Madyu

Madyu was a shaman of a tribe of hunter-gathers in Eestexas some two hundred years after the Big Oops. He was a scrawny, clumsy and nearsighted man who made a poor hunter. Fortunately he was a good shaman so he did not need to hunt.

However, as all shaman knew, magic was a chancy business which did not always work. A few years earlier, the gods got angry at him and caused a famine. The tribe was forced to subsist on grasshopper stew, a most vile dish. Chief Ralf was about to run him out of the tribe for weak magic when the famine finally broke. Madyu never could figure out why the gods were so angry at him or why they finally decided to relent.

One thing that Madyu knew that would make magic stronger was using the person's, animal's or thing's secret or true name. This was possible to learn for a person because this secret name was given to the baby by its parents at birth and learned by the child as it grew up. But what was the true name of an animal? When tribes met to swap goods and women, the shamans went off by themselves to swap names. Who knew what language the gods used, so it was best to use as many names as possible when making magic.