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Combined Army Alien Species Names

Discussion in 'Combined Army' started by Golem2God, Feb 27, 2018.

  1. Golem2God

    Golem2God Just a Kooky Kumotail serving others.

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    So I have been building my Onyx force as of late but I've run into a snag. When it comes to giving my little metal aliens names I'm at a loss. You see, I want to give each species a name from their own tongue. Just as people give names from certain languages to match their characters' nationality/background. The problem is that I don't have a resource or web source that showcases alot of Morat, Shasvastii, Sygmaa/Tohaa, Urkherit names. @DaRedOne has a story thread focusing on Morats but I wondered how he managed to come up with all those names for his characters that sound like they came from the Morat's native language.

    In other words, I need some help or sources to get a good idea on how to correctly name Combined Army characters. As of now, I'm pretty much using call-signs/nicknames for them but I want to bestow upon each model a "true" name of their own. One that when said sounds like a "Morat", "Shasvastii", "Tohaa", "Ur" name. If anyone is able to help me or point me in the right direction please do so. Your help is very much appreciated. Posting a list of "example" names is also a welcomed idea.

    Thank you all in advance for any opinions/ideals/thoughts or links you can provide to help me and others in my current situation out.
     
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  2. Sabin76

    Sabin76 Well-Known Member

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    From @toadchild on the previous forums:

    "The script is provided in the Morat section of Human Sphere, and is based on a modified Japanese syllabary. There are a few words/phrases given there, and some of the Morat unit background entries provide some sense of the meaning of the unit's name (Gazorot = Steel Guts, etc). The language is not fully fleshed out and developed, but there's enough there to have some fun. There are probably a few other gotchas if you want to write things, such as the Raicho being a Japanese corruption of the actual name of the unit (Raizot)."

    I don't think any of the other languages have been talked about, let alone alphabets given. Aside from the Sygmaa and Morat units, all the unit names are from human languages AFAIK (in Onyx, at least).
     
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  3. Wolf

    Wolf https://youtube.com/@StudioWatchwolf

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    Well, you have to understand that Da Red One is unique in his ability to channel Morat characteristics and culture. Gutier (Lusquiños, Director) wrote our formal accounts of the Morat Supremacy, but it's Da Red One who truly groks the Way of the Left Hand.

    His bond to the Morat is so strong that, during a particularly bad run with the dice at the first Brazilian National Champs, it's said that his face glowed red and a white, almost 'beard-like' aura was seen around his head until the dice rolled true again. No longer betrayed by mere luck, his relentlessly aggressive tactics went on to take victory in the Championship - as they properly should. :smile:
     
    #3 Wolf, Feb 27, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2018
  4. DaRedOne

    DaRedOne Morat Warrior Philosopher
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    Ahahahaha, thanks for the love, mates.

    Well, this is because I'm a sucker for meaning, I'll try to explain how I approach each character's name and how I make them sound properly Morat. Or at least sound Morat in my mind. For starters, there's this fact:

    So with that in mind, I had basically two approaches for Morat names. First I think whether they're main characters or support characters. Support characters get simple names: I try no mix and match hard sounding syllables with K, T or R sounds interwoven with softer N or S sounds to make the name come off the chest more like a growl than a word. That's how I get names like Sor'kan (pronounced /sor/KAHN) or Kamhor (/kam/HOR/).

    But for the main characters the process is closer to what was mentioned in the above quote. First I start with a proper name in an Asian languague (Thai, Japanese, etc.) For example:

    Hiro = Japanese for Hero.

    Then I think how I can make that sound more guttural and violent. Sometimes just changing or adding a phonem is enough, so Hiro becomes Hirok. Surname is a simple corruption of the word Sunderer -> Sundgror. There's a very Morat name there 'Hero Sunderer' or 'Hirok Sundgror'

    As I am a sucker for meaning, I really try to do something like that for everyone. Oyat, for example, is a corruption of the name of the Yoruba Thunder and Fire goddess, Oiá. I used the way it is pronounced and changed the sounds to more closely evoke a Morat feeling

    The other two main characters come from similar reasonings: Renek means flower in Malay (Ren'ehk Karakot basically is supposed to mean 'pretty flower', as Karakot comes from the Japanese name Takara, which is a word for Treasure). Kasaro comes from a corruption of the name of a brazilian writer that really inspires me.

