 December 28, 2013 - 7:07pm | Thread on known SF names but also ideas for naming new ships and how cultures might go about it and also anything useful from sci-fi or real life... including history and lore. The Flying Dutchman story must have a Spacer version for instance. Or what are the customs surrounding ship naming? Or how come those Chinese ship names translate funny in RL and could that happen in SF: {http://www.jiawen.net/Chinesenames.html#NamesForShips} This is a thread to get us thinking... ships probably have a Pan-Galactic Name but also have a port/culture of origin name like you see on Chinese Ships (with both Asain Characters and the English Name) that has been translated into Pan-Galactic. So unless the builder/owner intended the ship to have the Pan-Galactic Name only a ship might have 2 names in 2 different alphabets, and the Pan-Galactic might translate funny. Also some names might be traditional like Humans might have a good luck name like "Molly Brown" that no one can explain but it's traditional. Maybe the humans no longer know what a "Molly" is or what "Brown" means but it is good luck! So there are tons of ships named Molly Brown + a number. Also you got to figure there are Spacer Rules in the UPF and the Rim and the various governments that might require some thought... a new race even if friendly could end up in a paperwork nightmare if they visit the wrong spacestation... first contact by paperpushers (rule number 1 no one is happy till the paperwork is in order). Some real life Spacecraft:
<!--[if gte mso 9]> NASA Spacecraft Names: <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Mercury Missions: <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> M3: Freedom 7 M4: Liberty Bell 7 M6: Friendship 7 M7: Aurora 7 M8: Sigma 7 M9: Faith 7 <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Gemini Missions: <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> G3: Molly Brown G4: American Eagle (Not used) G5: Lady Bird (Not used) G6-G12: No Names Allowed <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Apollo Missions: <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> A1: No Name A7: No Name A8: Columbiad (not used) A9: Gumdrop (CM) & Spider (LM) A10: Charlie Brown (CM) & Snoopy (LM) A11: Columbia (CM) & Eagle (LM) A12: Yankee Clipper (CM) & Intrepid (LM) A13: Odyssey (CM) & Aquarius (LM) A14: Kitty Hawk (CM) & Antares (LM) A15: Endeavor (CM) & Falcon (LM) A16: Casper (CM) & Orion (LM) A17: America (CM) & Challenger (LM) <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Skylab <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Space Shuttles: <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Inspiration (Mock Up) Pathfinder (Trainer) <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Enterprise Constitution (Columbia’s originally proposed name) Atlantis Challenger Columbia Discovery Endeavor <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Other American Spacecraft: Virgin Galactic SpaceShipOne and White Knight SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two SpaceShipThree <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Soviet: <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Buran Spacecraft: <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Buran (Snowstorm or Blizzard) Burya (Tempest) Ptichka (Little Bird) Baikal <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Soyuz Program: (Union) Vostok Program: (Orient or East) Voskhod Program: (Ascent or Dawn) <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Spacestation: <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Almaz (Diamond) Mir (Peace or World) Salyut (Salute or Fireworks) "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
 December 31, 2013 - 1:09pm | I have a player that complains about so many Sci-Fi ships having Celtic sounding names. I'm pretty sure I've seen ships in modules with Vruskan sounding names. ----------------------------------------------- |
 December 31, 2013 - 2:49pm | I have always had ships with names from each of the Core Four, and in fact changed some of the ship names in the modules to make it all seem less human-centered. For example, the official names for the three Spacefleet battleships are: the Admiral Morgaine the Admiral Clinton the Admiral Harsevoort To me, those all sound like human names, but I'm not quite sure about Harsevoort. Anyway, in my campaign, the names of these battleships are: the Vincent Morgaine the Growlon Loll the Hi'Koi'Kal There are quite a few Yazirian names among my Spacefleet ships, and after SWII, there are even a few names from among the indigenous heroes of Volturnus, such as Ul-Mor & Kurabanda names. |
 December 31, 2013 - 5:40pm | Harsevoort could be a Dutch name or something close to that but I've always interpreted it as a Yazirian name of a ship captain who was 2nd in command to Morgaine in the 2nd common Muster as that seems fitting. Harsevoort was a clan chief from a the Knar-Kenda clan of Hentz (SFman #8 Yazirian clan article by Shadow shack) This clan is aggressive and closely allied with Anglan clan which controlls the Fo1 which makes sense that they might be movers and shakers within the system militia thus Harsevoort as a clan chief and militia commander was a natural choice for 2nd in command of the 2nd Common Muster. He fought bravely by Morgaines side and fell in the great battle over Morgaine's world. His friendship with Morgaine is legendary and rankled the fur of the leaders of Clan Anglann who chose to ignore it rather than make an issue of it and alienate the clan that was their closest ally. In the Clan Knar-Kenda garden of remembrance is a statue commemorating both Harsevoort and Morgaine. it has the distinction of being the only statue of a non yaziriaon on the surface of Hentz. While many warriors from Knar-Kendra take service in the Hentz militia some actually take service in the Royal Marines of Clarion in honor of the memory of Admiral Morgaine. Since Morgaine was formally adopted into the Knar-Kendra clan and he organized the Royal Marines warriors of the clan treat the Royal Marines of Clarion as an allied clan. Its an honor thing and it irritates the Fo1 but again they dont want to create a break with their storngest ally. