Apellodynes are a group of hereditary magic users. Their magic cannot be learned, only inherited, though there is a skill component as well. The magic works by drawing on the connection between names and people, or names and animals and names and inanimate things. Knowing something or someone's name, they can do various magic to it.
They can find the owner(s) of the name, especially if the name is genuine and unique instead of a nickname or a small child's blanket named 'blanket'. Nicknames and non-unique names for objects and such are both referred to as 'weak names'. If a thing is near them, they can tell when its name is spoken, again to varying degrees based on distance and strength of name.
The most difficult thing for an apellodyne to do is magically renaming things. The renaming is for magic purposes only, and people will still remember your previous name, it will simply no longer feel like yours or affect you in any way.
Renaming things causes the thing renamed to magically change in various, usually subtle, ways. For example, one cannot rename a stick 'gold coin' and make it become so. A valid example would be renaming a tree 'spicy fruit' and its fruit would become moderately spicy.
The renaming ritual is more difficult when more people know the old name, if the old name is not a truename, or if the target of renaming is either not present or unwilling. The ritual also requires the apellodyne performing it to know your current name and your new name.
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They can find the owner(s) of the name, especially if the name is genuine and unique instead of a nickname or a small child's blanket named 'blanket'. Nicknames and non-unique names for objects and such are both referred to as 'weak names'. If a thing is near them, they can tell when its name is spoken, again to varying degrees based on distance and strength of name.
The most difficult thing for an apellodyne to do is magically renaming things. The renaming is for magic purposes only, and people will still remember your previous name, it will simply no longer feel like yours or affect you in any way.
Renaming things causes the thing renamed to magically change in various, usually subtle, ways. For example, one cannot rename a stick 'gold coin' and make it become so. A valid example would be renaming a tree 'spicy fruit' and its fruit would become moderately spicy.
The renaming ritual is more difficult when more people know the old name, if the old name is not a truename, or if the target of renaming is either not present or unwilling. The ritual also requires the apellodyne performing it to know your current name and your new name.
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