Serpentine Squiggles

(in hiveminds) actively communicating, awake.

aborted parascixion, especially of a host that killed or removed their entiote infestation.

coexistence, respect, harmony

(in hiveminds) the degree to which two distinct wills are stable under mutual domination: if there are irreconcilable tensions in their preferences and beliefs, they are not in accordance.

one who practices alchemy, especially seeking the compleation of the great work.

the circulation of essence through limina, especially to create a teleological effects.

mutamyric flux, especially so as to generate aura.

the study of cathexis and transmutation.

any process of controlling and transforming matter into an idealler form through use mutamyr, especially by activation of transmutation circles.

a philosophy of universal balance and grand teleology.

an altered chrysalis in which a chrylurk enters an indefinite state of suspended animation, suppressing their need to consume nectar.

a drug derived from wine and tea made from divine fruits and leaves which provokes a dream‍-​like state of intense cathexis

not self‍-​aware or capable of recognizing one’s own death (in contrast to mortal), either due to immortality (divines), selflessness (entiotes) or ignorance (other animals)

a fungus derived from a plague sent by the quincunx to devastate mortal farmland, capable of rotting any organism (except entiotes) but especially potent against liminal bodies, quickly infesting and subverting souls into resevoirs for its spores.

(in chrylurks) the insinuation and manipulation of hosts to bring them in accordance with a hivemind, (or in the case of feral queens, the mere instilling of chrylurk urges), always involving fusomorphosis, but often including conditioning, hypnosis, or lobotomy.

(of an alchemist) possessing alchemization powerful enough to act at a distance, characteristic of one reaches second compleation.

any transmission of information and force through the mutamyric field, especially those created by alchemization.

excitations of the mutamyric field which can penetrate other bodies, resonating, reflecting, and reacting across distances.

a small mosquito‍-​like arthropod that feeds on and purges antiblight and must consume mortal blood, especially to reproduce, often laying eggs in flesh, wherein they develop and emerge.

a type of derived chimera that may undergo a series of mutations to recapitulate their ancestral form, the chrylurk.

(in hiveminds) a primitive signal used to confirm a connection; “hello yourself,” pong. (Response to: line. See also: slack.)

(of a chrylurk) connected to the hivemind; one of us.

(in chrylurks) an assigned role in the hive’s operation, often associated with specialized anatomy; each hives its own caste system, but some common archetypes are queen, worker, hunter, nurse, consort, surrogate, operator, and others not yet described. (See also: gyne, drone.)

a phenomena whereby animal brains generate energetic essence.

the prerequisite for alchemical practice.

(poetically) dreaming, thought to be the wellspring of magic.

the adult entiotic organism, an obligate micropredator, bound in a collective hivemind, which must hunt mortals to sate an never‍-​ending hunger for nectar.

an anthropod chimera with diverse, malleable anatomy, but typically possessing eight to twelve limbs across five (possibly fused) body segments, an exoskeleton covered with a layer of exoderm, and a face featuring: bristled antennae, long silken “hair” emerging from the licenest, curved horn structures, five or more eyes, and complex mouthparts

the most elevated state of parascixion

(in hosts) a shell formed by larvae undergoing metamorphosis, may take many forms, such as parasitoid (devouring the host), ovipositional (ejecting from the host), fusomorphic (assimilating the host).

(in chrylurks) a cocoon for inducing exuviation and metamorphosis, used for healing and transformation.

(in philosophy) sublime wholeness, metaphysical primacy, perfection.

(in alchemy) a milestone in the cultivation of the soul.

see also: first compleation, second compleation, third compleation.

(in chrylurks) a queen who does not lay eggs, instead secreting her vermincholie into another queen for the infection‍-​fertilization of the eggs, and as a result often focusing on tasks other than brood care.

a rare phenomena occuring at the collision of two liminal bodies, exploiting the microsecond delay between intrusion and expulsion, to perform a simulataneous alchemization.

a singularity created by a liminal body enveloping and alchemizing another, allowing one to transmute the other, instantly nullifying it and exponentially accelerating the essence circulation in the rebound.

(informally) an especially powerful strike, a “critical hit.”

