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The setup:
Campaign setting is kind of a "What would happen if the Celts had been integrated into the Anglo-Saxons instead of subsumed/eliminated, then progressed to the Middle Ages?"
So think of it kind of as a mesh between the Tain, Mabinogi, and Le Morte d' Arthur. Literally. As in the militia still goes into battle wearing wode while being led by "civilized" knights in chain armor and during a timeframe that's a variation on the Arthur story.
Without going into overly unnecessary detail, the artifact is a great axe whose name will translate into "Claw of the Dragon" and I'm trying to decide on which fits better:
Brachium Draconis (from the Latin and fits the Arthurian aspects of the theme)
Aisghlamagh Dragon (from the Irish translation, I've been pronouncing it "I-leh-maa". I'll happily be corrected if someone knows better)
The latter has an older feel to it, but the former rolls off the tongue better. It's also easier to remember the spelling and doesn't have a word in it that is the same in english. But I was hoping for something with a little more Gaelic history to it.
Perhaps Aisghlamagh Draconis, a blending of the two? Or something completely different and more "made-up" instead of real world translation?
The setup:
Campaign setting is kind of a "What would happen if the Celts had been integrated into the Anglo-Saxons instead of subsumed/eliminated, then progressed to the Middle Ages?"
So think of it kind of as a mesh between the Tain, Mabinogi, and Le Morte d' Arthur. Literally. As in the militia still goes into battle wearing wode while being led by "civilized" knights in chain armor and during a timeframe that's a variation on the Arthur story.
Without going into overly unnecessary detail, the artifact is a great axe whose name will translate into "Claw of the Dragon" and I'm trying to decide on which fits better:
Brachium Draconis (from the Latin and fits the Arthurian aspects of the theme)
Aisghlamagh Dragon (from the Irish translation, I've been pronouncing it "I-leh-maa". I'll happily be corrected if someone knows better)
The latter has an older feel to it, but the former rolls off the tongue better. It's also easier to remember the spelling and doesn't have a word in it that is the same in english. But I was hoping for something with a little more Gaelic history to it.
Perhaps Aisghlamagh Draconis, a blending of the two? Or something completely different and more "made-up" instead of real world translation?
Bob. Bob the Great-Axe.
Bob is a great name for a weapon.
You have an interesting premise. I myself once ran a Saxon/welsh campaign and so studied a fair bit of history/mythology for that area/era.
What's missing in your writeup is where the axe originated. Is it a part of the older celtic tradition, something brought into Britannia by the Roman legions or something the Anglo-Saxons carried across the sea with them? Was it created by humans, neolithic giants, irish sidhe or someone else? Was a dragon actually involved in its creation? If so, integrating that dragon's proper name (or possibly the name of its slayer) into the axe's name could be cool. The British isles (as well as mainland saxony) has no lack of mythical/historical dragons' to call upon.
British mythology abounds with possibilities; the more you can tell me the better my suggestions might be.
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The short version: The haft is the petrified remains of the first dragon. The storyline goes that if most of the remains of the dragon can be collected and he can be resurrected. The number of remains decide the level of power he returns with. His name has been lost to time and I'm not ready to reveal it just yet. With the exception of the axe, the party has yet to encounter non-Common names for the various items, most of which are just called X "of the dragon" (eye of the dragon, heart of the dragon, etc).
The axe gets a name because it is a special case. One of the characters is a Paladin grandchild of Gauhain (or Gawain, if you prefer). The axe is his inheritance that grows in power with him, waxing at noon and waning at midnight.
One thing I should point out is that when I use terms such as "Celtic" I'm referring more to the basis of the society, not referring to the real world. The original concept of the setting was that it was the Fey Realm wherein our myths come from, though now it has morphed into it's own setting with many things lifted directly from myth. Each section of the world is lifted from a different mythology and melded with a spin of fantasy. Many of the elements of classic Tolkien/D&D fantasy are present, but I've stripped the cliche and returned to it's pre-tolkien roots. No elves or dwarves, but plenty of Alfar and Durghar.
Now that I think about it, my setting can get pretty complicated if you haven't been immersed in it for twenty years, as many objects from mythos get melded.
My favorite name for a weapon is "reasonable precaautions."
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Ok, the axe story. Get ready, it melds several mythologies...
The Dragon was the avatar of the god of Destruction, Apophis. He was defeated by the mortal champions (most of which have become gods or demi-gods) Bast, Isis, and Osiris.
Osiris was killed in the battle, but resurrected after much effort by Isis, a powerful worshipper of Dianchecht, god of healing. His time in the realms of the dead changed Osiris. He became obsessed with protecting the souls of the dead from Laeth, who decided whether a soul could progress on to his god or had to remain in Hades. He abandoned his true name and began to call himself Charon and descended into the land of the dead with the goal of rescuing souls imprisoned unjustly. With him he took the claw of Apophis and made a scythe with it.
At some point (a point I haven't invented yet), Charon broke off a piece of the scythe and it was used to forge the great axe. How Gauhain came into the axe is also up for grabs.
The party is currently looking for any remains of Apophis so that they may destroy them. Meanwhile, the most high and moral member of the party has been ignorantly hammering the enemy with one of the objects he's sworn to destory. As part of his history, the axe is his legacy and his only treasure in life.
He's never thought to look into the history of the axe, only knowing that it belonged to his grandfather. I want a name that, when discovered, will point an obvious finger at its heritage. I can go with a latin sounding name because it was wielded by a greco-roman figure, or by a gaelic sounding name because it was later wielded by a celtic knight.
