I am having a hard time coming up with a name for my island my players will be heading to soon. Its a hidden island of mostly Kalashtar people. They keep the island hidden behind a magical fog and anyone who does end up their will have their mind wiped as they are leaving never knowing that they were there in the first place. Two of my PC's were there at one point but neither one remembers. One found himself floating adrift and ended up there on accident where he lived there for 5 years and when we was read to go they sent him back adrift when a ship was coming through and wiped his memories of those 5 years. The other is from there and was turned into a vampire through experimentation. Through the experiment she lost all her memories of ever being a part of that colony of people. Memories come back slowly (like a name or a phrase) but nothing major. I actually won't have her get her memories back until Campaign 2 where her character will show up again as an NPC at one point. But anyway back on topic, I need a decent name for this island because I think it might be a pivotal place for me not only for this arc, but for even the next campaign as well.
Who gave the name? Are you looking for a native name, given by the islanders themselves, or mainland folk (if they know it exists). In the latter case, the name may originate from times before the mist and mind wiping.
What is a the language and naming culture like? Do they use descriptive naming, derive names from the names of settlers/discoverers, use religious themes or ancient lore/mythology etc. ?
Do you want the name to be in a fantasy language or english/common?
My rule of thumb is that historically people didn't usually pay much attention to place names. Instead the names were derived from the surroundings or some other convenient detail and then stuck.
Carefully thought out names tend to hold some political or influencial meaning, for example unifying religions or conquered regions or solidifying your own rule/leaving your mark etc.
My personal input in your case:
Have your mainlanders call it something mundane and lame like "Mistland" based on visual info (like the mist)
Or something mythical like "the Island of Cretius" from a legend that may or may not hold any truth.
And then the Islanders call it something else entirely. Maybe based on their own religion or something valuable there. It can sound epic/powerful if you want it to, yet still hold something meaningful to the people. Or it can be literally "the Island" in their native language.
"Island of a Thousand Sorrows and Endless Fallen Stones" - kind of names are a typical fantasy trope, but generally people are too lazy for them IRL. That monster would probably evolve into "the Island" in a month. 😆
Who gave the name? Are you looking for a native name, given by the islanders themselves, or mainland folk (if they know it exists). In the latter case, the name may originate from times before the mist and mind wiping.
What is a the language and naming culture like? Do they use descriptive naming, derive names from the names of settlers/discoverers, use religious themes or ancient lore/mythology etc. ?
Do you want the name to be in a fantasy language or english/common?
My rule of thumb is that historically people didn't usually pay much attention to place names. Instead the names were derived from the surroundings or some other convenient detail and then stuck.
Carefully thought out names tend to hold some political or influencial meaning, for example unifying religions or conquered regions or solidifying your own rule/leaving your mark etc.
My personal input in your case:
Have your mainlanders call it something mundane and lame like "Mistland" based on visual info (like the mist)
Or something mythical like "the Island of Cretius" from a legend that may or may not hold any truth.
And then the Islanders call it something else entirely. Maybe based on their own religion or something valuable there. It can sound epic/powerful if you want it to, yet still hold something meaningful to the people. Or it can be literally "the Island" in their native language.
"Island of a Thousand Sorrows and Endless Fallen Stones" - kind of names are a typical fantasy trope, but generally people are too lazy for them IRL. That monster would probably evolve into "the Island" in a month. 😆
I like the two different names idea. Might be something that I try to do. Currently my players are trying to find it because it holds a portal between the two realms (between the fey and the shadowfell). I was even going to maybe have a journal possibly give a location but nothing after like they almost forgot what they were writing about.
Alright I have thought of some don't know if they are any good. In a history book the area on the planet could be called something like "Mist of the Forgotten" since people who go in there are forgotten about by time, or because anyone who does come out forgets their time there. The Kalashtar islanders can called it "Arasinda". What do you all think?
Alright I have thought of some don't know if they are any good. In a history book the area on the planet could be called something like "Mist of the Forgotten" since people who go in there are forgotten about by time, or because anyone who does come out forgets their time there. The Kalashtar islanders can called it "Arasinda". What do you all think?
Sounds great to me!
Arasinda is a great local name.
I also like the mythical/historical name. I have one suggestion: another, less common, word in place of forgotten?
ChatGPT suggested these variants.
Mist of the Lost
Veil of the Amnesiacs
Shroud of the Oblivious
Fog of the Erased
Haze of the Unremembered
Enigma of the Unmindful
Nebula of the Unrecalled
Obscure Isle of the Blank
Concealment of the Vanished
Shimmer of the Unmemorable
Some are terrible ideas, but some seem applicable with a bit of mixing and matching. 😄
My personal favorites are
Mist of the Unremembered
Or Haze of the Unremembered. Haze is imo great, because it's a nice artistic word for the Mist and also the mental haze involved. In spoken language people could refer to it as "the Haze", because people are lazy. 😄
And I like Unremembered, because it's got an old tone to me. People nowadays don't really use that.
