What names from real-world languages are most appropriate for the various Grehawk human races? The Baklunish are clearly modeled after Arab culture and use Arabic names, but what about the Flan, Suel, Oeridians, etc...? (The Olman resemble Aztecs, and even worship the Aztec deities!)
This is tough and something I have thought about as well. The maps seem so mismatched to me with names. I tend to try and find names which match the local names already provided. The Baklunish names do seen more consistent though. Coming up with names for the Olman should be pretty as as well. The Scarlet Brotherhood supplement has some names in it along with a map. Many locations are listed on the map and are consistent with the type of names such as Tamoachan.
For example, Greyhawk, Little Ery, etc. I try and come up with something that is seems similiar, such as Oakleaf, Evanshire, etc. With other areas (which I haven't mapped out like some of the Domain of Greyhawk) I would do the same.
Whether this falls in line with human races I can't really say. You could put a spin on each type of name for the various races, trying to make them seem similiar but they might clash with the official names on the map.
According to the migration charts of humans from the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer and From the Ashes, the various races crisscross several times. This makes determiniation of what kind of names they would have used very difficult which is why I tend to match the local flavor of names instead.
Suloise do seem to me, to be a little more European sounding for the most part. Baklunish more middle eastern, _________________ Eileen of Greyhawk, Prophet of Istus, Messenger of the Gods
Except for the fringe states, you’re talking about groups of people who are 1,000 years removed from the cultures they are descended from, many of them part of the same empire for a time, and speaking a ‘common’ language. I think the Soviet Union would be the best example of the state of the Flanaess. Even though the different republics were made up of very different cultures, in civilized areas names became Russian, or very Russianized forms of the original. That’s the way I would think the bulk of the Flanaess would be.
The real world models for the different groups of people are discussed now and then. The way I play them:
Arab is a common view of the Baklunish, but I see them as more Turkish and related peoples originating from the Asian steppes.
Oeridians: Pre-Holy Roman Empire Franks and related tribes.
I use the Mythological history of the Aryans for the Suel, and model the ancient empire on the Persian Empire.
The Flan are a tough call, but I base them on the Picts, who were a dark race prone to wearing body paint with a culture similar to Native Americans prior to the arrival of the Europeans.
This is a subject near and dear to my heart, and has been debated for some time. Personally, I use the following:
Baklunish: Arabic, Babylonian/Sumerian, Egyptian, Hebrew/Jewish, Ottoman/Turkish.
Flan: Celtic, Finnish, Slavic.
Oeridian: Greek, Latin.
Suel: Burgundian/Frankish, Germanic, Nordic/Teutonic, Old English/Saxon.
Rhenee/Attloi: Romny (Gypsy).
Olman: Central American (Aztec, Incan, Mayan).
Tuov: East African (Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda).
Others I know will disagree. One thing to check out is the Everchanging Book of Names (http://ebon.pyorre.net/). Its a great program to generate random names, and there are extensive files on Greyhawk names. _________________ Greyhawk is dead; long live Greyahwk! It is not heresy; I will not recant!
Most races are an amalgamation of cultures:
Baklunish: Middle-Eastern, Arab/Turk culture inspired.
Flan: Celtic/North American Natives, with the strongest North American plains native influence within the Rovers of the Barrens.
Oeridian: Macedonian/Roman culture, in the east a very Byzantine culture developed over time due to concentrated Aerdy settlement.
Olman: Central/South American Native city state culture, within the Amedio and Hepmonaland jungles.
Rhenee: a Romani (gypsy) stereotyped culture.
Suel: Northen European Aryan inspired - The northern Suel barbarians are like the Scandinavian Viking stereotypes, while the Suel of the Scarlet Brotherhood of the Tilvanot Peninsula retain the Greek based complex imperial slave plantation culture salvaged from the former Suel Imperium and the southern Suel jungle tribes found within Amedio and Hepmonaland have gradually adopted a simpler tribal culture but still retain the belief in Suel racial superiority.
Touv: Touv are extremely dark brown or black skinned East African culture inspired and live in the southern half of the Hepmonaland continent.
The Suel is the most interesting broken in two distinct types, perhaps three...
The Imperial suel seem to be based upon the Imperial Greek culture such as Athens and the racial purity beliefs of Spartan culture; slavery was common throughout greece for manual labor but the mental pursuits were valued and cultural superiority was assumed in Athens. Sparta was based in part upon a racial genetic superiority. Suel Imperium seems to espouse the Athenian mental, cultural values and the Spartan racial values of superiority - worst of both.
Oeridians: I chose Macedonia over Greek; since other then sparta which was exterme many other states stressed the form and individual accomplishment. While Macedonia stressed the warrior values and a collective duty for the sake of the nation ethos.
