Klayton 0:00

My brain is failing me today. If you couldn't tell, I'm passionate about names. I know my words. Welcome to The World Kiln podcast, where we discuss everything world building. I'm Klayton Korstjens, a world builder of 30 plus years from multiple DD settings, including home to the eight-year-long campaign I'm currently DMing, to my 25-year-long passion project book series.

Tim 0:29

I'm Tim Harris, author of the Aelaryn saga and passionate world building consumer and designer. On this podcast, we will share ideas, our breakthroughs, and our lessons we've learned and our experiences as world builders.

Klayton 0:40

In this episode, we'll be discussing general world building, focusing on the question: "Why is the name of a settlement so important?" Let's get into the build.

Tim 0:52

Okay. I think you had a really good discussion about why names

A name is part of identity

Tim 0:58

were important.  

Klayton 1:01

Well, this was a conversation that that went back to when you and I were like

Tim 1:05

pre- this.

Klayton 1:06

Yeah. Figuring all this stuff out. Um names to me are super important. It's one of the places one of the key places that I will like start when building something. And a lot of people think that's counterproductive. For me, a name is so important because it gives the thing an identity. It gives you a point of reference, it gives you a framework, it gives you something for you to be able to keep track of when you're specifying something. Um going back to that conversation that you and I were having, you know, my name is Klayton. That's my name. That's part of my identity. It's not who I am. Who I am is something entirely different. But my name is part of my identity. If you're talking with somebody and you're like, oh yeah, Klayton. Well, if they know me, they're immediately going to associate that name with me.

Tim 2:28

Right.

Klayton 2:28

If they don't know me, they're gonna be like, who is that? You know, you're Tim. That's an association with you. I'm not the only Klayton, you're not the only Tim. You know, Adam's back there, he's he's not the only Adam. They're not it's not an exclusive thing. But in the realm of the people that you know, in the realm of people who in your circle, right? Whether that be personal, whether that be a fandom, whether that be profession, right? Um people associate a name with a specific person or with a specific thing in your field. There are things that if somebody who you worked with made a reference to, you'd know exactly what they're talking about. I wouldn't have any idea because it doesn't it doesn't mean anything to me.

Speaker 2 3:26

Right.

Klayton 3:27

Um when it comes to whether you're building a small little town, a little hovel, um or you're building this massive metropolis, right? Um giving it a name gives you an association and a like I said,

How Klayton creates a name

Klayton 3:54

a point of reference.  

Tim 3:56

So based off of your association and point of reference, do you have specific ways that you create names for places? Do you use them by say geography or by say resources that they might have in a town? Do you have specifics of how you would use that?

Klayton 4:16

Uh yeah, actually. Um and oddly enough, as a non-answer answer, it depends on what I'm building. Depends on what I need. So now let me be clear. I don't only start with a name, right? Because there are other things where I've there's times where I've made cities and I'm like, oh, this is cool because I need, you know, I need this place and it started because of this and this and this, and then name it after. Like that's a viable method to do to name things, right? Um but when it comes to naming I'm kind of all over the map. Uh I like to use some key elements when naming specifically cities and settlements, right? One is where is it? In terms of like is it

Tim 5:20

geography?

Klayton 5:21

No, not even not not really geography, more so um kingdom and race.

Tim 5:30

Okay

Language plays a role

Tim 5:32

 

Klayton 5:31

um geography does play you know can play a role in naming something, but those two specifically um kingdom and race, because when you look at cities in the real world, their names for the most part right are based in the language in which the country is

Tim 6:04

so like Italy, Italian, you know, you got Spain, you got Spanish words, you got English for England, you know.

Klayton 6:11

Yeah, exactly. Now when you that can change depending on the kingdom that it's in, too. Right. Because you can have same race, different kingdoms, different things that can break down a dialect in a language. So how something I mean, look at the US. We have you know, we have California accent, we've got the the Midwestern accent, we've got the southern accent, we've got a Bostonian accent. Like we call them accents, and they are because it's it's really the inflections and how we pronounce different things. Same thing with kingdoms, you can have different dialects changing how something is pronounced or some or what they call something else. So in like so let's just let's just take it, let's just take a fictional town called Riverfront.

