Xianxia/Xuanhuan monster name help!!

[Mountain_Spirit800]

Hii

I cannot come up with a more effective name for this specific water demon I'm writing, and I was wondering if anyone could help me out. Below is a rough desc of this demon -

"a creature that is born from the souls of drowned humans, dragging various ships and boats to the depths of the sea, as a pathetic act of revenge. This specific demon is not only acting on revenge but is also possessed by immense greed (due to the drowned boats carrying treasure and the souls being materialistic), making it more powerful than its original, vulnerable form."

note - this novel is a xianxia/xuanhuan, hence in need of some chinese name suggestion other than Shuǐ yāo or Shuǐguài

 

[HelloHound]

hungry water or grasping tide

 

[hippoman]

I looked to “Journey to the West” for inspiration to help as it had a few characters/demons who lived in or were associated with water but they all had super literal names: Tuolong (鼉龍; literally "Water Lizard Dragon" "Sha Wujing" (aka sandy) litterally “sand who knows purity”, and Water Repelling Golden Crystal Beast (避水金晶獸), (what can I say about this one).


So my suggestion would be colour/adjective adjective noun. Such as “Dark Greedy Depths” (Hēi'àn tānlán de shēn chù) or “Blue Hungry Water” (Lán è shuǐ.) But @HelloHound 's grasping tide sounds real dope.

 

[NotaNuffian]

... I feel like this is one of those "non-chinese writers dipping their feet into CN xianxia/ xuanhuan."

I mean, if it is xuanhuan, then it is anything goes at this point. Because xianxia is mainlining that Taoism BS.

From a guy who lacks depth in anything, let's try and dissect your creature.

1. Born from the drowned that dragged people in out of jealousy is a tough sell as 水鬼. They have to contractually drown its victim for quota and the cycle is akin to MLM. For now I just give it a name 溺 (ni) aka Drown
2. Hoard treasure like out of greed and power... this portion is a common vice of human. Initially I thought it to be like a dragon but dragon hoarding treasure is a western thing. Taotie is the one closest (by Google standard of "chinese creature for greed") with the whole greed shtick.

Edit: 贪狼 aka Greed Wolfstar (... sounds like a fucking fursona) is the next viable option with its main flaws being "greedy, lustful, gluttonous, neurotic".

Its symbol a dragon turtle... so dragons being a greedy fuck isn't a western construct... oh wow.

So your creature can be 溺鳌 (ni ao, drowning turtle), because:
1. Turtle and drowning goes hand in hand.
2. Giving a creature made from souls of the damned the name "龙" sounds tp pompous and calling it a "蛟" (jiao, lesser dragon) is also as well.
3. More treasure = more HP. Sounds like turtling.

 

[tiaf]

Likoushui- soul, mouth/gate, water

 

[NotaNuffian]

Likoushui- soul, mouth/gate, water

I think you mean 灵口水 (Ling Kou Shui)?

And yes, I see the pun after correcting your hanyu pinyin.

 

[miyoga]

饕水鬼 or 饕水鲁（tāo shuǐguǐ or tāo shuǐ lǔ）when translated literally would be "greedy water ghost/demon". I think that we might be able to give better advice if you gave us more details like the appearance (demon or monster can both be applied, but demons are more of the spiritual nature), where it lives, your plans for it in the story, etc. The more info we have, the better we can help.

 

[Theirl]

netherworld sea karmic amalgamation

google tradutor Yōumíng hǎi jiéyuán

 

[Sola-sama]

@ArrogantYoungMaster Respected Young Master, I believe this one require your exalted wisdom.

 

[CheertheSecond]

河 域 貪 孼
hé yù tān niè
[River] [Territory] [Greed] [Evil]

The greedy evil of the river/water

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Naming monsters.

Monsters are usually named by the locals who deal with it. Monsters often are specific in nature, so you'd be surprised how many have actual names. The thing is born from drowned souls, so the first one had a face, which had a name, which is the place to start.

Hungry Jeff. Translate it into Latin, then Chinese.

 

[miyoga]

Hungry Jeff

饿杰夫

 

[ArrogantYoungMaster]

饕水鬼 or 饕水鲁（tāo shuǐguǐ or tāo shuǐ lǔ）when translated literally would be "greedy water ghost/demon". I think that we might be able to give better advice if you gave us more details like the appearance (demon or monster can both be applied, but demons are more of the spiritual nature), where it lives, your plans for it in the story, etc. The more info we have, the better we can help.

This one agrees, needs more information. For now, maybe 饕海鬼 if you want to denote the sea.

