It's been a long time since I uploaded a new chapter of A Requiem From Winter Past. So what gives in a season of giving? To be honest, that's the question I'm asking from others for the past 30 days or so. Analysing the anomalies of individual behaviour can be fun. That is until you're at the receiving end.
Why it has been for so long...
The answer to this question is gaming. One thing I realised about myself is that visual media has a much higher chance of grabbing and retaining my attention. At the same time, gaming can result in visible results of your efforts more than writing. Granted I still believe in my ability to write, but self-understanding and visual outcomes still do engage in a tavern brawl more oft than not.
When it comes to gaming, I'm a casual player in terms of reaping results but a hardcore player in terms of focusing on the process. This is why ESO suits me right to the very last alphabet of my name. Of course, limitations do exist. You don't do a Stamina build with a Breton even though Darien Gautier was clearly a Stamina tank NPC.
It's never about comparing myself to the likes of Kevin "unrelated to Guan Yu unless proven by science" Kwan or Kyla "unrelated to Zhao Yun unless proven by science" Zhao. There's no need to so long I believe in what I can do. As for a lack of paper qualifications, that factor can burn in hell for all I care.
Wait, why am I sounding like Liu Bang instead of Xiang Yu?
Latest chapter
It's quite surreal to hear myself say this: I've yet to give up on writing A Requiem From Winter Past. The distraction caused by gaming is a massive wall to scale since I don't have the kind of battering ram to bring it down. However, starting on Chapter Six made me realise it's not really that hard to restart the engine. The main issue I have is tunnel focus and it applies to gaming as well. While I'm no genius unless proven by science, slide 25 called this the ability to focus. Genius or not, I leave it to others to decide. The challenge is getting the dying embers roaring again. And it's always possible to rouse a lion so long it's not dead.
I was able to write more than half of my intended chapter length (i.e. 4000 plus words). Initially, it felt as if I was forcing myself to defy the laws of physical reality by kicking myself from behind. Once that period passed, it began to feel more like the engine humming. The machine was getting warm but not 100% raring to go. I could see it as a glass half empty or half full. I chose the latter.
One good thing about procrastination (not that I'd recommend this to others because my brain clearly functions abnormally) is that delays can have the unintentional consequence of additional ideas popping up. They didn't appear just because I said, "Let there be". They just popped up like that.
As a result, dumb ideas which I entertained could be shelved while a better approach took shape. Right now, I'm left only with the last part. And I have a very clear idea of what to do about it.
Partial Recall?
This video never gets old on me. Instead of a Total Recall on Gray "not a black guy" Davis, I decided to do a Partial Recall. More specifically certain aspects of the character naming. Initially, the elven way of naming involved English suffix and either a dies (for male) or vron (for female) in between. I decide to change things up a bit. Instead of the gender-based dies or vron, I decided to use eos. Despite the actual Eos being a giant Greek woman and the recent non-binary movement, I'm not interested in being part of a revolution. In fact, my moral view on politics is scarily close to how Geralt of Rivia views human nature from the Northern Kingdoms to the Nilfgaardian Empire and beyond.
Secondly, the last name will be converted to a combination of Irish and German. In the original version, the last name is made up of two words. In the new version, the first word would be Irish and the second German. However, modifications will be done so the letters would flow better to the eyes (at least for mine).
Then there's Yaguryeo. One nagging crone in my head all the while involved the fact that Japanese and Korean don't always combine that well. There were moments when I wondered whether I've created something unnaturally nuclear. So now, I'm going to make some changes. The combination of Japanese and Korean will still be there. However, I need to modify things with the Japanese language as the base.
Now you may wonder how can this be done. Sure, the Yayoi were never from Japan. That'd be the Jomon people albeit I suspect not a lot of Japanese would like to deal with it unless they're either Ainu or Ryukyuan. I'll just display examples in the next part and you'd know what I'm trying to do.
As for the Causacean names, I decided to make them closer to the real-life geographical scale. The Hallenian Empire clearly got nothing to do with the Hallyu Empire. The Hallenians are fashioned after the ancient Greeks. More specifically, it's associated with the word Hellenistic instead of someone called Helen of Troy. The Teutonians are inspired by the Germanic-Saxon people with the term Teutons as the naming blueprint. For Slarvea, the idea of Slarvs is clearly created with the Slavs in mind. No, I don't want a cookie from Putin. Despite the harshness of my life so far, I don't want to end it.
Examples of names
It's self-explanatory. First up would be the Asians. Then those who fit the Japanese phrase この人で無し. Racially speaking, of course.
Original: Yaguryeo
Modified: Yaguryo
Original: Kagetsu no Ji'Yeon
Modified: Kagetsu no Ji'Yon
Original: Heihou no Tae'Geuk
Modified: Heihou no Tai'Go
Original: Nanaya no Tae'Jin
Modified: Nanaya no Tai'Jin
Original: Aeravor dies Steelborn
Modified: Aeravor eos Iarlben
Original: Edeaux dies Serpentwine
Modified: Edeaux eos Nimhein
Original: Ioin dies Bladefort
Modified: Ioin eos Imear
Note 1: Please don't use words like この人で無し and この野郎 as if they're cool words to be used by cool kids if you're in Japan. As my 友達 Randy and Lydia can testify since they're currently in Saitama as permanent residents, that's called scolding people. And in a Japanese society prizing harmony even more so than in Singapore, that's a very easy way to get yourself into trouble.
Note 2: The reason why I decided to leave out the Causacean names is that quite a number of them would not be under any recall. This is because names like Cale and Lukas are accidentally Greek enough. At the same time, I don't want to do things while having the impression my focus would implode at any given moment. This is due to the numbers of the human population dancing in my head. So no, I'm not siding with progressives.
Note 3: The given names would sound as close to the original version as possible. The logic behind this is trying to find a common ground in linguistic pronunciation. Whatever meaning behind the given names, however, should still be considered Korean instead of Japanese. As for the prefix, the Japanese meaning would be retained.
Note 4: One trick I'm utilising is the usage of root words. The Irish word for steel is Cruach while the Irish term for serpent is Nathair. As for the blade, it's Iann. However, it could be said that from iron (Iarann) comes steel, a serpent is defined by its venom (Nimh), and edge (Imeall) is the concept behind the blade. For the German side, it's more about making the last name flow better. The word born is also associated with life. In German, life would be translated as Leben. For wine, it's Wein. As for the concept of a fort, it's associated with walls. In German, that'd be called Mauer.
P.S: To end this post, I decide to remind Ms Tang of the Yellowstone bear T-shirt and Mr Chin of his past of meaningful people watching with his son XL. That plus the reaction of Mrs Chin as a result (i.e. "Can you two don't look at others so conspicuously?"). If anyone thinks Ryan is the most problematic person in the same building every Sunday, this is my way of proving people wrong. I do have the memory span of Han Xin and Fa Zheng, believe it or not.
Add P.S: Again, credit to Alina "not Triss Merigold" Gingertail for her rendition of the Kaer Morhen theme. Good music always helps a super great deal in maintaining my focus.
Final P.S: Special mention goes to Sawano "not Sanada" Hiroyuki and Koyabashi "no, she doesn't have a dragon maid" Mika for the song ThreeFiveNineFour. That's actually the reason why the idea to do the Partial Recall popped up. Good music always helps a super great deal in inspiration.
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