Forum:Global and regional issues/East Ulethan geographic regions
Purpose
This thread aims to agree and formalise names for the various major geographic regions and seas located or adjacent to East Uletha. 2 subcontinents, 9 regions, and 12 seas are listed below. These names are the common Ingerish (English) names for the regions. They'd likely be commonly used in international organisations and be transliterated/translated into other languages. In addition, the seas in the OGF map renderer can be labelled accordingly. Other countries/languages are free to use their own nation-specific name for the regions, reflecting their own cultures and histories (a RW example would be Persian Gulf / Arabian Gulf / The Gulf).
Naming Process
There will be 2 stages for naming the various geographic regions:
- Name nominations will be gathered for all regions. To add your suggestion, add it as a new row in the table under the corresponding title. This period will run until the end of January, though it may be extended if we have not received enough nominations.
- Voting. When new name nominations are closed, I'll set up a new set of tables to allow all users to vote. A timeline for the voting will be decided at the start of the voting period. We'll aim for a quorum of 10 voters for the major regions. For the smaller regions, we won't require a large quorum; instead we'll consider the votes sufficient if all active users in the region have voted. Mappers can vote for multiple options if unable to decide just one. In the event of a tie / very close result, we'll consider them on a case by case basis (we may decide to have multiple names for a single region, we may have another vote, etc.)
Regions
Map of regions.
Subcontinent 1
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast Uletha | N/A | Clear, simple, unambiguous.
"Evergreen" - not dependent on current names / cultures in region. |
Uncreative. |
| Frigoterra | Ominvar (talk) 06:05, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | Stems from Latin, loosely translating into "cold land". | Not from cultures within area. |
| Paskitia | Ominvar (talk) 06:05, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | Stems from Proto-Permic "paśkit", meaning "wide", conforming to the languages similar to Finnish idea made by ParrotMan | |
| Pošjama or Poshama | Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 14:08, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | From Proto-Finnic "pošja", meaning "north" or deep and "maa", meaning "land". | A bit difficult to decide how to render it in Ingerish. |
Maybe we can name this in Finnish or similar languages in the region to better reflect the area in whole ParrotMan (talk) 21:41, 5 January 2025 (UTC)
Subcontinent 2
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southeast Uletha | N/A | Clear, simple, unambiguous.
"Evergreen" - not dependent on current names / cultures in region. |
Uncreative. |
| Axia | N/A | "OGF meta-history" - hints at the past of the map's development | Overly similar to "Asia".
Uses unusual phonetics (in both Asian languages and English language). Does not sound Japonic / East Asian. |
| Ortusia | Ominvar (talk) 06:05, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | Stems from "ortus", which roughly translates from Latin into "sunrise", reflecting its position east of the former Romantish Empire. | May sound unnatural. |
| Askia | Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 14:08, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | From Proto-Izaki "askj-", meaning "country, land", referring to how the territory used to be called by the ancient Izaki nations. Also, similar to the former "Axia(n)". |
Region 1
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axian Peninsula | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki.
"OGF meta-history" - hints at the past of the map's development |
Overly similar to "Asia".
Uses unusual phonetics (in both Asian languages and English language). Does not sound Japonic / East Asian. Peninsula typically refers to small geographic regions and is unusual for such a large area. |
| Axia | N/A | As above | As above |
| Hoppon | Gubble (talk) 19:20, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | "OGF meta-history" - hints at the past of the map's development.
Name is within region's "Japanese" theme. |
Perhaps overly similar to "Nippon". |
| Rin'yō | Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 14:08, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | In "Japanese" would be 林陽, meaning "the forest facing the sun", similarly to the region of San'yō in Japan, meaning "the mountains facing the sun(=south). | Maybe a bit difficult to render in Ingerish |
Region 2
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Far-east Uletha | Gubble (talk) 19:20, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | Clear, simple, unambiguous.
"Evergreen" - not dependent on current names / cultures in region. |
Uncreative. |
| Orientalia | ParrotMan (talk) 21:41, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | Stems from the latin word "Orientalis", which means "east" or "easterly".
Similar to how Australia is named. |
Looks clunky. Possible alternative can be: "Orentalia", maybe "Orentia"? |
| [river derived] | Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 14:08, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | A name is derived from a wide and important river flowing throughout the area. The name could have an indigenous derivation.
The result could be something like "Amazonia" |
The area is still mostly empty |
Region 3
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lantian Peninsula | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | Named shared with existing country, which may cause confusion. |
Region 4
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darcodian Coast | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | Darcodian Coast could be seen as ambiguous, as it only refers to the south coast of the Darcodian Sea |
| Neu-Kalm | Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 14:08, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | Indicating that the region was formerly colonized by Kalm. | |
Region 5
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Name | N/A | Region does not have distinctive borders. | |
| Ispelian Peninsula | Ominvar (talk) 06:05, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | Refers to a major country in the region | |
Region 6
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ulethan Mideast | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | Perhaps overly similar to RW "Middle East". May be misleading, as the vision for the region includes different cultures to the RW Middle East. |
| Transivera | Gubble (talk) 22:27, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | Meaning beyond the Iveran sea. Inspired by RW "Transoxania". | |
Region 7
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Combine with region 8 | N/A | Region 7 holds distinct geographical boundaries and features; it should be deserving of a distinction from Region 8. | |
| Voltan Passage | ParrotMan (talk) 21:41, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | Reflects the Gulf of Volta Region... | In no way reflects the German influence, same cons as Sea 7
Also I have no idea on what to put after "Volta", ideas are welcome as "passage" in my brain usually translates to water travel rather than one over land. |
Region 8
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scythe of Uletha | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | |
| Whale Sea States | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | |
| Scythe of Uletha/Whale Sea States | ParrotMan (talk) 21:41, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | Make them interchangeable, minimize effect to wiki. | That's crazy |
Region 9
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plurinesia | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | |
Sea 1
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gulf of Axia | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | This sea is not a "gulf".
