Not Much Done This Week

Well, last week my other job started and there was a lot to do because of it opening. As a result, I wasn't able to get much done.

Primarily I had the chance to tinker with the names of future heroines a bit. One notable one is the Ice Queen you see in Hombre Blanco's gallery (if you don't mind spoilers). I've been looking over Finnish names to give her. Originally I'd had her as being Greek (and chose the placeholder name Chione Boreas), but as time went on I feel Finnish would be better.

My general process is to look for mythological names that are meaningful first. They have to be unfamiliar to your general American, second. The misuse of foreign mythological names is so prevalent here that people would completely miss the point and probably assume references instead. References which horribly butcher the origins of these names and the meanings behind them.

I wasn't seriously considering applying it to the Ice Queen, but the name Mielikki is the name of a goddess of the hunt in Finnish mythology. I absolutely CANNOT use that name even if I had an appropriate heroine, however, because she's ALSO a goddess in D&D. One where she is horrendously mischaracterized as something closer to a new age touchy-feely nature goddess than as the more interesting huntress-goddess of Finnish myth. Granted, the original myths had her as a healer and goddess of fortune, but also as someone to be feared. I really, REALLY hate when people misuse names like that.

I ALSO really hate the D&D conceptions of neutrality and nature-based classes and gods, but that's a different rant.

Other names are looked at and discarded for various reasons. The three daughters of the underworld aren't getting used - they'd be appropriate if she raised undead like Nanshe did, but she doesn't. Plus, they're pretty ugly and disgusting by design, and I don't get my giggles by sneaking in things which are gross. I like stealthy puns and absurdity-painted-as-deadly-serious humor. Gross things don't really belong in a porn game or in anything, IMO.

Really, none of the Finnish goddesses have quite the right type of meaningful name for her. Which means I'll probably go and look up the meanings of various generic Finnish names and use those.

Not all the heroines have meaningful mythological names, but some, such as "Nanshe Ninedinna", do. The names are sort of intellectual puns. They're not meant to be funny per se, but work like puns on some level.

Nanshe is the name of a Babylonian goddess. The goddess of Earth, Water, and Fertility, among other things. She's interesting. You should study her.

Each of these things are reflected in Nanshe. She promises to make the Overmind fertile again, and her dungeon is a mix of stone catacombs and water.

(Fun note: Nanshe was also considered a goddess of "social justice", which tempts me to make Tumblr jokes with her. I avoid doing so because those get annoying fast and don't really fit into the setting, but MIGHT do that if I find some particularly clever ways to do it.)

The second half of her name is Ninedinna. This is the name of a Babylonian goddess of the books of the dead. Nanshe is both a mage and a necromancer, making her name fit well.

Every character has a name like this, to a degree. I sit down and use my vague memories of my childhood spent reading endless books on mythology, and then pair them up with characters. I carefully use the internet to confirm the facts are what I remember, or to dig up additional info.

I'm glad we have the internet; when I was a kid I'd have had to go to the library to look this stuff up. Not that it isn't fun. The smell of old books around you, the feel of paper in hand... ahh. Wonderful. But then you have to put up with the librarian giving you odd looks as you read "The Blood Countess" or a romance novel or a fun b-sci-fi book. Every time I go to a library I always end up pulling a dozen books off the shelves of all kinds and reading all of them. And then you have to put up with those LOOKS from people who see your giant weird pile of sci-fi, fantasy, romance, mythology, gardening, architecture, cooking and history. As if knowledge or reading ANY genre of book were something to be ashamed of. Ingrates.

But the world isn't the place it was when I was growing up. People respect knowledge more. And that's good. 


Anyway, I'll keep working on the game like this and get back to actually putting down code soon. Wish me luck.