Word for those stolen from, or those who built the tombs

[jhmcmullen]

I have organized tomb raiders in my current WIP, and it occurred to me writing today‘s text that they must have a term for the people who create the traps and hoard the treasure. But what? (There are probably several terms, depending on your relationship with that culture.) At this stage, the tomb raiders don’t have a particular culture, but there must be a word for the tomb creators, at the very least so the tomb raiders can say things like,”Did these yokels not think through what happens after this trap goes off?”

I doubt it’s a term for a particular culture, because several cultures have created these tombs and treasures. (Well, okay, the term might have started as a particular culture and become more general, but I’d like to avoid that if I can come up with a better terms.)

In British law, apparently the victim of a theft is the loser, and there’s a certain appeal to that; I feel like the term would be slightly derogatory. (There’s a certain charm to calling the ”tomb creators” the indigenes, so the short form can be “Indies” but I feel that would take the reader out.)

Anyway, I often head off in one direction and then miss obvious things, so suggestions or ideas on where I can look?

 

[pmmg]

I think engineers and architects.

Tomb builders maybe, or maybe stone masons.

The one who commissions it is just the boss.

 

[JBCrowson]

Legacy security specialists?

"We make sure you will rest in peace"
"Peace of mind while you RIP"

Typing that gives me an idea for a story about a person who has that as their job. One day a client comes in with a rather odd request for their tomb. After the tomb is finished, the client is duly interred, following which events arise to explain the odd request.

Afterlife installation technician?

May be another outfit is trying to muscle in on his business, using a "tell your friends, get a discount model", kind of like a pyramid scheme. OK definitely time to stop.

 

[Finchbearer]

Maybe you need to be more culture specific to make this work?

The only cultures to build pyramid shaped tombs I can think of are the Maya, the Egyptians and the Nubians. You’ve already got three lines if enquiry there, though there’s probably more I don’t know of. The builders were probably made up of slaves and common folk, but obviously some were skilled enough to devise the engineering for such a feat. So you had labourers, architects, engineers, artisans and stonemasons. Same exact job titles as today. I would have thought an engineer would devise complex traps.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I think that part is always just hand-waved in tomb raiding stories. Usually it's just ancient civilization X. No one questions why they created these things, or why they're still functioning after hundreds or thousands of years. It just does. It's one of the automatic suspensions of disbelieve you get when you write a tomb raiding story.

If you want a term, I'd indeed look in the direction of builder.

Afterlife installation technician?

There is definitely a wonderful story there.

 

[Rexenm]

Well, there are the protheans, and the prometheans, from halo and mass effect. I thought they were the same one, so there goes my smart comment.

Maybe they are giant birds, or bears - pretty much anything - goes in fantasy.

 

[pmmg]

Maybe the term is 'future tomb raiders'

 

[jhmcmullen]

Lovely. No, I'm thinking about something analogous to the terms that confidence men have for "normal" people (and SF fans have for non-SF fans), like "straights" or "citizens" or "mundanes." For now, my placeholder is "yokel."

 

[Finchbearer]

I am confused. Yokel means an unsophisticated, uneducated, easily led and naive person from the countryside. Is that what you’re going for? Even a term like commoner means something specific.

 

[jhmcmullen]

I didn't say "yokel" was a good term. I figure that the tomb raiders have some disdain for the builders ("no matter how good you are, we're better" -- that is, they are simpletons to be outwitted), so I figured I'd use "yokel" as a placeholder until I can figure out what the real word is.

Clearly the idea needs more baking, because I can't seem to convey it correctly.

 

[JBCrowson]

What about blockers or blockheads? Conveys the disdain while being loosely related to preventing entry to something built of large blocks.

 

[pmmg]

No, I'm thinking about something analogous to the terms that confidence men have for "normal" people

Like 'marks' or 'pidgeons'?

 

[jhmcmullen]

Exactly. I like "blockheads."

 

[pmmg]

The last question had me look at this thread differently, and I see the title is actually asking two questions.

People who design the safe guards on a tomb (or any security system) are usually referred to with a nebulous 'they'. What did 'they' think was going to happen after the trap was sprung. More definitively, they might be designers.

A word I saw on the internet, which means one who tries to deceive (and trap makers do kind of try to deceive), is Swiker.

If I look at it as a game of who is smarter, trap maker or trap diffuser, a master trap maker, or grand master might seem to fit, which I borrowed from the chess world.



The victims would probably just be victims. But...a thief might look on them as wealthy stiffs, or a rotting king. I found a lair of rotting kings, might be slang for I found some riches in that tomb.

 

[Mad Swede]

If you wanted a phrase similar to a real term you might consider "coureur de tombe", which would be a sort of French Canadian term for someone who sets traps in a tomb (as opposed to a coureur de bois meaning a trapper).

 

[Rexenm]

Yokel’s isn’t trying very hard. I used to practice making names to replace Dibbunz. Basically, if you don’t like what shows up, you are trying make a collection of sounds, and form them into syllables.