Same cons as referred to in Region 1. |
| Umi Sea | Gubble (talk) 19:45, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | From Japanese for "Ocean". Reference to common trend of doubled-names due to translation errors. | |
| Konjio Sea or Konshi Sea | Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 14:09, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | From the "Japanese" 紺塩 (Kon-jio), inspired by the Kuroshio (黒潮) sea current, one of the largest in the world. Due to the different temperatures of the water, the seawater flowing in this area has a deeper colour. Here 紺 (kon, navy blue) has been used instead of 黒 (kuro, black). |
Sea 2
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea of Belphenia | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | Due to the recent redrawing of Region 1, Belphenia does not share a large border with the sea. |
| North Bai Sea | Izaland Terramorphing Committee (talk) 14:10, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | Refers to the dominant historic power, the Bai Empire. | Reliant on the Bai empire not changing names. |
Sea 3
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | Mappers aren't clearly established in the region. | |
Sea 4
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sound of Pa | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | This sea is not a "sound". Sound is a very western term, and the sea is located in an Japonic/Koreanic cultural region.
Name is overly fantastical. "Pa" has unclear origins and does not evoke Japonic/Koreanic culture. |
| Kita Sea | Gubble (talk) 19:20, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | Japanese for "North". Refers to a dominant historic power, the currently unnamed UL30c. | |
| Nanda Sea | Dabikun | Nanda stems from Izaki root meaning "far, ignote". Refers to a dominant historic power, Izaland. | |
| Inland Sea | Gubble (talk) 19:20, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | "Evergreen" - not dependent on current names / cultures in region. | Not specific. There are a lot of inland seas in OGF. |
| East Uletha Sea | Gubble (talk) 19:20, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | "Evergreen" - not dependent on current names / cultures in region. Reflects a history where there was no single name for the sea until colonists arrive and gave it the arbitrary name. | May be confusing, as there are several large seas in East Uletha. |
| Ikeiwan Sea | Awesomeboy123 (talk) 14:44, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | Originally referring to the southern Itakiri Prefecture calderas being called "mushrooms in ponds" by the Izaki people, and can be used to describe the archipelagos in this inland sea (the pond being the sea itself) |
Sea 5
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kaspen Sea | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | Sounds like "Caspian sea" in IRL |
Sea 6
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darcodian Sea | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki.
Refers to city "Darcodia" on its west coast. |
|
Sea 7
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gulf of Volta | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | Name perhaps sounds unusually slavic, considering the local cultures are largely German and English colonial. |
Sea 8
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emerald Sea | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki. | |
Sea 9
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scythian Sea | N/A | Established name, already referred to in wiki.
Refers to "Scythe of Uletha". |
Scythia is a fairly well known RW culture/region. Name should be avoided to avoid confusion with RW. |
Sea 10
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gulf of Eiha/Eihan Gulf | Awesomeboy123 (talk) 14:44, 6 January 2025 (UTC) | Ancient name for Lantian peninsula. Meaning "9 mountains", for the 9 great (sacred) mountains in the modern-day Lantian Peninsula. | |
Sea 13
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valian Sea / Great Whale Sea | N/A | Established names, already referred to in wiki. | Two names are interchangeable. If a mapper wants to suggest making only one name official, please add a suggestion in the row below. |
Sea 14
| Name | Nominator | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Name | N/A | Name is not required and the sea can be considered part of the Ardentic Ocean. | Names are useful for regional identity, coordination, and map reading. |
| Berring Sea | Gubble (talk) 22:27, 5 January 2025 (UTC) | Loosely from Chinese "Beiyang" meaning north ocean. Ingerish colonists would have named the sea based off what they heard from the North Archantan locals. | Native Chinese speaker needs to validate if the translation of "Beiyang" is accurate. |
Other Comments
Only regions which include / border 4 or more countries have been included.
The large seas (particularly Sea 4 and Sea 5) would likely include different names for the smaller bodies of water within the sea. The individual countries which encompass/border these constituent bodies of water are free to name these smaller bodies of water as they please.
Mountain ranges have not been included in this forum thread, though we expect a separate discussion may be needed in the future to name mountain ranges.
Please consider the East Ulethan vision (OpenGeofiction:East Uletha - OpenGeofiction) when naming the region.
A brief summary of the cultures are below:
Japanese and Korean (and similar conlangs) in the South-east.
Indo-Aryan in the South-west.
German in the centre (all around the Darcodian Sea)
Slavic in the West (Ohemia)
Finno-Ugric natives scattered across the centre and north.
English colonial in the east
Various native conlangs in the north.