I’m curious about the origins of Varou names.
I’m curious about the origins of Varou names. Some of them sound quite amusing to Polish (or other Slavic language) speaker:
Jarek is a diminutive of Jarosław which happens to be my name ;)
Jasna means “bright” in Polish.
Iskra means “spark” in Polish.
Charna sounds exactly like “czarna”, which means “black” in Polish.
Vata sounds like “wata”, which means “cotton wool” in Polish.
Radka is a diminutive of Radosława, Polish female name.
Evka sounds exactly like “Ewka”, which is a diminutive of Ewa, Polish female name.
Some other including Neda, Zora and Vojan are Balkan Slavic (e.g. Serbian) names.
So, I’m not sure whether it is indended, but Varou have Slavic flavour. Maybe there should be an add-on, in which players are Varou defending their homeland against nasty Ironlander invaders ;)
Or someone will add some creatures from Slavic bestiary, such as these: https://slowianskibestiariusz.pl/en/bestiary/
Pic related ;)
Ooh, interesting.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it, Jarosław Daniel. Varou are meant to have Slavik-sounding names. Please forgive the cultural appropriation. Hopefully there's nothing too embarrassing in there.
ReplyDeleteElves are intended to have names evocative of ancient near-eastern languages, and the Giants are inspired by Mongolian names. Ironlanders are a bit of this-and-that.
To my mind, Ironsworn would work really well leaning a bit heavier into Slavik fantasy.
Shawn Tomkin Don’t worry, I never treated cultural appropriation as a serious issue and it’s always nice to see Slavic tropes in foreign works :) Our old culture is not nearly as known (both to scientists and popular culture) as Nordic or Celtic, unfortunately.
ReplyDeletePersonally though, I will probably use some other Varou names in my games, because the diminutives would weaken an atmosphere of danger and mystery for any group of Polish players. For English-speakers, imagine if in your play you encounter deadly Varou and then learn that their names are Billy, Tommy and Annie. Especially if then occurs that Annie is male Varou while Billy and Tommy are female. Even more hilarious if Billy, Tommy and Annie are players’ actual names :)
I am very curious whether in your mind Varou have something in common with Slavs other than names (same with Elves and Near-Estearners and Giants and Mongols)? Do these creatures have respective cultures’ clothings, food or customs? Or it’s just names?
Now I feel the temptation to make some Slavic hack to Ironsworn – mechanics would remain intact, but there could be custom names, creatures and perhaps some assets. It would take a lot of work for one person, though.
You've made me realize how important naming conventions are when it comes to playing a game. Sometimes it happens to me that some games (not the case of Ironsworn) use names in Spanish, but their spelling tends to be either non-traditional, or culturally obsolete/ non-existent.
ReplyDeleteTake the attached image as an example (from D&D's Xanathar's Guide to Everything). The names I highlighted are actually... weird. Like, really, REALLY weird. Specially "Suelo" (i.e. literally, the Spanish word for floor, as in the floor is dirty. Could they have meant the female name "Flor"?), and "Benito" (i.e. In Colombia you could never take a Benito seriously because it's a name used for kids, specially when telling school-related jokes).
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ihLLzUfA3dbWTf4yYkxAqZD0tqHOywgf9woD_KH3tmpe7tBx8rH1KJOnh7YDy5yx0LGK-uYhT5-UuQ=s0
Sometimes I do Japanese plays on words. Also sometimes Spanish.
ReplyDelete