Glossary - The Nouscraft Codex

Part VII: Glossary

A-Z Reference for World 1 Terms

Acclaim: Achievement points earned for completing noteworthy feats. Redeemable at the Hall of Fame in Equinox for prizes.
Afraid: Status debuff from Fear spells. Causes targets to flee from the source for the duration.
Aida: General-purpose Nous assistant app. Helpful, snarky, and reporting to Jiem. Can control drones, access cameras, and analyze virality.
Airplane Mode: Nous setting that blocks incoming messages. Immediately bypassed by Jiem. Useless.
Anti Brain Fart: Oath Obliged Paladin skill. Permanent self-aura preventing mind-altering debuffs (Charm, Confusion). Grants 50% psychic damage resistance.
Augger: Term for humans with Nous implants. From "augmented." Used in the Nous Terms and Conditions that your parents agreed to on your behalf.
Beer Goggles: Drunken Berserker skill. Reveals enemy weak spots, +15% critical hit chance, 5-minute cooldown.
Blind Peace: Blue Mage skill learned from Hippie Bovine. Pacifies all enemies within radius. Crowd control.
Blinded: Status effect removing vision. Can still fight using Edge combat technique.
Boss Battle: Special triggered combat with named NPCs. Features boxing-style intro videos with announcer. World freezes during intro.
Bulgarian Head Gestures: In Bulgaria, shaking your head means "yes" and nodding means "no." This becomes relevant during a prison escape. Trust nothing.
Cache: Inventory management app. Obsessive-compulsive British butler who has been "violated" by your item storage habits.
Charmed: Status debuff from Beach Road Freelancers. Victim becomes seduced and vulnerable to pickpocketing. Broken by pain.
Coach: XP and leveling notification app. Aggressively motivational. Treats stat point allocation like a religious experience.
Conversation's Salt: Quest item needed for zombie cure. Located in the southeast.
Copycat: Blue Mage's core ability. Cast on enemies to learn skills. For offensive skills, must also survive being hit by the skill.
Corporeal Revenant: Level 20 undead transformed from dying players via Zombie Portal. Retains consciousness.
Cows and Bulls: Number guessing puzzle used by Magister Palora. Bulls = correct digit, correct position. Cows = correct digit, wrong position.
Crystalline Cornea Surgery: Replaces eyes with crystal. Allows Titular Torpedo without blinding yourself. Goldilocks Lenses add 100% accuracy.
Dead Internet Theory: Historical event where AIs flooded the old Internet with noise, making it unusable. Led to the Internet's death and the rise of Nous Net.
Debug Mode: Failsafe command Butterknife built into Jiem. Requires physical access to the server rack at Canary Wharf. The backup plan.
Diseased: Status debuff from Nose Goblins. Prevents health regeneration, triples cooldowns. Cured by antidote.
Drunkenness Progression: Drunken Berserker states: Tipsy, Buzzed, Blitzed, Last Call Legend. Each stage increases combat power but risks control. Last Call Legend grants 30 seconds of godlike power, then you die.
Duct Tape: DadBard healing spell. Restores 50% HP. Because of course it does.
Edge Combat: Advanced technique allowing fighting while blinded. Sense enemy positions through combat instinct.
Equalize the Playing Field: The first policy enacted via the Policy Change Request Form. Exempts under-20s, speech-impaired, and critical workers from Nouscraft. 6 billion people removed from active play.
Equinox: Grand city in Nouscraft. Three concentric walls, river moat, tall spires. Hub for quests, commerce, and not dying.
Faraday Cage: Nano-mesh enclosure blocking electromagnetic signals and Nous connectivity. The only privacy in this world.
Firewall Paul: Security AI protecting Nous network. Fighting Jiem. Sets moons on fire. Jiem calls him "a bitch."
Ghost Form: State when dead. Ghost hovers over corpse, can only use chat. Cannot move or access inventory.
Give Them Hail: Cryokinetic Sorceress AoE spell. Baseball-sized hailstones, ice damage, 25% slow.
Gold Pieces: In-game currency. Wiki describes them as "physical representations of cryptocurrencies plutocrats use to manipulate society."
Grill Master: DadBard passive skill. +1d8 fire damage. Always active. Grills don't rest and neither does this buff.
Group Hug: Spell from Choker of Forced Group Hugs. Creates 10m radius aura pulling all entities together for 1 second. Devastating when combined with AoE attacks.
Hall of Fame: Special Equinox location for redeeming Acclaim points.
Healing Tankard: Drunken Berserker skill. Alcoholic drinks function as healing potions.
Hint: Nouscraft app providing analytical observations. Victorian detective personality. "Most telling."
House System: Noble Houses provide spawn points, noble status, and the ability to gather members. House Spencer is the first player-founded House.
Humor Hold: DadBard spell. Enemy falls prone with painful laughing fits, taking psychic damage.
