I've been spending a long time working on the races of my setting. In fact, of all the fluffy elements from my world, more time has been spent on the races than any other. I've flip-flopped on my ideas countless times, but I think I have the proper direction now.
I've done a lot of work to make my Dwarves, Goblins, Elves, and Orcs unique. I even briefly tried to change them so much that they wouldn't be Dwarves, Goblins, Elves, and Orcs anymore. Now, I'm reverting to my original ideas, to an extent.
I believe that making them too unique might make them less accessible, a conclusion I finally came to from prodding from my girlfriend. The implications and flavor of the current races are too archetypical and well known to just forget them. But my setting has it's own needs.
The four demihumans I have been using for my setting have been Dwarf, Goblin, Elf, and Orc. Each were created by one of the Dragon Gods, representatives of the four elements. The Earth Dragon created Dwarfs, the Air Dragon created Elves, the Fire Dragon created Orcs, and the Water Dragon created Goblins. I ran into problems trying to reflavor and rename them, trying to use the more spirit names of Gnome, Undine, Sylph, and Salamander, but I found that my players, and I, kept referring to them by the standard names.
So I'll use both. But, in considering 4E's Elf, I realized that making the Elf an air creature was taking away some of the weight of the word "Elf". Elves in classic myth are a kind of nature spirit. I really like 4E's making them actual fey, and I think I'm going to have to keep that. So, I'm divorsing Elves from the Air element; in fact, there may be elves of each element, or elves tied to different terrains, still unsure (Rael' will be disappointed).
What I mean by "I'll use both" is that the names Gnome, Sylph, Salamander, and Undine are the racial names used by those races, while Dwarf, Orc, Goblin, and X are used in the common tongue (just like Halfling is a common name, while they call themselves Cherrim).
What's "X" you say? I'm going to create a new race, based largely on the work I was doing to make my Elves unique, to serve as my world's air race. They're going to be a winged race with gliding capability and a method of gaining flight later (through a Paragon class or a feat). But I'm searching for a classic or mythic name for them. I've been looking through myths and I found the following names that could work (though all carry some extra baggage):
Valkyrie
Sirin (not Siren)
Harpy
Sprite
The biggest problem with these is that they're strictly feminine terms, though I think most of the other names (dwarf, goblin) are generally male, so that might not be bad. Sirin sounds too much like Siren, but many people assume Siren's are birds for one reason or another. Harpy has very bad connotations. Valkyrie is very tied to "warriors of the gods", so it might not work. And Sprite implies very small.
Does anyone have an idea that could work?
Additionally, who thinks I should use the name "ogre" instead of "orc", since "orc" is arguably a Tolkien invention, not a classic or mythic creature. Ogre brings its own connotations, but I can deal with them.
What about Tengu, as in the winged creatures of Japanese folklore? The Kenku in D20 are a loose adaptation of the original folklore.
Any combination of Aeolo(Latin for air) and Elf in different languages:
Danish: Elver, elverfolk, ellefolk, huldrer or alfer (note alfer today translates to fairies). .
Dutch: elf, elfen, elven, alven.
English: (Old English) ælf; (Middle English) albe; (Current) elf, elves.
German: Elb (m) Elbe (f), Elben; Alb (m) "incubus"; from the English: Elf (m), Elfe (f), Elfen "fairies".[1]
Icelandic: álfar, álfafólk and huldufólk (hidden people).
Old Norse: álfar.
Swedish: alfer, alver or älvor (note Ã,,lvor today translates to fairies).
Norwegian: alv, alven, alver, alvene / alvefolket (note alvefolket today translates to elfpeople)
Examples: Aeolafer, Aelofsidhe (aloe-shee), Aeolelb, Aeolsidhe, Aeloben
Sprite's not strictly female, since it can apply to any faerie (but is usually reserve for little bitty ones).
vidyadharas is an Indian term for sylph-like beings.
Or perhaps some kind of bird-man (like raptorans) would suit your air-element best.
Quote from: Kap'n XeviatValkyrie
Sirin (not Siren)
Harpy
Sprite
Additionally, who thinks I should use the name "ogre" instead of "orc", since "orc" is arguably a Tolkien invention, not a classic or mythic creature.[/quote]
The first mention of orcs as a race (the Old English word "orcne") is in Beowulf. If I recall correctly, Grendel is described as being akin to the elves, the orcs, and the giants. Aside from the fact that they are a race, orcs are not described in detail, nor is the origin of the word.
Without the spiritual connotations of sprite, sirin is probably your best option of the given four.
Mishtu perhaps?
Moniker, I don't want to use any variation of Elf, since my setting will have Elves as well (as playable fey). The other suggestions, while good, aren't "western" or common enough.
With the suggestions, I'm leaning towards "Sprite".
As for Orc in Beowulf, I don't remember that at all. Grendel is a monster descended from Kain, but that's clearly an addition by the christian monks who transcribed the tale.
Wikipedia, for all its worth, was fairly certain that Tolkien was the first real use of the name as a creature/race. There are a few other uses before it, but they aren't really definitive (they may have been using it as a misspelling of ogre). Or that's what wikipedia says.
There was a sea serpent referred to as an orc in the old paladin stories, if that's any help.
Unless something better comes up, I decided to use Valkyrie. Because of physiological reasons, they're going to be wingless, but still able to glide. This also gives me the opportunity to make them a relatively matriarchal society without making it feel forced.
Thanks everyone for your input.