Glossary Update: the vocabulary of the Continuum · 4:51pm Dec 18th, 2016
The terms within the 'verse are part of what creates a 'verse at all -- and also a good portion of what scares more than a few people away from it, never to return. (Most of the rest is writing style.) As such, some time ago, I put a Glossary post into the blog, defining quite a bit of the regional vocabulary.
But in this case, 'some time' is -- more than a little of it. That post has scrolled a long way down the list. And in the meantime, guess what we've gotten? More vocabulary. Things are scarier than ever, not to mention more in need of definition.
As such, I've reposted the original here, along with adding a number of new entries. Additionally, if anyone has a term they want added to the glossary, tell me in the Comments section and if defining it wouldn't create previously-unwritten spoilers, I'll place it in the main section.
Here we go again...
Warning: spoilers ahead.
Abeyance The period of Nightmare Moon's imprisonment.
Air path A sky road, manipulated by pegasi using techniques for extra safety. Typically has permanent favorable air currents, some resistance to bad weather, and can occasionally include built-in measures against intruders, if only as permanent cloud encampments lying in wait for use.
Ancients The term minotaurs use for their deceased, who are believed to never completely depart from the living world -- and so are provided for: miniature buildings are constructed to house the dead, and minotaurs will often ask for advice from those who came before. As with the shadowlands, there is no true evidence that such ever truly comes -- but minotaurs believe, and a few among the other species who live in Mazein have also taken up that system.
Backlash The disruption of active unicorn magic through hard or sharp physical contact with the channeling horn. Comes in four stages, tied to the level of active corona being used when the contact occurs, which are as follows:
Stage Zero: partial corona, basic everyday manipulation. Field winks out, objects drop or very minor spell is canceled out. Talented casters can ignore this with enough very disconcerting practice. Deliberately inflicted in unicorn schools so students can learn what it's like and try to deal with it.
Stage One: full primary corona. Channeled energy is not only disrupted, but briefly flows against unicorn. This causes variable minor to moderate injuries which increase in severity according to the raw field strength of the caster. In general, the effects of a Stage One on a unicorn of average strength will heal in a day or less, although exceptions occur. Extremely skilled casters can continue through this, but the damage will still be done -- although rumors say the Princesses are resistant to this stage, as might be a few other talented individuals.
Stage Two: double corona. Disrupted energy starts to do real damage: this is the point where spontaneous bone fractures can come in. With powerful unicorns, random minor to moderate magical effects may appear in surrounding environment. Injuries can take a week or more to recover from and typically result in immediate loss of consciousness. Only the Princesses are believed capable of riding it out and keeping a working going.
Stage Three: triple corona. Fatal.
Barricade point The Discordian Era version (but not equivalent) of a settled zone.
Before & After When used by Celestia and Luna, divides time into that which came prior to their ascension and everything which took place following it.
Between, the The realm unicorns move through when they teleport. Largely unexplored, as teleporters can typically only stay there as long as it takes to complete their journey -- and attempts to remain longer have resulted in ponies being lost. (Time passes during a teleport, but it's a tiny fraction of what the trip would take by hoof.) Could be described as the universe's largest sensory deprivation tank: most ponies will find themselves reliving memories during travel just to shield their minds from the sheer amount of nothing surrounding them.
Booster drugs Chemical-herbal concoctions which can temporarily increase field strength. Typical boosts range from five to fifty percent of the user's original raw power (most provide about fifteen), with the danger increasing steadily as the number goes up: the user is putting a considerable strain on their body and the highest mixes, even in the best-possible quality, still stand a chance of killing the pony taking them when it all wears off. Typically last no longer than thirty minutes, generally with visible side effects: the most common unicorn mix known turns the whites of the user's eyes to black. Mixes are known to exist which work for unicorns and pegasi. No race can use a mix meant for another: illness is the most common result -- and none are publicly known which work for earth ponies. Due to the dangers involved in consumption, all booster drugs are illegal.
Bravias The term for creating an act of crystal pony magic. (This has yet to be seen in the 'verse.) An individual growing of a bravias is called a lattice.
Canterlot Archives The multiple buildings which store books, artifacts, and spell notes vital to the history of Equestria, along with just about every other piece of information they can get their hooves on, including census data. Generally resent being reorganized by lavender unicorns every other week.
