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Jack Zander
2007-12-13, 01:57 PM
If you were to create a new school of magic to be an anti necromancy school of sorts (life magic) what would it be called?

Fuum Bango
2007-12-13, 02:00 PM
Vervemancy. :smallcool:

Jack Zander
2007-12-13, 02:02 PM
Vervemancy. :smallcool:

What's that from?

Latin translations give me vitamancy (life magic) or curamancy (healing magic).

Curamancy is a little to plain. Vitamancy might work. Vervemancy doesn't sound too bad either.

AmberVael
2007-12-13, 02:04 PM
Well, thinking that necromancy comes from Greek...
Biomancy?
Zotanomancy?

Edit: Those come from "life" and "alive" respectively. If you wanted to use the word healing, you could base it off of the word Therapevo. (Therapemancy?)

Jack Zander
2007-12-13, 02:08 PM
Come to think of it, it doesn't have to end with -mancy. Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, and Transmutation all do well without the -mancy suffix. Funny how only necromancy uses it.

RandomFellow
2007-12-13, 02:09 PM
I'd go with Biomancy or Vitamancy....but necromancy is based around the manipulation of lifeforce and fear. So another lifeforce manipulating school wouldn't really be the polar opposite of it.

AmberVael
2007-12-13, 02:10 PM
Well, now that you mention it, the "mancy" comes from the greek word which is transliterated as manteía, which means roughly "divination." Necromancy was originally speaking with the spirits of the dead, after all.
I suppose you could find a different greek word for the ending?

Jack Zander
2007-12-13, 02:14 PM
Every translator that I can find translates into pure greek with no English characters. Therefore I am forced to use latin for my translations.

Magic = veneficus or magus

No luck there...

EDIT: Live = ago, actum, egi, degero, gradior, anhelo

Actumancy? Actumation? Vitation?

Hmmm.... vitation magic... I like...

AmberVael
2007-12-13, 02:16 PM
http://www.kypros.org/cgi-bin/lexicon

That's the one I've been using, since I don't have access to my Greek book at the moment. Not that I have an overly large book anyways.

Jack Zander
2007-12-13, 02:23 PM
http://www.kypros.org/cgi-bin/lexicon

That's the one I've been using, since I don't have access to my Greek book at the moment. Not that I have an overly large book anyways.

Thanks!

Let's see:
life = zoi, bios
live = zo, katoiko, diameno, zontanos, zoiros
magic = magikos
divine = theikos
holy = agios

Nope, still like vitation the best. Vervation? Naw, vitation is still better.

EDIT: Latin for holy = sanctus, pius, pia, pia pium
sanctumancy? sanctumation? piumancy? piumation?

vitation keeps looking better and better...

AmberVael
2007-12-13, 02:35 PM
Mmm. Your problem is that you keep putting in the same endings that don't quite work.

"-ation"
1. An action or process - e.g. hibernation.
2. The result of an action or process - e.g. accumulation.
3. A state or quality - e.g. exhilaration.

Thus Vitation becomes...
The process of life? The consequence/result of life? Being alive?
Anything "mancy" becomes divination. Meh.

So what would be good for healing?

How about...
xananiono- rejuvenate.

Well, that's a bit long, but it has interesting potential. -ation would be a proper ending for it, too.

Now, if we just combined those it would be...

Xananionation. A bit of a mouthful.
Xanation, perhaps? The process of rejuvenating?


Techni would be an interesting suffix. "Art" or crafts. Skill with the hands. It would imply a practice or trade- certainly a suitable idea.
Biotechni. Heh. Biotechnology. Didn't mean to stumble onto that word. Hm hm hm.

Maroon
2007-12-13, 02:39 PM
How about, I dunno, Restoration? Divination is both a school and a spell, after all. And if you go with Necromancy being evil, what about Benefaction? Necromancy corrupts and harms, Benefaction purifies and heals. It's the best of both worlds, it's understandable to any english-speaker AND it's derived from a dead language!

Jack Zander
2007-12-13, 02:47 PM
It's bland, but benefaction isn't so bad. I mean, enchantment and illusion is rather no duh anyway.

The process of life or the act of living may be silly definitions, but vitation still isn't too bad. Esp when those who focus in it are called vitists or viters or vitationists.

But befactionists or benefactors or even benefactists are ringy too.

Yami
2007-12-14, 01:48 AM
Necromancy.

I'd just bring it back to it's roots.

Maldraugedhen
2007-12-14, 01:51 AM
But since classical necromancy is life force and fear, do life force and confidence / sheer arrogance.

hamstard4ever
2007-12-14, 02:00 AM
Conjuration is a bit too diverse to my tastes, so in the interests of balancing out the spell schools I've been toying with the idea of splitting off Conjuration (Creation) and Conjuration (Healing) into their own school (which might get a couple of Transmutation spells too), which I've taken to calling Demiurgy--a bit pretentious, but the name evokes a positive force of creation and construction. Not quite an exact opposite for necromancy, so it might not be what you're looking for, but it's a possibility.

RandomFellow
2007-12-14, 06:02 AM
Necromancy.

I'd just bring it back to it's roots.

Its what I did for Erth...but if I was making a new school...well ya. =)

Armads
2007-12-14, 09:28 AM
Name it whatever you like, since all it's defining spells are Conjuration anyway :smallbiggrin:

Vivamancy might do. It's like Vivicarnum (adaptation of necrocarnum from MoI), but with a different ending.

magic8BALL
2007-12-14, 04:42 PM
Necromancy - "death (nerco-) magic (-mancy)"
The opposite to death is life, using the derivation: animate - "to bring to life", life-magic would be animancy "life (ani-) magic (-mancy)".

