People/Entities

 

Keld

I thought this one was too obvious at the time, but fortunately no one seemed to connect him with the Keldon Warlord, a red card from Magic:TG.

There was also a warlord named Beld in Record of the Lodos War.

 

Philia

The greek root for "friendship". Not from the annoying Filia from Slayers Try. Plus, it sounds like "feel ya". Heh heh...

 

Aleria

Straight ripped out of Warcraft II. She was an elven archer hero unit. "You never touched the other elves that way." "Try that again and you'll pull back a stump!"

 

Ebonthorne

Ultima had Lord Blackthorn. Although Ebonthorne lacks any resemblance to a corrupted Gordon Freeman.

 

Nabooru

This drunken yuan-ti seer's name was taken from a town in Zelda 2, and, I found out, was later used in Ocarina of Time for a minion of Ganondorf.

 

Daema

Derived from a partial anagram of Ameadaeus (read backward from the "d") and inspired by Mazoku "Magical Race" from Slayers and Daedra from the Elder Scrolls games. It was a complete coincidence that "Dae" from Daedra and "Ma" from Mazoku also form Daema.

 

Zoracthy

The fish people in Zelda, Zora, plus "icthy", the prefix meaning "fish". Also, the Cthulhu mythos comes to mind, especially the deep ones.

 

Ix Auduer

From the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. Ford Prefects childhood name was "Ix" which translates to "boy who is not able satisfactorily to explain what a Hrung is, nor why it should choose to collapse on Betelgeuse Seven". Being the owl spirit, I drew upon an ancient Roman legend of a weird kind of vampire owl creature. Wikipedia describes it as "a nocturnal bird of ill omen that fed on human flesh and blood". Trivia: The name strix was corrupted to Stirge.

 

Hearthlings

I  think that halflings would not call themselves half of anything. In fact, they might consider "halfling" somewhat derrogatory as in Willow, where Nelwyns were insultingly called Pecks. I wanted a term that reflected their homebody aspect, so I chose hearth as the root. It's also comparable to the ADoM "Hurthlings"... which is weird because Hurth is a city in Germany (which is where ADoM was developed). So what's the connection with little folk?

 

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Places

 

Kaimaloreum

From Athenaeum. I was looking for a synonym for library. Of course, since Heroshi doesn't have Athena, I substituted Lor and Kaima the two primary deities of wisdom and knowledge.

 

Veralyde

In the original Wild Arms there was a city called Adlehyde.

The vera part was taken from Aloe Vera. On that note, I'd planned on having a town called Aloe.

 

Veralys

The name of the world in Final Fantasy Tactics is Ivalice. I wanted to avoid the implication of parasites, so -ice became -ys.

 

Axura

I was playing Morrowind a bunch back then. Azura was one of the daedra who facilitated the main quest.

Also, the angel from Good Omens was named Axiraphale. I believe that Phale (pronounced "pale") was the capitol of Axura.

 

Gurthang

I'd heard it somewhere before and it sounded good and orcish. Just found out it was a sword in the Simirilion. Means "Iron of Death"... appropriate. Reference.

 

Glorduk

Something the orcs from Warcraft say. Or was it "Glow Duke"? Always bet on Duke.

 

Talonia

From Babylonia and talon.

 

Ruundal

Seyruun from Slayers, still the best fantasy anime I've seen.

 

Morbidia

Maridia from Super Metroid.

You noticed the word "morbid" in there. Some might consider a nation that's a theocracy of the LN god of death morbid.

 

Miradell

Can't help but think of Rivendell when I think of elf cities. Thought about making it Mystdell.

 

Xeal

In Chrono Trigger there was a magical kingdom called Zeal.

In the Axura region it's pronunced "Seal", which is what they do with the most powerful magic. That is, seal it away so that only they could access it.

In Conan the Adventurer there was a magial city called Xanthus. Though I did not remember this until I watched the series recently, this may have worked into it somewhere in my subconscious.

 

Ald Fel

Derived from the naming scheme of Morrowind. Two ruins located close together on the map are Ald Sotha and Bal Fell. Hmmm.

 

Eastern Clans

Each major clan is named for one of the Four Symbols, mythological creatures in the Chinese constellations. Also, the eastern worldview ascribes each creature to a part of the world: East-Dragon, West-Tiger, North-Phoenix, and South-Tortoise [note that I reversed these last two from how they are in Chinese mythology]. The minor clans are roughly similar creatures to the major clans (Tiger-Wolf: mammals; Phoenix-Owl: birds; tortoise-viper: reptiles; and Dragon-Dolphin: fish [koi are eastern wyrmlings ... seriously!].

 

Kozakura & Wa

Straight ganked from Kara-Tur.

 

Yu'Guay

Oogway is a character from Kung-Fu Panda, a tortoise.

 

Ahriman

1) In ancient Persian religion (Zoroastrianism), Ahriman (aka Arimanius or Angra Mainya) stood high in the ranks of the enemies who opposed Ahura Mazda (aka Ohrmazd or Oromasdes). Ahriman is thought to be the first personification of "the Devil" because Zoroastrians believed in a completely dualistic form of religion. (source)

2) These critters from Final Fantasy.

 

Karna

There is a town called Karnak in Final Fantasy V where the fire crystal is located.