Darkstarr's Release 9 Impressions + Release 10 Plan

Cthonism? Cthonistic magic? I like

 

It is entirely possible they named those schools after historical deities on purpose.

 

Great discussion!

We are considering some of your suggestions. We DO WANT the magic schools to be "self evidently" named, and the current list may be too obscure to immediately bring to mind what is IN the school. I was particularly fond of the "mancy" suggestion by redfish! That way the runic on the sigil can stay the English words Earth, air etc.

Here is where I am at on a potential rethinking:

Life Magic: TBD Suggestions?
Death Magic --> Necromancy / Necromancer
Fire Magic --> Pyromancy / Pyromancer
Water --> Hydromancy / Hydromancer
Earth Magic --> Geomancy / Geomancer
Air Magic --> Aeromancy / Aeromancer
Sun Magic --> Heliomancy / Heliomancer
Moon Magic --> Lunamancy / Lunamancer
Focus --> TBD Suggestions?
Chaos --> TBD Suggestions?

BTW -
We also consider those that study the natural elements Earth/Air/Fire/Water to be Druids. Notice those all fit in a square
We also consider those that study the Life/Death/Sun/Moon magic to be TBD Suggestions? Notice these all fit into a diamond shape on the sigil.

Suggestions/discussion please?
JUST THINKING - NO GUARANTEES!

- Lord British

 

Will musical instruments be used to cause disarray within a group of monsters? If so would this be classed as magic or be its own skill type? (If instruments can be used in this fassion)

 

The -mancy suffix comes from the Greek μαντεία, meaning specifically divination, not magic in general. Necromancy gets the title because traditional necromancy is all about summoning spirits for counsel. It was the voodoo magic of talking to the dead, not a dark magic designed to control the dead.

If you really want to stick with the -mancy structure, I'd suggest:

Life Magic --> Animancy / Animancer or Vitamancy / Vitamancer
Focus --> Corimancy / Corimancer (not self-evident, but there aren't any synonyms for focus that have well-known Latin origins) or Medimancy / Medimancer -- it sounds a bit weird to have a name for someone who practices focus magic because shouldn't the effects of "focus magic" be prevailingly passive?
Chaos --> Maelstromancy / Maelstromancer

 

Love it!

Here are some suggestions: (in yellow)

I'm not sure all of the spell schools need a "mancy" as it works better in some schools than others.

I'd like to see some combination of spell school mastery equating to being an "Archmage". Perhaps if you have mastered in all of the diamond, part of the square, and Chaos? (this would depend on what your skill point max is)

I'll have to think more on this, these are just off the top of my head.

 

Honestly I thought having the schools just named after the elements themselves was enough. I am interested in the idea of there being Druids and Mages however that sounds kind of cool.

 

Those that practice Life / Death / Sun / Moon magic could be called Theurgists. Theurgy is the art of using magic principally to summon or unite with the divine. The sun, the moon, life, and death all have histories of being respected as divine in nature.

 

There's a school of divination called Chaomancy :> Literally chaos, though it refereed to the chaos of the winds in the air.

For focus I'm not sure you could use a traditional name except through analogy. Wikipedia, among other places does have a good list to look through. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_divination

Perhaps though, we could just go to Greek roots and come up with something from scratch.

Estiasis is Greek for focus, so it the most direct would be something like Estiasomancy.
Or, you could use Eidos, which is a well known for meaning a form, essence, or type, and get Eidomancy.
Or, you could use Pneuma, which means spirit and get Pneumomancy, although that usually means 'wind' since the spirit is related to the word for wind through the idea of 'breath'. Could also be used or life magic.
Or, you could use Psyche, for soul, and get Psychomancy.
Or, you could use Nous, for mind, and get Noomancy, (would be double-o, like in noosphere), although that might be used later for mind magic.
Or, you could use Logos, and get Logomancy.
Or, you could use Kosmos, and get Kosmomancer.
Or , arch, nomos, etc.etc.

Life, I don't know. You could derive from Bios or Zoi, although I don't know that those would give the right connotation. You could use Pneuma for spirit, as mentioned, since the life force was considered like a breath that inhabited the body, and left the body when it passed. (In Latin, this was referred to as the "tenuis aura", or subtle vapor; aura --> aer in Greek) So Pneumonancer.

Or Theos, and have it be Theomancy. That would be a similar meaning to "Theurgy".

Important ancient greek terms. http://people.wku.edu/jan.garrett/302/302greek.htm

 

Or for Focus you could go from the original idea of Omnipotence --> Omnimancer.

(Omnimancy)

 

So the ability to do everything and a practicer of every kind of divination?

 

Demonomancy is the term for conjuring demons and spirits, btw
http://books.google.com/books?id=9RwdcbWJVcUC&pg=PA178

(Necyomancy is "damned spirits", usually referring to Satan)

 

Dude's a historian, not a linguist. The Greek μαντεία (manteia) is the origin of the -mancy suffix. It represents prophesy or a diviner of prophesy.

 

Check out this tool if you're interested in the origins of words. It's incredibly useful.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

 

Yep I know. Divination with the aid of demons or spirits. But its similar to necromancy, in that its taken up a broader meaning from divination to more general conjuration. Necromancers not just being diviners but people raising the dead.

 

Could always use -urgy suffixes.

 

not in love with any of those.. far too scientific sounding.. I would suggest more creative names eg.. names that ancient peoples would think of...
water - cleansed water traveler
earth - deep planet energy
fire - fire tipped lashers
sun - corona fire worshiper
air - breath stealer and giver
lunar - lunar children
life - healing scion
... ya just some rough thoughts

Sorcerers??

 

Some of these are repeats, so just think of it as me adding my agreement to those names:

Life magic - Vivamancy (after looking at the spell list, it made more sense than Biomancy, and is less awkward than Vitamancy, or VITAMIN MAGIC!)
Focus magic - Psychomancy
Chaos magic - Chaomancy

 

Thank you! As Druids are important in Ultima lore they need a focus on SotA too. Hence why the Celtic Order of Druids and Bards was created in UO by us players of the Lake Austin shard to further the recognition. CODB has been in SotA as a player guild since the end of the SotA kickstarter recruiting and has a home in Dara Brae, the Celtic Holdfast.

We appreciate it!

 

Hmm...for the Life/Death/Sun/Moon schools, the title should be something that suggests otherworldliness...some brainstormed suggestions: Priest, Astrologer, Cosmologist, Prophet, Seer...