Encyclopedia - What do I has to knoez?

[Areos]

[under construction - i'm just too lazy to realy do it in one go. I''ll accept Ideas if you wish to give your own definitions of certain stuff (saves me a lotta time) and if I can approve of it.]

A little help for our newcomers and people wondering about how certain things work or what certain words actually mean. The Encyclopedia will be divided into 2 parts, the first giving general knowledge about the world this RP is set in.


Part1: general knowledge

Setting:
This world is set in a medieval like time, most of the land belonging to nobles and Lords. The entire landmass is known under the name Enthralea (map is here). While there have been certain technological achievements made through magiscience, most people rely on basic meelee weaponry, save for bows and guns - certain modern objects such as 'laptops','blow driers' or 'large screens' exist, but beside the Witchhunters this technology his very rare. People Rely on magic most of the time to solve more complicated matters, such as fighting or siege.

Religion & believes:
The mayor Religion is the believe in a single omnipotent god, represented through the church in the West. While most of the continent believes in this there are certain exceptions to be made, the north originally had a believe that strongly looks alike to Norse mythology, though this believe perished since the destruction of the north many years ago.
Witches have no believe, they think that magic is the core of everything and set offspring to everything else, explaining why they see themselves as superior beings being granted to right to use magic.

Myths & Legends :
Aside from believe there was a time where gods dwelled on the earth - apparently many of these tales are quite true, allowing you to have your character rely on greek/asian/norse mythology up to a certain degree.

[Areos]

Encyclopedia:
explaining terms and giving definitions. Abide by them please.

A:

Arachne Sapien:

These creatures are a cross between humans and spiders, the origen of the creatures are unkown. The creatures have 6 arms and 2 legs, they can use spider webs and climb walls and roofs. The legs and arms are covered in hairs that stick to any surface, they arm them selves with weapons and have above average strength and speed.
One scientist stands by his theorie that the cause of this creature was a sailor, a large barrel of rum and a lonely spider. However this was found to be based on his own fantasy.


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C:

Cyborg

When nature hits a wall mankind will break through it, this was the basic idea of the scientist that made the first modification to himself. That was the first step towards the new race known as cyborgs, this is one of the few races where it is impossible to be born as one. The main thing that makes a person a Cyborg is the fact that the body of a cyborg is implanted with machinery, these machines would replaces lost arms and organs. The main power source is not always the same, some use mana others use steam and others use the very lifeforce of the human himself. The machinery is ussually stronger and more durable then the original.



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D:

Dragonkin:

Dragons are an intelligent race capable of shifting between their humanoid form and their beast form, only the latter is truly known througout the lands. They life secluded from normal society within their city embed inside Mountains, making appearances of them very rare. There are indeed a few traveling dragons, but since the age of dragonhunting its a miracle meeting dragons and actually noticing they are since they blend in with normal humans easily.
Dragons are given an elemental affinity (most popular are fire, ice or Wind) during their birth, this is rather random and not influence by their parents element, when they grow up young dragons learn how to control their element in both forms.
Dragons are born from eggs but are being brought up in humanoid form by their parents, that is due to the fact that the beastial form is only supposed for fighting. In both forms Dragons have an increased amount of resistance to the respective element they're born with along with a a heightened defense against pure mana due to their dragonscales.



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F:

Fire Giant:

Formerly the gaurdiuns of the Great prison of balgon, In a big uproar made by an attack of the Witch hunters they gained their freedom. Their body consist of great amounts of molten rock and streams of lava, There core is made of a substunce equal to the heats of hell. The giants have low speed but great strength there touch burns through normal iron with ease. They now roam through the west desert and some have been spotted in regions in the east and south.



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G:

Grand Wolf:

These great beasts have shown inteligence equal of those of humans, they use strategy and form packs to attack their prey. The grand wolves are a peacefull kind of creature they only fight when challanged, they have a high sense of pride. The wolf has a dense sturdy fur when wet it is as hard as iron plating and its teeth and claws can, with training, become strong enough to tear through steel. The wolves are known for great physical strength and speed yet they lack any ability to use mana. They can live in any area as long as it has a dense forest, yet they choose to remain in the east. Some outcasts from the packs have moved on to greater plains yet no grand wolf has been spotted outside of the eastern borders.


