Reverse Truenaming

[Milo v3]

In the setting I'm working on, I wanted to make spirit languages be feel more important so that Linguistics is pretty overlooked by players in my experience. So I thought about how truenaming in most cases allows you to say a word in it's truest form, and have it make a magical effect, but that's not very... language-y in my opinion. So I aim to do the reverse, where you know the language of something, you can understand the concepts of the words to a magical extent.

Where knowing Ignan gives you knowledge on the sounds of fire; if you hear a flame in the distance you can tell whether it is a campfire or a torch or a candle from it's voice, how hungry the flame is, whether it enjoys what it's feeding on, whether it is trapped and annoyed or whether it is joyful and burning everything, etc.

How does this type of thing sound? It's not "immensely" useful, but hopefully it's flavourful. Also, any ideas on what type of things people can understand from their languages would be helpful.


So far the spirit languages are:

Aquan, Water
Auran, Air
Ignan, Fire
Terran, Earth
Elven, Positive
Orc, Negative
D’ziriak, Colour
Shae, Darkness
Brethedan, Mountain
Girtablilu, Desert,
Treant, Forest
Vegepygmy, Jungle

[Eldan]

I sort of love the idea. Though I'm not sure how some things can be heard. Like, colour. Or does learning those languages turn you into a syntaestethe (sp)?

[Milo v3]

I sort of love the idea. Though I'm not sure how some things can be heard. Like, colour. Or does learning those languages turn you into a syntaestethe (sp)?

Well language isn't just audio, words are proof that language can also be visual. When you look at a word your mind comprehends it, and gives the squiggles meaning. When you look at something with a "proper" understanding of D’ziriak, your mind comprehends the colours, and gives the reflected light meaning. But.... I'm not entirely sure what colour could say.

[Dusk Raven]

An interesting notion. But, why do Elven and Orc, being languages spoken by mortal races, correspond to positive and negative energy? Why not, say, Celestial and Infernal/Abyssal?

[Milo v3]

An interesting notion. But, why do Elven and Orc, being languages spoken by mortal races, correspond to positive and negative energy? Why not, say, Celestial and Infernal/Abyssal?

Elven is because elves in this setting are children that have undergone symbiosis with a form of positive elemental called a leshy. Orc is because I needed a language for negative, but Celestial, Infernal, and Abyssal were all taken as mortal languages; with Celestial being one of the languages of the Unending Spires (air associated) since celestial mean relating to the sky, Infernal being one of the languages of the Crumbling Kingdoms (fire associated) because of inferno, and Abyssal is one of the languages of the Seapaths (water associated) because it means relating to the deepest parts of the ocean.

... I have a spreadsheet were it has all the languages in PF's SRD and then I associated them all with different things because the setting doesn't have good and evil so I had to rearrange the planes which made a lot of "outsider languages" attached to no one.

[ReturnOfTheKing]

I would so want to play in this world :smallbiggrin:

If you haven't elsewhere, could you tell us about it?

[Milo v3]

I would so want to play in this world :smallbiggrin:

If you haven't elsewhere, could you tell us about it?

The setting takes place over a period of 3,617,315 years with several "ages". The aim is to have a setting that isn't just the generic European fantasy, removes standard alignment, and develops at a sensible rate cosmologically, politically, and technologically. The elements have a large impact on the setting.

Krasis is the material realm, which is actually just a place where all the other planes overlap in a large enough amount that various terrains are formed, though each individual in the world will be more aligned to one element than the others; with the air dominate being deemed Unending Spires, places like colossal mountains and forests with trees that grow above the clouds until gravity itself shifts and people can choose which way is up. The earth dominate are called Labyrinths, mountains and hills that stir despite being at slumber with slowly changing caverns within, most races that dwell in the labyrinths make their settlements in the valleys between the hills and mountains as they are the most stable (though also the highest areas prone to flood with mild-acid). The fire dominated areas are Crumbling Kingdoms, these are normally savannah, plains, or deserts, where the very environment is a predator and the air feeds upon tools and buildings overtime. The water dominated areas are Seapaths, which range from swamps to rivers to seas and jungles, all full of life and poison, the very areas themselves move around and flow into the surroundings.

For quick reference the true planes of existence in the setting are:
Agartha – Earth
Barzakh – Ethereal
Hawaiki – Water
Mangala – Fire
Meropis – Shadow
Sheol – Negative
Takamagahara – Air
Yggdrasil – Positive

The ages basically go...

