Well then, over a week since I last made an entry... To comment on the obvious things, my Thanksgiving was quite spiffing, both enjoyable and productive. I got one page of The Spirit Falls drawn out, then several more sketched; hopefully I can ink and color that this weekend (or maybe start tomorrow, if I have time)...

On to the title of this entry! A couple weeks ago, Alsru came upon the origins of the Makuta Phantoka's names, so I did some investigation of my own, with the following results (again, thank Alsru for discovering them):

• Antroz: from the bat Family Antrozoidae, which combines the Latin antrum and Greek zwon (zōon) to mean "cave animal."

• Chirox: from the bat Order Chiroptera, from Greek ceir (cheir) and pteron (pteron), meaning "hand-wings." Chiropractor comes from the same root, for the record, and I can't help but wonder if Kirop was similarly derived, but that would be slightly more of a stretch...

• And Vamprah is obvious. Apparently the word vampire is Germanic in origin, which makes sense, but for him I don't think we need to go further back than English...

I suppose I could go into Icarax, whose name is obviously taken from Icarus (though I'd have spelled it Ikarax, both to lessen that resemblance and to use the more typically malignant k), and Mutran, no doubt derived (ultimately) from the Latin mutare, to change, but...

I'll probably have Lewa Phantoka up Saturday or so, maybe tomorrow or Friday if lighting cooperates... but I want it to snow; it's been cold and we've been getting only light dustings overnight, so something thicker would be nice...

~ ToM