Why were places named the way they were? Why was the project called the Yasloughve project? What in the world were the events name the way they were? WHY are the book names so strange? All those answers you will find here. Enjoy!
Be advised this is a really long post. I spent a lot of time on this, lol.
Main Title
The Yasloughve Project
When trying to decide on the name of the full webnovel, I had three potential series names: The Yasloughve Project, The Uncertain End, After Uncertainty. When you see my final reflection notes, you will see my initial list of chapters when I first started adapting this from a dream into a story. These three names were present there in some form.
Of those titles, The Uncertain End was the most important to me. I did decide, however, ultimately not to go with it. Not because The Uncertain End was a bad phrase, but because I did not think that it was what the story was about. The Uncertain End is an event, and very justifiably, what the initial dream was about. This is not the case for the webnovel. I decided that I did not want to name the series after the event itself, as it would (in my mind) lessen the weight of the event. Just because I loved the phrase — the uncertain end — did not mean it was a good title.
After Uncertainty, was a justifiable answer, but I also did not decide to go with that either. I decided to go ahead with the After [Something] naming convention for chapter titles, and thus it did not feel like an appropriate title either. Additionally, it gives away the ending, that they survive. Obviously they do, but I felt like it was too on the nose.
That leaves The Yasloughve Project. I make it seem like there was a debate, a chance, a moment of deliberation, but truly there was not. I was torn for perhaps but a second, on what to do with the names when I no longer used them, but nothing more than that. The moment I said, “I should make this a full story.” The second thing I said was, “What will the project name be?” I looked over the list, said, of these both sound good. But then I was like, no. Obviously it is The Yasloughve Project. It fit, it was right, and it was everything that the story was intended to be.
The Yasloughve Project, as a name, defines the journey, the end goal, and the plot all in one. The events begin because of people no longer believing in the project. The book ends because of the project. Magic is discovered because of the project. They are able to find their new home because of the project. The project is the pivotal reason for the story existing to begin with. Without it there would be no story. Without it there is no ending. The Project is the novel, and thus, it had to be the name. There was no real contest.
Yaslove vs Yasloughve
If you read the initial dream, you will see that I wrote the project as Yaslove/Yasloughve. This is of Evester. While the majority of the cast pronounces it the same with “love” for AntiLove and Yaslove, Evester said Yasloughve (with an ou like cough rather than an o like love)
In terms of pronunciation for the dream
AntiLove: IPA: [ˈlʌv] or phonetic: /lUHv/
Yaslove: IPA: or phonetic:
Yasloughve: IPA: or phonetic:
With Evester saying it a completely different way in the dream, I realized that it meant that Yasloughve was the proper spelling and pronunciation. This is because his father is one of the lead scientists. This is sort of a caramel/caramel or tomato/tomato situation. Both are equally correct, but different people will say it differently. I intended this to be the case through the book which is why I picked the stranger spelling. I did this so that the reader will look at the word and see the ou and think cough or though or thought, and have different pronunciations on how to say the word. Then then see AntiLove and see that the love pronunciation is ALSO correct.
It gets more wild when you start to look at accents and regional considerations. I decided while working on this that the “ou” would be a class divide. However the way that one said “yas” and “ghve” would be a regional divide. This means that as one moves across the world into different regions, the opening starts. So even if the Tower Xs all say “love” they might say the “yas” differently. This can be with longer “s” or an “ah” versus and “ay.” I think of this as a sort of quadrant, with North. South, East, West, Up, and Down as the axis. The only distinction is that the SUPERIORS all say the word the exact same, as do the main group at the end.
This is just a long way of saying that all forms of saying the word are technically correct. I thought this would be fun, considering that the project has been around for centuries. What it was called in the past is different than the present, or even the future. For a project that is ever changing, ever, adapting, and ever growing, I wanted a name and spelling of said name that reflected that. Thus Yasloughve.
