About potion names
Labels here belong on wax sealed bottles, mixing English entries such as "Draught of Might" and "Potion of Guilt" with French ones like "Élixir de Débuts". The effect nouns range from combat ready to strangely psychological, which suits shops where players should hesitate before drinking. Use the French forms for imported or older stock.
How potion names are built
A potion takes one of two shapes: an English of-form pairing 14 vessel-words like Philter with 307 subjects like the Subconscious, or a French branch that fronts a French vessel-word (12 entries: Potion, Élixir, Tonique, Philtre) with a French complement from a 340-entry bank. The French complements carry their own de, de la, des, or elided d' connective, stored agreed with the head noun, though a vessel-word that brings its own de can double it, as in Brouillon de de Précision. Bank outputs include Philter of the Subconscious, Potion de Sanguine, and Tonique de la Bête.
Philter of the Subconscious
Philter (vessel-word) + the Subconscious (subject)
Potion de Sanguine
Potion (French vessel-word) + de Sanguine (French complement)
Tonique de la Bête
Tonique (French vessel-word) + de la Bête (French complement)
Naming notes
The bank is bilingual by design: the English of-form reads like a labeled apothecary bottle (Philter of the Subconscious) while the French branch supplies the bulk of the variety through its 340-entry complement bank. Because the French vessel-words are a fixed set of 12, the range comes from the complement; the connectives are stored with the complement, so Tonique de la Bête joins cleanly, though the blind join occasionally stutters a de. For a game, use the English forms as item names players read and the French forms as the formulae in an alchemist's recipe book.
Questions about potion names
- How is a potion name built?
- Either as an English of-form like Philter of the Subconscious, or a French form like Tonique de la Bête that fronts a vessel-word with a French complement.
- Why are many potions in French?
- The bank carries a full French branch so a potion can read as a continental apothecary formula, with 340 complements supplying most of the variety against just 12 vessel-words.
- Do the French complements stay grammatical?
- Mostly. Contractions like de la, des, and the elided d' are stored already agreed with their head noun, so Potion de Sanguine and Tonique de la Bête join correctly, but a vessel-word carrying its own de can double the preposition, as in Brouillon de de Précision.