Help me with a name for a Prussian necromancer

[Dalillama]

I need an appropriately ominous-sounding name and title for a centuries old Prussian aristocrat who sustains his unnatural existence by eating the life-force of weaker magi. He also traffics with demons, breeds unnatural horrors, and has a disturbingly large amount of wealth and influence in Prussia (he orchestrated the Franco-Prussian War to get his hands on a rival wizard).

[Railstar]

If he's Prussian, he'll have a German name and anything can sound ominous in German.

Heinrich von Mordheim (Henry of Murderhome) for example. :P

If translations matter, "Casimir" means Great Destroyer, which is great if you want to be hammy while using the word "von" which translates to "of" in English... (Casimir von Freidlichdorf = Great Destroyer of Peaceful Villages).

A list of old German names is here - http://www.gerryadamsconstruction.co...ans/names.html - you should have an easy time finding something that sounds suitably ominous.

[Anders]

Here's a list of old Prussian names (Prussians had their own language, now extinct.)

http://www.behindthename.com/submit/...-east-prussian

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Railstar

"von" which translates to "of"

A better translation in this context is "from". That's Casimir from the Peaceful Village. It's not the prepositional phrase that's the object of a verb.

You see English names like "Eleanor of Aquitaine" or "John of Gaunt", but that's a different sense of the word "of". Other than convention, you wouldn't find "Eleanor from Aquitaine" strange. John didn't rule Ghent or derive his nobility from there; he was Duke of Lancaster. And the construction was often used by commoners in England as well.

So the sense that's really missing in English is that "von" isn't just an ordinary preposition, but a "nobiliary particle"; that is, the word marks the name as indicating noble lineage. "Von" doesn't really have another grammatical function in that case. It means "descended from a noble family", not literally "from a place". (You wouldn't assume that John Smith earns a living by working metal; that's similarly overly literal.)

Sometimes you'll see both the nobiliary particle and the "from" preposition in the same name. For instance, the prince of Liechtenstein is named "von und zu Liechtenstein". He's not just from Liechtenstein, he rules the place, too, as heir of the family also named Liechtenstein.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Railstar

If he's Prussian, he'll have a German name and anything can sound ominous in German.

Yeah, but sometimes you get the Death Organisation, run by Dr Death, which turns out to be the people who build and repair the roads and run other large engineering projects. (With forced labour, granted.)

[Anders]

Or the Giant Death Ray.

[jason taylor]

Manfred Von Sperfellen?


I remember the staff officer in Patton writing "Sperfellen"-I don't know if I spelled it right-to mean "killed in action". While Manfred just sounds cool and menacing. Thus the name means "Manfred, Lord of the Slain". Which come to think of it is one of Odin's title's too, so maybe he is really Odin.

[Dalillama]

I am leaning towards Markgraf Aldric Von Todfeld (Which name, according to a combination of Behind the Name and Google Translate, means Ancient Ruler of the Field of Death). Markgraf is just a cool title. Having him be Odin is thematically inappropriate; plus, he's an even bigger jerk than Odin's usually written as.

[trooper6]

Ancient Ruler *from* the location called Field of Death

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by trooper6

Ancient Ruler *from* the location called Field of Death

Either way works, honestly. Also, I'm pretty sure that Ancient Ruler who is in charge of the location called Field of Death is a more technically accurate rendering.