Barbarian self-name?
Posted: Fri 03 Jan 2025, 23:38
by ruinedCaribet
OK, so Symbaroum is very much portrayed from the perspective of the Ambrians... "we are *Ambrians*, *they* are *barbarians"".
But I doubt the "barbarians" call themselves "barbarian", nor is their common shared language "barbarian"... that's just a derogatory term from the Ambrians.
What do the Barbarian peoples call themselves? Not the specific clans, but their people as a whole? What do they name their language?
For that matter, what do they call the Ambrians?"!?
Re: Barbarian self-name?
Posted: Sat 04 Jan 2025, 23:38
by Falenthal
While there's no official naming for the barbarians, there's a fanmade document that has a great quality: Karvosi - People of the North.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/es/product ... -symbaroum
It was mentioned by the authors of Symbaroum and said that it could be considered canon. There, the name that is suggested that they give themselves as a folk is
Karvosi:
The term barbarians was shaped by the Ambrian people.
It is actually a abusive word for people who cannot speak
properly and who have no culture. It is therefore very
unlikely that the people north of the Titans would give
themselves this name.
Certainly the northern denizens originally only referred
to themselves as humans, as a separation from all the
other beings that live here, such as goblins, elves, ogres
and whatever else the forest harbors. What this humans
all unites is that they acknowledge Karvosti as a kind of
spiritual center that inherits an authority over the
individual clans. They have all committed sending their
best fighters to the Wraithguard and accepting
Karvosti's verdicts. So they all took an oath on Kavosti. It
would therefore make sense to call them Karvosi.
Re: Barbarian self-name?
Posted: Mon 06 Jan 2025, 17:13
by ruinedCaribet
thanks - that's an insightful observation. (I'm running Ruins of Symbaroum so I don't have a shelf of original Symbaroum books.)