Odd Naming Coincidence?

[Jeramiahh]

A funny thing was brought up to me by my players, as they were preparing their PCs for this game, that struck me as unexpectedly odd - the Queen of Kyonin and the domain of the Runelord Belimarius, share a name - Edasseril. Is this a hint of a deeper connection between the two - a royal lineage dating back to the times of the Runelords? Does it mean something poetic in an ancient language, that we don't have a clear translation for? Or is it just a very odd coincidence that they are spelled exactly the same?

[James Jacobs]

This was initially a mistake on my part. In the first days of scrambling to develop Varisia and Golarion while also closing up the magazines, I drew liberally on my homebrew setting for lore, names, deities, and more. The word "Edasseril" comes from my homebrew, and I ended up using it twice—once for the ancient nation of envy and once for the modern elven queen. But from that accident grew a pretty fun in-world bit of lore:

Spoiler:

This dates all the way back to the early days of Thassilon, when there was a thriving elven community already in place in the Mierani Forest when Emperor Xin and his fellow exiles from Azlant arrived on Avistan and started to colonize what would become the Saga Lands and settle it all as Thassilon. Unlike the indiginous Varisians, Shoanti, giants, and other cultures living in the region (who were all mostly nomadic in that era), the elves of Mierani were much more able to withstand Thassilon's expansion. This is why when you look at maps of Thassilon, there's a section of land in the northwest area that ISN'T part of Thassilon—that was the realm of the elves of the Mierani Forest.

Among those elves were ancestors of Queen Telandia, and as the realm of envy just to the north of the Mierani Forest kicked into gear after Emperor Xin was assassinated, the first runelord of envy looked at the elves to the south with, well, envious eyes. They took the name Edasseril from the elves they felt were the most beautiful, then named their own land after that elf in an attempt to claim that legacy for themselves.

[Jeramiahh]

Thanks! That's surprisingly close to what I imagined was the case, in the roughly twenty minutes between discovering that, and posting this thread!

[zimmerwald1915]

James Jacobs wrote:

This was initially a mistake on my part. In the first days of scrambling to develop Varisia and Golarion while also closing up the magazines, I drew liberally on my homebrew setting for lore, names, deities, and more. The word "Edasseril" comes from my homebrew, and I ended up using it twice—once for the ancient nation of envy and once for the modern elven queen. But from that accident grew a pretty fun in-world bit of lore:

** spoiler omitted **

continuing world lore:

And then upon her return Belimarius's first order of business was conquering the place.