Also, this one also has a complaint.

"a creature that is born from the souls of drowned humans, dragging various ships and boats to the depths of the sea, as a pathetic act of revenge. This specific demon is not only acting on revenge but is also possessed by immense greed (due to the drowned boats carrying treasure and the souls being materialistic), making it more powerful than its original, vulnerable form."

What revenge? This isn't revenge. The new ships didn't drown them, the sea did.
The ghosts are greedy, and this is why it sinks ships. As humans, they were greedy, as ghosts, they are still greedy.

Add gold (金饕海鬼) and silver (银饕海鬼) to denote power levels from base 饕海鬼.

Honestly if the ghost isn't significant, this one doesn't think it needs a special name.

Other names:

• Hand Waves
• Sea King Hands
• The Drowned from Davy Jones's Locker
• Tide Tithes
• Hungry Jeff (饿劫富)

 

[Mountain_Spirit800]

Thank you for all the replies-

As this is my first time writing a CN novel, I am unsure of what specific terminology fits the best for the creation of monstrous characters like this, and which genre to put it under. Below is another rough desc with slightly more detail (used the word demon just for the sake of it) please do give constructive criticism where possible, thank you

There are two categories of the water demon

• One which is formed by the souls of mere common sailors, who believe it unfair to have been the only ones to drown to their deaths, hence pulling down other similar ships to satisfy their “revenge” (cannot find a better word) This water demon is able to move to different locations, often chooses not to. Though it is not as powerful as the other version of it----
• The other one is purely formed from the souls of greedy merchants and sailors hence it only drowns the ships filled with various treasures and hoards them at the bottom of the sea. This one cannot move from its original place as I imagine it being held down by the weight of the treasures (literally or metaphorically or both)

In terms of it’s significance, the demon will only appear in the first chapter and be dispersed by the MC, however it will be mentioned again as part of a major plot point later in story (which I’m still planning)

In terms of genre, I like to think it as leaning towards more Xianxia as the MC is an immortal character-

Thank you for all the replies-

As this is my first time writing a CN novel, I am unsure of what specific terminology fits the best for the creation of monstrous characters like this, and which genre to put it under. Below is another rough desc with slightly more detail (used the word demon just for the sake of it) please do give constructive criticism where possible, thank you

There are two categories of the water demon

• One which is formed by the souls of mere common sailors, who believe it unfair to have been the only ones to drown to their deaths, hence pulling down other similar ships to satisfy their “revenge” (cannot find a better word) This water demon is able to move to different locations, often chooses not to. Though it is not as powerful as the other version of it----
• The other one is purely formed from the souls of greedy merchants and sailors hence it only drowns the ships filled with various treasures and hoards them at the bottom of the sea. This one cannot move from its original place as I imagine it being held down by the weight of the treasures (literally or metaphorically or both)

In terms of it’s significance, the demon will only appear in the first chapter and be dispersed by the MC, however it will be mentioned again as part of a major plot point later in story (which I’m still planning)

In terms of genre, I like to think it as leaning towards more Xianxia as the MC is an immortal character-

forgot to mention, im writing about the 2nd version of the water demon, the one drowing treasure ships-

 

[Ellieporter]

... I feel like this is one of those "non-chinese writers dipping their feet into CN xianxia/ xuanhuan."

I mean, if it is xuanhuan, then it is anything goes at this point. Because xianxia is mainlining that Taoism BS.

From a guy who lacks depth in anything, let's try and dissect your creature.

1. Born from the drowned that dragged people in out of jealousy is a tough sell as 水鬼. They have to contractually drown its victim for quota and the cycle is akin to MLM. For now I just give it a name 溺 (ni) aka Drown
2. Hoard treasure like out of greed and power... this portion is a common vice of human. Initially I thought it to be like a dragon but dragon hoarding treasure is a western thing. Taotie is the one closest (by Google standard of "chinese creature for greed") with the whole greed shtick.

Edit: 贪狼 aka Greed Wolfstar (... sounds like a fucking fursona) is the next viable option with its main flaws being "greedy, lustful, gluttonous, neurotic".

Its symbol a dragon turtle... so dragons being a greedy fuck isn't a western construct... oh wow.

So your creature can be 溺鳌 (ni ao, drowning turtle), because:
1. Turtle and drowning goes hand in hand.
2. Giving a creature made from souls of the damned the name "龙" sounds tp pompous and calling it a "蛟" (jiao, lesser dragon) is also as well.
3. More treasure = more HP. Sounds like turtling.

The Xianxia Connoisseur has spoken!