Indeed it is...
But if we/you want to be correct with this in the case of FRR, seeing as the official language of the FRR is Swedish, it would be "Mjölner".
The Swedish word for "Flour" is "Mjöl"... but "Mjöl" can also be used to refer to anything that has been pulverized into a powder (even if normaly we use "Pulver" for powers in general). A Miller in Swedish is called a "Mjölnare". The word for "grind" is "Mala" which I think also sort of comes from Mjölner. The name of the hammer basicly means "the crusher", or "the pulverizer", so yeah... clearly this hammer was important to people, important enough to name every day stuff something simmilar.
In Norwegian the hammer is named "Mjølner" or "Mjolne". In Danish it is "Mjølner" as well (the Norwegian's writen language came from the Danish. I read somewhere that "Norwegian is Danish spoken in Swedish". So in other words, if a Swede where to read outloud a Danish text, it would sound Norwegian... not sure how true this is though, never tested it
). In Finnish... hmm... at first I thought google was f'ing with me, but when I checked on the Finnish wikipedia, it turns out their name for the hammer is the same as in Swedish "Mjölner". I guess 550+ years of being Swedish really does put it's mark on a people and its language.
I left in Dihm's entire message in this quote since this is a new page, so people don't have to switch back and forth.
I have this feeling of both "I like it!", and "I have concerns!". I like the general idea of it, where it is heading and all. So keep that in mind when I continue with my "small" (read as "possibly big") list of concerns.
My first thing is the name of the entire unit, Skjaldborg, I like the word it's self. But the problem I have comes when you look at what happends to the word when you are going to refer to someone as being one of the Skjaldborg unit. So "is a Skjaldborg", would be "is a Skjaldborgare". Borgare is the part that raises my concerns.
In "olden times", "Borgare" where regular people (like same "level" as peasants and what not) who lived in "Borgar" (plural of Borg), so fortress'. Borgar would often turn into towns and cities over time, due to both protection, being spread out pretty well, and close to importent stuff and roads. Anyway at first Borgare where the people who had goten/bought the right in their town they lived in to do buisness. So craftsmanship, trading, health stuff, law, etc. They often had the right to be in the councils of that town, to vote and all that, usually lead by the "Borgmästare" (litteraly "Fort-master", but it actully means Mayor). Over time this class of people became an class of their own, amongst a total fo 4 now (Noblemen, Priests, Borgare, and the regular peasants) they became more of an upper class (just not as "upper" as Nobleman and Priests though). They where not down at the peasent level, they where not either down at the normal level for most people who lived in towns, but they where not as high as the nobility. But in general their opinions mattered. The good thing about them is of course that they basicly sponsored the English, American, and of course the French Revolutions. But as time went, these people have basicly become "the rich people" of this world. Politicly they are the people who do not really want any or much change, and the only change they want is the change that will only really benefit huge companies and of course the rich (them selves of course, the massivelly huge minority of the planet)... which pretty much usualy means that the impact on the majority of people is a negetive one. I belive in English they are called conservative, but I might be wrong. So in Sweden, all the people who lean towards this type of thinking, are today refered to as "Borgare". Opposit to them politicly are of course the people who want to change things so that it benefit the people more, the genertal masses, the core of each nation... I guess they are the ones called liberal (since that's opposit to conservative... right?).
So I hope you can see why I have my concerns about calling the unit Skjaldborg. Because first of all, "Borgare" where never really the fighters of towns, the main concern they had was how to get richer. It was other people, the lower class people, who where the ones who had to do the fighting. Of course it is also partly due to my own personal view that the majority of changes done in a nation should not effect the people negative.... so yeah, I am not a Borgare.
I do how ever have no problem with if the homebase of the unit was named Skjaldborg, because for one, it does make sort of sence... a fortress, a shield, protection, and all that.
Hmm, next thing. This has actually been on my mind since it was first brought up. Dragonslayers, "Drakdräparna". The part that I have been sort of thinking about is the fact that the FRR's emblem has a Dragon on it. And yes, I know it might look like a snake, or serpent or something like that. But back in those old days, words that ment Dragon, did often also refer to serpents/snakes... and vise versa. I belive that the creature on FRR's emblem is supposed to represent the "Lindorm"... or "Lindworm" as it's apperantly named in English. "Orm" in Swedish means "Snake".
From wikipedia:
"Lindworm (cognate with Old Norse linnormr 'constrictor snake', Norwegian linnorm 'dragon', Swedish, lindorm, Danish, lindorm 'serpent', German Lindwurm 'dragon') in British heraldry, is a technical term for a wingless bipedal dragon often with a venomous bite."
I clearly know that the Dragon in Drakdräparna referes to Kurita, and I am certain the people of FRR would also know this. It's just that I of course know about this serpent/dragon thing... and it seems almost like it could become a double meaning... I sometimes tend to probably over think things though... so this might be one of those times.
Next thing: Colour wise, I feel some of the colours are a bit to dark. Vikings generaly prefered a little bit brighter colours when they where able to dye or paint stuff. But yeah, I guess being to bright and colourful might not be that appealing, and nor should it. I just feel they might be a tad bit dark, atleast in the sence of being the emblems for the merc unit.
