> It doesn't just have to be cities. Most country names are similar in
> different languages. However in English we refer to a country
> called "Germany," <snip>
True; the Siebenburgen are interesting mostly because the 3 different names are all used/known simultaneously by locals for "where do we live," not "what do we call that stupid place we don't live in." (And, I've seen in conversations, a Saxon speaking Romanian will use the Romanian term, but the German term when speaking German...)
Which makes me wonder -- is that common in the Lunar Empire? Do different peoples within the Empire have different names for it -- Dara Happans, for example, stressing the mythic and historic links to the ancient Obnoxious Solar empire and such, having a "Dara Happan" name for the empire, etc.? (Non-Lunars have many names for the LE, most obscene).
One other potential game plot: in a town I used to live in -- Blagoevgrad, named for Dimitur Blagoev (doyen of Bulgarian Communism) -- the town largely decided to keep the new name, even if Communist, because the old name, Gorna Dzhumaja, meant "High Mosque" (and not greatly loved by Orthodox, Turk-loathing Bulgarians).
So perhaps at least one Lunar renaming in Sartar *does* stick -- "Hey, the Lunars don't call our village "Broo Spawn Lake" anymore! Let's keep the new name, even if it is "Spinning Blade Pinning Wind:!"
Cheers,
James
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