Axiom

by Dennis Vanderkerken

  GameLit and LitRPG

  The Divine Dungeon by Dakota Krout

  The Completionist Chronicles by Dakota Krout

  A Touch of Power by Jay Boyce

  Red Mage: Advent by Xander Boyce

  Ether Collapse by Ryan DeBruyn

  Wolfman Warlock: Bibliomancer by James Hunter and Dakota Krout

  Axe Druid by Christopher Johns

  Skeleton in Space by Andries Louws

  Chronicles of Ethan by John L. Monk

  Pixel Dust by David Petrie

  Appendix

  Abyss – A place you don’t want to be, and a very common curse word.

  Adventurers’ Guild – A group from every non-hostile race that actively seeks treasure and cultivates to become stronger. They act as a mercenary group for Kingdoms that come under attack from monsters and other non-kingdom forces.

  Affinity – A person’s affinity denotes what element they need to cultivate Essence from. If they have multiple affinities, they need to cultivate all of those elements at the same time.

  Affinity Channel – The pathway along the meridians that Essence flows through. Having multiple major affinities will open more pathways, allowing more Essence to flow into a person’s center at one time.

  Affinity Channel Type – Clogged, Ripped, Closed, Minor, Major, and Perfect.

  Clogged: Draws in no essence, because the channel is blocked with corruption.

  Ripped: Draws in an unknown amount of essence, but in a method that is unpredictable and lethal.

  Closed: Draws in no essence, because the channel is either unopened, or forcibly closed..

  Minor: Draws in very little essence.

  Major: Draws in a sizable amount of essence.

  Perfect: Draws in a significant amount of essence. This affinity channel type cannot occur naturally. It is very dangerous to strive for as the path to this type leads to ripped channels.

  Aiden Silverfang – The new leader of the Northmen, this Barbarian turned Wolfman has a deep grudge against Amazonians.

  Amber – The Mage in charge of the portal-making group near the dungeon. She is in the upper A-rankings, which allows her to tap vast amounts of Mana.

  Artorian – The main character of the series. If you weren’t expecting shenanigans, grab some popcorn. It only gets more intense from here on.

  Assassin – A stealthy killer who tries to make kills without being detected by his victim.

  Assimilator – A cross between a jellyfish and a Wisp, the Assimilator can float around and collect vast amounts of Essence. It releases this Essence as powerful elemental bursts. A pseudo-Mage, if you will.

  Aura – The flows of Essence generated by living creatures which surround them and hold their pattern.

  Barry the Devourer – A powerful S-ranked High Elf with the ability to turn all matter within a certain range into pure Essence and absorb it.

  Basher – An evolved rabbit that attacks by head-butting enemies. Each has a small horn on its head that it can use to “bash” enemies.

  Beast Core – A small gem that contains the Essence of Beasts. Also used to strip new cultivators of their corruption.

  Flawed: An extremely weak crystallization of Essence that barely allows a Beast to cultivate, comparable to low F-rank.

  Weak: A weak crystallization of Essence that allows a Beast to cultivate, comparable to an upper F-rank.

  Standard: A crystallization of Essence that allows a Beast to cultivate well, comparable to the D-rankings.

  Strong: A crystallization of Essence that allows a Beast to cultivate very well, comparable to the lower C-rankings.

  Beastly: A crystallization of Essence that allows a Beast to cultivate exceedingly well, comparable to the upper C-rankings.

  Immaculate: An amalgamation of crystallized of Essence and Mana that allows a Beast to cultivate exceedingly well. Any Beast in the B-rankings or A-rankings will have this Core.

  Luminous: A Core of pure spiritual Essence that is indestructible by normal means. A Beast with this core will be in at least the S-rankings, up to SSS-rank.

  Radiant: A Core of Heavenly or Godly energies. A Beast with this Core is able to adjust reality on a whim.

  Boro – A trader in exotics, this man allied himself with the raider faction. He assists in swindling deals, and robbing villages blind after flooding them with gold that they will not keep.

  Cal – The heart of the Dungeon, Cal was a human murdered by necromancers. After being forced into a soul gem, his identity was stripped as time passed. Now accompanied by Dani, he works to become stronger without attracting too much attention to himself. Too late.

  Cats, dungeon – There are several types:

  Snowball: A Boss Mob, Snowball uses steam Essence to fuel his devastating attacks.

  Cloud Cat: A Mob that glides along the air, attacking from positions of stealth.

  Coiled Cat: A heavy Cat that uses metal Essence. It has a reinforced skeleton and can launch itself forward at high speeds.

  Flesh Cat: This Cat uses flesh Essence to tear apart tissue from a short distance. The abilities of this Cat only work on flesh and veins and will not affect bone or harder materials.

  Wither Cat: A Cat full of infernal Essence, the Wither Cat can induce a restriction of Essence flow with its attacks. Cutting off the flow of Essence or Mana will quickly leave the victim in a helpless state. The process is quite painful.

