chaos_Leader
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Region One: Skaya, from "russkaya zemlya" an old name for the country. 'Ski and 'sky' are also common elements of surname from russian, czech and slavic areas.
Region Two: Cadis, from Arcadia, Arcadia being a hellenistic concept for paradise, as well as a real place in Greece.
I really like these region names, like, a lot. "Skaya" has an appealing ring and cadence to it, with that slavic/russian slant to the word. Similarly with "Cadis". I think I will actually use these two names for the regions as wholes. Thank you!
1. Slovo/Slova ("people who understand each other")
Location Names: czars, states, bodies of water, mountains, military arms/vehicles
The naming conventions here for locations I'd have to think more about. More at the end of the post.
2. Romita (rome + italia)
Location Names: the Pantheon, heroes, monsters, emperors, philosophers, real city-states, Greek letters
A lot of these location names are pretty interesting. It gives me an idea for one city name in Cadis (location 2), but just one.
Taking a cue from Kalos in X/Y, which named the equivalent of Paris "Lumiose" driving it from the French language, named after Paris' unofficial nickname "city of light". The city of Rome, Italy is likewise known as "the eternal city", and gives me a similar idea for at least this one city: "Aeternus", derived from Latin for "eternal"
That's only one city though. But being a region that I plan to have an extensive, well-documented and popularized history, taking names derived from classical mythology and folklore is definitely a idea I can run with.
Very cheap and easy naming. If you want anything better I'm gonna need more info.
As for more info which might help, a few months back I did this huge, infodump/brainstorm of a couple posts about the Russo-Slavic region )which will now be known as Skaya).
Big wall of text warning:
I have a few incomplete/unrefined worldbuilding/setting/plot ideas, or rather, one really really big one:
For one, I am very curious about the implied war that (allegedly) took place in the Pokemon setting's recent history, and the possible impact it may have had on the setting. That's the kind of stuff I feel would make excellent fanfiction fodder, so I'll unload the thoughts here.
We know the gym leader Lieutenant Surge in the games outright refers to a war in which he directly fought. However, in the regions in which the games take place thus far, there is no discernible direct evidence of a war having being fought right there.
There are also plenty of hints of other regions in the setting that haven't been explored. Particularly in the X/Y games, there is an NPC who refers to another region, and cuts himself off. There's another NPC that speaks in untranslated German. There is also a major train line with a tunnel heading east out of Kalos from Couriway Town, but no indication or hint as to where it goes. There is further in-game evidence of a long history of warfare within Kalos itself.
Point is, there's a whole lot of empty holes around this subject (probably intentionally so, but still). Something that could fill these holes is a region to the east of Kalos, which would have been involved in the old wars with Kalos, and potentially the recent war Lt. Surge fought in. I know, old news, and others may have figured so, but bear with me.
Ever since I got back into Pokemon, I've also been utterly fascinated by the historical/cultural analogs that exist in the Pokemon setting, the inspirations they take from, and how they fit into the new setting. Of course Kanto/Johto/Hoenn/Sinnoh is Japan, Unova is the USA, Kalos is France (and also Belgium/Netherlands/some of Germany). The setting however also draws large and diverse historical inspirations, regardless of the geography/culture of the region.
In any case, back to the hypothetical east-of-Kalos region. Culturally, and at least partially historically, I think such a place could very well have inspirational roots in Russia and the Slavic/eastern European region. I also think such a place could have really gotten the short end of the stick in a war. Point being: if I were to write for this region, I would be very interested in a setting undergoing major reconstruction, healing from the wounds, and possibly getting help doing so.
From a historical prospective, this particular idea is drawn more from postwar Japan than Russia, but more on that later. (History lesson time!) After WWII, Japan was pretty much in economic shambles, and remained so until Tokyo was chosen to host the 1964 Olympic Games. When Tokyo was chosen to host the Olympics, Japan seriously got its act together, pulled up its bootstraps, and built a new infrastructure itself in preparation for the Olympics (the Shinkansen/Bullet Train network among the projects). That effort to clean the country up and get it running again for the Olympics was a huge turning point in the modern history of Japan, and paved the way for the economic boon Japan experienced later in the 80s.
