So I've recently been thinking about Paizos newest trend in Pathfinder Second Edition, wherein many of the settings creatures and people have been given their own names for their species, further separating them from other fantasy settings. With this came things like the Iruxi and the Amurrans, the names of the Lizardfolk and Catfolk respectively in their own language. We also got things like creatures being grouped together under a collective noun, creating families of similar creatures; such as Dryads and Naiads being a kind of Nymph. Not to mention the similar case of an individual creature being used to describe a particular member within their species; such as Treants being the leaders and elders of the Arboreals.
So it got me thinking about the various creatures within the world and what they call themselves, how they may be group them together, and if older names may be used to further identify their species or purpose. So the goal of this thread is to not only spitball some ideas, but possibly establish a list of names for the many creatures of Golarion.
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That being said, I wanted to dive into an idea I had for Werecreatures and their progeny, Skinwalkers. I've never quite liked the term Werecreature, and Lycanthrope is too specific; Lycan coming from the Greek word for wolf. There is however another Greek word that I think would work as a collective name for Were-creatures in general: that being Therion, meaning "wild animal" or "beast". The term is used in the word Therianthropy, which refers to the ability of men being capable of shapeshifting into animals. Thus, Lycanthropy would be a particular form of Therianthropy. The term works better for the way that Lycanthropy is represented in Pathfinder: being a curse/disease that causes the bearer to shift into the forms of various different animals, as well as hybrid forms. The word Zoanthropy is also used interchangeably with Therianthropy; Zoan being used in Zoology to form words to categorize animals.
I believe Therion or Zoan would make great names for either Werecreatures or Skinwalkers. This is of course assuming Paizo doesn't just come up with their own name for these creatures. Given the fact that, at least in PF2s Bestiary, Paizo has seemingly done away with the word Lycanthropy, it's entirely possible that they will create their own identity for the creatures moving forward. If Werecreature is that identity, I'd be okay with that; but would much prefer the term Werebeast personally. And I've yet to see mention of Skinwalkers yet. So I'd probably use Therion as the proper name for them; with the Skinwalker, as well as Were-kin and Beast-kin, being used as alternatives for the heritage.
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So what are your ideas for particular names of creatures? Perhaps Taurians is the collective name given to Centaur and similar creatures whom posses the lower half of animals? Maybe Outsiders can be re-purposed as the word used to describe planar ancestries and heritages, such as Aasimar and Geniekin. Lets have fun trying to further the world and game we all love to play.
I was thinking about centaur-esque creatures.
But obviously Taurian isn't great for the same reason that Lycan isn't.
Otherwise there doesn't seem to be a name for people like centaurs and merfolk who aren't just generally animal-human hybrids, but specifically swap their lower body for another creatures entire body from the head down. I think Giratablilu are the same. I'd love to know if there is a good name for beings like that.
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I recall a certain myth (from a different setting) that centaurs were telling themselves. Interestingly, they didn't see themselves as human-animal hybrid; instead they were telling a story about a tribe of centaurs that angered the gods and as punishment they were splitted into two separate creatures, a human and a horse both imperfect and incomplete.
I like this story. Centaur would think that it has a lower body of a horse and upper body of a human; it's just that humans have upper body of a centaur, and horses have lower body of centaur. From that point of view, it would make no sense that the centaur's own name for their species would reflect the fact that for humans they look like a hybrid.
I was thinking about centaur-esque creatures.
But obviously Taurian isn't great for the same reason that Lycan isn't.
Otherwise there doesn't seem to be a name for people like centaurs and merfolk who aren't just generally animal-human hybrids, but specifically swap their lower body for another creatures entire body from the head down. I think Giratablilu are the same. I'd love to know if there is a good name for beings like that.
Defiently agree that Taurian isn't a great choice here. I suggested it because it's actually a term you can used search in the wiki, which takes you to the Centaur page. The word simply caught my attention. The problem here is that Centaur has always been the name for the creatures in myth. Thus, the -taur root of their name is kind of immutable without making an entirely new name for their people. But yes, with the term "taur" translating to bulls, it isn't ideal for creatures similar to Centaurs. So, whoever decided that Centaurs were half-horse instead of half-bull clearly wasn't an from ancient Greece.
That said, I suppose it isn't entirely neccesary for Centaur and similar creatures to be grouped into a family here. It isn't like any of them are actually related within Golarion. They just so happen to share a similar physical structure.