After a fire at Madame Tussaud’s.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 10/11/17: Tiamatan Clan Names
This beautiful illustration was from the Romanian cover of the book.
Science fiction writer Joan D. Vinge wrote a fairy tale/space opera mashup in the early 1980s called The Snow Queen, which borrowed from the Hans Christian Anderson tale of the same name. Most of the action took place on a frigid water planet named Tiamat, where humans were split into two clans: Summers and Winters. (The seasonal cycle lasted 150 years, so Summers ruled in the warm months, Winters in the colder ones.) In addition, there were also family names. Vinge gave us only a few of them: Dawntreader, Bluestone, Ravenglass, Goodventure, Wayaways. But that was enough for me to extrapolate and randomly generate some more.
(These names would also work well for Elven races.)
Tiamatan Clan Names
| Seaglass
Firestone Greenflight Soulspinner Starstone Dawnglass Starspun Goodstone Sunwatcher Skywave Skywatcher Saltfeather Goodmoon |
Firemoon
Sunfeather Greenways Snowflight Sunstrider Clearmoon Bluewoven Bloodstone Seaway Icegrass Dawnwatcher Goodstrider Snowvane |
Black Queen V
Cruelty was actually one of her better qualities.
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Worldbuilding Wednesday 10/4/17: Legendary Creatures
World mythology is full of fabulous beasts, beings, spirits, and creatures. There are the ones everybody knows, like gryphons, dragons, and unicorns; then there are those that are semi-familiar, like the harpy and thunderbird; and lastly, some that are truly obscure, like the grootslang, the ahkluyat, the senmurv.
Here’s a list of randomly generated creatures — all of them imaginary — that falls firmly into the last category.
Legendary Creatures
| Jellund: An immortal wolverine with a mass of tentacles instead of a head. It watches over sleeping children to make sure no harm comes to them.
Cenotalon: A huge silver fox with two heads and the wings of a pterodactyl. It has an alert, watchful stance and likes to lair in mountain aeries. Umbramorg: A mythical heron with eight legs and the iridescent green throat of a hummingbird. Its red-gold plumage appears to be on fire but is never consumed. Legend says it lives on the moon and visits earth only once a year. Ganjatang: An elephant with the fins and tail of a fish. Students of the occult say it can be found in fetid swamps. It sports a golden mane around its neck and has stubby wings, though it cannot fly. Harouille: A wise old horse, the leader of all its kind. Legend says it has wings attached to its legs and flies amongst the clouds, creating rain. Lempsoogle: A giant snail with two heads and the scaly legs of a rooster. It is always surrounded by an aura of heat and puffs out clouds of steam from under its shell. Sophidyle: The sacred blue crocodile of the city-state of Maggaphis. It is fond of entertaining humans with its singing and has a penchant for stealing scissors. Sophiclaw: A demonic flying serpent with six wings. It has foul, obscenity-filled speech. Fornharp: A wise old tortoise with the head and tail of a fox. Yathnang: A giant catfish covered with green slime. It has ten chin barbels and a single eye in the middle of its forehead. Cerephant: A giant brown-furred dog with four mouths that guards the Citadel of Lies. Koratas: Giant scarlet mosquitoes with human heads and arms. They attack the genitals of unwary adventurers. Ampyroc: A giant raven with an ivory horn on its forehead. Lephuan: A legendary gazelle of the Southern deserts. It has eight wings and eight golden horns, and will grant you a wish if you catch it. Leddendrill: The Silver Rabbit of the Moon. It guards the Ocarina of Time and can travel the world in one day. Jessoboon: A white-furred monstrosity resembling a baboon with three buttocks. It lives under a glacier made of silver ice. Unimeek: A legendary phoenix that, instead of burning, freezes everything in its path with its icy breath. Umdyrie the Scarlet: A great dragon that constantly nibbles at the roots of the World Tree, Yggigna. Aahuan: A nature elemental in the shape of a hawk. It has a frail appearance, a mournful, hooting cry, and a human mouth instead of a beak. Legend says it emits feces made of flame and is able to aim them at its enemies. Dinoockies: Small, fierce gryphons with the bodies of rats rather than lions. Bramoth: A giant armadillo-like monster with two heads and jagged teeth. It has a harsh, gutteral voice and will devour the sun at the end of Time. Aspoone: A giant sea turtle with the tail of a scorpion, with which it uses to procure sharks, its favorite prey. Rhinavern: A legendary dog with ivory wings and a golden mouth. It has the ears of a human and consumes gems as food. |
Worldbuilding Wednesday 9/27/17: Arabian Nights
Many people, myself included, have thought that the book of Middle Eastern fantasy tales, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, is a unified work of one author or compiler from the 16th century, ala The Brothers Grimm. But it isn’t. It’s a far older collection of folk tales and poetry from a far wider range of cultures — Persian, Mesopotamian, Indian, Jewish, even Egyptian — compiled and translated by as many diverse scholars. The tales the Western World is most familiar with are Aladdin and His Lamp, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and Sindbad the Sailor, but there are many more, some with talking animals, Aesop-style, while others are erotic or incorporate medical advice. The whole is unified within the framing device of a young bride telling her husband one tale a night, and leaving at a cliffhanger, to prevent him from killing her. It’s inspired authors from Tanith Lee to Steven King, and even myself (admittedly second-hand, as I’ve yet to find a translation that is easy to read yet not too colloquial.)
One plus it has is a lot of exotic names with a Middle Eastern/Central Asian feel that is not pinned down to one place in particular. Likewise, so are my names, randomly generated for your writing use.
(A note on naming conventions. Very broadly, Muslim names are typically the proper name, then father’s, then the grandfather’s, then the great-grandfather’s, etc. ending with the family name. A prefix before each male ancestor’s name, bin, indicates “son of.” (Bint means “daughter of.”) Other prefixes before names are often used, such as abd, “servant of/slave of.” As these names are intended for pseudo-Arabian Nights worldbuilding, and not actual cultures, feel free to make up whatever connecting syllable you want to give the name that kind of feel.)
Arabian Nights Names
| Female
Shanva Teria Merhemia Uleíne Arazhmade Shensa Shishanze Shasinah Alleera Anjuetta Zhennina Mekkindra Dhayinah Chadinah Kassina Chaidilla Anjuemma Ravdía Dazobel Perael |
Male
Mábez Ghaniq Uszan Feyzrin Seshaq Maphemen Máran Cheren Haran Shaael Absdjan Adram Zhyrael Nerin Urrush Barab Faril Mekmeen Shoran Izvram |
Family names
Al-Maan Ynoone Muhdzaá Yetrefan Al-Zarzebat Muesnaa Sephazon Ibu-Chush Al-Jabhardi Himozar Chejdul Sharfarra Arkhaat Quguy Yibooyat Waszar Zedsati Ikubia Nebauyat Zaboyat |
Black Queen IV
What Galadriel became after she was seduced by the power of the One Ring.
MASHED Audiobook Now Available!
Arabica for Audiophiles
My short story, Arabica, about the erotic nature of how to brew a good cuppa joe, is now available for your listening pleasure in the audiobook version of MASHED, available on Audible.com. There are also food-related sexy stories from other fine authors. Remember, that if you don’t have a subscription (yet) you can set up a FREE 30-day trial membership.
(The cuppa joe is question is brewed by a woman, not the hunky male figure as pictured. But it did get your attention, didn’t it?)
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