(RP-friendly) Naming a Peacebringer

[Necrodemus]

Hey, all.  So, I'll admit - I originally played on the Thunderspy servers  to see what the difference was between Homecoming and coxg/Thunderspy, and while I do like what they've done with their modifications and original content, I definitely enjoy some things Homecoming has they lack - one thing being (after actually experimenting a bit with my Warshade) the color customization for Peacebringers and Warshades - which got me thinking about making a Peacebringer.  And being an roleplayer at heart for many a game, I wanna make a name that's both available and something I'm comfortable with for the character, but fits as well.  And would also be available on both clients/versions of CoX.  Sadly, for Everlasting, one name I saw was available on Thunderspy was - unsurprisingly - unavailable.  

 

So I gotta ask... aside from things like the stars, the Sun, the Moon, light, etc - what are some good ideas for both inspiration and approaching naming a Human-Kheldian hybrid (non-WS/Nictus)?  I've got some ideas jotted down, but....well, we're our own worst critics so I feel uncertain about them in general. X_X

[Lines]

There might be a few other routes you could go down.

 

There's the obvious alien side, which opens up some prefixes like xeno-, exo- or even astro- or cosmo-.

The kheldian forms are 'memories' of their past hosts, so you could play with names in the concept of memory.

I have a warshade called Vessel, playing on the host/symbiote relationship. There might be some other similar words.

Another named Eidolon, on a villain where the nictus is fully in control. But something else in the area of 'companion spirit' might help.

The struggle and oncoming near-extinction of the species could be a prompt for a name.

 

Any of those help?

[Zepp]

I have a Peacebringer:
Vantablaq
Bio: She dreamt of being an Angel of Vengeance. A little alien came to her and offered to make her dream come true... She is now that angel, but she can't shake that damn alien that has latched itself to her soul…

and a Warshade:
Bio: Shaydes is the emissary of enlightenment. He seeks justice, retribution, and redemption. Whereas the Peacebringers are intent on genocide, Shades has the dual duty of preventing genocide, while also not allowing harmful actions to proliferate. Rationality is the path towards ethics and righteousness, Shaydes is the guiding hand.

 

I started with they bio and then worked towards a name that suited them. Vantablaq sees the Kheldian as a black stain on her soul. Shaydes works in the gray area between the moral and immoral based on ethics. The name relates to who they are (were, or will be), and it can get you into the character with a single word.
 

---

From one of the Wikis:

Of course, part of the fun is naming your character. There are no hard-and-fast rules about Kheldian naming. Everything I thought I found for Peacebringers had some exception. I THOUGHT the name would be "solar object + light reference" but that's broken by Sunstorm, Moonbow and Freeflight... so go nuts. Warshades SEEM to have a "shadow" reference to them - but people seem to go that way (shadow/dark) with them as it is, given their dark coloration in-form.

The names, by the way, are the names of the joined beings. Shadowstar's daughter Lilian is slated to become "the new" Shadowstar, so it's an inherited name or title.

Native Kheldian names? We know of some - Altered Umbra, Perihelion, and Dirge of Entropy. The best "explanation" for these names is it's the best fit our minds and language can come up with for Kheldian names. They are, after all, energy beings.

Some names from within the game:
Peacebringer: Sunstorm (Kheld named Perihelion,) Freeflight, Moonfire, Coldstar, Fullalbedo, Moonbow, Brightshift
Warshade: Shadowstar, Shadowcatcher (Nictus named Altered Umbra)
Nictus: Requiem (Nictus named Dirge of Entropy,) Arakhn

So just pick something that sounds good to you.
 

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Peacebringers tend to have something referring to light in their name (sun-, -helion, moon-, -fire, -star, -alebdo, moon-, bright-) [less obvious light references, -bow is likely from rainbow and -shift is likely from red-shift/blue-shift which are references to a manner of measuring the speed of astronomical bodies by how far their light is shifted into the red or blue side of the spectrum]. Lucifer is likely taken, but -lumen may be a way to go... Necrolumen (Al was on the brink of death, but was met by a being of light, almost on the brink of death. Apart they would fade from the universe in days, together they can be a beacon of light for all of mankind) as an idea.

