Deuce Traveler
Adventurer
That request is beyond your clearance, citizen.
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What does your ENWorld name mean?
- Thread starter AdmundfortGeographer
- Start date
Gilladian
Adventurer
My first name is Gillian (hard G like Gilbert, which is my dad's name). When I was around 11-12 he took to calling me Gill-lady-an.
That's also when I started playing DnD. My third character was a dwarf fighter named Gilladian. He became my favorite character to play, with his 6 Int and 4 Wis but 15 Cha. When I went online, it just seemed natural to use it. I think it was my first AOL handle in the late 80's.
It's nice because nobody else ever uses it, so I'm "me" wherever I go.
That's also when I started playing DnD. My third character was a dwarf fighter named Gilladian. He became my favorite character to play, with his 6 Int and 4 Wis but 15 Cha. When I went online, it just seemed natural to use it. I think it was my first AOL handle in the late 80's.
It's nice because nobody else ever uses it, so I'm "me" wherever I go.
FreeXenon
American Male (he/him); INTP ADHD Introverted Geek
Free Xenon comes from my days in the military. I was a part of Reactor Controls Division 22 (RC-22) who were a bunch of bitter and jaded sailors on board the USS Enterprise. The USS Enterprise was the first nuclear carrier and bears 8 nuclear reactors in 4 groups, and is the only ship in the US fleet with this many reactors. Pretty much all other surface ships have only two reactors. If you can imagine the types of things that are talked about and imagined by a bunch of embittered sailors while at sea for 6 months with a bunch of other embittered sailors then perhaps you can already see where this is going to go….
Xenon is a fission byproduct that builds up to an equilibrium concentration during prolonged periods of reactor operation (>70 hours). Xenon is call a poison – meaning that its presence in the reactor core inhibits the fission process. While our reactors are operating we will see coolant temperature go down a degree or two and then we will have to pull out the rods a little bit to bring the temperature to its median normal range. This a normal occurrence during a reactor's operation.
So, our embittered and lonely sailors are sitting tiredly on their 10-2 (22:00 to 02:00 or 10:00pm until 2:00am) watch, and as the plethora of gauges and meters sit unmoving, they start to envision Xenon as this little gnome or other spritely thing trapped in the malign reactor vessel as its prisoner. So my shipmates started to crusade for the freeing of Xenon from the evil Reactor Vessel. They created signs and set their desktop screen savers to say ‘Free Xenon! Free Xenon!‘. One day our division had a cake to celebrate something they arranged for one that was black and had a skull and cross bones on it which said ‘Free Xenon’ on it.
At least that is how I remember it. =)
Xenon is a fission byproduct that builds up to an equilibrium concentration during prolonged periods of reactor operation (>70 hours). Xenon is call a poison – meaning that its presence in the reactor core inhibits the fission process. While our reactors are operating we will see coolant temperature go down a degree or two and then we will have to pull out the rods a little bit to bring the temperature to its median normal range. This a normal occurrence during a reactor's operation.
So, our embittered and lonely sailors are sitting tiredly on their 10-2 (22:00 to 02:00 or 10:00pm until 2:00am) watch, and as the plethora of gauges and meters sit unmoving, they start to envision Xenon as this little gnome or other spritely thing trapped in the malign reactor vessel as its prisoner. So my shipmates started to crusade for the freeing of Xenon from the evil Reactor Vessel. They created signs and set their desktop screen savers to say ‘Free Xenon! Free Xenon!‘. One day our division had a cake to celebrate something they arranged for one that was black and had a skull and cross bones on it which said ‘Free Xenon’ on it.
At least that is how I remember it. =)
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Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
Scurvy_Platypus
Explorer
I have a somewhat unusual background, in that I'm an adopted kid. Not that being adopted is particularly unusual, but that I was adopted twice. First time I was 6 years old and then I was put up for adoption again at age 9.
When I first learned about the platypus all those years ago, I was quite taken with it; while others might pick wolves, eagles, or bears as their totem animals, the platypus always seemed far more appropriate for me. And no, I'm not an Aussie either.
