Epithets of Ylyoun

The city of Ylyoun could believe in any number of gods, but held with dogmatic rigidity to a scheme of the qualities of the universal man, an image so god-like as to make foreign visitors believe that there was a god behind it all along. The matter, codified by Honux Porphyrystomus, went thus: Men - Mankind - in their fullness could have ten supernal qualities, and their inverses. These qualities would be expressed by epithets, which would be appended to the names of citizens. This may have started as a practice among princes of Ylyoun, but would not remain exclusive to them. 

One might be:

• Victor [Ever-Conquering, Always-Conquering, All-Conquering]
  Which is, inverted: Never-Conquering
• Invictus [Never-Conquered, Conquered by None, Unconquered] 
  Which is, inverted: Oft-Defeated
• Opitalus, [Aid-Offering, Helper of the Needy, Bringer of Help]
  Which is, inverted: Never-Aiding, Unable to Help
• Impulsor [Impelling, Who-Drives-On]
  Which is, inverted: Who cannot Impel, Who makes no Progress, Paralysed
• Stator [Who-Stops-and-Stays, Bringer-to-a-Halt]
  Which is, inverted: Who cannot Halt
• Centumpeda [Stabilising, Establishing]
  Which is, inverted: Whose Establishments and Efforts ever Fail
• Supinalis [Overthrowing, Who-Throws-on-the-Back, Down-Tearing]
  Which is, inverted: Who may not Throw-Down
• Tigillus [That-Is-The-Prop, Upholding]
  Which is, inverted: Who-Upholds-Not, Poor-Prop
• Almus [All-Sustaining, All-Furnishing] 
  Which is, inverted: Who cannot Sustain, Who Furnishes None
• Ruminus [All-Nourishing, All-Feeding] 
  Which is, inverted: Who cannot Nourish, Who Feeds None

Thus: Thalamon Invictus, Polycene Stator, Hupon Centumpeda. The terms could be applied to foreigners: Sopespian Victor, Uvilas Tigillus. These were not strictly titles, to be possessed thereafter, but attributes, notable for a season or a spell. A soldier hailed one day as Ydumee Invictus might be killed the next day without those who hailed Ydumee feeling very foolish: the influence of Invictus, for whatever cosmic reason (or personal fault on the part of Ydumee) had clearly passed out of his life.

The epithets became symbols and artistic motifs, often personified. Due to the popularity of the epithets, scratched graffiti and other hasty markings rendered these in a number of simpler ways.

• Victor was a garland, or a figure in a garland.
  [Often shown as a broken circle of crosshatches]
• Invictus was a shield showing the sun, or a shieldbearer.
  [Often shown as a circle with a stylised sun]
• Opitalus was a jar of ointment, or a figure holding such a jar.
  [Often shown as a jar or rough cylinder]
• Impulsor was a goad, or a figure holding a goad.
  [Often shown as a straight line with a curving line emerging from one end]
• Stator was a trowel, or figure holding a trowel.
  [Often shown as a triangle with a right-angle bend emerging from the base]
• Centumpeda was a pillar, or a figure against or by a pillar.
  [Often shown as a shaft with a simple pedestal and capital]
• Supinalis was a leopard skin, or a figure wearing such a thing.
  [Often shown as a clump of small circles]
• Tigillus was a beam of timber, or a figure holding a beam of timber
  [Often shown as a horizontal, square-cut shaft]
• Almus was a cornucopia, or a figure holding a cornucopia.
  [Often shown as a curled horn]
• Ruminus was a breast or dug, a phallus, or - serving for both, as a vessel of liquid tapering to a point - an amphora; or, as it may be, a figure with any of these attributes.
  [Often shown as a V or U shape]

The scratch-marked epithets were used in a number of ways. Positively, the marks of Centumpeda and Tigillus might be stamped into brick or tile. Victor and Invictus would be cut into the backs of shields, and commanders of the armies of Ylyoun would consider it a poor omen (or, at least, indicative of poor morale and an absence of élan) if none of the scratch-marks appeared in an encampment before battle. Ruminus and Supinalis might appear joined as a coarse boast.

An erased or struck-through scratch-mark was a curse or threat. To daub a struck-through Stator on the wall of a house meant 'You will not stop me; this wall will not keep me out'. Lead discs with a defaced Ruminus were provided as a marker to curse another with infertility or impotence; if such a disc was split, it was presumably so much more malign a curse - though it would only apply if both halves could be inveigled into the target's possession. 

In later artwork showing the Epithets personified, the scratch-marks might even be incorporated as an abstract pattern - one moderately well-known example being the atrium frescos in the Treasury of Cyncybar.

Enestor of Bovrenna, it is recorded, once publicly opined that the Ylyounic Epithets constituted a set of emanations of the Creator God, the fount of all things, and that these had possibly even taken forms before men. He lost two fingers, an eye and three-quarters of his hair in the ensuing riot. The citizenry of Ylyoun are jealous of their epithets, and would not see them applied to the wrong target.

Ylyoun probably fits well with the city mentioned here. Maybe's that Ylyoun a few centuries down the line. 

The epithets used come from St Augustine of Hippo's De Civitate Dei, Book Seven. The neat assortment of the list struck me in a way like these Elementals.

A number of names have come from the Troy Book of John Lydgate (of Bury).