And just to make a point, which probably will change the way you read things
In terms of pronunciation of Yasloughve in the official:
The Class Change – “ou”
By AntiLove and most Tower Xs:
– Say it like “love”
– IPA: or phonetic:
Original Heia, and most LowerLand and UnderCity Xs:
– Say it like “hiccough”
– IPA: or phonetic:
Stars (original Zeydar):
– Say it like “thorough”
– IPA: or phonetic:
CloudCity and Circles (Sans Project workers and Igilistals):
– Say it like “thought”
– IPA: or phonetic:
Project workers, Igilistals:
– Say it like “cough”
– IPA: or phonetic:
The Directional Shift – “Yas” and “ghve”
“ghve” shift
– More northwards like “enough” IPA: or phonetic:
– More southwards like “have” IPA: or phonetic:
“S” Shift
– More Western like “class” IPA: or phonetic:
– More Eastern like “jazz” IPA: or phonetic:
Direction Shift – The “Ya” Shift
– Skywards/Upwards like “yam” IPA: or phonetic:
– Lowerlands like “yarn” IPA: or phonetic:
– Underground/Downwards like “yay” IPA: or phonetic:
Superiors and Igilistals
– IPA: or phonetic:
The Igilistals and Everdanger (final Heia, Zeydar, Evester) final Pronunciation:
IPA:
Phonetic:
Note here that the Superiors and most stars still use the class “ou” and the project workers still use their regional other pronunciations for “yas” and the “ghve.” This is just to note that by the time all the characters reach the last page, the main cast is saying the word the exact same way (or pretty close). This is by no means the “correct” pronunciation or the one “true” pronunciation. It’s just the way I say it, tbh. And I thought that after the time they’ve spent with each other, they’d probably all start saying it the same way, or close to that.
All options are valid for pronunciation, but that’s why I picked Yasloughve as a spelling over Yaslove. For the possibility.
Events
The Catastrophe
In the dream this word only came up as a passing comment. It wasn’t an event. For the sake of the novel, I decided to actually make it an official event. If it were in the history books, what would it be called? I went with The Catastrophe. This is the name that Maverin gives the event. Just as he names the end of the project predictions “the uncertain end (?),” he named The Catastrophe as “Catastrophe!!” Thus when it came to how people referred to it, they used this same term. At the time Maverin knew it would be all out destruction and catastrophe was the only word that fit.
I personally did not want to use, “end of times” or “Armageddon” as both were too conclusive. Besides catastrophe is more fun. After all, the whole world thinks that they can survive. Spoiler alert? Things do not happen in that way. It was a strong word, but not too strong. Something people would shrug off, and then use with weight after it happened. Note that the majority of the Towers that fell throughout the course of the book happened during this event.
Nights of [Blank]
Nights of Oblivion vs Night of Oblivion and Night of Destruction
In the initial dream, the nights happened over the course of multiple days. This is still the case in the final product, but rather than a war, it was a set of two nights, where the Towers were first attacked and then the grounds. I decided to name them both different names, in order to push the weight of the two events.
Night of Oblivion
Using the initial word, I decided to give this to the Towers. The Night of Oblivion is the initial scouting by the Aralax, where they are testing the waters. I decided using “oblivion” for this was wise. Oblivion is defined as “the state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happening around one.” (Definitions from Oxford Languages)
The first time that the Aralax strike the world is unaware. From then on their eyes are opened but the damage has already been done. While this attack was terrible (and resulted in the collapse of Arcadia, ultimately) it was a tactical scouting mission. The Aralax killed many people before they were destroyed, but not nearly as many as the Night of Destruction or the Catastrophe. I like to think that the final death toll (sans Arcadia) is within the hundreds, no more than five thousand. The event was made into a much larger event, because of the appearance, but the Towers had the defense to fight against them for the most part. More people were injured than killed.
The Night of Oblivion was also on the night when many people rioted, which when paired with the Aralax attack became a large reason that people were injured. In the traditional fashion of the elite, they made this event into something far larger than it actually was (sans Arcadia falling). The Catastrophe and, later, the Night of Destruction were far greater.
