Give the world a name!

[GreatWyrmGold]

Maybe the reason OotS-world (it could use an actually name, don't you think? The Stickverse? Maybe Rich'll help us out here eventually)...
You know, even if he's flawed, he's right. I think that some day, hopefully soon, there should be a name for the OotS campaign setting's world.
Maybe there should be a PDF or something for the OotS world too...
Let's think of a name for the OotS world!!!

[Zerg Cookie]

In most if the posts I find that refer to it it is called OotSverse.
And only Rich can name it, because he made it...

[Ancalagon]

What's wrong with OotS-World (just "the world" from inside of the setting)?

[Ichneumon]

OotSverse is even pronounce-able, so it could work, at least until mr Burlew gives us an official name.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

Generth

Short for Generic-Earth :smallcool:

[rakkoon]

Stickyverse, The Globe, That Great Green Ball in the Sky ?

[FlawedParadigm]

You're lucky it's not my comic, you'd be stuck with Doodlice (Doodle + Ivalice). What can I say? I lurved FF Tactics very much so. Heh. Although "dood" does bring prinnies to mind...

My mind needs a leash. It wanders all sorts of strange places if left unattended.

[TengYt]

The World of the Stick.

[Optimystik]

Most posts I see use Stickverse or OotSland. Even if the setting gets an "official" moniker, those names are pretty likely to stick around.

[FlawedParadigm]

Yeah, and those are both fine...for us. It just seems there'd be something else the characters would call it. Just like there's Oerth and Faerun and Westeros/Sothoros...oh, wait, wrong setting. Heh.

Granted, this IS a campaign setting that seriously has the Elven Homeland, Anywhere, Elsewhere, Someplace Else and so forth, so maybe in character, just about anything would go...

[Optimystik]

Yeah, and those are both fine...for us. It just seems there'd be something else the characters would call it. Just like there's Oerth and Faerun and Westeros/Sothoros...oh, wait, wrong setting. Heh.

Granted, this IS a campaign setting that seriously has the Elven Homeland, Anywhere, Elsewhere, Someplace Else and so forth, so maybe in character, just about anything would go...

"In character," we have the PCs talking about the color of their speech balloons, making attack rolls and speaking directly to the reader in some cases. A flowery fantasy name for the setting isn't necessary.

Having said that, even with kingdoms like Somewhere and Anywhere, we also have locales like Tyrinaria and Greysky, so it's not like the naming conventions have been completely tossed out the window.

[FlawedParadigm]

Right, but even the places with actual names haven't been anything but descriptive; Azure City (Bluetown), Cliffport (is a port near a cliff), Tyrinaria (spelling? Anyhow, ruled by a TYRant), Greysky (named for the prevaling weather conditions), Wooden Forest, and it just keeps coming.

There's nothing wrong with this, of course. Goodness knows I've used "Blackmire" in so many worlds, you'd think it was actually an important place (it isn't, it's just always the first thing I think to name a town by a large swamp.) I'm just saying if anything official does get coined, it'll probably be along the similar lines of "I, the DM, am once more up at three in the morning working on my campaign world and need to name yet another thing which I'm sick and tired of naming, and therefore will pick something both half-awake and snarky, if possible."

[Ancalagon]

Granted, this IS a campaign setting that seriously has the Elven Homeland, Anywhere, Elsewhere, Someplace Else and so forth, so maybe in character, just about anything would go...

No, not anything would go.

"Normal" fantasy names as "Khzaulud" for some dwarf-stuff, "Silirannion" for some elf-stuff and "Futereliea" or however fantasy-places usually are called would really, really stick out as somewhat wrong in the oots-world.

The names here are simple, descriptive, make fun of the usual clichés, so your "usual fantasy cliché name" surely would NOT fit this campaign!

[FlawedParadigm]

You're right, I forgot to say "just about" anything!

Oh, wait...

[Scarlet Knight]

" Delini Nation"?

[Ancalagon]

Well, even with "just about" you had failed to specify the categories that would fit and that would not fit... your specification was just "most fits, some - unspecified - stuff does not".

Since I think there are much more possible generic fantasy names that belong to a larger class than "names that make fun of generic names" (example: There are much more names as "the City of Furlgor" than "some Grey-Thief-City" jokes, I'd even say the class the oots-verse can chose it's name from is actually smaller than the one that where the names of "usual fantasy-settings" belong to.
So, it actually should be "most possible names would probably not fit the oots-verse".

