#ailurocide: fealty naming insight

[ailurocide]

Okay,, naming ideas for each of the Ailurocide groups! No context edition!

Travelers are named after the weather. (Ex: Downpour, Lightning, Whirlwind)

Clotern folk have a two-part naming system; names are given to them at birth. (Ex: Furled Leaves, Glowing Ember, Light Rain)

Horde individuals are named after weapons. (Ex: Axe, Flail, Rapier)

ALL Fealty folk, regardless of specific Fealty, have a two-part naming system: simple physically-linked prefixes at birth, body part suffixes earned at some other point at life after a great accomplishment. (Ex: Thornclaw, Spottednose, Featherheart)

House folk are named after flowers or other plants. (Ex: Snapdragon, Honeysuckle, Lantana)

House companions are named after buildings. (Ex: Dacha, Rondavel, Linhay)

Those of The Nameless are only offered “names” that are words describing their primary personality traits. (Ex: Solemn, Tactless, Gracious)

[ailurocide]

:D OK OK I HAVE A LOT (and i’ll mark my asks w/ -🪷 just so inremember which asks i sent lol)

is there a in-universe reason as to why the fealty has a prefix-suffix naming system?

HECK YEAH TY LOTUS ANON!!

Prefix-Suffix Naming and it’s Origins

While the Fealty’s religion claims otherwise, historically, the Vale was initially settled by a few primarily felfolk families that all hailed from different sources. Some of these families that hailed from the distant mountains held distinctive two-part names: a given name and a family name.

[Ex: Gray Sky and Clear Sky, sons of Raining Sky. Tall Shadow and Slight Shadow, children of Moss Shadow. Etc.]

This was to prevent inbreeding as much as possible, and separate the bloodlines into families that could be awarded accomplishments onto the whole of their kin. They had no other purpose than to identify a felfolk by their family and to address them by.

These families were not alone, though, and were quickly joined by others who held varying names of their own, though most commonly, sounds or sights, plants or creatures of the Aerth.

[Ex: Birch and Alder, siblings. Bumble. Crackle. Etc.]

Over time, however, this became an inefficient way to identify folk, as with a sudden slew of plagues, temperature fluctuations, and territorial disputes that often ended in death, “honor” names began to crop up more and more, resulting in the exact same names for different folk, which was clunky and confusing rather than honorable, as intended. These names were then morphed into being either shortened or elongated, but the most popular means of this new sort of naming was to add a word that made them very pretty or aesthetic.

[Ex: Dying Ember, Dust of Chalk, Fluttering of a Moth. Etc.]

With more time, the stretching of these names morphed into a coming-of-age ceremony, in which a felfolk would receive one small part of their name, and then go on to gain the rest of it upon reaching adulthood. This eventually morphed into the longer, aesthetic names being shortened into just two words - a prefix and a suffix -, which would later become the modern Fealty’s way of naming.

These two-term names changed a lot over the ages.

The prefixes had come into existence, and were typically that of a folk’s appearance, usually color or pattern, or of an object that resembled their appearance. [Ex: A black cat being named “Shadow”. A golden cat being named “Honey”, after the golden substance. A gray cat being named “Clay” for the riverbank’s clay. Etc.] The suffixes came later on, and were a rite of passage for those born into the society that were slowly perfecting these names. The leaders of these groups as well as the individual’s dame would gather to discuss these suffixes, and certain words began meaning certain things: “Shadow is very aggressive and good at fighting, so they’ll be known as Shadowclaw. Honey is very sweet and small, so they’ll be Honeyberry. Clay is very sturdy, and they’ve got a distinctive stripe down their back, so they’ll be Clayback.” It soon became common practice that the suffix was to be symbolic of an individual’s skill, personality, or general competence, to display not only what they could best serve their faction with, but to silently boast with. There was still a lot of leeway and unspoken symbolism at this time with suffixes, however, and over time, their meanings became lost to time.

What did “storm” truly mean when in regards to a folk? What did “breeze”? “Shine”? It meant so many things. But when looking upon folk with suffixes evoking a body part, things became much clearer. It’s far easier to see that a folk named “-leg” is swift and sure-footed, rather than a folk named “-bright”, who is… What. Bright-eyed? Bright-furred? Mentally bright? Body part suffixes were adopted due to their simplicity, and their ability to convey a skill much more clearly.

