# Parts of Society



## Griffin (Jul 28, 2012)

The central story focuses on a society only know as "The State." Everything is decided by the State. Everyone has a Civil Duty to the State.

Long story short, the society is divided up into four 'parts' - the rich, middle class, low class, and vermin (aka individuals who have ignored their Civil Duty.) The State is literally divided among the classes as it shows favoritism towards the wealthy. I am trying to think up names for the parts. Here's what I have so far:

Archtown - the wealthy
Meztown - the middle class (mez is from the word mezzo which means middle or half)
Basetown - low class (base as in foundation and morally low)
  ??? - the vermin

What to call where the vermin live gives me the greatest trouble. Vermin are not seen as people and they do not have land to themselves. The MC is among these people so it's important to have a decent name. Please note that this place is not official in the eyes of the people. Also, most vermin lack extensive education so it has to be simple and easy to remember.

Any and all advice would be awesome.


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## Ireth (Jul 28, 2012)

Maybe the "vermin" have no specific area of their own, and take shelter wherever they can find it, in abandoned buildings and the like? The name vermin gives mental images of rats scurrying from place to place, gathering what crumbs and scraps they can and then moving on.


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## ThinkerX (Jul 29, 2012)

'Slummers' - 'Slumvile', 'Skumvile', 'Dumptown' (because the 'vermin' are going to live next to the trash heaps - that is how such things always go).

'Rat-town', 'Verminville'

Might also want to give some thought to your upper caste terms as well.


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## Avi Love (Jul 29, 2012)

It depends to some extent on where your story is going, but I would actually break the standard societal names for the vermin. Maybe something like "The Shroud." This would be indicative that the society exists in clarity and order, but the vermin area is something that exists in opposition to the state. Your names for the hierarchy of The State make sense, but it strikes me that the vermin aren't really apart of The State which probably lends itself to your difficulty. You might find an easier time if you look for a more thematic name for the Vermin area than a standard State-oriented sensible one (also appropriate to have your MC's area stand out in title).


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## Konstanz (Jul 29, 2012)

For the vermin: the sewers? Maybe they are cast out of the city (-ies) (or at least the upper parts) and they refuge in the sewers? 

You could also just use: Hightown, Midtown, Lowtown.


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## Chime85 (Jul 29, 2012)

How about calling their (unofficial) place, the Dwells? Not quite dwellings, but the word has a dank, cold feel to it. The word also suggests that people simply dwell in a place, rather than live. The name also gives a sense of low caste, or undesireables; a slur on the people who live there. 

x


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## Addison (Aug 2, 2012)

ThinkerX has a good idea. It sounds like the Vermin are a scorn on society. Like a piece of gum, or dog poo, you can't scrape off your shoe. That said it would make sense that their place of living would be even more condescending and/or brutal to the Vermin. Try this, think of the lowest form of life in your life. Rat, snake, your little brother. Hold their image in your mind, place them in your story's vermin society. Now imagine they sent you a crude post card. One the front is a picture or drawing of their home and on the front says "Greetings from...." and let the name come to you.


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## Geldor (Feb 17, 2013)

How about the Warren or Warrenburg as a separate town completely.


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## Jamber (Feb 18, 2013)

I feel there's huge scope to play around with names and try to be really colourful. After all, who creates place names? High places are named in that fashion but may be called something else by those who have to tread in its sewage. Low-class places are often low lying (mosquitoes, runoff, other dangers) and may be named after the smells or the industries that go on there ('Fishreek' is a too-obvious example of the sort of thing I mean). Middle class places tend to be sites of trade and the professions, and might lie slightly above the river but below the rich, so 'Shademont' or 'Closewall' might work depending on what the trade section sits near...

If you give something a fresh and lively name, it's likely you'll see it as a character in its own right (and hence think up more interesting events to take place there) -- well, that's my theory.

cheers
Jennie


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## The Unseemly (Feb 18, 2013)

I see a fedual age type thing emerging: this is almost exactly how social structure worked in medieval times. Rich: monarchs, nobles, etc. Middle: Knights, scholars, educated men not of worth status. Bottom: Peasants.

But, as an interesting fact, do you know that in medieval Japan, the merchants (tradesmen) were actually considered "vermin," because Mr. Important Shogun though they only detracted from society (The State)? Despite being the more rich and comfortable in living, merchants were, indeed, the bottom of the social structure? 
Merchants could afford to ignore their equivalent of Civil Duty to the State, despite not having a formal education of such. And where they lived... they lived wherever they could make the biggest profit. They intermingled with all of Japan's society and where they lived: since they were not bound by social regulations, they could do this.

Just and idea.


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## Jamber (Feb 18, 2013)

That's fascinating, The Unseemly.
History buffs have a head start when writing fantasy. I get most of my sense of what happened in the world from fiction... Russian revolution had pigs in it, didn't it?


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## The Unseemly (Feb 18, 2013)

Jamber said:


> That's fascinating, The Unseemly.
> History buffs have a head start when writing fantasy. I get most of my sense of what happened in the world from fiction... Russian revolution had pigs in it, didn't it?



Hehe... which Russian revolution? There were a few, most of which were unsuccessful... And yeah, there were probably pigs...

History's a funny thing like that. You always remember the really weird/irrelevant details, while I actually know very little about Japan's Shogun Dynasties...


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## wordwalker (Feb 18, 2013)

Everyone please IGNORE the "screw you sheila" post-- I already reported it and I think it has a virus attached.


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## wordwalker (Feb 18, 2013)

Anyway, a couple thoughts for the Vermin are: the Maze, the Alley, the Pit, or the Cracks.

Although, keep in mind, societies rarely stayed as far away from their despised lower classes as they claimed to. They might love to hate them, especially if they were outcast for breaking the rules, but parts of proper society always found them too useful as cheap labor, especially prostitution.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Feb 18, 2013)

wordwalker said:


> Everyone please IGNORE the "screw you sheila" post-- I already reported it and I think it has a virus attached.


Thanks for reporting. Boxy's gone and Phil and I deleted all but one of his posts from the site, and I'm sure another mod will get the one post that was outside of my jurisdiction.


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## wordwalker (Feb 18, 2013)

wordwalker said:


> Everyone please IGNORE the "screw you sheila" post-- I already reported it and I think it has a virus attached.



I may have been overly nervous about the "virus." I think it was more that the Thank You that I received acted oddly along with the timing of deleting the post, and ended up logging me out. Sigh.


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