This threads purpose is simple. It exists to serve as a place where builders can run by a name, or names, that they have created for their setting. At one time or another, I'm sure we've all created what we thought was the perfect name for a setting, a city, a god, what have you, only to find out later that the name already exists in another setting, someone else has laid claim to it in one form or another, it is actuallya very silly sounding name, or, in my case, that it means "penis" in Dutch.
So, just write the name, or names, you wish for the public to see, perhaps with a bit of context as to the setting, and drink in that fine critique...
I suppose I might as well be the first to use this and see how it goes.
So, I'm trying to nail down a solid name for an empire that was lost long ago. It is for Arga, so the whole Greekpunk ethos comes into play. It originally was Pella, but with me deciding on calling the core are of Arga the Pellanosi, it sounds to similair. Maybe Vella? Della? or something completely different like Nyros, Neros, or Myrminos (I like this one).
Thoughts?
Myrminos sounds really cool, but a bit aquatic since it makes me think of Myrmadon. Nyrimos doesn't have quite the same sound, combines two of those words, and seems to work for what you're going for as a suggestion. (I'm not a big fan of the -ella names, personally)
Quote from: Xathan Of Many Worlds
Myrminos sounds really cool, but a bit aquatic since it makes me think of Myrmadon. Nyrimos doesn't have quite the same sound, combines two of those words, and seems to work for what you're going for as a suggestion. (I'm not a big fan of the -ella names, personally)
Aquatic is Argas middle name.
Quote from: Señor Leetz
Quote from: Xathan Of Many Worlds
Myrminos sounds really cool, but a bit aquatic since it makes me think of Myrmadon. Nyrimos doesn't have quite the same sound, combines two of those words, and seems to work for what you're going for as a suggestion. (I'm not a big fan of the -ella names, personally)
Aquatic is Argas middle name.
You can tell how familiar I am, then. :( I really need to get better at delving through the older setings. in that case, I'd go with Myrminos - fits the aquatic and sounds very greekish. :)
in the next couple weeks i should be reposting older ideas and posting newer ideas from the ground up, so you'll have a good change to get into if you so desire.
I do desire, and I shall!
Also, I have a name I'm looking for:
The setting of the IRC game For Terra Macabra is going to take place on an asteroid that was sliced in half lengthwise and a city was put on top of it, and the whole thing was pulled into Earth's Atmosphere (stay about 1-2km above the surface, over the ocean) and is kept running by a combination of...well, of everything's technology. It's an amazing piece of artwork and a bit of a testament to what happens when all the technology of Nascent and Elder things is combined, since they've created the first ever Earthship, as large as a city flying over the oceans. It's also perhaps the most powerful military construct ever.
As far as naming goes, I have a few vague ideas - Vestra, Shunta, Shabbot, Aelithia...but none of them I'm super happy with. Keep in mind this does take place on Earth, so all Earth languages apply, and most of the Elder Things speak some dialect of R'lyehian. Thoughts?
Antipode? Umbral? something latin?
Hmmm...the Antipode has a nice ring to it - and would fit, given what a brief wiki search shows...as for Latin, I'm not sure which would be best - though a Latin name would fit the setting very well.
Myrminos is nice, but almost seems a bit too familiar; too closely linked to Myrmidon and thus too obviously greek. I do like the sounds though, just can't figure out how to put them together in a combination that isn't as closely associated with the above. Myrmellion? Myrmelen?
Myrmenox?
EDIT: I like this even better than Myrminos, which I will admit sounded too much like myrmidon. Also, I think this thread may be a good idea...
You had a great idea with this thread, Leetz. I approve.
And Myrmenox sounds awesome. Greek and has a feeling of age to it, which is very fitting from what you described.
Myrmenox works, although the 'x' is a very classical fantasy name signature. It is also a genuine letter though, so by all means use it.
I like this thread! A lot!
I don't currently have anything I need a name for, but when I do, you can be damn sure this is where I'll come!
Just so you know, myrmex (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BC%CF%8D%CF%81%CE%BC%CE%B7%CE%BE) means 'ant' in ancient Greek.
Also, Pella (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella) was a real city in ancient Greece. And not just any old city - it was the capital of the Macedonian Greeks, famed for certain monarch called Alexander.
Quote from: GhostmanPella (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella) was a real city in ancient Greece. And not just any old city - it was the capital of the Macedonian Greeks, famed for certain monarch called Alexander.
I thought I had seen it somewhere there, too.
Quote from: Magnus Pym
Quote from: GhostmanPella (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella) was a real city in ancient Greece. And not just any old city - it was the capital of the Macedonian Greeks, famed for certain monarch called Alexander.
I thought I had seen it somewhere there, too.
Oh yeah, I definately stole that, fo sho.
also, a short list of my more favorite names I've "created" for Arga. I don't expect a paragraph for each, but if something seems extra good, or extra bad, well, you know.
Aspergos, Myrmenox, the Pellanosi, the Volanosi, Pen Perdan, Salsurel, Voy Vasa.
Okay, so, over in my thread about Larr Nesh (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,209414.msg211015.html#new) I've come up with some names for the noble clans and houses using an unusual method for me - random generators!
I'm very pleased with how the names of the Lacedonian Houses came out, they're all named from a site that offers to randomly generate fantasy tarot cards, and they're called. . .
House of the Seven of Skulls
House of the Three of Chains
House of the Six of Gates
House of the Arrow
House of the Mute Hero
House of the Five of Cubes
House of the Mask
House of the Priestess of Bones
House of the Eight of Lanterns
House of the Woman
House of the Ten of Clouds
House of the Nine of Vaults
The Neshoi great clans, however, are a bit more typical-fantasy-name-ish, and while I don't exactly think they're terrible, they could be improved, so I'd welcome any suggestions on what to do with them. They are. . .
