Right, so, thanks to Twisted my naming problem has partially been solved. Now I'm onto a slightly more difficult task and a LORD-HAVE-MERCY task. The first is kinda simple to fix; I just have to sit down and run out a list of all the Nephilim, and since I already have like nine of the sixteen done already, the rest should be fine.
The second is more of a tougher issue, and requires a bit of a back-explanation. In the course of creating this universe I ended up with my own species, whom I dubbed Allamorphs after doing a bit of research and word-mushing (greek; allaso + morfi; form changers). However, the only place I can use that name is in the future timeline, when the species is supposedly extinct, or so diluted with normal blood that the physical traits are gone, and the race is referred to in a sort of scientific-anomaly manner of speaking. Thus, allamorphs.
However, I still need a species name. My initial preference, given that this race is heavily patriarchal, is to name the species after the first—or rather, the first leader, in this case. Problem with that is that I'm having trouble latching onto the naming system for this species. At first I was going to have them all use a letter, an apostrophe, and the rest of their name (i.e., V'mon), but not only is this very awkward when dealing with large numbers and feels kind of childish in retrospect, it also feels as if I'm drawing too heavily on Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, where all dragonriders' names were shortened (i.e., F'lar) as an honorific, to indicate their status. I balk at any hints of plagiarism, so now I'm in a pickle. I've been thinking with that naming system for about six-ish years, and it's hard to drag myself away.
Point of clarification, the species is very animal oriented. However, they are NOT ANTHRO. Can't stand what's happened to that genre. Makes me feel sick that I'm even tenuously related to them.
Right, so the allamorphs are an inherently magical species, possessing the ability to switch between one (and only one) animal form, humanoid form, and a hybrid stage that resembles the classic Werebeast state—you know, bipedal, lower legs still with the extended ankle/foot thing (in the felis and lupus categories, at any rate; bears and birds are a bit tricksy), 'bout half-again as big as regular human shape, scary-nasty, etc.
Got my own set of rules for them, so they don't get out of hand and what. I hate convenient overpowered stuff; the only reason I have them in existence is to explain some later traits in other areas and to explore that kind of mindset. Stuff includes when the focus shifted from being animals who could assume human form (which was what they were initially) to being humans who could take animal form, what age a child allamorph chooses their beast (and what they look like until that happens), feature retention and stuff like that. I might dedicate a post to them sometime, provided my ideas are respected. I don't want mah stuff ganked.
The trait-retention is a key thing, though. All allamorphs retain their sentience in animal form, but otherwise they're basically just regular, somewhat larger animals with a good deal of the same instincts. Allamorphs are exclusively predatory land beasts or birds (no giraffes or elephants or such; drawing a were-rhino would be hell) and so typically have no problems eating raw meat; one of my main characters (black panther) hunts when he can get the opportunity, whether or not he's around regular humans.
As humans, the only visible traits that are retained are the eyes (very easy to pick out in most cases, since many allamorphs as a result have no whites) and fur/feather coloration, which translates into hair color. So a red-tipped hawk would have brown hair red blazes just over each ear, and a tiger's hair would be rather interesting to look at. Allamorphs also retain slightly heightened senses, though nowhere near those in their animal/hybrid forms, and a bit of an animalistic mindset. Most wolves tend to roam in packs, human form or not, birds tend to prefer open spaces, and the black panther I mentioned before cannot stand rain. (Messes with his fur and generally puts him in an absolutely vile mood.)
Hybrid form needed some tweaking, or else it'd become overused since there wouldn't be much of a reason to ever leave it. Basically I made it to wear an allamorph could only access it in cases of severe emotional (or physical; still working out those kinks) stress, or in times of war. Considering the sheer power gain from taking this form, anything else would have rendered it useless and trite. And sometimes I think I still don't have enough restrictions.
At any rate, I'm debating what to call them, and now I need to go back and figure our how their naming works so I can see how it evolved, trace it back to the origin, find the original leader's name, and go from there. Fun fun. (No, really. I find the process fascinating, really.)
And lastly, I decided about last year that I'm going to format all of my chapters/segments after various musical forms. In Sterling's timeline, I'll be starting with simple stuff like Sonata-allegro form and maybe some song cycles, and I plan on culminating with a book structured as a full-blown mass. I don't expect a lot of people to understand it right away (especially since a few of my titles will be in either Latin or Italian), but I think it'll help set the mood for a lot of what I do, since most of my writing is heavily influence by music.
Seriously. It's like music gives me this third eye or something.
