[RPM] True Names

[Miuramir]

Originally Posted by Varyon

That's... that's a lot of potential names!

I had two intentions in mind.

I wanted "quest to discover a Component of a True Name" to be interesting, useful, but not a binary "you win" against powerful and interesting forces. If the Evil Vizier has, say, about 8 name components, of which 2 are (comparatively) easily researched, 1 is basically out of the question, and the remaining 5 involve plot and/or adventure, that gives some nice possible hooks.

I also was thinking about the disparity in actual names between commoners and nobility. On the one hand, you have the ditch-digger "John", who might sometimes need to be referred to as "Young John" or "John Spade" or even "Young John from Bredon Hill". On the other, you have people like King Luis I of Portugal, whose full birth name was "Luís Filipe Maria Fernando Pedro de Alcântara António Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis João Augusto Júlio Valfando de Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha e Bragança", and who added ", the Popular" ("..., o Popular") because of course you need an epithet as well as a name :) (The mid-Victorian Portuguese and Brazilian royal succession is a background plot point in my Steampunk game, which is why I happened to know of that one.)

I was also probably somewhat influenced (due to research for a different game) by Chinese customs on the different names for Emperors; and I've been reading a variety of stuff on the Egyptian take on such things.

Might it be possible to lose a True Name, such as someone who loses a limb but then has a permanent Restore Body ritual regenerate it, or the fellow who gains the leathery wings losing them?

Quite possibly, but that probably depends on the character. The concept here is somewhat along the lines that another name goes on, when you have a "major version number" change to your psyche (in whatever direction(s)). So, some people loosing a limb might be "merely" a structural change; they're still the same person they were psychologically, and don't get a new name. Other people might respond with a new-found fierce determination to succeed despite their handicap, or go into a profound depression, or whatever; and get a new True Name Component.

If the depressed person gets a surprise miracle (of whatever variety; magical, psionic, deific, super-tech, etc.), the question is whether they basically go back to pretty much the psychological state they had pre-injury; or have the changes had a lasting and significant effect on their personal psychic makeup.

Another potential area where someone could gain a new True Name would be Magery/Ritual Adept - upon becoming a mage/adept, the character gains a magical True Name.

Almost certainly. Note that that's likely to be covered by other criteria in many cases, but not all, so good catch.

I'm waffling on whether overlapping incidents give multiple names. I'm leaning toward them not doing so; to use the software analogy again, moving from v 4.0 to v 5.0 might have a much longer list of changes than v 3.0 to v 4.0 did, but you're evaluating them all as a lump. In other words, if you sign a demonic pact that gives you Magery and a monstrous form, you've got one enormous life change, not three separate ones. You never really had time to "settle" into one without the others. (To put it differently, is it reasonable to ask "Was there a version of the character who was around long enough to change their outlook on life and themselves, who had Magery, but not the monstrous form?"; unless the answer is pretty clearly "Yes", then it's all one change.)

As for effects...

My take is that a True Name primarily serves as a *very specific* targeting bonus / enhancement. If you correctly have and use the full True Name of a target as the means by which a mystical effect determines its target, you always connect with exactly the target if your effect is capable of reaching it at all. Lesser fractions give lesser targeting bonuses of course.

Against a full True Name, mystical defenses that represent "enduring" or "soaking" or "rapid healing", etc. would still work. Mystical defenses that represent "dodging" or "avoiding", or in many cases "luck", probably don't. Mystic defenses that give a penalty to targeting, no matter the reason, are irrelevant against a full True Name; the correct use of a full True Name by the caster basically bypasses the targeting process. (Computer analogy: you are accessing the specific underlying block of the universe that represents the target, via its direct physical hardware address, rather than going through the file system or even the kernel.)

It also supersedes all requirements which are intended to represent a "mystical affinity or connection" to the target... hair clippings, eye contact, photographs, live video feed, whatever. Total the maximum benefit that could be accumulated under your mystical system for having "all the accessories", and increase it by at least one step for having a full True Name. Depending on the system, this may be primarily skill bonuses, or may also include cost, speed, effect, range, or other bonuses.

In some mystical systems, the range of certain spells is basically "planetwide" (or even "planewide"), with targeting really based on affinity not range. (Of course, being able to actually see the target personally is frequently a significant affinity in its own right.) In such cases, again a full True Name is at least one step better than the maximum affinity bonus one can accumulate via lesser means. (Yes, someone who has your full True Name can find you more accurately than, say, your own identical twin who is talking to you on the phone. They have the universe's actual file number for you, your twin is just "pretty close".)

In planes such as the Deep Astral or Dreamtime, where distances are psychological or philosophical, a full True Name probably allows what amounts to unerring teleport to the target's location. Even a few pieces probably lets you travel in their direction quite reliably. In many such settings, you could instead of teleporting, target an effect unerringly at any "range".