Finally, folk sat down and etched out the meanings of each body part to bestow upon those earning their names. Gone now were the “-storm”, “-bounce”, etc that could be embodied into something far simpler to understand, something that could be far easier to remember and felt more solid rather than flowy and aesthetic. These names, the prefix and suffixes, finally came together smoothly, in a way that could prove to be recognizable and impressive in of themselves, as well as the figure that they represented.

Names carry great significance within the Fealty. In short, they’re meant to be used as a quick identifier, and to act as a representation of one’s identity, to help guide them to a path that would be best for themselves and for their faction as a whole.

The flower names came with the Evergreens.

[ailurocide]

So I’ve found a naming system that I really quite like… but now I have to ask myself if the new-bloom flower names still apply,,

[ailurocide]

INTRO to AILUROCIDE

Blood Spilt, Blood Shared, Blood Spurned by Blood… Braved by a blaze that may burn it all away.

Welcome to AILUROCIDE! This post is meant to serve as a masterpost for most elements found within the story. It is constantly updating, as are each of the points of reference, so be sure to keep an eye on this space!

•─────• ᓚᘏᗢ •─────•

Notable Links:

NOTE: Everything is subject to be constantly and consistently updated, so please keep an eye out!

ᓚᘏᗢ — Planned Books in Order + Listed Fidelities

ᓚᘏᗢ — Important Four-Trees Fealty Information

ᓚᘏᗢ — Map(s) + Land Descriptions

ᓚᘏᗢ — Creature Cheat Sheets

ᓚᘏᗢ — Various Aerth Civilizations

ᓚᘏᗢ — Ailurocide Terminology

ᓚᘏᗢ — Ailurocide Creature Record

ᓚᘏᗢ — Short Stories List / Ailurocide Novellas

ᓚᘏᗢ — Commonly Asked Questions

ᓚᘏᗢ — Trigger Warning List

•─────• ᓚᘏᗢ •─────•

Notable Tags:

ᓚᘏᗢ — #spotty speaks | [A tag denoting that Spotty (the blog’s runner/author) specifically is speaking, either to someone or about the work, rather than explaining story points.]

ᓚᘏᗢ — #ailurocide spoilers | [For those who don’t want spoilers as they come out, and would rather wait for the book outlines, or the books themselves, please block this tag!]

ᓚᘏᗢ — #ailurocide lore: … ↓

— #ailurocide lore: Aerth

— #ailurocide lore: the Four Trees Fealty

— #ailurocide lore: the Nine Lights

— #ailurocide lore: Fealty Mythos + Legends

— #ailurocide lore: … | [To Be Expanded!]

ᓚᘏᗢ — #world building | [Self-Explanatory]

— #landscapes

— #ailurocide: the wastelands

— #ailurocide: the vale

— #ailurocide: the foreshore

— #ailurocide: the gorge

— #ailurocide: the grove

ᓚᘏᗢ — #fel’merr | [A tag for whenever Ailurocide’s original conlang (called: fel’merr!) is used!]

ᓚᘏᗢ — #ailurocide: … ↓

— #ailurocide: memes

— #ailurocide: fanart / general art

— #ailurocide: family trees

— #ailurocide: character card

— #ailurocide: character relationships

— #ailurocide: character designs

— #ailurocide: fealty fashions

— #ailurocide: written fidelities

— #ailurocide: character fun facts | [3 silly, simple fun facts about a requested character. If you request a character once, you can request them again for more!]

— #ailurocide: general fun facts | [Random fun facts about the world or story of Ailurocide!]

— #ailurocide: the four trees fealty

— #ailurocide: the mightmire faction

— #ailurocide: the highpeak faction

— #ailurocide: the outpour faction

— #ailurocide: the undermoor faction

— #ailurocide: the evergreens

— #ailurocide: fealty foods

— #ailurocide: fealty fashions

— #ailurocide: the sunguard guild

— #ailurocide: the … clotern

— #ailurocide: the soaring titans clotern

— #ailurocide: the cold cloaks clotern

— #ailurocide: character five truths | [Inspired by @katiek101’s Five Truths series on Ao3 - but for Ailurocide characters!]

— #ailurocide: actions | [A tag used to explain many unique actions of a felfolk (or Fealtyfolk!) including mannerisms, common behaviors, hunting, etc]

— #ailurocide: fealty naming insight

— #ailurocide: clotern naming insight

— #ailurocide: companion naming insight

— #ailurocide: other outsider naming insight

— #ailurocide: … | [To Be Expanded!]

ᓚᘏᗢ — #writers things | [Usually reblogged posts from fellow tumblr authors about various writing aids, resources, etc]