Tim 7:19

Okay,

Klayton 7:19

okay. When I say that, what do you think of?

Tim 7:23

That it's based on the front of a river.

Klayton 7:26

Yeah, it sits on the edge of a river, right?

Tim 7:28

Right.

Klayton 7:28

Okay, but now let's say that you have you're in a fictional world and Riverfront's a human city, human town, right?

Tim 7:39

Okay.

Klayton 7:39

Now you take that same town and you put it in let's say it is we'll we'll put it in a different race, right?

Tim 7:53

Okay.

Klayton 7:54

So based on their structure and how their language works, we say Riverfront as a combination of two words. River front. It's on the front of a river, right? On the riverbank. But the way that they call that same place may be a different combination of words and meaning. So that what they call it may, I mean, it will sound different, obviously, because you're talking about a different language,

Tim 8:27

right.

Klayton 8:28

But the meaning behind it and why they named it what they did, they may call that a port. Right? So the meaning behind the name, regardless of what the name

An example in Y'ya

Klayton 8:42

is,

Tim 8:42

right,  

Klayton 8:42

right, because if you're talking a different language, that that's not really the point. The meaning behind the name, which again is the identity, um can change depending on what the language is. So that's why like I'll take things into consideration of where they are like regionally, right, what kingdom they're in, race that they are, and break down like so. I'll I'll give you an example. Um I have the the Mavaren in Y'ya.

Tim 9:22

Yeah,

Klayton 9:22

I've developed that language, Mavish. So they have um their different words for you know, they have their own vocabulary, their own words, and how their own syntax and things are are described. So if I'm building, if I'm working in building a Mavish city within, we'll say the kingdom of Venoryn, which is their kind of main kingdom in Thara, where my the book series takes place.

Tim 9:54

Right.

Klayton 9:55

Um I'm gonna take into consideration the fact that they're Mavish, that there is the Mavish language that needs to be taken into consideration, and what the purpose of that town or city is. Especially if it's something that that is uh significant in any way.

Tim 10:17

So you're saying more like maybe a resource or something they might have that they actually do a trade with, kind of thing, or what?

Klayton 10:23

Yeah, so like you could you could easily have a name where I'm trying to think of a good example that that I've used myself. Um I mean the main capital in Venoryn is is Liybanon, but that's doesn't even help my point because that was when I originally made that city, I was literally just like, oh, I can pick the name.

Tim 10:45

Um sure being 30 years into it, that wasn't really your thought process when you first started creating things. Like, you know, it's things that you learn as you go. Um so I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of towns where you're like, you know what? I've learned this now. This is kind of what I try to do nowadays to do it. But prior to I just was going for things that sounded cool that kind of worked with what we were doing. Maybe, maybe Tal'dore. You've you probably that's more recent for you than Y'ya uh is there anything like um

Klayton 11:16

Tal'dore?

An example in Tarildor

Klayton 11:18

 

Tim 11:18

Tarildor, sorry. See, I got it confused. Um, but like your your you kind of did more of the German Slavic language in your north.

Klayton 11:32

Oh, you're talking in Goresska?

Tim 11:33

Yeah,

Klayton 11:34

yeah, yeah, yeah 

Tim 11:34

so is there a lot of things in there that you kind of could have created that might go along with that?

