regarding campuses

We all know that in Ran Online there three (plus 1) campuses, namely Sacred Gate, Phoenix Hole, and Mystic Peak (and... arguably, Leonair). This post tries to extend a little the meaning and the origin behind the name of each campus.

I originally posted this article in an Indonesian Ran Online private server forum at:

• http://jamuran.web.id/

Without much further ado, here goes... From the latinized Korean name of each campus, we have

• Sungmun = Sacred Gate
• Bonghwang = Phoenix Hole
• HA = Mystic Peak (...if you are not a Korean, have you ever wondered what HA stands for?)

The Korean language is actually easy to read, but takes some efforts to decipher the meanings. Probably due to the grammar, linguistic style, cultural influence and what-nots. Usually when you learn basic Korean language, you are introduced to the basic "ga da na ma ba sa..."

Sungmun, is actually comprised of 2 characters, namely sung (성) mun (문), derived from the Chinese language or characters, shèng (圣) mén (门). Shèng (圣) can be defined as: sage, saint, holy, sacred, emperor; whilst Mén (门) can be defined as: entrance, door, gate, sect, school, class valve, switch.

The character sung (성) is derived of three separate characters, in which the top left is an S, the top right reads EU/EO, the bottom flattened oval reads NG. The character mun (문) is derived with an M at the top that is drawn like a square/rectangle, the middle reads YU, whilst the bottom reads N.

Note that a Korean word or character never stands alone. Therefore an A or AH is written 아 with an additiona vertical oval on the left. A horizontal flattened oval at the bottom is always prounounced as an NG.

Korean word is usually comprised of at least 2 characters, such as 아 (ah). Normally a word has 3 characters, structured as top left - top right - middle bottom, or, top - middle - bottom. In certain context, a word can be comprised of 4 characters.

Bonghwang is comprised of two characters, namely Bong (봉) Hwang (황), derived from the Chinese characters Fèng (凤) Huáng (凰). In Chinese language, Fèng (凤) Huáng (凰) are rarely used individually, and when they are, usually the character Fèng (凤) is often used, because Fèng (凤) by itself is understound as Phoenix.

The Korean character Bong (봉), read from the top character as P/B, the middle character reads as an O/UO, whilst the bottom character reads as an NG. Hwang (황) itself is comprised of four characters, whereby the the top right reads as H, middle right reads as O/UO, top left reads as A, and the bottom reads as NG.

Initially, I was befuddled by the fact that the latinized Korean names of each campus were spelled out except for the Mystic Peak campus which was shortened only as HA. Then when I observed the Korean characters for the Mystic Peak campus, things became much clearer.

The first character is (현), whereby the top left is read H, top right is read YEO/YU/YO, middle bottom is read N. Therefore, it is pronounced either Hyun or Hyeon. The second character is (암), whereby the top right character reads A, but because A cannot stand by itself the vertical oval character is added on the top left hand side (아), whilst the bottom character reads M.

Thus, Mystic Peak in Korean is actually Hyun (현) Am (암). The multinational Korean company Hyundai's Hyun is also written in similar fashion, that is, (현).

In the world of Ran Online, the character Hyun (현) is derived from the Chinese character Xuán (玄), defined as: black, dark, profound, mystical, incredible. However, for the second character Am (암), I honestly cannot figure out what the Chines character is. Therefore, I give up.

If you enter the Korean character (암) into AltaVista Babel Fish, the result defines the character as Cancer. Hohohoho. Pun intended, the Mystic Peak campus, or the Hyun (현) Am (암) campus could be translated as Black Cancer, Terrible Cancer, or Incredible Cancer. :P~~ Just kidding!