glossary of spirit island jargon

sorted alphabetically. underlined words are words that are specific to my play group. words with asterisks are often written in uppercase.

if you want me to add anything, tell me on discord. note that i may be a bit slow at updating things.

(number)/(number): (first number) energy gain and (second) number card plays
3/3 is a good place to get to for major-slinging strategies
(number)/(number)/(number) spirit: a spirit that adds (first number) presence on reclaim, (second number) presence using a second growth option, and (third number) presence using a third growth option
earth is a 1/1/1 spirit, river is a 0/2/1 spirit, and shadows is a 0/1/1 spirit
(number)-cost: a power card that costs (number) energy
action economy: how many actions the spirit is able to cause on a certain turn, generally ones that affect the board
airdrop: move to an unrestricted land, most commonly when escaping a piece from the endless dark or moving dahan using wrap in wings of sunlight (major power)
amogus: amorphous shadows (aspect)
ancient memes: boon of ancient memories (memory's unique power)
apocrypha: a spirit that is released by the development team unofficially and not in a public expansion
assim: cultural assimilation (event)
atw*: all things weaken (blight card)
b&c*: branch and claw (expansion)
bb*: add two presence from bottom track
beast damage: a beast event that solves a land
blight removal: an action or power that removes blight
blight to scale: see take blight to scale
blocker: a land or invader that is preventing victory
bocp*: bargain of coursing paths (major power)
bodan*: bringer of dreams and nightmares (spirit)
boddys*: breath of darkness down your spine (spirit)
bp*: the kingdom of brandenburg-prussia (adversary)
bpp*: blight per player (on the blight card), or a measure of total blight taken during a game
br*: see blight removal
buildings: towns or cities
buy a power card: pay energy to gain a power card during the spirit phase
c2g: call to guard (minor power)
c2t: call to trade (minor power), or sometimes call to tend (minor power)
c2tr: call to trade (minor power)
capital: a land that will have 7 buildings during the invader phase
cash in: trade drowned invaders for energy
casino: a strategy that involves constantly gaining power cards and not reclaiming many cards at a time
cd*: cast down into the briny deep (major power)
cheese: a combination or interaction that is very powerful but makes the game anticlimactic or unfun
chomp: devouring teeth lurk underfoot (spirit)
claw: animal (element)
clone: add a token using hazards spread (minor power)
copy: repeat, or add a token using hazards spread (minor power)
cowsburg: habsburg livestock colony (adversary)
cp*: card plays, or see bocp
dahan defend: a dahan event that stops a ravaging land from blighting
darkest timeline: the worst sequence of invader cards for the current game state
digital: the digital app made by handelabra
dnpir*: does not participate in ravage
doggo: hearth-vigil (spirit)
donate: let someone else use your "each player" fear card effect
down turn: a turn where you play fewer cards or are less powerful in order to keep growing
dp*: downpour drenches the world (spirit)
drugs: spirit-targeting powers
due*: dances up earthquakes (spirit)
dump land: a land for control spirits to move large amounts of invaders to
eboon: elemental boon (minor power)
edge case: an event or invader card that causes problems, or to get an event or invader card that causes problems
i hope we don't get edge cased for this ravage / i hope we don't get an edge case for this ravage
eeb*: ember-eyed behemoth (spirit)
eggplant: air (element)
ems*: ever-multiplying swarm (minds' unique power)
f&f*: feather and flame (expansion), or fire and flood (major power)
fear bomb: the invader cards added to the fear deck by russia 5
fear farm: a land with a lot of invaders for bodan to use majors in to generate large amounts of fear, or a land with damaged invaders and shroud's presence
first strike: being the first side to deal damage during ravage
my max left innate will give all dahan in my lands first strike
forget fodder: a card that will never be played whose main use is to be forgotten for a major or an event
g(number)*: the (number)th growth option
g(number)(some combination of t's and b's): use the (number)th growth option to add presence from top or bottom tracks. see tt, tb, and bb
the standard build for lightning is g2tt, then g2bb
g(number) spam: a strategy for a spirit that relies on taking the (number)th growth option for several turns in a row
gays: relentless gaze of the sun (spirit)
goc*: gift of constancy (minor power)
gole*: gift of living energy (minor power)
gonc*: gift of nature's connection (minor power)
gop*: gift of power (minor power), or sometimes gift of proliferation (green's unique power)
gts*: growth through sacrifice (retired minor power)
habsburger: see cowsburg