Klayton 11:40

So yeah, I used a lot of I used a lot of um because it it's very um um yeah, Slavic's a good word, very um you know, Russian Cyrillic type sounds because that's kind of that's kind of the the feel I was going for in in Goresska. Um like I I'll give you an example. I was just thinking about this in Tarildor. Um Smuggler's Run, where you guys currently are,

Tim 12:11

yeah,

Klayton 12:12

um, is themed because it is the capital of Qudan, which is a piratocracy, a country that is run by pirates. Like you have the pirate council of seven admirals, right? Um, each one has their own base city that they kind of their whole pirate group and armada or fleet, whatever you want to call them at the um, where they're based out of, but then you have the kind of neutral ground that's also the check-in point for anybody that's coming into the three island country of Qudan, and that's Smuggler's Run. I named it that because they're pirates, right? Like the the idea of being a smuggler, right? Um, a smuggler's run is you know, the concept of somebody trying to smuggle something from one point to another. So I'm like, okay, that's you know, how how do I theme this around the whole concept of a piratocracy? Um so there's Q udan. There's um in Qudan, you have the uh the central location where the seven admirals convene when they're in session, which is the Grand Mast.

Tim 13:41

Which you have.

Klayton 13:42

which is a massive pillar in the middle of this city with a huge, what they call the Crow's Nest. It looks like a mast with a crow's nest, but think on just this absolute gigantic scale, right? And up at the top is the crow, what they call the Crow's Nest. That's where the offices of the seven admirals are. That's also where they're hosting the Admiral's Brawl, right? Which is a play on an Admiral's ball.

Tim 14:10

right.

Klayton 14:11

Right? So it's it's little things like that in in naming, but you can do that when naming cities, right? You take all those little things into consideration. Um, you would name it going back to the original um example of Riverfront, it is a town on a riverfront. There doesn't have to be a whole lot to why you name it. But the name is so important because it gives that location an identity and a reference point for not only you as the as the creator, but as a point of reference for your audience for whatever you know media you're looking into. Does that make sense?

Tim 14:48

Makes complete sense, yeah.

Klayton 14:50

Um what

Tim name's the city in Stonewake

Klayton 14:51

about you? I've been kind of rambling here, but  

Tim 14:54

Well, um, I think mine is usually after the fact. I don't necessarily always go off of you know what is um based off of language, cultures. Um mine is more based on like kind of the resources around that area, kind of what what what kind of things uh do they are they known for? Um or you know, like geography, like you know, what is what is their what is their area look like? Um

Klayton 15:32

like terrain and

Tim 15:34

like um yeah so like in in my book the uh the the city of Saerathin is actually based off of one of the crystals. Um

Klayton 15:44

oh, I didn't know that.

Tim 15:45

Yeah, so actually one of

Klayton 15:46

I'm learning things

Tim 15:47

the main the one of them one of the crystals that you look that you kind of get to understand, which they don't really go into too much in these books though, um at the moment, is the um Saerathin crystal. So there's an actual, so there's um there's a Saerathin crystal that's more of your that's that's what Ilae is known for. Um that's what she does is kind of it's it's a protective crystal. It's uh it's a ward crystal, it's an energy crystal that kind of lights up things and makes the Glass walk ward. You know, that's what she's she's checking on to make sure that it's stable, and that's what that energy does is it stabilizes things and does stuff like that. So, you know, having things based off of kind of the crystal that's around in that area, you know, um, that's what a lot of those guilds that you'll see in here, like the Saerathin and accord, um you're gonna learn about in the next one, you're gonna learn about the um Valoraen um wardens, you know, and it'll kind of go into stuff about that. But so a lot of the stuff, at least in this one, is gonna be based off of kind of the regional section, what it what it is that they're they kind of mine or you know what resources that they have around that area that you know they they kind of deal with. Uh so but in in other cases, I think a lot of it, I think where where you come with, I think I would end up depending on again it's situational. So like this situation, yeah, I just kind of went off of what I was dealing with, but in others that I'm trying to work through, it is based off of kind of like the surrounding region, like you know, where is this town or city located? Is it in this icy cold section? Is it in the hot desert sun? You know, is it near a coastal range, you know, that kind of stuff. So I think a lot of the stuff that I'm trying to create the next one is kind of basing off of those more than I've been basing it off of.

Klayton 18:04

Is this for book two or three?

