Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Old Paper Scrolls & Sumerian LL Spell Names

A few posts back I mentioned that I bought this old photo album from my local antiques/junk store for a buck.  It has odd large shaped paper and it is turning a brownish yellow from age.  I've tried to emulate that color with normal printer paper / drawing paper with tea bags, but this age you just can't duplicate well.  The feel of the paper just lets you know it is old, and it is a little fragile as well (which adds to the affect).

It was good for me that only like 5 sheets of this paper had those corner holders glued on to the pages, and the rest is in pristine unused condition.  After I took out the pages where the photos were, an idea came to me.  What if I cut the pages in half, and then printed only on one side with my printer?  The idea of scrolls popped into my head, and so that is what I did. 

I used a "Lucinda Handwriting" font, and made it 14 points so it was easier to read.  It looks like some neat crazy mage wrote the spells down on the paper!  :)  I bolded the Spell Name at the top of each spell, and then copy and pasted the Labyrinth Lord spell description below it.  Beside the name I went ahead and figured out what each spell name would be in Sumerian (since I'm going to go ahead and use that as a command word for each spell).  That way, if any role-playing inclined player wants to chant/yell the name of the spell, they can.

I started with the 2nd level Labyrinth Lord spells, and I'll branch out and do more from AEC and perhaps 1st level spells as well (even though they have most of them by now).

LL 2nd Level Spells In Sumerian
Arcane Lock  "Emegar Za"
Continual Light  "Duri Geshnu"
Detect Evil  "Hulu Tuku"
Detect Invisibile  "Hulu Nu Igi Duh"
ESP  "Ningdirig Shu Gid"
Invisibility  "Nu Igi Duh"
Knock "Gal Taka"
Levitate  "Dirig"
Locate Object  "Hulu Barutum"
Mirror Image  "Zarbarshu Mete"
Phantasmal Force  "Gidim Gu"
Web  "Ash Ningdu"

I'm not a Sumerologist or anything, and I've never been good with picking up any other languages.  The above are just my interpretations of words I could find on the Sumerian Lexicon.  When I couldn't find a word, I would look around for a word that was similar. 

While I'm at it, I might as well figure out the Sumerian words for the 1st level LL spells.

Charm Person  "Namhili Umia"
Detect Magic  "Hulu Emegar"
Floating Disk  "Dirig Gur"
Hold Portal  "Du Daggan"
Light  "Geshnu"
Magic Missile  "Emegar Gagsisa"
Protection From Evil  "Shudul Hulgal"
Read Languages  "Gu De Eme"
Read Magic  "Gu De Emegar"
Shield  "Duksium"
Sleep  "Usag"
Ventriloquism  "Zulun"

All Sumerian words were found on the following website:
http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd/nepsd-frame.html

3 comments:

  1. First: Thanks for the link! Did you think about using the actual signs on the scrolls? I would love that as a player - and the door that only opens, wenn you cast "light" on it? It has this rune that looks like a ...fish?

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  2. For an interesting take on the Sumerian language, you should read the novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It's somewhat cyberpunkish, but in a more tongue in cheek way than anything else.

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  3. I'm not as versed in Sumerian as I would like to be, but I am working through a book entitled, "The Sumerians" which is pretty good for details on their culture. There are other good Sumerian links out there, I think one was Sumerian dot org or something like that. Using the Cuneiform script would be cool though. :)

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