Clan Dahel
Clan Ezana
Clan Haniandani
Clan Krasanei
Clan Tercopha
Clan Ucivat
Clan Vonern
Clan Zananiesas
EDIT: Also, I'm thinking of calling the "ancients" I've referred to in that thread Icebloods. Is that too cheesy?
I'll agree that the clan names need something added - the house names are wonderfully evocative and have me wanting more, but the clan names are just kind of...there. I want to know more about the House of the Three Chains, but nothing in Clan Zanalesas makes me want to know more about them from name alone.
Without knowing anything about these clans beyond name, what I'd suggest is perhaps compound words added to the names - it retains that tribal feel but gives more. Clan Zananiesas the Redborn, or the Unbound, or the Cleftriders...things along those lines.
Since the only canon piece of Neshoi language we have is Larr Nesh, the name of the country itself, we should probably model the clan names based on that.
The most striking feature of Larr Nesh is of course that it is split into two words and this could well be applied with good effect to your clans.
E.g. Clan Krasa Nei, Clan Zanan Niesas, Clan Hani Andani to take the most obvious ones.
I'm not sure this a perfect fix, but does keep the whole naming paradigm a bit more coherent.
EDIT: For some variety, only apply the above to 1/3-2/3 of the clan names.
Quote from: Xathan Of Many Worlds
Without knowing anything about these clans beyond name, what I'd suggest is perhaps compound words added to the names - it retains that tribal feel but gives more. Clan Zananiesas the Redborn, or the Unbound, or the Cleftriders...things along those lines.
It's a good suggestion but I quite liked the simplicity of the clan names as opposed to the more long-winded house names. Of course, alternatively, I could just scrap the proper names for the clans and just have, as per your examples, things like Clan Redborn, Clan Unbound, Clan Cleftrider. . . I'll certainly consider it.
Quote from: Superfluous Crow
Since the only canon piece of Neshoi language we have is Larr Nesh, the name of the country itself, we should probably model the clan names based on that.
The most striking feature of Larr Nesh is of course that it is split into two words and this could well be applied with good effect to your clans.
E.g. Clan Krasa Nei, Clan Zanan Niesas, Clan Hani Andani to take the most obvious ones.
I'm not sure this a perfect fix, but does keep the whole naming paradigm a bit more coherent.
EDIT: For some variety, only apply the above to 1/3-2/3 of the clan names.
I like this, how do these seem? I'm still not happy with some, but some are definitely improved:
Clan Dah El
Clan Eza Na
Clan Hani Andani
Clan Krasa Nei
Clan Terco Ha
Clan Uc Ivat
Clan Von Ruun
Clan Zana Niesas
EDIT: Or, to keep some as a single world, maybe Dahel, Ezana and Vonern could stay the same while the others split?
Maybe Clan Dael, Doul or Daul instead of Dahel.
Ezana sounds more like a personal name and even in its unconcatenated form Eza makes the whole thing sound a bit feminine for a barbaric clan. Maybe Ezeg/Ezm/Ezul Na? Some variation thereof?
I know Hani Andani was my idea, but I'd just point out the rhyming sound it has. You can decide whether it is a good thing or not.
Terco sounds a little odd alone. Maybe Terec?
Uc is good, Ivac less so. This should perhaps be one of the names that is only one word long, but I can't come up with a good way to mix the two words.
Von sounds a little too german, but Ruun looks and sounds awesome!
That's all the feedback I can come up with at the moment!
Cool, good stuff. Personally I like Dahel, though, so I think I'll keep it as-is. And how about dropping the I of the Hani in Hani Adani to get rid of the rhyme? New list:
Clan Dahel
Clan Ezeg Na
Clan Han Andani
Clan Krasa Nei
Clan Terec Ha
Clan Uc Vath
Clan Vonern
Clan Zana Niesas
EDIT: I also now need a ridiculous amount of names for Lacedonians (given names, that is, I already have the names of their noble houses)... Any suggestions? I'm thinking maybe ancient-greek-sounding, as Lacedon is only one letter away from Macedon, but I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise. By a ridiculous amount I mean about a hundred, give or take.
Quote from: Kindling
EDIT: I also now need a ridiculous amount of names for Lacedonians (given names, that is, I already have the names of their noble houses)... Any suggestions? I'm thinking maybe ancient-greek-sounding, as Lacedon is only one letter away from Macedon, but I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise. By a ridiculous amount I mean about a hundred, give or take.
These character name lists (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,75347.msg206908.html#msg206908) for my own setting are compiled from hellenic names, largely collected from etymologica.com (http://www.etymologica.com/).
If anyone can help me out: I'm trying to find a name for my half beast half human demonic races for Plaguelands.
For now, I have three; Lion-men, Hyena-men and Elephant-men. Of course I plan on adding to this list with crocodile, rhinoceros, giraffe and all sorts of other cool animals I thought of, but the focus is on the three I mentioned first.
Hyena-men; Hyenafolk, Hyene (means hyena in french)
Lion-men; Lionfolk, Lyon (heh... imaginative huh?)
Elephant-men; Ephant
Except for, perhaps, the Ephant I don`t find these names very... intriguing. Anyone`s got a better idea?
Elephant-men: Loxodes, Mammuthans, Pachydons, Tuskers, Tuskfolk, Stompers
Lion-men: Felids, Leonids, Panthrax, Aslath, Roarfolk
Hyena-men: Hyaenids, Cursorials, Aardfolk, Crocutans, Runners
Tuskers is very good, stolen! Hihi :)
I'm going to look the others in more details as I'm not sure what the link might be between some of the words and their physical representation, but thanks a bunch Kindling!
Quote from: Magnus Pym
I'm not sure what the link might be between some of the words and their physical representation
Loxodes is from Loxodonta, a genus of elephant. Mammuthans is from Mammutha, another. Pachydons is from Pachydermata, a "now invalid" order that elephants were once classed under.