Tim 18:06

This is actually another series that I've been trying to work through.

Klayton 18:10

Oh!

Tim 18:11

right.

Klayton 18:11

Gotcha.

Tim 18:12

Right.

Klayton 18:13

Gotcha.

Tim 18:13

So um like one of the main towns that or cities that will be a big city eventually in that book is gonna be called Winterholm. And it's actually gonna be like a very cold northern town that's uh mainly based under snow and ice.

Klayton 18:33

Okay, again, taking in the like the kind of the climate and the region and yeah. Okay, that's yeah.

Tim 18:42

So so yeah. Um what do you what do you think about when you create a name for a settlement? Having special nicknames. Things that are you have a name, but how would you go about creating say a nickname for it? Even though, say, this one was called Riverfront, maybe having a nickname that would be based off of something maybe a little different than just, you know, this is Riverfront. You know, something based off of uh

How do nicknames work?

Tim 19:12

 

Klayton 19:12

So I think I think a lot of um a lot of nicknames are very

Tim 19:19

I think this is more or less to go into the fact of like you thinking about how details matter, right? You have people that, you know, a lot of people call towns that they live in something maybe uh that's a little shorter that it's personal for them that live there versus people that come in later.

Klayton 19:37

Yeah, so I think I think a lot of that and this is my personal opinion, right? But I I think a lot of that is is a locality thing, right?

Tim 19:44

Right.

Klayton 19:45

It's usually more commonly nicknamed, usually a city or settlement or whatever, by its inhabitants or locally people around. So like if you had a district, right? Um in the in the in the newest world that I've been building um that uh you and I've talked about, and I have uh started building some some things in that that one module in Uthirrya, that world, right? You have um you have the the country that is um you have Norda to the to the south, which uh is that whole militarized kind of thing. They're trying to get into the um my brain is failing me today.

Tim 20:40

You got the military that are trying to get up to the north, where Sarala and all that stuff to try and

Klayton 20:45

again this is a new world, so I don't have everything a lot of time in the

Tim 20:48

like I said, I know I know a whole lot more of the Sarala area where you have the your Lilac Woods and your bards and all that stuff. Like I have that understanding. Haven't really gotten too much into the rest of that with you, but

Klayton 21:01

so the but in in Sarala, okay. In that city, it's broken up into districts.

Tim 21:08

Right.

Klayton 21:09

Now one of the districts is the district four. It's a so it's a walled city, and there's a there's a um a river that runs through it, the King's River.

Tim 21:17

Right.

Klayton 21:17

Now along the along the eastern side is District, the district four, right? Um they call it it's the wall district because it it's there's a thin section that goes all the way down and then it kind of opens up and it comes down to a to a point on the bottom. But locals call it The Wall. That whole district they just call The Wall. Um, it's a local thing,

Locality helps determine a nickname

Klayton 21:45

Tim 21:45

right.  

Klayton 21:45

Right? Um where where I grew up, there was a place called um, there was a city called Moreno Valley. If you're not from there, you call it Moreno Valley. If you're from there, you call it Mo Val. If you want to stay updated on new episodes or world building info, go to our website, theworldkin.com, and sign up for our email notifications. As a thank you, we'll send you a special gift to help you in your next world building project. Now, back to the forge. Yeah, Adam's back there nodding. He knows what I'm talking about. But that's immediately how you would know somebody from the Inland Empire. Because one, we don't call it Inland Empire. We're like, yeah, I'm from the IE. Yeah, he's back there nodding again. I'm from the IE, right? Oh, yeah. Well, I'm uh I come from here. You've got Rialto, you've got you know, San Bernardino. If you're from there, you call it Berdu. If you're you, you know, Moreno Valley, it's MoVal. Um, I grew up in Ontario and Ontario was so unimportant nobody cared to give it a name. Um but I think nicknames for like what you were asking about settlements is it's a locality thing, right? Usually those are given. So like going back to the riverfront thing. I feel like we're about to build a city in this episode, um or like a small town. So you can have locals call it the front, right? In that kingdom, because there'd only be one city called Riverfront, right? Right. So if you're from there and then you go say to like a larger city, oh, where are you from? Oh, I'm from the front. Oh, I mean I mean riverfront, right? Because it would be such a natural thing for you as a colloquial thing to say, oh, it's the front, because that's how you refer it to it as.

