is celebrated differently by many citizens, the holiday raiding toward the tendency of doing whatever makes yourself feel liberated. While harsh crime and felony are not common on the holiday, Liberation Day can be one of the most dangerous days in Lorelei as many people rally in the streets while racial tensions are high, influenced by alcohol.


 * Page(s) of reference: Holidays of Lorelei

Luring Rock
On the easternmost regions on the Kensillan Continent, several natural crystal forests filled the plains. Collectively called the Luring Rock, the forests shone brightly and acted as because to those travelers as far as 100 miles away. The crystal forests, now missing from the lands of Kensilla, are believed to have died off sometime before the Trail to Kensilla.


 * Page(s) of reference: Forests, Kensillan Continent

Majicium
Majicium is the main religion in the world of Vereva, once followed by all nations as thanks to the gods. The religion today is followed mainly by members of the Avelamb and Bevesta nations. There are many gods in Majicium, but the most important is the goddess Bevesta (for Bevesta (nation) vs. Bevesta (deity), see here) who was said to have fallen into the mortal realm and have granted the sentient races gifts for aiding her return to heaven. Today, the religion in practice is used in Bevesta (nation) to beg the gods for the return of Majick and in Avelamb to beg the gods to strip Vereva of all its Majick permanently.


 * Page(s) of reference: Heaven's War, Majicium

Majick
In Majicium belief, Majick was the sentient feature of the Thaumaturges gifted to them the goddess Bevesta. Majick allowed the Thaumaturges to call upon miracles at whim, a trait previously only capable of a small minority of non-sentient flora and fauna.


 * Page(s) of reference: Heaven's War, Majicium, Majick

Nocturnal Eye
Low in the skies of Vereva is its icy moon called the Nocturnal Eye. The moon orbits around Vereva much slower than the moon of Earth, performing a full orbit in a full Verevian year (450 days). Because the seasons of the planet don't vary greatly, if at all because Vereva's sun always faces the Beating Heart, the position of the moon in the sky tells Verevians which season is in current progress.


 * Page(s) of reference: Nocturnal Eye

Non-sentient Race
A Non-sentient Race on Vereva references all flora and fauna that cannot communicate inter-species, have little understanding of logic and reasoning, and were not given a sentient feature by the goddess Bevesta.


 * Page(s) of reference: Fauna, Flora

Plate for the Giants
A Plate for the Giants is a traditional meal eaten at the end of War Week in Kahrim before Minotaur youth are sent off for horn molting. The meal begins with heavy foods relative to Minotaur culture that lead up to 5 more gradually lighter courses and end in a final meal consistent with the Giants' diet.


 * Page(s) of reference: Holidays of Kahrim

Pönt Mirvë
The westernmost point on Vereva, called Pönt Mirvë is the coldest place of the world where the sun never shines. It exists in the location polar opposite of the Beating Heart. Pönt Mirvë is about 200 miles west of Vy Mirvë's westernmost city Aç'üçë.


 * Page(s) of reference: Geofraphy of Vereva, Pönt Mirvë