D&D General Help Me Rename a Culture in My Campaign

[MichaelSomething]

The solution is to have each name suggested here be represented by a faction within the city. Your PCs can then decide the name of the culture by supporting the faction of their choice and ensuring their faction wins the naming rights!

 

[cbwjm]

Duergar can be referred to as duergar or maybe grey dwarves, maybe replace black with grey for the city name, though that isn't all that interesting. They're underground in darkness so you could call it the Shadow City or the Sunless City. If the entity that corrupted them has a name, you could name it after them, throw in some dwarves that stands for "city" and you could get Cyric'adun (using the god Cyric and adding my made up word to the end, probably a dragon article with some dwarfier sounding words for town or city somewhere). If the entity has an area of influence then that could be thrown into the name, running with Cyric, maybe the City could be the City of Lies or City of Madness (though I think going adjective City sounds better than City of X).

 

[embee]

If they were corrupted, then work from that.

Perhaps have their name translate to "The Turned Ones." As in they were turned from goodness. This also leaves open the potential for redemption of them. If they were once turned, they can be unturned. Or re-turned. This then opens up the possibility for another sub-group, "The Returned."

Again, they were corrupted. The problem is that sounds, well, a bit boring. Corruption is a slow and passive process. There is no action to it.

Turning implies actual movement. Who turned them? Turned them from what path? Is the path they were turned from all that good to begin with or does it have problems of its own?

Case in point - Star Wars.

Vader wasn't "corrupted." He was "seduced by the Dark Side." He's described as "twisted." He was a Jedi, now he's Sith. But the Jedi Order has its own issues too. They are dispassionate and distant and live in a literal ivory tower and have themselves turned from their original teachings.

You're right. Black Dwarves is boring. It's been done a thousand times and doesn't convey anything. So use an adjective with some action to it.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I have a few options:

The Draeg

The Grim Dwarves

The Grey Dwarves

The Fell Dwarves

 

[aco175]

There could be the first king that the others followed and name them after him. You could also use the god that corrupted them as the name that the surface dwarves remember them as and warn their children about. For example- if the god Bane corrupted them, you could call them the Banelar and Grandma dwarf warning the children to be good or the Banelar will come get them. Now the Banelar may call themselves the Awesomar, after King Awesome that led them to the truth and knowledge and away from the greedy surface dwellers.

 

[jgsugden]

I applaud your efforts.

I do not like to cover over transgressions. I'd evolve away from it, but maintain the history of it. I don't think that changing things to hide that something ever took place is a great way to learn from our mistakes.

I also try to limit the situations in which an entire culture has their free will diminished by an outside force. That is the exclusive province of Goblinkind in my games, now (which I stole from Mercer/Critical Role when I rebooted my world). All other humanoids are free willed cultures, while the Goblinoids are generally enslaved by Bane unless they can break free as individuals.

As such, I would likely have an event take place in that society that involved an overthrow of the government. I'd have a charismatic new leader step in and sway the people to his side - and have that leader rename the country something that brings with it a strategic advantage. He'd also take them in a new direction, although that direction does not have to be a good one. This helps clarify that it is not the people that are evil, but their leaders, and that is what placed their society in such an evil light in the eyes of other cultures for all the years prior to the revolution.

 

[MattW]

How about "The stolen ones"? Or "The blackened ones"? This would be the name given to them by other cultures.

I like el-Remmen's idea: use different languages. Combine the german word"Geshstolen" (which means stolen) with, say the Irish for "black" ("dubh") and you might get Dubeshtollen. Or, if you'd like something that sounds like Latin ....

"Dubeshtoli" might work as a name for the culture. (DUB-ESH-TOE-LIE)

 

[Shiroiken]

I generally refer to individual groups of dwarves by their clan name, or their stronghold. In this case you'd simply have to name the stronghold/city, and any fantasy generator can come up with good names (not to mention the great suggestions here). If you're trying to come up with a name others might call these dwarves, I like Fell Dwarves, as suggested by @AcererakTriple6 , since it gives them a double meaning. They are fell (foul) and have also fallen from true dwarvenhood.

 

[monsmord]

Good suggestions? Hrm. Not yet.

Just a note that the name may not be the only thing to consider changing for publication. Are they dark-skinned? If so, the potential for criticism remains. You might spin it based on real-world examples of entirely subterranean species that lack pigmentation, making them pale almost to the point of translucence. That would deepen your well of descriptors quite a bit.

But a uniformly "evil race" where they are all one colour and of limited variability might raise eyebrows, even if those colours are "weird," as they may be viewed as proxies for real-world racist dogma. (Not saying this is or isn't fair, just that this criticism has been levelled before, as we've seen with orcs, etc.) Could you give them some variety in appearance (or background) and instead base their epithet on some other feature recognizable to outsiders, say a geographical one, cultural one, or some sign the corruption has left on them? Like, they're named after their home city or the entity they serve, they're known to forge and specialize in a culturally-unique weapon, their language includes unique phonemes, they permanently mark themselves in some extraordinary way to demonstrate fealty, they have a daily ritual that grants them racial abilities, their eyes look like gems (and the type may represent clan relationships), they only have four fingers on their hands, they have eerie glowing veins in their necks, etc.? (These are terrible examples for illustration only. )

Sure, post more about what you have. Sounds fun. I'm always down for some corruption.

 

[Flamestrike]

Are they actually black or dark skinned?