Tim 23:40

Well, and that's where I was getting at with say you have adventurers coming to your city and they're asking for a location that say is you you have a magic shop in District 4, and you start asking the locals, hey, where's this where are the magic shops? Oh, it's near The Wall. Well, like, yeah, that's that's a detail that the town, the city, whatever you're in, it would know. But anybody else that comes in here and be like, what the hell are you what what is it that you're talking about? Like, where's where is that?

Klayton 24:08

Yeah, what is that?

Tim 24:08

Yeah, like where where is that? Like, what is that that you're talking about? You know, and it gives a little more personality or personal, you know, to each town as you have something that you can actually add as a little detail of say this nickname of something that you have there versus the standard

A name is a point of reference

Tim 24:25

name of settlement.  

Klayton 24:25

That that goes into the question for this whole episode is why is a name important? Well, because as I said, it gives an identity, but it also creates a point of reference. Right? Um because while it identifies something, the point of reference for you and I could be completely different.

Tim 24:49

Right

Klayton 24:51

going back to my example of where I grew up, right? And the if I'm having a conversation with Adam, you know, he and I grew up together. If I'm like, oh yeah, I was talking to somebody and you know, they were in MoVal, you know exactly what I was talking about. I wouldn't have to explain it. But if you and I are having a conversation and I don't know how to explain it, I'm like, oh yeah, I was talking to somebody and they were in MoVal, you'd be like,

Tim 25:15

Yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about.

Klayton 25:16

You would think, like legitimately, you would think that that place was called MoVal. Yeah. But it's not, that's an abbreviation. It's Moreno Valley. You wouldn't know that. So it's important because it gives a point of reference for not only on a grand scale, but an individual scale, um, a locality scale. Uh it's the name scales in importance depending on where it's being referenced. Right? Um the other thing is too, uh, the name of the city can also tell you or give you insight into like what the inhabitants are.

Tim 26:01

I was just gonna say that you know, names can reveal who founded the place. A lot of times some places are named after the person who created it or who first settled in there.

Klayton 26:12

Look at Georgetown.

Tim 26:14

There you go.

Klayton 26:14

Right. I mean that from a real life perspective, right? From a real life example, you got a place called Georgetown. Um there going back to the whole region thing that we were talking about, there is if I were to say and and you didn't know this, right? Completely from a from an objective standpoint. If I said there's a city called Smuggler's Run, what's the first thing that goes through your head?

Tim 26:50

Say town full of thieves.

Klayton 26:54

Right. There is a point of reference that the name gives you as to the potential as to what is in this town. Right?

Tim 27:02

Yep.

Klayton 27:03

Now, if I were to say, oh no, it's an Elven city in the mountains, that's like a disconnect.

Tim 27:09

Yeah, you'd be like, what?

Klayton 27:11

I'm sorry. What?!

Tim 27:13

Are these are these Elven thieves?

Klayton 27:15

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right? It doesn't it doesn't make sense. So have names can give you an I a an idea as to what is in that town. Um i.e. Smuggler's Run is the capital of Qudan, which is a piratocracy. So it makes sense that what lives there, what you would find there, is a bunch of pirates.

Tim 27:48

Yep.

Klayton 27:49

Right?

Tim 27:49

Yeah.

Klayton 27:50

Um if you couldn't tell, I'm passionate about names.

Tim 27:54

Hey, it it it does make a lot of sense when you put all those together and they add to the value of your world. Like you like you said, they they make sense for describing maybe what's in there, uh, what's the resources, the where where is it located, you know, like who created this place? Like it makes sense because it it adds value to that and it gives the even being in that world as a character that gives you an idea of of what to

An example of reference in Y'ya

Tim 28:30

expect.  

