[Phantom Hoover]

Is that website in the domain for the Estonian diaspora in Vasudan territory?

 I believe we should use the spoken Vasudan we hear in game as a basis for how names should sound.

But this just isn't consistent with what we see in game. The techroom even explicitly states that Vasudans take human names as a translation convention; why is it so hard just to go with that?

[FreeSpaceFreak]

But this just isn't consistent with what we see in game. The techroom even explicitly states that Vasudans take human names as a translation convention; why is it so hard just to go with that?

+1, I know some Chinese choose an English name for themselves when dealing with foreigners (a Chinese fellow student of mine was 'Oliver'). So it's not really that far-fetched. And since it's stated that they identify with our Ancient Egypt, it makes a lot of sense that they should choose their Terran names from there.

[Deepstar]

Thank you all for these answers.

To the "apostroph problem"... seems to be a bigger problem in the english speaking world. Because i find many english pages about this topic, but only very few german ones. So this problem is very unknown to me. And i never had a discussion or a complain about this from my readers on the webportal i publish most of them.

The Apostroph is only for pronounce reasons, and i use it only in cases when the name has a special pronounciation that is not clear if you read the name alone, this also includes that the english version of the name could look different than the german one. Also i use this names are scheduled only as a shortened, for humans pronounceable, variant for the full name. Though i never thought about how to deal with it if i would write a story about vasudans without humans, because i never thought about a unpronounceable full name .
Actually all my stories are about human main protagonists with only a few vasudans around.

And i do not like the idea, that all vasudans identify itself with Egypt and introduce themselves every time with a Egypt-name. Especially for a story that takes place around 2335 or the Hammer of Light.



There is no officiall data about this, okay, but i read some interesting other ideas here which can be additionally used for a vasudan name in the future also :-)

[Klaustrophobia]

i want to add that as a player, with most mods not being voice acted, i think it's rather important to make an effort to choose readily pronounceable names.  i sometimes get a little annoyed when mods throw off-the-wall, non-phonetic or overly complicated names out (ships too, not just characters) in an effort to be more 'cultural' or just different.  i don't want to have to spend conscious effort to decide how a name should sound in my head.  the end result is usually the ship/person goes nameless and identity-less internal reading of the dialogue.  sometimes a generic "blarghh" sound beginning with the first letter of the name instead of just a complete blank.

[Phantom Hoover]

And i do not like the idea, that all vasudans identify itself with Egypt and introduce themselves every time with a Egypt-name. Especially for a story that takes place around 2335 or the Hammer of Light.



There is no officiall data about this, okay, but i read some interesting other ideas here which can be additionally used for a vasudan name in the future also :-)

It's really not this complicated, if you're naming Vasudans in any English text, just use some human name and accept it's part of the translation convention, and stick to Egyptian ones for GTVA-era settings. You really do not need to mess around with conlangs and weird orthography for this like you seem to be trying.

[karajorma]

Go to Freespace2\data\freddocs. Play vasudantalk.wav. Assume that the guy was reading a list of baby names.

[Mebber]

Since you asked explicitly what the names of "normal" vasudan people would be... i too think their native names would be something not pronounceable in english, and therefore they'd take human names if they deal with them. But i wonder if each and every vadsudan would make the effort of choosing a secondary human name for communication, because there are probably many vasudans who have no contact to humans and thus don't need a human name. If you assume this, it would be a nice question to ask what would happen if such a vasudan suddenly has to communicate with a human. Will he pick a human name spontaneously? Maybe there's a sort of "John Doe" for vasudans, a sort of common-use alternative human name for such occasions. Like: Ajnabi (that's not egypt, its arabic for 'foreigner', although a vasudan probably wouldn't refer to himself as "foreigner"... but it's just an example). To carry this on, he could add further information to this everyman-name by adding some sort of personal information to distinguish him from other "Ajnabis". Ajnabi from Altair, or whatever.

That's just a quick idea, and it's probably not even very useful for actual missions - most vasudans who fly with terrans, like fighter-pilots, warship personell and traders probably have already choosen a human name for the sake of easy communication. But it could be nice stuff for some small short ingame chatter, like Alpha1 (if terran) encountering this name multiple times and asks a vasudan comrade if it is a common vasudan name.

Personally, i like short non-mission relevant background chats like this, they give a nice feel of immersion.

[Scourge of Ages]

"OK. Alpha Wing, you'll go after the enemies' beam cannons first, Beta, you'll provide close cover. Orhashoruuu, you'll be leading Alpha again; Khrooshnnvr, take Beta. Haoifne, as Alpha 2, you'll be in charge of providing targeting data for your wing, and keeping an eye on threats. And, as always, Grggllglllluuu, Alpha 4, will deliver the heavy bombs when the beam cannons are down."

"Oh, Sergeant Hafhwenf, who will be carrying the battle recorder for this op?"

"Ah yes, Beta 2, Hrrrruuuaaghhh, will carry the primary battle recorder. Try to keep it steady this time, pilot. Op begins in 3 hours. Dismissed."

[karajorma]

I know some Chinese choose an English name for themselves when dealing with foreigners (a Chinese fellow student of mine was 'Oliver').

The reverse is equally true. In fact I probably hear my Chinese name more often than my English name these days.

[FIZ]

Well, they would all be callsigns wouldn't they?  I know in FS2verse 'proper' names like Snipes and Alpha 1 are used a lot, but what about Zero and Vinny?    seemed perfectly okay using callsigns there.  Seems reasonable that Zod's would pick something to fit their personality.  Using German as brought up before, Jaeger (English cheat version of Jäger) sounds good and has some meaning to it.  Not Egyptian, but a lot of cats seem to think if it fits, it sits, and doesn't rely on the speaker's position to the Emperor.

Hell, could add a 'personal log' that 'went out drinking with Jaeger and he explained that when the 3rd moon is waxing he is Yonvor Krepit, but when it is waning he is Yonnur Krepost, but only when Imperial Court is in session.'  Just have fun with it and keep it simple for in-mission dialog's sake

[Dragon]

Callsigns are another thing entirely. Vasudans may have also this tradition, or may not.

[FIZ]

My post was decidedly off topic from OP.  What I meant was in game, keep it simple, even if you are getting voice acted.  Wasn't their some  material that was more-or-less flavor, but a story about a human pilot captured during Operation Templar.

[soilder198]

What do we have in term of canon Zod names ? Khonsu, Khafre (commander of the Psamtik), Habu (commander of 203rd Scorpions) ? That all ?

I think that Akheton is also one. Part 1:55 in this cut scene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBmN8p_7sOM mentions it with symbols that look Vasudan like. Also, the GTW Akheton is a weapon made by the Vasudans, so this further credits it.

[MatthTheGeek]

Nothing is said about Akheton being a person name. Do you know many humans called Boeing ?

[Mongoose]

Um...

[MatthTheGeek]

Heh

Right. Do you know many humans called Microsoft ?

[karajorma]

Not exactly.