  Celestial – The Essence of Heaven, the embodiment of life and considered the ultimate good.

  Center – The very center of a person’s soul. This is the area Essence accumulates (in creatures that do not have a Core) before it binds to the Life Force.

  Chants – Affect a choir-cleric’s growth, and overall fighting ability. A Choir war host in action matches the chant of every other. Each voice added to the whole increases the power and ability of each person whose voice is involved, through celestial and aural sympathy.

  Church – ‘The’ Church, to be specific. Also known as the Ecclesiarchy, is one of the few stable major powers active in the world. It has several branches, each operating under different specifications.

  The Choir – The Face of the church, they carry to torch and spread the call far and wide. Operates as exploratory force and functions on heart and mind campaigns. The Choir’s special function is to use harmonizing sound to buff and empower every member included in the group-effect.

  Paladin Order – The Fast-Attack branch, these mounted warriors function as cavalry would. The mounted creates in question vary greatly, and most members employ a high-ranked beast for these purposes.

  Phalanx Sentinels – The Siege or Hold branch, the Sentinels are a heavy-armor branch that specialize entirely on securing locations. They are well known to be notoriously slow, and just as notoriously impossible to uproot from a position.

  Inquisitors – The Information gathering branch. This branch remains secretive.

  Church Ranks – There are multiple Ecclesiarchy ranks, stacking in importance mostly based on cultivation progress.

  Initiate – A fresh entry to the church faction, the lowest rank. Generally given to someone still in training.

  Scribe – An initiate who failed to become a D-ranked cultivator, is was trusted enough by the faction to remain.

  Acolyte – Achieved by becoming a D-ranked cultivator. The second lowest rank in the church faction.

  Battle Leader – A trusted acolyte who shows promise in the fields of leadership and battle.

  Head Cleric – A high D-ranking cultivator, or a person who has been a Battle Leader long enough for their achievements to grant them their personal unit. Head Clerics are trusted to go on missions, excursions, and expeditions that differ based on the specific church faction.

  Keeper – Ranked equal to a Head Cleric. People who specifically keep administrative records, and interpret ancient texts. Keepers famously do not get along, and hold bitter rivalries due to said interpretations of the scriptures. Keepers tend to be Head Clerics
who failed to enter the C-ranks.

  Arbiter – Achieved upon becoming a C-rank cultivator. An Arbiter is a settler of disputes of all kinds, whose authority is overshadowed only by those of higher rank. Otherwise, their say is final.

  Friar – An B-ranked Cultivator in the church faction. Friars are glorified problem solvers.

  Father – An A-ranked Cultivator in the church faction. A Father may be of a high rank, but has fallen out of favor with the upper echelons of church command.

  Vicar – An A-ranked Cultivator in the church faction. The de-facto rulers, movers, and shakers, of the church faction.

  Saint – An S-ranked Cultivator in the church faction. They do as they please.

  Choppy – The prime woodcutter in the Salt Village.

  Chi spiral – A person’s Chi spiral is a vast amount of intricately knotted Essence. The more complex and complete the pattern woven into it, the more Essence it can hold and the finer the Essence would be refined.

  Cleric – A Cultivator of Celestial Essence, a cleric tends to be support for a group, rarely fighting directly. Their main purpose in the lower rankings is to heal and comfort others.

  Compound Essence – Essence that has formed together in complex ways. If two or more Essences come together to form something else, it is called a compound Essence or Higher Essence.

  Corruption – Corruption is the remnant of the matter that pure Essence was formed into. It taints Essence but allows beings to absorb it through open affinity channels. This taint has been argued about for centuries; is it the source of life or a nasty side effect?

  Craig – A powerful C-ranked monk, Craig has dedicated his life to finding the secrets of Essence and passing on knowledge.

  Currency values:

  Copper: one hundred copper coins are worth a silver coin

  Silver: one hundred silver coins are worth a Gold coin

  Gold: one hundred Gold coins are worth a Platinum coin

  Platinum: the highest coin currency in the Human Kingdoms

  Cultivate – Cultivating is the process of refining Essence by removing corruption then cycling the purified Essence into the center of the soul.

  Cultivation technique – A name for the specific method in which cultivators draw in and refine the energies of the Heavens and Earth.

  Cultivator – A cultivator is a silly person who thinks messing with forces they don’t understand will somehow make life better for them.

  Duskgrove Castle – A Location within the Phantomdusk Forest. It is the primary hideout for the main Antagonist.

  D. Kota – An initiate in the choir, who has grand aspirations of becoming a scholar.

  Distortion Cat – An upper C-ranked Beast that can bend light and create artificial darkness. In its home territory, it is attacked and bound by tentacle like parasites that form a symbiotic relationship with it.

  Dregs – A dungeon Core that has limited intelligence. It was installed into Cal’s dungeon to control floors 1-4 so Cal could focus on other things.