Felids, from feline. Leonids, from Leo (meaning lion). Panthrax, from the genus Panthera, to which lions belong. Aslath, from Aslan, the lion from CS Lewis's Narnia.
Cursorials, from the biological term Cursorial, meaning a being specifically adapted to run, which hyenas are. Aardfolk, from the aardwolf, a smaller animal related to the hyena. Crocutans, from the genera Crocuta, to which the spotted/laughing hyena belongs (crocuta crocuta)
Also, that list of names looks fantastic, Ghostman! Just the kind of thing I was after. I hope you won't object if I use some for my Lacedonian nobles?
From Wikipedia
QuoteA Persian medical treatise written in 1376 tells how to cure cannibalistic people known as kaftar, who are said to be "half-man, half-hyena".
-Exactly= what I needed. STOLEN!
So I got these;
Lionfolk: Leonid
Elephantfolk: Tusker
Hyenafolk: Kaftar... I might rename it to Ghaftar (see what I did here? lol)
Leonid is very fantasy-y. Not necessarily bad depending on what you are going for, just making you aware.
Tusker is good, but sounds more like a nickname given to the species by humans et al. Maybe they have a name for themselves as well?
Kaftar is great!
Kindling- Elephants are no longer pachyderms? What happened?
I have no idea, I was just quoting wiki :P
Kindling: Those being actual personal names that I simply collected into alphabetical lists, I would have no right to object if you or anyone uses them.
Magnus Pym: Be aware that 'Leonid' is a Russian personal name, famously borne by one USSR general secretary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev). It is actually a shortened form of the Hellenic personal name 'Leonidas', also of historical fame (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas_I).
According to my google search Leonids is also a famous meteor shower!
I can't find any obvious links to fantasy though, so I might have been wrong about that. Admittedly I only checked the first page of search hits...
I posted a number of creatures in my TM discussion thread and I'm unhappy with most of the names - any help there would be greatly appreciated.
[spoiler=names and descriptions]Ratweres - though they lack sentience, a Ratwere is a creature that appears as though it should - bipedal rodents, easily 3 feet tall, with rudimentary tool use. However, their tool use is only slightly more advanced than what we see in apes. Rateweres gather in large groups and are considered a menace to society as a whole, since they can breed rapidly and pose a significant threat to Nascent villages and frontier civilizations, though they rarely have the numbers needed to threaten larger societies.
Howler Bats - despite their name not mutated from bats but rather from Howler Monkeys, Howler Bats are essentially flying apes with their forearms mutated into batlike wings - gaining their name both from their distinctive sounds and the structure of their wings.
Carnequines - also called Hellhorses, Carnequines are horses with sharpened teeth and a predatory diet, competing with wolves for the same ecological niche and often preying upon their herbivorous cousins.
Floatwhales - Whales that developed the ability to naturally refine phlogiston and create "air sacks" that enable them to be skyborn, Floatwhales are lagely docile and used by some cultures/creatures in place of skyships despite being smaller than their mechanical counterparts. Floatwhales can survive in the Aether and many have begun to roam far form Earth.
Crovus Rex - A mutated crow bigger than an eagle, Crovus Rex is a highly debated topic because they seem to have a language and culture so may actually qualify as Nascent Things, though they lack tool use and have yet to communicate with any other intelligent life-form. They resemble crows with spinal ridges along their backs and a third blood red eye directly in the center of their skull.
Trolls - Large reptiles with simian bodies and regenerative properties - though not as rapid as in typical fantasy, they still can regrow a severed limb and heal form most wounds given time. Predatory but not highly intelligent, they are tamable enough to serve as guard beasts.
Swampgrasps - an evolved mollusk, swampgraps are unique for their three elongated radula (the tongue of a mollusk) that can extend up to 20 feet to grab prey, sea based creatures that often prey on ships and coastlines.
Glideapus - an octopus with a flattened body and two of it's tentacles flattened to serve as wings, Glidapus can, like floatwhales, naturally refine phlogiston, though they use it as a means of propulsion instead of gliding, essentially making them jet-propelled areal creatures. The remaining four tentacles drag behind the body, and the glidapus will swoop over prey and grab it, typically snapping its spine from the sheer velocity of the grasp. Glidapus can survive in the Aether.
Parakrill - small arthropods that developed a membranous parachute allowing them to float, they reproduce incredibly rapidly and have become the basis of the aerial ecosystem and are rapidly spreading across the Aether.
[/spoiler]
I like Carnequines. I think it would work well if you left out the horse descriptions, because then it's a bit too obvious. But I'm with you on the rest... no offense.
Unfortunately, I'm not all the familiar with your setting, so I'm not sure in what direction I should aim you at the moment. But being that TM is based on real Earth, using a Greco-Latin naming scheme, or using or languages, is not only acceptable, but also makes total in-game sense. What about having a scientific name, like Corvus Rex, and a common name, king crow.
Out of racial solidarity I second the vote cast for King Crow.
Carnequines is actually a pretty sweet name as long as you don't notice the -equine morpheme. And even then it's not that bad. Reminds me of carnifex. Anyway, carne- is a perfectly legit prefix as long as it isn't preceded by chili, so if you were worried that it sounded artificial then worry no more!
Howling Bats is sort of okay, but you might want to drop "bats". Maybe Lurker instead?
floatwhales might be fixed through a single letter substitution (or perhaps not): Bloatwhales? Sounds a little nastier and more intimidating. While floatwhales is clearcut fantasy, bloatwhales straddles the fantasy/lovecraft gap. You need to drop the whale if you want to go for pure, distilled Lovecraft.
(You could also justify calling them behemoths.)
Why are swampgrasps called swamp-anything if they live near the coast and prey on ships? Deepcallers/Caller from the Depths might fit. Perhaps Brinetaster? Something derived from drown or siren would be good too - the last requires some adjective that is contradictory to the ordinary image of the siren, though.