As a sidenote: In regard to people's names, oots follows the "generic fantasy cliche". Most characters have decent "fantasy names" (those given by the giant, the community-reference to "that helbard guy" whose real name we do not know do not count) and those characters who have no "real fantasy name" are the exception (Roy's Archon, for example).

[Laughing Dragon]

How about, Ootselvania. Once again sounds more like a country than a planet. We need planet names here people!! Oopiter? Naw ... I've got it: Ooto (rhymes with Pluto ... drat, that's not a planet name anymore either). Or maybe we could just call it Bob.

[Dizcorp]

Stickworld.

Next question please :)

[RMS Oceanic]

The Stycke.

Gratuitous Early Modern English for the win.

[Rethorn]

The World of the Stick.

I don't think that TWOTS is a good name for the world.

[Tass]

I don't think in-character names based on "Stick" or "Oots" are good. Sure the oots are PC's and know it, but in character such a name would still give to much importance to a bunch of mid-level adventurers.

Simply reffering to the world as "The World" would fit the style in the comic just fin IMO.

[Alex Star]

I propose the following possible names.

Bran'Ches (Derived from "Branch" ie: Twig, Stick hehe..)

Mapleos (Of course derived from the common "Maple" tree possible giver of the Stick... By the way, has anyone considered yet what happens when the Order comes in contact with the tree that provided the stick that they follow... wonder what Durkon would say about that idea.)

Forestia (Derived from "Forest")

Just some ideas.

[Aris Katsaris]

Right, but even the places with actual names haven't been anything but descriptive; Azure City (Bluetown), Cliffport (is a port near a cliff), Tyrinaria (spelling? Anyhow, ruled by a TYRant), Greysky (named for the prevaling weather conditions), Wooden Forest, and it just keeps coming.

Tolkien used this to great effect.

In and around the Shire, most places were called things like "The Hill" "The Water" "The Old Forest".

A bit further away, you had names that were either combinations of common words like "Weathertop" and "Rivendell", or archaic variations of common words ("Bree" simply means "hill").

And eventually, when the hobbits are utterly unfamiliar with the terrain, the local names are as meaningless to them as they'd be to us ("Lothlorien", "Celebras", "Anduin") -- even those also are of easily understood meaning to the language of the sorts of people living *there* ("Dreamflower", "Silverpeak", "Longriver")

[Forbiddenwar]

On this topic, does any fantasy fiction world (not campaign setting) have a name? Sure cities, rivers, countries, mountain ranges, continents are named, but what about worlds in general, like the name "Earth" we have for our world?

JRR Tolkien = ???? (I don't remember if he ever named the planet events took place. Middle Earth is the name of the continent. But I'm not a tolkienologist, so I can't say for sure)

Robert Jordan = ???? (After 12 books and the death of the author, there is no official name. Fans just call it RandLand)

Donaldson = ???? (Again I don't remember a name for the world as a whole)

Just to name a few. So lacking a non fan derived name for the world is not unusual, no?

[FoE]

Plan B. Since that's essentially what the gods resorted to ...

[Random832]

JRR Tolkien = ???? (I don't remember if he ever named the planet events took place. Middle Earth is the name of the continent. But I'm not a tolkienologist, so I can't say for sure)

Arda. (nevermind that it's supposed to be Earth, as in our Earth, in some forgotten past.)

[Aris Katsaris]

JRR Tolkien = ???? (I don't remember if he ever named the planet events took place. Middle Earth is the name of the continent. But I'm not a tolkienologist, so I can't say for sure)


The planet those events took place is supposed to be *our* planet actually. :-)

"Arda" is the most appropriate name for what you want. It includes Middle-Earth (the world we mortals currently live on), and it also includes the continent currently only accessible to elves and gods (Aman). In one text Tolkien indicated "Arda" technically also included the Sun and Moon, so that it was really a name for the whole solar system -- but in 99.9% of the cases its usage is in reference to our planet and our planet alone.

"Ea" (Elven for "Be!" - The One God's succinct command before the beginning of Time) on the other hand is the whole physical universe - the universe that IS.

Then again there's the Timeless Halls, beyond Ea, so even "Ea" is not enough to include *all* the events in Tolkien's stories.

[Aris Katsaris]

As a sidenote it was silly to the extreme to think that Tolkien might NOT have named something. :-)

His passion for naming things is what drove him in the first place -- he made up names, then he made up the language around the names, then he made up stories *around* the languages.

For most of the things you're likely to think of in his stories, Tolkien probably had atleast fives names for it. :-)

[Haven]

Lickourdivinegenitalssnarl.

They would've gone with Shouldawatchedthethreadsofreality, but thought it was funnier to work blue.

