How did you get your Callsign/Handle?
- Thread starter Edmon
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See, if you'd told me it was a reference to Edmund Blackadder from way back in the days when some games had severe character limits, I'd have believed it. The Union Jack in your avatar probably helps though.Little did he know I just re-arranged the letters of Demon.
And not only did the name stick, but almost no-one seems to realise it's an anagram.
The funny part about this story? Since he left the room to get a drink and to give me some time to "think about it", he didn't realise what I had done to make the nickname. He asked me why I picked "Edmon" and I made up a lot of non-sense about Jamaica that made absolutely no sense.
So whenever I make a character for a game, the first time through I always just self-insert, and if I could choose a callsign for myself* I'd go with my favorite classical philosopher, Diogenes of Sinope. He was basically the founder of the Cynics, but unlike the modern use of the word, he was a big believer in morality and human potential... but only after people learned to let go of all the arbitrary and useless rules we make for ourselves. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot to say about him since his own works have long since been lost, so history has only secondhand accounts of his teaching.
* I understand this isn't how it usually works in real life. If I was somehow drafted as a combat pilot, I'd probably get saddled with a name like "Cheddar" after my love of cheese.
So Mopar is from back in my Navy days. My instructor at Submarine School always mispronounced my last name. It is a similar to Chrysler and so that is what he called me. I corrected him every day and actually started to get a bit irritated. I mentioned this to him, he apologized and I was called Mopar from then on. At first it was a bit irritating but I learned to embrace it.
Realized you might mean my forum name here? A few years back a gaming community tagged me with that. Said I was that weird Uncle that everyone loved but thought was really strange. Think "Uncle Buck" for gamers.
Realized you might mean my forum name here? A few years back a gaming community tagged me with that. Said I was that weird Uncle that everyone loved but thought was really strange. Think "Uncle Buck" for gamers.
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My ingame callsign is Silence. A reference to Silence Dogood, a pen name of Benjamin Franklin. Something I learned about in the movie National Treasure.
At some point in time we were less than 5 miles away from each other.
Hávamál is an ancient work of wisdom poetry.
"Better to be careful than to boast how much is in your mind; when the wise come in, keeping their counsel, trouble seldom starts. A man won't find a better friend than his own head full of sense." Edda/Havamal.6
Contrary to what tone some might expect, the words put into the mouth of Odin are basically common sense advice and moderation of being a good host, welcoming all those who arrive, thinking before you speak, not arguing, not drinking too much, getting along with others, and keeping things in perspective given to rowdy warriors sitting around on those long dark Scandinavian winter days probably drinking and eating and boasting, not too different from some posts to my lively and sometimes restless fellow Mechwarriors that a very different Havamal sometimes types out...
It was a well meaning jest I made for myself when I joined you all, inspired by the Order of Valhalla Battletech lore.
Reminders of Fraternity and Comradship at the keyboard, even and especially alongside no quarter in Mech on Mech battle, and to avoid letting the one spill over and resemble the other.
"Dont cling to the cup, but drink your share, speak useful words or be silent; no one will blame you for bad manners if you go to bed early." Edda/Havamal.19
"A man must go to many places, Travel widely in the world, before he is wise enough to see the workings of other men's minds." Edda/Havamal.18
"Always as a young man I traveled alone, and I would lose my way; I felt I was rich if I made a friend- no man by himself is happy. Edda/Havamal.47
You get the idea.
"Better to be careful than to boast how much is in your mind; when the wise come in, keeping their counsel, trouble seldom starts. A man won't find a better friend than his own head full of sense." Edda/Havamal.6
Contrary to what tone some might expect, the words put into the mouth of Odin are basically common sense advice and moderation of being a good host, welcoming all those who arrive, thinking before you speak, not arguing, not drinking too much, getting along with others, and keeping things in perspective given to rowdy warriors sitting around on those long dark Scandinavian winter days probably drinking and eating and boasting, not too different from some posts to my lively and sometimes restless fellow Mechwarriors that a very different Havamal sometimes types out...
It was a well meaning jest I made for myself when I joined you all, inspired by the Order of Valhalla Battletech lore.
Reminders of Fraternity and Comradship at the keyboard, even and especially alongside no quarter in Mech on Mech battle, and to avoid letting the one spill over and resemble the other.
"Dont cling to the cup, but drink your share, speak useful words or be silent; no one will blame you for bad manners if you go to bed early." Edda/Havamal.19
"A man must go to many places, Travel widely in the world, before he is wise enough to see the workings of other men's minds." Edda/Havamal.18
"Always as a young man I traveled alone, and I would lose my way; I felt I was rich if I made a friend- no man by himself is happy. Edda/Havamal.47
You get the idea.
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So essentially the Nordic equivalent of the Tao Te Ching or Book of Proverbs, going by those selections?
(And now that I say that, there's probably a lot in common between those three works. Hmm...)