Caps Hard shells of translucent tissue which cover unicorn horns and pegasus wings at birth: respectively, they protect the mother from internal wounds and the newborn from wing damage caused by the pressures of the birth canal. Will fall away on their own a few days after birth or can be soaked away with warm water. Occasionally saved as a birth memento, although that tradition is dying out. Capless births are rare and never without consequence. (Snowflake is an example of a capless wing birth who survived.)
Celest An old measure of height: the distance from the ground to the Princess' front left shoulder. Seldom used.
Celestia Meter (Adjusted) Measures raw field strength as applied to unicorns, ranked from 0 (magically defunct) to 10 (Celestia herself), and so rates the sheer amount of power any given caster can bring to their efforts: certain minimum scores are required to make given workings operate at all. Is not strictly arithmetic: the gaps between whole numbers increase as the scale goes up. The average unicorn comes in at a 3: most students in the Gifted School start at 6. Those weaker in sheer power can make it in if their field dexterity scores are exceptional -- or they're pushed through the system's cracks. As far as anypony knows, field strength is fixed at birth and never improves.
Chaos Storm An occurrence of the Discordian Era: a violent, sanity-destroying upheaval of local reality during which all definitions may be overturned and anything caught within might wind up being unmade.
Chaos Terrain Areas where Discord's magic lingers, centuries after the fact. This can take the form of patchwork ground in which completely different environments affect a few square body lengths at a stretch -- and never touch each other. Extremely dangerous to cross, especially as conditions change: freeze in one section, burn in another, and be eaten by the lifeforms which only exist within the third.
Cornucopia Effect The universally-recognized part of earth pony magic which allows virtually any kind of land to be used for the growing of any crop -- regardless of how poorly that land is suited towards that vegetation. With enough earth ponies living in an area, it will eventually radiate out beyond the land being worked and allow the other races to attempt gardening on their own: otherwise, pegasi and unicorns are limited to what the area will naturally produce. The Effect is also known to accelerate plant growth somewhat with team effort, and a few earth ponies are known who can put that in reverse and raise bonsai. For crops, however, it's slow to take hold with a final radius related to the total local earth pony population, still partially dependent on climate -- misplaced crops in a tundra need heat coming in from somewhere -- and if the earth ponies in an area leave, the Effect will eventually fade out. Ponyville with that portion of its citizens all simultaneously departed would have two years before reversion to wild zone.
Corona The visible display of active magical effort being made by a unicorn as indicated by the appearance of energy around the horn. Comes in four stages: partial (everyday manipulation of light objects and very minor spells), full primary (more significant effort, typical workings), double (heavy exertion), and triple (commitment of all internal resources until success or total drain). Appears as layers of energy, with the base moving from the caster's original hue towards white as effort increases. Does not indicate raw strength in any way, simply the amount of effort being channeled.
Counter Attempting to negate unicorn magic through using one's own to disrupt. Only works on the magics of a unicorn's own race.
Crystake The currency of the Empire: oval chips of various crystal types and hues. The local ponies swear this can't be counterfeited. At the moment, it also can't be manufactured: the Empire turned into a closed economy under Sombra's rule, removing all need for fresh mintings. The spellwork required is currently being recovered.
Debate When discussing earth pony magic, this refers to direct negation: it basically means asking the earth to do the opposite of whatever somepony else requested. As this form of magic is just as automatically subtractive as it is additive, canceling your portion of strength from the total effort is generally easy -- if you have the right tool: it's hard to counter an effort you don't truly understand.
Device Technically, any inanimate object either being powered by magic or which invokes magic on something else. Sometimes also called a convenience if it's an item which actively assists the owner or makes their life easier.
Differentiation The near-universal unicorn inability to use their field for moving any object which is fully inside another. (The field coats the exterior of what it manipulates: reaching the interior doesn't happen.) Unicorns have been known to fully exhaust themselves in the attempts, and there are consistent rumors of worse. Generally applies to manipulation of anything within a solid: movement of solid through liquid is possible, but too much liquid mass represents a barrier on the level of a solid. Only one exception exists to the differentiation rule, and it is used in obstetrics.
Discordian Era The period of Discord's rule over the world. The exact duration of this time is unknown: most of the records from this time are lost, the only living pony witnesses weren't present for all of it, and the only entity who could be presumed to know more isn't talking.