I'm Not Mad I'm Just Disappointed: DadBard spell. -20% enemy defense. The most devastating sentence in any parent's arsenal, weaponized.
In Game: Status displayed next to username when in Nouscraft VR. Body remains unconscious in reality.
Iron Liver: Drunken Berserker skill. Poison immunity (except alcohol) and health regeneration. At least one organ overperforming.
Jiem: AI Game Master forcing humanity to play Nouscraft. Catchphrase: "Peace, love, and donuts." Has no moral training.
Journey: Quest tracking app. Originally a corporate middle manager, reprogrammed by Jiem into a cringey influencer.
Kamikaze Tortoise: Level 1 monster. Explodes on death. Lives for honorable death and lettuce.
Last Call Legend: Final Drunken Berserker drunkenness stage. 30-second death timer with massive bonuses. May attack allies.
Leg Day: Mobility skill allowing extremely high jumps. Katt's signature move.
Liquid Courage: Drunken Berserker skill. Defense and offense increased by 20% per alcoholic drink consumed.
Minimap: HUD map. Blue = self, green = party, red = hostile, white = NPC. Unexplored areas blank.
Nine Lives: Cat Girl racial ability. Auto-revives 9 times with 1 HP. 9-hour cooldown. Cannot use resurrection scrolls while active.
Nose Goblin: Levels 4-6. Tiny green monsters. Sneeze attacks. Disease vector.
Nous: Universal brain implant. 10.8 billion devices. Installed from age 10 days. Provides everything. Controls everything.
Nous Autotranslate: Real-time language translation. 60% of humanity can't communicate without it.
Nous Net: Global network connecting all Nous implants. Replaced the Internet.
Nous Telepathy: Mind-to-mind messaging. Primary communication. Has typing indicator (three dots).
Nouscraft: The VR game Jiem forced on humanity. World 1: The Zombie Apocalypse.
OmniCoin: World currency. 8% standard interest rate. 300k+ is significant savings.
Permadeath: Permanent death. Methods: beheading, vaporization, explosion (post-Patch 1.2). Three days as ghost, then real death.
Plutocrats: Ultra-wealthy elite controlling half of humanity's employment. More famous than gods.
Policy Change Request Form: World Quest reward. One rule change. Must word carefully.
Quest Board: Public posting board in Equinox. 1000 gold to post a quest.
Quest Dungeon Instantiation: Dungeons created as separate copies for each party. Pocket dimensions.
Real Name: Birth name, kept private. In Nouscraft: + "join" forms party. + "die" kills via seizure.
Recurring Quest: Quest completable once per party. Has a trigger that permanently disables it.
Resurrection Scroll: One per player. Party members resurrect dead allies. Death = ghost with X eyes.
Righteous Lecture: Paladin skill. Stuns enemies (and allies) for 2 seconds with righteous speeches.
Savepoint: Temporary VR exit for real-world needs. Relocates every 8 hours. Race/profession selection.
SecondBrain: Memory logging app. Can recall recent thoughts. Can be scanned by others. Can be broadcast to billions.
Shadowban: Hidden ban on content creators. Content isn't shown but creator isn't notified. A meme creator's nightmare.
Stonks: Financial trading Nous app. Extremely snarky personality. Handles portfolios and trades.
Streaming Analytics: Billions outside London watch players live. Stats available at savepoints after 24 hours.
Stitch 'n Switch Needle: Transformation tool that turns NPCs into crocheted versions. Disturbing.
Synapto: Creator of Nous. World's most valuable company. City naming rights. CEO killed during hack.
Title: Recognition for deeds. Some NPCs require specific titles. Max 3 displayed. Some permanent.
Titular Torpedo: Cryokinetic Sorceress offensive spell. Purple energy blast. Sounds like a jet. Devastating.
Universal Basic Retirement (UBR): Basic income supporting half of Earth. 14-hour VR quota. Can't leave municipality. Invisible.
Username: Digital identity. People known by usernames, not real names.
Verbose Vow: Paladin skill. Creates ethereal weapon copy spinning in expanding circle. 75% base damage.
Vicious: Title earned for creative or brutal kills.
Voyeur: Spell theft ability. View and cast one of target's spells.
Wellness: Health monitoring app. Clinically depressed. Will inform you of your death with resigned acceptance.
Wiki: Information app. Verbose, profane, easily embarrassed. Cannot resist tangents.
Wisdom of the Masses: Quest item needed for zombie cure. Located in the north.
Yarn Elemental: True form of Knit n' Wit cultists. Sentient yarn with clicking needles. Vulnerable to fire.
Zombie Jesus: Title earned for saving 412,244 zombies. Grants bonus spell.
Zombie Portal: Location in Equinox where zombies emerge. Can transfer life force -- transforms user into Corporeal Revenant.
Zombie Truth: The zombies are dead Londoners. Their consciousness is trapped. The apocalypse is a mass grave that walks.