I thought there might be some interest in how some of the names came to be. Some are pretty much just made upon with no underlying thought to them (Daalus being the most clear cut, and Elthgar a close second).
- Delev is a tweaked anagram of Devil.
- Barel was a name that took the Greek word for son (“Bar”) and merged it with a Hebrew word for God (or gods: “El”). To my embarrassment this was before I realized the underlying languages were different. This ultimately is a reference to higher level angels that are referred to at various points in the Bible (Genesis 6 and Job 1-2 are the chief examples).
- Poleysez was originally an alien race that could shapeshift in a sci-fi series I had started writing in High School, and their native form was bird-like. The name always makes me think of a parrot saying “Poly says, I want a cracker” or some similar nonsense.
- Tuon is the name an indigenuous tribe gave to a missionary that meant big nose. Being bear-like the Tuons are definitely big nosed. One note: For most of the draft period, I had the plural of Tuon as Tuon — just like Deer and Sheep. I changed it to Tuons for clarity sake, but it sneaks in at places (like the first episode title which had already been produced). In terms of language inspiration, I can’t help but picture the Tuons as like the vikings, so a simplified phonetic spelling of Swedish is sometimes used.
- Maeuw were originally Petalir which was definitely a nonsense name. I was encouraged by a few people to make it something more cat-like, hence a reference to a cat meowing.
- God is referred to by many names throughout the Bible, but for simplicity sake I use 2 names exclusively, and they highlight different parts of God’s character: Yah Elyon is used when God’s strength, power, and sovereignty are being referenced, and El Roi is used when God’s all-seeing, all-knowing attributes are being used (Hagar’s story from Genesis 16 is what inspired this primary usage).
- Torial was originally Toreal and of course inspired by Israel. The name changed when feedback I got at a writers workshop was that Toreal was actually a reference to it not being real (To Real) and that thought had never occurred to me. I changed it to clear up any potential confusion.
- Senas is an anagram for Seans (ie, lots of the author).
- Nanae was an attempt to make a race name that something sheep-like would make.