What’s in a Name?
Paeraes Vyri are not real words.
They’re not from a real language.
They’re not spoken by real people.
But Paeraes Vyri certainly holds meaning.
I had danced under the stars with perhaps the best roleplayer I had ever met. It was the night that J and I had broken up and I was once again sulking in the Keep of Karamoon. And then I saw him sit out in the distance, we had met before through roleplay which is another story for sure, but when I saw him I decided to overcome my shyness and step out of the Keep and initiate a conversation myself.
I never imagined what it would lead to.
“They called me Desert Rose in my homeland.”
For me, Essie is and always will be the same character from those first few months in Tor. She was born in a distant desert land, she speaks a foreign language at times (gorean although I don’t actually translate it seriously), she has a burn mark on her leg in the shape of a k, and she is mystified by these magical creatures she’s found in the new world.
It was summer, the days, or night rather, where I often found myself still awake when the sun rose. This was one of those nights. With a heavy heart, we kissed goodnight, and parted ways.
“I missed you Paeraes Vyri.”
A few days later much had happened in the world of Karamoon but I waited patiently to see him again.
We spoke, held hands, stole glances. Everything that is scorned in the world of Gor I enjoyed in. He was romantic beyond belief, and a Prince in character to boot, and at first I was ashamed for enjoying the sugary sweet words he bathed me in because I knew if I were ever to tell my kajira friends they would huff and tell me that it wasn’t Gorean, it wasn’t masculine, it wasn’t dominant language. But I hung on every word like it was the only thing keeping me together.
“Everywhere I go, you blue eyes haunt me Paeraes Vyri.”
“What does that mean? Paeraes Vyri?”
“Desert Rose.”
And so it was, his special name for me. Yes, it’s a made up language full of made up words spoken by made up people… but it does hold so much meaning.
And that is why this blog is named Paeraes Vyri. Because even though what we roleplay is not real on its own, through our own experiences and humanness it transforms into something more.