Seems reasonable to have something called trolls in a RL-derived setting. Put more focus on the troll/monster vibe and downplay the reptilian side and you should be okay.
glideapus is pretty horrible but also easily solvable: enter the mooncalf (http://images.google.dk/imgres?q=mooncalf&hl=da&sa=G&gbv=2&biw=1280&bih=675&tbm=isch&tbnid=u0-TKeU78Wk9NM:&imgrefurl=http://www.fantasylands.net/varie-cose/creatureg.html&docid=c8nIDG2QQaqW_M&imgurl=http://www.fantasylands.net/varie-cose/Mooncalf.jpg&w=400&h=506&ei=o4XHTt3LLoTKrAfJ27G1Dg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=366&vpy=128&dur=4123&hovh=253&hovw=200&tx=107&ty=140&sig=114926720566885754894&page=1&tbnh=150&tbnw=119&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0)!
(okay, out of context it is a pretty ridiculous name but it has a fair bit of Lovecraft vibe going on)
Parakrill only brings to mind tiny cartoon shrimp parachuting out of airplanes. Which is good fun, but probably not suitable for TM :D
driftlife? Or model them on algae, having them suck up the sun of the upper atmospheric layers. Blackdrift or driftmold? (yes, I like drift)
Honestly, this one is going to be hard to do - krill aren't exactly intimidating and TM needs to keep up its (macabre) appearance. Black clouds of drifting mold-creatures is probably the only fitting version of this I can imagine.
Thanks for the feedback:
Leetz - Yeah, maybe I should scale down the horse in the description - it reminds me of the Thangorian Snarebeast. Just because it is a giant spider doesn't mean you ever need to use the phrase "spider" in the description, and just because it's a predatory horse doesn't mean I need to call it a horse - and maybe alter the description a bit to make them less horsey.
I figured Greco-Roman naming would work, though it's good to hear that reaffirmed. And for some reason, the idea of calling Crovus Rex King Crows when people refer to them never crossed my mind, making me feel a bit dense for missing the obvious but now something I intend on doing.
@SC: Thanks a ton for all the ideas!
Looks like you and Leetz agree on Carnequines, so those will likely stay in, just described to be a bit less horsey. One other thing I'm struggling on is what the common folk call them, because I want to avoid the painfully obvious "Hellhorse" - especially since most folk don't bother with anything called hell anymore, and haven't for a few centuries now. Thoughts?
So for Howling Bats you think maybe Howling Lurker or something similar? Perhaps Howling Hunters? Or should I just drop the Howling, leave that in the description, and call them Lurkers?
Bloatwhales works much better...but you saying Behemoths sparked a whole nother thrain of though, and I'm now torn between Behemoths and Levithans. The former is a bit more lovecrafty - though the reason for the whale suffix was because I wanted to keep these things from being TOO lovecrafty, reserving the worst of that for creatures that are actually extraterrestrial.
Swampgrasps were originally swamp ambush predatores that filled the crocodile niche in a speculative evolution project of mine (what if mollusks had beat fish to land) and I couldn't think of a better name off the top of my head to post. I love brinetaster or Brinelurker or Brinegrasp. Deepcallers is something Iike, but going to use for something else, and Callers Fom the Deeps is abit to much for sailors to scream in terror when one of these is licking them apart with tounges that function like freaking chainsaws (real mollusks have that same tounge - it's kinda terrifying). So some varation on BrineBLANK is going in. Thoughts on the three I'm pondering?
Good point - what I'm thinking now is, considering how much I love Skyrim's 3 eyed trolls, I'm probably going to base my trolls off of a repitilian version of that.
Mooncalf should be absurd...but it isn't. I'm going to use that for now unless I can think of a better second word than calf, but then again I could see people naming these things that at first glance, since they don't appear as nearly as deadly as they are when just in flight.
Yeah, Parakrill is an aweosme name for a fun, lighthearded setting. :P No so uch. Blackdrift is the best I've been able to hear - they form almost clouds of black, buzzing creatures that are winged shrimps floating on algae parachutes, darkening the skies and attracting Behemoths and their predators. Kudos for taking a completely unterrifing creature and not only giving it a creepy name, but figuring out how to make them creepy in how they work too.
For Arga, I've written down a fairly lengthy list of syllables and sounds that I've been combining to make names for places and people and things in Arga. More often than not they sound silly, but every now and then, something meshed up thats good. Unfortunately, the downside is that many of the names have the same prefix, suffix, or a similair sound.
for example, I have five archapelegos named the Pellanosi, the Volanosi, the Ibanosi, the Ullynosi, and the Quirnosi. Also, in a region of small, warlike kingdoms, there are three cities, belonging to three different kingdoms, named Pen Perdan, Pen Percath, and Pen Phaelox.
Now, my world map would have names according to how the Pellanese see the world, so that does explain why many names are the same. Most world maps in English use the anglo name for most places that don't speak English: Spain vs. España, Germany vs. Deustchland, Ireland vs. Eire. but i digress...
what are the opinions at large with naming schemes like that? stay with it or bail?
I like the consistency. As long as it doesn't seem repetitive to you, it can just seem like traits of the language, which is realistic. :)
what's the consensus on tweaking common monster names to fit a setting? for example, in Arga, which I'm sure most know is a primarily Greek-inspired setting, I'm thinking about changing the names of the following "common monsters" so they are still recognizable but, I feel, fit the setting better:
Giants = Aegantos
Harpies = Harpaes
Dragons (more feral than regal) = Pedragos
Sprites, fairies, etc = Fae (not exactly a stretch, but whatever)
I'm still thinking about a few more to squeeze in, but I'm sure you all get the idea. Thoughts?