Klayton 28:34

Um so as an example, there's um in Y'ya, there's a country called Badri'el, it's the home of the Dark Elves. Um and but there's a place in there and it's called the Devil's Point. It's called that because the map that I drew of Badri'el of the country, there's a gorge that's right there, and it the significance has to do with the fact that it it it was used at one point to sacrifice people. They would throw them off off this uh point in this gorge that split. So it was the it it comes up to this uh peak that then kind of break that falls off into a cliff in this gorge that goes to both sides. That's called Devil's Point. So it's it it has you know the name gives the uh the place significance because of its location, because of its usage, because of um the the the people who live there. Now it does that in that example it doesn't give you exact specificity as to who like the country that that's in, right? Because Devil's Point could be anything. Now they would call it something else because in in Grelish, which is their language, right, but um they have their own name for it. Which I could tell you if I had my map in front of me because I have it written out, but um the that's using a location. Um there's a a uh a place in it's along the it's along the southern shoreline. I can't remember exactly what country it is. It might be in Serion, but um it's called The Fingers. And the reason is it's a fjord, which fjord of these long little peninsulas, right? So it's it's a series of five or six, I can't remember exactly the number, little um it's a fjord off the off the bottom coastline, but it looks like fingers. So they're called the fingers. Um that like what you were talking about earlier is using the geology and the the geography, uh not geology, the geography.

Tim 31:11

Could be rock forms. I mean, you never know.

Klayton 31:13

I know my words. Um stop laughing. Um it's using the geography and the design of the geography as its name. Um actually, I think it's in Venoryn now that I think about it, because it actually has it's got a Mavish name. Well, I guess that doesn't necessarily matter because accord to the history there were a lot of things that were named Mavish. Mavish being the first language that was like the first structured language.

Tim 31:43

Yeah.

Klayton 31:44

Um the Mavaren went around and just named everything.

A name is a discovery tool

Klayton 31:48

Tim 31:48

Right?  

Klayton 31:48

Some of the names stuck, some of them didn't. Um but the the the Fingers is using one of those examples, so a name is is very important, very, very important to something because it's it gives it, like I said, identity, it gives a thing significance, it gives it a point of reference. And you can use a name as a great starting place to discover your settlement yourself, not just be like, oh well, I have this place called Riverfront. Well, what like we've already we've already discovered that Riverfront is called the Front by locals.

Tim 32:28

Yeah?

Klayton 32:29

Okay, so that's a colloquial thing. So Riverfront, it could, if it's a big enough river, then that could be something that they use. Um that maybe there's there's um it's a large river, so there are ships that go up and down the river to deliver materials or resources or could be logs, right? Um that they use so Riverfront has could have in um an annual kind of like we have an Arbor Day, right? For for save the earth type stuff, right?

Tim 33:03

Right,

Klayton 33:03

like um and plants Riverfront has the same thing, but it's but they call it Logging Day because it's it's a day where where all of the logs from up north in a in the forest above it, they start sending all of these down. It could be once a month thing, right? So they know you know keep the kids out of the water on Logging Day because they're gonna get sucked underneath all these logs and then we're gonna lose people. And it could be very much that because maybe that's happened in the history. So just by starting with a name, you can discover your settlement and your hist and the history for it just from a having a starting point.

Changing a name from importance shift

Klayton 33:45

 

Tim 33:47

So I had one other question. Have you ever created a name that made that had significance, but then you had to later change it because it didn't quite fit with what you actually created in that town. Or city or you know.

Klayton 34:06

Um I know I have. I'm trying to think of, I've named a lot of things.

Tim 34:14

That's why I figured there was probably at least one time where you're like, you know what? I like this, but it just doesn't fit anymore. It doesn't match with what I thought it needed.

