Denzera":2duzw5ya said:hueydvr38":2duzw5ya said:One of the finest alchemists in *the* Nivarian...omit *the*, omit comma between *business* and *and*
"The" isn't necessarily an error. You can ask my friends up north of me in The Bronx how that works.
I disagree. Correct me if I'm wrong but Nivarian is a city and that would be like saying "I'm going to the Los Angeles" since "the" isn't part of Nivarian's proper name.
"I'm going to The Bronx to root against the Yankees". Legal city name: "Bronx, NY".
Look, it's pedantic, and frankly I could go either way on it. The point I feel stronger about is that "Nivarian", with the "-ian" suffix, is not a normal English place-name. "-ia" is very common. If it were Nivaria, you'd call its residents Nivarians. But ending proper nouns with "-ian" is something you only see in Armenian family names. (or name-derived places like San Sebastian, West Lothian -- those are very rare exceptions) So I'd much sooner see it called "Nivaria", consistently, and could perhaps then refer to "The Nivarian Swamplands" or "Nivarian waterways" or whatever.
"The Bronx" is a specific example of a slang term for a town that most cities do not use. The city of Nivarian is located in the Kingdom of Nivaria. I agree that it's usually the other way around in the real world but in the end, it's ultimately up to David as to how he wants to word it.