Random Fact about Mag names

[Cliftonium]

Hey All-

So last night, I was thumbing through an old copy of Legends and Lore (AD&D sourcebook) looking for internal names to give to our projects (greek gods! say hello to Zeus!), and I came across a list of indian mythos gods-

Marut (wind spirit)
Rudra (storm god/god of dead)
Surya (sun god)
Ushas (goddess of the dawn)
Varuna (God of order/protector of oaths)
Garuda (King of all birds)

Any of these names sound familiar? =)

-Cliftonium-

[Aierylia]

Hmm, I like discovering the origin of names. After perusing the backgrounds of some more of these names, I found that many (if not all) stem from Hinduism. If I can, I'll be posting up some info on the entities behind these names =].

Let's start with the first wave of mag evolutions:

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Varuna ? ?he who covers?

In pre-Vedic times, Varuna was an omnipotent and omniscient god who was a keeper of the cosmic force, or rta. Rta is the force that makes the sun rise and set, rivers flow, trees grow, birth animals. It?s also seen as truth, so that makes Varuna ?the god of order? and ?protector of oaths.? But in Vedic times, his lordship was taken by Indra and instead became known as the god of the oceans and rivers. Nagas are his attendants. He?s seen as a white man in golden armor riding a Makara, or sea monster, holding a noose or lasso made from a snake. All drowned souls go to him, and he punishes those who don?t keep their word by capturing them with his noose.

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Kalki ? ?Time?; the 10th incarnation of Vishnu

It?s said that the god Vishnu has 10 incarnations, the last of which has yet to happen. In this form, he will come down from the sky upon a white horse to wreak final destruction on the wicked, renew creation, and restore righteousness.

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Vritra ? the ?Enveloper?

?kay, first of all, devas are Vedic deities who were guardians of light and life. Asuras opposed them, and Vritra was perhaps the most powerful of them all. He was a dragon or serpent who was said to be so large that ?his coils surrounded the mountains, and his head touched the sky.? He was the bringer of drought, who gathered all of the water in the world into himself, turning the world into a wasteland. It seems somewhat ambiguous (may have been Indra, may have been Sarasvati, dunno) as to who killed him and released the water, but he?s dead.



Now I don't worship any religion so don't post any flames if this offends you, but feel free to correct any of it if I made a mistake. At any rate, if you liked these, then I'll try posting more on the others. *yawn*...need sleep. G'night all!

[Aierylia]

'kay...well even though no one seems to care, I'm still going to keep posting!

Onward with the secondary hunter mag evolutions!

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Rudra ? ?howler?

In ancient Vedic myth, he was the evil god of storms and wind, and might?ve even been the god of death. He?s the father of the Maruts. After Hinduism came about, his name was changed to Shiva and he was seen as a benevolent god who was the lord of the animals and patron of hunters [heh, perfect].

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Maruts [closest thing I've seen to Marutah]

Minor storm deities who are the sons of Rudra and attendants of Indra. Very aggressive and violent, they drive the clouds, bring wind, topple trees, and crush mountains.

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Vayu

Allied to the Maruts, he?s a god of the air and winds. He?s the blow and breath of the world and of every living being.


Mwahaha...seeing as to how so many people bash Kama as it is, wait 'til you hear where -his- name comes from!

[Andromeda]

LOL! Aierylia, I think what u r doing is very spiffy indeed! Please keep posting the name histories, as you will have at least ONE person reading them! (and I'd like to find out the background for my Marica.....) ;-P

[Aierylia]

Hehe, thanks for the support. I really appreciate it! I hope I can -find- info on all of the mags ^.^;

Well, here's the stuff on the secondary ranger mag evolutions:

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Surya

He?s the god who dwells in the body of the sun. He?s the husband of dawn, as well as her son [??]. His father is the sky-god Indra. He has golden hair and golden arms, and drives a chariot drawn by a team or 4 or 7 horses [he sounds to me like Greek mythology?s Helios who drove the sun across the sky].

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Mitra

Mitra is the (twin?) brother of Varuna and is a Vedic god who stands for the sun. He?s the god of friendships and contracts and watches over the daytime hours. Being good-natured and on better terms with humans than his brother, he?s seen as being a mediator between the gods and man.

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Tapas ? ?inner heat?

In Hinduism, tapas is a kind of ascetic practice that?s voluntarily done in order to achieve spiritual power or purification. It refers to the ?inner heat? that?s created by the practice of physical austerities, like fasting, the holding of difficult and painful bodily postures, keeping vigils in the presence of fires or extreme cold, or breath control.