Klayton 34:26

Um so actually, yes, now that I I I just thought of an example, and it's in Y'ya. Um I've told you about Dareth.

Klayton mixes up his worlds... sheesh...

Tim 34:35

Right?  

Klayton 34:36

So you have Kameria, Dareth, and then right next to it is Movalia. Um there's a there's a range of mountains that come from north that come along the this the eastern side of Kameria across Dareth and kind of touch into uh Movalia. And they're called the the uh the Dragonspire Mountains. Um the nope, I just realized I'm confusing those with Tarildor. But it's the same point. In Tarildor in Viq' Surmah, which is the the home country of the Dragonborn,

Tim 35:21

right,

Klayton 35:22

is the Dragon spire Mountains. They they curve along the the they go along the side. Um I there's that there's a mountain range in Y'ya that is in that location. I think I call them the Dragon Spine Mountains. Yes, it's the Dragon Spine Mountains because there's an offshoot that are called the Wing Mountains. There's the there's um there's one more offshoot. I don't remember exactly what it is, but they're all themed around that. And the reason is because of Dareth and the history of

Tim 35:49

the Dragon Riders?

Klayton 35:51

Yeah, the Fyrios, the Dragon Riders, and their whole history with Kameria, so that's where that's not what I originally called it. I had a completely different name for it, and when I had to do some restructuring, I'm like, that name doesn't work. I need something that's more thematic and more fits what that what they would have referred to those mountains and what they would have called them. So I and I don't even remember what it was because that was so long ago. I don't remember what the mountains used to be, but I know them now as the Dragon Spine mountains. Um and that's kind of frustrating because you start because like the whole point that I've been making is it gives it an identity, right? And now now all of a sudden I have to change that identity in my head. And it was very frustrating because I kept referring it to the old thing first until I got used to saying it to the new name. Have you ever did you ever have to do that

Tim's naming secret

Klayton 36:47

with your book?  

Tim 36:48

No, I have not had to do that with that because I kind of did it after the fact. Like it I always name things after I kind of figure out what I'm doing. That's usually seems to be one of the last things I do because it's one of the easiest to change to to to create at the end of everything. Um and then just insert, like even if you're writing, you don't you you might have a you know a spot where you're gonna name the the town. You just leave that blank, and as you go through it and explain it, you're explaining everything, you're kind of showing how this town is, how everything runs. Then once you understand the identity of what this town does, then I can insert the name and say, okay, this is relevant for what this what I need for this town. So then I go, okay, I'm gonna add this as the town's name, and it makes sense, it matches with what it needs to do. And so for me, it's just that's one of the the what the easiest things for me is to just do it at the end. That makes sense,

Klayton 37:53

yeah, yeah, yeah. No.

Tim 37:54

Instead of having to constantly because that's where I had the problem, it's like okay, if I start doing that, I'm gonna end up changing it a few times because I know that as I'm starting to go in, I'm like, oh, this is a cool name, or this would work really well, and then as I'm changing things in the book, I know that's gonna end up changing because like that does not fit anymore. So I know myself, and I know that it might as well just wait until everything else is finished, then I can create what would be significant for

How Tim keep track without naming

Tim 38:21

this.  

Klayton 38:21

So that that that makes me think of an interesting question, then. So then how do you if you've got multiple things, how do you reference them before you name them?  

Tim 38:31

So not everything. So there are certain things that I do name prior to, but those are things that are like the crystals, they've they've been named since day one. But that's where, say, the name of the towns, because of the way that I reference like say big the towns or cities or whatever, I'm basing them off of like geography, you know, like like resources, things like that. So as I'm going through there and I'm building this and I'm creating the story with this town or city, then I kind of go, okay, what resources am I doing? What am I doing here? Because I don't necessarily need to, as I'm writing the story, create the name of the place because I'm not referencing it towards the name of the place, I'm referencing it towards the resources or or the geography or whatever. So I'm putting all of that in. Then once I get all that, now I'm going, okay, this is like in a mountain area, this has a mining city, this is all about crystals, this is all like based off of this, they have you know, this nice like glass bridge, you know.

