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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Dec 30, 2014 15:34:00 GMT -4
Jasmine sighed. "Very well. Okay, ah, you see, the Egyptian hieroglyphic alphabet is extremely complicated. It doesn't always follow its own rules, and sometimes the pictures are used to communicate a different meaning. Also, vowels tend to be left out of words." As she spoke she wrote out the alphabetic hieroglyphs on the ground. "Sometimes you may think a word is written one way, but you actually use a different picture. Not to mention this is a different language. As much as I'd like it to be a picture form of English, its not. Here's an example." She finished writing out the alphabet, then moved to a different area and continued writing.  "Now, lets take, say, Thoth, the god of knowledge, among other things. Some may first think to write it out like this..."  "But you would be wrong. Thoth is his English name. Well, its his Greek name, but whatever. In Egypt his name was written D-h-w-t-y. Historians often spell it as D-j-e-h-u-t-y, to make their work a bit easier. Djehuty. This name comes from the word Dhw, that's D-h-w, which means ibis. The -ty suffix means he possesses the attributes of the previous word. Thus, his name meant, 'He who was like the ibis.' Now, you may try writing his name like this..."  "And you'd be mostly right. It's actually written this way though."  "The half circle and the two lines below it represent his suffix, ty, and the flag simply symbolizes he's a god." (Well, that took forever... It was fun though. I'm learning from this just as much as you are. ^w^) |
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Post by Wolfstar on Dec 31, 2014 2:48:10 GMT -4
(This is more complicated than I thought...)
Gupta listened, so did Aziza.
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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Dec 31, 2014 15:44:29 GMT -4
(Indeed.)
"Who wants to take a shot at writing something?" Jasmine asked.
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Post by Wolfstar on Jan 4, 2015 4:55:49 GMT -4
Gupta had already wrote a few things in the dirt, but then cleared them away. Aziza shrugged, "Can I?"
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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Jan 4, 2015 10:50:29 GMT -4
"Sure." She nodded. "Here, each of you take one of these. Write with them. It'll give your words a magic glow." She handed then each a pointed wooden staff that glowed faintly. The top of the staff was intricately carved into the head of a lion, who's eyes were made of a clear, colourless gemstone.
(You'll see why she actually did this next post. But first I need you to choose a colour you think fits your characters. You can't pick red or light blue, fur reasons I'll explain later.)
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Post by Wolfstar on Jan 5, 2015 2:28:36 GMT -4
"Ok...?" Gupta murmured, taking the one that was given to him. Aziza took hers with no question.
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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Jan 5, 2015 21:39:23 GMT -4
(Psst. I need colours.)
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Post by Wolfstar on Jan 6, 2015 2:29:24 GMT -4
(Oh, sorry. Um..Gupta's is green and Aziza's is purple... Will that work?)
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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Jan 8, 2015 23:36:05 GMT -4
(Yeah, that's fine~)
Lexin took his, studying the neatly carved wood. Curious, he started drawing in the ground, and his doodles glowed orange. The gemstones on the lion's head faded into the same colour, faintly radiating light. He stopped drawing, awed.
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Post by Wolfstar on Jan 9, 2015 4:30:27 GMT -4
"What are these?" Aziza asked, doodling a griffon in the ground. Gupta did the same, but he just doodled.
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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Jan 10, 2015 22:55:20 GMT -4
Jasmine was watching the different colours each stick created as they fell into the hands of the others. She snapped out of her daze when Aziza spoke. "Hm? Oh, I like to call them Scrawling Sticks. They're just plain wooden staffs, but those gems are enchanted to show the nature of one's powers. They usually don't glow for anyone... So if you were unsure of your powers existing, here's the proof. The gemstones, if your curious, are called Hatexai, or 'Divinely Glowing'."
(Coming from Htp, meaning divine or godlike, and Xai, meaning shine. By the way since vowels are usually missing from words I will add them in. Hatep may or may not be how that word was actually said I haven't a clue.
Also, my translations won't always be exact. This is for the purpose of the story. (Example, Xai meaning shine and not glow.)
Also, a lot of this is improvisation. Example, I don't know if Htp actually means divine, I just assumed so because it made sense.
I will stop talking now.)
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Post by Wolfstar on Jan 13, 2015 3:53:31 GMT -4
"Now that's different.." She mumbled. Gupta stopped doodling.
(Ok.)
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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Jan 13, 2015 9:30:03 GMT -4
"Notice how you each have different colours. This is because you all have different personalities and different types of magic." Jasmine continued. "Usually, the colour of you divine energy doesn't matter all that much. The only time it matters is if it's a blood red or a light blue." She glanced at the markings she'd made on the ground, which glowed with a bright hue of blue.
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Post by Wolfstar on Jan 15, 2015 3:17:36 GMT -4
"Why is that?" Aziza asked.
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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Jan 15, 2015 12:07:30 GMT -4
"Well, light blue is a divine colour." Her face reddened a little. "You see, those born directly from a divine bloodline have this type of magic... And red is an evil colour. If you meet anyone with red magic, do not trust them."
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Post by Wolfstar on Jan 16, 2015 4:29:44 GMT -4
"What is the evil one somehow gets you?" Gupta asked, since this was something new to him.
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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Jan 16, 2015 8:35:40 GMT -4
"If you're taken over by the powers of an evil magic user, you're pretty much done for. It's very hard for even strong magic users to show any sign of resistance." Jasmine replied, frowning.
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Post by Wolfstar on Jan 19, 2015 4:00:43 GMT -4
"Ok, so die. That's nice..." Aziza mumbled sarcastically.
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Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Jan 19, 2015 8:21:15 GMT -4
Jasmine huffed. "I heard a tale once of a man named Asios who was taken over by the god Set. He was trying to take care of his niece and nephew at the time... They didn't seem to notice the changes in his appearance, magic, and personality. Unfortunately Asios burnt himself out with his own power whilst trying to escape from Set's grasp..."
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Post by Wolfstar on Jan 20, 2015 3:57:36 GMT -4
Gupta murmured something and Aziza didn't say anything.
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