Then what were your problems (or were they someone else's) with Jonstown, Swenstown, Wilmskirk? These are pretty straightforward place names, the likes of which are easily found in the Danelaw part of England. Ok, Jon and Swen are short, monosyllabic names which have become pretty rare in recent Orlanthi namings (tending to three to four syllables), but not entirely unlikely.
> Now, would anyone care to come up with as sensible an
> explanation for problems such as Nochet,
Nochet is no more a problem than Rhigos, Leskos or Maldron. These are names for which we don't know the translation.
> Koromondol,
This is pretty much an onamopoeic sound either in the original source or in troll-ridden northeastern Genertela. Not too many people are necessarily familiar with the original literary source, anyway.
> etc., and help me come up with more
> exciting names for Barbarian Town, etc.?
Barbarian Town and Knight Fort evidently are Praxian descriptions for outsider settlements encroaching their territory. I'll leave it to whoever writes the most brilliant detail about that place to give it a name which resounds better. In all likelihood, between the founding of these places and current residents there is a substantial gap of the place standing waste, and the original name forgotten, or of interest only to archaeologists.
For gaming use, sticking to one variant makes the memory requirements of players and referee easier, and the most silly names have an unfortunate tendency to stick best. If you feel a place name like Jonstown hampers your suspension, try to think of it "the town those whackos down ... call Jonstown", and explain it away as a fumbled "pronounce/understand local dialect" roll. There are enough real world occurrances of this, sometimes funny, sometimes unremarkable, sometimes tragic.
What will damage my sense of immersion would be a total renaming of main places or characters without any reference how others call or called them. If the Only Old One is referred as Ezkankekko, there has to be at least a reference that the two terms describe the same person/entity. To get rid of Nochet or Corflu, no matter how the names originated, would complicate things unnecessarily. To add other names for optional use would be ok.
So, can Nochet be the city of the four-and-one gates, the brick-bastioned city, or some pseudo-native name?
For hobby linguistics, the last syllable reminds me of Seshnegi (originally Pendali) -ket, meaning city (as in Orphalsket, the city of the Grey Age Basmoli king Orphal). We know of a Malkioni presence in Nochet. Could the name have been something like Nova Sogsket, or even longer?
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