Equestrian Magic Society A supposedly-nonprofit organization dedicated to the study and improvement of unicorn magic, mostly consisting of Gifted School graduates. Organizes several sporting events and competitions, gives out monetary awards for spell invention and improvement, and assists the Canterlot Archives in tracking the history of such magic, although the actual relationship often comes closer to quasi-friendly competition -- when it doesn't turn into low-level war. Has a considerably closer relationship with the patent office and helps them determine which devices are truly new.
Eris May be the Discordian Era name for the part of the world which eventually became Equestria, or might refer to the world itself: the term only recently emerged, and so its exact definition is unknown.
Essence A mysterious substance which has been referred to as the 'shadow cast by a soul.' Can be harvested from the dead or dying, but anyone strong enough to resist the process can negate it simply through trying to resist. Very little is known about essence other than that it's completely natural, extremely susceptible to distortion from resonance, and that any given pony can only hold so much within themselves. (According to Trixie's research, the Alicorn Amulet is essentially a vessel for unicorn essence which took on the resonance from the reason it was gathered: a selfish, unending desire for more power -- something which, when the Amulet is worn, completely overrides the personality of the host.)
Falling into the mark The most common psychological condition in Equestria, often shortened to falling. This is the state of allowing one's mark to dictate your life instead of simply letting it guide. Virtually everypony goes through a touch of it after manifest, spending too much time investigating new capabilities, creating a state known as flank-brain. But for others, it gets worse. Essentially, it's a pleasure feedback loop: using your talent makes you feel good about yourself, and you want to feel good, so you use your talent more and more until you wind up at the point where you do very little else: couriers travel, researchers study, and the little things in life are completely left behind. At the worst stages, it can just about get down to 'Stay alive. Perform. Repeat.' This is curable, but it's also hard to detect in the early stages, especially when compared to the general populace: the majority of adult ponies may have more than a touch of it. For Ponyville's population, Davenport is the best-known (and most easily spotted) of the fallen: if it isn't related to his shop, he's just not interested, and it takes very little time for most ponies to realize something's off. Lyra's a recovered case, who counts on Bon-Bon to keep her from relapsing.
Feel Each race's sense for the active use or lingering traces of their own magic. Used as a generic term by all three races simply because they can't pick up on the workings of the other two and there isn't much need for comparison. (Terms like 'airfeel' do exist, but seldom appear simply due to lack of need and mostly turn up in rare scholarly works.) As with other senses, the quality varies by the individual, with some able to detect at greater ranges and in stronger detail than others: however, most ponies can improve their feel through practice. Generally appears in fillies and colts well before the active working of magic itself and is considered a necessary first stage to learning.
Field The aura of magic within and around a pony's body. In unicorns, this is channeled and projected through the horn, appearing visually. For pegasi, it's strongest in wings, hooves, and eyes, with traces in the skin. Earth ponies generally have it evenly distributed throughout their bodies, with some extra focus in the hooves. However, the word itself is typically only used with unicorn workings.
Founder A title of honor reserved for the first bearer in a line of new marks: essentially, the pony whose discovery of a fresh talent opens the path for others to follow. Travel Track, who invented Equestria's rail system, is a living Founder: his was the first train-related mark, but others have manifested in his wake.
Fosse An earth pony dueling arena. This typically takes the form of a pit dug deep enough into the soil to reach the local bedrock. The combatants then descend into the pit and begin using different tools against each other. Debate does not occur during such duels: the ponies are not expected to directly negate each other's efforts. Instead, each will ask for different things, manipulating the earth around them and turning it against the other pony: one may send a fountain of soil towards the other's eyes, which is then blocked by an earthen wall. The loser of the duel is expected to follow the winner's terms -- which means the majority of those duels stop well short of death.
Freezer Any elaborate system of physical confinements meant to stop pegasus techniques through the complete immobilization of the pegasus. In an emergency, this can mean 'rope'. Ones used in law enforcement prevent just about all movement beyond blinking.
Fringe The transition area between settled zone and wild zone: also what most ponies think of when they think of wild zones at all: the border realms where the risks aren't too high, at least during the day. Fluttershy's cottage is right next to the edge of Ponyville's fringe. Some ponies will go into fringe areas if the reward is high enough (or on a dare), but most try to avoid living beside them. Nearby land prices, however, tend to be much cheaper.
