Aloes in Afrikaans

I had an accidental name idea. I was using iNaturalist to help identify a friend's potted plant--which it thought may be a Lace Aloe--when I scrolled down under taxonomy to the Names section and saw that one of the names for the plant in Afrikaans was Baardaalwyn. That kind of felt like it went in with the other host of God and Archon names I've compiled so far, so I threw it down on dot paper and started playing with the construction. After scratching out a few variations, I decided, for now, Bardinwal will do, and while I was excited to throw it into the mix of religious icons, the little voice in my head threw an article in front of it and decided calling something "the Bardinwal" would sounds a bit cooler. This got me thinking... it would be a good replacement for either Buordo or Burcumsy in Malidine. I'm leaning on Burcumsy, as then "the Bardinwal" could refer to the high place south of the Folstroms that the city sits upon.

I've been trying to edit Rethwara's name into sounding less taken from Hindu terminology. It wasn't meant to be, but I think my subconscious voice may have unintentionally drew inspiration too directly from it. Being already a god with the suffix -war, I thought I'd drop the -a in similar style and altered it to Othwar for the time being. Still, I'm not yet satisfied and it'll go under the knife again. Laakin-Taakin will definitely get played with again, too. I hate it.

I've slightly updated the Archon of bones from Visko (based on a childhood character Viscombris) to Voskos, sounding more Jhordo-Sasni. 

I really want to look back through more childhood characters and locations and see what can't be upcycled. 

I'm trying to fix my laptop at the moment, which is where I've been doing most of my writing and all of my drawing. I'm recovering from surgery, though, so I haven't felt like giving it my all. When I get it going again, I want to settle back into art and get used to Photoshop again, since it came free for three months with the laptop and I'll end up paying for the subscription soon, to my own chagrin. I want to dig out my childhood sketchbooks and redraw the silly old doodles in them for shirts and grackles. 

Oops, Talking About Childhood Again

Four Archons got baby names over the last hour using a list of interesting syllables and a list of used syllables and patterns in the religion already. Wind has been named Rethwara, Force/Speed has been named Zulstaad, Fresh Water has been named Phreist, and Duality/Opposites has been named Laakin-Taakin.

That last one stands to be respelled the most. The brainstorm list went like this:

Lakhusak -> Lakindol -> Lakindolus -> Lakhindakh -> Lakindak -> Lakhinda -> Lakhindo -> Lakin-Dakin

I've decided I do like the notion of an evenly spelled, hyphenated name for the architect of extremes. There is a set of Mongolian names that have fascinated me for over a decade, Enebish and Terbish. From the current wikipedia article on Mongolian Names, under the category Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period: 

"A distinctive type of Mongolian name that flourished in this period and is still common in the countryside is the avoidance name, designed to avert misfortune from the child: Nergüi “No Name”, Enebish “Not This”, Terbish "Not That"."

If I recall from somewhere else I'd read (over a decade ago now, so I may be mistaken) the names were "Not this one" and "Not that one" to keep bad spirits from harming or taking the vulnerable children. 

Anyway, it helped drum up the idea for Laakin-Taakin, at least in Jhordo-Sasni language sets, to mean "Near one-Far one." 

Phreist is going to share Its name with a major river in the world. Right now, the thought is either the river formed from all of the smaller rivers of the High Plains that merge and run down the Veltimakos Valley into an unnamed inland sea, or the one that ran from the Folsts (formerly out of an underground kingdom) and cut through Malidine, the one Burcumsy (still pending rename) is designed around. "The Phreist" will carry a similar weight to "The Ivid" either way.

Zulstaad sounds a lot like an old character I'd had in my childhood, a somewhat evil black dragon named Volstaad that had probably been based on the dragon with the dagger in its chest from Tomb Raider II (which is a really weird sentence, come to think, and I had to double check via google that I was remembering the cinematic from the right game) combined with the dragon in the chasm at the end of R.A. Salvatore's second book, Streams of Silver, which I think was named Shimmergloom? Dang, he was. I haven't read that book since sixth grade. Anyway, he was a very dragonly dragon of dragonly darkness that could talk and was kind of an important pet to the cast of baddies. I guess what I'm getting at is that he was a childhood relic that wasn't on the table for reuse at all, but I like that the suffix of his name got to resurface when I needed inspiration the most. Maybe Viscombris, the Possessed-Bone-Golem-Wearing-Armor general that commanded Volstaad, will make an appearance. I do need a name for the Archon of Bone. He certainly won't be the same character if he does.

[Edit: About ten minutes after hitting the Publish button, I've decided a perfect alpha name for bone archon will be Visco.]

Anyway. These names are in alpha. The whole world is in alpha. 

I've been playing a lot of Guild 3 at the moment. I've never played any of them, but a bundle of all the past iterations just went on sale, so I grabbed them, too. It's a weird game for me to be playing. It's like Sims Medieval had the fun parts sucked out of it and replaced with a business and economics simulator, and then had a little Fable humor dusted on it here and there. Business and economics have never been of interest to me, but after playing it a few times, it's got me begrudgingly hooked and I keep going back to it like the achievement whore I am. 

