Red Dragon

[food]

Small change. I'm going to start translating 黄爛 as Huanglan, instead of Huang Lan. It will make things easier to have it as one instead of two words when writing about it.

Why though?

Even though the players acknowledge the Chinese backgrounds, they still stick with Japanese reading for all names.

See the part where they discussed Gen's character's name.

For "黄爛", the reading provided is Koran.

[Lianru]

Because it's fun. And because GLORIOUS CHINA.
Especially since Gen really only asked about the Japanese because he thought it would be easier to pronounce for Japanese people. (I'll admit that Japanese is easier to pronounce than Chinese especially on a Japanese weaboo forum, but if we're anglicizing things like Meryll instead of Meriru, why not chineseify things like Lou Zhenjie instead of Rou Shinkai?)

[food]

Because it is super hard to recognize, read, and type.

And it really does not provide any additional benefit or convenience.

You get the situation of English-speakers struggling to grapple the names, and the people who read the Japanese script having a tough time understanding who you are talking about.

[mewarmo990]

I won't bullshit you with cultural/linguistic justifications. It's just personal preference. And because I said it first :P
I'm just sick of stupid on'yomi readings for Chinese names in everything. It's not like I directly transliterating the pseudo-European characters into romaji, either.

If it helps, I can provide a list of A = B.

The provided reading for Qisha Tianling (Urobuchi's talking sword) is actually non-onyomi Chinese, though it's slightly off.

For English readers, it doesn't make a difference as long as we're consistent. For Japanese readers, well, you already know what's happening anyway.

[yokushi]

I think it's better to have the chinese readings if just because setting consistency. Huanglan/Koran is obviously a chinese-like country, while Nil Kamui is the japanese one.

[mewarmo990]

I think it's better to have the chinese readings if just because setting consistency. Huanglan/Koran is obviously a chinese-like country, while Nil Kamui is the japanese one.

^if you want a high concept explanation from me, this would be it.

They went through the trouble of creating distinct cultural backgrounds. We might as well try to keep some of that flavor in translation. And it's just names.

- - - Updated - - -

[food]

Alright alright, Chinese weeaboos. It's fair to go with the Chinese reading, lol. Don't stone me if I totally butcher the Chinese names though.

[mewarmo990]

The World

A world shaped by cold war between two powers

The world is locked in a stalemate between two great nations. D'natia, formed under a pact with three of Seven Dragons, once ruled the entire world but stagnates in slow decline. Opposite it stands Huanglan, a land once invaded by D'natia but now rising with the sun itself. And in the middle of the the tension lies Nill Kamui, an island nation.



Nill Kamui

The setting of our story -- the island where the dead return to life.

Once covered in wilderness, this island is being heavily colonized and developed by D'natia and Huanglan, and its natives are governed by an administrative capital now divided into three parts.

Due to the intricate "mana streams" weaving throughout the land, the island experiences unexplainable extremes in climate. Most people, aside from those around the cities and a select few highways, live in constant fear of the many demonic beasts roaming the land. It is not uncommon for a town or village to be completely wiped out by monsters; even walled towns are frequently destroyed.

A unique religion exists on the island, devoted to worshipping those of the Imperial line. In contrast, a caste system is also practiced, dividing up classes of humans (or monsters) into Bound Ones, near-human Hybrids, and so forth. Nill Kamui contains many such peculiarities, but the most noteworthy are the Returned, people resurrected from the dead via the interaction between the mana streams and human souls. Though researchers from D'natia and Huanglan have flocked to the island to study this extraordinary phenomenon, they have yet to understand its mechanism.

The island was once the battleground for the Seven Years' War between D'natia and Huanglan, though it now serves as a buffer state. However, since one of the Seven Dragons, the Red Dragon, carved out its own domain on Nill Kamui, tensions between these powers have swelled to a head...

D'natia

The world's greatest military power, blessed by the Black Dragon

An expansive empire far to the east of Nill Kamui, D'natia treads a mighty path, covering 80% of the Ahdelbeid continent, leading the world in magical and scientific development, and protected by legions of brave knights. Its progress was accelerated by an order of magnitude over 200 years ago, when D'natia formed a pact with three dragons, beginning with the Dark Dragon. It launched a new wave of expansion, colonizing Nill Kamui and even taking a portion of rival Huanglans territory. The empire's most formidable force is the Order of the Dark Dragons, graced by the patron deity itself.

Those Dark Dragon Knights who have directly formed pacts with the dragon number only thirty, yet a single knight is fully a match for one thousand troops. The Dark Dragons are comprised of eight companies of both true and vassal knights, commanded by the remarkably charismatic Dark Dragon Knights themselves.

Currently, the Dark Dragons' Third Company is deployed to Nill Kamui. It is commanded by Simeon Tourikov, the youngest person to have ever become a Black Dragon Knight.

The root of D'natia's national power is the Church, worshiped throughout D'natia as the sole religion. Thanks to this faith, D'natian forces possess exceedingly high unit cohesion. The Church's one and only God values justice, and seeks out those who would carry out its righteous will. Righteousness is strength, and that strength has translated into D'natia's development as a society. Although the Church may have necessarily adopted this doctrine in order to grow, its members truly believe in the virtue of bringing civilization to humanity, in the name of the Lord's justice.