(More history lesson!) At the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia and most of Eastern Europe was not at all prepared to suddenly shift to the Democratic-Capitalist model of the US and Western Europe, and so were left in similar Economic shambles that are only now starting to significantly improve after two decades. This combination of economic shambles and a just-collapsed heavily militarized state was the perfect breeding ground for serious organized crime, which ran (and in some cases, still runs) rampant across Russia and Eastern Europe.
Enough history, back to Pokemon!
Instead of Olympic games to be a catalyst/motivation for this hypothetical east-of-Kalos region, my thoughts were that the Pokemon League would be opening a brand new Region-League in this run-down, war-torn region in desperate need of stimulation. That means new gyms, new leaders, new Elite Four and Champ. The villainous organizations that most Pokemon Regions seems to have would also have plenty of inspiration, in the form of the "Ruthless Russian Mob" flavor that once was widespread/ubiquitous to Eastern Europe. I think a socioeconomic/political situation like this would be very intriguing backdrop on which a story could be told, and would pay inspirational homage to both postwar Japan, and post-Soviet Russia/Slavic states.
I'm generally of the opinion that when it comes to invented regions based on real places, going for a flavour of the region is better than trying to do a straight-up poké-copy. This is what Game Freak do, for a start - take Kalos. First of all, the name is Greek. The geography and general aesthetic is French, but very much a clean sort of France (Lumiose City is mostly cafés and everyone is lovely and friendly and fashionable). French history is quietly ignored, and for good reason since it could well become very inconvenient for a cheerful game like Pokémon to try and deal with Le Terreur.
Of course, it does depend on whether you want to follow a similar tone to the games and anime, or whether you want to go darker. Even so, with a darker fic, getting too worried about the details is likely to hamper you. It's a still a fantasy setting - details should be the inspiration, the mine for ideas rather than the rules. If some aspect of the real world's history or geography is too inconvenient, ignore it
Of course! The Pokemon world has its own history, with its own subtleties. The real-world inspirations for the Pokemon setting have always been just that: inspirations, from which the designers pick, choose, and recombine aspects they feel would be aesthetically appropriate. Most all of the details are done away with, but the inspirations and the cultural impact they have on the setting can be and often are still a viable source.
That is in-fact another reason why I felt like using Russo-Slavic inspirations for a war-scarred Pokemon region that's trying to rebuild. Though for one, it's kind of hard to draw significant Russo-Slavic cultural inspiration without delving at least a little into darker themes, since darker themes have pretty much defined much of Russo-Slavic history.
Russian history is riddled with fleeting successes, squandered opportunities, and an enduring stubbornness to get through it in spite of it all: the great reformations and sociopolitical advancements of one pivotal figure in Russian history are so often dashed shortly after the figure's reign ends. It always seems like Russia in its history is on the very cusp of doing something truly world-changing-scale great, and then unceremoniously stumbles over itself, landing right back in similar desperate straits it had been in before.
This, among other factors I'm sure, has produced an intriguing, jokingly cynical, almost gallows-humor outlook that is extremely pervasive and ubiquitous in Russia: almost everything printed in modern Russia is accompanied by a joke, even the TV guide. Making a Pokemon region based on Russo-Slavic inspirations without this particular aspect I feel would be disingenuous to the source, and miss out on so much. Plus, a region that was on the losing end of a war (and possibly wars of the past) could very well have developed a similar cultural aesthetic.
In the end, it is inspiration material, and nothing at all has to be copy-pasted. Even so, I feel it is a rich enough history and culture that much can be gleaned and effectively made pastiche in a Pokemon setting.
Needless to say, I've got a little more cultural thinkings about to do to pull out a name or seven, but even these two responses have been helpful to nail down a few things. Thanks!