Alvari vs. Alkari

Добавлено: Чт Янв 28, 2016 1:53     Заголовок сообщения: Alvari vs. Alkari

First off, thanks so much to everyone who is working on this. Your efforts astound and impress me, and I continue to tell people that this is the best fantasy game on the market. Kudos to all of you.

After playing this amazing mod for years, now, though, I have two questions burning in my mind, and every time I play I think of them again, so please indulge me while I ask one of them here:

What is the rationale behind naming one fantasy race within the world the Alvari and another, which could not possibly be more different in every way, the Alkari? To say that this is confusing is an understatement. There is a very good reason no fantasy author has had "dwarves" and "dwerves" as two completely separate races in their world... it's totally pointless, and will take the reader quite some time to sort them out in her head. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Particularly odd is the fact that the dark elves used to be called "drow", which was clear, different and (to those of us familiar with basic fantasy tropes) immediately recognizable.

So my question is this: why the change? Where do the "Alvari" and "Alkari" names come from? Is there a rationale for them being so confusingly close, and a reason we don't just go back to calling the dark elves "drow", like we used to in what seemed to me to be a far superior solution?

Thanks for your indulgence. It's just killing me wondering about this every time I play.

Добавлено: Чт Янв 28, 2016 4:41     Заголовок сообщения:

Russian words are Альвары и Алкари, and they are different enough.
_________________
Phenomenal self as such is not an epistemically justified form of mental content.

Добавлено: Чт Янв 28, 2016 10:33     Заголовок сообщения:

In theory, there's not "Alvari" but "Alvar". It comes from the "alves", the scandinavian version of the elves.
But.. that's like translating "гномы"(dwarfs) as "gnomi"

Добавлено: Чт Янв 28, 2016 14:56     Заголовок сообщения: Re: Alvari vs. Alkari


Hello bludwig,

I definitely agree that Alvari vs Alkari is a real problem, as I stated when I took over translation duties from Satshanti 6 months ago. IIUC, the devs removed all references to Drows a few years ago because they wanted to get away from the Forgotten Realms tropes, and create their own mythology for this race.

But I think it is better to use Drow in the English version... I'll change it in v2.60b after I release v2.60a

If you have other ideas / suggestions, you know where to find me

Regards.

Добавлено: Чт Янв 28, 2016 21:15     Заголовок сообщения:

As I expected from such a wonderful group, your reply to this really helps me understand. Thank you so much.

Kettarienne, thanks for the information on the Russian. Looking at the letters, they do look far more distinct in Russian than in English.

Cthulhu-55, yes indeed; the word for all elves in the Edda is 'alfar', with the dark elves called the 'svartalfar' (black elves) or 'dokkalfar' (dark elves), depending. (I get to teach this in my World Mythology course; the Edda gives us very little about the dark elves, so it's fun to throw theories around about their actual nature in class.)

Boon947, I'm so glad that you agree that it's an issue. I completely sympathize with the creators' wish to move away from Forgotten Realms tropes and, if that's their wish, support it, although with things like hyena-gnolls and beholders, not to mention countless other D&D original beasts and concepts, still rife within the game, getting rid of the word 'drow' seems like a bit of a nit-pick on their part. Also, I find it interesting that they wish to get away from the Forgotten Realms tropes, but they're still keeping the essential cultural drow material... magical matriarchy, alliance with the beholders, driders, evil alignment, physical appearance, etc. At present, these aren't a new take on the svartalfar, as the Scandinavians called the 'dark elves'... these are drow, straight up, and changing the name while keeping the vast majority of FR tropes intact seems like a strange move.

I totally agree in thinking that 'drow' is best (and most accurate considering the lore, even within the game), if we wanted to go a different route, we could just come up with a third option, no? Something which isn't 'drow', but meaningfully distinct from the existing racial words? Ideally, something which actually conveys or implies their shadow nature, making it easy to remember? Just a thought... I'd be pleased as punch to go back to 'drow', but I thought I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up an alternative.