[THM] Realm-Based Syntactic Magic and Effect Shaping Paths

[Jinumon]

Hello all!
Got another question for ya.
I've been working on a Fantasy World for a while now, and I have multiple forms of "magic" that interacts. I have traditional GURPS Magic, representing the "scientific" manipulation of mana, Alchemy as the solid, physical magic that exists in a more-or-less solid sense, effect-shaping Path-Magic in the form of the subtle miracles performed by priests (divine magic), Verb-Noun Rune Magic as a shamanistic sort of tree-magic, and finally, Realm-Based Syntactic Magic as an ancient, unknowable art of the underpinnings of reality.

I'll start with a primer on the meta-physics of the world, skip to the next paragraph if you really don't give a crap. So we've got this planet, and it's coursing with natural magical energy, called Mana. It's covered in life, and is populated by plants, animals, and natural spirits that embody mountains, forests, and rivers, not unlike Miyazaki's world in Princess Mononoke. Everything acted in accordance to it's nature, and life was pretty good all around. Then the Gods got involved. They created humans apart from Mana, with there own form of life energy called Soul. Humans are the only beings capable of changing their nature, and the natural forces of the world retreated, although they are still around (just more reclusive). Humans have spread across the planet, and some are capable of manipulating Mana (those with Magery) in the form of Spells and Runes. Mundane men can call forth the inherent Mana in materials with Alchemy. Priests call directly upon their deities in the form of Miracles, powered by Soul. Legends hint at an ancient art called Naming, that was once understood by all natural things of the world, a power that even predates Mana itself, a sort of quintessence of the thing itself, but there hasn't been a Namer in hundreds of years.

Okay, now on to the problems I'm having. A lot of stuff I know, I've got it all figured out except for two, the Effect-Shaping Path (which I call Miracles), and the Realm-Based Syntactic (which I call Naming).

Neither of these two systems use Magery; Miracles require Power Investiture, and Naming (while extremely difficult) is possible for anyone who comes to grasp the incomprehensible nature of Names.

The problem with Miracles is the relatively limited information provided about Effect-Shaping in GURPS Thaumatology. I don't want to use an Energy-Accumulating method, as a truly devout priest merely requests the aid of his God, and is provided it, free of FP. I don't yet have GURPS Ritual Path Magic, but from looking at the preview, it only really expands on the notion of spending FP. Any suggestions as far as the creation new Effect Shaping Rituals for use in this context?

Naming has also proved difficult. I'll admit that the idea is pretty much directly plagiarized from Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle, and for those of you who haven't read the books, it's effectively learning the Name (capital N) of a thing, and you can gain mastery over it. The two main problems here is "dividing up the universe" and the fact that Naming doesn't benefit from Magery. Each "thing" has a Name (i.e. Stone, Wind, Water, Fire, Iron), and dividing the universe into so many subjects seems impossible. It would even be (theoretically) possible to learn the Name of an individual, and in doing so command them entirely. The important thing to keep in mind about Naming is that it doesn't draw any power from Mana or Soul; the Name of a thing is the thing, in a more real sense than our own human senses can perceive it. The Name of a thing encompasses it's existence on a level even more fundamental level than Mana (which is sort of like the field all things give off, aside from humans).

Also, I don't know what Attributes I should base these systems on. The Gods are notoriously fickle, and may deign to grant a simpleton their favor for no reason mortals can understand. Naming requires the sort of mad-man's logic that seems at least somewhat contradictory to straight IQ ([IQ + Per]/2 maybe?)

I'm sort of rambling, I've got a lot of things bouncing around in my head.
In Summary: Effect-Shaping has too few rituals, I don't know how to divide Syntactic Magic into Realms, and I don't know what Attributes to base these systems on.

Woo. That was a long one. Once again, I appreciate any feedback any of you can give me, and I'm extremely grateful for the support of the GURPS community. Please and thank you!
Jinumon