I've gone by several, but Viper is one that I use a lot. Got it when going into a lobby way back in the day I would quip, "Good morning Gentlemen! The temperature is 110 degrees." And someone replied, "Holy s*** it's Viper" (See Top Gun movie for reference) I had just gotten back from NTC at Ft. Irwin where it is 120 degrees in the shade. And there is no shade.
So Viper as a call sign stuck with that group and I have used it frequently ever since.
So Viper as a call sign stuck with that group and I have used it frequently ever since.
If I need to use a callsign then I tend to fall back on Ferret.
To set the scene, right up until my hormones kicked in at about the age of 16, I was quite short and very skinny.
So, as a newly passed out air cadet, the entire squadron were on parade being inspected. One of the WOs stopped in front of me, clearly amused by something, and declared "Legate, you remind me of a ferret. I can just picture you crawling up someones trouser leg"
The name stuck for many years.
More recently I acquired the name Caboose, since there are (allegedly) many similarities between the Red vs Blue character and myself.
To set the scene, right up until my hormones kicked in at about the age of 16, I was quite short and very skinny.
So, as a newly passed out air cadet, the entire squadron were on parade being inspected. One of the WOs stopped in front of me, clearly amused by something, and declared "Legate, you remind me of a ferret. I can just picture you crawling up someones trouser leg"
The name stuck for many years.
More recently I acquired the name Caboose, since there are (allegedly) many similarities between the Red vs Blue character and myself.
Is it because you are squat and boxy with 8 wheels?
Back in the days of Mechcommander and Mechwarrior multiplayer on MPlayer and the Zone I took my job as wingman for my team mates very seriously. So I became their "shadow". As Shadow was unaavailable, I borrowed Shadow Jack from a short story by Roger Zelazny. It's just gotten shortened to shadojak over the years.
EmptyPepsiCan came from my "stuff on my desk" naming convention. I used to do the same thing for character names, although lately they've come from books.
For me, Shadowhawke goes back to c. 1990...it's not truly influenced by the mech, or the Marvel character.
It's a homage to Sparrowhawk, an epic good wizard protagonist from Ursula K. Leguin's Earthsea saga; as wizards go, that character influenced me even more than Gandalf did, and broke the literary mold that all wizards have to be graybeards.
My Dungeons & Dragons wizard was started in Cormyr, in the harbor town of Marsember, where as connected to the Skatterhawk merchant in Forgotten Realms lore, he came up as a prodigy spellcaster, earning the pseudonym Shadowhawk from his peers, and becoming one of my very best and longest running characters (I get in my fantasy RPGs along with my wargaming).
And back then, it WAS Shadowhawk; that changed in 2005 when he was rolled in classic Everquest. I had started the game in 2002, but at the urging of an online friend in the U.K. who ran a forum where we did early online D&D, an intermediate step between fantasy tabletop and numerous MMORPGs, in a campaign that included his wife, and he talked me into hopping servers in EQ by 2005.
Shadowhawk was taken on my new server, so I went with Shadowhawke, and that stuck as an improvement in games going forward. I am a DPS'er by trade in my gaming, and the same archetype in various games; a wizard in several fantasy or hero themed games, where in City of Heroes he was on an urban wizard track like the Dresden Files, and eventually coming home in Neverwinter online.
In Star Wars Galaxies he followed the theme as a Jedi who became notable for becoming a Rebellion ace pilot of a B-wing bomber.
While I did use earlier handles in the MechWarrior franchise, it's my current that I've identified with most, both in gaming and in my own writing.
It's a homage to Sparrowhawk, an epic good wizard protagonist from Ursula K. Leguin's Earthsea saga; as wizards go, that character influenced me even more than Gandalf did, and broke the literary mold that all wizards have to be graybeards.
My Dungeons & Dragons wizard was started in Cormyr, in the harbor town of Marsember, where as connected to the Skatterhawk merchant in Forgotten Realms lore, he came up as a prodigy spellcaster, earning the pseudonym Shadowhawk from his peers, and becoming one of my very best and longest running characters (I get in my fantasy RPGs along with my wargaming).
And back then, it WAS Shadowhawk; that changed in 2005 when he was rolled in classic Everquest. I had started the game in 2002, but at the urging of an online friend in the U.K. who ran a forum where we did early online D&D, an intermediate step between fantasy tabletop and numerous MMORPGs, in a campaign that included his wife, and he talked me into hopping servers in EQ by 2005.
Shadowhawk was taken on my new server, so I went with Shadowhawke, and that stuck as an improvement in games going forward. I am a DPS'er by trade in my gaming, and the same archetype in various games; a wizard in several fantasy or hero themed games, where in City of Heroes he was on an urban wizard track like the Dresden Files, and eventually coming home in Neverwinter online.
In Star Wars Galaxies he followed the theme as a Jedi who became notable for becoming a Rebellion ace pilot of a B-wing bomber.
While I did use earlier handles in the MechWarrior franchise, it's my current that I've identified with most, both in gaming and in my own writing.
