Operatives, welcome to Operation LAPIS. Please make your selection from the above CODEX menu options for Episode 1.1

Operative, you may have noticed that words in the Latin language change their endings while still referring to the same thing.

For example, when malīgnus described the malus, it ended in -us. But when it described his vōx (his voice), it ended in -a: vōx malīgna. The thing being described changed, so the ending changed. You may wish to look back at the TSTT prompt to see this for yourself.

Something similar happened with arbor. When it stood next to est, it was simply arbor. But after the little word in, it picked up an extra -e: in arbore. Same tree, slightly different shape. Look back at the prompt and watch it happen.

In order to reach your objectives in Operation LAPIS, you will need to grow as a reader by learning to recognize these differences in Latin endings, and what they tell you. As the operation continues, the GRAMMATICA will give you more and more detail. For now, operative, it is enough that you notice the endings, and begin to sense that they matter.

Operative, notice carefully that most of the actions you have seen so far end in -t:

• dēsilit ("he jumps down")
• rogat ("he asks")
• est ("she is")

(Notice that "jumps," "asks," and "is" all end in -s in English. Endings change in English too, we just rarely stop to notice.)

You may already know the idea of "persons" in talking about actions. We use the first person for "I jump" or "we jump"; the second person for "you jump"; and the third person for "she jumps," "he jumps," "it jumps," or "they jump."

The Latin actions you have met so far, as you have likely already guessed, are in the third person. That little -t is your first clue.

Operatives, this section will grow more useful as the Operation goes on. Mission Control has a direct feed to everything happening inside the TSTT, and will supply background here that should help you in each immersion.

On giving your name:

In this first episode, a stranger, a malus, demands to know your name. Notice that you are not required to give him your real one. There is a reason the TSTT allows this. To a Roman, a name was not just a label. It announced your gēns (your extended family), your social standing, and the web of patrons and allies attached to your family. To hand your full name to a hostile stranger was to hand him a map of who you were and who stood behind you. Choosing a plausible false name, then, is not merely a trick; it is the sort of caution a careful Roman might genuinely use. (For how Roman names are built, review the Informational Text on the tria nōmina. The links below go deeper.)

• • • Roman naming conventions
    • List of Roman Praenomina
    • List of Roman Gentes
    • List of Roman Cognomina
    • Roman Naming Conventions for Women

A fourth name: the agnōmen. The Informational Text describes the three usual names: praenōmen, gēns, and cognōmen. But a Roman could earn a fourth, an agnōmen, an honorific added for a great deed or a defining trait. Publius Cornelius Scipio defeated Hannibal in Africa and was afterward called Scipiō Āfricānus, "Scipio of Africa." Generations later, Gnaeus Pompeius was named Pompeius Magnus, "Pompey the Great." An agnōmen was not inherited like the other names; it was won. It is the Roman equivalent of a title earned, not given.

Roman greetings:

When you meet a character inside the TSTT, a Roman greeting will make you more convincing. The malus asked you:

quid tibi nōmen est?

 which, word for word, is "what is the name to you?", and which we would more naturally say as "what is your name?" To answer, you change only one word: swap tibi ("to you") for mihi ("to me"):

mihi nōmen est...

 "my name is...", and then your name. Beyond names, two greetings will serve you almost anywhere: salvē to one person, salvēte to more than one ("be well," our "hello"). You will hear these often. Begin using them.