diff -r 3164c82ac16e -r bdef1afd1170 draft/wind06mar02.txt --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/draft/wind06mar02.txt Wed Aug 30 21:32:44 2006 -0400 @@ -0,0 +1,260 @@ +RPGnet + + + + Reviews Forums +News & Press Columns & +Info RPG Wiki + RPG Shop + + + + Wind in the Flowers: Re-inventing a Game + + + Naming Conventions + +*R. Sean Borgstrom* +March 6, 2002 + +The principal characters of *Nobilis* come from all over the world. A +fair number of the secondary characters come from outside the world +entirely. The first edition had an unfortunate bias towards American and +made-up names, which didn't properly reflect the setting's +cosmopolitanism. Fortunately, the new edition has roughly twice the +wordcount, which gave me plenty of space to redress this error. + +My primary resource for most of this was the Onomastikon +; +secondary resources included Gustav Davidson's excellent *A Dictionary +of Angels* and the even more amazing Saul M. Olyan's *A Thousand +Thousands Served Him: Exegesis and the Naming of Angels in Ancient +Judaism*. I didn't get to actually use that last book much, but that +/will/ change. It was very pleasant to sort through thousands of angel +descriptions with traditional names when adding new angels or fallen +angels to the game. + +In addition, I associate a sense of awe with the names and descriptions +of classical angelology; I also drew on M. Davidson's book when I wished +to discuss celestial phenomena, such as the things the Creator bound to +make Creation. (For reference, these were Azbogah, the Radiance that +Destroys the Unrighteous, in whose heart the Creator planted the tree of +worlds; N'mosnikttiel, the Fire that Swallows Worlds, raw material for +the creation of the angels; and Narsinha, the Lightning that Dances on +the Surface of the Abyss, reshaped to create the wall around Creation.) + +Some specific setting features required careful thought as to their +names. Ananda, discussed in a previous column , +appeared as a concept long before he had a name. We needed something +that would properly express the idea of "hope for the world". Bruce and +I wrestled with this for some time before finding something properly +suited to a conceptually key bright spot in the setting. + +Ultimately, we raided Madeline L'Engle, who probably raided Hindu names, +for "that joy in existence without which the universe would fall apart +and collapse". Alternatives---naming him in ways that reflected simpler +joy, or beauty, or the darker side of his nature---didn't suffice to +capture what that name can: that beauty is vital in this world. + +Similarly, the name of the divine entity embodying the Third Age (the +current Age of the World) needed to say something fundamental about the +setting. Here, I had more room for subtlety, as the Imperatrix of the +Third Age is not a major character in the setting; I named her Attaris +Ebrôt Appêka, in part for Attaris, the angel of winter. These are the +closing days of the *Nobilis* world; either it will end entirely, or a +new Spring will rise. + +*Nobilis* has vast numbers of sample characters, which gave me a fairly +free hand doing some basic diversification. Augusta Valentina, Bran +Gainor, Cornelia Jansdr, Dyemma Insakovs, Fayola Osiagobare, Halland +Geirr and Ienari Namika-in are some of the new sample characters; +Nephele Nikolaidhis and Helissent de Reymes appear in the sample +campaign; Jori Hullis, Kip Narekatski, and Rannen Yedidyah are quoted as +"authors" of various related fictional texts. A large number of Indian +names (including a few Hindu gods and demons) appear in a frame story +running through the book. + +Looking this over in retrospect, Chinese and Islamic names and probably +a few others are underrepresented in the text; I should work on +balancing that in the supplements. In any event, the basic design +principle was very straightforward: try to scatter the new characters +over a variety of nationalities, so that the game doesn't feel +landlocked in America (or even England!) + +The most thoroughly foreign characters in *Nobilis* are the Excrucians, +who rode into our reality from the Lands Beyond Creation. To name them +properly, I needed a strong, regular naming convention with a distinctly +alien flavor. Simply foreign names would not suffice. Establishing +foreign names as alien, regardless of which nationality I chose, would +undermine the basic concept that the Nobilis come from all over the +world; that, in their context, European, African, Asian, and all other +modern names are pretty much "local". + +If I were Tolkien, of course, the solution would be simple: invent a +logically coherent language without direct derivation from any human +tongue, and name the Excrucians in that. Failing to mysteriously turn +into Tolkien when I twisted my power ring, I instead turned to history. + +The ancient world has some extremely cool names, some of which I have +swiped for other uses---Idri-mi, Texcoyo, and Nabushezibanni among +them---but the best-fitting names came primarily from medieval times. +I'm not 100% certain why, but my theory is that the really ancient names +have their own baggage. Even though I wouldn't recognize