ALTER EGO: A magical girl in her non-magical state. While prolonged magical activity has certain effects on the alter ego (analogous to intense physical exercise), she cannot use her magical powers unless she transforms (see TRANSFORMATION).

ANSIBLE: Technomantic device for instantaneous communication employing quantum entanglement.

ASCENSION: The transference of the MOON PRINCESS from Earth to Earth’s moon. Occurred approximately two hundred years ago.

AUTO-TURRET: Computer-controlled anti-personnel or anti-tank weapon, typically situated at a street corner. Designed to harry invaders of URBANOPOLIS.

BOSS: Informal term for the individual responsible for coordinating MAGICAL GIRL activity in the city. Appointed by the Mayor, the boss’s identity is top secret.

CATCH PHRASE: A MAGICAL GIRL’S introductory speech encapsulating the nature of her MAGIC and her motivations. Love, friendship, and justice feature prominently. Most magical girls recite their catch phrases during TRANSFORMATION and sometimes before fighting a MONSTER in order to give themselves a sportsmanlike tactical disadvantage.

CITY FATHERS: The civilian, secular government of URBANOPOLIS. Consists of the elected City Council and Mayor, and the Mayor’s appointed officials. To offset the considerable power of the TEMPLE, the MOON PRINCESS decreed at the city’s founding that women would be ineligible for public office.

CONTRACT: Binding and irrevocable agreement between a MAGICAL GIRL and a FAMILIAR, written in blood. Because only children can serve as magical girls, the contract, being a legal agreement, terminates on the girl’s eighteenth birthday when she reaches her legal majority.

CRYSTAL: A magical jewel of unknown purpose hidden in URBANOPOLIS and monitored by the TEMPLE. Five in number.

DISTRICT: Area of URBANOPOLIS dedicated to a discrete cultural enclave and electing its own Councilmen. Districts vary considerably in size. Although the CITY FATHERS attempt to maintain some integrity of the districts, movement between them is unrestricted.

DOWN UNDER: The subterranean agricultural-industrial complex responsible for producing the bulk of the food and manufactured goods of URBANOPOLIS. Partly government-controlled and partly licensed to private firms. Young men typically perform two years of public service Down Under after graduating high school, unless they instead join the MILITARY.

ELDRITCH ABOMINATION: An entity formed spontaneously from PRIME MATTER outside the universe, an eldritch abomination is an especially powerful form of MONSTER. Typically multidimensional.

ENERGY: The ability of a MAGICAL GIRL to function and perform MAGIC.

EVIL SPACE ALIENS’ UNION (ESAU): A consortium of races in the Local Group that have bowed the knee to Lord SHADOW. Enemy of the INTER-STELLAR SOCIETY OF AMIABLE DO-GOODERS (ISAD).

EXORCIST: Any MAGICAL GIRL capable of dispelling evil spirits. Typically a power of magical girls whose MAGIC is spiritual rather than technomantic.

FAMILIAR: A nonhuman companion of a MAGICAL GIRL. Often the source of her MAGIC, a typical familiar forms a CONTRACT.

FINAL BOSS: The nemesis of an individual MAGICAL GIRL.

FORM: A MAGICAL GIRL in her magical state, usually including distinct clothing, physical attributes, and personality (see PERSONA). As opposed to ALTER EGO. A magical girl can only use her MAGIC while in her form.

GROUND-BOUNDER: A MAGICAL GIRL incapable of self-sustained flight.

HIGH PRIESTESS: Ruler of the TEMPLE and official leader of the MAGICAL GIRLS, though she typically delegates that authority to the BOSS and to Magical Girl Grease Pencil Marionette.

INTERSTELLAR SOCIETY OF AMIABLE DO-GOODERS (ISAD): An alliance of races within the Local Group that oppose the SHADOW.

ITEM: Any object associated with and commonly employed by a MAGICAL GIRL to perform MAGIC. The most common item is a WAND.

JUICE BOX: A small box constructed from paper, polyethylene, and aluminum foil. Contains juice. The most effective means of replenishing the ENERGY of a MAGICAL GIRL.

KEEPER: Member of any ancient race inhabiting a globular cluster of the Milky Way.

LEY LINE: Magical channel running through the Earth’s crust. The MOON PRINCESS selected the location of URBANOPOLIS based on the intersection of several ley lines.

MAGIC: Any system of rules by which the universe operates. The total number of magical systems is unknown.

MAGICAL GIRL: Human female possessed of magical powers. Always under the age of eighteen. Typically has a CONTRACT with a FAMILIAR. Automatically a priestess of the TEMPLE.

