Name that Corrupted Spirt

[tarnishedarmour]

I'm trying to introduce a corrupted spirit in to my campaign; much like Ander's Justice become Vengeance in Awakenings and II. The problem is coming up with an actual "name" for the spirit. The spirit was originally a spirit of Compassion. The only name (ran through thesaurus and such) that sounds good to me is "Passion".

While I know it sounds a little too close to the original type of spirit I see it kind of as:

A recently ended battle has left many wounded left behind in the mud dying. Soldiers from the victorious side are walking the field and delivering killing blows to those still alive.

The spirit of Compassion would run out and try and save the wounded through magic and mundane aid.

The spirit of Passion would run out and attack the soldiers killing the wounded.

I know the concept works, I'm just wondering if anyone has a different corruption of Compassion besides Passion...

[Saisei]

Are you looking for a twisted version or the antithesis? As in Vengeance is a corrupted form of Justice.

Mercy maybe? A spirit of Compassion would try to help, a spirit of Mercy would kill them

[tarnishedarmour]

Yes, looking for the corrupted version. May run with Mercy for now to avoid confusion of names.

[5trangeCase]

See, Vengeance seems like the appropriate name in this scenario XD

Bear in mind that spirits of Mercy are benevolent spirits though. When they are referenced in the DA:O codex it lists spirits of Mercy as one of the examples of benevolent spirits. Plus, um, it doesn't really make sense for you to call it Mercy based on the example you gave. Maybe if it went around the battlefield killing those that were dying.

Perhaps Contempt? I say that because first of all it has connotations of misunderstanding and that is an antonym of compassion, but also because it is a negative emotion generally associated with "good" rather than "bad" people. In that vein, it is contempt that often blinds and makes those "good" people unable to see the bigger picture. Instead of trying to solve a problem, they focus their attention on hating the people who are responsible. And I think that's perfect for killing the people who are slaughtering those they defeated on the battlefield rather than trying to heal the wounded.

[ColdSteel1]

1. Nemesis

2. Penance

3. Unity

4. Peace

[si1vergecko]

Tolerance

Sympathy

Pity

Succor

Discrimination

Judgment

Prejudice

[Deirain]

If you want something comparable to Justice/Vengeance, I would go with Euthanasia. I'm not going to go into deep politics here and I would appreciate if no one else did, but some view Euthanasia as the ultimate form of compassion while others view it as a corruption of the Hippocratic Oath.

[Ghostdanser]

If you want something comparable to Justice/Vengeance, I would go with Euthanasia. I'm not going to go into deep politics here and I would appreciate if no one else did, but some view Euthanasia as the ultimate form of compassion while others view it as a corruption of the Hippocratic Oath.

I was thinking along the same lines. Politics aside, Mercy being corrupted into Euthanasia ("caring for the sick and injured" becoming "better to kill them than to let them suffer") would make sense to me.

If you have a problem with using the word Euthanasia...what you might want to try is renaming the concept by attaching it to an existing word or phrase in a foreign language. According to Google Translate Mercy Killing in Welsh translates as Llad Drugaredd, you could use that as is saying something like "Fereldens have no real name for the concept of mercy killing, but the Avvar or Chasind call it Llad Drugaredd." Or if the long form is too long, just say that in this world the word Drugaredd itself translates as Mercy Killing...not just Mercy.

Hope that helps.

[ColdSteel1]

1. Sorrow

2. Fate

[Loswaith]

To me it sounds like the spirit is trying to protect those wounded in battle from being put to the sword, so haps protectorate, or something similar. Though It could also be avenging those wounded that have been killed, so avenger or vengance (as StrangeCase mentioned) could work too.

I guess it depends on whether you want the name to come from how the spirit sees itself or (more likely) how others see it. Looking at the spirits underlying motivation may also help nailing down a name for it.

[Deirain]

To me it sounds like the spirit is trying to protect those wounded in battle from being put to the sword, so haps protectorate, or something similar. Though It could also be avenging those wounded that have been killed, so avenger or vengance (as StrangeCase mentioned) could work too.

I guess it depends on whether you want the name to come from how the spirit sees itself or (more likely) how others see it. Looking at the spirits underlying motivation may also help nailing down a name for it.

Loswaith has a point here, but the problem that I see is that if you're following the tradition already established by the game, a spirit still follows its motivation even in its corrupted state. Vengeance is still following a path of Justice, albeit twisted, but Justice nonetheless. If you're going to create a spirit of Compassion, even in his corrupted form, he has to follow his primary motivation.

Now, if you want an excuse for the spirit of Compassion to go all world-ending on the battlefield, I refer you here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Heavenly_Virtues#Seven_heavenly_virtues

If you don't feel like reading all of that information, I'll summarize. Compassion is tied to the Heavenly Virtue of Kindness, which in turn is the opposite of the Deadly Sin of Envy.

Here's a snippet about Envy: Dante defined this as "a desire to deprive other men of theirs."

So, balling all that together in-game, I would explain the corrupted spirit of Compassion as Envy. He becomes the embodiment of the Envy men dying on the battlefield feel toward those that laid them low and strikes out because of it. In a sense, he's still Compassion personified, because he's so compassionate to the men dying that he grants their last wish that the men responsible for their deaths be killed themselves.

Long post is long.

[tarnishedarmour]

I like that line of though, and you went a bit further in research than I had originally (I had tried to do the linking from the 5 Demons and Spirits to the 7 Sins and Virtues too). Envy has a much better selection in the thesaurus to choose from, so I'm going with that.

[Deirain]

Cool, glad I could be of service.