Boldhome Heroes

Suggested changes in names

The original En Garde game is set in 17th century France. This En Garde has a RuneQuest Anglo-Danish feel to it.
However, there are a number of words and phrases used in the game that make it feel more 17th century than 10th /11th century or RuneQuest.

Terms like regiment, brigade and subaltern – even Royal Foot Guards.

So my suggestion is that we could change them to encourage verisimilitude.
I cannot claim any expertise in the matter but I have looked up an online Old English dictionary.
In any case, as this is fantasy, historical accuracy is not really an issue.

So here are my suggestion. Have a laugh , enjoy the notes and feel free to ignore if you don't like the ideas

Army – keep as is but could be here, herefolc or host.
Brigade could become could be þrymm or thrymm meaning host or army (the initial letter is “thorn” pronounced "th". (Thorn became simplified to look like the letter Y but retained the “th sound” so Ye – as in Ye Olde Pubbe – was still pronounced “the” ).
Regiment could be Ridehere if mounted or Landhere if a foot regiment

Battalion could be beadumægen (beadumaegen) meaning "battle ready force" or band/warband if you want a more modern word.
A company could be mannmægen (mannmaegen) which means a troop. Could also use scolu.

Moving on,
The Royal Foot Guards could become the King’s Huscarl’s (or for old English Gesithas (pronounced as 'yeaseethass')) – huscarl though is better known.
Tribal levy is fine but could become tribal fyrd.

The various ranks could be changed but are fine except for subaltern and I get confused with thane (or thegn) in that we have a 10 thane rank, a hundred thane rank and a rank of nobility called thane.

You could replace the nobility rank with the old English cniht (becomes knight in due course) – but this conjures up medieval knights and the word at the time meant boy or youth. I prefer to keep thegn as a noble rank (which it was – sort of).

So changing ten thane and hundred thane might be better. A battalion would be about 500 (or more) whilst a company would be about a 100.

So if these are not thanes then commanding a force of 100 would be a hundredmann and commanding 500 would be fifhundredmann.
On the same basis a subaltern could be a tienmann.

Obviously the ending of these ranks is masculine (and life in the 10th century was misogynistic) but can be accepted (like how the word actor is being used regardless of gender and the word actress is fading away or the mann part could be replaced by either cwene or frowe).
Anyhow, these are just ideas so feel free to ignore.

I enjoyed your notes on proposed background details. Though more accurate historically, it might be hard for some to identify with the names as proposed. I like it, but I am just one voice (OOC - and of Norwegian heritage).

Congratulations on all the work you have put into this. I do agree that with the move from Paris to Boldhome some of the names sound out of place. I am very rusty on my memories of Runequest and Glorantha, do the proposed Anglo-Saxon names seem right?

I agree that Parisian names are a bit grating at times; but one of the best points about Glorantha is that it is not based on any Earth equivalent. The world is lozenge-shaped not spherical; the Rune Magic system is intentionally different from any religion known on our planet; and one of the posts from the game owners says explicitly "Sartarites are not spiky-haired Celts". ( https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/a-fe ... -on-terms/) So by all means suggest names more in keeping; but get your inspiration from Chaosium not history.

Yes and no.

I'm all for changing names of things, but I don't want to get too "Anglo-Danish". Sartar has, in the latest edition of Runequest, steered away from the viking-tropes.

So we need to find names that feel right, but not too norse, but still understandable.

I'm afraid I don't really have time to think about this much now, as we have a couple of "serious" rule changes on the agenda.

I fully agree with using RuneQuest terms. Thanks for the link Rhosyn - that was helpful. Quite happy to wait for Puckohue to amend names when convenient.

Puckohue wrote: ↑Sun Oct 29, 2023 7:13 pm Yes and no.

I'm all for changing names of things, but I don't want to get too "Anglo-Danish". Sartar has, in the latest edition of Runequest, steered away from the viking-tropes.

So we need to find names that feel right, but not too norse, but still understandable.

I'm afraid I don't really have time to think about this much now, as we have a couple of "serious" rule changes on the agenda.

I agree that some of the more anachronistic names should change but as you say Sartar is more complex than old Saxon these days. Prince Argrath is closer to a King than any previous Prince (well at least the recent ones ) so maybe Royal Foot Guards is not so bad. That said there are a whole bunch of great names in Dragon Pass (nee White Bear and Red Moon) I'll see if I can list some out.

In general, it's important to have terms that are at least somewhat understandable.

I think Subaltern is the term I dislike the most. I'd be happy if someone came up with something better. Maybe it could be "Thane".

Which would mean we need to find a better term for the noble rank of Thane.

Instead of Thane as a noble rank, how about introducing Baron or Earl? They wouldn't feel too out of place in the Game. That would possible free up Thane for purely military usage. Or, instead of Subaltern, you could use Cornet or Ensign. Which are similar ranks

Agree completely with Harald. Ensign was the medieval term for a junior officer who might carry the banner, Cornet being the cavalry equivalent since they used music rather than flags; so either would seem an improvement.