A resource - People's Names by Holly Ingraham from McFarland & Company. It is culturally specific in its organization and presents over 40,000 names -male, female and family for each culture. It also has small essays on culturally appropiate titles of nobility and naming practices for most of the listed cultures. It is presently in print and runs about $45 (Amazon) for 613 pages, including an Index. The title is intended to be a resource for writers of fiction to get their character's names correct. I found it a good buy and got it for this past Christmas for my wife, who is notorious for having difficulty settingly on her PCs names. _________________ GVD
I'm curious about people's thoughts on the Flan. Several people have compared them to Celts or other tribal Europeans. I'd be interested to know what gave them this impression. Most of my Greyhawk lore comes from the LGG & this site, but everything I've read about the Flan paints them as pseudo-Native Americans. I'm not trying to say "I'm right, you're wrong," I'd just like to know what other sources I should look at. Thanks.
By appearance, the flan seem to be american indian (especially north american), and many people do portray them as such. Many folk also view them as celtic in culture, do to their nature-based deities (Beory and Pelor, mostly). I have found curious linguistic parallels between the flan gods and the slavic gods. So... good question. Myself, I use slavic and celtic names for flan, depending on the tribe (my flan are much more nomadic and barbarian; few live in the "civilized" nations; heavily flan nations like Tehn and Geoff don't exist IMC), and some mixed names as well (EBoN is a great program for that). Unfortunately, you are probably not going to get a concensus on any race. Use what seems best for your campaign. _________________ Greyhawk is dead; long live Greyahwk! It is not heresy; I will not recant!
None of the races, except the Olmans (which were a non-Gygaxian addition and kind of stick out like a sore thumb) have direct real-world analogs.
The Flan are inspired by the Celts in part (because of their druidic and bardic tradition), but definitely inspired by the native Americans as well (though this is mostly limited to the Rovers of the Barrens). Gary Gygax has said their appearance was based on "Hamitic" Africans.
The Rhennee are obviously inspired in part by the Rom gypsy folk of our world, but have their own distinct culture.
The Oeridians are traditional Feudal European types. Their gods often have Latin-sounding names, and elements of the Great Kingdom resemble the Roman Empire at times, but their modern culture resembles any number of European peoples: the Franks, Normans, etc.
The Suel are an ancient, sorcerous race like the Atlanteans or Melniboneans, but in modern times they serve the role of both Norse peoples and generic jungle "savages" of the sort popularized in pulp fiction. The Amedi and Hepmon Suel were intended to stand in when monster-worshipping cults and jungle cannibals were needed. Really, the Olman should have been retconned as Suel. Then there's the racist, imperialist Scarlet Brotherhood with their strange monastic rulers, who resemble Nazi-like secret societies who claim their race descends from ancient Thule or Atlantis. Suel elsewhere in the Flanaess, like Keoland and Urnst, have essentially the same culture as the Oeridians with whom they've blended. Throughout most of the Flanaess, names will vary by nation and not by the ancient ethnic origin, which in any case is mostly mixed.
The Baklunish have Arabic/Turkish/Persian inspirations, but they're also inspired by the Chinese and Japanese. Zuoken is a Japanese name, and Xan Yae is kind of a fictionalized version of Chinese. Their monks and martial artists aren't inspired by anything in the Middle East. Their golden skin tone also suggests they are Far Eastern in appearance, not Arab, although I don't think there's a single illustration of a Baklunish person that doesn't make them look simply white. There isn't a single illustration of a Suel person that gives them the curly or kinky hair they're described as having either, so so much for illustrations.
The Olman are simply Central Americans, which is terribly unimaginative. They do have their own unique history, though, and the Savage Tide adventure path draws freely from a variety of cultures, including Polynesians and whatever came to mind, rather than making them strict Aztec analogs. This is a good thing.
The Touv are kind of African in inspiration, but their straight hair and blue eyes (like James Earl Jones in Conan the Barbarian) and unique, fantasy pantheon makes them fit better with the rest of the races than the Olmans do.
Gary Gygax has said their appearance was based on "Hamitic" Africans.
That's weird. I have never heard this before but that's kind of how I always thought of them.
rasgon wrote:
Their golden skin tone also suggests they are Far Eastern in appearance, not Arab, although I don't think there's a single illustration of a Baklunish person that doesn't make them look simply white.
The only one I can think of is the Wolf Nomad illustration that Erol Otus did for the '80 World of Greyhawk Gazetteer.
Rasgon is about spot on with this. The orignal Folio/83' boxed set is purposely(at least to my mind) vague on many apsects of the various cultures, but we see later material draw more distinct links to real world cultural analogs; a bit too blatantly so if you ask me. If I wanted to play in the Mythic Middle Ages I would do so. Greyhawk is not the Mythic Middle Ages though, which is why I play in Greyhawk. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
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