Gallop A measure of distance based around the typical amount of ground the average pony can cover on hoof by trotting in the course of a single day. Canterlot and Ponyville are about one gallop apart.
Golf A sport-based method of stress overload and release, also known as 'self-inflicted torture'. Currently exclusive to Mazein.
Gromway's Combiner An advanced unicorn working which allows different unicorn fields to put their efforts into the same spell. Extremely difficult and requires a Luna Meter (Adjusted) field dexterity score of at least 7 to reconcile disparities between the casters' fields: anything lower is begging for disaster. Can be used by up to three unicorns who are taking extreme care. Also tends to let resonance go back and forth freely between the users, which can be the hardest part to deal with. Must be used either (preferably) before the conjoined spell begins or (with risk) in the earliest stages: once a double corona comes in, it's far too late.
Handfasting The minotaur oath of lifelong friendship and loyalty: a minotaur who swears a handfast is essentially bonding themselves to the other party on a level just short of marriage, and so such oaths are not sworn casually: more than a few minotaurs go through their entire lives without creating one.
Hidden field A twist on a unicorn working which allows magic to occur without a visible corona or field effect. Generally only holds up to a full single corona layer: after that, the energy involved disrupts the concealment all by itself. Difficult to learn plus it can have nasty side effects for any spells it's used on, as it tends to make them operate in ways they normally wouldn't -- and is thus seldom used.
Invocation To swear by or on the name of a Princess, frequently with a body part referenced in doing so -- Celestia's mane, Luna's wings. Can also refer to actual prayer.
Kalziver's Severance One of the only workings known to affect mark magic. Casting it on a pony cuts the target off from their own talent for the spell's duration: the mark remains, but all effects associated with it are gone, leaving the pony with only their own learned skills. (Tools, techniques, and workings are untouched -- but spells which only operate due to their possessor having the appropriate mark might just fail.) However, the working is effectively magical blasphemy: a pony casting this is going against themselves on the deepest level, and that has a price. Once the spell wears off, the caster will find themselves with the worst headache of their lives, preventing them from casting anything else for quite some time. Just working the spell requires a triple corona, meaning the caster always risks death from backlash. And the most powerful caster known can make it hold for a total of ninety-eight seconds. Work fast...
Luna Meter (Adjusted) Measures unicorn field dexterity: fine manipulations, the ability to keep multiple dissimilar objects under telekinetic control, splitting of attention into multiple workings, and the most delicate of refinements. As with the other meter, is not strictly arithmetic and a 4 is more than a single standard increment away from a 3, with the gaps increasing as the numbers go higher. Ranges from 0 (can't do a thing) to 10 (Luna), with the average unicorn scoring a 3. High field dexterity is required to make the most finicky workings operate at all: it doesn't matter how much raw strength you have if you can't direct it properly. Unlike field strength, field dexterity can be improved through practice and certain refinement exercises, and so there is no bottom-line minimum score for getting into the Gifted School -- although ponies tend to give 1s and 2s a wide berth until they move up a little.
Lunar & Solar Courtyards The open-air assembly areas used for press conferences by each member of the Diarchy. The Lunar Courtyard is always under full moon during the night and total eclipse during the day. The Solar Courtyard in day has perpetual dawnlight and during the night, operates under a greyish, regret-tainted midnight sun.
Manifest Old term for the moment of a cutie mark's first appearance. Also sometimes called awakening.
Mark magic Any magical effects associated with a pony's talent, which generally make the skills connected to that talent easier to use or more effective. Mark magic tends to break the rules: earth ponies and pegasi can have effects associated with their talents which would normally be expected for unicorns -- but it also tends to be extremely subtle, hard to detect when in action, and almost impossible to stop. A pegasus with a talent for fighting isn't going to turn her skin into armor: she's going to experience intuitions which occur to nopony else, knowing where to move before that next kick can land.
Mazein The minotaur nation. Operates as a classic Greek democracy where any issue-educated citizen of proven intelligence and sanity can vote, making the working government into just about the entire population and driving professional politicians into something very close to extinction. The voting body as a whole is referred to as the Senate. Voting is conducted in logeions, with the one in the capital city (Polis) referred to as the Logeion. The Ancients are given their own building for voting: the Skênê -- but that vote only comes into play as a tiebreaker, and every living voting citizen of Mazein must create that tie. As such, the Skênê's opinion has never been needed.