AmberVael
2007-12-14, 05:05 PM
Except, as I already stated above, magic8ball, the "-mancy" suffix doesn't mean magic, it comes from the greek word manteía, which means divination, not magic in general.
Furthermore, "necro-" comes from "nekros" which means dead, not death, hence the proper word would be alive, not life.

magic8BALL
2007-12-14, 05:25 PM
So that means necromancy is "dead divination", to learn of death and its processes. As a school of magic, in D&D, "death magic" will suffice, no?

So "alive divination" would be it's counter still, will it not? I may have got there the wrong way, and I'll be the first to admit I'm probly not as good with ancient languages as I would like, but animancy, to learn of life and its processes would still be the opposite of necromancy.

Maroon
2007-12-14, 05:50 PM
So that means necromancy is "dead divination", to learn of death and its processes. As a school of magic, in D&D, "death magic" will suffice, no?

So "alive divination" would be it's counter still, will it not? I may have got there the wrong way, and I'll be the first to admit I'm probly not as good with ancient languages as I would like, but animancy, to learn of life and its processes would still be the opposite of necromancy.

It's not foretelling the dead, it's foretelling by the dead. Divination is not studying, it's uncovering secrets or the future (well originally it's asking the gods what they're planning for the future but let's not go there). Biomancy (anima is Latin not Greek) would be foretelling the future by consulting living people.

Which when you think about it makes much more sense since you'd expect them to be more up to date.

AmberVael
2007-12-14, 10:22 PM
Furthermore, while the Dnd Necromancy school carries that name, it has an extremely different function. It has to do with death and undeath in general, not just using them for divination.
So we have to ask ourselves- are we making an opposite of the basis of Necromancy, or the DnD Necromancy school?
I assume the latter. As such, the suffix meaning "divination" is not appropriate unless the background of the name dictates it to be so.

Furthermore, even if we were making an opposite of necromancy as it was originally, why would divination be the opposite of divination? If we're mirroring life, why would we drop out mirroring another aspect? Would not the opposite of Divining by the Dead be something other than Divining by the Living? It's like saying Lawful Evil is the opposite of Lawful Good, when in reality it should be Chaotic Evil that is the opposite of Lawful Good.

lord of pixies
2007-12-14, 11:00 PM
this is all pointless; wiz. and sorc. wernt supposed to have acsess to healing majic thats what clarics are for!:smallfurious:!

besides if it was why not call it restoration)

magic8BALL
2007-12-15, 12:12 AM
So we have to ask ourselves- are we making an opposite of the basis of Necromancy, or the DnD Necromancy school?
I assume the latter. As such, the suffix meaning "divination" is not appropriate unless the background of the name dictates it to be so.

So you'd like to change the Necromancy school's name as well..? I don't really see the point. Necromancy conjures up the image of dead things and magic and BBEG making hordes of zombies and such.. dose it really matter that they have to go to divination school to divine..?


Would not the opposite of Divining by the Dead be something other than Divining by the Living? It's like saying Lawful Evil is the opposite of Lawful Good, when in reality it should be Chaotic Evil that is the opposite of Lawful Good.

I can only see one reflection at a time. How about you? Sure, if you hold two mirrors perpendicular to each other, you can see a relfection of a relection, but thats not the same.

When picking the oposite to something, it's best to oppose one thing at a time, I find. That way, there is a line of relection. With LE vs LG,the line is Law, and everyone concered is worried about wich side of the line they are on.

Not that that analogy has much to do with "spells that deal with negative energy (necromancy)" verses "spells that deal with positive energy (healing magic, why not?)". In your world it would be more like "spells that deal with negative energy (nercotechni)" verse "completely mundane, untrained non-ritual that does not deal with positive matter (whatever the Acient Greeks thought of that)".

AmberVael
2007-12-15, 12:30 AM
First, no, I wouldn't change the name unless I wanted to reflavor Necromancy's background, because it has a definable background and history that means it originally was created from communicating with dead spirits.
Just because something starts out as one art doesn't mean it stays that way. Which is why so many things are now defined as necromancy.

That is why I said we should focus on getting a correct suffix for "life magic" because it does NOT have roots in divination with spirits. We don't know where it starts out, but we'll assume, for practicality, that it started out somewhere similar to where it is today.

Secondly, yes, you do need a point of reflection, but our point of reflection is schools: classifications of magic. We're not reflecting life and death, because death is merely one aspect of necromancy. When you think anti-necromancy, life and death are some of the major points, but that is not all to think about.

Jack Zander
2007-12-15, 12:46 AM
Yeah, I'm looking for an excuse to make all of necromancy spells evil (death and undeath) and take the good out of it to make another school of magic that only involves the good aspects (life and healing).

I'm actually growing on restoration, but not because of a particular poster without a spell checker, lack of any good points, or capitalization knowledge. I never said anything about giving wizards and sorcerers access to the healing spells. Just because a spell falls under a certain school of magic doesn't mean wizards and sorcerers can cast it :smallsigh:

mikeejimbo
2007-12-15, 01:20 AM
EDIT: Live = ago, actum, egi, degero, gradior, anhelo

Actumancy? Actumation? Vitation?


Probably a bit late to bring this up, since you discarded the idea, but basing it off of the word 'ago' or 'actum' (being two forms of the same word), would be too broad. "Live" is but one of 'ago's many meanings, depending on context. It's an awesome word, and the only others that come close for me are 'eo' (eo, ire, ivi, itus) and 'res' (res, rei, f, if I'm not mistaken).

Archangel Yuki
2007-12-15, 02:01 AM
I have to say that considering that Vael said that Necromancy is Dead Magic, as in magic that is currently being dead.
Magic that is technally being alive would be pretty pimp. Living, breathing magic? Magic that adapts, overcomes, and evolves?