Alright I have thought of some don't know if they are any good. In a history book the area on the planet could be called something like "Mist of the Forgotten" since people who go in there are forgotten about by time, or because anyone who does come out forgets their time there. The Kalashtar islanders can called it "Arasinda". What do you all think?
Sounds great to me!
Arasinda is a great local name.
I also like the mythical/historical name. I have one suggestion: another, less common, word in place of forgotten?
ChatGPT suggested these variants.
Mist of the Lost
Veil of the Amnesiacs
Shroud of the Oblivious
Fog of the Erased
Haze of the Unremembered
Enigma of the Unmindful
Nebula of the Unrecalled
Obscure Isle of the Blank
Concealment of the Vanished
Shimmer of the Unmemorable
Some are terrible ideas, but some seem applicable with a bit of mixing and matching. 😄
My personal favorites are
Mist of the Unremembered
Or Haze of the Unremembered. Haze is imo great, because it's a nice artistic word for the Mist and also the mental haze involved. In spoken language people could refer to it as "the Haze", because people are lazy. 😄
And I like Unremembered, because it's got an old tone to me. People nowadays don't really use that.
Hey everyone,
I am having a hard time coming up with a name for my island my players will be heading to soon. Its a hidden island of mostly Kalashtar people. They keep the island hidden behind a magical fog and anyone who does end up their will have their mind wiped as they are leaving never knowing that they were there in the first place. Two of my PC's were there at one point but neither one remembers. One found himself floating adrift and ended up there on accident where he lived there for 5 years and when we was read to go they sent him back adrift when a ship was coming through and wiped his memories of those 5 years. The other is from there and was turned into a vampire through experimentation. Through the experiment she lost all her memories of ever being a part of that colony of people. Memories come back slowly (like a name or a phrase) but nothing major. I actually won't have her get her memories back until Campaign 2 where her character will show up again as an NPC at one point. But anyway back on topic, I need a decent name for this island because I think it might be a pivotal place for me not only for this arc, but for even the next campaign as well.
Sounds vaguely like the undying lands from the LotR universe.
How about Anamnia, a play on the Greek word for memory?
That might be a bit too on the nose.
A few points that may help construct a name:
Who gave the name? Are you looking for a native name, given by the islanders themselves, or mainland folk (if they know it exists). In the latter case, the name may originate from times before the mist and mind wiping.
What is a the language and naming culture like? Do they use descriptive naming, derive names from the names of settlers/discoverers, use religious themes or ancient lore/mythology etc. ?
Do you want the name to be in a fantasy language or english/common?
My rule of thumb is that historically people didn't usually pay much attention to place names. Instead the names were derived from the surroundings or some other convenient detail and then stuck.
Carefully thought out names tend to hold some political or influencial meaning, for example unifying religions or conquered regions or solidifying your own rule/leaving your mark etc.
My personal input in your case:
Have your mainlanders call it something mundane and lame like "Mistland" based on visual info (like the mist)
Or something mythical like "the Island of Cretius" from a legend that may or may not hold any truth.
And then the Islanders call it something else entirely. Maybe based on their own religion or something valuable there. It can sound epic/powerful if you want it to, yet still hold something meaningful to the people. Or it can be literally "the Island" in their native language.
"Island of a Thousand Sorrows and Endless Fallen Stones" - kind of names are a typical fantasy trope, but generally people are too lazy for them IRL. That monster would probably evolve into "the Island" in a month. 😆
Finland GMT/UTC +2
Here's a name generator you might find useful and they also have generators for all manner of places and creatures too:
https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/island-names.php
I like the two different names idea. Might be something that I try to do. Currently my players are trying to find it because it holds a portal between the two realms (between the fey and the shadowfell). I was even going to maybe have a journal possibly give a location but nothing after like they almost forgot what they were writing about.
Alright I have thought of some don't know if they are any good. In a history book the area on the planet could be called something like "Mist of the Forgotten" since people who go in there are forgotten about by time, or because anyone who does come out forgets their time there. The Kalashtar islanders can called it "Arasinda". What do you all think?
Sounds great to me!
Arasinda is a great local name.
I also like the mythical/historical name. I have one suggestion: another, less common, word in place of forgotten?
ChatGPT suggested these variants.
Some are terrible ideas, but some seem applicable with a bit of mixing and matching. 😄
My personal favorites are
Mist of the Unremembered
Or Haze of the Unremembered. Haze is imo great, because it's a nice artistic word for the Mist and also the mental haze involved. In spoken language people could refer to it as "the Haze", because people are lazy. 😄
And I like Unremembered, because it's got an old tone to me. People nowadays don't really use that.
Finland GMT/UTC +2
Quoriisle or Dreamless Island
Oh...haze I like that!
Lethemist, after the river Lethe in Greek mythology