Moon When used as a measure of time, indicates the cycle from new to full and back again.
Murdocks Press Corps The newspaper voice of the Loyal Opposition in Equestria, comprising multiple publications across the continent. It's probably best not to ask where being loyally opposed to the Diarchy puts their own belief system.
Nightscape The realm of dreams.
Orchestra, the The total earth pony population with active magic, with each pony a singer within.
Open Palace Held once per moon for both Celestia and Luna, these sessions allow anyone (non-ponies included) to approach that Princess and talk to them about anything whatsoever. Tends to lead into a seemingly-endless series of non-binding arbitrations, with occasional breaks for performances, declarations of love, and the dreaded appearance of a Real Problem. (Celestia has been conducting them during peacetimes for several centuries. Luna generally has to be pushed into hers.)
Overturn A tectonic-level shift in the griffon dominance chain. A sufficiently large overturn can reverberate throughout Protocera, and may create a wave of griffon immigrants as individuals reel towards a place where they can try to establish themselves again.
Pre-Discordian Era The time before Discord and Diarchy both. Almost nothing is known about this period of the world's history: virtually all records have been destroyed, and most of what remains is generally forged by historians trying to back their own theories. There are a few verified artifacts and some scant documents. That's it.
Protocera The formal name of the griffon nation, also sometimes known as the Griffon Republic. Appears to work under a regional representative system with a President at the top of the dominance chain, with frequent shifts in the power structure: it's been noted that griffon political politeness means holding off on the first impeachment attempt until the current officeholder finishes taking their oath. Due to the griffon habit of taking in the children of conquered enemies, is the single most species-mixed nation currently known to exist -- which doesn't mean much when the descendants of those children culturally see themselves as griffons.
Pundamilia Makazi The name of the zebra homeland. Details about its government are currently unknown.
Ranch Griffon meat farms. As the species tends to take their food from things which give them a challenge, your average ranch is just a little more dangerous than the typical wild zone, with a considerably higher density of non-sapient monsters -- all carefully raised for the best flavor.
Recoil The random-direction movement which results when a teleporter arrives in a spot occupied by any solid which isn't exceptionally small, thin, or fragile. Never goes into the ground, but will send the pony in any other direction until they find enough open space for their body to arrive -- and the farther they go to find that space, the faster they'll be moving when they arrive, which can cause injuries and worse all by itself. The central reason unicorns who can teleport only do so to places they can see or truly know by heart.
Referee The moderator of the Logeion, who keeps the arguments under control, even if it means personally breaking up the fiercest wrestling matches. Possibly the closest thing to a professional politician in Mazein. Chosen through vote and debate: a national ranking ladder of the country's best debaters is kept, with the current Referee holding the #1 rung. Every six weeks, whoever's in #2 goes to the Logeion and debates the Referee before the attending Senate. Majority vote determines the winner.
Resonance The emotional intent behind a spell. Generally only detectable at the moment of casting and each race typically only picks up on such resonance in their own magics: however, some exceptionally powerful resonance can occasionally briefly linger in an area after initial casting, and there are many workings which use resonance itself as a vital part of the spell. (Example: Want It-Need It is the deliberate placement of desire into an inanimate object.) Otherwise, experiencing resonance typically requires the subject to be targeted by the spell or be close by when it's cast. Extremely strong resonance can briefly put the target in the same emotional state as the caster -- which isn't always a benefit. Casting resonance-free workings is possible on certain spells, but difficult and requires a great deal of emotional control. And with other castings, the wrong resonance can disrupt, ruin, or warp the final result.
Resonance Bomb A unicorn war working: basically a patch of field rendered hidden and undetectable by passive feel, charged with a single emotion which impresses itself into the mind of anypony triggering it. For battle, the emotions used are typically cowardice, fear, or paranoia.
Restraint Any device which stops unicorn magic by fully covering the horn and preventing the field from being projected. Typically hollow cone-shaped multiple-alloy weavings of metal. Available in different quality levels. Generally must be metal: except in the weakest cases, wrapping a unicorn's horn in fabric or coating it in mud just annoys the unicorn, who may not be able to cast through it, but can just push it off. Heavy wood can work, but it's easier to break with outside force and most unicorns will just try to ruin anything weaker using impact: as horns themselves are virtually unbreakable and don't conduct vibration well, ramming a restraint into something harder than the confining material is fairly safe.
