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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mafro" data-source="post: 3620661" data-attributes="member: 53098">If I were you, I'd start by working out the history of the AIs. How did they come about? Do that have a single creator? Was their creation revolutionary or evolutionary? What would their society have been like when they first had to be given a name? Did they choose a name for themselves or was it bestowed upon them? At the time when they were named were they a society of one or of many? Was there an authority figure who did the naming or was it by consensus?Once that's done, I'd ask myself why they chose to name themselves. What were they trying to differentiate themselves from? Were they simply trying to identify themselves as separate from humans or were they trying to differentiate themselves from their fellow non- or less-sentient machines? Was this tied into their struggle for survival and/or rights?Lastly, I'd ask myself whether or not the word evokes the image in my target audience that I want. One thing I've come to realize is that words, even made up ones, carry with them a connotation, a "feel", in the minds of those that read them. Usually this is because the audience associates them with similar words with that meaning.For example, what feeling does the name "Bobos" evoke in you? Stop for a moment right now and actively determine what that feeling is before moving on.... I'll bet that most readers that share certain cultural aspects will think of silliness, a clown, or something else that is not serious. On the contrary, "Malvekians" probably evokes a serious or negative feeling (probably because the name begins with the word "mal", meaning "bad").With all this considered, I'd personally stay away from the obvious, from "Sents" or anything with an easily traced etymology. Why? Because the naming of a race is a great opportunity to tell a story or leave an imprint about that race on your audience. Personally, I'd go with something along the following lines:POSARCs (written in caps): This name originated from the first character data recorded by the first AI: Power On Self Awareness Routine Complete (a futuristic variant on POST: Power On Self Test). Having it be in all caps, with the singular "POSARC", gives an "alien" or even digital feel to it in my opinion, which might be good or might be bad depending on what you're shooting for.Metheans: If this race were purposefully designed by an individualistic human, this name might be derived from the code name he gave to his project to hide its true nature: Prometheus. Given that Prometheus was a titan in greek mythology that brought humans to the next level by giving them fire (against the will of Zeus), and that Promethean now means an act of great creativity, intellect, and boldness (according to Wikipedia), and that the name itself literally is ancient Greek for "forethought" (as in beings that can think for themselves), it "fits" on many levels.Omicrons: If the initial sentience, and thus the race itself, can be traced to a particular hardware (or software) series, then that could be immortalized in the name. For example, if the revisions were based on Greek letters (I dunno why I'm turning to Greek tonight...), then they might be called Omicrons (to differentiate themselves from their non- or less-sentient cousins in the Nu, Xi, Pi, and Rho series that came before and after.Anyway...enjoy the creative process!</blockquote>

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