It's had me thinking about family dynamics in the old world, though, and how different family dynamics are across cultures even today. Marrying people in and out of families in the game reminded me a lot about the blog post I'd written years ago about the Atavan Caste System. I'd like to revisit that and see if anything needs improvement. I'm only just scratching the surface of Erihan's potential. That culture has gone through several major overhauls, and I've barely started on the current version, but it is a very family centered culture on top of being more matriarchal. The Jhordo-Sasni are also matriarchal but are less interested in family and more concerned with trades and ability. They've been in a fog of mystery for a good while. It's good to have something to look forward to working on, though.

Soiled It

 Yeah, I already changed something and need to re-share the graphic. Tap to enlarge.

I swapped Concept to Law while I had the chance. The Archons had a redundant section cut out and are left with Name - Title (if applicable) and Domains. The major change is that Aowar's children are no longer Fauna, Flora, and Fungi, but Flesh, Blood, and Bone (which is a reversion to an earlier idea, but expanded upon.)

By Flesh, I don't mean only skin. Jarn, formerly Fauna, will preside over Flesh, Muscles, Strength, Organs, Leaves, Bark, Fruits, Produce, Fungi, a.o. If it's biomass that isn't hard or fluid, it's Jarn's domain. Speaking of, Blood isn't only that, but reigns over blood, saliva, taste, mucus, phlegm, excretion, semen, amniotic fluid, pus, sap, juices, a.o. 

You may point out, "There's already an Archon for saliva. You called It odd and brought up the Roman god of mildew." Yeah, well, Aowar won custody of that one and gave It more things to rule over. Ividnon's children are now Oceans & Seas (Shamaal), Ice, and Freshwaters (Rivers, Lakes, Springs, Ponds, Bayous, Swamps, you name it.)

Anyways, Bone is, of course, not only Bone, but also wood, teeth, shells, exoskeletons, fossils, horns and antlers, beaks, any part of an animal that's considered hard and be left over after the body decays (or take much longer than the rest, in case of woods.)

Oh, Birth got a name. I found an old document with names I wanted to use, and the only really good one was Enandurai. It fit a few of them, I thought, but we went with Birth. That's one less name to come up with. Probably just over twenty to go, still, along with around thirty titles to give out to make them sound holier than thou. (Although, there isn't much joy to be had from being called the Eulogist.)

Visual Layout of the God System

 I know, I said I was tired of thinking about the Gods and Archons and such. I wanted to share two mind maps I've put together to show what the hierarchy and categories actually look like compared to Thrum. First is a simplified form.

This simplified view replaces the names of holy entities with what they represent. Prima Materia represents Thrum, the core perfect state of the universe. Each entry outward is an emanation. The first emanation split Thrum into (in this order) Law, Energy, Matter, and Life, which I had written in as Mortality here. The second emanation split those concepts into three lesser and more specialized domains, and these are where the Gods are born. Things break down in the same order, where Law became Time, Order, and Entropy before Energy became Light, Motion, and Sound. The third emanation further defined these concepts into three more smaller pieces, such as Body becoming Fauna, Flora, and Fungi. These children are the Archons. Now, for a copy with names included and a better description of what they represent.

Hopefully it'll allow for zooming in once this entry is published, because the preview isn't.

Everything isn't in a chronological order (order of creation or calendar order) on this mind map, but everything is in the right category. Spaces with ??? are beings that still need names (I've only expanded the archons from twelve to thirty-six over maybe the last two weeks?) Some words are a little different on this one, too. (I've noticed I've called it Concept instead of Law here. It's the same thing, but I prefer Law now.)

Spring and Winter are represented while Summer and Autumn are not. Those are more symbolic associations anyway, as Cern presides over the motion of the seasons. Saliva is probably one of the more odd entries on this list, but if it seems too odd, remember that Romans had a god for mildew.  I've been toying with the idea of putting Shaegon over Arcana, too.

Someday, I'll draw this out with a cleaner transparent background and actual graphics. These are cropped screenshots from FreeMind.

Name Change Update!

Hey guys!

Today, I've officially updated the name of the white-sand desert that has been sitting as "Middlestream" for countless years. It's one of those things that I was never sure how to go about renaming, but I KNEW it needed it, because my world doesn't speak english... so you know. Why would it have a place named with two english words.

Anyway! To keep with the theme of "Middlestream" and calling the residents "Middians"... I've chosen to rename it to "Midel" (mai-DEHL) with the people referred to as "Midelians" (mai-DEHL-lee-uns) or (mih-DEHL-lee-uns).

I know that no official map of any worth has been posted of the world in a good long while, but if you would like to see what the land of Midel looks like, take a peek at this pinboard on pinterest! Have a pinterest account? Follow me! I'm very active.