The Origin of those Funky Usernames...

[Reverend Strone]

I've been wondering about all the varied and interesting usernames folks around here use. Some are obvious, others obscure, some are hilarious, others downright mysterious. So what are the stories behind these ecclectic names?

I'll get the ball rolling with my own for those who haven't already heard it or care- this being the abbreviated version:

Reverend Strone is based on "The Reverend" Asrael Strone, the name of an NPC I hold close to my heart in my epic Fringe campaign. A quote from the good Reverend fills my signature below. He's an eccentric, proud, travelling preacher and force-user who's faith is drawn from the beliefs of countless worlds, blended with his own unique and twisted force philosophy. At the time of the campaign he is in hiding in the wilds of Tatooine where locals regard him warily as a slightly crazy old man who wanders the sands rattling off scripture.

Who's next?

[dgswensen]

Mine is neither exciting nor interesting. It's an abbreviation of my full name... D)aniel G). Swensen.

I used to have a variety of different usernames, but I have so many memberships on so many sites, they just got hard to remember. I considered getting a clever one for Holonet... Darkshadow Crystalsaber Ravenstorm, Darth B4D4$$, Yahoo Sidious, Greedo Shootsfyrst... but I resisted. Sometimes, I regret having such a bland username, a little. But not often.

[Krad-edis]

IMHO:
While the light side of the force seems to be reasonably neutral, letting its users stay in the light or fall into darkness, the dark side is a little more possessive. Once caught in its snare, it rarely lets go. It actively seeks out new quarry, and draws strength from maifestations of dark side users.

What is Krad-edis?
Notice I did not use who. The dark side is active in deceiving those who see its power. A powerful dark side user can use the dark side to gain power and grant power to others as a small gift. When they accept, they are trapped. Sometimes there is no powerful dark side user, just times when a Jedi or light side force user has moment of doubt in the light side, an overwhelming fear, or untapped anger which pushes a Jedi or light side user over the edge. What pushed them was Krad-edis, a fragment of the living dark side. Krad-edis has no true form but can appear as many (usually what his targets fear the most). Striking at Krad-edis will make Jedi his slaves, for Krad-edis is what is fueled by hate, anger, fear and dispair.

Krad-edis
Dark-side

A great game master tool for aggressive Jedi players. Krad-edis' affect mind abilities in conjunction with Feed on the Dark Side make him very tough to beat.

[Krad-edis]

Originally posted by dgswensen
Yahoo Sidious, Greedo Shootsfyrst

lol Those are hilarious!

I would have picked something funny, if I would have realized I would be here on this site this long. Krad-edis is cool, but he is kind of a depressing guy.

[madpoet]

My user name origin is fairly boring... I majored in English Lit with a minor in Theater and I became known among the insidiously boring literature crowd as the "Mad Poet". I started using it as an e-mail handle and just kind of stuck with it.

[Moridin]

Moridin is a big bad guy in the Wheel of Time series.

Looking back on it now, I wish I'd been more original in choosing my name. But I just chose Moridin because I thought my Holonet membership was just a trial thing. Yeah, then my site got popular and I became a board mod, and it would just confuse everyone if I changed now.

Whoa, I just realized I broke 1000 posts a couple of days ago. Millenium Club, here I am!

[Talonne Hauk]

Talonne Hauk was my first and greatest character. I started playing Star Wars back in '86 or '87, when WEG first put out the d6 system.Talonne was a Merc who earned enough dough to buy a YT-1300, and started smuggling. Along the way, he met up with a Barabel, who became his best friend and first mate. They souped up the Stratocaster, and became a team that followed in the footsteps of a Corellian and Wookiee. But then Talonne developed a sensitivity to the Force, and his life became somewhat murkier. To make a long story short, Talonne became a Jedi Knight who had to overcome an unfortunate past. He was the most challenging and fun character I ever played, and now he's in blissful retirement, with several Twi-lek masseuses an the pleasure planet of Zeltron.

[Reverend Strone]

It's an abbreviation of my full name... D)aniel G). Swensen.

Okay, this just adds more fuel to the previously posted theory that dgswensen and I are probably clones. My first name is Daniel too! Is that the Twilight Zone theme I can hear?

Krad-edis , that's a cool notion too. Nice idea.

As for the MadPoet , I kind of figured it was something like that. You have a way with words.

[Reverend Strone]

Actually come to think of it, Moridin has a certain imposing ring of authority to it as well. It kind of suits the boss in my opinion.

[dgswensen]

Originally posted by revstrone
Okay, this just adds more fuel to the previously posted theory that dgswensen and I are probably clones. My first name is Daniel too! Is that the Twilight Zone theme I can hear?

*boggle*

This turn of events is unfortunate, revstrone... we will have to accelerate our plans. Begin landing your troops!!!

