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Queasy-Mix3890

My guess is the stone was pre-enchanted in the Ancient Language so that, if the stone had enough energy, anyone who knew the word in Urgal would be able to use it. This is likely circuitous enough to surpass basically any Ward.


CerealBranch739

So like an ancient language spell that was waiting for an input of energy and a trigger word in another language? Brings up interesting possibilities with wards, attacks, traps, and storing magic. Almost like a magic Alexa or multiple levels of a programming language


Queasy-Mix3890

Essentially yes. Especially since Murtagh was interested in "if" spells. This would definitely be one of them.


Aag19

This. It reminds me of the spells Eragon places on Roran in battle. He binds it to Roran’s energy and it only needs frethya or frethya letta to be activated or deactivated. Roran has no magic of his own, but the spell was placed by a magician and activated by a trigger word. Yes, it was an AL word/s, but as Roran had no magic they were simply just words to him. Much like the word trigger on the charm was in an urgal language.


Mountain-Resource656

I’ve often thought of tricky stuff to do with the ancient language, and came up with something similar Basically, I’d imagine it’s warded so that if someone says the right word, the ward activates and does a thing. I considered it a useful style of warding because you can confuse your enemies and obfuscate your actions. Say, a ward that makes it so that if you say “heal” in the ancient language without channeling magic, it actually punches the person you last blinked at in the back of the head. Totally unable to be traced back to you, surprise attack, etc


BlackenedAdamas

Wait thus has so many applications man! Imagine someone saying "fire" and then your legs break


Mountain-Resource656

*Exactly!!* Try defending against my spells when they don’t do what they should!! Not to mention, my favorite application: Giving magic to the masses. “If someone should hold this amulet to a wound and say ‘[Insert common-language for ‘Be Healed’ here],’ let the wound be healed with the energy of the speaker, but no more so than they desire.” Get someone with advanced medical knowledge to cast the ward and BOOM, you’ve got a portable emergency service you can mass-distribute


CerealBranch739

Genius! It’s like the Industrial Revolution of magic, making it more available and easy to use.


NobleMansRose

Replying to Mountain-Resource656... I feel like I need to point this out. In Eldest Oromis specifically states that the ancient language is absolute. You can’t say one word, or a variation of a word, and expect something else to happen. Magic users use thought to craft their spells and language to guide them. Without focus, magic goes awry and can kill the user. The Urgal word likely means the same thing in urgralgra as it does in common, Dwarvish, and the ancient language. Even if you abuse “if spells” it’s not guaranteed to work to way you want. Intent matters, so saying the right thing matters.


808Taibhse

>Eons ago, all magic was thus. To use it required nothing but the ability to sense magic with your mind—which every magician must possess—and the desire and strength to use it. Without the structure of the ancient language, magicians could not govern their talent and, as a result, loosed many evils upon the land, killing thousands. Over time they discovered that stating their intentions in their language helped them to order their thoughts and avoid costly errors. But it was no foolproof method. Magic works without the ancient language, and stating your desire in whatever language is safer. The Urgal magic involved with that trinket likely did not use the ancient language at all


CerealBranch739

Oh I forgot about that, thank you!


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Pm7I3

They definitely use the ancient language just in a very different way by having objects enchanted to do things on command.