Need a name for this setting element (spontaneously gaining power)

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Quick breakdown. This setting has primarily demons and angels as its supernatural elements. Each has a way of growing in power, and for each it's tied to leadership and authority.

Demons are associated with chaos. They gain power whenever their authority/leadership is accepted/acknowledged, spontaneously developing new powers or improving on old ones. It's theorized that this originated as an adaptation for dealing with their chaotic and deadly home plane; when a group member comes up with an idea good enough to convince the others, this gives them a power boost to help them execute it. The more genuine/deep the subordination, the more power gained, which led to a culture of warring tribes constantly trying to conquer each other (I'm not married to this social structure, but it's what I've got for now).

This growth in power was a huge advantage in the war with the angels, and it wasn't long before they came up with a ritual to match it. The angel version is used almost exclusively as a reward for rising in the ranks, to the point that it's simply called "promotion".

So that's one name out of the way. I can't come up with a good name for the demonic spontaneous power growth, though. "Semi-controlled spontaneous power growth" is way too much of a mouthful. I'd prefer one not already being used by another setting, so "emergence" from TZKS is out. A friend of mine suggested "descent", but it's just not clicking for me.

Any ideas? (I'll also entertain suggestions for better names for the angel version)

[Wizard_Lizard]

How about Fall?
like a third Fall would be a set, and then a Fourth Fall, kinda,

[PoeticallyPsyco]

How about Fall?
like a third Fall would be a set, and then a Fourth Fall, kinda,

Hmm, let's try it out.
"...big Fall"
"...small Fall"
"Honestly, I was confident I could beat you before I Fell. Now? You are already dead."

It works pretty well. Not completely sold on it yet, partially because of the term "fallen angel", which in this setting could be a cool connection or just confusing. I also like its connotations of being at best semi-controllable.

[Eldan]

Awakening? Enlightenment (used perhaps rather ironically)? Uhm. Opening. Dawn. Advent. Exaltation (that one's already taken). Elevation. Magnification.

Yeah, I can't thinking of anything pithy either. But I think looking at more spiritual terms isn't bad as a start.

[D&D_Fan]

Ascendancy/Descendancy

Ranking Up/Down

Heightened

Empowered

"I have Descended to great evil, and now? Now I am truly powerful. Do you heroes truly think you have even a chance to defeat such a foe as I? You mortals will never be able to achieve the vast power I posses. I will mercifully smite you and end this Once and for all! - Epic monologue from some evil villain.

[SunderedWorldDM]

(Credit where credit is due to Thesaurus.com, of course!)

Apotheosis?
A nice, good old fashioned Upgrade?
Ennoblement?
Rise?
Furtherance?
Aggrandizement?
Maybe even something like Spasm or Mutation or Evolution or Adaptation?

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Thanks for the brainstorming, guys. I'll keep mulling them over, but I thought I'd address a few specific suggestions EDIT: and ramble about my setting a bit.

"Enlightened" is a no-go, since it's already a technical term in the setting. Angels born with the ability to wield "the Divine Dight" (basically pure soul/magic energy) instead of powers based on their heredity like normal are called "the Enlightened", because it's theorized (correctly) that they are the reincarnations of former human souls (or in extremely rare cases demon souls) instead of angel souls. The demonic equivalent is the "Damned". (There isn't really a human equivalent, because no humans are born with enough raw power to manifest any innate magic.)

"Apotheosis" sounds to big in scale for this. Most growths in power are relatively subtle; a slight healing factor that doesn't work during combat is one of the first ones seen. Even the biggest... I really do need a name for this, dancing around it like this is awkward as Hell... power growth I have planned for the story is a noticeable boost to speed and strength, toughened skin, and a new mostly-prehensile tail and extra set of arms, the last of which only appeared because the demon in question wasn't prepared for how powerful the surge was. (OTOH, she was pretty low level in the scheme of things, and I imagine once you get to the level of conquering cities the power growth gets pretty dang big.)

"Mutation" could work, but it sounds too physical to me. Less than a third of demon powers are based on enhancing their bodies ("behemoth" powers; demons with primarily these are called "behemoths"); the other two major categories are elemental/environmental manipulation ("leviathan(s)") and a grab-all category for anything subtle/manipulative/social ("succubus/succubi", though I might change this to some variation of "Simurgh" or "Ziz" to keep up the theme naming). Then there's the Damned, who only get new uses for, and a stronger ability to channel, Hellfire. Most demons who aren't Damned have powers from two or three of the main categories.

[Logosloki]

How forceful a name do you want it to be? Domination is a naturally demonic theme and would help a new player or DM to feel into the philosophy. If you want a power, you must have dominion over it. To have dominion over a power you need supplicants. The more supplicants or more fervour your supplicants have the closer you are to gaining the power you desire.

Wrap it all up in an overarching name like Tyrant's Crown. A Tyrant is one who has absolute dominion over their supplicants and so draws power from them which grants them gifts. The gifts are symbolised by a crown (which can be as real or metaphorical as you like).

[PoeticallyPsyco]

How forceful a name do you want it to be? Domination is a naturally demonic theme and would help a new player or DM to feel into the philosophy. If you want a power, you must have dominion over it. To have dominion over a power you need supplicants. The more supplicants or more fervour your supplicants have the closer you are to gaining the power you desire.

Wrap it all up in an overarching name like Tyrant's Crown. A Tyrant is one who has absolute dominion over their supplicants and so draws power from them which grants them gifts. The gifts are symbolised by a crown (which can be as real or metaphorical as you like).

Domination is too forceful, I think; the demon gaining power doesn't actually get any kind of magical authority over the ones granting it (if anything, now they have a societal obligation to protect them, like vassalage). "Dominion" might work, though...