[If I have other Towers that fell on this night, that is a mistake. ONLY Arcadia fell.] Arcadia fell because of the Superiors, the rebellion, and the Aralax , although Zedyar blamed himself for this. The Elite used this fall to make the event have a higher count. The fact is that the Aralax attack itself would have never made the city fall. Additionally, this fall happened DAYS after the actual event known as the Night of Oblivion, although the event is tied to it.
Night of Destruction
This second night was the first real attack by the Aralax. They attack the Lowerlands and the Undercities, in a far greater force than the Night of Oblivion. Far more people died during this time than the Night of Oblivion. Entire cities were wiped out, and others were scouted through. Ultimately, the armies did repel them, but this marked the beginning of the strikes and attacks by the Aralax that were building up their numbers.
I chose destruction here, as this was a destruction. The Aralax fractured the established new world after the Catastrophe. And while they were “prepared’ after the Night of Oblivion, they were not. The rest of the world saw it as an elite, circle, and Tower issue, rather than a world issue. After the Night of Destruction that changed.
The Uncertain End
As I have said before, this phrasing was important to me. In the initial dream, Evester is the only one who uses it. The initial word that everyone else used was “the Day of Doom.” I thought that it was applicable in the dream, but as i developed the story this felt wrong. Initial drafts actually still had this phrasing for everyone but Evester. I changed it. I figured that Maverin would use the phrasing, and thus when the Catastrophe was named after his notes, this event would be too. Evester would use it and while the rest of the world might know of the end of times, they would have differing names for it. In time, as Evester spread the phrase, I intended for the “Uncertain End” to become the name of the event because more people used it. While I’m not sure I accomplished this perfectly, this phrase was supposed to spread like that.
Why “the Uncertain End?” Why is it my favorite phrase? Because of the ambiguity. When in the dream I found it fascinating that the end of time was called uncertain. The rest of the horrors seemed pretty certain, but what could be worse than that, all that, which was uncertain. I also thought the phrasing leaves room for possibility. It will be the certain end if we do not act. If we act then it can be uncertain, we may survive, we may not. It gives hope, it gives possibility, and weight to the absolute end that is incoming. It is avoidable if you try, but otherwise it will be Armageddon. I liked that in general tbh. It felt more realized, stronger, and ultimately a better thematic phrase.
After all “five days until the uncertain end” sounds so much better than “five days until the end of times/Armageddon/end of the world.” One sounds hopeless and known. The other is curious and strange. When you don’t know how the world is going to end, isn’t that uncertain?
Book Names
In my initial notes (which you will find in the Final Notes), I had defined and named a large portion of these names.
Book 1: Finale vs Book 7: Finally
When it came to coming up with the titles of the books, these were the two that I knew immediately. The first was that I wanted to play around withe the idea of finality. Thus Final and Finale. Both are roughly the same, but the meanings are slightly different. I thought Finale would be an amazing way to start. Finale is used to denote the last act or the last section of a symphony. It is the LAST thing. Right? I thought it was the best way to start off the end of the world. There is no way to stop the end from coming. All that is left is to see the way that the Finale plays out. Thus for all intents and purposes, YP is the Finale to the story of humanities time on Earth. Thus, it is the Finale.
However, book seven is the last book of the series. Thus, I wanted something that was similar in tone. I went with Finally. In part because they could be pronounced the same way, in part because “Finally, we’ve reached the end.” Lol I know so many Finale’s in music that go on and you’re like, is this… Is this the end? And the answer is no. So Book 1 denoted that this whole series is the Finale to the world’s story, and Book 7 is signaling that we’ve finally reached the end of the story of the end. Plus its a fun play on words.
Books 2, 3, 5, and 6
Under the Guidance of a Fascinating Never
In the original chapter name listing, this was one of the names and I just decided to keep it. Honestly, at the time it was just a string of words that made sense together not that I was completely sure why. Now I’ll break down why this is the case.
Break up this (and all following) into two parts: “Under the Guidance of” and “a Fascinating Never.”
