tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post8230071276121311036..comments2024-03-27T23:28:19.341-07:00Comments on Telecanter's Receding Rules: Magic as an Old LanguageTelecanterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07238356788092725244noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-67782270128442980902011-11-01T18:26:01.674-07:002011-11-01T18:26:01.674-07:00The ultima games did this too.The ultima games did this <a href="http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/Britannian_Magic" rel="nofollow">too</a>.Josh Wnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-42203118263311483572011-10-08T14:34:42.145-07:002011-10-08T14:34:42.145-07:00As I was expecting, you all have provided awesome ...As I was expecting, you all have provided awesome examples. Thanks.<br /><br />I think the hazy memory of I had was of Earthsea, Joseph.Telecanterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238356788092725244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-71629931724203706502011-10-07T03:09:04.868-07:002011-10-07T03:09:04.868-07:00Donjon by Clinton R. Nixon has a magic system wher...Donjon by Clinton R. Nixon has a magic system where you spontaneously combine words out of the PC's magical vocabulary during play to create spells. The difficulty and effect of the spell is defined by the number o words used: http://open.crngames.com/src/donjon.html#magicliorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17490529238168905242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-10392819945300373512011-10-06T16:35:06.300-07:002011-10-06T16:35:06.300-07:00Ars Magica used a kind of dog-Latin to produce sim...Ars Magica used a kind of dog-Latin to produce simple, verb-object magical sentences, but I don't think the Latin tags actually represented the words being spoken - more like a shorthand.Roger G-Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-42224968744229025052011-10-06T14:15:59.832-07:002011-10-06T14:15:59.832-07:00The more common version of this seen in mythology ...The more common version of this seen in mythology is the power of names. Name something and you have power over it. That part has a lot of mythic resonance to it (since it's more or less true).<br /><br />When you add in a whole language with verbs and conjunctions and so on, the implication is not so much that it's some lost language of the ancients, but the language of the gods themselves, since someone fluent in that language would be essentially omnipotent. That part doesn't usually get acknowledged in fiction (although it brings to mind the word placed in a golem's mouth. Also, "let there be light...").Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07090296806321882601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-49469751109075826812011-10-06T14:01:21.749-07:002011-10-06T14:01:21.749-07:00I believe that's similar to the concept behind...I believe that's similar to the concept behind the magic in Earthsea.jgbrowninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16274622778419965618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-76590554507928266092011-10-06T13:32:32.692-07:002011-10-06T13:32:32.692-07:00The Game 'Shadow of Yesterday' by Clinton ...The Game 'Shadow of Yesterday' by Clinton R Nixon has a language calle 'Zu' in which every stated thing comes to be.<br /><br />If you know the word for 'fire' then you can create fire. The word for snakes creates snakes. Learn 'huge' and you can make huge snakes. You can only learn new words through play.<br /><br />Only one person can know each word at any one time so the race that originated it is in a state of permenant conflict with word-thieves and with itself. Radicals and conservatives fight to control the use of the language.pjamesstuarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13288777018721199748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-31453858491090085972011-10-06T13:12:54.451-07:002011-10-06T13:12:54.451-07:00Interesting concept. As I recall there are some o...Interesting concept. As I recall there are some other areas where magic is handled with "real words", such as in the David Drake Island books, or in some of Dan Abnett's 40k books, where those that seek power are trying to re-create the language of the universe.<br /><br />In that later case, controlling the language allows one to make changes to the universe (mostly as effects), and handling the words poorly caused damage to the speaker. <br /><br />And isn't assembling a new magic from various word bits what the magic in Loom was like?Lasgunpackerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13529298072677726064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6446461178381374626.post-10008210535786256002011-10-06T13:04:14.203-07:002011-10-06T13:04:14.203-07:00Perhaps the best "real world" source for...Perhaps the best "real world" source for this would be Laycock's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Enochian-Dictionary-Language-Revealed/dp/1578632544" rel="nofollow">Enochian Dictionary</a>, compiled from Dee and Kelley's communication with angels via scrying stones. It's a delightfully incomplete lexicon, full of suggestive holes, and not that easy to construct useful sentences out of.<br /><br />Recently I saw a discussion trying to find in-universe reasons why the spells in Harry Potter should be in <em>bad</em> Latin. It's an interesting question - is the "bad" Latin the proper powerful language - have all our mundane documents been rendered "safe" by being magically misspelled? Or do the magic-granting entities deliberately choose encrypted (misspelled) versions of words to prevent magical misfires? Or are they simply incapable of producing anything uncorrupted...richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13517340075234811323noreply@blogger.com