True Names

There is little that can be properly described that can rival the knowledge of a 'True Name'. Families of humans have dedicated generations of their lives to learning a single one, and if any have succeeded they have not spread the knowledge of such. Why would they? Ultimate power is offered to those that know the 'True Name' of an aspect of reality, a person, an item. Rivaled only by another, that holds the same knowledge.

— "The Seer", Merlin

Information

A True Name is the absolute name of an aspect of reality itself. Be it fire or light, the sun or a forest, even down to ants or even an individual person. The power of this knowledge allows absolute dominance and control over whatever has been named, and is considered some of the most sacred, priceless, and overwhelming knowledge to exist within the world.

Learning a True Name

Learning a True Name is a painstaking process that requires an individual to dedicate everything to the aspect of reality, whatever it may be. It can take hundreds of years of effort to reach even a single name and requires the most intimate study of whatever it may be in all methods, and more than that, perfect understanding of what makes it what it is. Due to this knowledge of True Names are considered the most forbidden of fruit, and undisputably priceless knowledge. Should one dedicate enough time and understanding, the True Name will eventually come to them. Sometimes in a dream, or at other points simply manifest within their mind in moments of peace and contemplation as true perfect understanding of the aspect finally comes to them after so much time of dedicated study and thought.
The only way to acquire a True Name without doing this intimate study and understanding, is by simply learning it from someone else. As the understanding is not required to know a True Name at all, however, to use a True Name to its maximum potential requires that knowledge. As with all magic and skills, short-cuts will grant tremendous power, but not of the same level that true dedication will. Still, despite this, it does not stop many from attempting to learn True Names through underhanded methods, and as such, it is rare for anyone that does know a True Name to ever admit or use them unless they have no other choice.
It's an incredibly common throughout history of a mage showing off the knowledge of a powerful True Name, only to be hunted down at his weakest and tortured for the name that he had spent all his life learning. Either dying and taking its knowledge to the grave, or offering the name in hopes of being spared, or parts of the True Name, and widespread chaos and panic flowing forth in the aftermath.
Throughout all of these stories, one method also holds true. By making a contract with a powerful entity, often with The Daemon, The Creator, or The Celestial, the individual is offered the True Name of an aspect of reality that they rule over. In exchange for this great power, they then owe the entity some tremendous debt, and what it is has varied with the times and the entity in question. The most common to make this agreement is The Daemon due to its infinite desire for chaos and destruction.

Power of True Names

Spellcraft

All things, in reality, hold True Names, and this includes all aspects of nature. Something as simple as 'grass', as potent as 'fire', or as overwhelming as 'death'. As such when an individual learns the True Name of anything, they hold complete and utter dominance over it, not through their magic, but the very laws of reality. By simply knowing the true name, they are able to manipulate, create, and control whatever it is and empower it without any limits. It also renders that aspect completely powerless against them. For instance, if someone knew the True Name of 'fire', if a mage released a fireball at them then without even a wave of their hand the fireball would not only be dispersed but would be under the complete control of the individual that knew the flames True Name.
For this reason, Mages consider the knowledge of True Names unequal in value. If it means learning the True Name of anything, even something as seemingly useless as say 'Grass', they would trade everything they own for it quite often as even something as seemingly weak as this, in the hands of even an amateur mage, would make them one of the most powerful plant-based magic users in existence to infinity spawn, create, and manipulate grass anywhere they wished at any time of any quantity. Even shifting its status to different "types" of grass to change its density or makeup depending on the mages knowledge of plants, chemistry, and alchemy.
In this way, knowledge of True Names in magic is considered even greater than knowledge of True Magic, as it not only costs them none of their own energy but does not even drain the surrounding area of energy, either. It is in many ways, considered the 'purest form' of magic as it bends a small part of reality itself to your will. The only way to counter the knowledge of a True Name, is to know the name as well in which case it comes down to superior skill at controlling the magic instead.

Tiers

All True Names have a hierarchy of power in a way, that comes down to the superior aspects of reality. In the way of the previous example, if a mage knows the True Name of 'grass' and goes against another mage who knows the True Name of 'plants', then their own control is not only nullified, but they are overwhelmed by the control of the other mage. In this way, True Names are not a vocabulary that one studies and slowly obtain more names, and instead the name that one knows slowly evolves as they acquire more knowledge of true names. For instance, if the mage that knew 'grass' learned the word for 'tree', they would not then know two words, but instead, the word itself would evolve into that of 'forest' within their mind encompassing the ideas of both grass and tree together.
Similarly, that mage may then learn the True Names for 'flowers' and 'moss', perhaps even 'mushroom', and so forth and have that knowledge evolve even further into the True Name of 'plants' and match that mage that completely bested him previously in the understanding of True Names. The higher up this hierarchy one goes, the more abstract the study becomes. Evolving from 'Plants' for instance would need to become something more, such as one of the base elements of existence such as 'Nature', in which case a mage would need to study and learn several more words based on water and earth such as 'spring', 'river', 'rock' and so forth slowly combining their knowledge together.

Items

All items hold generalized true names, much like aspects of reality. One could know the name for 'sword' for instance and be able to use any sword that they pick up no matter the balance, style, cultural background or material as if they had spent their entire life utilizing the weapon as well as how it was made, maintained, and the best combat methods for its use, even form swords from thin air and control them from a distance. However, there is another aspect of true names for items.
Although rare, some unique items are able to hold True Names in the same way that a person is capable of such. These items, however, must have become intricate parts of reality itself, have their own legends, stories, and often magic that has led to their infamy or fame. Built upon by the acknowledgment of other sentient beings, these items are able to acquire their own True Names that can then be accessed by others that truly delve into their lore to understand them in the most intimate way. The effects of learning a unique items True Name varies entirely based on what the item itself does, and is famed for. For example, a mythical sword that was said to have slane over ten thousand men and feasted on their souls may be able to release those souls as slaves for a time for a welder that knows its True Name. The possibilities are endless.

Ones True Name

Though more often used in spellcraft, it is possible to learn ones own True Name. The name that represents the true personality and soul of a living sentient being. This like with all True Names, requires an intimate and complete flawless understanding of who they are as a person, down to every dark and light part of their being. Not only knowing these things about themselves, but acknowledging why they are this way, what caused these psychological effects, and how they reflect to make them who they now are. Due to the immense amount of self-study, admittance of flaws, understanding of those flaws as well as their strengths and hundreds of other aspects of their personality, this is overwhelming rare. Only one in billions of the population throughout history having managed such.
However, should one discover one's True Name, their own power will magnify exponentially, and their True Name will become who they truly think of themselves as. Knowledge of ones true name amplifies the power of their spirit tremendously, their willpower, mental fortitude, pain resilience, ability to ignore illusions and psychological torture, and even their magic power, stamina, and physical abilities will all be boosted beyond what would be natural. This is due purely to the knowledge granting them the ability to manipulate their own reality and amplify their own natural abilities past the natural limits of the universe itself.
Like with all things, great power comes great risk. Should knowledge of one's True Name be revealed, anyone who knows this True Name holds absolute power over the individual even to the point of causing them instant death. As well, a True Name due to its nature connected to an individual's personality and soul can change. Should this name change, and the holder not realize the changes going on within their own personality and soul, they will lose their knowledge of their own True Name. Though, if the changes are only minor it can be relatively easy to regain the knowledge of one's True Name after accepting and understanding the changes of their own souls.