November Open Thread

[merlinscribe]

Starting a new open thread. Ask your questions here!


Harwing is alive and well and making complications for his author. Unfortunately, other characters are not so alive and well. Maybe.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I love that Harwing has a bigger role to play in Blade of Empire and Wings of Fate than he had in Crown of Vengeance.

Which reminds me - what happened to Annobeunna? Did she survive the 10 years?

[merlinscribe]

Good heavens, I hope so! (I ought to go back into the first part of the manuscript and make that clear, oughtn't I?)

[(Anonymous)]

YESSSSSS and please update! I love her so much and her development in Blade of Empire and in the uncut version you posted here a while back.

Would be a shame if it all got cut short.

The names of things

[(Anonymous)]

My wife and I are avid fans of the Obsidian-verse (so much so that we both recommended the first trilogy to each other by summary when we first started dating and only realized it when we brought the first books to exchange).

My questions are all super geeky about linguistics:
Do you use any system for proper names? I am fascinated with naming conventions and I am (perhaps unhealthily) obsessed with the meanings behind names and even the meaning behind the "sound" of a name.

Some of the names in the Obsidian Mountain universe are so complex (and all praise to Kate Rudd for doing such an amazing job pronouncing them! Sometimes I find myself reciting names and places like a song or poem that gets stuck in my head). From elven, to Aramethalian human and wild land human, to Otherfolk, and even to Endarkened. They all seem to have their own tone and character. You've hinted at ancient meanings behind elven names, do you have languages sketched out for different races or is it more based on specific words that relate to the names of specific people and places?

Re: The names of things

[merlinscribe]

I adore supergeeky linguistics questions and (as you have probably figured out by now) conlangs.

I use a couple of systems for proper names: primarily it's a word or phrase (in Elven) that I attach one of several "stock" endings to: -iel, -othon, and so on. That works for the Highborn. With lower ranks (Craftworker, Landbond, Crofter, etc.) I try to go for a shorter name spun out from Indo-Aryan sources and extensively massaged by yours truly to be easily distinguishable to the reader. For standard names, like Janglanipaikharain (star-bright forest); Janubaghir (Southern forest) (note the two different words for "forest" -baghir and -harain); (southern plain) Ifjalasairaet (wind and dust), I retreat to Classical Persian.

Fortunately, the language does not seem to have evolved much since Amrethieon's time, so the Elves don't need a translator run on their visions:

"...it had not been Ifjalasairaet to Lady Indinathiel. It had been Ch'rahwyr-thrawnzah, Border of the World."

Thank you for asking such awesome questions!

Re: The names of things

[(Anonymous)]

When people complain about the length of elven names, I remind them that humans are short-lived and have few syllables. Quick tempered, quick lived, quick tongued. Elves
have centuries or millennia to live, time for a slow roll of syllables representing meanings and time.

[sparrow_queen]

So, this might be outside the scope and long past the close date of the post, but...

So what is a Winter Running Dance? it was referred to so many times, and yet, all we got as "a dance...in the snow...probably swift-paced". Is there any more detail than that?

Also, Flower Wars. The impression was it revolved around Jousting And Other Tourneys, in which one might lose symbols of knighthood, but, is there more to this than Knight's Tale would suggest? (Costume decisions aside).

[merlinscribe]

The Winter Running Dance has not (yet) appeared in a book, but think essentially of a set dance from the 17th or 18th centuries where the members of the set all start out about a mile apart. They run to their partners, perform the figures of the set at speed, and run to their next partners (finding them is often a challenge). This is a highly-ornamented version of "run for your lives!" but eventually all the dancers end up at the Unicorn Meadow. Points for speed and grace. And for getting through the whole thing without dropping in your tracks.

The Flower Wars have everything you need for a war--swords, armor, more swords--but it is all made out of flowers. And then everyone fights en meleé and in other set forms. (I have the impression it covers about a week, and obvs in the late Spring when flowers become available.) The point is to get through the entire set of wars with your arms and armor intact.

So it's sort of like the Pasadena Rose Parade crossed with the Pennsic War. With horses.

I hope this answers your question?

[sparrow_queen]

Yes, thank you! Several years of idle questions settled in about an hour! (now what do I do with my life - Shush, To Be Read list)

And, oh my, the Winter Running Dance - no wonder not everyone participates in it, even being Elves! (Also having done some of the dances of that period, I...fall over with no points for grace.)

Having seen both Pasadena and Pennsic, I understand completely! (So many flowers. Elves being Elves about it. With horses. Oh dear XD ).