A
Renaming event alters the true name of an individual. A Fae Renaming is a formal rite by which one can alter their own or a willing other's true name, while informal Renamings occur naturally in certain scenarios.
Fae Renaming
The
fair folk are the most common practitioners and arguable inventors of name magic. As such, they have a more developed mastery of the field than most do, and name magic is consequently associated with the fae in most minds. Active Renaming
can be learned and executed by non-fae, but that requires more long-term dealing with the fae than simply asking one of them to perform the ritual.
Care must be taken when selecting the new name, as true names cannot be in use by more than one individual at the same time without forming a complicated and difficult-to-manage connection between those individuals. Being alive is an advantage in managing that connection, so sharing a true name with someone who
isn't is less of a risk, but it still tends to be safer to avoid overlap altogether. To make it more difficult to accidentally claim an already-owned true name, more specificity is often used in the Renaming (and in name magic more generally) than in conversation — titles, epithets, bonds, accomplishments, and the like are frequent inclusions in a true name, even when self-selected.
Once the Renaming is declared before an audience (of any size, which makes the requirement fairly trivial to meet), the spell takes hold and causes the target's true name to change as desired by the caster. This is usually done in the context of a gathering with any other purpose, to lend weight of occasion to the reason for Renaming. Poorly-reasoned Renamings are liable not to "stick" and will degrade, serving as a temporary mask before the previous true name reasserts itself.
Passive Renaming
The more common (though less commonly discussed) sort of Renaming event, and the main obstacle that active Renaming rites attempt to shield against, is the shift in an individual's true name when they undergo some defining change in the normal course of their life. A human whose true name is "Nathan Stokes, Son of Craig and Yvonne, Blacksmith of Barwick Village" may become "Nathan Stokes of Barwick, Son of Craig and Yvonne, Former Blacksmith" if he loses his job, for example, and may further lose the "Former Blacksmith" element if he allows his skills to fade without the employment incentive to keep them sharp. Conversely, elements can be gained in response to accomplishments. A naturally-formed true name is relatively unsurprising to close friends of the individual it describes, because it inherently reflects the most defining features of the owner.