Under the Guidance Of: This is the idea of a call to action. A mentor showing someone the way. Obviously book 2 is all about following Evester’s father’s guide to get Zeydar. Where, unlike book 1 where they get Heia, this is a bit harder and ends with the general tower collapse. This is also the book where we see just how in over their heads they are. I also think it’s the moment of actual destruction, where as in book 1 it was not nearly the same scale. While LakeLost being hurt by the Aralax was terrible, watching a Tower fall and seeing Zeydar hold it up with will and magic, was on a scale unlike anything else. This book shows them just how over their heads they are.
A Fascinating Never: This is the idea of being lulled by the unknown. Just like how Evester and Zeydar are drawn to each other, and Zeydar is drawn to his powers or Heia is repelled by Circle general culture. The end of the world is mysterious but also fascinates everyone.
Then when we combine them, the idea was meant to be this: This book is about being lulled into the unknown and being pushed forward into the unknown. The book begins with the Tower, continues to Zeydar using magic at levels that you (the reader) have not seen, and ends with them leaving the Tower headed into the unknown to find Maverin who knows what to do next.
Questioning the Notion of Why Life Mattered
Once again we break this up.
Questing the Notion: This part is pretty self explanatory. It is setting up the question in the second part. We are questioning throughout the whole book. Why the Stars act the way they do. Why Zeydar acts the way he does. Why Maverin disappeared. What they are going to do. There are many questions and they are searching for answers.
Why Life Mattered: This part is more a direct play into why Maverin did what he did. After all the horrors, the terrors, that we’ve seen and continue to see in this book, why is humanity worth saving? Why should they come together? Why did Maverin pick the three that he did? This part of the title is all about morality and values of the characters coming into question.
Combined: We are told to question and search for the answer to why we think that humanity should survive. This is perhaps the most simplistic of the titles, but it also reflects the very soul of this book. What makes the group come together? This book? Why is humanity saved? Because they do? Why does life matter? Who knows? EverDanger still fought for the world anyway.
Searching for a Meaning in Societal Remains
Starting with book five, we hop into the reverse. We went from Finale to 2 to 3 and then we are 5 to 6 to Finally. Thus, I decided to reverse the names a bit, going down. Or rather reflect them, even if they aren’t separated.
Searching for a Meaning: Just like Questioning the Notion, this part is about questions and searching for answers. However unlike book 3 this book is more about trying to find a way to tell others and to get everyone on the same page.
Societal Remains: This is pretty explanatory. The world was destroyed and what remains of society pales in comparison to what was before.
Combined: The world is a mess, in crumbles, and the group are fighting to bring them together in a way that they have never been. They have to stand united for the first time in recent history, if they want to survive. This is perhaps the most straight forward along with the title for book 3.
Above the Fear of Innocent Separation
Like book 2, we have a direction. This time it is above rather than under.
Above the Fear: This book is all a set up for the last book, but also has a few battles AND when the Superiors act. I think that a lot of this book is rising against fear. This book is about fear in so many ways, and as everyone gears up for the final count down, all they can hope for is that everything will work out, and that they’ll all survive.
Innocent Separation: I like to think of this part specifically as commenting on the cryostasis that they will have to go through as they travel through space. While this is not apparent in the books as an act, it is going to be the big problem in the last book.
Combined: Essentially it is a warning for the next book. Just like in this book, where everyone overcame their fears, they will have to one more time. They will have to rise above the fear of being separated, in order to move to the new world. Both from their loved ones, and their positions of power. This book shows that people are capable, even if they are not aware of it yet.
Entr’acte
As those who were reading as this series was ongoing will know, this book was added last minute. Originally the series was set to be six books. This one did not exist at all. However, while I was doing my set up, I realized that I had allotted the time span of several months to book 5. Essentially the whole of book 4, time wise, was supposed to be covered in book 5, along with the book 5 timeline. If that seems like a lot to cover. It was.
It is for that reason that I pulled out a large section from book 5 and restructured, which resulted in book 4 becoming a monster. It is 113 chapters, where the others averaged 50 chapters. We cover a lot in the book, much of which ended up with the characters in strange luls. This has a lot to do with Evester, primarily. The original chapters were centered around his story, but in this part he takes the back seat and for the most part does nothing. It was a bit different than the others, and while that is not a problem, it did have to happen.