[Scarlet Knight]

I like it!... the name ..I like the name...not that there's anything wrong with...never mind.:smallredface:

[FlawedParadigm]

Lickourdivinegenitalssnarl.

They would've gone with Shouldawatchedthethreadsofreality, but thought it was funnier to work blue.

Dude, don't taunt the God-killing abomination!

[EmeraldPhoenix]

Lickourdivinegenitalssnarl.

They would've gone with Shouldawatchedthethreadsofreality, but thought it was funnier to work blue.

:smallsmile:
<obligatory text here>

[Optimystik]

Lickourdivinegenitalssnarl.

They would've gone with Shouldawatchedthethreadsofreality, but thought it was funnier to work blue.

Annnnnd /thread

[Souhiro]

I think that "Belkar's little playground" is a good name for the world

[Makensha]

How about Camset?
It does go along well enough with the naming of other locations.

[Bibliomancer]

According to our resident linguistic (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0010.html) expert (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0282.html) the world is "the padlock on the jailhouse door of reality" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0275.html) or TPOTJDOR (pronounced tea-pot-juh-door).

[Olorin Maia]

Why not just Earth? I thought that that was a common word in any language meaning "the planet that we are on" and any other name is only relevant when there are other inhabitable planets.

Yea, yea, no fun and doesn't really work that way.

[Bibliomancer]

Why not just Earth? I thought that that was a common word in any language meaning "the planet that we are on" and any other name is only relevant when there are other inhabitable planets.

Yea, yea, no fun and doesn't really work that way.

In Dungeons and Dragons, the only time 'earth' is used in its correct spelling (ie not as Oerth) outside of farming is in the phrase "the elemental plane of earth." I think that calling the planet earth shows a lack of fantasy imagination (it should copy some other work of fantasy, like the creators of DnD did with elves, the balor, etc.).

[Salty]

In War and XPs, Rich includes an Azure City travel guide, which appears to be a couple pages form fa larger book. The title of the book, or at least the chapter, is Stick Planet Travel Guide to the Southern Lands. Unless that's a reference I haven't heard, I believe it should be called Stick Planet. :smallsmile:

[Bibliomancer]

In War and XPs, Rich includes an Azure City travel guide, which appears to be a couple pages form fa larger book. The title of the book, or at least the chapter, is Stick Planet Travel Guide to the Southern Lands. Unless that's a reference I haven't heard, I believe it should be called Stick Planet. :smallsmile:

However, Stick Planet is probably a travel company founded by Haley as a front for her heroic work when she travels back in time to save the world in book XXIV.

[Kbcamaster]

Bibliomancer, did you bring your towel? :smallbiggrin:

@Edit: The reference is The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy. It's worth buying, 5 books made by the master Douglas Adams.

[Trizap]

Lickourdivinegenitalssnarl.

They would've gone with Shouldawatchedthethreadsofreality, but thought it was funnier to work blue.

or how about "lickmydivineballssnarl"? or just "suckitsnarl"?

[NerfTW]

Why not just Earth? I thought that that was a common word in any language meaning "the planet that we are on" and any other name is only relevant when there are other inhabitable planets.

Yea, yea, no fun and doesn't really work that way.

The word "earth" simply means dirt. We just happened to name our planet "Earth" in English. There's also "Terra" in Latin.

Naming a fantasy world "Earth" just causes confusion when it has no similarity to the actual planet Earth.

[Ikialev]

Erf. whitespace

[fangthane]

Virga. Or possibly Talea.

Both came up as Latin translations of the word "stick." And they have that old-school, "Let the Romans name the planet" feel to them, which should be nicely comfortable for most of us. :)

I'd agree with the Oracle-inspired set, if it weren't for the fact that the last thing any of the deities in question want is direct physical contact with the Snarl. Well, that and the whole thing sort of sounds more like an old-school Roman party than the Oracle's village name, which sounded much more like a slam on Belkar. It's got.... connotations.

[Haven]

or how about "lickmydivineballssnarl"? or just "suckitsnarl"?

Well...Tiamat would feel left out, for one.

[Jaltum]

Baculum is also Latin for stick, but has another meaning in English. (The bone found in the penis of most mammals.)

Also from Latin, fasces is a big bundle of sticks, sometimes surrounding something dangerous. Not a bad symbolism.

I'd say they are entirely appropriate, but the Giant is always above a good bodily function joke, so...

(Seriously, Talea might be the best bet.)

[Scarlet Knight]

Virga. It's got.... connotations.

:roy: "So the name of the planet is...?"

:vaarsuvius: "Virga"

:belkar: & :elan: *snicker*

:roy: "That makes us..."