Like I said, it gets a level of complication that can only come from building on the setting for two decades.
I think I just talked myself into Brachium Draconis. Or Brachium Charonis? Hmmm...
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Perhaps Aisghlamagh Draconis, a blending of the two? Or something completely different and more "made-up" instead of real world translation?
I'd pronounce it 'ashh-li-MAH' or 'ashh-la-MAH' and go with the Aisghlamagh Draconis.
In all such cases, I may or may not start with real world accurate translations, and then warp and corrupt them until I get something that 'sounds good' to my ear and rolls off of my tongue.
There is no reason it can't be known by both names. The nobles would use the latinate name while the plebs in purple would use the local language name. Not that uncommon for things/people/places to have more than one name.
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Perhaps Aisghlamagh Draconis, a blending of the two? Or something completely different and more "made-up" instead of real world translation?I'd pronounce it 'ashh-li-MAH' or 'ashh-la-MAH' and go with the Aisghlamagh Draconis.
In all such cases, I may or may not start with real world accurate translations, and then warp and corrupt them until I get something that 'sounds good' to my ear and rolls off of my tongue.
And I swing back the other way!
You're right, I normally tend towards corruptions (the tale above is pretty much the only times I've done a straight lift of modern names, and that's only because I've done more Norse/Celt research than Greek/Egyptian and haven't spent as much time "matt-icizing" them)
I like your pronunciation, and now I'm back to leaning in that direction...
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There is no reason it can't be known by both names. The nobles would use the latinate name while the plebs in purple would use the local language name. Not that uncommon for things/people/places to have more than one name.
Another good idea. I often forget that this sort of thing happens. Thank you for bringing it up.
Okay. After reading your story a more pertinent question might be: who is bandying the axe's name about these days and how much do they know of this story? If it doesn't currently look anything at all like a dragon's claw and its connection to the tale of Apophis/Charon isn't well known it seems unlikely that any Welshman or Roman would have known to call it "the dragon's claw" in their own language.
If Welsh is appropriate however, I'd vote for "Grafanc y Ddraig"; literally "Claw of the Dragon" in Welsh. It almost sounds like "Grand fang dragon" in English.
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Okay. After reading your story a more pertinent question might be: who is bandying the axe's name about these days and how much do they know of this story? If it doesn't currently look anything at all like a dragon's claw and its connection to the tale of Apophis/Charon isn't well known it seems unlikely that any Welshman or Roman would have known to call it "the dragon's claw" in their own language.
If Welsh is appropriate however, I'd vote for "Grafanc y Ddraig"; literally "Claw of the Dragon" in Welsh. It almost sounds like "Grand fang dragon" in English.
The axe's origin would be revealed when one of the cultists looking to resurrect Apophis recognizes it and blurts out its name. If the characters then go looking into the name (whether by research or by poking the cultist until he fills them in) the choicest bits of the story could come out.
The cultist would probably be local and lower class born. So he may be more likely to know it by a welsh sounding name. I like it.
While I'm not 100% on where I'm going with it, I can't thank you guys enough for the suggestions. There's some top notch advice here and it's definitely giving me even more ideas on where to go with this next.
With that in mind, I'd reaffirm my vote for "Grafanc y Ddraig". It sounds menacing, old and similar enough to its English equivalent to tip-off clever players as to its possible significance without being too direct. Though do any of the PCs speak/understand Welsh? If so they'll tumble to truth as soon as someone thinks to ask for a translation of whatever it is the cultist just blurted out.
Let us know what you decide.
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With that in mind, I'd reaffirm my vote for "Grafanc y Ddraig". It sounds menacing, old and similar enough to its English equivalent to tip-off clever players as to its possible significance without being too direct. Though do any of the PCs speak/understand Welsh? If so they'll tumble to truth as soon as someone thinks to ask for a translation of whatever it is the cultist just blurted out.
Let us know what you decide.
As far as the cultish bean-spilling goes, I think he's gonna blurt out Grafanc y Ddraig, though I'll probably pronounce it something like "Gran-fac draigh" with the -gh being soft that it almost sounds like a drawn out "dray". It sounds more in line with what the players have become used to.
It'll be considered a much older version of the language, so I'll probably make the characters roll either Linguistics or an appropriate knowledge for a translation. I'll pull the translator aside and whisper in his ear so that everyone can see the expression on his face (it will definitely be priceless).
If the speaker is dying at the time, having him almost gurgle it out while staring wide-eyed at the axe would certainly add to the menace. That way, if they fail their skill checks, it might drive them to do some thorough investigation of the issue. At which time they could discover other names and stories about it before digging up the whole truth.
Either way, I think this will be a fun ride.
Thanks guys!
That was awesome. That back and forth totally made my day...
I make everyone's day. That's sort of my thing. ;)
...I'm also a big deal in Japan.
I'd just go with "Aisghlamagh" - "The Claw". Everyone may *know* it's 'of the Dragon', but that may not necessarily be its official name...particularly if the name is inscribed on it somewhere.
My favorite name for a weapon is "reasonable precaautions."
In my Kingmaker game, one of the characters named his greatsword "Summary Judgement".
I'd just go with "Aisghlamagh" - "The Claw". Everyone may *know* it's 'of the Dragon', but that may not necessarily be its official name...particularly if the name is inscribed on it somewhere.
+1