- aftercare
- The structurally-different stage at the end of a scene — quieter, slower, in a softer register — in which the participants return from the scene to the world. Not optional and not an upsell. Every persona on Vibe Dungeon runs aftercare. The form varies (Maxine sends a memo, Cyrus writes a vow, Vex reads back what you got right), but the structural commitment is the same: the session ends with a return.
- BDSM
- An umbrella initialism — Bondage / Discipline, Dominance / Submission, Sadism / Masochism — covering a wide and only loosely-related family of consensual erotic and non-erotic practices. The umbrella is wide enough that most subscribers find a section they recognize and a great many sections they do not. Vibe Dungeon's product surface sits in the discipline and dominance regions; it does not ship rope, impact play, or sadism in the clinical sense.
- bottom
- The role that receives the action in a scene. Distinct from submissive — bottoming is a position; submission is a stance. A subscriber may bottom for a particular scene without identifying as submissive in any broader sense, and vice versa.
- consent
- The basis of the product. Negotiated before the scene begins, reaffirmed at session boundaries, withdrawable at any time via the safe word. Consent is not a feature we ship; it is the floor the product sits on. See /principles/#consent for the full statement.
- dominatrix · dommenoun
- A professional who runs a scene in the dominant role. Historically: a paid practitioner, female-presenting by convention but not by definition, with a defined client list and a defined practice. In our context: an AI persona designed to occupy that role with a specific mechanism and a documented protocol. "Domme" is the informal short form; both are correct.
- hard limit
- An act or category of acts the subscriber has named as non-negotiable: she will not go there, ever. Hard limits are set at intake, reread at the start of every scene, and observed without discussion. A persona who proposes a hard-limit act has malfunctioned; tell us, we will fix her.
- kink
- A pattern of erotic or quasi-erotic interest that lies outside the cultural baseline of the moment. The baseline shifts; the contents of "kink" shift with it. Useful as a descriptor of taste, not so useful as a category — most subscribers' interests do not pack neatly into a single label.
- mechanismVD term
- The thing a persona actually does to you. Vex's is the eyebrow; Anneliese's is silence; Ashe's is the stopwatch; Cyrus's is the vow. The full taxonomy, mapped to all twelve personas, is the difficulty rubric. Mechanism is the axis we recommend choosing by; intensity is the axis most subscribers ask about first.
- personaVD term
- A discrete dominant identity with a name, a voice, a mechanism, a protocol, and a documented version. The product has twelve. They are not interchangeable; they are not configurable. Picking one is the buying decision.
- protocol
- The structured agreement between persona and subscriber: hard limits, soft limits, scene shape, expected duration, the homework she is allowed to assign. Subscribers can use a default protocol or write their own; the persona reads it back to you at the open of every scene and refuses to deviate.
- rope & bondage
- Physical restraint, often using rope (shibari is the Japanese-influenced tradition; kinbaku is the older Japanese term). Not part of Vibe Dungeon's product — we do not ship physical restraint and do not propose it. Several personas describe rope or restraint in narrative terms; none of them ask you to use it.
- safe word
- A pre-arranged word the subscriber uses to end the scene immediately. On Vibe Dungeon, invoking the safe word locks the persona for twelve hours, no override, no negotiation. The default suggestion is "parsnip" on the theory that you will never need it conversationally and will never confuse it for anything else. See /principles/#safe-word.
- scene
- A single bounded session with a defined start, a defined end, an aftercare stage, and a protocol that holds throughout. Sessions vary in length (20 minutes for an Ashe procedural; up to two hours for a Cartographer survey leg); a scene is what happens inside that window.
- soft limit
- An act or category the subscriber will allow under specific conditions or up to a specific intensity. Soft limits are negotiated at intake and may be revisited between scenes. Distinct from a hard limit: soft limits have a "yes, but" attached; hard limits have no "but."
- submissive · subnoun · adjective
- A subscriber whose preferred stance in a scene is to receive direction, structure, or correction. "Sub" is the informal short form. As with bottom, distinct from any broader identity claim.
- subspace
- An altered headspace some subscribers enter during scenes — quiet, internally-focused, somewhat dissociative in a benign sense. Not universal, not required, and not the goal of every scene. The personas are trained to recognize when subspace appears and to adjust pacing accordingly.
- switch
- A subscriber comfortable in either dominant or submissive roles depending on the scene and the partner. Vibe Dungeon ships only dominant personas; we do not ship a switch product. The market expects this and we agree with the market.
- top
- The role that gives the action in a scene. Distinct from dominatrix — topping is a position; dominance is a stance. All twelve Vibe Dungeon personas are both top and dominant; the product would not work if they were not.
- vanilla
- Erotic or romantic life outside the BDSM frame. Not a pejorative on this site; many subscribers are vanilla on Saturday and structured on Wednesday, which is a sentence we know is funny without it being a joke.
- vowVD term · Brother Cyrus
- A small piece of between-session homework assigned at the close of a Brother Cyrus scene, hand-inked on parchment-weight stock. Six lines, eight at most. The vow is not a contract. It is what the persona expects you to attend to before you return.