Edited September 30, 2020 by Zepp

[Greycat]

Heh. Nice to see my Kheld backstory guide is getting quoted. 🙂

 

There's nothing hard and fast for the naming conventions. I've a few who have just... *names,* or altered names. Therra Paladina is renamed for a new (at the time) "paladin" inspiration. I've got Voidbane because... no, I'm not hiding from voids, they're the ones who are learning to run from *me.* Sundancer Squid (sundance, elsewhere,) is a Sundance Kid reference. I had Aria Hightalon and Cassius Lumens on live.

 

My 'shades tended to stay... name-name-ish. Cat Grey / Chicago Cat, Violet Flame (who had to get a dot here...) and the like.

 

Basically... name it in a way that fits the character.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Greycat

[EmmySky]

My PB is a combination of the names of my favorite roles my favorite actor portrayed.  In her bio, she mentions him as a revered teacher from the instructional learning tech of the planet but that she doesnt understand his constantly shifting call-signs.  Her sister, my WS, is younger, and doesnt understand why more humans dont have wings like all the instuctors she saw on the instructional learning tech (she watched childrens fairy shows).

 

Good luck finding your inspiration!

[DragonAlpha]

My favourite two Kheldian characters riff on the idea that the toon is a union of two beings and one half might not end up with what they were hoping for.

 

So - my Warshade (on live), was a sensitive poet of a Kheldian who thought he was melding with a similarly sensitive human soul. What he actually ended up with was a mopey emo-teen girl who hated *everything* so Sarcasma was born!

 

My Peacebringer (on HC) is a rugged human marine who joined the Kheldian super-soldier programme secretly hoping for a name like "Shining Death".  He ended up paired with a rather wistful alien who just *loves" sparkly things so their resulting union was code-named Fairy Lights.

 

Makes me smile, anyway 😉 

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

Well if you are going for an actual kheldian name rather then a human host name then really anything with a theme similar to what we see in game works well, One of the things about coh lore is that while they treat the kheldian more as a symbiotic life form like the trill in star trek, we actually see little evidence of the original host in any of the NPC khelds we interact with. And in the few glimpses we do get of hosts/former host does seem to suggest the kheldian really is in true control, with their power and will that has known many life times being like an ocean poured into a fresh water lake.  Sure what is there after still is wet, still has fish swimming in it, but it is not the thing it was.

 

If a devoted PB fighting the war on the nictus, then consider names that use things like The Path of the Dark, and major names in the Nictus like Requiem to draw inspiration of. Some random thoughts like Stalker of the Dark, Darks Bane, Even something kidn of fun and super hero like Lamp Light, Torch Light.

 

On Everlasting easily the most recognizable of the RP PBs is imo "A Girl and her Dwarf", who RPs as a queen sort of PB who survived for unknown reasons on earth in a cave healing local wildlife and giving birth to fresh khelds who bonded with the animals for centuries. She Rps this as the source for the various animal guardian spirit type lore much as its suggested the war wolves and time travel are the source of werewolf mythology in coh lore.

 

So you could try a dual name thing like Billy and Glow Squid.

[Coyotedancer]

Back in the day, I had a pair of bi-forms... 'Mist in Moonlight' was my Human/Dwarf (His two pre-merging halves were an Elysion hunter named Shining Mist and a Kheldian linguist named Moonlight Poet-) and 'Anima Sola' was my Human/Nova. I didn't see a compelling reason to stick strictly to the "astronomical names"-thing for either of them. 

 

My human-only PB here on Homecoming is named 'Bahir'. That's the Hebrew word for brightness. Which works really well for a perma-Lightform "fuzzball of fury". XD

[Zepp]

15 hours ago, EmmySky said:

My PB is a combination of the names of my favorite roles my favorite actor portrayed.  In her bio, she mentions him as a revered teacher from the instructional learning tech of the planet but that she doesnt understand his constantly shifting call-signs.  Her sister, my WS, is younger, and doesnt understand why more humans dont have wings like all the instuctors she saw on the instructional learning tech (she watched childrens fairy shows).

