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Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: diceman111 on January 15, 2009, 03:46:55 pm

Title: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: diceman111 on January 15, 2009, 03:46:55 pm
Found this site for name generation, and they have a "Evil-Sounding Name Generator" that works great for naming shivan ships, helps when you are making missions and run out of names for ships.
They have a lot other generators there as well if anybody finds something similar to this but with Vasudan sounding names I would be grateful.

Link: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

/Dice
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: Mobius on January 15, 2009, 03:57:31 pm
I'm skeptic about this one because I think we should stick with Mythology. Think about it, naming conventions in FreeSpace are one of the best things...they give a fantasy-like feel you can't find in the vast majority of space sim games.

The only possible and realistic usage, IMO, would be to have some sort of Vasudan font, generate random names and then have Vasudan nameplates.
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: Dark Hunter on January 15, 2009, 05:56:56 pm
The problem is that you generally want your ships to be named something unique, and there are only so many mythologies to draw on. IIRC, we've already exhausted the Greek pantheon and are now using Norse stuff for Terran ships, and I've seen other mythologies beyond Hinduism for Shivan names (can't think of what they are, specifically, but I know I've seen them). Hell, we've even used the Cthulhu mythos (Derelict). Now, there's nothing wrong with branching out for inspiration, but names from, say, Japanese myths are not going to sound similar to what we've used so far. Mostly, we've tried to make names of various races sound similar.

So this could still be a useful tool. I know I've got a massive list of names to use (some of which I made up via Rule of Cool-soundingness, but most I found on a big giant list of Egyptian and Hindu names), but even some of those I've seen in other campaigns (on minor ships, but still...), and some I just don't think sound very good.
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: NGTM-1R on January 15, 2009, 07:01:51 pm
Shivans were never entirely Hindu mythology, neither were the Terrans ever wholly Greek. And no, we haven't run out of names in either, we're just not digging deeper for them.

Regardless, I find the naming of Shivan ships within missions a frustrating experience, which is why nothing I've released to date has Shivans in it. When you get right down to it, there are not enough words in the langauge that inspire the proper sense of dread for them.
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: nostro_pl on January 18, 2009, 04:01:17 pm
If somebody is looking for names for Shivan ships, check this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salpsan#S)  ;)
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: eliex on January 18, 2009, 04:24:44 pm
Ooh that looks good. I can see a few names have been taken up already . . . good page.  :yes:
Bookmarked for future reference.
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: terran_emperor on January 19, 2009, 05:32:52 am
Shivan Names come from 2 major sources
1) Hindu Mythology
2) Demons from Jewish/Islamic/Christian mythology

I'm sure that there are other sources as well, but the two above are the 2 that i particularly noticed
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: DarthWang on January 19, 2009, 05:15:04 pm
SD hateful supersonic monkeys with self-destruct devices!
SF Kiki, The Vile Vile Snake of Vileness
SC Gods' Working of Days
SCv Souls' Enchantment of the Arenas of Solitude

 ;7
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: Ace on January 23, 2009, 12:47:28 am
Now the plot generator is awesome:
Quote
This fanfic is about Emperor Cartagia (Babylon 5) as a media personality. Important to the plot: The Anti-Life Equation.

This fanfic is about the cast of Sliders playing RPGs with the cast of Tremors. Moya (Farscape) takes time to make sure it works right.

This fanfic is about Karl 'Helo' Agathon (Battlestar Galactica 2004) and Father Mulcahy (M*A*S*H).
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: terran_emperor on January 23, 2009, 12:00:47 pm
:wtf:  :eek:  :)  :nod:  :lol:
:wakka:

I would pay to see those.
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: Scotty on January 31, 2009, 07:57:31 pm
For Shivan names, I either take the names of some evil deity/demon/character from ANY real mythology i.e. Norse, Hindu, British, Irish, Greek, Roman, etc.  You would be REALLY surprised at how many there are, I have a written list of 500+ (I get bored easily).  I will also use ships that were seen in the campaign(s), but not necessarily destroyed.
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: Snail on February 01, 2009, 03:06:15 am
IMO the only thing that you shouldn't use is fictional mythologies that are stupid (ie. Lovecraft and Tolkien's works are OK, but seriously, Dungeons and Dragons... :ick:)
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: 0rph3u5 on February 21, 2009, 02:43:15 pm
I always use this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_demons

recently it was split in fictional and theological demons - and I stick to the later ones (except for story important ships - their name mostly come from novels I've read; and even there I apply some standarts)
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: Killer Whale on March 03, 2009, 03:20:31 am
Now, this, is what i was looking for!! Before I was thinking of emotions such as dread, desolation and abominable for shivan ships. I could only get 48.
Bookmark  :yes:
Title: Re: Shivan Ship Names
Post by: Scotty on March 05, 2009, 09:24:52 pm
Don't forget that on the list of Demons/whatever he said, they leave out a lot of the non-demon bad guys from theologies or mythologies.  The SCv Tiamat comes to mind.  God of salt waters in the Enuma Elish.  They also leave out a bunch of purely mythological bad guys, such as Fafnir and Telepinu.

EDIT:  I generally choose a myth or legend and work through the bad guys names until I run out, then randomize where they show up in campaigns.