Divine Trappings: Naming Artifacts, Second Try

A few days ago I wrote Making Names for Myself (I actually have a buffer this month!) and put up a hundred artifact names. They were pretty okay, I think, but it felt like the naming could be tighter.

At the same time, I drafted a (very cheap) post for ‘N Day’, Names of Power. I picked off the names of the artifact owners from the previous post. I wrote it, I scheduled it, I’ll leave the post up.

But it was cheap. Since then I’ve drafted a couple more posts (Object Tables for Making Artifacts, going up tomorrow, and Picking Colors and Materials, going up overmorrow — the day after tomorrow). In doing this, I’ve enriched the tables a bit, expanding on the range of objects and descriptors available.

After looking over the output from the previous run, I’ve also tweaked the rules a bit. I’ve struck rules 2 (descriptor object) and 7 (object of descriptor) because they produced insipid results. That is, none of the names those two rules generated looked at all interesting to me.

1. &artifactType of &artifactOwner
2. &artifactDescriptor &artifactType
3. &artifactDescriptor &artifactType of &artifactOwner
4. &artifactOwner’s &artifactType
5. &artifactOwner’s &artifactDescriptor &artifactType
6. &artifactDescriptorColor &artifactType of &artifactDescriptorColorNot
7. &artifactType of &artifactDescriptorColorNot

What it left me with, though, looked pretty good to me.

