Help me name my nature based magic system please! http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155 Alaskan_Adventurer Hello, so far the name of my magic system is Naturalism/Naturalist. To gain maximum effect, you will need to be in a forest or at least outside in nature. If you are in a city far from a forest, magic is nearly ineffective and the tiny bit of energy can be very unpredictable. For the most powerful spells, seeds, nuts, leaves and various parts of plants are required. What do you think? Got any other unique ideas that might be fun to add to this system? Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:01:25 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134161 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134161 BeeJayCue The elves in my fantasy world use nature magic through leeching. That is, they take a characteristic from something found in nature and apply it to themselves or someone else. So if a warrior wants to have magical armor, he "borrows" the hardness from a rock, the bigger the rock the greater the armor. But h'd have to return it to the rock within a day or the rock becomes useless powder. They alos use shed snake skins to rejuvenate and don't return the years to the skin since the snakle will be shedding another one in ayear's time Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:05:02 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134710 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134710 ForgottenFaith_15 Reminds me a little of Artemis Fowl :) What about something to do with the word 'terra' - though you'd have to be careful not to make it sound like terrorist. The system sounds interesting - though you may have to deal with de-urbanisation(?). Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:57:17 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1138979 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1138979 Kamboolii It sounds more plant-based than nature-based. I mean, what is 'nature?' How is that term defined by you? Wikipedia says: "Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural, the supernatural, or synthetic." Given this, humans and rocks are also part of nature. So it seems to me you're leaning more toward plants in general than nature as a whole. Is this correct? If the key is plant life and not mammals or insects, then you could select a term associated with plants. Here are some words to play with - Some possible prefixes: Vege Herb Flora Folia Verd Botan Silvan Sylvan And some possible suffixes: -Mancy -Tation -Tion -Omer -Weomer -Sis -Pathy -Oma -Ology And some other words to mix in: Ecto Plasma or plasmic Mega or megaly or megalic Cente or centro Arca or arcanic or arcanica Rythmic or rythmia Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:28:59 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139006 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1139006 Story of Latea Verdure is a rather attractive name for earth magic. But it's also used in quite a few games. Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:46:01 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143869 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1143869 Riishi It does sound specifically plant or tree based, as Kambooli said, so I'd also suggest steering clear of the "natural" reference. You mentioned forests a few times, I think it could be pretty neat if only trees and shrubs provided the power necessary for magic. You could even have groups who disagree about which trees are more powerful or superior. Deciduous versus evergreen could be pretty fun... In which case in a name with "arbor" in it would be pretty appropriate and very telling for your readers. Again though, I would probably steer away from just adding an "ist" to the end, since trees are used widely in many occupations, and that might just sound like a forest ranger, essentially. Working off Kambooli's list, I get - Arbormancy, Arborisis... although I'll admit I don't love the sound of them. Hope you find something you like soon. Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:43:34 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1159825 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1159825 awesomeo Yeah I for one find the whole "naturalist" bent of some magic funny, when they really just mean pretty parks as opposed to hot disease-filled jungles and the like. I mean rot and other forms of decay are completely natural processes that help fuel the next generation of life. There's no reason drawing one's power from nature would not include sucking the juice out of a dead animal for example. Though one could certainly make the argument that things "Changed" by the hand of man (a field of corpses provided by a battle) would not count. Also cities have ecosystems. Systems of rats, roaches, stray dogs and cats, etc. I would love to see the naturalist at some villain's "mercy", only to have her summon an army of rats from the sewer or the roots and other materials out from under the paved roads/sidewalks (nature does not end at the surface). Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:00:58 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1160360 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1160360 awesomeo Back when I was working on a more traditional high fantasy (scraped it for the urban fantasy), I had the school of magic involving trees and other living things simply called the Children of Anima. Feel free to use it. Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:04:15 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1160370 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/50155?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1160370