Nabushezibanni +as a Hittite name offhand, it has associations of that whole +Babylonian-region ancient world thing going on. Similarly, even if you +don't guess that Texcoyo's an Aztec name, it probably evokes some +ancient American tribal associations. + +Maybe that's just me. + +In any event, medieval Europe actually has some very interesting names +that don't fall into the typical fantasy mold. The very first name to +come out of this search was Genseric---a Vandal name, technically. I'm +not that fond of characters without surnames; it feels incomplete to me, +and somewhat like the characters are trying to be media stars. So I +stole a last name from another barbarian tribe, the Dacii; thus, +Genseric Dace. + +I rather liked the result, but soon enough I had to make more Excrucian +names. Here, I ran into a problem: I had nine more Vandal names, all +male, most of which sounded more or less like Genseric, and only a +handful of other barbarian tribes from the right era. (Sueves, Avars, +Alans, and Rugians.) I was not immediately thrilled with the names +Gailamir Sueve, Gunderic Avar, Gaiseric Alan, and Hilderic Rugian. + +This forced a branching out into other names from medieval Europe: +Orderic, a Frankish name; Raginhart, Germanic; Euphrasia and Marozia, +Byzantine; Teja, Gothic; Scelto, Italian; and so forth. A few were +atypical, if they sounded right; Phasael mery-Harumaph, for example, is +assembled from a Palestinian first name, an Egyptian name-element, and +the game term Harumaph, originally found in a web angelological reference. + +Finding last names was generally difficult at this stage of history. I +had originally hoped to branch out from the basic concept used for +Genseric Dace---whose surname was historically tribal rather than +personal---and build most last names out of appropriate regions or +social groups. Thus, Orderic Neustry, name drawn from Neustria. +Ultimately, for lack of appropriately cool region names, I was forced to +scrounge, using other first names from the period as surnames in order +to build functional antagonist names such as Teja Heimerich, Euphrasia +Savinot, and Raginhart Tribunas. + +All this, of course, reflects ultimately back on the setting. It subtly +influenced me, writing new material on the Excrucians, to know that they +take their bynames from Creation. It also affected my writing to know +that they disdain modern appellations and sift history for names +instead. I'm not wholly certain of the implications, but it changes the +way I feel about them in my head; and such effects spread throughout the +game. + +R. Sean + + + What do you think? + +Go to forum! + Go to Top | New Topic + | View Threads + | Search + + + Topics Author Date Latest Reply + James and the Small Caps + (2) new Kibo +08-20-2002 16:29 02-10-2003 01:23 new + Art (1) new Lxndr +04-26-2002 07:36 04-26-2002 07:36 new + The Original Nobilis Club + (3) new Bret Gillan +04-17-2002 11:28 03-17-2003 17:48 new + Questions & Thoughts + (3) new Pyske +03-20-2002 18:31 05-01-2003 13:03 new + Noble Buddhism? + (9) new Tlaloc +03-20-2002 12:17 12-10-2004 01:20 new + Noble Suicide (9) new +Eric Christian Berg 03-20-2002 07:43 01-18-2005 16:27 new + Art Notes (4) new R. +Sean Borgstrom 03-14-2002 16:31 03-21-2002 03:44 new + Ack...you just lost my sale + (10) new SteveD +03-14-2002 04:06 03-15-2002 06:29 new + Onomastikon working URL + (4) new Jorge +Hernández 03-06-2002 12:51 08-20-2002 16:10 new + Why do angels change names ? + (10) new philippe +tromeur 03-06-2002 10:13 12-10-2004 01:34 new + R. Sean, some examples? + (3) new Arref +03-05-2002 08:17 03-13-2002 20:28 new + Sounds great, BUT... + (2) new Kane +02-27-2002 16:43 02-27-2002 17:30 new + Sort of backwards? + (8) new Eric Finley +02-20-2002 14:25 02-28-2002 09:35 new + Programmer nature slips out! + (2) new Sean +McCarthy 02-20-2002 13:18 02-21-2002 10:30 new + Object Lesson Damage + (1) new Darren +Miguez 02-13-2002 12:45 02-13-2002 12:45 new + How about this? + (2) new Kristian +Lund 02-13-2002 11:30 02-14-2002 01:17 new + Now, this was strange! + (7) new access.denied +02-13-2002 07:44 02-16-2002 21:44 new + Briefs on the other two? + (5) new Eric Finley +01-31-2002 18:39 02-13-2002 10:36 new + Forum now works (1) new +Sandy Antunes 01-31-2002 17:36 01-31-2002 17:36 new + limited series (2) new +Sandy Antunes 01-21-2002 17:41 01-31-2002 17:36 new + + Go to Top | New Topic + | View Threads + | Search + + + Newer Messages + | Older Messages + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + * Editing, Development, and Production + + March 27, 2002 + * Affiliations + March 20, 2002 + * How to be a Hollyhock God + March 13, 2002 + * Naming Conventions + March 6, 2002 + * Art Notes + February 27, 2002 + * Dynamic Nobilis + February 20, 2002 + * Systems Change + February 13, 2002 + * Treachery + February 6, 2002 + * The Emperor to Come + January 31, 2002 + * The Changing of the Guard + January 21, 2002 + + + Other columns at RPGnet + +[ Read FAQ | Subscribe to RSS + | Contact Us | +Advertise with Us ] + +Copyright © 1996-2006 RPGnet & individual authors, All Rights Reserved +RPGnet® is a registered trademark of Skotos Tech Inc., all rights reserved. +