Acts: A distinct stage in your character's ongoing storyline. The game announces these to the player, but it's likely that their exact meaning will remain a mystery IC. A new Act is usually brought on by a major character moment or a turning point in the Land itself. Each player's Acts are separate from the other players'. These are more of a narrative framing device than a mechanic, so don't sweat it too much.
Anima: Life force. This is both your health bar and a replacement for grist. All living creatures have a cache of Anima and drop it upon death. Players' Anima cap increases as they go up their echeladder. Anima is spent on alchemy, house building, and classpect abilities.
Central Terminal, the: The facet's central computer. Like Skaia, it is the motor that drives the whole game. It can be accessed through various computer terminals throughout the Sphere, and responds to queries the player inputs similarly to how a sprite does in Sburb. It also helps players enter the game.
classpect: A contrivance, combining the player's class and aspect into one mythological title. The classpect system of NOVAD is covered here.
Duskwen: The Dark Face of the Moon. Duskwen (pronounced dusk-when) is a nocturnal kingdom cloaked in warm darkness. Full of forests and mountains. Is ruled by five squabbling barons. Its people are Duskwenders, who happen to be universally cursed with lycanthropy.
Egg, the: The seed that will germinate into a new universe. It is synthesized by the players using all their Land Artifacts. When dropped into a keyhole, it will hatch into the Genesis Crab.
Elemental Gods, the: NOVAD's equivalent of Denizens. The lords of the Lands, who each hold sway over a particular aspect, both on the Land and elsewhere in the Sphere. They must be defeated or bargained with in order for the player to gain primacy over their aspect and obtain their Land Artifact.
Escape, the: The process of entering the game. One Escapes reality and gets lost in the story that is the facet. In a less metaphorical sense, one escapes the impending death of their universe as it approaches the end of its lifecycle. The player must run the software that was provided to them, answer the questionnaire, and then meet the Festerminal's challenges to complete entry.
Evolution: The process of god tiering. A player who god tiers is said to be Evolved.
facet: Think of this as synonymous with "session". This is a particular game instance of NOVAD. Facets are generally self-contained, but may have loose connections with facets before or after them due to how reality likes to recycle the Great Sphere.
Festerminal: Each player will have one of these. It's a tumor-like computer that grows in the walls of your house once you begin the Escape. At first, it challenges the player with tasks to allow game entry. Afterward, it is a point for querying the Central Terminal, as well as the player's means of performing alchemy and fortifying their house.
Fundament, the: The semi-solid bed of stars and darkness that makes up the "floor" of the facet. It is about three hundred feet down from the lowest accessible part of the game space. Should one survive the fall, they will find themselves swimming in inky blackness, being attacked by Fundamentals.
Fundamentals: Fundament Elementals. Invisible, bloodthirsty creatures that dwell in the Fundament. If you live long enough down there, you'll perhaps hear them whispering maddening things before they tear you apart.
Genesis Crab, the: Very similar to Sburb's Genesis Frog. It is the living body of the new universe that you create. All universes, in fact, are crabs. It is crabs all the way down.
Great Sphere, the: Think of this as synonymous with "Incipisphere" or "Medium". This is the game space in which a facet of NOVAD takes place. It contains all the player Lands, the Sun and Moon, and the Navel. Its boundaries are the Fundament below and a whole lot of nothing everywhere else.
Great Sunrise, the: A lose condition for the players wherein Noonwy wins its war against Duskwen. The Noonwytes will conquer Duskwen, hunt down the Land Artifacts, and render the Egg infertile.
Hour of the Wolf, the: A lose condition for the players wherein Duskwen wins its war against Noonwy. The Duskwenders will lose themselves in their curse of lycanthropy and begin to devour all the living things in the facet.
Intermission: An event occurring roughly halfway through the facet. During this event, bridges between the Lands are finally unlocked for construction. The first player to start the event will build a bridge to the next Land (clockwise) more or less for free, but every consecutive bridge going down the circle will be more expensive and require more grist from each of the Lands visited so far.
Lands: The floating islands within the Great Sphere. Each is governed by an Elemental God at the start of the game, but the player will become their Land's master in the fullness of time. Each Land (similar to Sburb) will be utterly unique to its particular player, with no two being alike in their look, their geography, their monsters, or their consorts.
Land Artifact: An artifact unique to each player, guarded by their Elemental God. They usually glow in the player's text color and are of variable size. They must all be combined together into the Egg in the Ultimate Alchemy in order to create a new universe.
Lithrans: NOVAD's version of Carapacians. They are visually and culturally very similar to their Sburban counterparts, but are split into the twin kingdoms of Noonwy and Duskwen instead of Prospit and Derse.
Moon, the: One of two major celestial bodies in the Sphere. One of its Faces is permanently dark, the other permanently light. These are Duskwen and Noonwy, respectively. The players' dreamselves usually sleep on the Moon.
Navel, the: A "meteor lab" that sits upon the central axis of the Sphere. It hosts the main server of the Central Terminal and the crucible where the players must synthesize the Egg. It also houses the viewing platform where players drop the completed Egg and create the Genesis Crab.
Noonwy: The Light Face of the Moon. Noonwy (pronounced noon-why) is a Lithran kingdom ruled by twin diarchs. It is always awash in pale, cold sunlight, and is somewhat of an autocracy. Its people are Noonwytes.
NOVAD: A "Sburb-like". A manifestation of the Genesis Game that appears in universes where time travel doesn't work so good. You're playing it, dummy!
Questant: One of the destined heroes. The players of NOVAD. You, dummy.
Sun, the: One of two major celestial bodies in the Sphere. It provides daylight to the facet, and if there are an odd number of players, one will also dream here.
Twilines, the: The twilight zone of the Moon between Noonwy and Duskwen. A constant battleground and no-man's-land.