#	Artifact	Owner		#	Artifact	Owner
1	Water Shirt of Waurix	Waurix		51	Waurix’s Boots	Waurix
2	Osvith’s Death Cart	Osvith		52	Rust Cauldron of Death
3	Death Book of Ishteus’uo	Ishteus’uo		53	Kiroshtu’s Leggings	Kiroshtu
4	Life Moccasins of Lor-Peral	Lor-Peral		54	Jeneeshasha’s Earth Necklace	Jeneeshasha
5	Atoli’s Ashen Helmet	Atoli		55	Zaroth’s Book	Zaroth
6	Yg-Ualinn’s Death Pauldron	Yg-Ualinn		56	Blue Headdress of Waves
7	White Bell of Fire			57	Green Stiletto of Air
8	Orange Tiara of Thoth	Thoth		58	Fawn Harp of Saern	Saern
9	Bell of Shaleshena	Shaleshena		59	Horn of Nor-Paron	Nor-Paron
10	Yg-Anguth’s Coat	Yg-Anguth		60	Icta’s Brass Chime	Icta
11	Thul’s Flute	Thul		61	Ozoadtala’s Rod	Ozoadtala
12	Amber Bardiche of Air			62	Tharta’s Chime	Tharta
13	Assat’s Life Shield	Assat		63	Ochre Brooch of Death
14	Ai’ir’s Life Glove	Ai’ir		64	Battleaxe of Tsal	Tsal
15	Ya-atak’s Shield	Ya-atak		65	Yar-Kephoti’s Fire Glove	Yar-Kephoti
16	Green Lantern of Life			66	Iqu-Akor’s Amber Locket	Iqu-Akor
17	Sarugoa’s Air Spindle	Sarugoa		67	Orhela’s Death Book	Orhela
18	Blue Mace of Quarasha	Quarasha		68	Thua’s Cherry Chime	Thua
19	Life Chaplet of Kal-Molreth	Kal-Molreth		69	Ator’s Pantaloons	Ator
20	Baragoratem’s Blue Horn	Baragoratem		70	Frosted Chest of Zot-Aunros	Zot-Aunros
21	Red Chaplet of Herakeereus	Herakeereus		71	Kiroth’s Boots	Kiroth
22	Diron Klatoa’s Green Hammer	Diron Klatoa		72	Citrine Satchel of Rebirth
23	Orhzoada-Pheth’s Mist Carriage	Orhzoada-Pheth		73	Death Bell of Kaotheer	Kaotheer
24	Orange Hourglass of Death			74	Tsatengg’s Iron Bludgeon	Tsatengg
25	Dusky Bracelet of Life			75	Zules’s Life Kayak	Zules
26	Death Loom of Samonos Klaasha	Samonos Klaasha		76	Indigo Wagon of Herakonoth	Herakonoth
27	Ankhdaya’s Smoke Cutlass	Ankhdaya		77	Diragor’s Bulwark	Diragor
28	Libram of Cath	Cath		78	Athestya’s Green Scepter	Athestya
29	Gilak’s Shield	Gilak		79	Lime Bow of Death
30	Green Lamp of Air			80	Lute of Ka-Sa-Pheth	Ka-Sa-Pheth
31	Green Pin of Rebirth	Rebirth		81	Ra-eseesh’s Gong	Ra-eseesh
32	Bracelet of Krakatep	Krakatep		82	Kayak of Kabil	Kabil
33	Aunros’s Red Book	Aunros		83	Bulwark of Natlot	Natlot
34	Ankh’ao Nytala’s Needle	Ankh’ao Nytala		84	Carriage of Sundirra	Sundirra
35	Satchel of Kireer Aengg	Kireer Aengg		85	Oesha’s Jade Map	Oesha
36	Slatem’s Eternity Keelboat	Slatem		86	Death Sleigh of Sosha	Sosha
37	Life Dagger of Yg-Khem	Yg-Khem		87	Kayak of Ost-Molreth	Ost-Molreth
38	Death Chariot of Rurtrux	Rurtrux		88	Cordath’s Chaplet	Cordath
39	Pale Ranseur of Earth			89	Iron Slippers of Shal’uo	Shal’uo
40	Yar-Natlot’s Death Gong	Yar-Natlot		90	Life Glove of Fel-Bha	Fel-Bha
41	Canoe of Hulza	Hulza		91	Chakram of Gilak	Gilak
42	Mitrenahoggos’s Fire Plate	Mitrenahoggos		92	Purple Flute of Air
43	Death Dagger of Phlom	Phlom		93	Ecru Glaive of Fire
44	Thoth’s Earth Scepter	Thoth		94	Dhamoshtu’s Rapier	Dhamoshtu
45	Jen’uo’s Circlet	Jen’uo		95	Ishtakles Ra-‘uo’s Flamberge	Ishtakles Ra-‘uo
46	Vaor-Tua’s Water Book	Vaor-Tua		96	Iron Gauntlet of Air
47	Gong of Kirheusoog	Kirheusoog		97	Serape of Meusonor	Meusonor
48	Maux’s Air Spear	Maux		98	Book of Sundirra	Sundirra
49	White Hat of Death			99	Scarlet Bracelet of Traeshtuaeus	Traeshtuaeus
50	Cup of Ka-Sonos	Ka-Sonos		100	Auraknal’s Water Lexicon	Auraknal

Huh. Four pairs of duplicated owner names, and one of those pairs was the first in each batch of fifty artifact names generated. I’d ponder the odds of that, but I know they’d be awfully low.

Anyway, again not all of them are winners, but I see quite a few more I’d like to know more about. There’s just something about these patterns that speaks to me.

Closing Comments

This list of artifacts feels stronger to me. The really weak rules are gone. I might yet remove rule #6 (&artifactDescriptorColor &artifactType of &artifactDescriptorColorNot), but while things like the “White Hat of Death” feel less compelling than “Thoth’s Earth Scepter” or the “Iron Slippers of Shal-uo” (I really want to know more about those ones, there’s a story there!), it’s still sufficient.

Overall, I like the state the engine’s in. It still can be better, more powerful or specific to purpose: I could have descriptors identified for the domains, and artifact owners (deities, here) with those domains, then connect them. If Altazard is the god of fiery death (Fire and Death domains, obviously) has the Immolation Trident of Altazard could show up Fire domain for sure, and possibly the Death domain (assuming it had some power from both domains, even if only one shows up in the actual name).

Also, I’d like to revise the naming tables. I like the ones I’m using, but they’re based on tables I don’t have copyright for, and thus can’t post here (or include in Divine Trappings).

So. To work! Two more items for the backlog!