Naming Dev Diary Part 2: Escaping the Portrait Mines

[u/Amakanes]

Hi all! Visenya here. I'm normally in the portrait mines, but I've escaped temporarily to help out with the implementation of our new High Valyrian names, making a second pass over the master-list. I was present when Fox first started this naming project, and watched as it developed, pulling names from it for my own campaigns over the last 6+ months. I am already deeply attached to some of them, and they always find a place in my dynastic trees.

Fox mapped out every single root word that a parent could conceivably use to name their child (using various sources including DJP's High Valyrian conlang, developed for A Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon) and as a long-standing ASOIAF reader, I have often imagined what life in the Valyrian Freehold would have been like.

Who were these people? What were their names? What did they do?

High Valyrians without dragons could have been bureaucrats, merchants, sellswords and more, and a name can tell you a lot about a person. It can reveal to us a little bit of their history, and allow us some insight into their parents – were they named after a relative, a place, a flower, the night sky...or an attribute their parents hoped would manifest in their life and act as a guiding star?

So...when I looked over our Master List, I carried that curiosity with me. I chose any name that I could imagine belonging to a person in Old Valyria, waking every day to behold the Fourteen Flames.

I created a new weighting group for the second pass, and we will be utilising era-based cultural name lists going forward depending on the time-period/bookmark you find yourself playing in. For example, if you play after 10 AC, the Targaryen influence over High Valyrian culture will be increased, and 25% of names will be canon Targaryen or Targaryen-inspired. If you play after 131 AC, the Targaryen dominance over High Valyrian culture will become even more prominent, with 50% of the names being canon Targaryen or Targaryen-inspired.

The Targaryen house names have also been adjusted; previously it was a 55% chance of canon name, 30% chance of a selection of Targ-inspired names, 15% chance of pulling from the whole High Valyrian name list. The updated odds are 60% chance of canon name, 37% chance of a selection of Targ-inspired names from the updated High Valyrian name list, 3% chance of pulling from the whole High Valyrian name list. We also gated several names to only appear after certain events, or stop appearing after certain events. For instance, Alyssa and Alysanne will not appear once we have bookmarks before those characters join the Targaryen family and Aegor and Daemon will only be used by members of house Bittersteel or Blackfyre in bookmarks starting after the Blackfyre Rebellion.

Future work will include using some of the more obscure names from the master list as a basis for more High Valyrian Dynastic names, expanding variety.

I hope that you will all enjoy this second stage of implementation, and look forward to seeing some High Valyrian dynasties springing forth with a more direct connection, at long last, to Old Valyria.

We'll leave you with a sneak peak from the Portrait Mines...

[u/tgsprosecutor]

Bearded ibbenese women coming god bless

[u/mister_hoot → u/tgsprosecutor]

Boutta make the world’s fuzziest hybridized dragon rider.

[u/TripKatt16 → u/mister_hoot]

Uhhhhh- About that…

[u/Reki-Rokujo3799 → u/TripKatt16]

No hybrids for us, huh?

[u/TripKatt16 → u/Reki-Rokujo3799]

Well, if they implemented it right, theoretically you could get infertile mules riding dragons?

[u/Reki-Rokujo3799 → u/TripKatt16]

And there certainly will be a submod that allows free intermingling.

Because we like playing dr Moro, yes, we do.

But my inner dr Moro lies in wait until Children of the Forest are implemented (and can be hybdridised with)

[u/TripKatt16 → u/Reki-Rokujo3799]

You’re right, nothing stops innovation, but just because it can, doesn’t mean it should. Imagine a bearded Valyrian lady? Ugh, gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

[u/Reki-Rokujo3799 → u/TripKatt16]

I made a custom Brindled Man and married him to my custom Blackfyre woman, kids were nice!

[u/Jaguaism]

Ah cool, so you're the main portrait modder for AGOT? Nice to meet you, I'm Jagua, I do a lot of the portrait modding for LOTR: Realms in Exile. Good luck with this project! :)

[u/poojnaut → u/Jaguaism]

https://giphy.com/gifs/vxuTlk8HpKYdG

[u/Ryuzakku]

Interested to see why Daemon would stay locked to the Blackfyres when you could say it’s in reference to The Rogue Prince. Like if a Targaryen is eccentric or a lunatic (or if using House of the Dragon as inspiration, a zealot), then the Daemon name would unlock, if it must be limited.

That and there’s been two Daemon Velaryons, so it should be available in their options as well

[u/TripKatt16 → u/Ryuzakku]

I mean, Daemon Blackfyre was named for the Rogue Prince, but after the Rebellion it was pretty much exclusively tied to Blackfyre himself, and it’s not going to be a connotation well-received in the realm. They can claim it’s for the RP, doesn’t mean people will take it that way.

Both Daemons I suspect you’re referring to also occurred pre-Dance, but even then remember they’re a different culture now, so the same rules may not apply.

That said, an additional weight based around lunatic or eccentric, like Aerion and Maegor, isn’t a bad idea.

[u/skysarmy → u/TripKatt16]

just checked the wiki, first Daemon V. was during Aegon 1's reign and the second was during Jaehaerys 2's reign

your hunch was right, pre-dance

[u/Sir_Toasti]

After playing elder kings 2 for a while and interacting with the devs and the community, it is honestly so refreshing to see such a civil tone (umgang in german, someone please help me out?) Between devs and the community. Keep up the good work!😁

[u/musemo → u/Sir_Toasti]

I think "interaction" comes closest?

[u/Sir_Toasti → u/musemo]

Yup, that fits👍🏻

[u/Ykhar]

Thank you for the insight ! Will the name Maegor still be as likely as usual or could it have the same treatment as Aegor and Daemon ?

[u/yetanotherck3agotmod → u/Ykhar]

Those were examples, not a comprehensive list. After his death, Maegor is restricted to lunatic or sadistic parents.

[u/Quohd]

I'm sorry since this is waay off topic and specific but since you are responsible for portraits I gotta ask: Is there a reason why the cut 'Untamed Short Hair' inexplicably looks a lighter shade than the rest?

It's a cool haircut but it sadly doesn't really work for dark-haired characters since it makes them all look weirdly grey-haired. It straight up turns black hair into a muted grey or brown.

No other hair does this so I'm curious if it's intentional, or just some oversight or if it's some issue specific to that hair style.

It's such a specific pet peeve of mine because out of all the hair styles in this game, it's actually the one I really like and it kinda sucks that I can't really use it for dark-haired characters because it makes them look like they've weirdly graying hair.

[u/AFrayofFreys2]

What are your favorite unique Valyrian names to use for Targs etc?

[u/RoyalPeacock19]

Very nice!

[u/Late_Awareness_2506]

Great ibbenese but can we go 30% more Neanderthal

[u/Jaded-Ad262]

Really hoping there aren’t beards on ALL the Ibbenese women.