When it came to choosing the name I wanted something that would split the first half from the second half. Obviously this name cant follow the mirroring that 1-2-3 and 5-6-7 have. Thus I picked, Entr’acte, which is the musical section that separates act one from act 2. While there is a legitimate argument for Entr’acte (the book for YP) being act 2, I thought it would be a fun nod to the knowledge that this is the turning point. Not only with the naming conventions, but also in how the book progresses. I thought it was a fun title, tbh, a bit clever for someone who had to figure something out with 48 hours. LOL
City Names
When it comes to the cities, there are two parts of their naming conventions. The first is the actual name of the cities, and then the second is in regards to why they were called CloudCities or Undercities.
CloudCities
I chose to combine Cloud and City into the city name, because I thought it was the most apt description of the cities themselves. Cities surrounded by the sky and clouds, distant and lofty. Makes sense why the Stars and Circles live in them. As for the city names themselves I wanted to go based on the idea of heavenly cities. This is not the case for all of them, but many of them.
Utoia- Utopia
Arcadia – Arcadia
Haevalia – Heaven
Some other names that would have been mentioned or used as the base: Elysium, Eden, Caanan, Zion, Shangri-la, Nirvana. I didn’t end up using them, but know that there was a chance for it.
Valaria and Ovaria are probably two of the only ones that don’t have a heavenly city base. Valaria is for Valerian the flower. Mostly I chose this for the symbolism, and also because the name was cool. Ovaria is for ovary, yes. This one should be the most self explanatory. Yes, Evester was born in Valaria, however the saving of the world was fostered, kept, and then released from Ovaria. I wanted to play on the motherly instinct of the city, and the fact that it is this city that essentially birthed EverDanger and hosted the Yasloughve Project for years. I wanted the maternal instinct leveled on the city.
Towers
What I love about the Towers is that they share the same name as the CloudCity on the top of them, but at the same time they are unnamed. Noone in the story would say the Tower under Arcadia is officially Arcadia, but if someone pointed at the Tower they’d call all of it, CloudCity and all, Arcadia. The CloudCities only exist because of the Towers, but the Towers are not themselves named. Arcadia’s tower or the Tower for Arcaida, would be a much more apt way to title them. I did this, because the Towers are often lumped together with the CloudCity but the X’s are forgotten for the Circles and Stars that live above them. I thought this was a good metaphor for economics and power. The CloudCities could not exist without the Towers, and yet no one cares to name the Towers at all.
I like to think of the Towers as extremely high tech and complicated cities out of a comic book. Neon lights, lots of people, Everything is accessible by foot, close communities, and generally warn down because of the elite that exploit them. TBH there should have been more Tower rebellions.
UnderCities
The UnderCities were the first things I knew about. Cities in the underground (hence UnderCity), ala apocalypse nuclear fallout sort of thing. I wanted these cities to be massive things, but underground. I thought of them a lot like desert cities in the United States, namely Las Vegas, with sprawling suburbs, and some tall buildings in the center. However, some of them I also thought of as towering undergound metropolis with stalactite and stalagmite buildings.
When it came to naming these, you might realize that LakeLost was one of the few named. Initially I wanted to name them after different regions but as the story got more expansive, I had a hard time doing that, so I kept their names simple, or none at all. LakeLost was originally Chicago, to be honest. A Chicago where there was no lake (think like Divergent) On the lost lake, LakeLost, get it? But the name really fits anywhere, tbh. Other names were considered to be other ecological ideas and then with a descriptor or ForestBleed or something. I just decided not to add them, in the end.
LowerLands and LowerCities
Note that the LowerLand and LowerCities are rarely named. I gave a few names in the end (Reta for instance) but there was no specific reason for this. I just shortened retina for Reta. I had the idea to name the LowerCities about sensations (five senses), but as most were not named throughout the series this was discarded for the most part. The LowerLands are called the LowerLands because they are lower than the CloudCities, and above the Undercities. They are “Lower” in a world where the high lands are the Towers, essentially. The land and the cities were named this way, as Lower than the Clouds.