I think that the things you mention are better left off with unchanged names. Players will call them by the old names anyway, because they're the same thing, in fact. For example, giants will still be called giants because they're essentially giant people. Or renaming harpies... just feels unnecessary.
Quote from: Kalontas
I think that the things you mention are better left off with unchanged names. Players will call them by the old names anyway, because they're the same thing, in fact. For example, giants will still be called giants because they're essentially giant people. Or renaming harpies... just feels unnecessary.
Yeah, I'm with you on the harpies, but I'm a bit fond of the aegantos and the pedragos, plus, despite their similarity in name and role, they will be completely Arga-fied. What I'm trying to do here, i suppose, is try to avoid using the common names because I think for most people they are connected to a pre-existing idea or concept that I may or may not want to use.
Avoiding using the common names will work only for the short time - because at some point you'd have to explain what the 'Aegantos' are. And you'd explain: they're giants, and the pre-conception comes back. If you're following greek mythological sources here, giants of Arga shouldn't be too different from standard fantasy Giants - both Jotunn (arguably a major basis for D&D giants) and Gigantes (the greek ones) were just big, brutish creatures hellbent on destruction of 'our' culture.
Quote from: Kalontas
Avoiding using the common names will work only for the short time - because at some point you'd have to explain what the 'Aegantos' are. And you'd explain: they're giants, and the pre-conception comes back. If you're following greek mythological sources here, giants of Arga shouldn't be too different from standard fantasy Giants - both Jotunn (arguably a major basis for D&D giants) and Gigantes (the greek ones) were just big, brutish creatures hellbent on destruction of 'our' culture.
that may be the case for the most part, but the aegantos aren't big (well, not THAT big), brutush creatures hellbent on destruction, which is what I want to avoid by not calling them "giants". Plus, using the word giant to describe something I don't want to call giant would be somewhat self-defeating, so I'm set on avoiding that.
Well, if your giants aren't like Gigantes, you may well avoid that name.
But then again I'm curious - if they're not all that big, and are unlike fantasy giants in culture, what made them giants to you before?
Quote from: Kalontas
Well, if your giants aren't like Gigantes, you may well avoid that name.
But then again I'm curious - if they're not all that big, and are unlike fantasy giants in culture, what made them giants to you before?
well, because despite the fact that they are very un-giant like in someways, they are, when everything is boiled down, giants. I could have called the Dura dwarves in Arga, but now, at least to me, despite the similarities, the Dura and dwarves are very different, the same could also go to the Anthos and humans, I think it gives a setting a good flavor.
I like aegantos more than just calling them giants. Besides being better for the Greek theme of the setting (giants does not sound or feel Greek), it conjures up an image of a massive humanoid but gives an air of the old, a gravity to them that giants just lack. Same reason in Xeno fantaseum I'm going with nephilim for giants instead of just giants.
To answer your initial question, I'm all for renaming fantasy races so long as its done for a purpose other than just being different, and making the name conjure up nonstandard images as well as fit your setting better is something I can totally get behind.
Quote from: Xathan Of Many Worlds
To answer your initial question, I'm all for renaming fantasy races so long as its done for a purpose other than just being different, and making the name conjure up nonstandard images as well as fit your setting better is something I can totally get behind.
I think you hit the nail on the head with that, couldn't agree more.
I feel like your variant names lean a little too close to the word they are derived from e.g. ae-g[ i ]ant-os. Same for dragons (sorry). If you want to separate them from the source material you should go all the way.
Aegans, Aegeans, Aegerans, Aegi or some variant there of might work better, I think?
The renaming should work well enough for giants as they aren't that iconic, but I'm more worried about the dragons. I fear Arga player will resort to calling them dragons in almost no time unless you make it very, very clear that this is an entirely different kind of critter.
Some renamings might work well enough for dragons though, since there are names that are already associated with them: linnorms, wyverns, wyrms and some others I'm sure. But none of them sounds especially greek (well, "wyvern" could work, but they are already part of the Arga bestiary).
Quote from: Superfluous Crow
I feel like your variant names lean a little too close to the word they are derived from e.g. ae-g[ i ]ant-os. Same for dragons (sorry). If you want to separate them from the source material you should go all the way.
Well, the thing is that I do want them to sound similair enough to not require lots of work to remember and to disengage a reader, but still different enough to not immediately think of the normal trope of giant or dragon. does that make sense?
Quote from: Señor LeetzWell, the thing is that I do want them to sound similair enough to not require lots of work to remember and to disengage a reader, but still different enough to not immediately think of the normal trope of giant or dragon. does that make sense?
It makes sense, but I don't think that is really possible... I mean, once someone gets "ah, it's a Giant", he already recalls a certain image in his head, and IMO, names can't change that. If someone wants to know how are they not stereotypical Giants, he will read a few paragraphs on them. Just the name can't convey everything (unless you name it something like "Lizardfolk" which is the worst species name in D&D IMHO).
I agree with Kalontas. If you have a [normal name] <-> [Arga name] association, the idea of an [Arga name] will also be directly associated with the attributes of the [normal name].
(hmm, we could do math on this)
My setting needs a proper name, as its current title, Demon-Haunted, was only ever intended as a placeholder. Two ideas, but I'd also welcome any other suggestions.
1) Dark Silver. This was the name of the very first setting I posted here on the CBG, many years (yes, years) ago. As such it doesn't relate too much to the setting directly, I just think it's a cool name.
2) Blood of the North. The majority of the setting consists of the wild regions to the north of civilised lands. Blood is shed. Pretty obvious, really.
Blood of the North sounds a little OTT, IMO. If you don't mind that, sure, but keep it in mind.
I have always "enjoyed" the visual of red blood on pure white snow, which seems to go hand in hand with your blood of the north idea. Crimson Snow?
Quote from: Kindling
My setting needs a proper name, as its current title, Demon-Haunted, was only ever intended as a placeholder. Two ideas, but I'd also welcome any other suggestions.