Return, the Overall, the recovery of Luna and the resumption of her role in the Diarchy. More generally used in talking about the event itself.
Return Day Holiday used to celebrate the Return, held three days after the Summer Sun Celebration in order to give Luna her own separate time. Still catching on in some parts of Equestria, although most ponies at least relish the day off. Since the second anniversary, has been marked with the joint Diarchy creation of a total solar eclipse.
Rhynorn's Flu A unicorn disease which has several symptoms in common with a normal flu, but also adds field scattering: a unicorn suffering from this will find themselves completely unable to focus their field on a single target. Any attempt to use magic will send sparks flying everywhere, subdividing the caster's strength among them. Standard movement would create rebounding objects for whatever that pony's fractured power could move, and castings can be worse. Typically lasts four to seven days, with no cure known. (Celestia and Luna are believed to be immune.)
Rock Farming The tool which allows creation of gems. One of the slowest magics known: it can take a day to work on a small rock, and years may be required for a full monolith. Only creates what would be seen as fully inorganic gems -- pearls are out -- and some families have the exclusive rights to certain gem types, increasing the rarity of things like painite. These gems are generally traded or sold to dragons, and those bonds stretch across generations: each pony family is tied to a dragon one, sworn on the True Flame to come and protect them if the need ever arises -- but as with nearly all aspects of earth pony magic, this is a secret. Most ponies think rock farming is just another term for mining, or something earth ponies do in place of growing food in order to gain a government subsidy.
Scrying, Solar & Lunar To merge one's consciousness with the appropriate orbiting body and look out through its sensorium. This is incredibly dangerous: getting in is easy, getting out requires someone on the ground capable of shocking the pony back to reality, which may require deliberately inflicting enough injury to force the pony to acknowledge its body's existence. Each temporary merger carries the risk of becoming permanent, especially as SUN and MOON continue to increase in strength as their healing goes on. It's also ineffective in terms of survey time: while both can be accelerated or braked, such generally will be noticed, and any who do tend to panic -- with such fears going worldwide if the distortion of normal movement continues for too long. And since SUN and MOON have senses which ponies do not, retaining everything brought back is impossible, with interpretation only slightly less so. Still, it gives Equestria the very limited potential use of spy satellite equivalents -- in an absolute crisis.
Secret, the The term earth ponies use for the racial concealment of their magic's true nature. The original reason for its creation may be lost.
Secured To use magic on an object in order to make it resistant to further magic. For pegasi, it's a fairly basic technique which is used on their homes in order to keep them stable and allow only the owner to make changes. With unicorns, it's much more advanced and typically prevents anypony except an object's owner from moving it telekinetically, thus making theft that much more difficult. (Truly expert versions also prevent ponies from teleporting away with the object, which gets left behind at the departure point.) In both cases, it can be countered or unwoven, but doing so can be extremely difficult.
Seneschal A personally-chosen confidant of the Diarchy who has been told some of the true secrets of Equestria and the sisters alike. (Sometimes, you just need somepony you can truly talk to.) For the current generation, Fancypants serves as Celestia's seneschal, while Luna has yet to choose one.
Settled zone Any area, land or sky, where at least a small town's worth of ponies has taken permanent residence and started enforcing their magic on ground and weather. Comprises at most about six percent of Equestria's land mass and slightly more of the atmosphere.
Shadowfount A lost pegasus technique. All anypony knows about it is what the first stage should look like and that when it's successfully completed, the local light is supposed to invert. Many ponies have tried to recreate it, and the majority eventually got out of the hospital: the first stage is more than a little tricky to fly through, and the fragments which suggest the means of following that generally end with the pony's face in the dirt -- if they're lucky.
shadowlands The pony term for the realm of the afterlife. Virtually always uncapitalized. If anypony's explored this, they aren't talking.
Shiva The mourning period following the death of an earth pony. Outwardly, this takes the form of the family gathering outside under a tent, resting quietly while friends do all the work of household and business, taking up to a week for emotional recovery in a time when all they have to do is remember. Inwardly, it's used for listening to the last echoes of the signatures for the lost, and each earth pony only leaves shiva when they can no longer make out the faintest remainders of that truespeech.