Chapter Names
In my initial notes (which you will find in the Final Notes), I had defined and named a large portion of these names, and decided to stick with the naming convention.
[NUMBER] Days Until [SOMETHING] and the Uncertain End
When I was first writing down the dream, and in the dream itself, this was one of the few things that stuck out. I knew that this would be the naming convention for the titles the moment I began. It is a countdown, as we move to the Uncertain End, and I thought it was reasonable to continue going forward with it as I developed the story further.
When it came to choosing numbers, all I knew was the starting number. Everything else was pretty much a game of “yeah this seems right.” I had to think of approximate distances and time it would take to do something. The dates picked were completely random. Why I picked one day and not others, was random happenstance. Why there were some chapters with one POV and others with three or six, was based on weight and where situations felt right. I know the approximate location of all the major battle scenes and pivotal moments, and I just had to lay those out and work around them.
As for the [something] part. The words might seem like random words chosen. Truth is, I did not select the word for each chapter until I had written all of the chapters and I went back through each and said, “what is this day about” in one word. While not all the words are perfect (because I did not want to repeat) I did my best. Essentially you can look at the one word and know what all the chapters on that day are going to revolve around, at least in part. Best convention on the planet? No, but it works.
After [Something] – The Opening Chapters (Mostly)
After [Catastrophe, Existing, Persisting, Enduring, Lingering, Memory]
Obviously they were all chosen as titles for the prologue/flashbacks. I wanted these to be moments where we learned more about the characters, their wants and needs. Unlike the main chapter titles, the second word, while describing the situation in the chapter, were prepicked before the book was written. The order was predetermined to tell a story, going from the beginning to end. After Catastrophe we existed and persisted and endured, lingering with memory.
After Uncertainty
This is the only one of the “After” chapters that takes place in the middle of a book on the day of the Uncertain End. I chose this because, I thought it was a clever way to go about it. Just like how all the other after chapters are the prologue to the Catastrophe, the Uncertain End is the prologue to the new story of civilization. It is the only chapter that is not a flashback, and because for the characters it is happening in real time, although one day it will be a flashback. “After Uncertainty, there was so much more,” was the intention.
End Chapter Titles
Words that Begin with R [Rebuilding, Resistance, Revival, Rewriting, Reunion]
To be honest, there was no reason that I picked the letter r, other than the fact that half of the words I wanted to use in the initial chapter draft were words with “r.” I decided to stick with it, and it is pretty amazing that so many good words start with the letter r. There was no other reason, lol. I chose the words based on what was essentially happening in the story (or to happen).
Welcoming the Uncertain End
The only chapter that is an end chapter that is no a word that start with r, is the last chapters of Book 6. There was a part of me that wanted to make this the chapter title for the day of the Uncertain End, however, I knew that After Uncertainty fit better thematically. Also, this was an end chapter title. I don’t know how to explain it other than that the vibe for this was “end.” I put it at the end of book 6 because it follows the same conventions for why I picked the other words. At the end of book six they are welcoming the uncertain end, ready to flee. Also, I thought it was a clever nod to the reader. Are you ready to welcome the last book of the series? Well you get no choice. I thought it was a bit clever in that regard.
Rebirth
The last chapter had to be Rebirth, and I knew that from the beginning, because it is the one chapter where the characters step out into the new world. I thought it was important to end with this word, as it is hopeful and pleasent.
Ranks
This is perhaps the one thing from my dream that was certain to stay, the ranking. I’m pretty sure I explained this in the series, but the reason they are called each is for their magic compatibility. X’s have no connection to magic. Stars have magic. Circles are magic sensitive. (Mage equivalent 4&5 and Circles, and 1-3 are Stars officially). This was the Project’s way of dividing humanity into the best components for success and saving the world before the Uncertain End. It was humans that took this to mean, lesser or greater. It was just a calculation determined to bring humanity success not a fact for capability or importance, which it later became. I decided to keep this in the story.
If there are any things you want to know in specific, let me know. I will either update this or make a new post in the future!
Until Next Time,
MM
Marlena Marie 