1) Dark Silver. This was the name of the very first setting I posted here on the CBG, many years (yes, years) ago. As such it doesn't relate too much to the setting directly, I just think it's a cool name.
2) Blood of the North. The majority of the setting consists of the wild regions to the north of civilised lands. Blood is shed. Pretty obvious, really.
What about a one word setting like Dark or Haunted. Dark Silver is cool though, what about Dark Red? I actually like the ring to that...
I actually quite like Dark Red, there's something very blunt about it, which I think suits. I may go with that, unless someone wants to suggest anything better?
Red Night?
I don't know if I like Dark Red as a name to be honest, since it already has a pretty set meaning. It doesn't lend itself as well to being evocative.
I know what you mean, but in a way that's what I liked - the bluntness of it. I think I'm already starting to go off it, though :P
Not sure about Red Night either, makes it sound like it's about vampire communists or something (which it's not, unfortunately)
EDIT: So, I'm swinging back towards Dark Silver due to a lack of anything better, possibly with Blood of the North as a subtitle...
I'd advise against subtitles. I don't think they're nessecary, and I personally hate long, drawn out fantasy names. Something short like Dark Silver or Dark Red seems, I dont know, more modern and less Gygax.
To prove that I am in fact still working on a setting I wanted to involve you guys in some naming troubles I have had lately.
The problem lies with my races, so it's pretty central (in my opinion anyway) that I get them right.
The central region of the setting draws on slavic and russian naming conventions, with some fantasy embellishments, for the most part, but most of these races have their own languages and therefore their own names. It goes without saying that there will probably be a hundred nicknames and slurs for the races, but I am looking for the "official" names by which they will be referred to during my writing.
Humanoid Races- Melhune [mel-hoon']: Nightmarish but intelligent and empathic nocturnals notable for their lack of eyes and gaunt hairless figures. Their central culture is based around aesthetics and hedonism. Name is from (one of) their own language(s) and should sound both slightly sinister and slightly sensuous.
- Yghreb [y'greb]: Primitive nomadic adaptive shapechangers. Native to Besmakia (the linguistically slavic region), but have their own language. Hence the language should bear resemblance to the region while still seeming "unique". I imagine they speak a hard, guttural tongue.
Other Sapient Races- Urmannanganal [ur'ma-nang-ga'nal]: Hulking, immortal and tranquil beasts. They live forever, are almost impossible to kill, and can go into long hibernations. Their name is supposed to sound alien, melodic and convey an idea of infinite patience (mainly by virtue of being hellishly long). As a linguistic point of reference, I used malay/indonesian and Filipino (Tagalog) which gives us monsters such as the Manananggal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manananggal)/Penanggal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penanggal) and the Pontianak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontianak_(folklore)). The Urmannanganal are admittedly not as insanely terrifying. An inuit influence wouldn't be bad either.
- Chelm [tjelm]: Currently the name I'm the least happy about. The Chelm are intelligent insect hive-creatures taking vague humanoid shapes. Very pious by nature, but have no inherent language of their own since they arise seemingly spontaneously and learn language by listening in on the cultures surrounding them. Are met with disgust or mystical respect depending on where you go. Was considering using the hebrew name Chenya as a base since it literally means "grace of god" which I felt appropriate, but I don't want to use an unmangled personal name. Alternatively, they might have a "word name", using one of their human-given nicknames to refer to themselves. Was considering Magisters since I imagine them having official positions in the countries where they are more accepted. Their old name was Swarm Gods which I feel is a little too blunt, although I can definetely still see them being referred to as such.
I am at the moment reasonably content with the first three, but I would still like to hear your thoughts. The last one bugs me a little, but with enough positive feedback I might use it.
As another point of reference their old names were Melek, Moshrayah, Urluq and Swarm Gods. They were a little too short, similar and typical in style, so I decided to revamp them.
Humans will just be called humans. The common term for all the above races (humans included) is the Ilk.[/list]
What about Malighine? Malhune? I think Mal- would work better than Mel-, as mal, at least in my eyes, means "bad" in Spanish and something like mal means bad in most Romance languages.
Urmannanganal is a good one, keep it.
As the Chelm are instect and thus very alien, what about something grammatically impossible like Ch' or Ch'l. ?
Not a fan of Malhune. Mal- seems a little more coarse than mel- and I feel like the double e both makes it sound better and makes the pseudolanguage behind it seem more consistent. Or is that just me? Malighine is pretty cool though, feel like that should be used for something. Hmm, torn between Malighine and Melhune (sadly Melighine just doesn't seem right). As another consideration their aesthetic culture probably means they have a very well-developed language with lots of phonemes.
The problem with giving Chelm an insect name is that they don't have a language. Or if they do, it only has a single word, since they are (still, if you remember the old write-up) born with knowledge of the near-unpronounceable name of their god Tchekhryszebh. Aside from the inborn faith they don't even have a common culture for the most part. So they are more likely to have a human-given name.
Ok, if the Chelm have a have a human, i would imagine it is most likely a word. This is a terrible example but im sure youll get the idea, Bugs or Buzzers (something to do with bug science like thorax or carapace would be much cooler).
I know what you are getting at, and those are definitely good slurs and nicknames for them, but I don't relish the thought of referring to them as Buzzers when talking about them in my official capacity as setting writer. :p
Does Yghreb work well enough? I had a lot of trouble coming up with a name for those guys.
Quote from: Superfluous Crow
I know what you are getting at, and those are definitely good slurs and nicknames for them, but I don't relish the thought of referring to them as Buzzers when talking about them in my official capacity as setting writer. :p
Does Yghreb work well enough? I had a lot of trouble coming up with a name for those guys.
Hhaha no Buzzers is terrible! But there are lots of fun insect words that could work. What about looking up what "fly" means in Slav or Bulgarian or Ukrainian or something.
