So how does someone figure out exactly WHAT their epithet is? Like how would Percy figure out hers is "Parapet" and not "Foundation" or something similar?
Okay I’ve gotten this question two million times but I haven’t had time to answer it yet.
Everybody is born as a “mundie” and they have no idea if they have an epithet or not until they stumble on it. This moment is called an Epiphany. There are a number of ways an epiphany can happen.
Usually when somebody hears their epithet spoken aloud or if they read the word written down somewhere there’s a sort of... click, in their head. It’s a 6th-sense thing. You feel drawn to that word, and often to its synonyms. Think of it like a magical game of hot-cold where your brain is a metal detector, beeping louder the closer and closer you get to your epithet.
Of course, this also creates false positives. Sometimes people just enjoy certain words and they go “Ooh! The word archipelago really resonates with me! I’m going to spend 2 months trying to figure out how to use island-based powers!” But nope. They just like the word. It’s not their epithet. It’s impossible to tell if you’ve got the right word until you finally snag it. Kind of like fishing! You keep imagining nibbles until you really feel the bite. And remember it’s more likely that you don’t have any epithet at all, so you might never find it. Some inscribed people never do.
It’s a common thing for little kids to try and sit down and go through the entire dictionary to slowly figure out what their word is, but this rarely pans out too well. Epithet’s world doesn’t speak English. It speaks a sort of magic Esperanto-type language that combined all the languages that used to exist in the Epithet world into one, so there are way more words than just for one language. Not only that, but you need to consider archaic words no longer in use, which you often won’t find in a dictionary. Slang words also count. The only real metric for whether a word is fair game or not is “Does this word successfully encapsulate a specific idea?”
Once somebody has their epiphany they need to figure out how to actually do things with it, and what they’re able to do is heavily tied to what the word evokes for the user. For instance, if your epithet is the word “Beach” your powers would develop differently based on what you associate with the beach. One person might think of the beach and picture themselves building sandcastles, and so they develop a sand-based power. Another might have a deep fear of the ocean and gain the ability to summon sharks and storms. A third could’ve grown up near a shore-side boardwalk, so for them beaches are associated with Ferris wheels and terrible hot dogs. That’s not to say that any of those people couldn’t learn how to do ALL of those things eventually, but they will have something they gravitate towards first when they think of the word “Beach.”
There are cases where people discover they have an epithet, but they don’t know exactly what is is. Sometimes it takes months or years to discover the right word. For instance a person might be able to generate little clouds and affect the weather slightly, but it could take them quite a while before they find their specific word is stratiformis.
There are cases where people use their unknown epithet by accident, either passively or actively. Mera, for instance, was affected by her power from an early age and accidentally used it many times before she even realized she was inscribed. Mera just thought she had really terrible luck when it came to breaking things. You can see this in EP4 the window begins to crack because subconsciously she wants to break it and be on the other side with the kids playing in the snow.
Your epithet is trained by using it over and over again and finding new applications for your word. It’s not unheard of to accidentally train an epithet without even knowing you have one, then by the time you realize you’re inscribed you’re already Class 2.
At least one character I have planned will discover their epithet mid-series.
Another significantly less common way of discovering your epithet comes in the form of an Epitome. An Epitome is the strongest, absolute most powerful use of an epithet you can possibly squeeze out of your word. A few Nova-class inscribed can use their Epitome at will (Zora has one). Very rarely, in situations of extreme danger, a person who previously thought they were a mundie will unlock their epithet by way of unleashing an Epitome through the sheer need to survive. Think of it like the inscribed version of an adrenaline rush.
At least one character you have met so far unlocked their epithet this way.
I have plans to explore all these concepts in-universe, but here they all are laid out. Please stop asking me this question now! :D
