An unofficial Altered pronunciation guide

One of Altered’s strengths is that its world allows it to draw from and reimagine various cultural, fictional, and mythological touchstones. As I read through the cards and characters from Beyond the Gates, I realized I was unfamiliar with quite a few pronunciations, so I figured I’d compile the results from my investigation in case anyone else wanted to start where I left off.

These are my best attempts and not an official pronunciation guide. I used a Discord post by Lokinox as a starting point, with a couple of additional pronunciations generously confirmed by Yoshi (narrative designer) himself. Please let me know if you see anything you believe is incorrect!

I’ve linked each phonetic transcription to an approximation of its pronunciation, courtesy of IPA text-to-speech generator IPA Reader.

A note: please be considerate and don’t correct someone’s pronunciation unless you know they would welcome it.

Factions

• Lyra: [lahy-ruh] /ˈlaɪ.ɹə/

  • y like lie
  • Lyra is pronounced differently if you are a French-speaker:
    • Lyra (French): [lee-ruh] /ˈli.ɹə/
      • y like lira

• Muna: [moo-nuh] /ˈmu.nə/

  • u like moon

• Yzmir: [eez-meer] /ˈiz.miɹ/

  • yz like ease

Heroes

• Afanas: [ah-fuh-nahs] /ɑ.fəˈnɑs/

  • Eastern European (Greek origin): immortal
  • accent on -nas

• Akesha: [uh-keh-shuh] /əˈkɛ.ʃə/

  • e like mesh

• Arjun: [ahr-joon] /ˈɑɹ.dʒun/

  • Indian: lustrous, shiny white
  • u like June

• Atsadi: [ah-chah-dee] /ɑˈtʃɑ.di/

  • Cherokee: fish
  • ts like chocolate
  • “ts” can be pronounced differently between dialects of Cherokee
    • [ah-jaw-dee] /ɑˈdʒɑ.di/
    • [ah-chah-dee] /ɑˈtʃɑ.di/ (preferred)
    • [ah-dzah-dee] /ɑˈdzɑ.di/
    • [ah-tsah-dee] /ɑˈtsɑ.di/

• Auraq: [ow-rahk] /aʊˈɹɑk/

  • Arabic: dust-colored/sand-colored
  • au like cow
  • raq like rock (a is retracted, as in Iraq)
  • a more faithful pronunciation would trill the r: /aʊˈrɑk/

• Basira: [buh-see-ruh] /bʌˈsi.ɹə/

  • Arabic: wise
  • si like sea

• Gulrang: [gool-rang] /ˈgul.ɹæŋ/

  • Arabic (Urdu origin): color of flowers
  • gul like cool

• Lindiwe: [lin-dee-wey] /lɪnˈdi.wɛ/

  • African: awaited
  • accent on -di-

• Sigismar: [see-jees-mahr] /ˈsi.dʒis.mɑɹ/

  • gi like jeans

• Subhash: [soo-bosh] /suˈbɑʃ/

  • Indian: well-spoken
  • accent on -bhash
  • The story article on Subhash & Marmo nicknames him Bash, suggesting [soo-bash], which agrees with Lokinox’s pronunciation guide
  • a more faithful pronunciation would use a breathy voiced bilabial stop (bʱ):
    • Subhash: [soo-bhosh] /suˈbʱɑʃ/

• Teija: [tey-yuh] /ˈteɪ.jə/

  • Finnish: short form of Dorothea, meaning God’s gift
  • j like young
  • Also okay: [tey-juh] /ˈteɪ.dʒə/
    • j like jump

• Treyst: [treyst] /treɪst/

  • ey like tray

Companions

• Kaizaimon: [kahy-zahy-mon] /ˈkaɪ.zaɪ.mɑn/

  • kaizai like mai tai
  • mon like monster

• Nauraa: [nou-ruh] /ˈnaʊ.ɹə/

  • au like now

• Taru: [tar-oo] /ˈtæɹ.u/

  • a like arrow

Lore

• Altrun: [awlt-ruhn] /ˈɔlt.rʌn/

  • alt like Altered
  • run like run

• Asgartha: [az-gahr-thuh] /æzˈgɑɹ.θə/

  • th like Martha, not Sparta

• Kelon: [kel-in] /ˈkɛl.ən/

  • elon like melon

• Kelonic: [kuh-law-nik] /kəˈlɒ.nɪk/

  • on like sonic

Characters

• Aja: [ah-juh] /ˈɑ.dʒə/

  • Yoruba: orisha of the forest
  • ja like judge

• Amahle: [ah-mah-ley] /ɑˈmɑ.leɪ/

  • Zulu: the beautiful ones
  • -mah- and -le are separate syllables
  • a more faithful pronunciation would use the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative (ɬ):
    • [ah-mah-hley] /ɑˈmɑ.ɬeɪ/

• Cernunnos: [kayr-noo-noss] /kɛɹˈnu.nɒs/

  • Celtic: lord of wild things
  • Cer like care
  • nu like new
  • nos like boss

• Dracaena/Hydracaena: [druh-see-nuh] /drəˈsi.nə/

  • cae like see

• Issun-bōshi: [ee-soon boh-shee] /ˈi.sun ˈbo.ʃi/

  • Japanese: One-Inch Boy (literally One-Sun, sun being a unit of measurement), a tiny samurai who is the subject of a Japanese fairy tale
  • i like evil
  • u like soon

• Tomoe Gozen: [toh-moh-ey go-zen] /ˈto.mo.e ˈgo.zen/

  • Japanese: female samurai from the late twelfth century
    • Gozen is a Japanese honorific, usually translated to “Lady”
  • -mo- and -e are separate syllables

• Ogun: [oh-guhn] /ˈoʊ.ɡən/

  • Yoruba: god of iron, metalwork
  • un like oaken (American) or goon (Yoruba)
  • a more faithful pronunciation would use a nasalized u (with proper vowel tones):
    • /ò.ɡṹ/ [oh-goon]

• Quetzalcóatl: [ket-sahl-koh-aht-uhl] /ˌkɛt.sɑl.koʊˈɑt.əl/

  • Nahuatl: feathered serpent
  • Que like ketchup
  • -có- and -at- are separate syllables
  • a more faithful pronunciation would use the voiceless alveolar lateral affricate (tɬ):
    • [ket-sahl-koh-atl] /kɛt.sɑlˈkoʊ.ɑtɬ/

Sources

I sourced many of these pronunciations from posts by Equinox team members on the Altered Discord (primarily this one) and cross-referenced them with linked pronunciation guides across the internet.

I’ve attempted to add IPA and phonetic transcriptions, but my college linguistics is pretty rusty, so I can’t vouch for the accuracy of every transcription. For the most part, I selected pronunciations that would be natural for a speaker of American English rather than a strictly faithful transcription using the origin language’s phonology (e.g. /ˈoʊ.ɡən/ rather than /ò.ɡṹ/).

Where possible, I used dictionary.com, wiktionary.org, and ipa-reader.xyz as resources to double-check my IPA and phonetic transcriptions.