Yghreb works great for me.
Across the board, I like your new round of names much more than they old.
Alrighty, now I need some help. Long story short, I need a good name for a group of primal, fundatmental gods for Arga. I've divided religions into three basic categories: (the primal gods), the Mysteries, and the Hero-Cults. Considering the Mysteries and Hero-Cults are not made up words, I want to use a real, somewhat common word to describe them. I'm leaning toward the Archaic or even the Hoary, but nothing is really sticking.
Ideas, gang?
Uh, pantheon?
Or if they are associated with a place, they could be named after that place (such as the Olympians)
Quote from: Ghostman
Uh, pantheon?
Or if they are associated with a place, they could be named after that place (such as the Olympians)
Well, the thing is they are not a Pantheon. I'm writing up an Arga religion topic at the moment, which will hopefully explain alot.
Primal gods....something earthy sounding, old-short and sweet. A word primitive peoples would pronounce...two syllables or even one.
Quote from: Sarisa
Primal gods....something earthy sounding, old-short and sweet. A word primitive peoples would pronounce...two syllables or even one.
Primevals, Foundations, The Forces?
First
Primes
Ur
I think I'm going to go with the Primes. Primes, Mysteries, and Hero-Cults.
I could use some name brainstorming help on my newly posted setting stub, Astral Blades (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,209447.msg212196.html#msg212196). Starting with the name of the setting itself, in fact.
"Astral Blades" is something I made up really quick, just so I would have something to type in the new thread's subject field. I'm not sure how well that would work as a setting name. At least it's more interesting than calling it "The Galaxy". How could I go about coming up with a good, descriptive name?
Another, perhaps even bigger concern I have is with the "Champions". That's the word I'm currently using to refer to the feudal military-magocracy that rules over the much larger populations of peasants in practically all the civilized realms of the known worlds. I'm less than happy with this name but it's the best I've been able to come up with so far, and I've given this one much more thought than to the setting's own title. In fact, if I had a really good and fitting name for these guys, I might even use that for the setting's title as well. While I could always make up some fancy sounding but ultimately meaningless word, that's not quite what I want. I'd much rather use a real word.
Quote from: Ghostman
I could use some name brainstorming help on my newly posted setting stub, Astral Blades (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,209447.msg212196.html#msg212196). Starting with the name of the setting itself, in fact.
"Astral Blades" is something I made up really quick, just so I would have something to type in the new thread's subject field. I'm not sure how well that would work as a setting name. At least it's more interesting than calling it "The Galaxy". How could I go about coming up with a good, descriptive name?
Another, perhaps even bigger concern I have is with the "Champions". That's the word I'm currently using to refer to the feudal military-magocracy that rules over the much larger populations of peasants in practically all the civilized realms of the known worlds. I'm less than happy with this name but it's the best I've been able to come up with so far, and I've given this one much more thought than to the setting's own title. In fact, if I had a really good and fitting name for these guys, I might even use that for the setting's title as well. While I could always make up some fancy sounding but ultimately meaningless word, that's not quite what I want. I'd much rather use a real word.
I like your take on a galactic web of magocracies. When considering names for them I think you should consider how magic is used and viewed in your setting. Is it ritual? Vancian? Psionic? Wrapped in religion? Considering how magic works and how it is viewed will help you in naming its practitioners (and in turn your setting).
For the single nation, D&D heavy setting ive been pondering about, how does the name Tessere (teh-SEER) fit for the capital and main city of the kingdom. Somewhat southern, in the winter its cold, but no snow, but close enough to the coast where its not very hot either, lots of rain and green in the winter, but dry and golden in the summer. Port city. Solid but open architechture, lots of bronze. and reddish stone.
Tessere seems a fine choise of name, especially if the city has a square layout, or even just a strict rectangular street plan.
In Dark Silver I have a province of the Severim Empire that was, until recently, called Sylvarnum. I've decided I need to change the name, because it sounds a bit like Silver-num, and what with the word silver being in the name of the whole setting it makes it seem like that one province is maybe a bit more important than it is. I originally chose Sylvarnum as being somewhat derived from sylvan, as it is a heavily forested province. It is also the most recent addition to the empire, and the most rebellious, with numerous petty warlords constantly making power plays, not only against the Severim but also between themselves. I'd quite like to keep the name kind of similar sounding, if only because it has already been mentioned in play, including one player having a character from there (although she only joined us for one session) so it would feel weird having a sudden huge change in what it's called.
EDIT: Also, I like the name Tessere, although when I first read it I assumed a TESS-er-uh or TESS-er-ay pronunciation, not teh-SEER.
The word "sylvan" comes from the Roman forest-god Silvanus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvanus_%28mythology%29) / latin word
silva, meaning forest.
Assuming that you want to keep the name based on that, but to avoid the likeness to silver, then here's some suggestions:
- Sylvanica
- Sylvanis
- Sylvium
- Sylviana
Or using a word like "arbol" in it could work (spanish for tree), like Arbolus or Arbolia. Bosque means forest too, if you wanted to mutate that a bit. Or look at the word tree in fairly common foreign languages, so that it may sound familiar to us, but we're not sure why.
Some variation of Bosquaria/Boskaria/Boscharia could probably work quite well. Maybe Abolerium?
For Sylvan derivations:
Sylantria
Ursylvarium
Sylerium
You could just drop the 'r.' Sylvanum. Or Sylvanium. Both sound rather Roman.
How about Sylvane, Sylvemark, Sylvanheim, Sylvanfold, Sylvanydd, or Sylvanhold?
Is there a "cultural flavour" or set of flavours you want to evoke?
Selenium perhaps? :D
Silician...
Probably not the line of words youare seeking, but maybe...depends on if your players are into Italy or into the periodic table of the elements.
