How to Edit the Name/Nations/Religions/Etc Generator Values

One feature that really sets Worldographer apart is its ability to generate names from various cultures and details about religions, cities, ruins, and more.

This file has the current default values.  To create your own, it is best to start with this one and make small changes and test.  It is just a text file.  To tell Worldographer to use your edited version instead of its built in version, go to the “Data” menu and then choose “Update World/Name Data File”. Thereafter, until you restart Worldographer, your version will be used.

Looking at it, the file starts with naming options:

###PersonNames
PersonName=English,Chinese,Spanish
PersonName.Syllables.English=M1,M2,M3,F1,F2,F3
PersonName.Syllables.English.M1=Ains,Ald,Ar,Ash,Athel,Ax,Bar,...
PersonName.Syllables.English.M2=ley,ridge,wyn,ger,ley,stan,ton,...
PersonName.Syllables.English.F1=Af,A,Ains,Al,An,Ar,Ash,Ath,Au,Ave,Bed,...
PersonName.Syllables.English.F2=ton,gate,ley,den,dercy,dora,freda,ison,...
PersonName.Syllables.English.F3=Beda,Birdie,Blake,Bliss,Blossom,Blythe,...
####Likelihood of each PersonName construction rule (see below) where the entry is a list of values such that the part before the : is the construction rule key and the part after is the likelihood
PersonName.Construction.English=1:.45,2:.05,3:.45,4:.05
PersonName.Construction.English.1=M1,M2
PersonName.Construction.English.2=M3
PersonName.Construction.English.3=F1,F2
PersonName.Construction.English.4=F3

So that first line that isn’t a comment (starts with #) tells Worldographer that there will be names for English, Chinese and Spanish. The next line just defines what partial name sets we may have.  Then we give a list of each. Next we give the percent chance (as a decimal) to use each of any number of construction rules.  In this case, we have 4 possibilities.  Finally we have the rules spelled out.  Rule 1 will combine a random words/syllables from M1 and M2.  For example Axridge.

This is repeated for the other two languages in the linked file.

In the file, the next section is for location names following the same process but each line starts with LocationName.  Because we’re still developing the name list these aren’t yet robust/complete.  Indian location names exist but don’t yet have a person name section, for example.

Next, the file defines a number of possible religious domains

Religion.Domains=Air, Animal, Artifice, Chaos, Charm, Community, Darkness, Death, Destruction, Earth, Evil, Fire, Glory, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Liberation, Luck, Madness, Magic, Nobility, Plant, Protection, Repose, Rune, Scalykind, Strength, Sun, Travel, Trickery, Void, War, Water, Weather

Each domain requires Symbols:

Religion.Domain.Air.Symbols=Eagle, Smoke, White Cloud
Religion.Domain.Animal.Symbols=Tiger, Elephant, Bison
...

Finally we have sections that pre-populate notes about features on the map:

FeatureData.Castle=Leader; Problem; Type; Age; Forces
FeatureData.Castle.Leader=[Benevolent, Evil, Self-Serving] [King, Queen, Earl, Duke] with [Benevolent, Evil, Self-Serving] Advisers
FeatureData.Castle.Problem=Recovering from a great battle; Foodstores running low; Captain of the guards is missing; 
FeatureData.Castle.Type=[Large, Medium] [Stone, Wood] with [Round,Square] Towers
FeatureData.Castle.Age=Recent; About 100 years, but well maintained; About 100 years, but with shoddy repairs; Hundreds of years, with some newer sections;
FeatureData.Castle.Forces=[0,10,25,50,100] Archers, [20,50,100,250,500] Soldiers, [2,5,10,15] Officers/Knights

Because FeatureData.Castle is defined, any feature that contains the word “castle” will be pre-populated based on this info. The first line lists what categories/bullets exist for this feature type, then one option from each is chosen.  Semicolons separate the options, items in square brackets are randomly picked.  So the leader has one possible value, but we may get a “Benevolent King with Benevolent Advisers” or an “Evil Queen with Self-Serving Advisers”.

Expect this to be expanded with options for types of government, personalities for leaders, and so on.