Café de Nuit

Having exclamations to use in the heat of the moment is a useful way to help flesh out a character/bring them to life.

Lamordians who are still living in Lamordia probably don't believe in any god if I recall my information on that domain correctly (since magic tends to go on the fritz there clerics have a harder time proving that their belief in gods grant them magic powers and thus that it is "rational" to believe in there being divine beings...) so they probably don't curse by them.

After thinking about it I decided that what might possibly be a good fit would be having them exclaim in relation to rare but semi-verifiable natural events/situations. In particular due to always having a certain doctor on my mind, ones that might have to do with electrical discharges.

That's why I ended up deciding that "Ball Lightning!" worked wonderfully as the Lamordian equivalent of "My god!" or "Great Scott!" since Ball Lightning is an incredible rare(?) event that we think takes place naturally and have some success recreating in labs, but even today aren't completely 100% sure about.

What do you guys think, what would you have Lamordian's use as exclamations of surprise?

blutige Sau!

"great clockmaker"

"great scott!"

vyshan wrote:"great clockmaker"

"Zum Kuckuck!"
(Actual German curse, lit. "By the cuckoo")

Skyrock wrote:

vyshan wrote:"great clockmaker"

"Zum Kuckuck!"
(Actual German curse, lit. "By the cuckoo")

Interesting what is the story behind that one?

I can sort of guess/have a theory but would like to hear you tell me more if you know anything about its history...

jamesfirecat wrote:

Skyrock wrote:

vyshan wrote:"great clockmaker"

"Zum Kuckuck!"
(Actual German curse, lit. "By the cuckoo")

Interesting what is the story behind that one?

I can sort of guess/have a theory but would like to hear you tell me more if you know anything about its history...

I have no idea.
German wikipedia claims that cuckoo used to be a sugar-coated expression for the devil, but gives no source for it, so take that explanation with a grain of salt.

Skyrock wrote:I have no idea.
German wikipedia claims that cuckoo used to be a sugar-coated expression for the devil, but gives no source for it, so take that explanation with a grain of salt.

Ah okay, I was approaching things from a non-religious viewpoint and assumed the expression might be the equivalent of "THIS, DOESN'T, MAKE, SENSE!" like when you see this happening in a bird's nest http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimage ... uckoo3.jpg and the only explanation is that a cuckoo has been going around messing up the way nature is supposed to run.

Granted like they say "use what you like" and if I want to be how the Lamordian version of the expression came to be there's no reason I can't.

jamesfirecat wrote:

Skyrock wrote:I have no idea.
German wikipedia claims that cuckoo used to be a sugar-coated expression for the devil, but gives no source for it, so take that explanation with a grain of salt.

Ah okay, I was approaching things from a non-religious viewpoint and assumed the expression might be the equivalent of "THIS, DOESN'T, MAKE, SENSE!" like when you see this happening in a bird's nest http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimage ... uckoo3.jpg and the only explanation is that a cuckoo has been going around messing up the way nature is supposed to run.

There are some more cuckoo phrases that follow that line of thought and might also be useful for you:

"Kuckuck!" (lit. "cuckoo!") - Peekaboo!
"Was zum Kuckuck?" (lt. "What the cuckoo?") - What the heck?
"Jemandem ein Kuckucksei ins Nest legen" (lit. "to put a cuckoo's egg into someone's nest") - to damage someone in a way that will only become obvious later
"Scher dich zum Kuckuck!" (lit. "Go to the cuckoo's!") - Leave me alone / May the devil get you

Skyrock wrote:

vyshan wrote:"great clockmaker"

"Zum Kuckuck!"
(Actual German curse, lit. "By the cuckoo")

also, the name of a Fun card game


Perhaps: "By the clockwork!"

They do refer to a certain island as "the devil's domicile." And the Black Box refers to the locals fearing the unholy experiments of a certain mad scientist. Domains of Dread mentions a Lamordian church but notes that the priests do not cast spells. There's no mention of a superstitious belief in science or a hostility towards religion in the Black Box.

Conclusion: 3e RL reworked the domain's culture to make it a closer reflection of Mordenheim's beliefs.

This seems cool, although I may do it differently in my next game.

Great Clockmaker sounds like a winner to me.

Some of the Lamordians in our campaign would use "for reason's sake!" Which worked pretty well, since usually what they were swearing at wasn't reasonable.