MECHA: Sometimes known in its most compact form as a “power suit,” a mecha is a typically bipedal machine enclosing its operator and enabling him to deploy MAGIC. Human scientists have not successfully created mecha, but extraterrestrial examples are known.

MILITARY: The non-magical fighting force of URBANOPOLIS. Because most enemies of man are immune to human weapons, the military’s primary purpose is crowd control. Due to concerns about the declining human population, the military bars women from service and does not conscript except during severe crises.

MONSTER: General term for a nonhuman enemy of the human race. More specifically, an enemy immune to conventional, non-magical weapons.

MOON BASE: Formerly the underground secret headquarters of the MOON PRINCESS, still used for coordinating MAGICAL GIRL activity.

MOON KINGDOM: Informal name for the crystaline structures in the Sea of Serenity on the surface of the moon, visible from Earth.

MOON PRINCESS: The original MAGICAL GIRL. Human identity unknown. Since the ASCENSION, she has resided on Earth’s moon.

NEW TOKYO: A new city that the citizens of URBANOPOLIS believe the MOON PRINCESS will lower from the moon after the defeat of the last MONSTER.

PERSONA: The personality of a magical girl’s FORM, often distinct from that of her ALTER EGO. Exact relationship between the two personalities is uncertain.

POWER-UP: The attainment of new magical powers by a MAGICAL GIRL. May involve new ITEMS.

PRIME MATTER: An exotic particle with a macroscopic quantum wave function. Conforms to the desire of an observer when observed. The universe may have begun as prime matter, but the identity of its original observer is unknown. Although an infinite ocean of prime matter exists outside the universe, prime matter is extremely rare inside.

REPORTER: A human responsible for reporting the news. Typically obsessed with speculation about the romantic relationships of MAGICAL GIRLS. Useful for distracting MONSTERS during an attack.

SEA OF GLASS: Dark matter. Properties unknown.

SENTINEL: Computer system for tracking threats to URBANOPOLIS. Formerly operated by the TEAM of the MOON PRINCESS, Sentinel is now under the control of the BOSS.

SHADOW: Often referred to as Lord Shadow, a malevolent force to which two-thirds of the sapient races in the universe have pledged allegiance. Intends the destruction of the cosmos. No other details available.

SHELTER: Underground protective structure for civilian noncombatants during an attack. Heavily shielded and warded with magical SYMBOLS.

SIDEKICK: Any non-magical human companion who accompanies a MAGICAL GIRL during combat. Tends to get kidnapped. Usually annoying.

SPELL: A discrete deployment of magical power. The spell of a MAGICAL GIRL is sometimes known as a “called attack.”

SYMBOL: Any pattern or design with magical power. Used to cast SPELLS or manipulate MONSTERS.

TEAM: Any group of MAGICAL GIRLS who agree to work together to fight MONSTERS. Most teams break up due to an inability to agree on a catch phrase or sometimes because of fights over boys.

TECHNOMANCY: The most common form of MAGIC amongst sapient species of the Local Group (including the Milky Way). Involves manipulation of machines based on structured physical laws. Technomancy has several subsets based on different law sets (i.e., the Electrical Universe of Magical Girl Pretty Dynamo or the M-Theory of Sukeban Tsubasa).

TEMPLE: Residence of the HIGH PRIESTESS and center of the MOON PRINCESS cultus. Contains the WEAPON, oversees the CRYSTALS, and coordinates between the MAGICAL GIRLS. The Temple also serves as the magical girls’ training ground. Men are barred from Temple service and from its innermost sanctuary. Some tension persists between the Temple and the CITY FATHERS.

THREAT COMPETENCY: A number assigned to a MAGICAL GIRL corresponding to the highest THREAT LEVEL of the monsters she has defeated in combat.

THREAT LEVEL: A complex algorithm that reduces a MONSTER’S destructive ability to a number between one and ten. Assigned by the Threat Assessment Board, threat levels are theoretically used by the BOSS to deploy MAGICAL GIRLS, though in practice, deployment is more typically based on availability and proximity. Critics argue for a more robust system of classification and claim that threat level has lost its usefulness. Nonetheless, REPORTERS continue reporting monsters’ threat levels, and magical girls continue competing for THREAT COMPETENCY.

TRANSFORMATION: The process of changing from an ALTER EGO to a FORM. Typically involves destruction and reconstruction of the body on an atomic level.

URBANOPOLIS: City founded by the MOON PRINCESS. Last surviving human habitation.

WAND: A device used by a MAGICAL GIRL to cast MAGIC.

WEAPON: A device capable of temporarily ripping the fabric of spacetime, manufactured from an extraterrestrial machine the MAGICAL GIRLS serving the MOON PRINCESS recovered from the Caucasus. Used in extremis to destroy MONSTERS by opening a gateway to hell.