Buried in the middle of Starr Long’s post about his impressions of the recently-concluded Release 9 pre-alpha test of Shroud of the Avatar (and his explanation of what we can expect to see in Release 10, next month) was the news that Portalarium had renamed the schools of magic in the game to make them a little more…”thematic”.

• Magic School Naming: Magic school names are changing to more thematic names:
  • Thaumaturgy (Life Magic)
  • Necromancy (Death Magic)
  • Atenism (Sun Magic)
  • Lunaism (Moon Magic)
  • Gaiaism (Earth Magic)
  • Theurgy (Air Magic)
  • Tempestry (Water Magic)
  • Sorcery (Fire Magic)
  • Omnipotence (Focus)

Five of these names should be instantly recognizable to Ultima fans; Thaumaturgy, Necromancy, Theurgy, Tempestry, and Sorcery were the Five Schools of Magic in Ultima 8.