Age of Angels, Garden of Eden stage where everyone is around level 15 and is part of a magical class, and basically everyone takes the leadership feat because it grants a small army of spirits.
Age of Bone, stone age that takes up most of the time of the setting since the species have to rebuild themselves up from nothing and most don't even know the first age existed, with the only knowledge coming from those who speak with elementals. Instead of getting magic stuff from merchants; you do stuff like make offerings to your religion (selling), and asking for blessings from your religion (buying).
Age of Brass, sort of like the bronze age, except that spirits are starting to trust mortals again so a decent amount of people become bonded to elementals.
Age of Crystel, sort of like the iron age I suppose, except with Crystel instead of steel since carbon doesn't exist, instead you sort of merge the concepts of Iron (Earth [Hard]/Fire[Conflict]) and Crystal (Earth[Refined]) to create the alloy of Crystel.
Dorian Era, the age that covers the time from when the city/nation of Dori started and ended.
Theotic Era, the age when many religions became a major power in all planes, sort of medieval.
Modern Era, the age that is currently being undergone, and is most like the early modern period.


... and thats the short version I suppose.... I'm currently writing up a wikidot which will have all the information for every era individually.

[ReturnOfTheKing]

The setting takes place over a period of 3,617,315 years with several "ages". The aim is to have a setting that isn't just the generic European fantasy, removes standard alignment, and develops at a sensible rate cosmologically, politically, and technologically. The elements have a large impact on the setting.

Krasis is the material realm, which is actually just a place where all the other planes overlap in a large enough amount that various terrains are formed, though each individual in the world will be more aligned to one element than the others; with the air dominate being deemed Unending Spires, places like colossal mountains and forests with trees that grow above the clouds until gravity itself shifts and people can choose which way is up. The earth dominate are called Labyrinths, mountains and hills that stir despite being at slumber with slowly changing caverns within, most races that dwell in the labyrinths make their settlements in the valleys between the hills and mountains as they are the most stable (though also the highest areas prone to flood with mild-acid). The fire dominated areas are Crumbling Kingdoms, these are normally savannah, plains, or deserts, where the very environment is a predator and the air feeds upon tools and buildings overtime. The water dominated areas are Seapaths, which range from swamps to rivers to seas and jungles, all full of life and poison, the very areas themselves move around and flow into the surroundings.

For quick reference the true planes of existence in the setting are:
Agartha – Earth
Barzakh – Ethereal
Hawaiki – Water
Mangala – Fire
Meropis – Shadow
Sheol – Negative
Takamagahara – Air
Yggdrasil – Positive

The ages basically go...

Age of Angels, Garden of Eden stage where everyone is around level 15 and is part of a magical class, and basically everyone takes the leadership feat because it grants a small army of spirits.
Age of Bone, stone age that takes up most of the time of the setting since the species have to rebuild themselves up from nothing and most don't even know the first age existed, with the only knowledge coming from those who speak with elementals. Instead of getting magic stuff from merchants; you do stuff like make offerings to your religion (selling), and asking for blessings from your religion (buying).
Age of Brass, sort of like the bronze age, except that spirits are starting to trust mortals again so a decent amount of people become bonded to elementals.
Age of Crystel, sort of like the iron age I suppose, except with Crystel instead of steel since carbon doesn't exist, instead you sort of merge the concepts of Iron (Earth [Hard]/Fire[Conflict]) and Crystal (Earth[Refined]) to create the alloy of Crystel.
Dorian Era, the age that covers the time from when the city/nation of Dori started and ended.
Theotic Era, the age when many religions became a major power in all planes, sort of medieval.
Modern Era, the age that is currently being undergone, and is most like the early modern period.


... and thats the short version I suppose.... I'm currently writing up a wikidot which will have all the information for every era individually.

:eek:

That.

Is.

Quite possibly one of the most amazing worlds I have ever seen on these forums :smallbiggrin: (with the possible exception of that space one with the Halfling Nazis…)

Funnily enough, I had a similar idea where there was no Material Plane, simply a planar intersection. Basically, to the west was the endless oceans of the Plane of Water; to the east was the ever-rising mountains of the Plane of Earth; to the north was the cold and mysterious Auroric Plane(s), home of the gods; to the south were the savage jungles and volcanic wastelands of the Infernal Plane(s); going up is the Plane of Air; and going down is the Plane of Fire. They all met at an area of coastline, islands and fjords which was the equivalent of the Material Plane.

Out of curiosity, why'd you decide to remove the alignment system?

[Milo v3]

:eek:

That.

Is.