(See also: mutamyric exclusion principle)

the undoing of transmutation, either by the passage of time or by intrusion of alchemized limina. (See also: third law)

an exalted strangler vine realizing profound capacity for teleology and cathexis, especially one of the quincunx.

a small, scurrying primate that spends most of its life on a djramul, performing tasks for which the host is too large and lumbering, especially if held by the ‘scruff’, a means of fine control

a four‍-​legged mammal with horns and a trunk, standing anywhere from human height to twice that, distantly related to elephants, bearing a symbiotic with a little of djittin.

a chrylurk of any nonreproductive caste, especially one without a specialized role, often but not always using “it/its” or “one/one’s” as pronouns.^noteThis diverges from conventional entomology, where drones are reproductive males; male chrylurks do not exist.^endnote

the form of essence unique to a particular soul, created by a mortal imbibing ambrosia.

the catalyst for advanced alchemy, especially the activation of an individuals inmut.

a parasitic organism that undergoes a complex, adaptive lifecycle, naturally progressing from vermincholie to chrylurk, with larval and pupal stages between, in a process called parascixion.

the larval form of a chrylurk, dwelling like maggots in flesh, or tapeworms in entrails, or engaged in fusomorphic mimicry.

a class of animals that includes blightflies, distinguished by their lack of soul and consequent ability to digest antiblight.

an energetic charge which cannot exist outside of liminal matter.

the result of cathexis, and the necessary component for transmutation, almost always in the form of emyra.

a precursor to alchemy practiced by the mistral weavers, where objects placed into a special webs would vanish, after which the web was eaten and spun anew, manifesting the consumed power.

a waxy, transliminal substance secreted by the chrylurk abdomen, which flakes off and forms diverse mixtures.

a layer of a substance so combined, coating the chitin, which may have a texture similar to ceramic (if mixed with clay), rubber (if mixed with sap), or skin (if mixed with flesh), and so on.

a object made of a substance so combined, especially used as building material form a chrylurk hive.

(in philosophy) nascent existence, nescient exclusion, noxious excreta.

(in chrylurks) of or related to mortals not involved in the chrylurk lifecycle; one who is not a thrall or host.

the absence or negation of parascixion.

exscient in the most derogatory sense; a slur for mortals, pronounced with the scraped sibilant š, which can only be properly made with the stridulation of mandibles.

(of an alchemist) having attained a soul capable of circulating essence and thereby performing transmutation.

Dreaming descends to essence, essence descends to limina, limina descends to transmutation. (See: laws of alchemy.)

(informally) the transmutation of dreams is a fool’s errand.

a hunched, furred mammal, capable of both walking on two legs and all fours, usually standing from half human height to four‍-​fifths of that, and often living in close association with clanrats.

(in entiotes) a process by which larva devour and mimic host tissues, maggots acting as tendons and veins and nerves, gradually supplanting the host’s identity and will, culminating in assimilation.

the teleological interaction of limina with matter for purposes of divination, generally without overtly perturbing the target, in contrast with reification.

a technique for creation of a “domain”, a volume where all objects are subject to alchemization or transmutation at the caster’s will.

a dense lattice of transliminal matter, which projects a liminal boundary when exposed to an aura singularity.

a chrylurk of any reproductive caste, usually the queen, but also consorts and surrogates in large hives.

the nesting grounds for a colony of chrylurks, almost always composed of (exuviated) exoderm masonry and silkrope suspension, with special infrastructure for hivemind networking.

a pronoun referring to a collective, which often but not necessarily includes the speaker and the listener. (Ex: “Hive trusts that every part of hiveself will pursue hive’s goals.”)

an active interpsychic communicator, any chrylurk bound into a single hivemind.

of or related to a single hive

a harmonious network of chrylurks, especially colocated in a single hive, bound together with lines of serivane, acting in high accordance.

a group of hivelings.

(in chrylurks) a hard, curved projection of the exoskeleton, highly ornamental, across which swarmlings spin webs, especially for purposes of evanescence.

(in chrylurks) a mortal infested by entiote larvae, which siphon nutrients from fat or ingested food but also ensure a continuous infection of ovirexia, consuming nectar to progress their life‍-​cycle toward chrysalis.

(ibid.) an exscient undergoing parascixion.

(in chrylurks) a organism or structure intended to contain a queen's nascent offspring, usually a thrall or sometimes a purpose‍-​built receptable, but in large hives, surrogates may receive the queen’s brood.

innate transmutation, the technique which comes naturally to a given soul, often offering access to a unique material or teleology.

(in chrylurks) the lowest mouthpart, usually folded up behind the mandibles, but capable of unfolding with violent force and telescoping to twice length of the proboscis, sporting a pair of toothed palps for latching onto prey.

the most fundamental principles of alchemy:

• the first law defines the origin of essence and limina;
• the second law defines the tension between alchemization and transmutation; and
• the third law defines the nature of dispelling.

