Garrulous Glaahk Wham Bam Shizzlezam Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 We were talking in class the other day about the story of Orpheus. My teacher gave a broad explanation of Hades, and the Greeks' idea of death. If memory serves, he mentioned that the cave leading to the underworld was called "Avernus." I think this has some connection to Avernum. "Brilliant, Eintein!" I know that is what most of you are thinking. I just wondered if everyone else knew this, or if everyone didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan Dallerdin with a custom moniker. Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 I'm fairly sure that Jeff Vogel mentioned somewhere that he got the name Avernum from the mythical Avernus (Avernus was taken by a rock band or something). Probably in one of those interviews he did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 Doesn't A1's manual mention it? EDIT: From the BoA manual, Chapter 2, "The World of Avernum": "According to mythology, Avernum is a gateway, the portal leading to the underworld". I think A1 gave a more detailed explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 Wikipedia on Hades mentions, "In Roman mythology, an entrance to the underworld located at Avernus, a crater near Cumae, was the route Aeneas used to descend to the Underworld. By synecdoche, 'Avernus' could be substituted for the underworld as a whole." In fact, Avernus is so significant that it gets an entire page devoted to it. That's pretty neato. I didn't know that. I thought Jeff just made up the bit about it being a name for the underworld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Alorael at Large Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 There's also Lake Avernus or Averno, which proves that the gateway to the underworld can also be a nice tourist trap. —Alorael, who preferred the name Exile to Avernum. A real-world allusion in a place name doesn't quite make sense, and the lack of non-descriptive name parallelism in Exile and Empire was nicer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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