I created the following titles when turbine was taking suggestions for the shadow, undead, and empyrean titles. Although they did not go with these, I wanted to preserve them here because of the amount of work I put into them.
Empyrean Edit
I understand the use of real world naval ranks, but I've never been a fan of it. Yes, the Yalaini were known as a seafaring people, but that doesn't mean everyone in their society was an officer in the navy. And before this we'd never seen Yalaini having naval titles. They've always had titles like Lord/Lady, Patriarch, Exarch, etc. It gets more confusing that the top two titles are Yalaini words and not ranks. I have a few ideas for the Empreans:
Use titles in the Yalaini Language Edit
Aluvians have Germanic/English based, Gharus have Abarian/Muslim based titles, Sho have Asian sounding titles, why not give the Empyreans titles from their own culture and language as well?
- Laerin / Laera (m / f)
- I based this off of Laerauinth (Living Stones of the Ground), assuming "Au" refers to living, "-inth" refers to stone, the "Laer-" part must refer to the ground. The original meaning would have been something like Land-Dweller, or someone not yet ready for the sea, and now refers to a commoner.
- Caere / Caeresa (m / f)
- I based this off of Caerlin (Lord of the Deep Waters) assuming "Caer-" refers to the Deep Waters. The original meaning would have been Seafarer, and now refers to the lowest rank in the Imperial navy equivalent to Ensign. Being a seafaring people, naval titles like this are used throughout their society.
- Aure / Auresa (m / f)
- I based this off of Cellaurai / Cellauri (Consecrated by Starlight) assuming that the "Auri-" part refers to starlight. The original meaning would have been a combination of Astronomer, Navigator, & priest, and now refers to a low ranking officer equivalent to Lieutenant Commander. Being a seafaring people, naval titles like this are used throughout their society.
- Virinae
- I based this off of Heauviri (high-thought-wind), assuming that the "viri-" part refers to wind. The original meaning would have been something like master of the sails, and now is the equivalent to Captain. Being a seafaring people, naval titles like this are used throughout their society.
- Petre / Metresa (m / f)
- Master / Mistress. Metresa is an official Yalaini word meaning mistress, I just made Petre up. Originally before the Yalain people formed an empire, Virinae (captians) were loyal to the master/mistress of their island-state, and the title has remained.
- Alaidael
- I based this off of Alaidain, the first recorded ruler of the Yalaini Empire. The original meaning would have been Loyal to / Subject of Alaidain, and now is a mid-ranking nobility.
- Atentael
- I based this off of Tentael, the the capital city of the Empire. The original meaning would have been representative to Tentael.
- Lin / Lia (m / f)
- Lord / Lady. There are two Yalaini Imperial names that contain the word Lord: Caerlin (Lord of the Deep Waters) and Kellin (Righteous Lord). Both names contain "Lin" so based on that and your official Aulin/Alia titles, I think Lin / Lia work.
- Ipharsin / Ipharsia (m / f)
- High Lord / Lady, from the current Empyrean titles.
- Aulin / Aulia (m / f)
- High Lord King / Queen, from the current Empyrean titles.
Use military/nobility titles already in-game Edit
Empyreans have held numerous real world feudal titles, military titles, and other European/Roman titles. Nearly all of the titles below are used in lore or in mob names for Empyreans, Undead, or Golems, constructs of the Empyreans.
- Squire
- Magnate
- Baron / Baroness (m / f)
- Governor / Governess (m / f)
- Suzerain
- margrave / margravine (m / f)
- Imperator
- Viceroy
- Sovereign
- Regent
- Please note that I did not include Emperor / Empress. The current Emperor is still in portal space, and IMO no Empyrean would take on this title, out of respect or fear.
Use Empyrean Orders as a basis for allegiance titles Edit
There were many Empyrean Orders - Order of Hieromancers, Order of Perfect Light, Gilgranne Order, Adjanite Order, etc. We could say that Orders were equivalent to guilds in Empyrean Society, separate from but just as important as the military/nobility. Empyrean Orders often had a religious aspect, which is reflected by some of my title choices.
- Initiate
- Acolyte
- Exarch
- Vicar
- Rector
- Hierarch
- Chevaird - I believe is a title original to AC that many different characters have held. Sir Walthryl Senjanh was called "Chevaird of the Gilgranne Order" so I am placing it as a high rank within an order.
- Patriarch / Matriarch (m / f)
- Prinali - Title I made up. It means before the nali.