  Dungeon Born – Being dungeon born means that the dungeon did not create the creature but gave it life. This gives the creature the ability to function autonomously without fear that the dungeon will be able to take direct control of its mind.

  Dwarves – Stocky humanoids that like to work with stone, metal, and alcohol. Good miners.

  Egil Nolsen – Known to the world as ‘Xenocide’, this man is of unknown ranking and fully insane.

  Elves – A race of willowy humanoids with pointy ears. There are five main types:

  High Elves: The largest nation of Elvenkind, they spend most of their time as merchants, artists, or thinkers. Rich beyond any need to actually work, their King is an S-ranked expert, and their cities shine with light and wealth. They like to think of themselves as ‘above’ other Elves, thus ‘High’ Elves.

  Wood Elves: Wood Elves live more simply than High Elves, but have greater connection to the earth and the elements. They are ruled by a counsel of S-ranked elders and rarely leave their woods. Though seen less often, they have great power. They grow and collect food and animal products for themselves and other Elven nations.

  Wild: Wild Elves are the outcasts of their societies, basically feral, they scorn society, civilization, and the rules of others. They have the worst reputation of any of the races of Elves, practicing dark arts and infernal summoning. They have no homeland, living only where they can get away with their dark deeds.

  Dark: The Drow are known as Dark Elves. No one knows where they live, only where they can go to get in contact with them. Dark Elves also have a dark reputation as Assassins and mercenaries for the other races. The worst of their lot are ‘Moon Elves’, the best-known Assassins of any race. These are the Elves that Dale made a deal with for land and protection.

  Sea: The Sea Elves live on boats their entire lives. They facilitate trade between all the races of Elves and man, trying not to take sides in conflicts. They work for themselves and are considered rather mysterious.

  Essence – Essence is the fundamental energy of the universe, the pure power of heavens and earth that is used by the basic elements to become all forms of matter. There are six major types are names: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Celestial, Infernal.

  Essence cycling – A trick to move energy around, to enhance the ability of an organ.

  Hadurin Fellstone – Head Healer of this motley expedition crew.

  Hadurin Fellhammer – Grand Inquisitor operating in the choir, acting acting the guise of a slightly modified last name. Somehow, that’s enough to fool everyone.

  Hakan – A gilded blade, She is the main Antagonist of AA1. Her personality is as unpleasant as her fashion sense.

  Father Richard – An A-ranked Cleric that has made his living hunting demons and heretics. Tends to play fast and loose with rules and money.

  Fighter – A generic archetype of a being that uses melee weapons to fight.

  Fringe – The Fringe region is located in the western region of Pangea. It has been scrapped from maps and scraped from history, by order of the Ecclesiarchy.

  Gilded blade – A weapon, status title, occupation, and profession all in one. A Gilded blade is a weapon of the raider faction. They are brutally efficient at a single thing, and terrible at everything else.

  Hans – A cheeky assassin that has been with Dale since he began cultivating. He was a thief in his youth but changed lifestyles after his street guild was wiped out. He is deadly with a knife and is Dale’s best friend. Now Rose’s husband.

  Incantation – Essentially a spell, an incantation is created from words and gestures. It releases all of the power of an enchantment in a single burst.

  Infected – A person or creature that has been infected with a rage-inducing mushroom growth. These people have no control of their bodies and attack any non-infected on sight.

  Infernal – The Essence of death and demonic beings, considered to be always evil.

  Inscription – A permanent pattern made of Essence that creates an effect on the universe. Try not to get the pattern wrong as it could have… unintended consequences. This is another name for an incomplete or unknown Rune.

  Irene – A Keeper in the Choir. There is more to her than meets the eye, and is far more powerful than she initially appears to be. Do not argue with her about scripture.

  Jiivra – A battle leader in the choir, she aspires to be a Paladin.

  Jin – The hidden child or Tarrean and Irene, and a cultivator in the choir.

  Lapis – A mineral-mining town in the vicinity of the Salt Flats. They refine the color Lapis into varying shades of Blue, and are a prime exporter. Lapis Is located in the Fringe.

  Maccreus Tarrean – Head Cleric of a choir expeditionary force. His pride is his most distinguishing feature, next to that ostentatious affront known as his armor.

  Mages’ Guild – A secretive sub-sect of the Adventurers’ Guild only Mage level cultivators are allowed to join.

  Mana – A higher stage of Ess
ence only able to be cultivated by those who have broken into at least the B-rankings and found the true name of something in the universe.

  Mana Signature – A name for a signature that can be neither forged nor replicated, and is used in binding oaths.

  Marud – Choir second-in-command Battle Leader, of the second expeditionary force to the Fringe.

  Meridians – Meridians are energy channels that transport life energy (Chi/Essence) throughout the body.

  Memory Core – Also known as a Memory Stone, depending on the base materials used in their production. Pressing the stone to your forehead lets a person store or gain the knowledge contained within. As if you’d gone through the events yourself. Generally never sold.