The Way the Words Work
A total language overhaul that adds structure to the default language rules to create more logically-assembled names. Words now obey stricter rules on positioning, in both compound and "X of Y" form. All of the linguistic symbols have been expanded and/or redefined. For example, double-verbs often look silly, so I’ve taken care to generally limit them in civ names.
Maintains cross-mod compatibility by using the same dictionary/set of word tokens as vanilla. I’ve repurposed a couple of the less resonant words by changing their English translation, but they still use the same internal IDs. Custom civs, etc, that are compatible with the vanilla language should work with this mod.
Adds more book titles and dialogue text sets.
Cuts and replaces the default entities to update their naming conventions.
- Dwarves have a stereotypical naming scheme in fantasy fiction: "Thorin Oakenshield" from "Dwarrowdelf" (LotR) and "Bruenor Battlehammer" (D&D) being notables among them. There’s also plenty of named dwarves in Norse folklore, with the Poetic Edda citing many. Since these symbols are also inextricably used for site compound names, geonyms also feature prominently among names.
- The vanilla symbols used by elves cast a pretty broad net – NATURE is basically everything that isn’t abstract or artificial and FLOWERY was "pretty elf stuff". Elves are the most mystical with their hidden forests, so I’ve added some spiritualistic vocabulary to their names. From elven beauty comes the idea that they’d value youth (eternal if need be), and from their defense of the savage lands comes the idea that they’d have a disciplined ideal of chaos. They’re surprisingly neutral on a lot of civ values.
- The goblin name list is pretty straightforward – add some places, professions, and nasty stuff, plus filtering the verbs to stay in one symbol. There’s a lot more "ugly" words than normal, but it’s pretty safe to go over the top with these enthusiastically horrid names.
- Humans specify no name symbol in vanilla, leading to the theoretically most varied names. I’ve tried to add a more focused "medieval" feel to human names instead, with plenty of geonymic and professional names. I’ve also played up the few defined attributes of the plains civilization – their fixation on fanciful beasts, their affinity for war, and their comfort with "domestic" goods in their name.
- All default civs additionally use a symbol full of 104 additional words that appear only as proper nouns, never translated in a compound word. By adding them to OTHER, there’s effectively more "meaningless" first names available. This is the most extensible part of the custom civ symbols, which can easily be supported for new civs if TWTWW is loaded after them.
Download on DFFD[dffd.bay12games.com]
The font shown in some of the previews is my variant of Sleipnir [dffd.bay12games.com] – the original by Andux can be found on the DF Wiki[dwarffortresswiki.org]
This mod is public domain, feel free to publish edits or incorporate this into your total conversion. I’ve invested a huge amount of work into this, so please do credit me.
I was inspired by Emilovich’s Language Overhaul, which uses a custom dictionary instead of the vanilla one.
Shout out to dikbutdagrate for helping me test this mod through its early stages.
Text sets have additional credit to Aquos, SethCreiyd (Speech Expansion[www.bay12forums.com]); Tarran, Igfig & Cruxador (FlavorText[www.bay12forums.com]), Nethack & addmsgs[alt.org] and other contributors to community Speech mods[dwarffortresswiki.org]
Preview image from the Getty Museum Collection[www.getty.edu]
This mod is a sequel to Cooler World Names, and incorporates it fully. They currently aren’t marked incompatible, but loading both would be redundant.
The only way to replace an entity’s naming scheme outright is to cut and replace it. Ideally, TWTWW would use a creature-variation style method to replace only the language parts, but the raws don’t support that yet.
Only one version of text set files can be loaded at a time. Mods that add more book titles or greetings will only load the latest
Currently, no civilizations on the workshop are supported with custom TWTWW symbols, and the example lacks many of the common subselects. If you want to add support, either send me the ID of your civ or feel free to make a compatibility patch.
First names aren’t properly capitalized in the new dialogue.
Revisions:
Old revisions of this mod are available below. Click the link to download.