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 2, 2014 - 4:38pm | I agree the names of many ships are very human... though a few appear not to be, having Harsevoort being Yazirian is nice, some ship names would be in Pan-Galactic I think (which for me in game play is pretty much English). Bossmoss I like your battleship names better than Admiral whatever in the game. I did notice that in the rules it implies the humans where first into battle because they had been outfitting ships to fight pirates and the other three races... (I guess the colonies/races where not getting along as well as they should have been) which makes me wonder if the humans were gearing up to take control of the frontier when Bazinga! The Sathar attack! Now everyone has a common enemy who kills with no restraint and clearly wants to commit genocide as far as all 4 races are concerned this changes everything. So no more empire building by the humans or anyone else, now it is survival for all 4 civilizations or certain death for all, add for what ever reason everyone is cut off from their homeworlds, (plague may have been part of that), suddenly all 4 need to rethink how to get along to survive. But if humans where in the forefront of warship making (because they were going to attack or were attacking the other races) then that would explain all the human names at least in SWI and just post SWI as a good chunk of the ships, crews, heros and defense of the frontier would have been human ships. The need to keep the coalition of the UPF strong would then have encouraged a more PC merging of fleets, fleet training weeks between races and planet militias and the UPF, races being integrated on ships, officer exchange programs, and military ship design all 4 races could use together and a move toward "cooperation" to build and improve ties between very different races. This is not to say there would not be future conflicts between colonies but the governments/races of colonies would have a vested interest in the UPF being able to help them in an emergency so they would likely support mutual defense schemes and naturally they would want their citizens/races in the UPF fleet as insurance against the UPF fleet being misused as an invasion fleet by any one race or colony. I can see how Fo1 would be annoyed about integration even in the slightest of non Yazirian to Yazirian clan systems, but I can see why they would swallow that bitter pill at least while a threat exists and the clan's support has value to them. You could end up with some really strange fleet name situations, like Militia ships of a Vrusk Colony named after another races heros or ships that defended them to the bitter end. I am wondering if human lore about renaming a ship being unlucky would just be a human thing, that the other races find strange. Other races might think differently about ship naming practices. Vrusk might prefer names about profit or just things like PGC1, Yazs could prefer war/power/hunter names, Drals might be philosophical or real bad puns, for instance. So you could have merchant ships with names that in Pan Galactic mean: Joy Profit, Flower Bounty, Sword, Fast Hunter, Time is Relative or a tug called Tug On This, or Bubble Bobble, ... some names might come out all wrong... like a name might mean "You Only Live Twice" but is translated to "You Die Twice" or "Pretty Women" could translate to "I Will Marry A Prostitute and Save Money" or take Japanesse "maru" means circle but is common in ship names (there is a logical reason for it in Japanese)... so a ship could have a name like Flower Circle, or Profit Circle or Circle Love in English. A ship named "Zombie" might translate in Pan Galactic or another language "Dead People Rissing Up To Kill" Or you could end up with RL names in English as 1st language like: USLHT/USCGC Pansy INS Mysore USS Brinkley Bass HMS Nabob USS Nuthatch HMS Fairy HMS Geranium Flower USS Barnstable County USCGC Mistletoe USAV Runnymede HMS Cockchafer HMS Prince Consort Other RL names: Titan Uranus Superdong Breakin Wind Passing Wind Itza-Du-Zea Show Me The Money Runs With Scissors Erika Schulte Fox Maiden Ecstacy Rotterdam IV A Ladybug Gay Clipper Called In Sick One Moor Time Plan B AFEICA (Another Flipping Experience I Can't Afford) Almost Home Cause For Divorce Deeper In Debt Deferred Maintenance Yikes! Undertow A Crewed Intrerest The Loan Ranger Biopsea Bow Movement Autopsea Spank Me Rumple IVskin Maid of Plywood "Weazel" & the tender "One Eye" Dances with Sheep The World's Largest Prairie Dog Shoot Low They're Riding Chickens Pirate Ships The Cursed Cutlass of the North Killers Disgrace The Damned Treasure of the Seven Seas Seas Whore The Scurvy Killer The Poison Sadness The Death of the Ocean Devils Treasure Play on the "Sea" and "See" and "C" is common in names of RL boats. I imagine there would be at least a few "Star" names too... Star Struck Super Star Dead Star Falling Star Star Light Star Lite Lite A Star Star Killer etc Also the word "Jump" Go Ahead And Jump Just Jump Jump It Jump To Jump Jump Off Run 'N Jump Jump Away Just saying there have been some weird, funny and what were they thinking names? So I imagine the same would happen in the frontier. Spacestation chatter to ships might be way funny some days.  "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
January 2, 2014 - 5:05pm | I'm for yazirians being traditional and once something is named and has honor attached they absolutely would not rename it lest you invalidate the stongs and stories about it or anger the spirits of the warriors that fought on or with that item be it an honor sword or a star ship. Dralasites rename ships to reflect change in its status like an exploration scout ship named Traveller comes back from a long arduous but successful journey and they rename it Far Traveller, Star Traveller, or Great Traveller. A common vrusk naming convention in naming ships (but by no means the only vrusk naming convention) is to name them after their company with a designation of its place or value to the company. For example a company call Z'nn'ck would have ships whose names would translate into Pan Gal as First of Z'nn'ck, Second of Z'nn'k and so on but if the First of Z'nn'ck was destroyed or retired the Second of Z'nn'ck would become First of Z'nn'ck to reflect its new place in the company's fleet. Humanity renames ships when a ship is seriously overhauled or if an old derelick is sold to someone else they will typically rename it. Like when the USS Phoenix was sold to Argentina and was renamed as the ARA General Belgrano (subsequently sunk by the British in the Fauklands war). The Vrusk and Dralasites have pointed out that this process is very much like their name changing convention and that they dont see what humanities problem is. As for commenting on the yazirian convention most with and wisdom abstains from doing so. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