    So this is how I build my Morat names. Here's what I would do to make names for other factions:

    Shasvastii:

    Apply the same process as above, but observing some different details: For starters, I'd focus more on H, S, T and N sounds for Shas characters, and maybe start with african or south asian names as basis. For example, let's suppose I'm naming my Noctifer, who so far I only call Reaper whenever I use him in game:

    So, noctifers are sneaky sumbitches who are kinda evil... What's an african name that sounds properly evil? Fatsani is a Chewa name that means 'be meek' , sounds ironic enough. Now we make it more alien, change some syllables around.. Fashanji? Nah, sounds arabian. Fazrani? Nope. Fa'shanee? There, that's alien enough.

    So now my Noctifer is Fa'shanee, callsign 'Reaper'

    Umbra:

    Umbras have names that ooze malevolence, so I'd go for greek and roman names as basis as they have this authority feel. X, Z, S and T sounds also help ad power to the name and feel like something that's scurrying on the back of your head. Hebrew names are also a good call as there's the whole irony of the 'samaritan' thing. If I were to name my Umbra Legate, I'd do this:

    My legate is a royal a**hole. I get this feeling from the fact he always does awesome stuff in ARO that feels like he's just pissed off that the rest of the army isn't doing what he is telling them to do. So I want a name that's properly angry

    Iraklis is an ancient spelling of Heracles. Holy shit, I don't even need to change that, it sounds alien enough and this guy is always pulling some herculean task. Iraklis it is!

    Urkherit:

    I don't have an urkherit model yet (does the pneumarch count? that guy is gorgeous!), so I don't have a personal example of what I'd name my Ur models. However, I did notice how Ur names seem to come in two names, and that they have these hard sounds. Lots of Rs and Ns and maybe some Ks and Ts. Short names too, two monossylabic names instead of one dissylabic or bigger.

    So for ur names I'd take a name and split it. I'd use greek and roman names as basis again because those sound more authoritarian. So let's say we star with... Marinos, which means 'of the sea' it's a good name for a diplomat who's always travelling.

    So we split it in half: Mar - Inos. Then we shift the letters and sounds around: Mer Nus. That sounds Urkherit to me!

    Phew, sorry for the gigantic post, but I guess that covers how I think about this stuff in as much detail as I can get. As for the basic names, a simple googling of 'Asian names that mean strong' for example will give you lots and lots of options for the base stuff. Hope it was helpful!
     
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  5. gamma ray

    gamma ray Well-Known Member
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    It doesn't, Bostria stressed that he's an envoy, not Ur. Interestingly he said that they haven't decided what they will look like yet.

    Following this thread with interest!
     
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  6. Golem2God

    Golem2God Just a Kooky Kumotail serving others.

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    That is exactly the same for me. I like to give a meaning behind my characters' names or at least make the name sound unique to me. Etymology (the meaning of words) is a very interesting subject to study/research.
    Don't be sorry. I love it when people take their time to post/type alot of info. It becomes a treasure trove of knowledge that greatly helps people in their quest to better understand a subject they are looking into.
    I have many sites like that. All of my human characters got named through my past searches on them. Many of those searches actually lead me to create a character based off of a name/word I found that stuck out to me.
     
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  7. Golem2God

    Golem2God Just a Kooky Kumotail serving others.

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    I hope we do end up seeing what the Ur actually look like in the near future (2020 or sooner).
    By the way, the word Ur is found the Bible. It is the place Abraham/Abram lived in before God called him to go into what is today Israel. Ur is in Iraq and was part of Southern Babylon aka the Chaldean empire. Plus the word Ur means "flame" which is interesting to me since the Ur are spreading like a "flame" of fire across the universe with each conquest & species they take in.

    Fun Fact: the word Abram means "high father" while the word Abraham means "father of a multitude".
     
    #7 Golem2God, Feb 27, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2018
  8. gamma ray

    gamma ray Well-Known Member
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    They've been redesigning Shas for at least 3 years now, don' hold your breath waiting XD
     
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  9. Golem2God

    Golem2God Just a Kooky Kumotail serving others.

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    Good point. Still, we can all hope to see an Urite/Urian somewhere down the road and hopefully the Shas will be finished by 2019 instead of being pushed back.
     