Grimalkin:

The term Grimalkin is barely every used, it is only refered to by scientists or realy old people. It describes all kinds of human hybrid species with few exceptions, and includes cat/dog/wolf/bunny/...-people. Special cases are made with Naga/lamia(snake) and Merefolk('mermaids'/fish) among a few more not mentioned here. Grimalkin usualy have improved senses but in exchange are often target to their animalistic self.
People usualy just refer to them with their respective animal name adding -people/person/girl/boy. (latter two are used more frequently, sometimes even on elder ones.)



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H:

Human:

Humans are the largest group of intelectual beings in Enthraela and have quite average amount of strength and fitness. Humans are usualy not good with Magic and are negatively effected by Mana, especialy males that get in contact with it suffer health problems and lose their sanity. females sometimes turn into witches if put under Mana influence, it depends wether they were born adept to magic or not.
The most remarkable thing about humans is their great potential of improving themselves along with their skills of coping with difficult situations. Even though humans cannot use Magic themselves they use artifacts to control it, using stored up Mana (usualy a depletable supply) inside special storage devices. While the lack of wielding Mana would put humans into a bad position the human body makes up for it, being unusualy sturdy in comparison to other beings, able to take several severe blows and remain alive. Their strongest trait is willpower, allowing even a crucialy damaged individual to keep fighting - breaking that spirit usualy breakes the body aswell however.




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L:

Lifeforce

In every living thing there is a thing called lifeforce, it represent the life of the being. Health if you will. Every time the living being takes damage his life force will go down, this will make the user feel exhausted and will wear him down both physically and mentally. Usually the living being will generate life force again and heal. This lifeforce however will need to be present before more can be created, meaning if one has no more lifeforce, life itself will seize to be. Some beings have found ways to refill the lifeforce of lifeless corpses, this act is also known as necromancy.


Lycanthropy:

Genneraly this term is assocated with the transformation of a human into a non anthromorphic and/or anthromorphic wolf. The type of lycanthropy can vary dependant on who was bitten by what, in some cases a wolf of normal standings may have the "lycanthrope curse/blessing" and be unnaffected by it yet when it bites someone(In self defense or in an agressive action) they suffer the effects of Lycanthropy in all it's glory. Lycanthropy or as some refer to "wereanimal" as a more general term causes the subject to under go a change that strengthens them immensly both in speed, strength, and senses. The lycanthropy curse is commonly associated by the full moon, in some cases it may only take a part of the full moon to transform a person to their wereanimal state. There have been cases in which people who obtained this cirse, gain magiacal powers as well as a form of immortality.

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M:

Mana:

A substance that has been in this world even before life began on this world, it is the force that allows all that one wants to be accomplised. It is both a gift and a curse, the mana allows for healing yet also harbors destruction. It is the catalist that allows for extraordenary things to be done. It can be changed into any substance using rituals and techniques, or it can be used to control other matter. Its uses are not limited to those as it is the power of ones imagination that limits its uses. Yet the mana brings with it a dangerous effect, combined with the mind of a male human, it will bring forth all his rage and desire creating a power hungry being that will not stop indulging himself on expelling this destructive force until its all gone.


Mages:

There are human that gained the use of mana through a unnatural way, unlike the witches* who gained the latent ability at birth these humans have gained theirs through use of science or magic seals, turning them into artificial magic users. Mages are limited in the diversity of their ability. Mages can be either female or male.

*see witches for more information


Magic:

Magic is the common name for the use of the substance known as Mana, it allows those capable to Create or Destroy.
It was discovered that magic had a destructive effect on the body's of Humans and only a select few were able to use it, these came to be known as witches. These females displayed large talents at wielding it at will and great diversity. Later Mages found ways of manipulating this art yet were limited as it cost large amount of extra energy to use. Magic is a highly complecated thing, by use of special incantations that use diffrent vibrations and magical combonations it can be amplified, through the use of incantation circle the spoken version can be bypassed or improved. The incantations allow for use of magic above the level of the user's capability.