Next up are the second evolution force mags!

<font size=1>[ This message was edited by: Aierylia on 2001-04-10 22:40 ]</font>

[Core]

Wow good job! thats cool to see what the names were based on.

[Aierylia]

Eh-hehe, actually I couldn't find anything on the second evolution force mags (Sumba, Ashvinau, Namuci). The only even remotely related tidbits I could find were that Sumba is 1) an island that yields lots of nice textile goods, and 2) the type of magic that a Mannumbo (one of the ten types, and the most evil, of Filipino witches) uses. So if anyone else can fill in for them, please do!

Instead, I'll be randomly going through what I can on other mags.


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Soma

Soma doesn?t seem to have one specific form. He?s a plant. He?s an intoxicating drink brewed from that plant. He?s the blood of animals and the sap of plants; he courses through all living things. He?s the god of the moon, the dwelling place of the dead, and the divine cure for all evil. He?s like the ambrosia of the gods, giving them strength and immortality. For mortals, however, it was a golden-hued nectar derived from that plant that brought hallucinations and ecstasy to the consumer, making warriors brave and giving poets inspiration. As for being the god of the moon, the moon was considered to be the cup through which the gods drank Soma. When the moon wanes, the gods are drinking Soma; when it waxes, Soma?s re-creating itself.

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Varaha ? ?boar?; the 3rd incarnation of Vishnu

When the demon Hiranyaksa dragged the earth to the bottom of the sea, Vishnu set out to rescue her in the form of a boar. After battling for a thousand years, Vishnu defeated the demon and raised the earth out of the water with his tusks. Varaha?s depicted as half-animal and half-human with the head of a boar and body of a man.

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Apsaras

Apsaras are heavenly nymphs of great beauty that are often represented as dancers in the court of the god Indra?s heavenly kingdom. They were sometimes sent to distract sages from their physical austerities. I also read in some place that they have a close relationship with rivers and trees, so they sound kind of like the Greek naiads and dryads.


Heh, all right! Next update will be Garuda, Nandin, and Naga.

[Kent]

Dude, cool. I figured that Sega would put something like that in an RPG of thier's, because other companies (i.e. Squaresoft) have put similar names in some very popular games. I do know that Squaresoft puts alot of Norse and Indian god names such as Odin, Shiva, Ramuh, etc..

Also, the Norse god Shiva (there was an Indian god named Shiva also) was actually named Shiva-Rudra.

Pretty interesting huh? Oh, and does anyone know where Bhirava came from?

[Aierylia]

Hehehe, Kent:

1) I'm not a dude. ;]

2) There was a Norse god named Shiva, too? Wow, I didn't know that.

3) 'Fraid I haven't found anything on Bhirava yet. I'll keep looking though.


And on with the post:

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Garuda

Garuda, the ?Bird of Life?, is the mount of Vishnu. In one reference I read, he?s described as having an eagle?s beak and wings, and a human body. He has a white face, scarlet wings, and a golden body. In another reference, Garuda is emerald in color, with the beak of a kite (a kind of predatory bird), golden wings and four arms. [PSO seems to agree with the first one more. The mag Garuda has a color scheme of gold with white strips and a red orb, differing from character to character only in the color of a couple of small stripes that match the player?s costume.] He used to enjoy killing and eating a snake daily, until a Buddhist prince taught him the value of abstinence. He?s the enemy of the Nagas.

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Naga

The Nagas are a race of divine serpent-people, half human and half snake. They are associated with water and are worshipped as bringers of fertility. They are the protectors of springs, wells, and rivers. They bring rain (and thus fertility), and disasters like floods or drought.

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Nandi [Nandin]

Nandi is the vahana, or vehicle, of Shiva. He?s a milk-white bull who?s a symbol of strength, and the guardian of four-legged creatures.



All right. Next post, I'll try to get in what I can on Ravana, Sita, and Marica.

[Dragon-Ibuki]

I had to look up Ravana after seeing this (Ravana is my favorite force mag) So far, I've found that in the Vebeeshana (Some kinda Hindu lore) He was a prince who had a not-so-good mum n' grandpop. I guess they didn't like Ravana's elder brother, so they plotted out this evil plan to have him kicked outta the kingdom so Ravana could inherit it all. His brother was ousted and Ravana became king soon-after. Unfortunately, Ravana found out his brother got another kingdom elsewhere n' took over that too. (Eeevil...) Ravana soon married (over and over) and had a kid (over n' over)..one of his sons defeated the king of angels, Indrajit..his firstborn actually
To be continued...