Creative Words For Supreme Ruler For 15 Fantasy Races

Hi, everyone.

I am trying to create a suggestive word for an empress who rules over a matriarchal civilization.
Does anyone use a technique that they could share in creating fantasy words like these?

Thank you.

Samsonet said:

There's a SciFi/Fantasy forum that would probably be able to answer your question better.

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Thnx.

jjdebenedictis said:

I always thought Debra Doyle and (AW's favourite uncle!) James D. MacDonald's term Domina, from the Mageworld books, was a particularly great title for a female dictator/ruler/big Kahuna/empress.

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jjdeben, you are definitely on the right track.
Domina, is an excellent idea.

Filligree, Maseigne is beautiful in a way. Nice suggestion.

dpaterso said:

Depends on the language and the culture and a dozen other things that only you the author know! Is it serious? Uh... the Empress-Oracle, or whatever she has in the way of power that keeps her on the throne. Is it humorous? Big Mamma. The Grand Muthafucka.

Or maybe one or two words just isn't enough! Who wouldn't remember a title like Her Supreme Majesty, Queen Kelirehenna I, Lord of Sto Lat, Protector of the Eight Protectorates and Empress of the Long Thin Debated Piece Hubwards of Sto Kerrig.

-Derek

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I love that you made this statement, because this is where I have run into a bit of trouble.
My mind is saturated to an overwhelming level with my world building.

The thing is that I have over thirty college-sized notebooks and over 800 files saved in the cloud of my world building and dialogue.
I feel terrible, terrible, terrible, that I have to do this! But, I write my witty comments under specific categories beforehand.
I have six notebooks full of insults and pointed dialogue.
My humor, though needing setup, is categorized in three more notebooks.
Fauna and flora takes up another notebook and culture I keep in files in my cloud account.
Etc., etc. etc.
The point is I am buried under mounds of my own information to the extreme of me being devoid of any objectivity even if my ideas are bad.
I am ashamed to say that I am unable to tell my mistakes in framing my ideas.

Mr Flibble said:

Yup


Here is a list if historical tiles (male and female) that might help you out/give you ideas. But your world is your best inspiration.

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Thank you for the article.

These were what I have been agonizing over:
The Shaltana of Wardara.
The Zultana of Boundin.
The Shazelle of Miraka.
The Shitzara of Dedo.
And as an violent insult her enemies call the Shazelle the Vulturess of Miraka.

kwanzaabot said:

How about "Auntie"* or "Grandmother"?

*"Auntie" is often used IRL by indigenous Australians as a mark of respect towards elders in the community. Meanwhile, "Grandmother" I pretty much made up on the spot. If each of these 15 races are led by a "Mother" for example, then the supreme leader could be a "Grandmother".

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Good observation, and I like Grandmother. But I fear that it's many innocuous associations would render it nonpowerful to readers.

ClareGreen said:

'Domina' is Latin for 'Lady', I've used it a time or two myself for Latin-rooted characters. From the Latin for 'Emperor' we have 'Imperatrix', which is (in my opinion) a really cool word.

(I would recommend against 'Shitzara', at least if you're going to leave the 't' in. Unless you want people to shorten it for another violent insult, anyway.)

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I love Domina, Clare.

And thanx for reminding me about Imperatrix, I've been looking for it for a long time now.

AshleyEpidemic said:

It is totally stealing from AHS and your own thread title, but I absolutely loved the title of The Supreme. It just had this air to it that I can't describe. I like simple titles that focus more on status than gender though. So if I encounter The Supreme, The Divine, The Allseer, The Nonpareil or The Paramount it catches my attention.

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Good observation.
I noticed that I've become very partial to names or created words of only two syllables.

This is an over-simplification, but I find that above three syllables words or names begin to lose their impact.
Three syllables for me is the cut-off point, and it has to be special at three syllables to jolt me.
If it is a short word or title I have noticed that one syllable works best. So, all of my naming conventions adhere to these limits.

Of course, there are words that work outside of these limitations. I am just stating my taste.

ClareGreen said:

'Domina' is Latin for 'Lady', I've used it a time or two myself for Latin-rooted characters. From the Latin for 'Emperor' we have 'Imperatrix', which is (in my opinion) a really cool word.

(I would recommend against 'Shitzara', at least if you're going to leave the 't' in. Unless you want people to shorten it for another violent insult, anyway.)

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Clare, is there another way to spell shitzara or make something close?