macsen
2013-10-27, 08:01 AM
In a world setting I am developing, I decided on a kind of bipedal pig-like species in an attempt to break my habit of sticking to another favored species world idea after world idea.
The species are stout bipedal pigs with the approximate proportions of a gnome off of world of warcraft to give an image. They are a highly social species in line with the social qualities of actual pigs. Their society at a glance looks like our Italian renaissance where the rich and decadent attempt to create a 'marble pillars and togas' aesthetic, but a majority of society consisting of dark alleys, pirates, and corrupt businessmen. One thing on which I'd like to get a few ideas thrown at me are cultural peculiarities that might be really good to use.
One thing I don't want to do is to make horrible pig puns. They aren't self-aware, they are the only dominant and sentient species on the world. Another thing I'm wanting to avoid is lame cut-and-paste terminology, such as the replacement of 'hoof' in place of 'foot" in their turns of phrase and aphorisms.
The only thing I've thought of is that they would call each other 'swine' as an insult in the way we'd call someone a snake or weasel; as swine refers to a domesticated pig. I've not yet named them as a race, but I don't predict I'll be using the word 'pig' anywhere.
Any ideas not eliminated by my narrow parameters would be appreciated and thanked. :smallsmile:
In short, I'm wanting to explore possible cool linguistic quirks I can use for the dialogue to intermittently imply a different culture with different values evolved on a constructed world. And without stepping onto schtick territory (such as the verbal tics of the zora and goron on legend of zelda, or the smurf thing, or sound as shoe-horned as a viking exclaiming 'by thor's beard!' and the like).
The species are stout bipedal pigs with the approximate proportions of a gnome off of world of warcraft to give an image. They are a highly social species in line with the social qualities of actual pigs. Their society at a glance looks like our Italian renaissance where the rich and decadent attempt to create a 'marble pillars and togas' aesthetic, but a majority of society consisting of dark alleys, pirates, and corrupt businessmen. One thing on which I'd like to get a few ideas thrown at me are cultural peculiarities that might be really good to use.
One thing I don't want to do is to make horrible pig puns. They aren't self-aware, they are the only dominant and sentient species on the world. Another thing I'm wanting to avoid is lame cut-and-paste terminology, such as the replacement of 'hoof' in place of 'foot" in their turns of phrase and aphorisms.
The only thing I've thought of is that they would call each other 'swine' as an insult in the way we'd call someone a snake or weasel; as swine refers to a domesticated pig. I've not yet named them as a race, but I don't predict I'll be using the word 'pig' anywhere.
Any ideas not eliminated by my narrow parameters would be appreciated and thanked. :smallsmile:
In short, I'm wanting to explore possible cool linguistic quirks I can use for the dialogue to intermittently imply a different culture with different values evolved on a constructed world. And without stepping onto schtick territory (such as the verbal tics of the zora and goron on legend of zelda, or the smurf thing, or sound as shoe-horned as a viking exclaiming 'by thor's beard!' and the like).