The Wiki Committee is in session!

The wiki has so far been slow in getting off the ground.

We have a mystery stranger with considerable experience who has volunteered to get the effort rolling who has yet to register afaik. If you have experience with wiki markup, please raise your hand, otherwise afaik we are all babes going in.

I've been asked to request the admin (is sysop the appropriate title?) to pre-install the Parser Functions which are supported by the brand of wiki so far installed. I apologize, but I can't really offer anymore helpful info atm.

We have spoke a little bit behind the scenes about what direction to take everything in.

Personally I feel very strongly localized games should not be used as primary sources, nor should popular culture be a definitive factor in resolving ambiguities.

Translation wise, Imagine is a Megaten game, which means it is set in Japan. So it is more appropriate I think to use Japanese words for proper names where complex concepts cannot be represented in a single English word. For example, 魔石, a classic figment of the Megaten universe, would by these terms be translated as "maseki", as opposed to 'magic stone' or whatever invention/convention might be employed by any given localization.

In general I'm prescribing a philosophy generally as respectful as possible of the original, similar to Remiel's SMT faqs/translations or high quality treatment of subtitled anime.

The demon races should be treated as proper names based on Romanji transposititons of the race names. However any spelling which might be misconstrued by or redundant to English speakers should be avoided, so some minor modulations have been facilitated.

Law
Majin MA ・魔神
Megami ME ・女神
Amatsugami AM ・天津神
Jashin JA ・邪神
Youma YM ・妖魔
Daitenshi DT ・大天使
Tenshi TS ・天使
Reicho RC ・霊鳥
Youcho YC ・妖鳥
Kyocho KC ・凶鳥
Chirei CR ・地霊
Jaki JK ・邪鬼

Neutral
Shinugami SG ・死神
Genma GM ・幻魔
Yama YA ・夜魔
Yousei YS ・妖精
RyuOh RO ・龍王
Shinjuu NJ ・神獣
Seijuu SJ ・聖獣
Majuu MJ ・魔獣
Youjuu YJ ・妖獣
Seirei SR ・精霊

Chaos
Kishin KS ・鬼神
Kunitsugami KU ・国津神
Jiboshin JB ・地母神
MaOh MO ・魔王
Datenshi DA ・堕天使
Ryujin RJ ・龍神
Jaryu JR ・邪龍
Kijou KJ ・鬼女
Youki YK ・妖鬼
Yuuki YU ・幽鬼
Gedo GD ・外道

The two character codes are abbreviations afforded people who just feel more comfortable with English characters. They should always appear in concert with Japanese characters. In general essential Japanese information should flow from the right, and English from the left.

The abbreviations would also be used for fusion charts, however a seperate kanji chart should always be available, as for many players the kanji contain much more information and are much more recognizable than the abbreviations*

*editted: Or both could be combined thus:

M魔
A神

Also a demons name should always be preceeded by the race in full or abbreviated form.

Also 'demon' should be used in place of 悪魔 (akuma) and 'devil' should be used in place of デヴィル. Also, nakama (中魔) should always be used to refer to in party devils.

*Devil and Demon are not necessarily interchangable. Devil is a more personal term like Pokemon which denotes affection. Demon is a more general term which is better applied to hostiles. Devils plural denotes either a the full set of collectible nakama, or a players entire nakama stock. The word Devil should not be used in general, as in the states especially, "The Devil" has the connotation of pure "evil" etcetera -- Similarly the term Klan is closely tied to the KluKluxKlan(KKK), but that is perhaps unavoidable. Perhaps "klan" should always be written as Klan® (Perhaps Devil® should be written this way as well)

On demon names. Again localized games are not primary sources. Many demons have many names in many different languages attributed to them, many of which do not map well to the English tongue. In general, the original culture should be consulted first. If the title is ambiguous in one way or another respellings closer to the original should be consulted in that order.

For example, Keruberosu originates from the Greek Kerberos. Later the latin articulation Cerberus was attributed to this figure. Therefore by these terms we would adopt Kerberos as the Devil's name.

On the otherhand, by these same rules, Odin becomes Woden which predates the Norse adoption of Odin by serveral centuries. Woden has the same general physical characteristics of Odin, even though the Norse did appropriate Woden as a more prominent Deity (the chief of their pantheon)

Personally I have no problem with Woden. But I can understand if parties would like to rip into these distinctions. The point is however, for the point of the wiki, there must be one singular title for each demon which will be used wiki wide (other than the games kananized title which should always be nearby)

However similarly Valkyrie becomes Valkyrur and afaik Valkyrur is unique to Norse mythology. And Imagine places these demons in a special effects group called Asgard. So again there is a fair argument for the title Odin over Woden. So as you can see, there are several factors which much be weighed in each consideration, and everyone will just have to collectively reach a conclusion regarding what trumps what in each case.

Finally I don't personally think Imagine itself should necessarily be the ultimate authority when cataloging these demons into English, as Imagine is largely based on a uniquely Japanese tradition of these largely foreign mythological figures, and often the kananized names of Megaten have little relationship at all to any source!

*When we get into mainland Asian mythologies these sorts of can become even more perplexing. I don't think the right reaction is to shrink inline with localized titles or literal interpretations of kana.