Thread for vocabulary queries.
Right now, I need one for a game stat that basically means "the strength of your soul"-- like, how much "soulpower" you have, only less dumb of a word. I also need it to be value-neutral term, so words like "holy" or "sacred" that imply a moral whatsit are out. Also need to avoid anything that would imply a connection to a specific religious idea or tradition of magic. Just your regular acknowledgement that hey, in this culture almost everybody's at least a little bit magically attuned, but some are more magical than others.
Answers? Other questions?
Spirit? Ardor? Zeal?
Those are a couple off the top of my head.
Chakra, mana, Nen, Ego, Breath, Animus, Vitality, élan vital, Essence,
Could also make up a word fairly easily.
Numina, Pneuma, Will, Anima/Animus.
Ego, Essence, Fevor, Quintessence, Pnumena, Vivacity
Okay, excellent suggestions! While I mull them over, how about a word that encapsulates being cool under pressure, having nerves of steel, steadiness amid a crisis... that sort of thing?
Cool, Poise, Grit, Determination, Valor, Vigor, Vim, Poise, Nerves
Resolve.
EDIT: What genre are we working in? Like, if this is a tongue-in-cheek noir game I'd call it "Moxy," if it were a gritty war-game I'd call it "Guts" or "Fortitude" or something, etc.
For the first one, why not something simple like Power or Will?
For the second.... well Will might work here too, or how about Focus?
If you want a different approach, there's always the idea of naming your stats "___ing stuff," where ___ is a verb.
Ditto on the genre-question.
I would add "mettle" to the list of possibilities for your second question.
Thanks for the wonderful suggestions, everyone.
The genre question, that's important information I should have included from the start, eh? I'm still nailing it down, but it's shaping up to be a desert-focused fantasy, with all caravans and tower-scaling assassins and evil viziers and things. Swashbuckley and infused throughout in a low-grade, vaguely malevolent sort of magic.
I think I'm going to go adjectival for the stat names, and some words are easier to convert that way than others. (Really like "mettle", Polycarp, but can't make it fit.) For now, the placeholder stat names are Clever, Subtle, Ruthless, Focused, and Mystic. (Focused is the one from my second question, and I'm pretty happy with it-- thanks, Kindling; Mystic is the one from my first question, and I'm still looking at alternatives.)
(See how every term is an adjective of two syllables, with the accent on the first? This is the level of meticulous frippery on which I am currently operating. If you see signs of pentameter, send paramedics.)
I don't have anything new to offer on the "soul power" one, though would I would most likely go for something like "spirit." In Geas/Cad Goleor I am currently thinking I will call the equivalent "Sovereignty" but that is rather particular to the worldview of that setting, not so widely applicable.
For the keeping one's cool, I would also like to add "Equilibrium" as a possibility.
Quote from: Luminous CrayonThe genre question, that's important information I should have included from the start, eh? I'm still nailing it down, but it's shaping up to be a desert-focused fantasy, with all caravans and tower-scaling assassins and evil viziers and things. Swashbuckley and infused throughout in a low-grade, vaguely malevolent sort of magic.
This sounds pretty cool.
1001 Nights,
Vathek, Clark Ashton Smith, that sort of thing?
Quote from: Lmns Crn
(See how every term is an adjective of two syllables, with the accent on the first? This is the level of meticulous frippery on which I am currently operating. If you see signs of pentameter, send paramedics.)
That is actually super cool. I love stuff like that.
Quote from: Steerpike
Quote from: Luminous CrayonThe genre question, that's important information I should have included from the start, eh? I'm still nailing it down, but it's shaping up to be a desert-focused fantasy, with all caravans and tower-scaling assassins and evil viziers and things. Swashbuckley and infused throughout in a low-grade, vaguely malevolent sort of magic.
This sounds pretty cool. 1001 Nights, Vathek, Clark Ashton Smith, that sort of thing?
After a quick search of Clark Ashton Smith, I think yeah.
My driving motivation behind this project is to be able to cover the kinds of material that the Jade Stage just can't. So my big priorities were to have a humans-only world, to make magic ubiquitous but unstructured, to knock down organized religion and replace it with superstition and fear of "gods", and to obscure the details of history. The use of a desert setting is in part a way to represent via the landscape that
everything is hostile and unforgiving (from the caliphs to the spirits to the actual geography itself), but as much as anything else it's a dramatic shift to underline the clean break between this and the other stuff I've done in the past.
tl,dr; I don't know if it's accurate to say
"Scheherazade meets Shai Hulud" but it's snappy and it's got alliteration, so take that for what you will.
But I should probably hold off on further elaboration for a dedicated thread on the topic.
Quote from: SteerpikeThat is actually super cool. I love stuff like that.
The linguistic game is a foot!
Is this thread for general inquiries about words? Because if so, I'm going to toss one out there as opposed to making a new thread - I realized the name "Corpus" is far too bland feeing for the flesh of titans and their ilk that powers technology (Zhoatech) in Keldora, so I'm looking for another one that could be used to evoke a similar feel, meaning flesh or body. (I also need one that means blood) I'll be happy to take real-world words or words from another language or even totally madeup words that evoke that kind of feel. :)
Seeing as titans are from Greek mythology maybe use Greek words? A little light googling gives me soma for body, sarx for flesh, and haima or ema for blood.
For the blood of unnatural things, I've always been a huge fan of using Ichor (especially appropriate here given Greek origins). Humour/humor (as in the Four Humours) might also work?
As for the flesh, I'm going out on a tad of a Judeo-Christian limb here but what about oblation/sacrament?
Quote from: Xathan
Is this thread for general inquiries about words?
Yes.
Quote from: XathanI'm going to toss one out there as opposed to making a new thread - I realized the name "Corpus" is far too bland feeing for the flesh of titans and their ilk that powers technology (Zhoatech) in Keldora, so I'm looking for another one that could be used to evoke a similar feel, meaning flesh or body. (I also need one that means blood) I'll be happy to take real-world words or words from another language or even totally madeup words that evoke that kind of feel.
Could you use "Zhoa", to tie it back into Zhoatech? Or is that already taken up with another meaning in your setting?
Quote from: HippopotamusDundeeHumour/humor (as in the Four Humours) might also work?
If you're going with fours, you could link these Titan materials to the classical elements, the humours, whatever. Maybe the flesh of the titans corresponds to Earth, their blood to Water, their breath to Air, and their will to Fire.
Thanks for the feedback! I'm loving Sarx for blood and Ichor for body - feel very appropriate to the setting and tone, and the greekiness of it makes me quite happy. :)
and LC, Zhoa is the name of the realm of dead immortals, otherwise I would totally use it.
QuoteIf you're going with fours, you could link these Titan materials to the classical elements, the humours, whatever. Maybe the flesh of the titans corresponds to Earth, their blood to Water, their breath to Air, and their will to Fire.
There is so much awesome in that idea. I really am going to start considering semi-rebuilding a chunk of the setting around that concept - and if I don't, it's something I hope someone uses, because damn that's cool.