(in chrylurks) the scalp, riddled with small holes in a honeycomb pattern, burrows for a type of symbiotic swarmling (the spiderlice) tasked with spinning silk and serivane, which extrudes from these holes in bundles, looking akin to hair.

(in hiveminds) a subconscious intermediary which operates the hivemind’s low‍-​level protocols, organizing and caching information for efficient access, and furnishing the cognitive illusion of many minds in lockstep harmony.

a ghostly intermediate form of transmuted matter, often capable of physically overlapping with mundane objects. (See also: translimina.)

a system capable of performing alchemy or other advanced mutamyric processes.

(in hiveminds) a primitive signal used to initate connections; “hello,” ping. (Expected response: bound. See also: slack.)

(in chrylurks) one of a pair of rigid mouthparts that exposes a line of jagged mouthparts ending in two promenient fangs, wet with venom and pheromones.

(in chrylurks) one of a pair of mouthparts on either side of the mandibles, possessing a scapel‍-​sharp edge for cutting flesh and silk and hooks for suturing, and may fold up with the proboscis when not in use

a sapient organism granted imperial recogniction, capable of communication and cooperation, displaying advance forms of tool‍-​use and problem‍-​solving.

one of: human, djramul, strangler vine, freemouse, clanrat, keenfolk, iatrogos, mistral, glassmoth

(in chrylurks) the appendages dominating the face of a chrylurk, consisting of a topmost proboscis, two exposed mandibles joined to maxillaries, and within, a folded labium and a tongue‍-​like hypopharyx.

the basis of supernatural phenomena, giving rise to alchemy.

a metaphysical field pervading all space, capable of carrying mass and applying force, varying in properties to produce diverse behavior.

a generalization or corollary of the second law, stating that separate liminal bodies give rise to distinct auras, and limial bodies expel the aura of incompatible fields. (See also: cross conjunction.)

(informally) alchemy is solitary; two workings cannot mix

(in thralls) a form of emyra unique to entiotes, secreted by the brains of their hosts when dosed with their venom and must be extracted produce sanguimel.

(in chrylurks) of the worker caste tasked with watching and caring for thralls, dosing them with venom ensuring the larvae remain healthy and proceed along the desired development path; mainly occuring in hives large enough that queens and surrogates cannot care for their own brood.

(ibid.) the responsibilities and relationship implied by being a nurse to someone, especially when similar to yet distinct from motherhood.

(in chrylurks) of the worker caste tasked with maintaining the hivemind networking and associated protocol, especially when receiving communications from drones dispatched on duties outside the hive.

(in chrylurks) the ejection of vermincholie from a queen's ovipositor into an incubator, either in liquid form or with eggcase enclosing larvae, according to will and instinct.

(in thralls) the ejection of a pupal entiote which has not reached the threshold of parasitoidism or fusomorphosis.

a affliction spread by chrylurk body fluids, causing the host to contract a range of symptoms (such as dreams of segmented, vanishing geometries), and leads to a pronounced souring of bodily fluids, as the brain secretes nectar (See also: thralls.)

the viral, “zeroth” life‍-​stage of entiotes, inducing vermin cathexis and provoking spontaneous generation of larval worms.

the catalyst of parascixion.

usually maxillaries.

(verb) to touch or manipulate with palps.

(in chrylurks) maturation or metamorphosis, especially as part of the chrylurk lifecycle; the entiotic pursuit of perfection.

(in philosophy) parasitic fusion, paroxymal abscision, and paradoxical precision; the resolution and subsumption of contradictory desires or components into a zealous whole; adversarial evolution.

the salvation‍-​corruption of the exscient.

(in chrylurks) a medium of olfactory communication, usually emitted from the fangs, especially to convey mood and activate the keen empathy of hivelings, but also to lay scent trails and construct scentmaps.

(of a chrylurk) having undergone metamorphosis in a thrall encased in extraction pod, and thus subject to controlled conditions, molded from inception for high accordance with the hive. (Contrast: thrallborne.)

characteristic of a podborne chrylurk; sheltered and well‍-​behaved.

(in chrylurks) a flexible, trunk‍-​like mouthpart, lined with many retractible blood‍-​sucking needles and ending in a toothed pad, used both for feeding and manipulation, and when not in use, may hang down or curl up above the mouth into a nose‍-​like bulge.

(in chrylurks) the first and predominate caste, responsible for selecting prey for oviposition and a location for founding a hive, and capable of emitting the most potent command pheromones.

of or related to the five great divines and their doctrines.

