It’s Halloween. And what better way to celebrate than by visiting a spooky old mansion? Old castles, manses, and abbeys are a mainstay of Gothic literature. Manderlay, in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, is practically its own character, along with its housekeeper. And who can forget “The Great House of Collinwood” mentioned at the beginning …
Tag: Character names
Worldbuilding Wednesday 10/17/18: Let’s Talk About
xxxxSalt Lake City
Salt Lake City is a city with a most illustrious pedigree, having been settled by religious visionaries like many of the original towns of America’s East Coast. It was named in the Western tradition of naming towns after prominent landscape features, like Butte, Montana and Boulder, Colorado. Yet it also has a certain ring. The …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 10/3/18: Gaulish Tribes
If you’re from Western Europe, you will know who these characters are. If you aren’t, know that they are Asterix the plucky Gaul, his big pal Obelix, and their pet dog Dogmatix, creations of French comic writer and artist René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. They are the equivalent of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 9/12/18: Individual Dragons II
In the fantasy world, you can pretty much combine any any other animal into a creature and still call it a dragon. Dragon turtles are the terrors of AD&D maritime kingdoms. A Chinese dragon/lhasa apso hybrid featured strongly in The NeverEnding Story movie. And as I’ll continue to do on my site for September, there …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 8/22/18: Perfumes
The making of perfume is almost as old as human agriculture. A perfume-making operation dating to around 4000 BCE was unearthed on the island of Cyprus in 2005, which is when humans were still in the Bronze Age. The Indus Valley civilization produced perfumes a few hundred years later, and Babylon in 1200 BCE. It …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 8/15/18: A Few Noble Families
Here’s something a little different, a set of randomly generated noble families (with a little tweaking) for use in a roleplaying game or as story background. I find that when these disparate elements are put together, the story or adventure may practically write itself. What would happen, for example, if Vylen Lemugia returns home and …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 8/1/18: States of Confusion (Mid-Atlantic)
Continuing my series of randomly generated names for fictional U.S. states that sound similar to the existing ones. This time, I’ll tackle the Mid-Atlantic states. Grand Theft Auto, from Rock Star Games, has been there before me, allowing players to be one of the bad guys stealing cars from “Aldernay” (New Jersey) and its urban …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/18/18: Steampunk Jargon
One of the things that really makes Steampunk literature, and Victorian literature in general, is the use of odd English words to describe little odds and ends that need describing, like parts of machinery, personal items of clothing, genitalia, obscure occupations, and other fluff. Charles Dickens was a pioneer of these charming names, through …
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