:vaarsuvius: "Virgans".

:belkar: & :elan: "BWA Hahaha!"

[Salty]

:roy: "So the name of the planet is...?"

:vaarsuvius: "Virga"

:belkar: & :elan: *snicker*

:roy: "That makes us..."

:vaarsuvius: "Virgans".

:belkar: & :elan: "BWA Hahaha!"

You win. :smallbiggrin:

[fangthane]

:roy: "So the name of the planet is...?"

:vaarsuvius: "Virga"

:belkar: & :elan: *snicker*

:roy: "That makes us..."

:vaarsuvius: "Virgans".

:belkar: & :elan: "BWA Hahaha!"

Heheh that aspect had not escaped me but given that I was going on about the connotations of the Blue name, I didn't feel I really had much right to bring it up. (and I'll admit, you did so better than I would have done) :smallbiggrin:

[pflare]

Im pretty sure it just goes by "the world". I don't see a problem with that. We can call it ootsworld or stickverse or whatever but unless Rich Burlew gives it a name it just the world. Also judging from the rest of the comic it would probably have a fitting and witty name that plays on some sort of game mechanic like the world of "Campaign Setting" oe something.

[Zanaril]

:roy: "So the name of the planet is...?"

:vaarsuvius: "Virga"

:belkar: & :elan: *snicker*

:roy: "That makes us..."

:vaarsuvius: "Virgans".

:belkar: & :elan: "BWA Hahaha!"

It's even more humourous because none of them actually are.

[Niley]

Why not call it "The Playground"? Because, you know, it's a Giant in the Playground site after all...

[Surfing HalfOrc]

It's even more humourous because none of them actually are.

Strangely enough, there is no proof that :vaarsuvius: is or isn't...

Married or no, don't assume that V and Kyrie ever consumated their marrage. Afterall, their kids are adopted.

But yeah, everyone else in the Order has gotten "some." :smallbiggrin:

[Zanaril]

Strangely enough, there is no proof that :vaarsuvius: is or isn't...

Married or no, don't assume that V and Kyrie ever consumated their marrage. Afterall, their kids are adopted.

But yeah, everyone else in the Order has gotten "some." :smallbiggrin:

There's that bit about acquiring virgin's blood being impractical.

I mean, unless you just can't use your own for some reason, or it has to be ritually collected.

[Trizap]

eh, I don' care, Virga is the official name in my book.

[Yoyoyo]

:roy: "So the name of the planet is...?"

:vaarsuvius: "Virga"

:belkar: & :elan: *snicker*

:roy: "That makes us..."

:vaarsuvius: "Virgans".

:belkar: & :elan: "BWA Hahaha!"

In light of that post, I vote we call their planet "Scarlet Knight." :smallwink:

[Optimystik]

:roy: "So the name of the planet is...?"

:vaarsuvius: "Virga"

:belkar: & :elan: *snicker*

:roy: "That makes us..."

:vaarsuvius: "Virgans".

:belkar: & :elan: "BWA Hahaha!"

The expressions fit perfectly :smallbiggrin:

[Jayabalard]

Donaldson = ???? (Again I don't remember a name for the world as a whole
Donaldson = "The Land" iirc (I'm not a fan, so that may be contradicted elsewhere... it's one of the very few books I started reading and never finished).

[Elfin]

On this topic, does any fantasy fiction world (not campaign setting) have a name? Sure cities, rivers, countries, mountain ranges, continents are named, but what about worlds in general, like the name "Earth" we have for our world?

JRR Tolkien = ???? (I don't remember if he ever named the planet events took place. Middle Earth is the name of the continent. But I'm not a tolkienologist, so I can't say for sure)


Middle Earth is the translation of "Midgard", which the Norse used. And, in fact, Tolkien was writing a mythology for our world.

[Bibliomancer]

Bibliomancer, did you bring your towel? :smallbiggrin:

I'm sure I have folded as a bookmark somewhere...


The reference is The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy. It's worth buying, 5 books made by the master Douglas Adams.

I've read all 5 books, although personally I found Mostly Harmless to be a bit disappointing.



Virga. Or possibly Talea.

Both came up as Latin translations of the word "stick." And they have that old-school, "Let the Romans name the planet" feel to them, which should be nicely comfortable for most of us. :)

I'd agree with the Oracle-inspired set, if it weren't for the fact that the last thing any of the deities in question want is direct physical contact with the Snarl. Well, that and the whole thing sort of sounds more like an old-school Roman party than the Oracle's village name, which sounded much more like a slam on Belkar. It's got.... connotations.

