Naming Conventions 101

Naming Conventions 101
September 5, 2012 - RED Engineer

Howdy, y'all. Engy here. Mr. Conchshell wants y'all t' know, first off, that he really appreciates all the support yall're givin' 'im. 'E just loves seein' how many a' y'all favorite 'is story an' readin' all your comments. But there was one particular comment that got left earlier today that 'e really found interestin'. Elwar raves:

I require moar.
It is more than good so far. All the technical elements like universe and magic kind names are a bit overwhelming, but I somehow manage not to get confused in it. On all other fields, your story is great, please keep up awesome work.

Mr. Conchshell's real happy t' hear that, Elwar. An' so are we, naturally. But we don't wanna see our audience confused. So Mr. Conchshell pulled me aside an' asked me t' explain some things t' y'all. Ya wanna know about magic an' universe namin'? Well, pull up a chair, 'cause Papa Engy'd be more'n happy t' explain it! A' course, this could get kinda technical. If ya don't wanna hear the explanation, ya don't have to. Technically, it ain't part a' the story. But there is somethin' Mr. Conchshell still wants ya t' hear, so would ya be so kind as t' scroll down to the end a' this post? Much obliged.

Okay, everyone else ready? We'll start with magic names. I thought the Medic did a pretty good job at explainin' this, but oh well. Y'see, every type a' magic on Earth-VC20-Prime has a specific name. If any a' ya go t' TV Tropes, ya mighta already picked up on this, but those named're determined accordin' to a rule called Whatevermancy. The gist of it is, ya take a Greek or Latin root an' stick the suffix -mancy to it. For example, "necro" is Greek for "death," so a Necromancer wields magic that controls the dead. "Vit" is Latin for "life," so a Vitamancer is a wizard who controls life-- a magical doctor, in other words. An' the part that probably gotcha frazzled: "lingu" is Latin for "language." Therefore, a Linguimancer is a magician who can control language, i.e. castin' a universal translation spell.

As for universes' names, that's a little trickier. Y'see, there are lots an' lots a' universes out there. But some a' these universes like t' stick together. They're all kept in big clusters called dimensions, an' dependin' on how big the dimension is, there can be thousands a' universes in there. The first universe ya make contact with in any given dimension is designated "Prime." After that, ya start givin' 'em numbers. But Prime functions like zero, so the second universe ya meet is 01, the third is 02, an' so on. (Oh, an' in case ya were wonderin', there's an infinite number a' dimensions in the multiverse. Just so ya know.) Now, when you're explainin' where in the multiverse you're from, ya gotta say your home planet, your universe an' your dimension. It makes sense t' think ya'd wanna say 'em in that order-- small, medium, large-- but that ain't how it works. Ya gotta say the home planet, the dimension, an' then the universe. Let's look at an example.

[Discord] didn’t know there were other universes. Nopony in Equestria did. Hay, nopony on Equus-HOA1-Prime did.

Equus-HOA1-Prime, in case ya didn't catch that, is where we've been sent, and it's where My Little Pony takes place. By takin' the above rules into account, we can determine that My Little Pony takes place in the dimension designated HOA1, in the first universe that ours made contact with, on the planet Equus. And another example. Remember that song I was singin' in Chapter Three? I learned it on Earth-TTG1-03. Accordin' to the rules, that means the fourth universe we made contact with in the dimension TTG1, on the planet Earth. Got it? Good. Now, how do ya determine dimensional designations? Why is our dimension called VC20, an' why's the ponies' dimension called HOA1? Mr. Conchshell was real specific about this... he doesn't want me t' tell ya. He can't just explain every little detail a' the story to ya. Which leads me int' my last point...

Hey, everyone who didn't wanna hear my explanation! Down 'ere!

Okay, Mr. Conchshell 'ad one more message he wanted me t' pass on t' y'all. Here it is: If you were lured in by the Comedy tag, that's fine. He should be able t' deliver on that. But 'ere's the rub. Didja notice the Tragedy tag next to it? It's there for a reason. The tone a' this story is slipperier'n the Medic on Saturday night. We're glad ya came for the humor, but we can't promise it'll always be there. In fact, Chapter Four ain't exactly operatin' at peak wackiness, if ya catch my drift. We're glad ya came, for whatever reason, an' we want ya t' stick around. But we also want ya t' analyze. Think about what you're readin'. See what ya can figure out 'bout the two worlds 'e's tryin' t' bring together an' 'ow they work. An' most importantly-- this is exactly what Mr. Conchshell told me t' say:

I'm not going to be here to tell you whether this story has a happy ending. You'll have to figure it out on your own.

Phew... that was a mouthful, wasn't it? Well, thanks for your time, everyone. Hope ya enjoy the show!