Question about what to call an object.

[KellyB]

I have a story idea I'm working on, but have a question. In my story, the magic users have a crystal or gemstone of some kind that they wear on a chain around their neck. It is what they use to cast their spells. They can't just conjure lightning bolts from their hand. They essentially store their magical energy into the crystal or gem through skin contact (they usually wear it at all times). They use the magical energy (not sure what I'm going to call it yet) stored in the crystal to cast the spell. The more energy stored in the crystal, the more powerful the spell. When a particularly powerful spell is cast, the energy is depleted and takes time to build up again. When the crystal is empty, it is clear, but when filled with magical energy it turns a color like red or blue or green, the more magic, the more vibrant the color (the color will vary with the magic user).

Anyway, what my question is, is what to call this crystal. I want to use something other than, say, amulet or talisman. Should I just make up a word, or does anyone know of a less common term I can use?

 

[Shockley]

Phylactery, perhaps?

Phylactery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[KellyB]

Hmm. I'm not sure. Reading this description on the wikipedia "In the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, an object used by a Lich to contain its soul.", it kind of has an evil connotation to it. The majority of the magic users in my story will be the good guys (not all of them, but most of them).

 

[Queshire]

Hmm... Something like Soul Gem then?

 

[ThinkerX]

'Amulet' or 'Talisman' would save you a lot of explaining to the 'typical' fantasy reader.

 

[Justme]

How about prism

 

[ThinkerX]

My ancient Thesaurus lists 'charm' and 'token' as substitutes for 'amulet' or 'talisman'.

 

[Steerpike]

If it is a traditional medieval-setting fantasy, I think the suggestions above work well. I do like Phylactery, and even though it has evil connotations in D&D, it wouldn't have to in your world (though D&D fans might initially assume it I suppose).

If you were doing a kind of steam-punk world, I'd go with something more modern sounding, like maybe a "cell" or make up your own word as a variation on "capacitor" or something.

 

[Queshire]

How about something dealing with Eye? Third Eye, Crystal Eye, Evil Eye, Magic Eye, etc. It wouldn't matter that it doesn't have anything to do with seeing, it's magic, it can be called what it wants.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

"Focus" is another one.

 

[KellyB]

"Focus" is another one.

That's a good one. That's essentially what it does. The magic inside of them is basically in a raw form, uncontrollable. They need to put the energy into the crystal to focus it to cast specific spells.

Although, I'm thinking of just making up a word. I'm trying to think of something more ancient-sounding. And I still need to figure what to call my magic users (wizards, sorcerers, mages, etc.) and also what to call the magical energy. This story idea actually just came to me this weekend by reading on this forum (mostly the magic vs. non-magic discussion), so I'm in the very early stages.

 

[Sheilawisz]

I love all kinds of magical crystals, and this idea of a magic-gathering crystal (storing the magic inside in order to focus it to create spells and so on) sounds great to me, Kelly!! I would call it Crystallyen or maybe just Crystallis or Crysallyan, that's my style of names. Good luck with developing this idea =)

 

[Shockley]

While phylactery does have certain cannotations in D&D, do remember that it is a real thing in Jewish religious traditions, and has only positive meanings in the real world.

 

[Queshire]

huh, I actually haven't seen much about non-D&D inspired phlyacteries. I don't doubt for a moment that they stole it from somewhere, if they came up with it themselves they would have given it a much lamer name, but I haven't seen much info about where they stole it from. If it's not too off topic, would you be willing to share some info?

 

[Shockley]

This man is wearing a phylactery. Basically, it's a leather box that holds verses from the Torah written on slips of paper. Observant Jews wear it during morning prayer.

 

[The Dark One]

Phylactery? Focus?

We would've called that a chuzzwazzah!

 

[Butterfly]

How about combining Talisman and amulet

e.g:-

Taliset
Amutal

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

How about combining Talisman and amulet

e.g:-

Taliset
Amutal

Those sound like pharmaceuticals. Taliset is for relieving pain associated with tendonitis. Amutal is designed to repair genetic transcription errors.

 

[Butterfly]

LOL - I didn't realise that

 

[KellyB]

How about combining Talisman and amulet

e.g:-

Taliset
Amutal

I was actually thinking about something like that, altering one of those words. Perhaps, amulen or amulyn.

Another idea I have is naming it after someone, the first magic user who discovered how to use the crystals to store the magic.