“It's not so bad,” she said, her voice muffled slightly by my hair. “I did a lot of teasing too you know. It's one of a fairies favorite pastimes.” In an even smaller voice, she said, “and I was really good at it.” Knowing when I had inadvertently stumbled into a mind field, I stayed quiet. After a few minutes of silence, I decided to take the third option and sat down on the ground in the lotus position.
While working on my undergrad I had taken several classes in stress management offered free through the student health center. One of the techniques I had learned was a mindfulness exercise that required you to find a comfortable spot, close your eyes, and examine every part of your body.
I started with my toes, feeling them more fully than the rest of my body. I moved my consciousness up to my knees, then my lower back, it still felt a bit tight. As I started to move my thoughts to my upper back, a gruff male voice interrupted me. I couldn’t understand anything that was said, but I was sure it was angry.
My eyes shot open and I looked towards the source of the voice. An elderly man wearing warm clothes and a large sun hat with furs that covered his neck sat atop a small rickety cart pulled by what can only be described as a nearly starving poney. I got to my feet but kept standing in the roadway, waiting for the man to speak again. When he did I got the prompt I was waiting for.
“Congratulations! You have accessed your “Gift Of Tongues” and learned Torish Common! You can now speak, read, and write Torrish Common to the same skill level that you are able to speak, read, and write in your native language. Experiment further with this gifted trait to learn the extent of its potential.”
Not having understood him when the old man had spoken, I thought that it would be smart to be the next one to speak. “I apologize, I am new to these lands and I am embarrassed to admit that I have gotten a little lost. Perhaps you can point me in the right direction?” I asked, smiling and turning the charm up as high as it went. The old man seemed to think about it for a second, and while he did I scratched under the chin of his emaciated pony.
“Where are you trying to get to boy?” the man asked, it was an odd feeling understanding implicitly another language, it wasn’t translated into English exactly, more like the meaning just entered my mind as the man spoke. I seemed to understand him clearly enough, which meant that I had properly understood how Gift of Tongues worked.
Torish Common was a brutish, guttural language, reminiscent of German if the speaker had a natural base voice and had a particularly bad cold forcing him to constantly be trying to clear his throat.
“This road only goes to two places, Cutters Hollow” he pointed north in the direction he was headed, “and the Western Twin” he pointed south where he had come from. “Road ends at the Hollow. If you’d like a ride I’d be willing to give ya one, as long as you look out for bandits. This road isn’t known as dangerous but you can never be too careful.”
“Unknown Old Man has offered you the quest “Lonely Road 1”: He has asked you to accompany him along his journey to Cutters Hollow in the north. The journey is a short one, but the old man is worried about bandits. Risk: Low. Reword: A ride to Cutters Hollow, 100 experience points, and additional unknown benefits to be discovered. Do you accept? Yes, or No?”
I thought about it, and then accepted, it seemed like an easy enough quest, even with the number 1 in the name meaning it could be a chain quest. Still, chain quests were usually an easy way for gamers to gain experience points without much real risk early in RPG’s, though they were usually time-consuming. “Are you sure your poney here will survive the trip?” The old man just laughed and waved me on. I climbed aboard the back of the rickety cart and sat flatly in its empty bed. Another second or two and the old man clicked his tongue a few times and the poney began pulling.
“Thank you for the ride, I didn’t catch your name old-timer?” I said trying to strike up a conversation.
“That's because I didn’t give it. You foreign travelers must be very confident in your abilities, to accept rides from strangers.” The old man turned in his seat slightly and spoke over his shoulder. “That's alright though, asking a favor from someone without knowing their name isn’t an insult around here, but you go further south and the locals would have had the sheriff called on you. Prudish southern Torish don’t take kindly to those who aren't themselves. Though they take our silvers well enough when there’s enough of them to be had. The names Riggil.”
“Nice to meet you Riggil, my name is …” Before I could finish the sentence, a purple light appeared and encircled the entire cart emanating from, my hair?
“You have been caught in an unknown Illusion spell. Duration: Unknown. Effect: Riggil believes that your current conversation has ended, and is unable to hear anything spoken by those affected by this spell.”
“What are you doing meathead!” Ailsa flew into view as I felt a light breeze on the back of my neck. “Why didn’t you wake me up when you first heard other people around?” I just stared at her confused. I looked back at Riggil, and he and the donkey kept trudging along like nothing was happening behind him.
“Don’t worry about him,” Ailsa said “The spell I just cast effectively makes anyone looking at us unable to understand our conversation. To him and everyone else you’re just sitting back here all quiet by yourself, like a psychopath, all quiet and behaving. You should have woke me up when he came by.”
“Why?” I asked confused by her outrage.
“Because I could have walked you through accessing your gifts, I could have helped you avoid any oddness that might have drawn unwanted attention to yourself, and I could have used the opportunity as a learning experience! It was literally why I let myself fall asleep, because you chose to sit down to wait for someone to come by! I didn’t think you would be dumb enough not to wake me up!” She yelled at me.
