OpenGeofiction
Here are the names I’m considering so far:
- Easterland (it is on the east part of Archanta)
- The Sand Republic (since the beaches seem to be the most prevalent feature so far)
- Pinkland (in the vein of Greenland, Iceland, etc in the real world… no real basis for it, and a bit off-the-wall)
Any other ideas? Are these all usable names? Do they all stink?
Discussion
Comment from Thunderbird on 16 November 2015 at 16:16
It seems like there are a lot of beaches and deserts, “The Sand Republic” may just work. Also, I love how you named one of your prefectures “Hendrix”!
Comment from skquinn on 16 November 2015 at 16:23
It was named for an Ed Hendrix whose history with the region I will write later. You’ll also notice there’s an Ed Hendrix Highway which goes east (mostly east, anyway) into Dalvasa Prefecture intersecting the Swyness Interstate (which will soon be renamed to the Swyness Interprefecture Highway and renumbered). I may or may not make a Hendrix City or Hendrixtown later.
Comment from BMSOUZA on 16 November 2015 at 18:35
Sand Republic is so much generic, I dont like it…
Comment from stennes on 16 November 2015 at 20:01
Maybe take the latin version of sand, “sabulum”, and create either: Sabuland or Sabulia…
Comment from Demuth on 16 November 2015 at 21:05
Easterland is more or less the English version of Østermark, so I vote for Sabulia.
Comment from iBallasticwolf2 on 16 November 2015 at 21:05
I agree with stennes, Sabuland or Sabulia is a lot less generic sounding
Comment from Luciano on 16 November 2015 at 23:58
I remember the last time we had this conversation about naming AR901, we discussed trying avoid another “English”-sounding name for a country, and go for something more exotic. Hence I would also prefer someting like Sabulia, or maybe render “Pinkland” into French, “Rosaterre”.
Comment from Luciano on 17 November 2015 at 00:14
Another thought that just occured to me: Rhododactylia. This is from the famous line by the Greek poet, Homer, “ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς” (Rhododáktylos Ēṓs) “Rosy-fingered Dawn.” Thus you could combine in a single name your “Easterland” and “Pinkland” but make it much more exotic. Also, from the same phrase, “Eos” which I think would make an excellent, short name for a country.
Comment from BMSOUZA on 17 November 2015 at 02:19
Sabulia and Roseterre are good options.
I know there are real countries with short names or abreviations, like “USA” and “UAE” (“EAU” in portuguese), or “Omã” and “Irã” (Oman and Iran, in portuguese), but I think “Eos” a too short name. Only my opinion.
Comment from Demuth on 17 November 2015 at 07:39
Rosy-fingered dawn! Someone needs to name a country Rhododactylia, a lovely poetic name even if it sounds a bit like a dinosaur! I love how your brain works, Luciano! And Eos actually works for me also as a country name.
Comment from Ūdilugbulgidħū on 17 November 2015 at 11:44
I would second Luciano … Rosy-fingered Dawn, by the Wine-dark Sea. It would certainly be an interesting place to visit. But I’d say decide some history first - especially if your country has a name in a different language from the one spoken there.
Comment from skquinn on 17 November 2015 at 14:35
I kind of like Rhododactylia now that it has been proposed, so that’s what I’m going with until and unless someone comes up with a better idea. Eos seems a bit too plain and short.
I will work on the history later on tonight. I’m way behind on writing history, it’s really not my strong suit (yet).
Comment from Luciano on 17 November 2015 at 21:24
Based on the “rosy fingered dawn” concept, I made a first draft of a proposed Rhododactylian flag:
http://opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/File:Luciano_Flag_Rhododactylia.png
Don’t worry too much about history if it’s not your strong suit. Let the history emerge from the map, as you and others work on it. There is no need to specifically justify the name chosen, historically - you can always “retcon” the story behind the name later to make it fit whatever history develops - I’ve done this several times with “Ardisphere.”
Comment from skquinn on 18 November 2015 at 03:37
Great ideas. I like the flag design; do you have an SVG version of the design?
Comment from Luciano on 18 November 2015 at 04:20
OK - I uploaded SVG version here
http://opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/File:Luciano_Flag_Rhododactylia.svg
You can modify or adapt if you want. Happy mapping!
Comment from skquinn on 18 November 2015 at 11:58
Tweaked it to 10:19 aspect ratio here:
http://opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/File:Skquinn_Flag_Rhododactylia.svg
Thoughts?
Comment from Luciano on 18 November 2015 at 13:37
@skquinn Looks good. I have no idea why I started using aspect ratio of 7:12 on all my flags - maybe I was just intentionally choosing an aspect ratio that is almost never used in the “real” world, just to be different. But feel free to do with it whatever you think looks best.
If everyone is comfortable with Rhododactylia, maybe we could set up a wiki stub about it? The “Talk:” page could then serve as a place coordinate collaboration.
Comment from skquinn on 18 November 2015 at 15:03
Are there any prefectures that should be renamed or given more “interesting” names than the ones they have now? Future plans are to make a flag for each prefecture, then seals/flags for each city.
Should there be counties or a similar subdivision for each prefecture? Or are prefectures by themselves enough?
Comment from Luciano on 19 November 2015 at 00:36
I don’t see any need for smaller subdivisions, given the scale of things - i.e. most prefectures are “county-sized” already. Maybe some regional municipalities, if you want to organize things that way (Canadian-style). As far as naming - I would say, name things as make sense to you, and others mapping in the area can do the same. Just like Gobrassanya, I expect any “blue” country will end up a linguistic mish-mash, with a broad overlay of “Ingerish.”
Comment from Luciano on 21 November 2015 at 09:13
I have made a wiki article for Rhododactylia.
http://opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/Rhododactylia
Since it is a “blue” country, all users are free to edit the article.