Friday, November 12, 2010

Names

What is in a name?

When I started out gaming, the first time I have to choose a nick for myself was when I played Diablo.

Then, the name I chose was Pelleon, which was a misspelling of Pellaeon, from Timonthy Zahn's Star Wars Trilogy.

Pelleon was my Paladin. Which was apt, as Pelleon from the book series is a loyal, honourable man. Funny how, the names we use creates for itself its own back-story.

Then I played MageWars, and used Pelleon as my nick also. But in the process, I created a new nick, a new character. JaeRoler.

This gaming nick stuck with me as it was the first name that I created out of thin air.
JaeRoler is a mage. Someone steeped in the arcane arts. I used him elsewhere also, but to me, JaeRoler has always been one that steps around with a field of arcane power.

JaeRoler came with a backstory too. He is a powerful master of the necromantic arts, who was once a general. He was a general in the service of a young queen whose small kingdom faced much threats, from within and without. As events unfold, the queen drew men of calibre to her side and help her defend and expand her rule. These are the 48 of which JaeRoler was one. But dark clouds swirl as the queen became more and more embittered by the continous carnage, until one black day, she delved deep into the forbidden lore and begged for the powers of darkness to aid her.

It would seem that at this point, the 48 would turn against her new demonic form. But 12 of them remained loyal to her. And JaeRoler is one of the 12. As a result, he turned to the dark arts too for their powers and became a necromancer. Although the queen and her 12 loyal generals were finally defeated, JaeRoler's body was never recovered from the carnage and remains to this day, missing.

Another character that I liked to use is Luc'viel, a character I created for my Warhammer games. Luc'viel is a Dark Elf of noble blood, and used as my general commanding my dark elf armies. He is the 3rd son of a baron, and is impetous, desiring to win battles and bring glory to himself, so that he can be made a noble in his own right.

Luc'viel fits in the way I play warhammer. Fast, mobile, hits strong and direct. It was something drilled into me when I played against Daniel's dwarfs. And it stuck.

I also used Luc'viel for my assassin in Ragnarok Online, and in doing so, created the other 2 brothers for him. Luc'varl and Luc'vane.

When I played KoL, i used the name Eman Retcarahc and Ravolyn.
I used Eman nowadays to register for websites bah?

Then I watched Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and got immersed with the generals under Reinhardt.

Of these characters, Mecklinger, Bittenfeld and Steinmetz stood out to me, and to a part Eisenarch. So I used their names when playing WoW.

But all in all, JaeRoler remains the me that I want to be.