Honestly, it was kind of cute. I knew Ailsa probably had unimaginable power compared to myself but right then? I had to fight back the urge to either laugh, grin like a mad man, or hug her like people in cat videos hug kittens. It took a will of iron, but I succeeded. Or at least I thought I had. “Stop smirking and pay attention!” Apparently, not as well as I had hoped.
“Another reason you should have woke me up is because of what you just tried to do!” Ailsa zipped directly in front of my face as she spoke.
“What? I was just having a conversation with Riggil.” I said indignantly.
“No, you were about to give an old man you don’t even know your true name. Or at least your true name as far as Ethria is concerned.”
“My true name? What's that?” I asked.
“A true name” Alisa began to calm down, taking a scholarly and teacherly tone as she floated back a little from my face, hovering just behind the cart as it trudged along, my feet dangling off the back. “Is the name that Ethria indexes you as. Everything in all of the multiverse has a true name. The ground, the air, the sky, from every speck of dust to every Grand Titan or Mythic God. Your actual true name is probably something completely different then what your family named you back home. However, because you are a summoned being, Ethria indexes or recognizes you as the name you were known by when you entered Ethria.”
“It's basically the transitive property of names then? If I, here, equal my name from home, and my name back home means my actual true name, then the name by which I entered Ethria essentially has become my true name. Got it, it's not that complicated a concept, I think.” I said, squinting my eyes at the purple ball of light at the last statement and reexamining the idea for any holes I might have missed.
“Kind of, if that's how you need to understand it then sure, the transitive property of names it is.” Ailsa said as she began to buzz in circles behind the cart. “Look, true names are dangerous and powerful things. If a mage, even a weak mage, ever learned your true name they would have a lot of power over you. They could do things like bypass any magical defenses, know your location instantly and in real-time without using any scrying
magic, or be able to read your full character sheet no matter what your settings are. And that's if they were stupid and didn’t know what they could really do with it.”
My eyes went big and I began really paying attention.“So, I need to keep my name from home a secret then.” I said. “Never reveal it to anyone for any reason. I can’t imagine that makes for a very trusting society.” I said pessimistically.
“Well,” Ailsa said still taking on an instructors tone of voice “Most people don’t know their true names and never learn them, those that do are usually magic users of some kind. Even then most mages actively avoid learning their true names so as to not accidentally let it slip. However, learning your true name can give you power over yourself, learning someone else's name can help to strengthen a covenant of love or a bond of friendship into an unbreakable tie that could withstand entry into whatever lies beyond death's veil. It is a powerful, yet risky thing. In some smaller cultures, though they tend to be smaller in number and pretty fearful and distrustful of outsiders, wise and trusted leaders will help a young person discover their true name, and how to gain access to the different portions of their characteristics sheet.”
“Like what you’re doing for me.” I said following along.
“Precisely. Usually, these cultures make the learning of one's true name some kind of coming of age ritual, accompanied by the need to do some kind of great quest. The Torish, Green Elves, and most other civilized races and cultures around here look down on such practices, though for the life of me I can’t figure out why.”
I nodded as she spoke, thinking of the implications for where I was now. “So,” I said after a few seconds of quiet contemplation. “Technically I know my true name right? Does that mean that I gain access to some of that power and knowledge you talked about?” The tiny fairy bobbed up and down excitedly.
“Well of course dummy! Why do you think you have access to your full character sheet? Most every day people never gain the type of access you have. Sure they can see their statistics, skills, and maybe a trait or two, but you have access to the definition screens, full trait list, and even the mathematical calculations of your skill modifiers. Usually, only those who live life to the fullest, are prone to deep introspection, or who live into the elder years of their race ever gain that kind of access.”
“Well, that sucks,” I said slightly taken aback. She had explained something similar earlier, but it never really sunk in as to exactly how limited most people were. “Didn't Mr. Grumpy say that Ethria was designed to reward people with instant gratification to encourage living life to the fullest? Isn’t denying access to a person's characteristic sheet counterproductive to that goal?” I asked.
“That, that has to do with things that will come much later in your education. For now, just know that there are other forces on Ethria that don’t want what the Gods, or even the Titans of Ethria, want.” Ailsa began to fly in circles behind the cart again. I was completely dissatisfied with her answer, cosmic beings being in conflict? And not with each other? And who or what were the Titans she spoke of? What could possibly stand up to the power of a god, even a weak god? Over the next ten minutes, I peppered Ailsa with these questions, demanding to know what she was hiding and trying every dirty trick that I had learned to pry information from teachers and professors over the years.
“Look!” She said cutting off another question. “I can’t, and won't, tell you okay? Just know that there is knowledge that is dangerous on Ethria. From the way you describe your world, knowledge is plentiful and open to everyone in any situation anywhere on your world, nearly instantaneously, which is almost impossible to even imagine. Here? Knowledge is both power and danger.”
