What's in a Name?
In the ongoing saga of bringing by 3.5 D&D campaign world to life by reviving my old AD&D campaign world ...
So, in digging out my original AD&D campaign notes for my 3.5 game, one thing I had was a list of places ... now place names are very important to me, so I wanted to salvage all these place names if at all possible. And you know, it doesn't matter if these places are 20 years old in my imagination or not, they're still cool places where the name evokes something cool ...
Lin Carter wrote a book called Imaginary Worlds that talked about the importance of a name that can evoke feelings of a place by the very sound of the word itself. Now, she might have had a small coronary in the book about Michael Moorcock's lost city of R'lin K'ren A'aa (and who wouldn't?) but I think she was right about that. I remember putting a lot of thought into coming up with place names.
Now, either back 20 years ago or more recently, I've fleshed these places out, but I'm interested to hear what you guys think these places might represent.
Aldermarch
Aliconte
Arcavia
Argandy
Aro
Baligante
Benden Wood
Cortine
Cimmerium
Dalvishahn
Galivesh
Gemelote
Gemelrene
Glanting Isle
Gnelland
Goethe
Heux
Ilzmagorti
The Jewel Fields
Khatrep
Khotesh
The Magelands
The Malacisti Empire
The Marchlands
Nordell
Oriador
Shabel-Mar'u
Tellmarch
The Theld
Vallenwood
The Verdraaken Empire
The Weirlands
Wymarch
So, in digging out my original AD&D campaign notes for my 3.5 game, one thing I had was a list of places ... now place names are very important to me, so I wanted to salvage all these place names if at all possible. And you know, it doesn't matter if these places are 20 years old in my imagination or not, they're still cool places where the name evokes something cool ...
Lin Carter wrote a book called Imaginary Worlds that talked about the importance of a name that can evoke feelings of a place by the very sound of the word itself. Now, she might have had a small coronary in the book about Michael Moorcock's lost city of R'lin K'ren A'aa (and who wouldn't?) but I think she was right about that. I remember putting a lot of thought into coming up with place names.
Now, either back 20 years ago or more recently, I've fleshed these places out, but I'm interested to hear what you guys think these places might represent.
Aldermarch
Aliconte
Arcavia
Argandy
Aro
Baligante
Benden Wood
Cortine
Cimmerium
Dalvishahn
Galivesh
Gemelote
Gemelrene
Glanting Isle
Gnelland
Goethe
Heux
Ilzmagorti
The Jewel Fields
Khatrep
Khotesh
The Magelands
The Malacisti Empire
The Marchlands
Nordell
Oriador
Shabel-Mar'u
Tellmarch
The Theld
Vallenwood
The Verdraaken Empire
The Weirlands
Wymarch
Total Comments 3
Comments
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For Cimmerium, both "cinnamon" and "simmering" jump to mind as sounds, which suggests to me perhaps a far-flung, exotic desert region or empire. I could see this as perhaps the land of tieflings, who in times long-past made disastrous bargains with djiinis instead of demons. The tieflings now work as traders and nomads, where the inherent distrust for their past actions is compounded by their role as outsiders and interlopers.
Khatrep and Khotesh both sound Egyptian, so I'd go with an Egyptian theme with these lands or areas. An oasis in the desert, irrigation, advanced mathematics and architecture, with a heavy religious focus integrated into their daily lives. Pretty much human. Perhaps each represents one god in a two-god pantheon, and the regions periodically end up battling each other not out of spite or hatred but because the doctrines of their shared faith demand it as a means of tribute (it keeps the heavens stocked with warriors of strong faith).
The Jewel Fields could be a pristine, untouched savanna land, with vast animal herds and dappled with ponds, lakes, and waterways. Although the land has been invaded many times, each time the would-be conquerer is pushed back or defeated by the raw elemental forces that guard the land. Speculation among the learned is that either the entire region is a subtle manifestation of the Elemental Chaos, or that the region is guarded by a secretive race of creatures from the Feywild (perhaps elves?).
The Verdraaken Empire sounds like the name of dragonborn country. I see it sort of a slowly disintegrating ancient culture (almost ancient Rome-esque) that is experiencing internal squabbles and civil unrest as it slowly tears itself apart trying to determine how to recapture its glory days.
Wymarch has sort of a dragon or dragonborn flavor to it; perhaps formerly a distant possession of the Verdraaken Empire that was lost long ago, has since reverted to primevil forests and scrubland, and has recently been "frontiered" by scattered human settlements for farmland and expansion.Posted 4th September 2008 at 09:50 PM by Darklion
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That's a neat perspective!
Cimmerium is an island kingdom that deals heavily in commerce, and is the Byzantine-like center of culture for the West. Cimmerian ships are often found in any port.
Khotesh is meant to feel a bit egyptian, more middle-eastern. Black togas, towers built of skulls revering the dead and the Four Horsemen. They believe that power corrupts, and all gods are inherently evil, and anyone who says otherwise is deluded. I like your idea of regional warfare based on religious lines, and I'm stealing that.
The Jewel Fields are a rich coastline that has been settled by the Malacisti Empire, that has since fragmented into city-states. The cities found here have been conquered, liberated, seceded, and changed hands many times.
The Verdraaken Empire is indeed a disintegrating ancient culture. It did encompass my entire campaign map (and then some) but was swept away ages ago. I did want a german/roman feel to the empire - ponderous and warlike.
Wymarch is a fragmented state from the Verdraaken Empire that is an island kingdom with a strong navy, heavily forested and sparsely populated. Good shot there.
It's neat to see your 4e influences showing. Not a bad thing. My game is 3.5, so I don't have dragonborn or Feywild specifically. But I like the fresh perspective.Posted 4th September 2008 at 11:58 PM by Archade -
> Now, she might have had a small coronary in the book about Michael Moorcock's lost city of R'lin K'ren A'aa
Lin Carter was a man, not a woman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_CarterPosted 5th September 2008 at 03:24 AM by yesmar
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