So when writing a post for Fantasy, I got slightly irritated when trying to describe where it was taking place. And although there had been originally plans to name the towns on the fantastic map that was given, naming is hard and time-consuming. I only got through Astrador myself and I took shortcuts to see if I can get feedback before I continue. Anyway, here is my modified map and a small town guide. This is merely a first draft and you can definitely decide to continue having things unnamed too.
City Names and GuideOeselgan – Northern most Dwarven city in Astrador, also the Dwarven capital in Astrador.
Sohlan – Southern-most Dwarven city in Astrador, more isolated and less frequented by non-Dwarves.
Pex – Fae town, surrounded by water and mountain. Quite difficult to get to.
Luns Fahnim* – The southernmost port town of Astrador.
Sval Fahnim* – A port city on the Frigid Strait, the inhabitants are no strangers to magic and non-humans.
Aeis Fahnim* – on the strait between Astrador and Etrya, this city is even colder than Sval, but yet, due to its location between Etrya and Faedor, is constantly visited by travelers from both Faedor and Etrya.
Umberond Fahnim* – Umberond is a great coastal city on the eastern coast of Astrador.
Vinia Fahnim* – Another port city, located on the South-western coast of Astrador.
Fae’s Fahnim* - A port city on the Dividing Sea, due it’s location and proximity to Faedor, it is called the “Fae’s Port” and is the only port city where locals will say the whole name instead of just the first word as is done with each other port city.
Llanslew – a wealthy city near Luns Fahnim, many of Astrador’s noble live or own homes here, and the nightlife tends to very extravagant.
Sorn – A larger town surrounded by many villages, it lies besides a small mountain range.
Holfia – A riverside Fae town, it is easier to find than Pex.
Llan’s Grove & Bors– small villages near Sval Fahnim and the Magus tower. In a forested area.
Synniad’s Rest (SR on map) – a picturesque village nestled deep into the mountains, despite being off the beaten path, it is visited by many pilgrims wishing to pay respects to the home of the old Sage Synniad, whose bones rest there.
Astrana – the biggest town, home to Castle Astrana, where the King of Astrana holds court.
Naroa – a countryside region filled with villages in the North-east of Astrador, leads to Aeis Fahnim
Lothras – a region in the Southwest, divided geographically by two rivers coming out of a lake. Dotted with villages.
Magus Tower – a mage tower.
*All port cities but Fae’s Fahnim are just called by the first word (except on official documents). So Sval for Sval Fahnim, Umberond, and etc.
Naming Notes:
*The names themselves were come up with using a mixture of Norwegian, Welsh, and Belgian town names. I felt the mix suited the world. I would have made them more English, but the island names were definitely not Anglo, so I took the Nordic/Celtic route.
*I tried to have recognizable patterns: Dwarven towns have "-an endings" and, if I go work on Faedor, they'll contain more "oe" and "g"s in general. Fae towns are either extremely short (like Pex) or have "ia" endings, and tend to be more fluid, slightly latin inspired. Elven towns will have the "ae" sound featured prominently. Human's have lots of Llans, because they look cool, and I thought it would work to have some sort of repeated name appear.
*The fahnim simply means something along the lines of "port/harbor/city on the sea". It's usually ignored, unless it's Fae's Fahnim, which literally refers to being the Fae's port town.
*Unsure of how politics works in this AU, I decided to go with that the medieval era this represents is very decentralized. But if there's a royal city, it's Astrana, with Llanslew coming in behind as a kind of city-state ruled by nobles (who may or may not be lieges of the king in Astrana)
*I added a small village to the mountains (Synniad's Rest) to fill up the landscape with something. It'd be nice to have a mountain village.
*I tried to go somewhere with the color coding but failed... I guess in the next draft, if i make one, I'll go with teal for Dwarven towns, Green for fae towns (in Astrador) and purple for royal cities.
This is mainly a first draft, and I'm sure some of the names will be rejected later on. I just want to know if I can continue. So, what do you guys think?
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