“If I were to tell you certain things it would make you responsible for that knowledge, and it would enter you into a contest that you are nowhere near prepared for. Nine rings of hell and seven high heavens, I am nowhere near powerful enough to have this knowledge safely, that is one of the reasons I’m in the direct service of my patron gods, for protection. There are things that if I told you, would lead to your death in a matter of days at most. So please, trust me on this?” She asked as she bobbed side to side. I squinted at her again and saw that she wasn’t even looking at me, she was doing the flying equivalent of pacing back and forth wringing her hands in frustration and worry.
“Okay. Yeah. That's not ominous or anything.” I said “I get it. Knowledge is power, hide it well.”
“Exactly!” Ailsa said excitedly, she buzzed over my head in circles going ever higher until she dived back down, and landed gently on my shoulder. “That is a great montra, please use it and apply it whenever possible!” She said happily kicking her feet in a mockery of what I was doing. I found myself caught between two conflicting emotions.
I wanted to smile at Ailsa’s cute antics, and simultaneously, I wanted to run as far away from this world as I could. No world in which that saying was considered actual wisdom was a world I wanted to live in. Especially as a weakling who Ailsa thought would be challenged by a level 1 goblin with only around 6 health. Well, leaving isn’t feasible right now, that leaves one option. I’m going to have to become stronger.
After another few seconds of thinking and enjoying Ailsa’s antics as she jumped off my shoulder and flew around, only to land right in the same place again several times, I said “Ailsa, can you teach me magic? Or you know, teach me about magic? How it works here in Ethria?” For a while when I was younger I had always played a mage character in high fantasy RPG’s. The reason? There was one thing every fantasy RPG player knew, mages started out weak and nearly useless at the lower levels, but at the higher levels? The phrase “I reject your reality and substitute my own” was a perfect description of what true magic users in most fantasy settings could do. Most other character playstyles relied on some form of magic, magic weapons, enchanted equipment, combat magic, or something else like Kie or Stamina, which was basically magic for fighters, to keep up with Mages and level the playing field. I eventually learned that that had made me a power gamer, and while power gaming was fun it could also be immersion breaking. Here on Ethria though? Might as well power game the crap out of all of this. The more powerful I was, I thought, the easier it would be to get home.
Ailsa buzzed her wings again, but the sound held a pitch I had come to understand as communicating worry, unease, or uncertainty. “Magic on Ethria is, well, it's eclectic, to put it mildly. Most species when they first come to Ethria bring with them native magics or spells, and Ethria attempts to incorporate and quantify such magics into its native system in order to make the transition for newcomers as easy as possible.”
“That makes sense, but what does it mean for me learning magic?” I asked.
“I don’t know to be honest. One thing I was afraid of when Co’le’thel’ka told me about you was that since you don’t come from a plane with any kind of native magic, that you are going to be at a distinct disadvantage in learning it. You might not even be able to learn it at all.” I growled my frustration and laid down in the cart, feet dangling off the end still. “It could also mean,” she said hopefully. “that the basic native magic of Ethria might be easier for you to access and learn. We won’t know until we try.”
“Before we do any of that though, you distracted me from what I was trying to explain to you,” Ailsa said buzzing her wings in annoyance. “You’re going to need to choose a new name. A name people here in Ethria can know you by.” I looked at her in mild shock. It made sense, I just hadn't thought about it that way. If I was going to keep my true name a secret from others, of course, I would need a new name for Ethria. “Co’le’thel’ka and I took the liberty of making a list of names you can choose from. Here.” A text box appeared in my vision.
“Ailsa the fairy, and Co’le’thel’ka the celestial crocodilian, have presented you with a list of potential new names for your time in Ethria.
Lyndon Hill (Southern Torish)
Irvine Torres (Easterner)
Griffin Jenkins (Easterner)
Ralph Moores (Southern Torish)
You may choose a name on this list, or choose a different name of your own creation.”
Underneath this was another box that said “Character Name: ” With a blinking on and off black cursor. I thought about it. “Each of these names has a little bit of info about their origins in parentheses beside them. Will that affect me as we go?” I asked.
“Yes and no. You can choose to try and act like say, a southern Torish man if you took the first name Lyndon, but you wouldn’t be forced too. Northerners are sometimes names southern names, and vise-versa, though if someone was judging you just by your name on a list, they might assume you were from the place listed beside each name.”
I thought about it again, if this was supposed to be a new start in life, if I was supposed to keep my old name a secret as much as possible, while being some kind of savior or pathfinder for a large group of people heading this way even now, I would need a name that stood out as different and wasn’t burdened by negative stereotyping. However, if I stood out too much what Ailsa had warned me about other powers coming to an awareness of me being more likely. I needed to find a good balance, something people would remember and see as unique, while also not being so unique as to immediately arouse suspicion about my origins. I also needed to choose a name that if someone called me by, I would respond naturally too. Something I was familiar with.
I told Ailsa several of the names I thought of and together we decided no too Mobius, Masked Titan, The Mask, Dark, Carnage, Dark Carnage (that last one I thought was rather creative, but she was adamant my name actually be a name and not a gamer handle), and several other names I had used as usernames and gammer tags in the past. None of them really worked or they would have drawn far too much attention.
Ethria- the Pioneer Page 10