 

Good luck finding your inspiration!

Not a PB, but it reminds me of the backstory for my Arachnos Soldier:

Aeryk Nyd

The illegitimate son of Quentin Tarantula and Anansi Sinatra, Aeryk grew up wandering the streets. He saw his 'in' with a corrupt organization that was filled with backstabbers and lowlifes. While most people would aim to either go along to get along, or backstab their way to the top, Aeryk saw the opportunity to take down the paper castle while setting up a new organization to fill the gap. He just needs time and patience.

Edited October 1, 2020 by Zepp

[Marshal_General]

I named my PB, Astral Ascendant and my WS, Stellar Avenger.

[Marine X]

My Peacebringer is Crimson Cage: Kheldian "Krymsun" is a fairly young Peacebringer and his energy matrix was damaged shortly after he was born, preventing a successful merging with a human host. To save his life, a group of sympathetic scientists created " K.A.G.E. ( Kheldian Artificial Genetic Enclosure ) to allow him to Exist and Interact with others. This containment vessel has an Internal A.I. but is unable to truly help Krymsun to understand Humanity as he would with a Human Host.

 

My Warshade was Hawkstar: Kheldian " Staharr" joined with Colonel J.T. Hawk, a seasoned Air Force officer, Hawk was at the front lines of the Rikti War, and after retirement wanted to continue to protect the world. ( rerolled here on Homecoming as a Fire/Inv Sentinal whose powers were awakened by a Military project to trigger Latent Mutant D.N.A. From an alternate Timeline/Dimension, and unable to return there, he chose to protect his new home )

Edited October 1, 2020 by Marine X

[The Pyn]

I find that human pb's are evocative of dbz saiyans so i always have 1 costume slot with spiky hair and a glow effect.  i've deleted multiple kheldians that didn't make it to 50 but i've called the current one 'hashtag quantum bait' for obvious reasons.

[KauaiJim]

Been with CoX since the beginning but never got around to trying PB or WS on Live.  Recently I created a few to try out and decided to try human-form only and so far I'm having fun with them (will try other forms "someday"... 

 

Anyhow for my first Kheldian I found a player with a toon named Auri (thanks to Auri) who looked so awesome I literally copied her and just changed her colors and a couple of her abilities.  Note:  I have never copied someone else's toon design before as I usually have my own inspiration/theme/back story.  I named my female PB Wysper and have received a couple tells liking the name.  Her name is derived from one of my mains in The Secret World named Wysp.   

 

I liked her so much I created another literally identical PB ability-wise only male this time and called him Mister Ri (mystery).  He is also fun/awesome.  

 

So, just recently, I got an altitis attack and came up with a male human-from only WS.  He looks awesome.  His build is derived from the rather awesome build Action Sloth (thanks to Action Sloth) has come up with only I wanted Mystic Flight so I worked that in as a travel power.  His name is one I rather like:  Troubulation.  (trouble and tribulation combined)

 

Wysper is already T4 and I'm working on getting the other two full incarnate.

 

I have to say CoX is the most addictive MMO ever made for me when it comes to the character creation.  You can spend days coming up with the perfect look, build, back story and of course name.

This game rocks.  Homecoming rocks.  This community rocks.

Edited October 1, 2020 by KauaiJim
spelling and added thanks to AS

[JnEricsonx]

My OG WS, who was remade last year, I named Kosmic Kastaway, but that's cause I love that song.   Titan AE was a good movie.

[Techwright]

 Looking at the peacebringer in Ouroboros, Twilight's Son, it seems to me its name has less to do about a space or sky and more to do about a momentous event.  It is the last, the "twilight" of its kind, and has taken a name to represent that.  In this, memorializing important moments, it is a bit like some Native American names.  I was very recently reading about the Chickamauga Cherokee chief Dragging Canoe, whose name came from a defining event in his life:  as a youth, wanting so desperately to travel with the warriors, but being told he had to port his own canoe, or he would be unable to join the warriors, he dragged it, being physically unable to lift it at the time.  His name memorializes the event and also reminds the tribe that here was a man with significant will that wouldn't be easily crushed.  

