Atriarch Naming Process

[Detomah]

Atrian Naming
Ever wonder how we come up with those alien names and terms? Do you have an Atrian character, faction or city you want to develop and can't think of what to call it? Writer/Designer, Joss, discusses the guidelines World Fusion uses to name our favorite alien personalities.

Atrian Language (Atrianese)
The inhabitants of Atriana communicate with each other both telepathically and verbally. Although the dialects vary, their language is common.

The Atrianese Language Translator provides the phonetic spelling of a word as spoken by inhabitants on Atriana. The phonetic spelling is how the word would sound if spoken verbally, but it is not the actual spelling. (Please note that the Atrianese language is still under development.)

Cavolon Naming Conventions
The Cavolon are weird, even by Atrian standards. I imagine the other species would be a little put off by the Cavolon and their eccentricities. This would be exacerbated by the Cavolon's desire to not be known. Their M.O. requires a good deal of personal obfuscation and their society is draped in a shroud of esoterica. All of this, of course, should be represented in their names.

That is not to say their names should be unreadable jibberish, or require multiple punctuation marks. They need to be weird, but good weird.

This is why for Cavolon names I start at the end of the alphabet, where all the weird letters are. V through Z is a great range for the Cavolon. For further weirdness points, I substitute a lot of "i"s with "y"s, and throw in double letters where they're not totally confusing. Again, it's important that while they are weird they still are a recognizable name:

Xybbar
Sarlyss
Zurynil

I imagine the Cavolon would have a chittering, garbled, mumbly speech and so the names I make up tend to reflect that.

Also, I tend to lean towards more feminine sounding names for Cavolon:

Jyrraena
Naliss

I don't stick with suffixes as much with Cavolon as I do for the other species. I think they would shy away from such a concrete naming convention and instead just gravitate towards weird sounds. I think the common "y" in the names acts as as much of an identifier as suffixes do for other species. But still I tend to use a few suffixes over and over for the Cavolon:

-il
-yl
-iss
-th
-iss (also Lokai)
-iz/yz
-ick

Eshlar Naming Conventions
Eshlar names should encapsulate something of what, in their minds, makes them great. There is a bit of grandiosity to each Eshlar name. Sometimes it is simple or subdued. Other times it is grand or even royal. But every Eshlar recognizes the value of a name. Besides, who wants the placard to read "monument by Shecky"?

As a whole they are a proud and meticulous people. It would follow that their names are firm and dignified.

When searching for sounds for Eshlar I start right up top with the letters A-E. I imagine the Eshlar to have a very mellifluous language, smooth and resonant. Therefore I incorporate a lot of ah sounds (as in "calm" of "father") as well as long o's (as in "hope" or "boat") and other similar vowel sounds. These vowel forms have a long and breathy feel to them, like they should be sung (think of an exaltant church hymn). When coupled with alternating hard and soft consonants they never fail to form really "big" sounding names, befitting an Eshlar:

Soralod
Kador
Cromas

I think the Eshlar would value names with presence like that. An easy way to make such names is to take the open vowel sounds mentioned above and just alternate them with consonants, always keeping vowels and consonants seperate, as in the examples above. Of course, you can couple consonants for soft sounds and some more variety, but I think by and large the names will be very big and hard sounding. They are, after all, rock people:

Enyamo
Hallinod
Thrathios

When brainstorming names for the Eshlar, use words from their atmosphere and their demeanor: solid, rock, hard, and less lame ones as well.

Good suffixes for Eshlar are

-an
-od
-o
-oc
-ios
-ik
-us
-or

Lokai Naming Conventions
When I was trying to think of what Lokai speech might sound like, I thought alot about their environment. You can imagine the brush of windswept sand and the soft pad of footfalls across the dunes, the skitter of a chitinous appendange across a sunbleached flat or the rustle of leather against a Lokai shell. Naturally this would be represented in the Lokai's vocabulary.

Their words and speech would be full of light and transient sounds with lots of soft consonant compounds and so forth. Ss, th, and ff sounds abound along with rr's.

I think the Lokai, while possibly soft spoken and monastic in many respects, would share with Eshlar an appreciation for the grandiose when it comes to names. They are an achievement oriented people.

I go to the L through S range when looking for Lokai sounds. But, as mentioned before, I lean heavily toward soft sounds:

Nalthon
Ollifai
Lorath
Ranolien
Marioth

They're noble sounding and soft. I think they would stay away from hard sounds like solid T's, K's, D's or P's.

For suffixes I go for:

-on
-ion
-ian
-ai
-iss
-ien
-ol
-ith
-eth
-ath
-arth
-oth

Tyrusin Naming Conventions
First, I think names need to be kept as short and concise as possible. One or two syllables is ideal. Anything over three and readers tend to gloss over it. It has to be very solid to be over three. Something like "Karanazar". Something that flows or has a hook like that, and has an obvious pronunciation.

For each species, I focus on a range of letters. For the Tyrusin it's from F to M. This is where I start when searching for sounds of the syllables. I use a lot of Gs and Ks in particular, with lots of Ds and Ts also. D, G, K, and T all have that solid consonant snap to them, and it fits with my vision of the Tyrusin. I imagine their speech would be punctuated with lots of barky, snappy sounds like that. And maybe some growls, so A, E and R are good too.

On top of all that, it's gotta sound like what it's representing. That's where you look at the individual and see what fits. For Tyrusin most of them are going to be strong sounding, or ferocious:

Tarek
Jaddagar
Xol

Maybe they are more primative, tribal Tyrusin. So make them even more basic:

Grosst
Kald
Murokk

Sometimes you can just pick a word that is a fitting desciptor of what you want to name and start from there. Take the word "Ruthless" and just brainstorm off it:

Ruclaa
Druthet
Lukar

I use words like this a lot. If you play around with words and dice them up you can always find something interesting.

These are the common suffixes I have for Tyrusin.

-ar
-ak
-ul
-ael
-en
-ek
-er
-ur
-ir

Unarra Naming Conventions
The Unarra are the more upbeat denizens of Atriana. They're spritely and spirited, jovial and stalwart. This of course should be represented in their names. They should be strong, but not overstated.

I think they would lean towards names with some music to them, or a nice flow. This works with longer (3+ syllables) names.

Iressa
Etariel
Nariya

And yes, I think they should be feminine sounding! You still can have the strong or fierce sounding feminine names. Feminine doesn't mean "Barbie" and "Daisy".

Lirona
Darunay
Vessna
Sanurrah
Brana

I's and A's I tend to use a lot along with P, L, S, N, and long Y's (like the sound in "onion"). L through V is a good, long range in which to search for Unarran name sounds. If you want words to brainstorm off of, think of forests and trees, hills, valleys, that kind of thing. I actually try to stay away from "animal" stuff (I'm afraid it will come off obvious), but I do borrow a bit from (what little I know of ) Native American culture.

For suffixes:

-ya
-na
-ssa
-ia
-iel
-ay
-ry
-ah