The people of the mountains have two names. The first is their personal names, which they are known by. Unlike imperial subjects, the second name doesn’t come from their father, but from the camp in which they were born. This is called a "clan name". It is the custom from the lowliest fur trapper to the children of Dukes. For example, all children born of Camp Bejuk are called ______ Bejuk, regardless of their parentage.

  Women who marry men outside of their camps retain their original names, and their children are named according to the camp they are born to. Under this system, it is possible for a couple to bear different clan names from each other, as well as their own children.

  The exception to this custom is the children of the Shak.

  Firstly, the Shak’s children are named according to the camp their mother came from. This is to honour the ancient diplomatic ties between the Shak’s camp and its vassals. For example, the child of Kaolin Shana is considered a child of Camp Kaolin, even if they were not born there, and are named as such.

  Secondly, there is an additional element to the names of Shakje and Shali: the royal particle.

  “je”, meaning “son” or “prince”, is placed after the given name of a shakje.

  Eg. Rae je Kaolin

  “li” is used in the same way for a shali.

  Eg. Nuna li Ashem

  Only the children of the Shak receive this treatment, grandchildren and other relatives follow the ordinary naming system.

  Titles are often affixed after a person’s personal name or clan name. For example:

  Ashem-shana (the Ashem Shana)

  Bejuk-daesha (Duke Bejuk)

  Sebi-shi (Master Sebi)

  Ashem-Besum (Young lady Ashem)

  Please peruse the following charts to learn some common names and titles used by the mountain people.

  Greetings, I’m the author of The Barbarian’s Tale, here to teach you how the characters in this story are named.

  You need: a 20-sided dice, and an 8-sided dice.

  STEP ONE: Roll the 20-sided dice to choose a consonant.

  1. SKIP

  2. B

  3. D

  4. F

  5. G

  6. J

  7. K*

  8. L

  9. M*

  10. SKIP

  11. N*

  12. P

  13. R*

  14. S

  15. Sh

  16. T*

  17. V

  18. W

  19. Z

  20. SKIP

  (Note: the consonants marked with an * can be the final sound in a word. Otherwise, all words end in a vowel sound.)

  STEP TWO: And roll the 8-sided dice to choose a vowel

  1. A

  2. Ae

  3. Ao

  4. E

  5. I

  6. O

  7. U

  8. SKIP

  STEP THREE: Keep doing this until you have a string of letters that sound nice. Feel free to cheat if you have to, but keep it secret.

  STEP FOUR: Assign a meaning for the name you created. There are no rules here. Do whatever you want.

  STEP FIVE: Comment with the name you created and its meaning.

  This work is also on and tends to be updated there more frequently. I post the chapter in smaller parts there, and only update here once the entire chapter is up on Tapas.

  Thank you for reading.