Oh, and Kral, glad you liked Yahoo Sidious. I'm planning on putting an actual "Yahoo Sidious" into a TOON game I'm going to run -- he should make my players scream in agony...

[darth maim]

Darth Maim is a character that I now sadly NPC (I can't find a game to play in to save my life)...

[ The ] Eidolon (his given name)

A Nagai soldier he was a happy individual splitting his time between fighting the Tofs and having fun with his best friend... It was unfortunate when his friend found an old holocron deep in a cave on Nagai. His father contacted an outside friend who passed the word on to the Jedi Order. Weeks later two Jedi showed up asking around for him... that was the last time Eidolon ever saw his best friend alive. About a month later a figure in dark robes pulled him into an alley and explained that when he said he didn't want to give the jedi the holocron they murdered him and took it. He explained that he too had suffered great loss at the hands of the Jedi and could provide information and training to help him achieve the vengence his heart desired.

Fast forward several months and we find Eidolon accelerating in the ways of combat and a natural at wielding the force... The current master takes an interest in him. She approaches him in his dreams enchanting him into her thrall even further...

Finally the day comes that he is approached to become the mistresses apprentice. Many warriors resent this frail new comers rapid advancement and the current apprentice hates that Eidolon has become his mistresses pet project. The two train constantly ever looking into the future will two will enter and one shall advance. The current apprentice has no doubts that if given the time Eidolon will win. He waits for just the right moment and finally has it when they are sent on an assignment together. When they arrive at their destination Eidolon is attacked by six of the acolytes he trained with upon coming to this place. After he is beaten the apprentice explains to him he had been duped all along. The sith had killed his friend to recruit him... he was then left for dead.

During this time his mission of vengeance had enlightened him of a large amount of Jedi knowledge (he had allready killed 6 jedi in combat and had their lightsabers as trophies). He went looking for the jedi order with news of a planned sith ressurgance. They of course listened but didn't fully trust him. They sent a master, a padawan, and two antarian rangers to accompany him to a sith temple (and the base of operations for the traitorous apprentice) on an information gathering mission. They found it ransacked and full of blood and carnage (no bodies though) and went asking... on their journey they eventually did find the apprentice and mistress. The padawan turned to the darkside to survive and killed his master, Maim killed the apprentice and the rangers went along for the ride...

Two years later they pair (Maim and the padawan) joined a force organization called the balance (I'll post stats soon) and the padawan was sent back to the Jedi as an infiltrator.

Darth Maim has been on all sides... at one point a sith lord, next a hopeful Jedi (their ways of thinking didn't feel right), and finally a leader of the Balance -- (headed by a young uber-powerful cloned body of Anakin Skywalker).

[Ghost In The Holocron]

Hmmm. Interesting backstories you guys have there. Can't believe I completely missed that Krad-edis thing -- but then I'm a gullible old fool, as Moridin's prank has proven. And now I know about the original Darth Maim.

For my part, the handle Ghost In the Holocron is really just a play on Ghost In The Shell -- that really neat anime movie, whose title in turn is a play on the phrase "ghost in the machine", which for some reason now reminds me of the old Police album of the same name -- "We are spirits in a material world...na na na...nana nana na na.."

And: dgswensen, revstrone: I am on to you guys!

[Reverend Strone]

Can't believe I completely missed that Krad-edis thing -- but then I'm a gullible old fool, as Moridin's prank has proven.

Yeah well, you're in good company there.

And: dgswensen, revstrone: I am on to you guys!

"Begun, this clone war has..."

[Aaron B'Aviv]

I was part of a collaborative team putting together the rules for an online rpg. Time came that the rpg was ready to launch and I was to be given credit for my share of the work. I usually work on yahoo boards under the name ronarfel, my yahoo id and the name of my greatest character, a now deceased fighter pilot. I couldn't very well give that name.

I decided to give my real first name. I don't hide it online. Regardless of warnings from countless paranoid people about how much criminals can do online, I refuse to believe that giving my first name will allow them to rob me. My last name, on the other hand. I tend to keep that one offline.

I decided to pay tribute to my idol, the great Joe Dimaggio. Dimaggio is Italian for "In May." I'm not Italian- I'm Jewish. So instead of being Aaron Dimaggio, I became Aaron B'Iyar, Iyar, the Hebrew month which roughly corresponds to May. I liked the idea so much that I continue to give the name as a user name from time to time. I later changed Iyar to Aviv, which means spring in Hebrew and covers the meaning I want better. Since I was born in April, the name now carries a double meaning for me.

[Dr_Worm]

Mine is the title of a They Might Be Giants song. That is where the first part of my signature comes from (they are lyrics from the song). My other handle is Bonedaddy26, or Bonedaddy1973. It is in reference to a nickname given to Jack Skelington from Nightmare Before Christmas, a personal favorite of mine. The number gets tacked on if there is already a bonedaddy.

You'd be surprised howmany people think that bonedaddy is pornographicly inspired. Good God!