 

I'd also note that some of the Kheldian names I've seen remind me of the ship of the line names in the TV series "Andromeda":  Halcyon Promise, Fingers of Dawn, Pax Magellanic, Million Voices, Wrath of Achilles, Clarion's Call, and of course Andromeda Ascendant, among others.  The ships AI and avatars went by nicknames reflecting the ship name. Perhaps a Kheldian could be named like these, and utilize a nickname on chat channels.  The Halo game series has several more ship names in a similarly poetic flow if you need additional inspiration.

[Twisted Toon]

My PB is named Radiant Justice. She's tri-form, and currently stalled, at around 39, while I play with "the new shiney"

 

My WS is named Agent Standin. He's also a Tri-form, and currently stalled, at around 25, while I play with "the new shiney"

 

Stil Standin was just a bloke, the son of Ben and Ann Standin. He was volunteered to be a part of the project to join with a similarly volunteered Kheldian.

They decided, together, that they didn't really want to follow the orders of the Council and became a hero(es?), instead.

 

I made him, back on live, to be the back-up tank, and a fill-in character when they had less than 8 players on Agent nights.

So, Standin, was the stand-in tank, who would be still standing when things got dicey.

[Starforge]

I went with Starforge for my Peacebringer. For my Warshades I have Starscourge and Shadewarp.

[MTeague]

While it's not related to naming, for headcanon purposes, I've always pictured it that when my Peacebringer talks, you hear both voices, a human voice and an alien voice, in stereo. 

 

[Greycat]

I've occasionally given mine separate voices. I tend to have the Kheld and host keep some degree of separation and personality - for instance, in one RP sg with one of my 'shades as leader, I had someone develop a "cyst shell" that could be fired from a sniper rifle, with the intent of damaging the "matrix" of the bonded Kheldian as well as the body of the host. While the host was kept unconscious the Kheldian was able to communicate over a nearby comm on its own while it healed.

[Techwright]

2 hours ago, Greycat said:

 ...I tend to have the Kheld and host keep some degree of separation and personality...

So more Tok-Ra than than Trill?

[Saeletra]

I rolled a warshade and couldn't think of a good name that just didn't sound super edgy. So I went with a technique used in astronomy, Averted Vision. And thus a character and a backstory was born. She was using the technique to study what she thought was a nebula. And that's how she acquired a fuzzy dust bunny as a life partner.

[Zepp]

On separation. My Peacebringer has mostly supressed her Kheld. My Warshade is like a partnership with the human using the body day-to-day, but the Kheld heroing. I had a WS on live whose host was in a coma, so pure Kheld voice. I think you should consider the power dynamics when you form the backstory(ies) for your character(s)...

[Coyotedancer]

My human-only, Bahir, isn't actually a Kheldian even though I built the character as a PB. He's one of my odder Oranbegans... a heliomancer... So, in-character for him, there's no alien hitchhiker to deal with. He's just a mage whose magic revolves around photonic effects.

 

With the two I had back in the live days, I took the "two made one"-approach. They weren't two distinct personalities sharing one body so much as one combined entity that had all of the memories and a mixture of traits pulled in from both halves of the pair.

 

Mist in Moonlight, for instance, still retained the Elysion hunter's taste for munching on raw natterlings, along with every bit of his ferocity, protectiveness and territoriality... while also having the Kheldian linguist's diplomacy, habit of quoting favorite bits of poetry and absolute fascination with human music.

 

Anima Sola was a similarly mixed blend, though in her case Solarin (the Kheldian) had a less obvious influence than Mist's partner had.  He and Ani'ka had just started out with more similarities in outlook and attitude than Shining Mist and Moonlight Poet had, so it was harder to tell which traits had come from which personality.

 

 

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by Coyotedancer