[tobeychris]

SSPL: Soft SPL. Used as a temporary SPL in order to write to an HSPL.
HSPL: Hard SPL. A permanent SPL that 'unlocks' a phone, allowing custom ROMs to be flashed.

Once you're past unlocking, you don't have much of a chance in bricking. The only way you could, is if you flash a new Radio. Flashing any of the ROMs we have here, there isn't much chance, because they're all only an XIP/OS ROM. That doesn't mean anything to you, but it's easily fixable if your phone doesn't turn on.

You shouldn't have to configure anything.