Dismal Place Names in Darkon

[DeepShadow of FoS]

I was working on Darkon for my in-game wiki and it occurred to me that names like "Mountains of Misery" and "Vale of Tears" are just comically bad for the mood. I was considering changing some of them to Latin, but then something else occurred to me. I now have the following note in my wiki:

NOTE: The dismal names have nothing to do with the lifestyle or economics in the regions, and are actually due to centuries of competition among Darkonese nobility to downplay the value of their holdings. In fact, the closer one gets to the capital, the worse such names get, until there are affluent suburbs of the capital named "Degradia," "Desolatus," and "Despondia."

What do you think? Does this sound in character for the nobility that Azalin has forced to abase themselves? Some kind of multi-generational arms race to see who can make their holdings sound more pathetic?

[DustBunny]

From an different angle, maybe at first just after Darkon first appeared, they gave their town/etc dismal names for 'practical' reasons. Working on the assumption that the King and his agents were nasty but still human, then calling your area 'Place of Painful Suffering' could act as a turn off for any of the Kings agents.

What tax collector/spy/apointee (who has probably never been out of Il-Aluk) would want to be sent to some place with a miserable sounding name or a name associated with unpleasantness? (Send him to.... Detroit!)

All agents would want to be appointed to "Rich Prestigious Town", and only the rejects (the easily bribed, lazy, etc) would be sent to the 'bad' places. Allowing the local nobles to get away with murder. Also bad sounding names would be less likely to attract attention - Low tax income from 'The Hellish Swamp' could easily be excused, as opposed to low taxes from 'Mega Rich Town'

As the Kargat and such were established and Az began showing exactly what his opinion on the matter was, it became fairly obvious that this strategy didn't work, but by then it had become something of a tradition. And changing the name again would probably attract attention...

[ewancummins]

Alternatively...

The names are grim because the people who named those towns and regions wanted to discourage the Dead from 'immigrating', or rather, reclaiming what was theirs to begin with.

[Mischief]

I was working on Darkon for my in-game wiki and it occurred to me that names like "Mountains of Misery" and "Vale of Tears" are just comically bad for the mood.

The silly names take away from the setting. They are just low effort and terrible and not even bad in an interesting way. I'll be honest, even the country name 'Darkon' earns a heavy sigh out of me.

I am 100% in camp fix the names. Most of the "big" city ones are okay (Il Aluk, Karg, Rivalis, Martira Bay, Nartok, Neblus (I'll allow it since it is close to the mists), Nevuchar Springs, etc.) aren't too obvious and they don't sound intentionally depressing. Jagged Coast and Nocturnal Sea, okay. Sea of Sorrows is a strong no from me.

Vale of Tears --> Eastern Vale or even Dawn Vale (Had my west and east mixed up earlier.)
Mountains of Misery --> 'Soot Peaks' or the "Sooty Peaks" for the volcano and the grey igneous character.

As for the four towns, I advise the following:
Furnia - (to swarm, like ants)
Rubria - (ruby red)
Tarpeia - (famous cliff where they tossed criminals off)
Vatinia - (odious, from the name of a much despised Roman.)
They all end in "-ia", so it keeps with the theme naming but avoids the most egregious aspect. They all sound vaguely Latin so that works too.

[ewancummins]

Sea of Sorrows sounds good to my ears.

Despondia and Desolatus could be silly, sure, but to me they seem like names which would be right at home of the pages of a novel written in the Early Modern Period, likely by some Frenchman who used a fictional traveler's tale/description of foreign utopia/dystopia as a way of discussing his ideas about religion, politics, science, etc.

I do like all of Mischief's renamed towns, though.

[DustBunny]

Despondia and Desolatus could be silly, sure, but to me they seem like names which would be right at home of the pages of a novel written in the Early Modern Period, likely by some Frenchman who used a fictional traveler's tale/description

You could use this as a reason as to why the actual names don't match the name on the map.

The one who made the maps knew the names of the major cities and towns, but when it came to lesser areas they either made it up, copied it from a bad source or pulled it from legends. And as one of the first maps of the core it gets used as the 'authoritative' source and the error keeps propagating.

When a traveller shows up asking where <village silly name> is, the locals just roll their eyes and correct them. Or send the rubes off on a wild goose chase.

[ewancummins]

Kewl beans.


Oh, have you guys ever read the Dictionary of Imaginary Places?