- Nali - This is the highest Rank in the Northern Church.
Undead Edit
First, I'd like to say that in general undead are not terrible, evil monsters from hell, so I do not like the idea of giving them titles like Devil, Demon, Fiend, and so on.
I'm not a huge fan of the current Undead titles, since they are mostly just European titles, some with Mhoire tacked on. The titles also don't really match up well with the corresponding ranks of other races. For example a rank 5 undead is a Mhoire Squire, while a rank 1 Viamontian is a Squire. And for undead, a Viscount is above a Count, but for the Viamontians (and I believe the proper real world usage) a viscount is lower than a count. And the undead have both Squire and Esquire, which I believe are essentially the same thing. The current titles are kind of a mess.
The playable undead are from the house of Mhoire, a Dericost house that rebelled against Emperor Geraine long ago. However, I'm not a huge fan of including Mhoire in the titles because it restricts our roleplay options. So instead, I think that the Undead should have fairly generic titles that would work for any Dericostian Undead.
I see two options:
Give them Dericostian Titles Edit
As I said in the Empyrean post, if the humans get titles that match their culture, why not do the same for undead? Just as I based many of the Yalaini titles off of their seafaring history, the Dericostian titles should reflect their history of conquering lands.
- Promar / Promel (m / f)
- I based this off of Promachos, a Greek soldier
- Haplyte
- I based this off of another Greek word, Hoplite.
- Draconaal
- I based this off of a roman title, Draconarius, a standard-bearer.
- Hetairoi
- Patrar / Matrel (m / f)
- I based this off of the Yalaini world Metresa (mistress), showing a common root between the two languages. This would mean Master / Mistress.
- Vikar / Vikel (m / f)
- Anaax
- Based off Anax, using the military leader definition.
- Latzar / Latzel (m / f)
- I based this off of Latzimestal (Lords of the World), assuming that the latzi- part refers to Lords. This would mean Lord / Lady.
- Ifarsaal
- Variation of the Ipharsin / Ipharsia Yalaini title, showing a common root. This would mean High Lord / Lady, but is gender neutral.
- Kratarrdun
- I based this off of Tenkarrdun (Stoic Blood) and Autokrator. This would mean Ruler by Blood.
Clean up the current titles Edit
Redo the titles to better align with those of other races, and borrow titles from various undead mobs and npcs to fill in the gaps.
- Squire
- Knight / Dame
- Baron / Baroness
- Count / Countess
- Commander
- Captain
- Champion
- Archon
- Lord / Lady
- High Lord / High Lady
Shadows Edit
The shadow titles are all too long due the addition of shadowy words to your standard European nobility titles. They are not very creative, with 3 different types of Knights/Dames, 2 Dukes/Duchesses, and 2 Kings/Queens. I see a few options for the shadow titles:
Use Empyrean words Edit
Isin Dule himself is Dericostian, and most of his shadows were Dericostian/Yalaini (before he started letting all those humans in, anyway...) It'd make some sense to use Empyrean words.
- Nokt - made up, something to do with night.
- Graal - this is used in a margul name, it could have some actual meaning in Dericost.
- Biaka - another margul/mukkir name.
- Terraar - made up, something to do with Terror
- Paanuvril - an official Dericostian word, means Panumbris Shadow
- Uvril - an official Dericostian word, means Umbris Shadow
- Paaniilis - made up, means almost nothing
- Niilis - made up, means nothing
- Baal-Au - made up, means Slayer of Light
- Kemeroi - A Dericostian word with multiple meanings, the name for a powerful shadow entity
Use military ranks Edit
Isin Dule's shadows already use some ranks. We have a few shadow mobs like Lieutenant Beraxis, Lieutenant Shenza, Lieutenant Yezusthule, Isin Dule's Lieutenant, and Isin Dule's Captain. You could stick with using English military ranks.
- Soldier
- Incorporal (Portmanteau of Corporal and Incorporeal, ain't I clever)
- Sergeant
- Lieutenant
- Commander
- Captain
- Major
- Colonel
- Brigadier
- General
Use purely "Shadowy" titles Edit
They are shadows. Drop all the feudal titles and just go with dark/chaotic sounding titles.
- Tenebrous
- Shade
- Shadow
- Void
- Nightmare
- Panumbris
- Umbris
- Chaos Lord
- Nihil
- Kemeroic (adj. "of Kemeroi")