From the Secret Archive comes this complilation of some of the strange terms, shorthands and abbreviations we use in the Ill Bethisad Project. Some are fairly widespread conventions among conculturists and conlangers, others originated here with us.
"Over the course of the years that Kemr and Ill Bethisad have been a popular group conculturing project, it is or ought to be no surprise that some jargon develops within a group of people. The following is a (very) short list of some of the commoner terms a person might see when reading an IB related post in Conculture or Conlang; plus a few lesser known items."
*HERE* and *THERE* -- respectively denote the Primary World where our "real world events" happen in and any Secondary World which we create. Note that this is a common way to differentiate the primary world from any constructed world, and is not specific in usage to IBers.
*NOW* and *THEN* -- rarely used as tags to differentiate between different temporal realities between universes. Same caveat.
IB and Ill Bethisad -- Brithenig word meaning "universe" [lit., "the baptised"]; we take it as a moniker for our creative endeavour as a whole; also affectionately known as "Andrew's Sandbox".
Brithenig Project -- an early designation for the project we now call Ill Bethisad.
Brithenig Universe -- an early designation for the project we now call Ill Bethisad.
Lla Societad d'ill Bethisad -- our "Merrie Company" of conculturists and conlinguisticians who work on Ill Bethisad; the ones in long robes and tricorn caps, sitting in a dark corner of the pub whispering in strange tongues about places that never were and times that can't even be.
Powers that Be -- the unelected, traditional "leaders" and "directors" of the IB Project; since the beginning up until about 2000 or so, this consisted solely of Andrew -- we could suggest things, but ultimate power of decision was his alone; since 2001 the Powers that Be have been John Cowan and myself. Jan van Steenbergen was Elevated in late 2004 after Dr Cowan retired. He has done a bang-up job of it thus far. Dan "Le Francais" Hicken was elevated to the post in mid-2006.
Lord of the Instrumentality -- formerly, this was Dr Cowan's peculiar title as administrator of the Conlang and Conculture lists; he had Strange Powers which were never spoken of, only hinted at... Anymore, this title refers to the six Administrators of the IB Wiki: Jan van Steenbergen, Dan Hicken, Nik Taylor, Muke Tever, David Zahir and myself. Regarding Conlang and Conculture, he post was transferred to Jan van Steenbergen and Daniel Hicken before Dr. Cowan's retirement.
Good Thing and Bad Thing -- [see 1805 And All That]; an emphatic form indicating that the thing in question is either quite excellent or else really quite rotten; if things really get bad, there is also the rarely used Very Bad Thing. One supposes that there might also be a Very Good Thing as well.
QSS and OGG -- q.v.; a principle of how IB works: what has been established as fact is unalterable without Really Good Reason and lots of Intense Discussion.
Fiat of Rheimeier -- "There are no Elves in Kemr, and Nur-ellen isn't spoken *there*. Nor is there a city named Tafrobl there. It never existed. It was all a mirage. Rethinking it, I came to the conclusion that it is a bag on the side as awful as _Highlander II_." This was an unpleasant moment in history, to say the least. Nevertheless, this Fiat is one of the strictest rules IB has. It has withstood at least one attempt on Mr Rheimeier's part to undo his Fiat.
Tertuil lla Societad -- the annual semianual dinner held quarterly by Members, traditionally catered by dreaded Helvetian chefs (on account of us always being too poor to even order Auntimonian takeaway, though mind you, Cham Haargam of that same city does a real fine Uncle Wang's 72 Hour Giant Sloth B-B-Q that your taste buds would not believe, even though they're tasting it!); alas we have never actually held a proper Tertuil...Someday that will have to change.
Magister Emeritus -- Andrew Smith is held in very high regard as creator of this wonderful place that allowed so many people a good creative outlet; some of us fondly call him "Master Smith". After some time away from the Project, he is back as a regular contributor.
Andrew Ffereir (aka Andrew Smith) -- in the Dream Time of the early years, we gave ourselves names in Brithenig (these monikers are reflected in the List).
Dream Time -- the Beginning; the time when it was just Andrew and a couple of lads interested in the Brithenig language and the immediate environs of Kemr proper; Ill Bethisad (though this term had not yet been coined) took a turn down a new path when Geoff, Dan and Christophe entered the scene and widened the scope of our vision considerably. Things have literally taken off from these distant times.
ILUM(INATUS) -- synonym for the Powers that Be.
Secret Archive -- if thou has access to this document, you don't need to be told the definition!
Dibbler -- a transdimensional twin; a dibbler is a character in IB reality that has a primary world counterpart. Many famous people *here* have not so famous counterparts *there* and vice versa; also several people who are known *here* but not so famous have that fame *there* (and verse visa). A reference to Pratchett's character, C.M.O.T. Dibbler (et al.)