(of a chrylurk) a trance state which restores the memories and personalities of a hiveling, including the transmigration of a mind into a body where it does not originate. (Usually proceeded by unravelling, except for tenerals.)

the teleological manipulation of matter into a predefined, desired state, in contrast with geomancy.

a sour, jelly‍-​like substance, rich in calories and the emyra chrylurks need to survive.

nectar regurgitated by blood‍-​fat chrylurks, left to evaporate and ferment, concentrating the nutrients.

literally: blood honey.

chrylurk's preferred medium for conveying (possibly metaphorical) visual and spatial information, where subtle pheromone gradients allow for a rich variety of “colors”, often combined with cobwebs.

(of an alchemist) having attained a soul capable of expanding and manipulating a stable aura for purposes of teleology, especially so as to perform the silver circle.

The alchemical cannot be transmuted, and the transmuted cannot be alchemized. (See: laws of alchemy).

See also: mutamyric exclusion principle.

(informally) nature abhors self‍-​transmutation.

an extension of the chrylurk nervous system with serivane, strands of silk that conduct the vibrations caused by sounds and motion, like so many tripwires, whiskers, and antennae.

a transliminal substance woven by licenests, silk elevated to ghostly rarefaction, capable of passing through matter, used for traps, communication (through hiveminds) perception (through sensewebs), and evanescence.

a technique for “drawing on air” and performing alchemy without physically inscribing a transmutation circle.

a glowing, liminal ring which alchemizes its enclosed sphere, distinguished by this requiring no material component.

(in hiveminds) a primitive signal used to indicate a connection should enter an inactive state, requiring another slack response to confirm; “goodbye,” “see you later.” (See also: line, bound.)

the mutamyric mass that naturally builds up within an organism. (Except for entiotes.)

(in alchemists) the liminal body cultivated and refined by alchemical practice.

a species of carnivorous epiphyte whose vines can rapidly contract to grasp tools and prey, growing flowers and fruiting when mature, and usually living in association with a mortal species. (See also: divine.)

(especially in chrylurks) the maxillaries.

(in chrylurks) a “princess” of the hive, with a womb for nourishing and incubating eggs and a ovipositor for laying them, but no capacity for producing her own vermincholie, instead receiving a queen’s. (See also: vector.)

small, symbiotic anthropods that live inside holes within a chrylurk's exoskeleton, with whom they are often genetically identical, spawned from the vermin‍-​heart.

pronounced hardenings of the tracheal tubes in giant insects chimerae, analogous to skeleton bones.

the force that exists between alchemized limina and compatible matter, both as simple attraction and ontological path‍-​finding.

the idiom, “as above, so below.”

(of an alchemist) having attained a soul capable of concentrating aura to a singularity point, especially so as to perform the golden sphere.

Each working of transmutation requires an equivalent unworking, which dispels it. (See: laws of alchemy.)

(informally) alchemy is ephemeral, things fall apart.

a mortal preyed on by chrylurks, especially those exposed to their venom long enough to secrete nectar, including but not limited to hosts of larva

(of a chrylurk) having undergone metamorphosis in a autonomous host, especially one that (would have) resisted parascixion and required adaptation to prevent abscixion. (Contrast: podborne.)

characteristic of a thrallborne chrylurk; cunning and rough‍-​edged.

an object which possesses both physical and metaphysical (liminal) properties, especially when new properties emerge as a result.

the result of limina reacting with or “imbuing” matter; an amalgam of both.

a mutamyric reaction acting on matter, especially the transformation of matter into limina and limina into matter, but often broaden to also include teleological forces.

the primary aim of alchemical practice.

a geometric figure designed by an alchemist for performing transmutation.

a liminal body which defines a sphere of effect, capable of alchemization. (See also: silver circle.)

(of a chrylurk) a dream state where memories are encoded by the licenest and reduplicated elsewhere in the hivemind, usually when followed by erasure and recapitulation.

(in thralls) the source of one’s infestation, especially when it is a surrogate rather than a queen.

(in chrylurks) the responsibilities and relationship implied by being a vector, especially when similar to yet distinct from parenthood or mentorship. (Contrast: nurse.)

(in chrylurks) a mixture of drugs secreted by chrylurks to achieve a variety of effects, chiefly sedation and cathexis, but a chrylurk may opt to imbibe fluid into the venom sac, greatly expanding the the possibilities.

an internal organ formed during entiote metamorphosis, distinguishing chrylurks from other imago.

a locus of continuous metamorphosis, containing a germ‍-​line of reproducing larva which become swarmlings.

a thick, warm fluid, the primordial form of entiotes, secreted by reproductive queens

a vector for ovirexia in isolation, or the nutrious yolk when enclosed in a entiote’s eggcase

liquid chrylurk egg.