Picture it... Alabama, 2004.
A young man returns from an all-expense paid trip to the sunny Land of the Old Testament to live in a college town. He sits in on a couple of classes with a friend, deciding if he wants to go back to school. During a 'spirited discussion' with some wanna-be hippy edgelord, this Sham-shield warrior* is called a 'babykiller' (doubtless something his hippy grandma taught him)... much to his surprise, because he spent a couple hundred convoy missions chunking candy and dollar store toys at the kids he met.
When he gets home, the tired young troop needed a handle for a Starfleet Command forum (comp game based of Star Fleet Battles). 'Babykiller' was still rolling around in his head. Naturally, after spending a year trying to get by on what the US Army gave him, this fellow knows how to take a negative and make it a positive. "Carthaginians killed babies, and they were good warriors..." he thinks after a bit of musing. He tells it to some of the other vets on the forums. They like it.
The rest is history.
* see 'E-4 Mafia' for those unfamiliar with the US Army
A young man returns from an all-expense paid trip to the sunny Land of the Old Testament to live in a college town. He sits in on a couple of classes with a friend, deciding if he wants to go back to school. During a 'spirited discussion' with some wanna-be hippy edgelord, this Sham-shield warrior* is called a 'babykiller' (doubtless something his hippy grandma taught him)... much to his surprise, because he spent a couple hundred convoy missions chunking candy and dollar store toys at the kids he met.
When he gets home, the tired young troop needed a handle for a Starfleet Command forum (comp game based of Star Fleet Battles). 'Babykiller' was still rolling around in his head. Naturally, after spending a year trying to get by on what the US Army gave him, this fellow knows how to take a negative and make it a positive. "Carthaginians killed babies, and they were good warriors..." he thinks after a bit of musing. He tells it to some of the other vets on the forums. They like it.
The rest is history.
* see 'E-4 Mafia' for those unfamiliar with the US Army
Years ago I had a story I was working on where the main character kept meeting a girl at the blackjack tables. He was unable to share his name with her so she started calling him BlackJack. When I joined my first online chat room in the mid 90s(Daggerfall fan board) I needed a name so I used BlackJack too. Later I moved on to Westwood's chat program but found the name was already taken(shocking I know!). Someone in my previous hangout said "why not switch it to "DarkSpade"? Been DarkSpade, and occasionally DrkSpde, ever since.
Old Wolf. First name Leman. Last name Russ. Goes back to my Star Wars galaxies day more that 15 years ago when had jedi Leman Russ on Scylla server.
Some interesting replies. I particularly like scJazz response. I was similarly influenced by a teacher. My initials are S.S. which in short hand maths would be S² (squared). He originally put S² up on the board for some reason and when he explained it it stuck. I've been using it to initial documents ever since. Keeps most people guessing.
Slide came about many many moons ago, around 1986 I reckon. I was in the computer shop looking for a game for my Atari 520ST. The sales guy was running me through a game called Sundog, it was kind of an RPG and it needed a nickname, I was kinda on the spot and Slide came into my head, not sure if it was a characters name from some book but it did for the demo. I've been using it ever since.
Slide is my alter ego these days. I've been using for so long on Teamspeak that I respond to it as if it was my own name now. Fortunately it is not used much so I am generally lucky on forums etc. Unfortunately here on the Paradox forums the name was already taken, so I morphed it to Captain Slide which I used a lot when playing Star Trek games. My email address even has Slide in it these days (long story).
My online mates reckon I should be Cyclops though, as my real life name is the same as the character in the Xmen. However Slide predated my knowledge of the Xmen so it stays.
Slide came about many many moons ago, around 1986 I reckon. I was in the computer shop looking for a game for my Atari 520ST. The sales guy was running me through a game called Sundog, it was kind of an RPG and it needed a nickname, I was kinda on the spot and Slide came into my head, not sure if it was a characters name from some book but it did for the demo. I've been using it ever since.
Slide is my alter ego these days. I've been using for so long on Teamspeak that I respond to it as if it was my own name now. Fortunately it is not used much so I am generally lucky on forums etc. Unfortunately here on the Paradox forums the name was already taken, so I morphed it to Captain Slide which I used a lot when playing Star Trek games. My email address even has Slide in it these days (long story).
My online mates reckon I should be Cyclops though, as my real life name is the same as the character in the Xmen. However Slide predated my knowledge of the Xmen so it stays.
I have / had two callsigns.
The first came from people not being able to pronounce my last name
The dead one came from two drunk buddies who decided to see how far a rumor would spread. Turns out a rumor about a quiet soldier will soon be all across the base. Even the Battlion Commander (falling afoul of the above) ended up calling me by it... in formation. Red face moments.;(
The first came from people not being able to pronounce my last name
The dead one came from two drunk buddies who decided to see how far a rumor would spread. Turns out a rumor about a quiet soldier will soon be all across the base. Even the Battlion Commander (falling afoul of the above) ended up calling me by it... in formation. Red face moments.;(