I believe that the Greeks actually named the world "Earth" (or it's equivalent in Greek) because they thought that the world had a central sea (the Mediterranean, which roughly translates as the sea at the middle of the world) which was surrounded by huge land masses on all sides (because they weren't much for exploring too far inland). If they had known about the real shape of the world, they might have named the world "Ocean."

[The Succubus]

There's nothing wrong with this, of course. Goodness knows I've used "Blackmire" in so many worlds, you'd think it was actually an important place (it isn't, it's just always the first thing I think to name a town by a large swamp.)

Pinkmire - home to the world's annual naked mud-wrestling championships.

[David Demola]

The World of the Stick.

I second this. It made me say "OOooh" when I read it. and WotS is a pretty rad thing to say out loud.

[GreatWyrmGold]

However, Stick Planet is probably a travel company founded by Haley as a front for her heroic work when she travels back in time to save the world in book XXIV.

Uh...that's a joke, I presume.

[Haggis]

Bob.

Though for formal occasions we can call it Robert, but I doubt anyone will brother to.

[fangthane]

Donaldson = "The Land" iirc (I'm not a fan, so that may be contradicted elsewhere... it's one of the very few books I started reading and never finished).

Depends which part. The bit where most of the First Chronicles occur is simply The Land; in the Second Chronicles, we're treated to views of other locations which are outside "The Land" but I don't recall the world itself ever actually being named beyond being the world. The Land is definitely separate from Bhrathairain, Sandhold, the Giants' Home and so on, and is the name only for the area under contention by Foul and the heirs of Berek.

And yeah, a lot of people either have trouble with the language Donaldson uses (which I'll admit tends to the obscure seemingly for its own sake), or the depressing tone of the "Real World" and of the way Covenant reacts to the Land, and never finish book 1. I've found that most people who do finish the first book are driven to read the rest, but ymmv. :)

[Optimystik]

Bob.

Though for formal occasions we can call it Robert, but I doubt anyone will brother to.

Its name is Robert Paulson.

[Alysar]

The back page of Paladin Blues has an except from the Stick Planet Travel Agency brochure.

That could just be the name of the company, though.

EDIT: Damn. I have to start checking the whole thread before I say things like that.

[Olorin Maia]

Its name is Robert Paulson.
But its not dead yet, so it can't be Robert Paulson!!!

[Bibliomancer]

Uh...that's a joke, I presume.

Yes, it was. However, I still hope that the name of the planet isn't "Stick Planet."

[FlawedParadigm]

But its not dead yet, so it can't be Robert Paulson!!!

But it did die. We're in World 2.0, remember? The Snarl ruined the daylights out of World 1.0.

[Demiurge]

Middle Earth is the translation of "Midgard", which the Norse used. And, in fact, Tolkien was writing a mythology for our world.

Actually, He was writing a mythology for England, which He felt lacked one. So... He slammed together celtic, norse, and finnish mythology, and called it good.

[Watcher]

Strip #0 is a good argument for "The Land" (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/ootscast.html) ... Or not?

That page is painfully outdated, anyway. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0649.html)

[AlexanderRM]

Most posts I see use Stickverse or OotSland. Even if the setting gets an "official" moniker, those names are pretty likely to stick around.

I actually think that we should just call it that, unless/until we get an official name.




Or maybe we could just call it Bob.

I know of at least one MMORPG that uses that as a name for their world, so at least for me that would be highly confusing.





Sure cities, rivers, countries, mountain ranges, continents are named, but what about worlds in general, like the name "Earth" we have for our world?


Actually, I've been thinking about this (in a science fiction sense, but I think it's just as applicable here) and I'm pretty sure that "Earth" was origionally supposed to actually mean "the land" or whatever, as opposed to "the sea" and "the heavens" (the heavens being a metal dome with fixed points of light), rather than a planet name as opposed to Mars and Venus and such.

But anyway, what I'm getting to there is that most cultures probably would call their world "Earth", in such a way, since they don't know of any other "earth" to distinguish it from.

But anyway, we as readers need to distinguish it somehow, which it why I support OotS-verse/stickland/world of the stick. It's essentially the world of OotS.





Why not call it "The Playground"? Because, you know, it's a Giant in the Playground site after all...

Or this, perhaps.

[Puns de León]

We certainly can't call it Limus (yes, more Latin), because then every character would be just a stick in the mud. :smalltongue:

[Liwen]

I like 'World 2.0 patch 2.134'

[Unistat]

Well, now the world really needs a name so we don't get the two confused.

[NorseItalian]

The Playground.