However, over the past several decades, the danger of Huanglan's militarization and counteroffensive have ceased to be the empire's sole concern. Also plaguing D'natia are domestic problems such as overexpansion of national borders, an inefficient aristocracy, petty rivalries between the Church and military, the question of imperial succession, and so on and so forth. Due to this, D'natian territory has begun to shrink.

Huanglan

A new dominion rises, driven by economics and technology

The multicultural nation of Huanglan is governed by the Spirit Mother, whose soul is said to be endlessly reborn via the wheel of reincarnation. Its national character stresses equality, and spiritual growth above all. Preferring commerce and sorcery over matters of conquest, it is a nation of philosophers.

Through the Tao system of magic, specializing in self-cultivation, Huanglanhas established itself as the dominant western power. Nonetheless, it has had a bitter experience with D'natia over the past century, owing to the latter's prowess at warfare.

However, thanks to the efforts of the generals known as the Six Heroes, as well as the army and navy's use of cutting-edge gunpowder technology, Huanglan has recently begun to regain some of its lost territory. Even though these legendary generals have played a central role in military interventions in Nill Kamui, they view it as but one step in a much larger plan.

On the other hand, as a monetary economy, Huanglan has managed to stay well ahead of its rival. While in D'natia the standardization of currency would be an impossible undertaking due to the competing influences of powerful nobles, the centralized authority of the Spirit Mother enabled Huanglan to quickly reform its currency. Because of this, economic development has been rapid, and speaking in terms of pure production it will soon be double the size of D'natia.

Huanglan has no state religion. At present, the Eight Claw Clan, which worships the Mother of All Huanglan -- the Spirit Mother -- and the Hall of Heavenly Oracles, which promotes enlightened altruism, command roughly equal favor in the Spirit Mother's eyes.

[Lianru]

The Chuch, yeaaah (sorry)

Also chinese brofist

[Sherrinford]

Thank you mewarmo, I was looking forward a geographical explanation.

... dammit, for some time now I can't help to notice a Japanese Anti-Americanism of sorta in Japanese media that deals of such things... but after all in this case it's not accentuated.

(Also, Lianru, making fun of typos is my job )

[ItsaRandomUsername]

So is it Donatia or D'natia? :V Because Lianru and mewarmo are using different romanizations here.

[mewarmo990]

World page is translated.

So is it Donatia or D'natia? :V Because Lianru and mewarmo are using different romanizations here.

For now, I'm going to go back and change all of my "D'natia" to Donatia. If I hate it I can always Find/Replace again.

I'd also like to establish Kouran as "Huang'lan". The apostrophe is there to clarify pronunciation (so it's not "hwan glan") and I thought it would be weird for both country names to have apostrophes. I think it's a good balance.

[Mcjon01]

But Donatia sounds like the kind of cheesy name you'd see in an after school special about why charity is awesome. The Kingdom of Donatia, at war with the Gree-Dee Empire.

[mewarmo990]

I'm going to be editing/proofreading from now on. Changes will be made to the internal Google Docs and Lianru will update the posts as they go live.

What we're aiming for is more variation and consistency in the speaking styles of different characters, and above all, increased accuracy in translation.

But Donatia sounds like the kind of cheesy name you'd see in an after school special about why charity is awesome. The Kingdom of Donatia, at war with the Gree-Dee Empire.

LOL I had the same thought as you when I was describing "Donatian" things. It sounds like "donation" if you mispronounce it "do-nay-shun" instead of "do-nah-ti-a".

I mean, I COULD change it back because I prefer D'natia. But we have to make up our minds and Lianru wanted Donatia.

For those of you just joining us, the official site actually contains both romanizations so it's weird. Japan does that.

[Petrikow]

In that one English trailer for Red Dragon they pronounce it in a way that makes me think it's supposed to be D'natia

See for yourself



at 0:42

[mewarmo990]

Like I said, I am totally pro-D'natia because I don't want it to look like "Donation". Once Lianru is on board I will gladly change it back.

[Petrikow]

Like I said, I am totally pro-D'natia because I don't want it to look like "Donation". Once Lianru is on board I will gladly change it back.

Marvelous! Just adding another perspective. Though it still confuses me that the trailer was in English for some reason.

[Ratman]

Now, that isn't exactly Engrish, but it's still a cheesy accent.

[aldeayeah]

This stuff is fun. Is Eiha gone for good? (killed in the prelude, lol). And if she is, is Kougyoku gone too or is she getting another character?

Kinoko Nasu: Just a moment, just a moment! FM, what are you doing! Miss Kougyoku is making a horrible face! Her eyes are already dead!
FM: Well, I wonder what happened. (Monotonous)

lol

[Lianru]

Honestly, I never thought of it as donation. After seeing that I agree, D'natia is probably better.
But...I dislike the idea of Huang'lan. Apostrophes are only used in pinyin when it's possible to mistake a word, like Xi'an (two words) instead of Xian (one word). Since "glan" is not a word I'd keep it as Huanglan or if you want to separate it, Huang Lan (which is what I would prefer). /massivenitpickingi'msorry
And like you said, it's weird for both countries to have apostrophes.