Other then these things... I like the concept of it all.
I have been looking for other old norse words that could maybe be used where ever (I tend to do that every now and then when I make characters in games and I feel like the character should be more Vkingy). Here are a few of them. A lot (read as "most") of the information comes either directly or indirectly from Wikipedia, so easy to find, I have edited or rewriten some of it.
Einherjar/Einhärjar: (First is the old norse it seems, second is the Swedish one) These are the spirits of Viking warriors that where brought to Valhalla (Valhall in Swedish) by the Valkyries... if they had died a brave/honourable/heroic/etc death. They spend all of their days training/fighting to prepare for Ragnarök. And then they spend all evening eating and drinking until they are full. This word would maybe be a bit of a clishé though, don't know how often it is used by otheres, and maybe it might already be taken by the time MWO has been launched. Einherjar basicly mean "Lone Fighters", might be other meanings out there, but I do not recal having encountered other versions.
Vigridr:
"In Norse mythology, Vígríðr, is a large field foretold to host a battle between the forces of the gods and the forces of Surtr as part of the events of Ragnarök... The 'Poetic Edda' briefly mentions the field as where the two forces will battle, whereas the 'Prose Edda' features a fuller account, foretelling that it is the location of the future death of several deities (and their enemies) before the world is engulfed in flames and reborn." This is the battlefield where the Einherjar are said to go and fight on when Ragnarök starts. I really like this word, both because of what is said to happend there, and because the word sounds cool, and because I have found it very useful and easy to use it as a character name (both as first and last name). Vigridr mean:
"battle-surge" or
"place on which battle surges".
Oskipnir: With the exeption of the last two sentences in Vigridr (why I like the word Vigridr, and the meaning of the word), the entire explenation for what Vigridr is, applyes for this as well, since this is another name for that battlefield. I do how ever really like the word, but mostly because it sounds sort of cool. The meaning of Oskipnir is widely debated, I guess becaise they are not compleatly sure, but it's proposed meaning is:
"the (not yet) created",
"not made" or
"mismade".
I could probably find more, but these where the ones I initialy had in my head because it was not that long ago I was looking for names and found these. And I feel that this post is already to big, so I will leave it with this final thing, partly about why I choice these the 3 above names. I will maybe write more names later if I encounter something.
Since I first read your posts about the emblems, and then the next one with more emblems and names and such... and my own thoughts on some of the names you suggested etc... an idea started to sort of form. I thought that what if part of the Merc Units name was Einherjar, or the entire name was just Einherjar or maybe Einherjarna. I did also consider that it could be used as the "thing" the members of the units are refered to as, rather then maybe soldiers or something. Although, that would make it hard to "raise in ranks" then, so maybe top officer ranks could be Einherjar, but even then I still prefer it as being the entire units name... even if it is clishé. Anyway this is the highest level of honour a mere human could get in the Norse Paganism basicly, to have been choicen by the gods to fight for them at Ragnarök. They also spend a lot of time preparing for Ragnarök which is important to my entire thought... continue reading to find out why.
The choice of Vigridr and Oskipnir is obviously because the Einherjar are connected to it, but also because it seems to be the main battlefield for where Ragnarök will take place, and as such I was thinking that they could maybe refer to something for this merc unit. Maybe even somehow refer to the "battle with Kurita" that has happend. And I mean, "battle-surge" does not sound that bad right? So it sounds like maybe a pretty awesome battle tactics, or maybe it could be something else... I don't know, possabilityes are many. But then I realized that with those two, and the part about Einherjarnas preperations and all that, they could maybe somehow refer to the fact that this Merc Unit could maybe be taking all these contracts against not only Kurita or Steiner (since they are the biggest borders to FRR), but against all other houses as well.
This to "in world", or "in game" or what ever, sort of indicate that this merc unit are maybe not actual mercs at the core, but rather some kind of "secretly" FRR government mlitary group training thing, to be able to fight against all other houses more effectivly. So that IF there ever was a time when we got invaded by other houses, we would have this merc unit with people with the knowledge to fight each house, that could help FRR against them, and train FRR soldiers/MechWarriors how to as well. You know simmilar to how the "Wolf's Dragoons" came to the Inner Sphere and worked for and fought against each of the major houses to gather intel on everything, including how they fight. In this FRR merc units case though, they would only fight agaisnt, and not work for, the other houses, but still close enough. And speaking of the Clan... read on...
Not to mention that
"the (not yet) created" (etc) meaning from Oskipnir could totaly somehow be a (meta?) reference to the Clan invasion... to the fact that even if we as the gamers already know about the clan invation (like we do about Ragnarök, and how the people back then already knew about it)... it has technicly actually not happend yet, atleast not in the sence of MWO. I don't know why but I REALLY like that idea, I am actually smiling as I am writing this particular paragraph.
Anyway... that is all... for now. I think I have writen my biggest post yet... or is that just because I have Dihm's entire post in it as well?
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