Monvesian Culture: Ren-Heka

My first encounter with true name magic was almost certainly A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (and the remainder of The Earthsea Cycle).  I would also come to appreciate the "genre" though Egyptian mythology, and even the tale of Rumpelstiltskin.  In terms of gaming, however, I fell in love with it via Wizard's Tome of Magic for 3rd Edition.  While this book did not present the most sound mechanics for this style of magic, it made a valiant effort.  My love was further cemented with Green Ronin's Testament, written for the same edition--though true names were a more subtle edition here.

I had once attempted to synthesize the systems from the Tome of Magic and Testament while simultaneously upgrading the result to the Pathfinder revision.  I have lost those rules, but do recall not exactly being pleased with the direction I was going.  It is not the easiest style of magic to present for tabletop RPGs--typically when every individual has their own true name.  This would explain the universal language concept used in Tome of Magic.  Paizo would later revisit a similar concept with their Words of Power system in Ultimate Magic.

Recently, Wizards has revisited true name magic for 5th Edition in an Unearthed Arcana supplement.  Here, it is called onomancy.  Below, I show how onomancy can have a place in my 5th Edition campaign setting, Monvesia.

Gazetteer: Kingdom of Montaigne

The Kingdom of Montaigne is one of the "independent" nations of Cuorria--referred to as such because it is not part of the Divine Drajan Empire.  The Empire had once sought to rule all of Cuorria, and even sent troops into outlying regions (including Montaigne) and occupied them for a time.

Montaigne is subdivided into four marches and several counties.  The marches are each governed by a marquis, while the counties are governed by counts and viscounts (depending on size and importance).  These are vassals of the King Roland of Montaigne.  The king has aspirations of adding Ulivo and Sabbia as duchies under his sovereignty, but these nations have not yet given in to his offers.  The Helvet was once offered the same, before it joined Waschbar.

Dragonborn of Monvesia

RETCON NOTE:  In addition to providing new information for the campaign setting, this post also necessitated edits to "Dragons of Monvesia" and "Lizardfolk of Henjal."  With lizardfolk, dragonborn are a part of a class of humanoids called scalikind; this grouping also includes kobolds, nagi, and even yuan-ti.  The scalikind races are all originally native to Henjal.

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Language Analog: Dragonborn speak the monster language Dragon, which has no real world analog.
Inspiration: Dragonborn lore; dragons of the Palladium Megaverse
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Tainted Counterpart: None; dragonborn are immune to taint
Temperamental Association: By color--

• White - Altruist
• Gold - Materialist
• Green - Dynamist
• Blue - Idealist
• Red - Vitalist
• Black - Nihilist

For the sake of starting Alignment Points, dragonborn gain 2 AP for the listed Temperament at character creation.

Names: As presented in the Player's Handbook; it is not uncommon for a dragon to have their draconic name (imprinted in their racial memory by their mother or parents) as well as a common youth name chosen based on the cultures in which the dragonborn spends their early years.