- Character Name
- A character name is the title that the Foresters use for a given name. The belief that the character name chosen for a child has an influence on the child’s personality has become common. It is thought that if a baby’s name is an outstanding trait the baby will itself be outstanding. Because of this, the Foresters have named their children for good qualities for generations. What name the parents choose for their child can often tell you something of the parents. It can tell you what traits they consider important, whether they truly believe in the importance of names, or some quirk of their personality.
To better illustrate this, let’s create a character to demonstrate how a character’s name changes through life. This person might be named Valor when he was born.
- Descriptive Name
- The Foresters do not have family names. However, they have two kinds of last names that are used to distinguish between people with the same character name. The more common of these is a descriptive name, which is simply something unique about the individual, almost always the name of their village or home. Once the Foresters fully pronounced the “of” in the descriptive name, but it is now common use to merely add a quick “ah” sound to the village or home’s name.
As he grew up and became enough of a part of the community to be commonly talked about, Valor would be given the descriptive name of his home. Valor lives in the great hall of Rowan, so he is called Valor a’Rowan.
- Name of Honor
- The name of honor given to exceptional Foresters is an acknowledgement that they have a skill or fantastic deed that has now become such a part of them that they can be distinguished by it.
The name of honor replaces the descriptive name that was once used to describe that Forester. It is the desire of every Forester to earn a name of honor.
Once Valor a’ Rowan had become a skilled member of the village patrol it might be noticed that he is one of the best staff wielders. After a few incidents where his prowess has saved the group, he would be given a name of honor that relates to this skill. Now he is called Valor Surestaff.
Healers, however, do not take names of honor as they use “healer” as a descriptive name, and to replace that with a name of honor would imply that tribute is more important than healing.
If instead of joining the patrol, Valor a’Rowan chose to become a healer his name would become Valor Healer and he would continue to be called Valor Healer for the rest of his life despite any accomplishments he might achieve.
- Memorial Name
- A memorial name replaces either the character name or descriptive name/name of honor of a person with the name of a destroyed village or family home. Once only a scarce occurrence, the use of memorial names has become common. It is chosen by that person to show respect for the deceased villagers or family members. There are two methods of selecting a memorial name.
If the person chooses to replace their character name it means that the best characteristic that they could imagine having is being like those villagers or family members. This is the more common of memorial names.
If Rowan Hall was attacked and most of Valor’s family was destroyed in that attack, he could replace his character name Valor with a memorial name Rowan becoming Rowan Surestaff. This would indicate his loss, but still display his dexterity with a staff.
The more radical (and rare) statement is made by replacing the last name expressing that no mark of distinction the person could achieve would ever be equal to the honor of the villagers or family members.
If Valor had lost a very close family member such as a parent or sibling, he might decide to put aside his honor name Surestaff for the memorial name Rowan. He would then be called Valor Rowan. While this seem similar to his earlier descriptive name the way it is pronounced makes it clear that this is a memorial name.
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