So Arga is close to making a comeback, but I'm stuck on names - I'm sure you can all understand. But it's not that I can't think of names. I have plenty of names from all the incarnations, I'm just not sure how many to use.
Should I focus on a handful of massive, unique city-states, weeks and even months apart or use clusters of cities with a shared "culture"? If I go with the first option, then names aren't that big of a deal, but if I choose the second route, I want the names to be similar with each group, but not so similar that it's boring.
I guess this post is less about names than setting direction, but I digress...
Currently, I like the idea of the big unique city states, just because of the economy of ideas involved. Like, say you're gonna have somewhere that's like fantasy-Egyptian or whatever. You have X number of cool ideas about stuff to put in your fantasy-Egyptian place. So you either make a whole fantasy-Egypt nation with like X different cities, each with one cool idea that the city is kind of based around, or you just make one fantasy-Egyptian city-state with all the cool ideas in one place. Then, if the plot requires travel between multiple urban locations all belonging to the fantasy-Egyptian culture, you can just invent bland little satellite-settlements nearby that obviously don't have any unique cool ideas because they're little more than glorified outskirts of the big metropolis.
This is actually something I've been thinking about a fair bit lately and will probably implement this set-up myself when/if I write up a region of Dark Silver with major cities in it.
I was thinking along those lines myself, except it leaves the map somewhat empty feeling, but I suppose that is sort of the feeling I want with Arga, lots of empty, wild space.
Quote from: Señor Leetz
I was thinking along those lines myself, except it leaves the map somewhat empty feeling, but I suppose that is sort of the feeling I want with Arga, lots of empty, wild space.
Well, you can always throw in some more terrain details on the map if it's just looking empty. Or perhaps map out a handful of little border towns that aren't the crux of anything.
Other things you could put on the map to fill it out:
- Sites of old battles
- Mysterious or dangerous places
- Military outposts
- Trade Routes
Alternatively, you could make a map on the pretext that it once belonged to someone. It could have a diagram of this person's travel routes, and notes jotted down about what he found on his travels. I actually might do this myself....
Ok, before I put the names of cities and what-not on my map, I thought I'd run them through on this post just to get a quick feed back. I don't need much, a simple like or don't like would be fantastic - especially if a particular name sound out of place. (As a side note, while I usually don't like referring to real world places, I think it's the easiest way to get a feel for a name. Also, there has been somewhat of a mix-up with names and geography, so if anyone is confused, that's why.)
The "Hellenic/Greek" Cities (The Seven Cities, which serve as the core of the setting.)
Pyrcath
Narae
Pen Pyrdan
Nyranathos
Pelyon
Mar Memnos
Hyrnasus
The "Northern/Cold" Cities
Dravos
Otha
The "Southern/Hot Cities"
Salsurel
Tezuret
Ib
-Maybe one more?...
The "Really Southern/Holy-God-It's-Hot-Cities"
Ilix
Voy Vasa
Moseer
I think I basically like them all, with Tezuret and Ib being my particular favourites. The simplicity of Ib feels very cradle-of-civilisation-y, like the city of Ur, which I'm guessing is what you were aiming for.
I think there's a good feel to all of the above! There does seem to be a sort of pan-national linguistic naming convention though, with Pen Pyrdan and Voy Vasa following similiar naming patterns despite being separated by a significant distance. This is really no detriment to the setting at all though, so just keep the names as is!
Cool! I like them too, but can't guarantee that they won't change on the way to the map, but they should more or less stay the same - thinking about changing Hyrnasus and/or Nyranathos, a little to close for my liking.
For the record, I like Hyrnasus. Has a good sound to it. They are indeed oddly close to each other, although I can't pinpoint why. Probably the -yr- part. I'd do away with Nyranathos if you want to change one of them.
Yeah, I was leaning the same way... Now I just need one more name to round out the Seven Cities...
Quote from: Señor Leetz
Yeah, I was leaning the same way... Now I just need one more name to round out the Seven Cities...
What about Ilret, Angrel, Ut or Zelbara?
Ooooh, I may use Ut (Uth?) as some mythical proto-city! But for the seventh city, I want something in the same vein as the rest of the quasi-Greek city-states -
None of your Seven Cities so far start with vowels! What about...
Anaxis
Aericon
Erethos
Ophika
Iskatria
Arkonos
Anaxis is pretty neat.
How does Frater Stannum sound for a Wizard with a university degree who studies monsters in a pseudo-Rome setting (http://www.thecbg.org/index.php/topic,24955.0.html)?
Quote from: Xathan
Carnequines - also called Hellhorses, Carnequines are horses with sharpened teeth and a predatory diet, competing with wolves for the same ecological niche and often preying upon their herbivorous cousins.
I like it because it has a very 1e feel, but I don't know whether I'd associate it more with Gygax (Beholders, Rust Monsters, Lurkers Above, sole credited writer on the
Monster Manual and
Monster Manual 2), or Don Turnbull (editor of
The Fiend Folio).
I don't know if that's what you want or what you wanted to avoid, though.
So I am thinking about the names for gods in Cad Goleor. Not necessarily SPECIFIC gods, though that might be worth discussing too, but the name for the gods as a whole. Since CG is so Celtic inspired, I have been calling them the Tuatha De Danaan, or sometimes just the Tuatha, which means roughly "People," "Tribe" or "Countrymen." But I am wondering if instead of just stealing directly, I should instead give them a name that is inspired by or derived from the Celtic sources.
Open to suggestions, but some terms I am playing with:
Danaans
Dians
Theons
Tarans (a reference to the idea that the original gods of Ireland ruled from the hill of Tara)
Sidhe (Currently using for fae descended from the gods, but was often a term used to refer to the gods themselves)
Aos Sidhe
Aos Sith
Aos Dana (Meaning "People of Art," referring to their magical abilities)
Daoine (Just means "people")
Daine
Duin