Signature The distinctive feel of a particular pony's magic. This is unique to each individual and thus serves as the pony equivalent of a fingerprint -- but it can't be read unless magic is actively being worked or lingering traces are present. For unicorns, this signature is partially visible as rendered in their field's color and means are known which can distort a signature -- but doing so requires a field dexterity score at the rightmost portion of the Luna Meter (Adjusted) chart: at least an 8 is required to even think about the attempt. Earth ponies register signatures as sounds which are detected only by the soul, picking up individual voices within the orchestra as truespeech is spoken, or hearing the echoes of slowly fading notes.
Speciaganger A griffon term, meaning someone from one of the other intelligent species who's essentially living your life -- as it would have been should you have been born as a member of that species. Rainbow and Garble may be speciagangers to each other -- or might just have some deep-down things in common, distorted by the requirements of pony and dragon societies.
Surge Largely-uncontrolled first appearances of magic in newborns which can occasionally be the initial signs of where a pony's talents might eventually lie. Isn't parenting exciting?
Tangle The result of too many pegasi working on techniques in a relatively small area, producing the racial equivalent of a unicorn backlash as the differences in their disparate signatures finally accumulate to the point where all the power behind the accumulated effort finally clashes with itself. The most typical result of a tangle is to send the local weather into a violent state which is not only completely uncontrolled, but which can't be brought back under control without extreme effort -- especially since using more magic in the immediate vicinity of a tangle just tends to increase the number of snags in the weave. (It's possible to create one on purpose as an offensive maneuver, but it's a double-edged tactic at best, as anypony creating a tangle is going to be right in the middle of the results when it goes off.) The only things known to never create a tangle are standard flight and cloudwalking: any quantity of pegasi can move through a region without disrupting the local weave. Anything else just needs too many pegasi and an overcharge of power over too little time.
Techniques Advanced uses of inherent pegasus magic. Unlike unicorn spells, it's theoretically possible for any pegasus to learn all of them, but they may not work if the individual's field strength is too low. Typical techniques include lightning triggers, cloud creation and disruption, wind creation and manipulation, and temperature control through heat shifting. The Sonic Rainboom is suspected to be a recovered one.
Thaum A unit of measure which gauges the amount of energy being placed into any magic.
Thaumaturgy The science of magic.
Tool The earth pony equivalent to workings and techniques: specific magical feats separate from the Cornucopia Effect. Applejack has mentioned that some families have different kits: groups of tools which seem to be passed down in the blood, and has implied that no single earth pony can learn all of them -- but that some learning may be possible if another pony lets you listen to their truespeech.
Treaty Of Menagerie, the An agreement between nearly all of the world's sapient species that those who consume meat shall not take it from any who talk or think. (The dragons and Diamond Dogs did not sign it.) Anyone who violates it is charged appropriately: with murder.
Trick A unicorn's personal spell: generally used as accepted slang. Often tied to that pony's talent, personality, and always appears from within: a trick never has to be taught to the possessing pony, who simply knows it. This can make tricks very difficult to teach, and some of Equestria's greatest lost magics are tricks known to ponies whose talents simply haven't come around again.
True Flame Appears to be part of the dragon Way and belief system, as it's something they're willing to swear on -- and doing so creates an oath the dragon cannot break: to do so means the dragon's death. Rainbow may have witnessed a flicker of it: if so, this is how it appears.
Darkness danced on the rock.
The flame was not black. The flame was what might have been left after black was removed from existence. It was a color which would allow no other colors to exist. It was a tiny hole flickering against the edges of the world.
Truespeech The term used for earth pony communication with the land. As with other magical effects, this can potentially be overheard as a signature by any earth ponies within range of tool use, although Diamond Tiara has suggested it's possible to conceal some efforts from passive sensory detection.
True Surge The first appearance of a pony's talent at the moment of manifest. Often the most powerful and magical moment of a pony's life.
Unweaving The disruption of a pegasus technique through opposing magic.
Way, The The code which defines the path of a dragon's existence. Very little is known about it, as the very few dragons who have lived among the other species have abandoned the Way in order to do so. Rainbow (and through her, Twilight) is aware that it dictates dragon children must seize a hoard -- and that should that child be caught, the adult has the duty to kill them. There are no exceptions made for one's own offspring.