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  10. DaRedOne

    DaRedOne Morat Warrior Philosopher
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    Since we are sharing fun facts about names here's one for you:

    The Raicho was named after a thunder god, right? So when naming my Raicho Pilot I looked at Thunder Goddesses... And it turns out there is a surprisingly small number of them. The lightning and storms powerdom is oddly male-centric in mythology. This is super odd because even domains like War and Death are a 50/50 thing, but thunder and lightning is dudes only. Weird
     
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  11. Aspect Graviton

    Aspect Graviton Friendly Alien Overlord
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    I also like to name everything, These are my takes on potential CA names in the form of a roster I started for doing reports for Operation Flamestrike (I've posted a link as it's a few pages long) I'm trying to name each one, state some key attributes or accolades and being that infinity is very much a gun porn setting name each weapon class:

    For example my Rodok link leader and all time MVP:

    Sergeant Taarnish: HMG (HGC5 “Hsak” pattern Gauss cannon)
    Taarnish is the defacto leader of the Rodok team assigned to Graviton maniple with a kill count considerably higher than any other Morat in the maniple.

    Death is romanticized, war is generally depicted as a thing of passion. Thunder and lightning are just loud, abrubt and obnoxious :yum:
     
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  12. Wolf

    Wolf https://youtube.com/@StudioWatchwolf

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    I feel like such a lightweight in comparison to you guys. I'll have to work on my assumed role: standing on the sidelines making wry jokes and pithy comments. :wink:
     
  13. Barrogh

    Barrogh Well-Known Member

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    Additionally, in modern speech "ur" may mean "original, first known" etc. At first I thought that "Ur Rationalists" means just that and the name is used in the same manner as sci-fi writers sometimes use common nouns to refer to a mysterious race, like "The Ancient Ones" or something.

    That's interesting. Could it have something to do with phonetics and voice characteristics of average-sounding male/female?

    Although @Aspect Graviton said it better :D
     
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  14. DaRedOne

    DaRedOne Morat Warrior Philosopher
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    Well, everybody starts somewhere, mate! If you feel like you can contribute in any way, then by all means you should!

    I kinda agree with Graviton on this one too! :D

    Seriously, though, I think it might be related to the perception of males being louder and sounding deeper, yes. Which makes Oiá a very odd goddess as she has an association with storms and fire, but not necessarily with Thunder, which is the domain of her husband, Ogum. In modern times, Oiá has even been associated with feminism and feminine homossexuality due to her more masculine domains too, so there's that.
     
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  15. stevenart74

    stevenart74 Well-Known Member

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    Wonderful Thread, guys. . .

    I will try to assimilate these excellent discussions and opinions, when naming a lot of Aliens of the Combined Army in upcoming projects that I would like to create very soon. . .

    It would be the "Background Fluff" for both an R.P.G. Game Idea AND for simple Conceptual Illustration Roughs. . .

    As for an example I would draw some sketches about Morat Assaulters that "Rained Down" on Planet Svarhalheima (after their own Patrol Cruiser, a smaller sized Escort Vessel to the more large Exrah "Junker Hulk Barge" of Wotan Gate, was destroyed by concentrated Fire from the Pan-Oceanian Artillery Defence Platforms) and started there a Guerrilla Warfare against BOTH Pan-O and Yujing assetts in the Borderlands of "Niflheim". . .

    After re-activating, and enhancing with their meager supply of Morat Ship Salvage (enhanced by Voodo-Tech) an enormous Multi-Legged Industrial Platform, they incorporated all stragglers into a "New Pseudo-Regimental" Warband that is essentially the "Pirate Crew" of a Land-Based "Walking Corsair Ship" (much like the Sea Bandits in R.W. Somalia somehow convert in Heavy Mobile Bases the biggest Cruise / Cargo Ships they take hostage !!). . .

    As they started to enhance their limited arsenal with stolen Human-Tech they quickly capitalized on the superstious Norse Culture colonization personnel of the Pan-Oceanian territories and employed a bastardization of the Ragnarok Myths to obtain a terror-inducing mistique. . .

    As their "Mobile Base" has a Voodotech Plasma Core with a "Neverending Hunger" of Material (useless even as Scraps for Hasty Repairs !) to convert in fuel energy, they tried to adapt the Apocalyptic Legends about Surtur, Demon-King of the Fire Giants of Muspehlheim, to their own end, and also rename themselves for a Proud "New Start" (they refuse to be recalled back into other E.I. Operations, citing a flawed command in Wotan Gate, and so in the eye of the still-faithful E.I. Backed Supremacy they are to be considered even worse than double-dealing Krakots, and are essentially "A.W.O.L. Renegades" much like Colonel Kurze's forces in "Apocalypse Now"). . .

