Quick question, where does the name Merka comes from ? Yulen too
Heya there! So happy you're curious about their names ~ Time to drop some lore (and who doesn't love that for their characters? (≧◡≦) ♡)
The name "Merka" has a Turkic origin with some adjustments— It comes from the word "Merak," which means curiosity (something that pops up in his future route and was even hinted in the demo as to how he knew certain things about Sev) and desire (a little nod to his situationship with Rosario). It's also an anagram for 'Maker' (maybe related to his route... no spoilers though!)
As for "Yulen," he's actually an OC from a scrapped story idea (ah, the Wattpad era mafia stories XD). With a bit of tweaking, 'Yul' comes from 'Yulian,' which means youthful—hinting that he may or may not be the first one born in the painting (Adonis always loves to argue about that (¬‿¬). It also nods to the Turkic word "Yalan," which means lie, since Yulen insists he always tells the truth and nothing but the truth (or does he...?) I originally wanted to combine the two as 'Yul-lan,' but kept hearing 'Mulan' in my head for some reason, so I had to adjust it LOL
Bonus fun fact! I was actually considering naming him "Yalan," but I realized people might pronounce it as 'YAY-len' instead of 'YUH-lun,' so I scrapped that idea real quick XDD
The main focus of the game is actually on Persian elements more than Turkic ones. I mostly used Turkic inspiration for naming things (like Sev, Merka, Yulen), but the lore itself—like the Ehsas and their subtypes—is more Persian-focused. A lot of those elements are also common in Urdu too. The love types are rooted in Greek mythology, so there's a lot going on! ^^ It was definitely a challenge to balance all of them, haha XD But don’t worry—you won’t miss out on any game content if you’re not familiar with these languages. They’re more like fun easter eggs or little hints!