CHARACTERS
MAIN CHARACTERS
MO TIANLIAO 莫天寥: A master artificer known as the Venerable Demon Lord Duantian in his previous life. Now reborn in the body of a…divine tree.
QINGTONG 清潼: One of the three sanctum masters of Woyun Sect, and the human form of Mo Tianliao’s cat, Pawpaw.
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SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
WOYUN SECT
TIANLANG 天琅: Sect leader and one of the three sanctum masters of Woyun Sect.
XUANJI 玄机: One of the three sanctum masters of Woyun Sect.
MENGHU 孟虎: Chief disciple under the tutelage of Qingtong. His name sounds like “fierce tiger.” Qingtong’s nickname for him is Chubby (大胖).
YANLIE 炎烈: Chief disciple under the tutelage of the sect leader.
ZIMO 紫陌: Second disciple under the tutelage of the sect leader.
BAILUO 白落: Third disciple under the tutelage of the sect leader.
MOXIONG 墨雄: Fourth disciple under the tutelage of the sect leader.
LANGZI 琅梓: Ffith disciple under the tutelage of the sect leader.
YUANHAI 元海: Chief disciple under the tutelage of Xuanji .
HUAQING 花情: Second disciple under the tutelage of Xuanji. Known as the Flaming Flower Elixirist.
YULI 玉离: Third disciple under the tutelage of Xuanji.
CHENG XI 程溪: newly accepted disciple from the same batch as Mo Tianliao, no formal title/rank as yet.
SUHENG 素恒: Second-generation disciple of Menghu.
SUWEN 素问: Second-generation disciple of Menghu.
CHIFENG 赤峰: Second-generation disciple; head disciple of Yanlie.
CHISHAN 赤珊: Second-generation disciple of Yanlie.
CHIYUAN 赤垣: Second-generation disciple of Yanlie.
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LIUYUN SECT
DING HU 丁户: Elder Ding; specializes in artifact forging.
DING ZIJIN 丁子金: Eldest son and heir of Elder Ding.
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QINYUN SECT
YUNSONG 云松: An elder of the sect.
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DEMONIC PATH
SHIDI 弑地: Nicknamed Dachui or Big Hammer (大锤). One of the demon lords of the unorthodox path. His name means “Heavenslayer.”
BLACK NIGHTMARE LION 黑魇狮: Shidi’s soul beast. Nightmare for short.
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NAME GUIDE
Names, Honorifics, and Titles
Diminutives, Nicknames, and Name Tags
A-: Friendly diminutive. Always a prefix. Usually for monosyllabic names, or one syllable out of a two-syllable name.
DOUBLING: Doubling a syllable of a person’s name can be a nickname, e.g., “Mangmang”; it has childish or cutesy connotations.
DA-: A prefix meaning “big” or “elder,” which can be added before titles for elders, like “dage” or “dajie,” or before a name.
LAO-: A prefix meaning “old.” Usually added to a surname and used in informal contexts.
XIAO-: A prefix meaning “little” or “younger,” which can be added before names or titles for juniors like “xiaodi.” Often used in an affectionate and familiar context.
-ER: An affectionate diminutive added to names, literally “son” or “child.” Always a suffix. Can sometimes be a fixed part of a person’s name, rather than just an affectionate suffix.
Family
DI/DIDI: Younger brother or a younger male friend.
GE/GEGE: A word meaning “elder brother.” It can also be used to address an unrelated male peer, and optionally used as a suffix.
JIE/JIEJIE: A word meaning “elder sister.” It can also be used to address an unrelated female peer, and optionally used as a suffix.
XIONG: A word meaning “elder brother.” It can be attached as a suffix to address an unrelated male peer.
Martial Arts and Tutelage
SHIBO: The elder male fellow disciple of one’s teacher.
SHIFU: Teacher or master. Literal meaning is “martial father.” For one’s master in one’s own sect.
SHISHU: Martial uncle. For junior martial siblings of the speaker’s master, including women.
SHIZHI: Martial nephew or niece. For disciples of the speaker’s martial sibling.
SHIXIONG: Older martial brother, used for older disciples or classmates.
SHIJIE: Older martial sister, used for older disciples or classmates.
SHIDI: Younger martial brother, used for younger disciples or classmates.
SHIMEI: Younger martial sister, used for younger disciples or classmates.
SHIZU: In this novel, the teacher of one’s teacher.
ZHENREN: “Perfected one,” a Daoist spiritual master.
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PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Mandarin Chinese is the official state language of mainland China, and pinyin is the official system of romanization in which it is written. As Mandarin is a tonal language, pinyin uses diacritical marks (e.g., ā, á, ǎ, à) to indicate these tonal inflections. Most words use one of four tones, though some are a neutral tone. Furthermore, regional variance can change the way native Chinese speakers pronounce the same word. For those reasons and more, please consider the guide below a simplified introduction to pronunciation of select character names from The White Cat’s Divine Scratching Post.
More resources are available at sevenseasdanmei.com
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NOTE ON SPELLING
Romanized Mandarin Chinese words with identical spelling in pinyin—and even pronunciation—may well have different meanings. These words are more easily differentiated in written Chinese, which uses logographic characters.
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GENERAL CONSONANTS
Some Mandarin Chinese consonants sound very similar, such as z/c/s and zh/ch/sh. Audio samples will provide the best opportunity to learn the difference between them.
X: somewhere between the sh in sheep and s in silk
Q: a very aspirated ch as in charm
C: ts as in pants
Z: z as in zoom
S: s as in silk
CH: ch as in charm
ZH: dg as in dodge
SH: sh as in shave
G: hard g as in graphic
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GENERAL VOWELS
The pronunciation of a vowel may depend on its preceding consonant. For example, the “i” in “shi” is distinct from the “i” in “di.” Vowel pronunciation may also change depending on where the vowel appears in a word, for example the “i” in “shi” versus the “i” in “ting.” Finally, compound vowels are often—though not always—pronounced as conjoined but separate vowels. You’ll find a few of the trickier compounds below.
IU: as in ewe
IE: ye as in yes
UO: war as in warm