Animation · blog · Manga · Proxymité Japon ·

Underworld 5/5 - Sword Art Online

This article details the specifics of Underworld. For more background and behind-the-scenes details, please refer to Project Alicization 1/4 None

This is page 5/5 of the article.
Start reading from here or return to page 4 None

Summary

Underworld is the world that was created in Project Alicization 1/4 which is described in the Alicization arc.

Human Empire Society (Continued)

Names of people

The first sixteen people were randomly chosen katakana names. The next name was the parent's name, slightly modified, until a different naming tradition took root and spread throughout the Human Empire and most of the Dark Territory. This system, like many real names, reflects the parent's "wish" for the child. This is achieved by assigning each sound a specific meaning as follows. Repetitions signify a stronger desire for the trait.

There are other traditions. For example, among goblins, meaningful names like "Kosogi" (scraper) may be used. Known families of Dark Arts users name their children with only the initials of the ancient Dark script (English), for example, "DIL," which reads "dee-eye-el."

People also generally write names in katakana. Priests may transcribe katakana names into a sacred language alphabet and write the anglicized version; thus, ユージオ becomes "Eugeo" instead of "Yūjio".

LANGUAGES

Common language

The Common Language ( Han'yōgo ) is the primary spoken and written language in Underworld. It is essentially simplified Japanese with a few loan words. There are also several accents.

The Sacred Language

The Sacred Language (English: 神聖語, Shinseigo ) is English with some loanwords. Common people perceive it as a set of magical phrases beyond mortal comprehension, but those who study it for the Sacred Arts know what it means. It is primarily used for chants of the Sacred Arts and is written in system windows. Some names are also derived from it. It is written either in Latin characters or katakana, whichever is more convenient.

The Church's axiom dogmatizes that the Sacred Language was given to the Administrator by the three goddesses at the time of creation. Knowledge of its meaning is forbidden beyond the words used for known rituals, so ordinary people have no dictionary.

Calendar

As the starting point, the name of the calendar approved by the Axiom Church is HEC, which means Human Empire Calendar (人界歴jinkai reki ). It therefore begins approximately 70 years after the actual creation date. The days and months are simply numbered and correspond to the Gregorian calendar.

Mapping dates

To match the HEC dates to the actual calendar, some calculations would need to be done to account for changes in the FLA, taking into account known reference points.

Kirito arrives for his part-time job in Rath sometime between HEC 361-372 None June 26-28 (IRL, Volume 9).
Kirito's Fluctlight is damaged during an unexpected power outage on July 6, 2:07 PM JST In Real Life (Volume 14).
FLA is about to be 1.00 (real time) on July 7, 00:00 JST IRL, which is CET 380 month 11 day 8, 0:00 . (Volume 16 Chapter 19 Parts 6-7).

Anecdotes

Only nobles and wealthy or famous citizens are allowed to have a family name, which is then written after the first name, unlike Japanese names.
Like Japan, Underworld uses metric units, but their pronunciation is awkward. For example, meters are "meru," kilometers are "kiloru," centimeters are "sen," millimeters are "mil," liters are "lil," and so on.
Hell pays in "shearing."
In Volume 9 Prologue II, Parts 1 and 3, it is stated that from Friday to Sunday, Kazuto was in FullDive for his part-time job at Rath. According to Volume 10, Chapter 2, Part 1, that day was June 29th, which, according to the calendar, is a Monday.