Extrasolar colony world
I've had this idea slowly developing for some time, and I realize I have a question that I could use the community's help with, so I'm making a WIP thread!
The idea is to make a map of a future colony world in another star system, a la Allen Steele's Coyote or John Scalzi's Old Man's War series (though without the alien adversaries). I will do this by hand because I just like that better, and style is still a little up in the air, though obviously I will try to put more sci-fi elements into it than fantastical elements. The map will depict the time just over 300 years after arrival (AA). I've plotted out a bunch of initial world-building, to try and model the populations of each settlement by 400 AA. Basically, there's an exponential growth from the natural birthrate at slightly varying rates in different locations. I also hit the populations with a couple settlement collapses, plagues, and a major war - though the colonists are generally too busy adapting to life on another world to have many wars. By 400 AA, the population is 303,130 people - from an initial generational ark carrying 8000 aspiring settlers at the time of landing.
The world has been unsupported since the original landing. After initial surveys, within about 50 years after arrival there are no more active orbiting spacecraft relaying information to the colonists. They have plenty of data and technology; but they are limited to the resources they can find on the planet. (Rare Earth metals are particularly troublesome, which is bad for electronics manufacture.) They are also limited by their population. So, while technologies such as aircraft and computers are present (and more prevalent as time passes), they are not common. More fruitful investments were technologies that could benefit many sectors over the long term, so, for example, radio is common and the primary means of long-distance land travel is by solar-powered train (you only need a few locomotives to serve a lot of people). Most residents live in wood or stone houses, farming and herding are major sources of food, and so on.
Here's the question: I drew inspiration for the placenames I will put on this map from American frontier imagery, which is what I am used to. However, I'd like to have this world settled by a realistically multicultural ark ship, who would name places in other languages or with different metaphors. I would like to replace about half of the current set of major settlement names, and also add some names to minor towns around them. Can I get some suggestions from speakers of non-English languages or students of non-Western cultures?
Here is my sketch map:
ColonyWorld08202017.jpg
A brief summary of major events on this world follows.
0-20 AA: The 8000 initial colonists found the settlements of Colony, Prospect, and Transceiver Tower. An accident in orbit causes the ark ship to crash on the planet after all the settlers are down, on a different continent from the settlements. The rough location is known.
75 AA: The colonists begin to build solar railroad lines connecting their settlements and establishing routes into the wilderness.
75-160 AA: As the new towns expand, additional settlements are founded. The culture is generally peaceful and focused on the problems of colonizing the new planet.
160 AA: Prospect embarks on the project of finding the ark crash site, and founds the town of Expedition Point from which to launch ships. Emigrants pass through Expedition Point to found New Outpost on a second rugged continent. The effort of founding another overseas colony is extensive for the young nation and takes more time than expected by the projects' proponents.
225: A major plague strikes Colony and Landing Field, precipitating the secession and isolation of the Homestead Compact. Colony becomes more isolated from Prospect, as well.
240: After the plague, Colony attempts to recapture Homestead militarily. The effort fails due to lack of support and resources, but leaves the town of Homestead as a disputed territory.
260: The town of Timber collapses, the largest settlement collapse to date.
265: New Outpost locates the wreckage of the interstellar ark, and establishes the town of Arksite there.
300: The map is produced as a symbolic gift to somebody or other.
The list of major settlements and populations in 400 AA, some of which I would like to rename, is:
The nation of Colony
- Colony (est. 20 AA; pop. 21,100)
- Landing Field (est. 135 AA; pop. 9300)
- Homestead (disputed) (est. 35 AA; pop. 2200)
- Quarry Town (est. 40 AA; pop. 5100)
The nation of Prospect
- Prospect (est. 20 AA; pop. 24,100)
- Expedition Point (est. 55 AA; pop. 5900)
- Xeno Station (est. 60 AA; pop. 1400)
- Harvest (est. 90 AA; pop. 6500)
- Timber (collapsed) (est. 110 AA; pop. 0)
- Downriver (est. 130 AA; pop. 2500)
The nation of The Homestead Compact
- Homestead (disputed) (est. 35 AA; pop. 2200)
- New Frontier (est. 80 AA; pop. 2000)
- Portage (est. 110 AA; pop. 3000)
Unaffiliated
- Transceiver Tower (est. 20 AA; pop. 8200)
- Greenmount (est. 235 AA; pop. 4800)
- Enclave (est. 280 AA; pop. 1500)
- New Outpost (est. 160 AA; pop. 8300)
- Arksite (est. 265 AA; pop. 5300)
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