A name for this thing?

[Shreddies]

Summary time!!

So, the (G)Nomes in my world are earth spirits that are short, bearded, and covered in fur (with the exception of their palms, soles, noses, and a little around the eyes). They wear jackets, pants, and pointy hats (think: 'lawn gnome'), but no shoes. And they decorate their beards with metal beads and braids.

They reproduce by forming ornate stone eggs (as big as they are) out of solid stone. Which they then decorate with inlays of copper, silver, and a few other metals. They polish the eggs to a luster, embed them with semi-precious gemstones, and so on. And after a bit of waiting, a fully formed Nome hatches from it, complete with hat, jacket and pants.

Anyways. Every Nomeish clan feel compelled to have a king, and without one they sort of just disperse. They make a new king by forming a giant stone egg (giant for them, meaning about the size of a human) and decorating it with all their finest metals and gemstones. And then they embed this special [Stone or Metal thing] in it as a centerpiece. The big Nome that hatches from it will be their king (despite not looking much like a Nome at all).

[/Infodump]

So! I can't think of a decent name for this [Stone or Metal thing]. I figure it is treated with reverence. It has been passed down since time immemorial. It's a very strange material, unlike what they find in the ground. Each clan has its own [Stone or Metal thing], and therefore its own line of King. It is obviously crafted or formed, possibly with marks or writing on it. They don't really know where it came from or how to make more (they have stories about its origin, but they can't prove those, and I haven't worked them out yet ). And . . . that's all I have at the moment.

I thought maybe something like the Stone of Scone (or the Scone of Stone ala Discworld), or something plain like 'King's Stone', but I can't come up with anything good.

Any suggestions?

 

[Reilith]

This might be stealing, but I remembered a monster from the MOORPG Tera named Teralith. It sounds rather interesting ,as they are something like rock golems that have detachable parts that spin around them and deal damage, but they are basically sentient rock. So it sounds to me like a good name for a strange magic material, stone or metal alike. Just a thought

 

[MineOwnKing]

The Noble Spawn Stone

 

[WooHooMan]

"Homage" was the name for a ritual in which people would swear loyalty to a lord.
So, maybe the "Hom-Egg" or something.

Are you specifically going for the "Blank of Blank" or is a one word name acceptable? What kind of names do Nomes usually give things?

 

[Shreddies]

This might be stealing, but I remembered a monster from the MOORPG Tera named Teralith. It sounds rather interesting ,as they are something like rock golems that have detachable parts that spin around them and deal damage, but they are basically sentient rock. So it sounds to me like a good name for a strange magic material, stone or metal alike. Just a thought

True, -lith is a good stony suffix. I forgot about that one.

Are you specifically going for the "Blank of Blank" or is a one word name acceptable? What kind of names do Nomes usually give things?

I haven't finalized what they call things, but their mindset tends to be on the simple side. Not stupid, just simple.

And now that I think about it, it's possible that they were not the ones who named it after all. It could be that it was named by someone in ancient history and the name has been passed down along with the [Thing]. Or maybe it's name is written on the [Thing] . . . if that's the case, then anything might fit.

So '[Blank]' and 'THE [Blank]' are fine, and so is '[Blank] of [Blank]', or 'The [Descriptive-Blank] [Object-Blank] of [Location-Blankity] [Flavorful-Exposition-Blank-blank]'. If it sounds good I'll try to make it work.

 

[Hainted]

Gravamen is an old word for heart or essence. You could use that or mess around with the spelling. The Gravamon or the Stone of Gravamin or Gravamun's Start. Just some thoughts

 

[SugoiMe]

To mix Reilith and Hainted's ideas, Gravolith, or Stone of Gravolith, or Gravolith Birthstone. You let me know when I'm rambling. For the king stone, you could try something like Master Gravolith or Master Birthstone. Or even just the Birthstone.

 

[stephenspower]

Natalith? Ovalith?

Does it look like this, a piece at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c0/05/6a/c0056a6043443624996eb0b8743ca832.jpg

 

[Shreddies]

Gravamen is an old word for heart or essence. You could use that or mess around with the spelling. The Gravamon or the Stone of Gravamin or Gravamun's Start. Just some thoughts

Interesting, but I thought Gravamen meant a complaint or grievance. The kind that is cause for legal action. The only time I've heard it used as the heart of something is in regard to the essential element of a lawsuit.

Hah! That might actually fit, depending on their view of the king.

Does it look like this, a piece at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore:

I pictured the egg itself looking more like: This or This or This. Except made from stone (and metals) and not hollow.

The [Thing] I'm trying to name might look more like a medallion, around three inches across. Maybe something like this?


On a side note, I just found a few interesting words: Quiddity, Haecceity and Ipseity

 

[Noldona]

There is a free steampunk/fantasy audio book that I listened to once and really enjoyed called The Gearheart. Definitely worth checking out. Warning, I may have some details wrong, been a while since I listened to the book. In the series, there is a character named Cog who is basically an automaton, who is powered by the gearheart. As I recall, the gearheart was a magical crystal type thing which stored a sole and brought her to life. As your thing sounds similar, I would suggest something like The Stone Heart, The Mountain's Heart, or something along those lines.

 

[buyjupiter]

If they go for simplistic naming conventions wouldn't they just be "the eggs" for regular (g)nomes and then "the king 's egg" for the king?

 

[Shreddies]

If they go for simplistic naming conventions wouldn't they just be "the eggs" for regular (g)nomes and then "the king 's egg" for the king?

Yeah the eggs are just referred to as 'eggs'. It's the little clan heirloom they incorporate into the king's egg that I'm trying to name.

Without it the king's egg is just a big prettified rock and wont do anything.

 

[ChasingSuns]

Hmm... perhaps the Kingstone, or Lifestone. Or something along the lines of the Kingsheart, or kingsbreath (since it's breathing life into the king in a way). Cool idea for the Nomes by the way!