heal: remove a blight
hi*: high immigration (england 3)
high roll: get lucky and gain a good power card
hlc*: see cowsburg
hme*: see saltsburg
infinite loop: a difficult-to-reach game state where the major deck is almost empty and powerstorm can be replayed by forgetting, re-gaining, and playing it
je*: jagged earth (expansion)
jerry: the marked beast from unearth a beast of wrathful stone (major power)
kick: to push something instead of destroying it
i'll use predatory nightmares to kick this town into land 5
kitty: see sun kitty
le*: see gole
leaf: plant (element)
lfg*: looking for game, a role to ping in the spirit island discord if you want to play a live game with other people on the server
loop: see reclaim loop
mana: energy
mm*: many minds move as one
ni*: nature incarnate (expansion)
nuke: a power that destroys all invaders in one or multiple lands
otter: fathomless mud of the swamp (spirit)
panda: pandemonium lightning (spirit)
passive defend: defend that dahan provide from bargains of power and protection (major power) or by paying for dahan trade with the invaders (event)
pbf*: play by forum, a method of playing spirit island asynchronously on the spirit island boardgamegeek forums
pbp*: play by post, a method of playing spirit island asynchronously in the spirit island discord
pf*: paralyzing fright (major power)
pierre: the extra explorer added from france 6
ping: deal 1 damage to a single invader
i'll ping the city so the dahan can finish it off in the counterattack
pivot: to switch to a different strategy, often from one focusing on top track and majors to one focusing on bottom track and minors or vice versa
pocket: a group of inland lands that do not get explored because they have no sources of invaders, or to make such a group exist
portal: an adjacency caused by open the ways (finder's special rule), or a land marked by bargain of coursing paths (major power)
predraft: make a decision (typically selecting a minor power) while considering how it would improve various majors that you could draft later
problem land: a land that is difficult to deal with, or a land that will blight this or next turn
prolif: an effect that takes presence off tracks at a time other than growth, commonly gift of proliferation
if i get 1 more fire, i can threshold tsac to be a prolif
punchback: stone's right innate
r1*: reclaim one
rave party: a land with lair's incarna and a large number of explorers
reclaim loop: the act of reclaiming for multiple turns in a row, usually playing the same cards each time
ri*: rising interest in the island (event)
saltsburg: habsburg mining expedition (adversary)
sergei: the explorer that gets pushed instead of destroyed due to russia 2
shadow realm: the endless dark
shrine: sacred site
sink: to take a land or board out of the game, with either deeps (aspect) or thresholded cast down (major power)
sl*: starlight seeks its form (spirit)
snake: serpent slumbering beneath the island (spirit)
snek: serpent slumbering beneath the island (spirit)
snipe: stop an explore with a randomly-placed isolate
solve: prevent a land from blighting the next time it ravages
sr*: special rule, or slave rebellion (event)
suck: a power that gathers a lot of pieces
sun kitty: sun-bright whirlwind (spirit)
take blight to scale: not deal with a land that is adding a blight during a ravage, often in order to dedicate actions to solving other lands
tall disc stack: sacred site
tax: the extra energy cost of targeting spirits that don't share an archipelago islet with you
taxi: travel river (aspect) using the special rule to move dahan during growth
tb*: add one presence from top track and one presence from bottom track
tboon: traveler's boon (finder's unique power)
ted*: the endless dark
tempo: where in the explore-build-ravage sequence your actions dealing with a land are happening. ahead tempo means they are happening between explore and build, on tempo means they are happening between build and ravage
threat: a land that will cause a loss this turn or come close to doing so
trans: transforming wildfire (aspect)
trap: a choice that looks better than it actually is
river's top track is a trap, rushing bottom track is the most effective strategy
tree: towering roots of the jungle (spirit)
ts*: thunderspeaker (spirit)
tsac: transformative sacrifice (major power)
tt*: add two presence from top track
tts*: tabletop simulator
turn (number) quake: a strategy with dances up earthquakes to hit the max right innate on turn (number)
ug*: unrelenting growth (major power)
underplay: play fewer cards than your number of card plays
i will underplay on turn 3 so i can play 4 cards on turn 4 next turn to hit my max innate
void: draw towards a consuming void (major power)
vore: absorb essence (snek's unique power)
vt*: varied terrains (scenario)
win condition: a power that, when used several times, will win the game
wwb*: wounded waters bleeding (spirit)