Status Titles

[AliceBaine]

Hey everyone,

I'll try to summarize as best I can without getting to lost in the details, but essentially, my main character is fighting against two opposing sides. The leaders are both immortals with unmatched power (though they remain in the background and let their subordinates do the work). The subordinates pledge unconditional loyalty to them, and the one man (Vathos) essentially created his subordinates.

Due to their reverent loyalty, they only address Vathos as "Lord Vathos". But to me, "lord" sounds a little cliche, and not exactly representative of the status Vathos holds. I've been stumped trying to find a better title that sounds a bit more powerful, something close to a god-like status.

Let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks for the help!

 

[pmmg]

God, Emperor Vathos
All powerful Vathos

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Mighty Vathos, Almighty Vathos, Benevolent, Eminence, Great One, Creator, Majestic

 

[FifthView]

Dominus Noster Vathos Imperator

Lord Sovereign Vathos

Big Cheese Vathos

 

[Rosemary Tea]

Lord can mean god-like status. It's literally a title for God in Christianity: the Lord.

Looking to other religions, we sometime see the same thing: Lord Krishna. Lord Buddha.

Couldn't have chosen a better word to sum up Vathos' status, if you ask me.

If you really hate using the word lord, you could substitute a foreign equivalent, with the caveat that in many languages, the word for lord is also the word for mister: Herr, Señor, etc. Sounds even more generic.

 

[KestrelDC]

It's not exactly a fantasy story, but I think something similar could work for fantasy: one of my stories has one of the main antagonists ruling the world referred to as "High Lord Assassin". Maybe something like that, still using "lord" but dressing it up a bit? Or "High Emperor" or something?

 

[Penpilot]

IMHO if nothing comes to mind right away, don't kill yourself trying to reinvent the wheel. From my experience, it can lead to eye-rolling instances where it'll make things sound like you're trying too hard. Being simple, clear, and concise can have a lot of value.

 

[Nighty_Knight]

You could pull a Mehmed the Conquerer and have a one ridiculous title. Similar to Dany in GOT (who I am sure was inspired by the Ottoman Sultan in the title regard)

His full title was

Sultan Mehmed II Khan, Fatih Ghazi 'Abu'l Fath (Victorious Conqueror, Father of Conquest), Padishah, Sovereign of the House of Osman, Caesar of Rome, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, Khan of Khans of the Two Lands and the Two Seas, Emperor of the three Cities of Constantinople, Edirne and Bursa, Commander of the faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the lord of the Universe, Custodian of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Kouds (Jerusalem)

Or just mix up a few cool titles until one really clicks. Like Victorious Lord of Kings or something.

 

[TheKillerBs]

You could pull a Mehmed the Conquerer and have a one ridiculous title. Similar to Dany in GOT (who I am sure was inspired by the Ottoman Sultan in the title regard)

His full title was

Sultan Mehmed II Khan, Fatih Ghazi 'Abu'l Fath (Victorious Conqueror, Father of Conquest), Padishah, Sovereign of the House of Osman, Caesar of Rome, Grand Sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia, Khan of Khans of the Two Lands and the Two Seas, Emperor of the three Cities of Constantinople, Edirne and Bursa, Commander of the faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the lord of the Universe, Custodian of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Kouds (Jerusalem)

Or just mix up a few cool titles until one really clicks. Like Victorious Lord of Kings or something.

That was a continuation of the Persian (imo really Mesopotamian) tradition. The full regal title of Cyrus for example was The Great King, King of Kings, King of Persia, King of Anshan, King of Media, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, King of Countries, King of the Four Corners of the World. His successors added Pharaoh of Egypt to that.

 

[The Dark One]

Or invent your own language like Tolkien so you'd have something like...

Bil = greatest
Lyb = of all
Ob = lords

Run them together and he's BilLybOb...

Or stick with Lord...