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Names in Bonfire Stars

With the first star-chart done, I wanted to highlight some of the reasoning behind naming conventions in Bonfire Stars!


A question this map brings to mind: "Why would people thousands of years into the future name systems like ancient Greece?"

The answer, in a nutshell: They wouldn't. The names on this map aren't meant quite so literal.



Short of creating an entirely new language and history like Tolkien's legendarium, I believe entirely made-up names have a hard time conveying any meaning or evoking much of an atmosphere. Referential names make this much easier. So, instead of putting a big glossary out there, I'll rely on history and other themes!


If there's a star system named Babylon, this isn't to say that civilizations far into the future suddenly experienced a Mesopotamian revival. It just means to convey that this system has a name that carries with it similar notions of a cosmopolitan metropolis of ancient times to the people who hear it in the 'present' of the setting. But, just like we wouldn't expect people in this era to speak literal modern-day English, that doesn't mean the in-universe name is literally Babylon.


This is an approach I intend to continue with most naming schemes and descriptions of the Bonfire Stars project. Everything is shown through a lens trying to evoke the right meaning and atmosphere people in the universe would understand – none of it is a 1:1 record.

1 Comment


Rohan Sinha
Rohan Sinha
Sep 09, 2022

I feel like more people need to see this post when concerning your map. Overall though, I like the idea of naming systems and place after similar places from history to evoke the same feeling that those places may have evoked during the zenith of their era.

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