    Usually I have read in Official Fluff that Morats have very guttural syllabic names (often cokctails of "Tak", Tarak", "Krak", "Gurak" and so on, and the more lenghty and hard-on-the ears is a Morat Officer name and the more powerful is His combat prowess, renowm and respected rank amongst the subjects. . .

    I was thinking about the High Commander of the Raiders to have a resounding name-title as something like "Xur' Thu' Rhtarak", that not only recall the Human Viking "Sur-Tur" but also the "Sotarak" tradition of Battle-Command given to ritualized duels (a given in a Crew of Morat Renegade Salvager / Scavengers). . .

    . . . . .

    For official Shaasvastii Names I have seen a prevalence of sibilant, snakelike, hissing names, such as their most renowned Hero, "Naissh Seysskin" (the one that defeated or at least stalled, and subsequently "Morpho Scanned" even Achilles !!) sounding like as pronounced by some Snake-Man / Snake-Woman with a long, bifurcated "Serpent Tongue". . .

    As some Art / Concept from the Shaasvastii seems to hint at "Egyptian Aliens" kind of ideas, maybe a Commander called by hapless humans like "Apophyss" or "Sseth" could be quite cool. . .

    . . . . .

    Umbra I think that some cool sounding names from not only Ancient Greek Titans (often considered embodiement of the nastier primordial Chaos) could be properly employed, but also some "Bad Stuff" from other Ancient Myths. . .

    So names (or at leats Human-Given surbames) like "Nyx", "Talos", "Kronos", "Ahryman" and "Kingu" (this last one a sort of Vampiric Demon hailing from Assyrian / Babylonian Myths) could be interesting. . .

    . . . . .

    For the Sygmaa "betrayed Tohaa frontier colonists" then I imagined a total reverse of not only a basic Tohaa Trinomial Name, but the very Numerology to which they are based, as a sort of "Anthithetical Nemesis" could be interesting. . .

    Much like in Christian / Biblical naming numeral convention the 1.1.1. is the "Holy Trinity" Number of "The Saviour, Progeny of Almighty Yaveh" while its diametrically opposition is the 6.6.6., the infamous "Number Of The Beast" that represent the "Anti-Saviour, Scion of Hellish Satan". . . . .

    . . . . .

    I have written in the past some Exrah names based on existing Science Fiction with believable Insectoid Aliens, but nowaday the things is moot (and still a sore subject for Me !!). . . . .
     
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  16. Golem2God

    Golem2God Just a Kooky Kumotail serving others.

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    Maybe we will see the Exrah again in some form. The NA2 factions do give us some hop for this unless it will only be filled with human sectorials.
    I also think you gave good points about how to name the alien species. I'll keep them in mind when I'm brainstorming.
     
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  17. Flipswitch

    Flipswitch Sepsitorised by Intent

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    Makes me wonder if there has been any ideas of using aliens as part of NA2. Such as Exrah or Fenrig forces. The hard part is making it relevant to Infinity without upping the stakes of the setting beyond humanity.
     
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  18. leigen_zero

    leigen_zero Morat Pacifist

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    Actually not really, at least not a thunder god, more of a mythical being, who would be seen as the harbinger of the storm. often seen as a companion animal of Raijin, the thunder god.[1] (and the best source I can find on the subject)

    Interestly, from wikipedia, the only things I can find named raicho are a train, a feminist, and a squat, delicious member of the grouse family called a 'rock ptarmigan', whose name in japanese is Raicho [2]

    [1]: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...6AEIUTAI#v=onepage&q=raicho mythology&f=false
    [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_ptarmigan

    * note: interestingly, considering how well-known the raicho is as a mythological creature, there's slim pickings in google for it
     
  19. DaRedOne

    DaRedOne Morat Warrior Philosopher
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    Hot damn! That just goes to show I know nothing of Mythology that comes from the north of the Equator! :D
     
  20. Hecaton

    Hecaton EI Anger Translator

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    "Urkherit" is the name of the species that the Nexus are drawn from. Despite the fact that they have Batroid legs, they are a biological species. The Pneumarch is a disarmed EI shell used for negotiations. None of these things are Ur.
     
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