Magiscience

combining two entirely diffrent subjects and creating something that exceeds both by far - magiscience is the unison of magic and science, it allows the use of screens that can transport changing images, create a stream of hot air from a handheld item to dry your hair - for short, Magiscience can achieve lots of things you wouldnt expect. Since its a difficult thing to manage both magic and science without going insane, there arent too many reasearcher around this part, and most are hired by the Witchhunter Organisation.
(it does not create everything modern, and isnt too cheap, but can create luxuries like a laptop or a tv screen to display a video or pictures on. We still remain in a medievallike timeperiod, so try not pulling out a PSP or a gameboy, magiscience just allows a little more luxury for you.)
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S:

Science

The art of understanding and manipulating the forces and laws of nature to create things that surpass nature is something unique to the human minds. Science focuses on analyzing non-magical happenstances and extract opportunities out of the reasearch - although the science department is considered less important than the magical one due to its decreased efficiency it's very important to those unable to wield magic.
Science could not develop as strongly since magic usualy works easier or more efficiently, so its creations mostly contain mechanical things. (such as around the industrial revolution, slightly before that)


Snow bunny:

This creature lives in large colonies and inhabit the highlands of the north, through out the north these creature manage to coexist with the other animals. They are ice-based and use icycles as weapons, their claws and hands are solid ice and when destroyed they will form again. There touch freezes molten rock, Their big sturdy body's give them a strong base. However due to their body frame they have low speed, making these creatures,when confronted one-on-one, level out around Black-class. when battling with large groups and in their natural enviroment they become as strong as mid White-class.



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T:

The church:

The holy church stands for the mayor religion spread all around the continent, the believe in a god of creation that once formed the earth and protects all that is good and holy. The church not only holds spiritual power, but also wordly and partially also military power.
The church has brought The witchhunter organisation to life and acts as the main sponsor nowadays, but no longer giving orders to them. The Church is seated on the holy grounds in the west and protect a great gate, beside this task they take spiritual tasks and commision everyday tasks such as having new churches built in diffrent regions. Though rumors say they can eliminate threats in certain manners aswell.



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W:

Witches:

When a girl is born they might posses the latent ability to magic, Due to unkown reasons this ability will activate. The girl with the ability to create or to destroy by use of magic will be given a hat. The hat is unique and can not be recreated if it is destroyed, the hat is the device that presents the witch with a mana supply. When the hat is destroyed no new mana can be generate yet the mana that is not used yet will remain. Unlike mages* witches are not limited to one element or magic kind, however they do have natural preferences or talents for sorts of magic.

*see mages for more information


Witch Hunters

In the old days the witches were docile living in coexcitence yet a tunring point came, nobody knows what made them turn violent yet they started destroying parts of the world. Of course not every witch had these violent urges but the majority did. It was during this time that people able to battle these witches came into being, some with great hatred against them some out to reason with them. Yet it did not matter what you beleived or what your goals where as long as you had the power to compete with the Witches and help restore peace to the world you were welcomed within the orgination named, Witch Hunter. Yet no orginasation can excist with out money, the church suported the Witch hunters financinaly at the begining giving a close relationship between the two. As time past the witch hunters also took docile witch in their care, this conflict towards the church that wants to destroy each and every one, prevented the two orginasations to become one. Now the church is no more then a sponsor.


Wyvern

Often called 'cousins of dragons' these lizard creature have a few things in common with reals dragons, however, they can neither transform into human form, nor do they reach such sizes as real dragons. They look alike to to teen dragons having a more salamander like body (long & slim) and large wings.
Wyverns are animals, while some display a certain amount of intelligence they are more like repitle horses with wings and are treated as such. They're very expensive and take long to train. Their reptile-skin is either green, red or black - other colors have not yet been reported.
They are extremely fast and considered the quickest way of traveling.

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