Thanks for taking the time to reply - I thought perhaps I'd crossed a line with that last comment (which might still be the case). I was not actually the one who had previously commented about Enki's motto. I'm glad to hear about this direction you're going for dialogue-wise. On some reflection from reading your comment and mine, I realize I've said some things that I no longer agree with, so I'd like to clear those up.
I actually completely agree with what you're saying about your method for naming places - practical meaning. I do want to note that I made no mention of places like Slumberwood, Dreamcave, Lifewood, in a negative context, but since those are all more or less from the original series, I'll add a few more from your map: Wyrmourn, Sternham, Rift, Cloud-Clad Castle. All these places sound like something someone "named" for a practical purpose, or in the case of the castle, maybe named as such by a royal trying to make his or her castle seem special. Now, due to your explanation of Gemsand, I understand it's origin and don't mind it nearly as much. These would be good tidbits for the encyclopedia section, I'd love to know why Wyrmourn, Sternham etc. are named as such.
Which I guess brings me to the places which I probably had the biggest complaints about: Lake Lacrimosa, Heropolis, and the continent/landmass names. I think this is where my initial complaint about "meaning" came from. These complaints don't come from a lack of explanation like Gemsand, as you have explained why they are named that. The thing with Lake Lacrimosa is that you've stated this world uses English (or seem to have Germanic/Old English roots like Sternham or Wyrmourn), so a sudden Latin word in the mix feels way off. "Lake Lachrymose" might be more consistent with the existing terminology, or even something as mundane as "Lake Tear."
For Heropolis... I will say I never thought or said Aeropolis was an amazing name, but it did make "sense." It's a city around the air temple - boom, Aeropolis. I can totally see someone calling it that, obvious as it is, so it checks off the "practical naming" naming box. Upon further consideration, Heropolis does this as well! It's the capital city of the courageous "Bold" race, so I imagine they may have named their city that completely on purpose. That said, I now put it on a similar ground to Aeropolis, as a sensible name in-context, but a bit cringeworthy just as a word - which is not necessarily a problem, because that can totally work in-universe! Only other thing about Heropolis is it has a random Greek root which I'll just mention for consistency with my complaint about Lacrimosa, and that it shares a name with the mobile game "Legends of Heropolis," which is about, you guessed it, heroes. I'll keep it short for the continent names - Numina has the same language inconsistency which come off strangely, and some other comments have mentioned that Godsmind and Godsbod are a bit on-the-nose, which is a sentiment I agree with. But again, could easily be justified in-universe, as long as you're doing it on purpose. The map looking like a head and body (although I think it looks like a head and a uterus and ovaries) is really quite brilliant, and someone could theoretically go "aha! A head and body, the size of a god! Let me name them as such!" Not sure how they would get the birds-eye view to find out, but hey, it's fantasy.
As for character names, at this point I've read the words "Mardek Honeyblood" enough times that I might just be getting Stockholm syndrome about it. Your explanation certainly helped, I least get *why* you want to call him that. You may have noticed I'm not mentioning the other names - I'm not sure if it's because I think they're better (Elwyen's is basically the same as her old one anyway) or I just care less because they aren't Mardek. I still think it's kind of a weird name for phonetic reasons alone, but I'll just get over it. Or not. Who knows.
I guess to sum up, I have reconsidered and your names are totally fine because names aren't all "cool" in real life anyway, so there's no reason they should all be "cool" in this world. After all, there's a town called "Burnt Corn, Alabama" and people name their kids plenty of things worse than "Honeyblood." While I know the existing world of Mardek probably far too well, you know this world you're creating better than I do, and I should probably trust you a bit more to make the right choices in regards to it.
I actually completely agree with what you're saying about your method for naming places - practical meaning. I do want to note that I made no mention of places like Slumberwood, Dreamcave, Lifewood, in a negative context, but since those are all more or less from the original series, I'll add a few more from your map: Wyrmourn, Sternham, Rift, Cloud-Clad Castle. All these places sound like something someone "named" for a practical purpose, or in the case of the castle, maybe named as such by a royal trying to make his or her castle seem special. Now, due to your explanation of Gemsand, I understand it's origin and don't mind it nearly as much. These would be good tidbits for the encyclopedia section, I'd love to know why Wyrmourn, Sternham etc. are named as such.
Which I guess brings me to the places which I probably had the biggest complaints about: Lake Lacrimosa, Heropolis, and the continent/landmass names. I think this is where my initial complaint about "meaning" came from. These complaints don't come from a lack of explanation like Gemsand, as you have explained why they are named that. The thing with Lake Lacrimosa is that you've stated this world uses English (or seem to have Germanic/Old English roots like Sternham or Wyrmourn), so a sudden Latin word in the mix feels way off. "Lake Lachrymose" might be more consistent with the existing terminology, or even something as mundane as "Lake Tear."
For Heropolis... I will say I never thought or said Aeropolis was an amazing name, but it did make "sense." It's a city around the air temple - boom, Aeropolis. I can totally see someone calling it that, obvious as it is, so it checks off the "practical naming" naming box. Upon further consideration, Heropolis does this as well! It's the capital city of the courageous "Bold" race, so I imagine they may have named their city that completely on purpose. That said, I now put it on a similar ground to Aeropolis, as a sensible name in-context, but a bit cringeworthy just as a word - which is not necessarily a problem, because that can totally work in-universe! Only other thing about Heropolis is it has a random Greek root which I'll just mention for consistency with my complaint about Lacrimosa, and that it shares a name with the mobile game "Legends of Heropolis," which is about, you guessed it, heroes. I'll keep it short for the continent names - Numina has the same language inconsistency which come off strangely, and some other comments have mentioned that Godsmind and Godsbod are a bit on-the-nose, which is a sentiment I agree with. But again, could easily be justified in-universe, as long as you're doing it on purpose. The map looking like a head and body (although I think it looks like a head and a uterus and ovaries) is really quite brilliant, and someone could theoretically go "aha! A head and body, the size of a god! Let me name them as such!" Not sure how they would get the birds-eye view to find out, but hey, it's fantasy.
As for character names, at this point I've read the words "Mardek Honeyblood" enough times that I might just be getting Stockholm syndrome about it. Your explanation certainly helped, I least get *why* you want to call him that. You may have noticed I'm not mentioning the other names - I'm not sure if it's because I think they're better (Elwyen's is basically the same as her old one anyway) or I just care less because they aren't Mardek. I still think it's kind of a weird name for phonetic reasons alone, but I'll just get over it. Or not. Who knows.
I guess to sum up, I have reconsidered and your names are totally fine because names aren't all "cool" in real life anyway, so there's no reason they should all be "cool" in this world. After all, there's a town called "Burnt Corn, Alabama" and people name their kids plenty of things worse than "Honeyblood." While I know the existing world of Mardek probably far too well, you know this world you're creating better than I do, and I should probably trust you a bit more to make the right choices in regards to it.