Hang on. What's the counterpart term for vassalage? The term for receiving fealty in exchange for obligations instead of giving it? Is there such a word?

EDIT: The closest I've found is "suzerainty". That's a bit hard to verb, but I guess I could just throw "achieve(d)" in front of it.

[Eldan]

Whoops: Sorry. Misunderstood, not what you mean.

[Eldan]

Homage, is the closest term I can find.

[Wizard_Lizard]

Thought about it for a second. I'd go with angels getting "Gifts" and demons gaining "Edges."


"Honestly, I was confident I could vanquish you before I received my Gift. Now? You are already defeated."

"Honestly, I was confident I could destroy you before my Edge manifested. Now? You are already dead."


You could expound it further as angels receiving Gifts of Illumination and demons grasping Edges of Chaos when accumulating new powers... Just some quick thoughts, YMMV.

That sounds really cool!

[Biggus]

How about "annealing"? In a technical sense it means melting and reforming, coming back more flexible (which fits the theme of demons being creatures of chaos) but in more general usage it means to strengthen or toughen (which fits with the idea of gaining power).

[Elves]

Rising and Falling
Ladder of Being
Layers of Divinity
Levels of Grace
Ad Infinitum
Clash with the Angels
Mutating Grace
Asura
More than Mortal
Progress of Spirit
Soulcrest

Edit: sorry I thought you were looking for a name for your setting.

If you just want to name the mechanic, the medieval idea of the scala naturae is the obvious place to look.

[Nifft]

Rampancy.

Malignancy.

Or, if it's supposed to be the opposite of elevation / promotion, perhaps Deepening.

"Yes, you were a match for my power when last we met, but right now I'm just too Deep for you."

[Bohandas]

Descendancy

I like this, it has a ring to it that's reminiscent both of Homestuck and of Discworld

This growth in power was a huge advantage in the war with the angels, and it wasn't long before they came up with a ritual to match it. The angel version is used almost exclusively as a reward for rising in the ranks, to the point that it's simply called "promotion".

I think "promotion" is already the standard name for metamorphosis into a more powerful type of fiend if that's what you're referring to

So that's one name out of the way. I can't come up with a good name for the demonic spontaneous power growth, though. "Semi-controlled spontaneous power growth" is way too much of a mouthful.

I do like the sound of "Semi-controlled spontaneous power growth" though, it sounds like the kind of phrase you'd hear from Egon from Ghostbusters

[PoeticallyPsyco]

How about "annealing"? In a technical sense it means melting and reforming, coming back more flexible (which fits the theme of demons being creatures of chaos) but in more general usage it means to strengthen or toughen (which fits with the idea of gaining power).

Hmm, I think this is my new favorite, not least because it's easy to conjugate. It also fits the idea of a rapid influx of power, which then settles.

Second place probably goes to Dominion, which is hard to verb, but has nice connotations of leadership/control.

Also, I'd just like to say you guys have come up with a lot of great options. This is going to be a hard choice!

Rising and Falling
Ladder of Being
Layers of Divinity
Levels of Grace
Ad Infinitum
Clash with the Angels
Mutating Grace
Asura
More than Mortal
Progress of Spirit
Soulcrest

Edit: sorry I thought you were looking for a name for your setting.

If you just want to name the mechanic, the medieval idea of the scala naturae is the obvious place to look.

I actually rather like More than Mortal as a name for the story. Might be a bit of a giveaway that the third main character is not the vanilla human he thinks he is, though. (OTOH, I have been worrying that that reveal needs some foreshadowing to not feel like as much of a Deus ex Machina.)

[Onos]

Things seem pretty well in hand but I don't think I've seen these crop up:

Tempered/tempering

Growth (sometimes simple works)

Surge (underwent a Surge, "her power is Surging!")

Unveiling/unmasking

Shift

Flux

Achieve ("and now I have Achieved true power!")

Claim/proclaim/declaim (/exclaim!/s)

Twist

Shatter ("he's Shattered his previous limits!")

Assurance

Reversion

Warp

Adapt

Sounds like an interesting setting!

[Eldan]

Ooh, I do like Temper. Good implication of violently getting tougher.

[D&D_Fan]

@Eldan
I think Onos means Temper as in Tempering
Not Temper as in "I have a short temper."
I do like Temper though.

[Eldan]

No, I know what was meant. I just think I confused it a bit with hardening. I meant "getting harder through violence" as the implication with tempering is being heated up and then hit with a hammer, which can be seen as kind of violent.

[Biggus]

Hmm, I think this is my new favorite, not least because it's easy to conjugate. It also fits the idea of a rapid influx of power, which then settles.

Second place probably goes to Dominion, which is hard to verb, but has nice connotations of leadership/control.

Been thinking about this a bit more, it occurred to me that if you wanted a parallel term to annealing for angels, something like refining or purifying (or crystallizing, especially if they're lawful) could work.

I also thought dominion was a good parallel to promotion, but I conjugating it sounds super clunky (dominionized, dominionated...ugh). If you go with that might be better not to conjugate it at all and instead say something like "I have received dominion" or "she has achieved greater dominion" or "they have increased their dominion".

Finally, I thought "elevated" might be a good alternative to promoted for angels (demons fall, angels rise...).

[Yakk]

Tribute.

"I have received your Tribute."
"In exchange for this service, I demand Tribute."

This can also be matched with the Persian "soil and water". You give your master a sign of supplication.

For demons, it could be "blood and dirt". You cut yourself, drip blood on the ground. Then you mix the ground with the blood, and draw a symbol representing your subordination.

"I demand Tribute of Blood and Soil. Will you submit, or will you die?"