Quite possibly one of the most amazing worlds I have ever seen on these forums :smallbiggrin: (with the possible exception of that space one with the Halfling Nazis…)
Thanks :smallbiggrin:


Funnily enough, I had a similar idea where there was no Material Plane, simply a planar intersection. Basically, to the west was the endless oceans of the Plane of Water; to the east was the ever-rising mountains of the Plane of Earth; to the north was the cold and mysterious Auroric Plane(s), home of the gods; to the south were the savage jungles and volcanic wastelands of the Infernal Plane(s); going up is the Plane of Air; and going down is the Plane of Fire. They all met at an area of coastline, islands and fjords which was the equivalent of the Material Plane.
hmm... wouldn't that make most Gods have a cold association?


Out of curiosity, why'd you decide to remove the alignment system?
I don't like subjective alignments being objective, especially when you can physically travel to a place made of these subjective concepts that are objective, and shake hands with people made from these subjective/objective concepts.

Also, the exemplars of each alignment should be doing something in the material to make their views more common rather than just sitting back and doing nothing because of a hand-wavy agreement to not screw with the mortal realm.

So instead, everyone is aligned on two axis, polarity and nature. Polarity is whether your perspective is more positive or negative in your opinion, and nature is whichever element you think your most aligned towards. But, you can actually have a nature that isn't one of the four elements, being something like a combination of two elements (such as Steam) or a specific form of an element (lightning), or it can be the energy that animates you if you are a mindless creature such as a zombie or worm.

Once you die, your soul is split into two parts, one half turning into a positive or negative spirit as determined by your polarity, the other turning into a spirit associated with your nature. I prefer this over 3.5e's alignment system.

[ReturnOfTheKing]

hmm... wouldn't that make most Gods have a cold association?


Yeah, I just love the Arctic. I think The Golden Compass did it for me. I just figured, if gods walk on Earth, what better place for them to be than in such a mystical land? Plus, yanno, Asgard (the original, non-D&D, non-Marvel, non-anything besides Norse one).



I don't like subjective alignments being objective, especially when you can physically travel to a place made of these subjective concepts that are objective, and shake hands with people made from these subjective/objective concepts.

Also, the exemplars of each alignment should be doing something in the material to make their views more common rather than just sitting back and doing nothing because of a hand-wavy agreement to not screw with the mortal realm.

So instead, everyone is aligned on two axis, polarity and nature. Polarity is whether your perspective is more positive or negative in your opinion, and nature is whichever element you think your most aligned towards. But, you can actually have a nature that isn't one of the four elements, being something like a combination of two elements (such as Steam) or a specific form of an element (lightning), or it can be the energy that animates you if you are a mindless creature such as a zombie or worm.

Once you die, your soul is split into two parts, one half turning into a positive or negative spirit as determined by your polarity, the other turning into a spirit associated with your nature. I prefer this over 3.5e's alignment system.

This makes sense, and I agree with your point. I think that as soon as an intangible concept has a tangible representation or embodiment, the analogy collapses pretty quickly and you're left with a metaphysical mess. Your polarity/nature scheme is, in my opinion, genius and insanely original :smallbiggrin:

You are correct in that the whole "we swore not to interfere in the mortal realms" thing is kinda cliche and nonsense. It does make sense from an in-game perspective, but even though it'd probably be rather game-breaking (though not necessarily, as Dark Sun's Sorcerer-kings evidence), I would love to see a world where the gods hang out in the mortal realms all the time! Think Greek mythology, where you can bump into a god walking down the street and either get blessed with awesome powers, cursed with Greek tragedy, cursed with awesome or blessed with curse. Ah, the story hooks, the story hooks…

You know what? That should actually be a thing. A world where gods walk among men and the wars of heaven are fought on earth. Ooh, I'm getting all excited now! (You know I'm just talking to myself at this point, right? I tend to do that :smallredface:.)

[Milo v3]

You are correct in that the whole "we swore not to interfere in the mortal realms" thing is kinda cliche and nonsense. It does make sense from an in-game perspective, but even though it'd probably be rather game-breaking (though not necessarily, as Dark Sun's Sorcerer-kings evidence), I would love to see a world where the gods hang out in the mortal realms all the time! Think Greek mythology, where you can bump into a god walking down the street and either get blessed with awesome powers, cursed with Greek tragedy, cursed with awesome or blessed with curse. Ah, the story hooks, the story hooks…

You know what? That should actually be a thing. A world where gods walk among men and the wars of heaven are fought on earth. Ooh, I'm getting all excited now! (You know I'm just talking to myself at this point, right? I tend to do that :smallredface:.)

I think Exalted's setting is "meant" to be like this, but I've heard that it doesn't pan out like this since your playing the gods rather than gods just being around.