Etymology of Homeworld
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Origins of names from the Homeworld series:
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The original Kushans were members of the Yuechi tribe living south of the Gobi Desert, most likely in the Chinese province of Gansu, west of the Chinese imperial capital of Xian in Shaaxi.
The Yuechi were a powerful tribe and the Chinese tried to recruite them to battle the Hsiong Nu from the Mongolian regions. The Hsiong Nu are better known in history as the infamous Huns.
In response the Huns attacked the Yuechi and the Yuechi were driven out of their homelands. Thus began a long migration from Gansu north of the Taklamakan desert and the Tarim Basin in the present day Xinjiang region and over the Altai mountains, then down to Bactria which was called Tai-sha, now Afghanistan. They defeated the Sai or Scythians, as well as the last remaining Greek kingdom (descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals), to set up the Kushan Empire. The Kushan Empire extended all the way to Pakistan and northern India.
Kushans fought alongside the Parthians against the Romans.
Ultimately the Kushans fell to the Kidarite Huns (White Huns).
This could refer to the Tai-shan mountain ranges or the Tai-sa, also known as Bactria which the Yuechi defeated.
Turan refers to a region from the Altai Mountains to present day Kazakhistan, including Uzbekistan, Kajikistan and Khirghizatan, now populated by Turks. The Yuechi-Kushans, in their migration, traveled in some of these areas.
Turanic raiders may be a simple reference to the nomadic Turkish tribes in that region (Uzbeks, Uighyurs, Kirgiz, Kazaks, Tajiks, etc,) The Hsiong Nu, or Huns belong to the Turkish family. In their migration from Mongolia to Eastern Europe, the Huns travelled across the areas known as Turan.
Locations
Kharak There are multiple possible and similar origins for the name of the Exile world of Kharak:
Kharakhitai was the capital of the Mongol Empire. Destroyed by the Ming to the ground and left as a lost city in the desert.
Kharakhanid - A ancient kingdom located in the southern desert area of present day Xinjiang with its capital in Khotan, now called Hetian. This is between the Kharakhoram and the Kunlun mountains. At one time, the city of Khotan was under the rule of the Kushan Empire.
Kharakhorja - Another ancient kingdom in southern Xinjiang, with its capital located in Gaochang. Like the Kharakhanid, Kharakhorja is founded by Uighyurs, a Turkish tribe.
Hegira Hejira (Hiiagara) describes a journey to escape from danger. It refers to the flight of Mohummad from Mecca to Medina in 622AD and marks the beginning of the Moslem era.
(Kadesh-Barnea; meaning "Sacred desert of wandering") - A place in the South of Israel. In the Bible and Torah, the Israelites camped at Kadesh and scouted out Canaan from there. Ten out of twelve spies advise against advancing further, with only Joshua and Kaleb giving positive reports. The Israelites then wandered back into the desert, and would only come together at Kadesh forty years later.
Kadesh (more accurately Qadesh) was also an ancient city of the Levant, located on the Orontes River in what is now western Syria. Kadesh was the site of a famous battle between the Egyptian and Hittite empires in the 13th century BC. Led by Ramesses II, the Egyptians only managed a stalemate against the Hittites.
In the Battle of Talas. Arabs and Moslem Turks defeated the armies of the Tang and their Buddhist Turkish allies. This defeat hastened the fall of the Tang Dynasty and decisively destroyed the Chinese influence over Central Asia.
Homeworld: Cataclysm
Homeworld 2
Races
"Vaygr" is an anagram of the Russian word "Varyg" or "Varyag" which means "Viking." Also, in the Old Icelandic (Viking) language, the word "vagyr" meant both a wolf, and a restless or a godless man. Appropriate to the "nomad barbarian" style of the Vaygr.
See Also
- Easter egg
- The Relic Forums thread discussing Etymology: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=46008