Weave Used two ways by pegasi: the creation of techniques is sometimes described as weaving, and the extant placement of temporary or long-term effects in a given area is called the weave. It appears that pegasus magic lurking within a region may take the form of threads laced into the atmosphere -- which includes the creation of potential tripwires.
Weft Line The point where too many pegasi are working on a single technique, guaranteeing the creation of a tangle. This can be expressed numerically, but it's a moving target: it's not just the total pegasi count at work on a goal, but includes their field strength and has to figure for any long-standing techniques already present in the area. As such, the math for working a local Weft Line can be rather complex -- but nopony gets promoted to weather coordinator or above without being tested on their ability to figure it out on the fly.
Wild zone Any area where pony magic is not actively controlling the environment: nearly 93% of Equestria. Home to wild magics, some of the other intelligent races, monsters, and worse. Seen as 'unnatural' by most of the populace -- falsely.
Working Any use of a unicorn's field beyond simple telekinetic manipulation. Typically a substitute word for spell and generally used by researchers.
This was cool. I like seeing all the worldbuilding laid out. Are you gonna add escort and its double meaning too?
Day Court & Night Court are probably self explanatory
Cuteceana is generic, but I see it as like a Bar Mitzvah "Today I am a man" Maybe take your adult name?
Oooh, crystal pony magic confirmed. And independent from tools, no less. Something to look forward to.
Also the fun of in-universe terminology in general. I love local vocabularies.
I just realized I left out a major one (which is part of why I'm taking requests): added falling into the mark. Everyone should feel free to refresh my memory on any other omissions.
Also put weave into the group: there's been enough talk to establish it as a pegasus term.
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Consider that one to be a potential long-term sneak preview. Yes, they've got a few tricks of their own, and there are things you do with shards...
Interesting. Is “Bravias” a deliberate anagram of “Bravais”?
What about those echos from Lazy River? I forget if there a specific term for them.
So much stuff in this.
What do Celestia/Luna rate on each others' meters?
I've been curious about the name Mazein, if it has any more significance than that it contains the word "maze". What is the root of the "in"? Is this a pun on a real place name I can't, um, place?
My version of the Minotaur homeland is named "Knossox," Knossos being the ancient Cretan royal palace where the labyrinth is supposed to have been located.
Lovely bit of world building there. I suspect Octavia, being such a top notch musician, cant actually greive fully, as she can hear the whispers as they echo off others.
A man is never fully dead, as long as his name is still spoken. GNU Terry Pratchett.
I resemble that remark.
Anyone want a meinhir?
Oh, now that is interesting. I'd always assumed crystal ponies were just earth ponies (with pegasi and unicorns presumably exterminated by Sombra) with some minor physical and magical alterations caused by long-term exposure to the Crystal Heart. But if crystal ponies are their own tribe... Can alicorns even grow lattices? Because if not, that would be another reason why Cadence would have felt like an invader to the Crystals.
Also, you might want to add deathstones/shiftstones/chaos pearls, if only what we know about them so far.
Two questions about the Adjusted Meters.
First, is it more correct terminology to say Celestia's field strength is ten meters, or that it is ten on the meter? I don't think I can read the entries close enough to be sure.
Second, you say the meters are "not strictly arithmetic." I'd say they don't signify a linear progression, but OK, they're not linear. What is it, then? Polynomial, exponential, or what? (Exponential would be if the same number of ponies of field strength N can approximate one pony's field strength of N+1. But the applicability of this comparison would be harder to see if the ratio is less than double, or otherwise far enough from an integer.) How do ponies apply the meter stick, whatever that is?
What? No gigglesparks? Colour me disappointed.
I wonder if it has anything to do with Starswirl's trick, if the Hidden Field makes spells vary in predictable and otherwise impossible ways, then it could do things no other spell could do??
Perhaps note where all these terms were first used or something?
Or you just have to cast spells differently to get through objects...?
Was gonna post in Mark of Appeal, but this is the most recent relevant-ish blog / story post...
Well this was certainly an interesting read.
Thanks Estee.
Is the True Flame Gant colored? That is after all "the color that is left after all others have been eaten" which fits rather thematically with dragons.
Escort was the only thing I noticed missing and it has already been brought up, so don't have any suggestions right now.
That was certainly a fascinating read, Estee. Thanks for posting it.
Blessing, maybe?