Klayton 39:41

Glasswalk?

Tim 39:42

yes, they have the this huge crystal like in the middle of this the city, which is called the Accord Loom. You know, so you have all of this stuff, and as you name all of that, and you come up with all the different names for the different things, that's when the city comes together. That's when I start coming up with the name of what this city should be named or how it should progress because of what I've already created for this city, if that makes sense. So it's not necessarily that I don't name other things first, just certain things I'll name after the fact because of how I want them named.

Klayton 40:18

Well, and and I guess I guess my like having having subsequent parts named, I guess my question is how do you like how do you reference like specifically like cities or settlements if you don't name them until the end? Do you do you just like flesh out a city and then name it, and then you're like, oh, I fleshed out this city and then name it? And then already have the name because and this is just how my mind works. Like I I I have to have a point of reference as opposed to oh city A and City B and City C, and then trying to keep track of okay, city A is is like what you would name Saerathin, and then city B is something else,

One thing at a time...

Klayton 41:08

or like  

Tim 41:08

well, I think I think I think I get your point. So for you, you like to flesh out the history, the background, the things behind it. You have all of this that you want to create. So you have all these different cities in this kingdom, you're putting it all together, you're doing all this. Me, I went through and I started creating the very first city that I needed for the story. I started creating the city that I needed, the reasoning behind why that city needed to be created, the minds underneath it, the whole system.

Klayton 41:41

  yeah, so you flesh out 

Tim 41:41

So I flesh out

Klayton 41:42

yeah, yeah, yeah 

Tim 41:42

that so yes, if I was trying to flesh out three or four cities because I'm going through here, I'm not. I'm fleshing out one

Klayton 41:48

  That's my ADHD brain

Tim 41:48

city going through it. You're you're fleshing out a full kingdom of cities. You're like, okay, for me, I would flesh out the main portion that I want. Then I would think about how I'm traveling, okay? So I flesh out this first city, I get it all together, I name it. Now I'm thinking about trade routes, I'm thinking about how people are getting around. Is it villages are going run up to next? Is it little towns? Is it a full you know, kingdom castle? Like, you know, is it so and then once I get to that point, then I'll start doing that one and I'll work on that. So like think about it as if you're if your uh characters in in a D&D game were going from this very first city or town or whatever you're starting out with, where would their next stops be? What is the travel that's

Klayton 42:39

Build the world as you adventure through it 

Tim 42:39

right. So that's kind of what I do in my case, where you are building it in the background. You're building all of this at once and like trying to get all the history and all this stuff.

Klayton 42:49

Well, and I and I sort of do the do the same thing. I build it as I go, but like in my case, like my brain just becomes so expansive. So

Tim 42:57

I have to stop myself because I do that too, but I have to stop myself to

Klayton 43:00

World builder's Disease

Tim 43:01

to do with what I'm trying to

Wrapping it up

Tim 43:04

 

Klayton 43:04

all right. Well, that was uh quite a healthy episode on on names and naming settlements. So we want to thank you for listening to this episode of the World Kiln Podcast.

Tim 43:16

Please tell us your thoughts on a name for settlement and why you think it's important in the comment section.

Klayton 43:22

Uh we love to hear the different methods, ideas, and techniques you use to build your worlds.

Tim 43:27

If you like what you heard, consider subscribing to the podcast wherever you're listening to get notified of new episodes.

Klayton 43:33

And don't forget to head over to our website, theworldkin.com, and sign up for our email list to get notified of new episodes, exclusive info and offers, and additional world building tips.

Tim 43:44

As our way of saying thanks for signing up, we'll send you a step-by-step fill-in checklist for building believable settlements, whether it be a small village or a bustling metropolis.

Klayton 43:54

So remember to stay creative,

Tim 43:56

keep forging,

Both 43:57

and we'll see you in the next build.