On the Great Steppe, the First Emperor dreamed of a world united under one ruler as it was under one Sun. The leader of a minor host, he bested the leaders of the other hosts and was declared Emperor (khagan). The Sun rewarded him with Sanul, a ray of the Sun made flesh into a divine mare.
The First Emperor taught all the disparate tribes his language so he could command them as one on his quest to unify the world. From Sanul's back, with his hordes behind him, he conquered all the Sun could touch. After he had conquered the lands to the sea, Sanul bore him a human son, the Second Emperor.
One day, a divine mare arrived, black as night. The Second Emperor called her Nokhal, for midnight, and took her as his bride. Yet his empire knew no peace, for he was a child of the Sun and its chosen, and the night held court for half the day. Thus he turned to his wife, Nokhal, and sacrificed her to the Sun, eating her heart to gain dominion over the night as well. As he had conquered the night as well, he became divine himself.
The story of the Second Emperor and Nokhal is reenacted in the rituals of deification, where the new Emperor is symbolically wed to a markingless, night-black divine mare, after which he kills her at noon on the summer solstice, and eats her heart.
Under influence from the inhabitants' original language, the L, S, and R noun classes were reinterpreted from being sky, religion, and things that fly (L), the earth, plants, and bushes (S), and human (R), into masculine, feminine, and neuter, respectively. As a result, men generally bear names related to animals that fly (Toral "butterfly"; Tovil "baby wren"; Kikol "raven"), states of the sky (Khuyel "dawn"), or the weather (Innol "wind"); while women generally bear names related to plants (Vakhas "maple") or agriculture (Sisas "field"). Most people have names that are simple vocabulary words, but some have ones that are either elaborations upon a word (Ersisas, with sisas "field" and a meaningless beginning), or which are chosen simply for aesthetic value (Aril).
Surnames generally come from a contraction of the archaic genitive: tiral "cliff" -> Tiraya "of the cliff" -> Tiria; noras "hay" -> Noraya "of the hay" -> Noria. Especially in the south, the roots used come from the inhabitants' original language: göktü "hill" -> Koktia; ǧolmo "village" -> Kholnia. Some, especially on the coast facing Rlyat, are Rlyati words adapted to fit the phonotactics of Kharas: Meng Tya "dark islet" (a Rlyati island) -> Ventia; ngyonum "fisherman" -> Yonun. Women take their husband's surname on marriage and children bear their father's surname.
The imperial family has no surname and their given names are full sentences, in the archaic language (Rayala-sanul-nishele-shuye-re-korutak "the Sun's rays kill storm clouds at dawn" – in the modern parlance, the sentence would be written rayala sanul nikhele khuyere korutak; sh has become kh and postpositions have become case endings). Collateral branches are eventually either demoted and allowed a matrilineal marriage (where they take their wife's surname), or more commonly, simply forbidden from taking on concubines.
Some common surnames, sorted by origin: first inherited vocabulary, then words from the original language, and finally Rlyat.
A table, with their year of birth, deification (ascent to the throne), and death. (The first round of Taggle is set in the in-universe year of 1846.) Aril Tiria was liberated before his deification and is still alive.
| Born | Deified | Died | Emperor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1506 | 1534 | 1580 | Evu-re-rayal-tasuse-yuruse-umatak |
| 1534 | 1580 | 1599 | |
| 1560 | 1599 | 1612 | |
| 1589 | 1612 | 1657 | |
| 1614 | 1657 | 1687 | |
| 1660 | 1687 | 1741 | Tasul-shuyel-suya-shuya-voyase-velotak |
| 1689 | 1741 | 1759 | Tasu-raya-oi-shuyes-sharas-yevotak |
| 1712 | 1759 | 1792 | Tasul-rayal-kerese-sirese-akase-kavutak |
| 1742 | 1792 | 1807 | Tasul-rayal-evuya-nesheya-yuruse-unatak |
| 1766 | 1807 | 1826 | Shuyeya-rayaya-nayor-shiviya-luvu-ka-kavutak |
| 1798 | 1826 | 1846 | Rayala-sanul-nishele-shuye-re-korutak |
| 1833 | Rayala-vashala-kivir-tasu-yuruse-kavutak (Aril Tiria) |