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Need Help Making a Name for Dark Elf Race.

Saigonnus

Auror
I think Dragonlance had three types of elves also... High elves generally lived in cities (like tolkien) and were haughty and arrogant toward everyone they had pale skin, light colored hair and eyes. Wood elves were darker skinned and darker eyed and lives in the forests. They were more aloof and once you proved to be their friend, they fiercely defended you like family. Their dark elves were more like Duergar in that they weren't matriarchal, but they did live below ground (generally life dwarves in caves or mountain tunnels). Their reason was a war also, one that forced those that "rebelled" against the elven empire to take shelter elsewhere.

It may be bit cliché, but I think as long as you find some way to differenciate them from other "archetypes" of elves and make them your own, it could work for you.

For example, I have a sub-race of "elves" in one of the world I made that lived in a normally unhospitable desert, making their skin darker than other elves. Over the millenia, they adapted to live there and even thrive, relying heavily on trade with humans and other species for much of their lifestyle. They are not "evil", just resentful at "regular" elves for how they were treated centuries past and as such stay away from settlements with a large percentage of elves in the population. They are known for the quality of their steel (it is rare most places in the world and employ slaves and criminals in getting the ore from the ground.

The magical power they have is similar in style and effect with other races and they ride large lizards in combat, some up to thirty feet long from tip to tail. They typicall wear light colors and are fiercely protective of anything in their territory, often killing outsiders (if they try to take something belonging to them) or simply forcing them out of their land after a period of working in the mines for punishment for trespassing.

They live in tents when out on patrol or following migratory patterns but have two permanent communities in suitable canyons (with a source of water); their homes recessed into the sides of the canyon walls, or built from adobe and all available space is used for planting.
 

Devora

Sage
It's not that i don't plan the story, i do a bit of pre-planning; it's just that i work most of it out as i go along. So far it has worked, but i have the feeling that I've reached a point in the writing process that that method isn't gonna cut out for longer narratives such as novel.

I guess what I'm saying is that I need to adopt a more concise, yet precise writing method.
 

Xanados

Maester
It's not that i don't plan the story, i do a bit of pre-planning; it's just that i work most of it out as i go along. So far it has worked, but i have the feeling that I've reached a point in the writing process that that method isn't gonna cut out for longer narratives such as novel.

I guess what I'm saying is that I need to adopt a more concise, yet precise writing method.
The best advice I can give is this: outline your plot, free-form your characters. That's pretty self explanatory.
 

JCFarnham

Auror
A bit of trivia for you guys: orginally the dark of the "drow"-type elves didn't refer to their skin, rather their hair. They were pale like most but with night black hair.

I have no point to make there, just thought it would be interesting to know haha
 

Devora

Sage
It may be bit cliché, but I think as long as you find some way to differenciate them from other "archetypes" of elves and make them your own, it could work for you.

I think what i will do to differentiate High, and Wood Elves is to make the High Elves seem very distant in looks from humans; they're mostly above 5'11", and the are very slim, almost seem to be unnaturally elongated. The Wood Elves will Closely resemble humans more than the High Elves due to them having to live the same conditional, and survival patterns that humans did (i.e. Natural Selection), and so will the Dark Elves for the most part since the "Great Schism", even though they are slightly taller. As far as the importance of age among the Races, I'll work that one out.
 

Mindfire

Istar
A tip: something I like to do for my cultures is to derive their names out of their language. All names have a language that they spring from, and different languages prefer different sets of syllables, vowels, and consonant patterns. The names that come from these languages reflect these. You can tell, just by looking at it, that Jacques is a French name the same way you can tell that Kasumi is a Japanese name. You can use this kind of thinking to great effect when making up names associated with fictional cultures. And here's the kicker: you don't actually have to make up a language! All you need is the "rules" that govern they way the fictional language sound. As long as you stick by those rules, you'll get names that sound internally consistent.

Examples from my work:
-Mavarians do not use the letters c, q, or x, and they favor hard consonants like the letter k. Here are some Mavarian names: Kohar, Ordavi, Reuben, Shikandi. You can tell by the way they sound that they all belong together.

-Beorgians are opposite of Mavarians. They make common use of c, q, and x, the avoid hard and double consonants, and they never use the letter k. Some Beorgian names: Pavel, Leith, Chavril, Yasha. Again, they all sort of "belong."

Grouping names for different cultures based on "rules" is a great way to help the reader remember which characters are of which race. They can recognize the pattern and associate the name with a larger culture. What kind of syllables and patterns do your dark elves make common use of? What do you imagine their language sounds like? Is it hard or soft? Do they prefer long words or short? Does their speech have any real-world analogues? Think about these things, make a list, and then use those "rules" to govern your name creation. If you do that, you should be able to come up with a name for their race that sounds cool and is consistent and evocative of their culture. It'll also probably be unique.
 
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