Fast forward to 16 years ago and I'm starting to get into LAN parties and doing a lot of online computer games. After some careful thought, I settled on Scurvy Platypus as my primary identity online. It had some symbolic meaning for me (Platypus), I always thought "scurvy" was one of the happier sounding illnesses, and the combination was unusual enough that I'd likely never have to worry about "sharing" an identity with anyone else. And it sounded kinda playful too.
I've kept it ever since, across games and message boards. If someone thinks I'm groovy, it shouldn't be too hard for 'em to remember me/keep in contact; for those that dislike me, it shouldn't be too hard to avoid me either.
Funny thing about my name these days, is I moved to New Zealand in 2009. So I get a chunk of folks that are confused and think there's platypuses in NZ (there isn't), the usual folks that assume I'm an aussie (no aussie blood that I'm aware of), and a chunk of Kiwis that figure I'm a stupid/confused american.
When I first learned about the platypus all those years ago, I was quite taken with it; while others might pick wolves, eagles, or bears as their totem animals, the platypus always seemed far more appropriate for me. And no, I'm not an Aussie either.
Fast forward to 16 years ago and I'm starting to get into LAN parties and doing a lot of online computer games. After some careful thought, I settled on Scurvy Platypus as my primary identity online. It had some symbolic meaning for me (Platypus), I always thought "scurvy" was one of the happier sounding illnesses, and the combination was unusual enough that I'd likely never have to worry about "sharing" an identity with anyone else. And it sounded kinda playful too.
I've kept it ever since, across games and message boards. If someone thinks I'm groovy, it shouldn't be too hard for 'em to remember me/keep in contact; for those that dislike me, it shouldn't be too hard to avoid me either.
Funny thing about my name these days, is I moved to New Zealand in 2009. So I get a chunk of folks that are confused and think there's platypuses in NZ (there isn't), the usual folks that assume I'm an aussie (no aussie blood that I'm aware of), and a chunk of Kiwis that figure I'm a stupid/confused american.
Festivus
First Post
Mine goes back to when Everquest first came out. I wanted to play a bard in the game, but was struggling to find a name that would be fitting of a bard. As it would happen, as I was creating my character... Seinfeld was on, and it was the Festivus episode. That name has pretty well stuck as a handle for me ever since... geez that was more than 10 years ago.
Now, why do I have a picture of Go Dog Go?
Now, why do I have a picture of Go Dog Go?
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
Even though mine is a name with historical context in Islam, I used it for it's relationship to Frank Herbert's Dune.
El Mahdi, or "the Mahdi" (also can be spelled Maudi), is the concept that inspired Frank Herberts' ideas of the Kwisatz Haderach (along with other messianic figures) and was the root of the name he made-up, Muad'dib (Mahdi, Maudi). (His Fremen were supposed to be descendents of terrestrial Arab Bedouins with a morphed religious combination of Islam and Zen Buddhism...thus the Zensunni Wanderers.)
The very first time I played D&D (2E AD&D in 1994), when faced with coming up with a name and backstory for my first character, I fell back on my favorite book (which I had just happened to be re-reading that same day). Since I didn't want to be overly obvious and tacky, and use Mauad'dib for my characters name, I used the reference root instead.
As far as using it for a screen name, Muad'dib is almost always taken on just about any site...but El Mahdi is almost never used, so...
There it is.
El Mahdi, or "the Mahdi" (also can be spelled Maudi), is the concept that inspired Frank Herberts' ideas of the Kwisatz Haderach (along with other messianic figures) and was the root of the name he made-up, Muad'dib (Mahdi, Maudi). (His Fremen were supposed to be descendents of terrestrial Arab Bedouins with a morphed religious combination of Islam and Zen Buddhism...thus the Zensunni Wanderers.)
The very first time I played D&D (2E AD&D in 1994), when faced with coming up with a name and backstory for my first character, I fell back on my favorite book (which I had just happened to be re-reading that same day). Since I didn't want to be overly obvious and tacky, and use Mauad'dib for my characters name, I used the reference root instead.
As far as using it for a screen name, Muad'dib is almost always taken on just about any site...but El Mahdi is almost never used, so...
There it is.
