Do YOU have a reference in your characters’ names? Layered wordplay that is only penetrable if you already know what the answer is? Have you done a bit that you thought was hilarious but were met with blank stares, the only explanation being that they didn’t understand?
OR is there a reference in the game that you can’t find anywhere else? Ask and you may receive!
The whole Zero-Sum franchise (including unpublished volumes in #book-submissions) now has 22 named characters:
Spoiler
Nichael Trace
The captain has initials NT. “Nichael” is deliberately on-the-nose to draw attention to this.
Devotion
Somewhat nondescript thaven name, with the concept taken to extremes. Thavens aren’t vulcans, but Devotion is extremely Spirk-fanfic-Spock.
Tadhg Derre
Tadhg is an Irish name pronounced “Tie-g”; sometimes just “tie”. He’s a Tie-der.
Safine Medici
This used to be an IPC. I renamed her to be a soundalike for “Saving”.
Chunk Bulkslab
Syndicate people following Space Mutiny names has been established before, but ‘Chunk’ ‘Bulk’ ‘Slab’ is a series of fat jokes. It also creates a running joke about how much he eats.
Normally I criticise fat jokes for being lazy, but that’s kind of the point here.
Protects-the-Innocent
Reptilian secoffs were (are?) incredibly common; tail-dragging is very strong in combat roles. Protecting the innocent being a laughably idealistic depiction of secoffs.
Edison Opto
Named after a present-day Taiwanese company. They make LEDs.
Selena Garo
GARO is a tokusatsu series whose name translates to “fierce wolf”. Also sounds like ‘garous’ as in ‘loups-garous’ - French for werewolf. Selena as in Selene, moon goddess. Her name’s Moon Wolf/Were.
Eats-Fruits-and-Leaves
“Eats shoots and leaves” is a punchline to an old joke. Reptilians eat fruit, instead of shoots and leaves. The fact they can’t eat leaves means this only makes sense as a reference to another joke.
Riichinomi
A gambling term. Riichi nomi is among the lowest-value hands in Riichi Mahjong, and riskier than similar-value hands to boot.
Augustus Atracidae
Augustus Caesar, born Octavian, is the namesake of the eighth month. Atracidae is the family name of Australian funnel-web spiders.
Bantamweight Beatrix
As in Beatrix Potter, whose stories and illustrations of anthropomorphic small mammals have enchanted millions. She’s a lightweight.
The Causes of Nature
Natural Causes. He’s a doctor. Ironic.
Nancy Triskaideka
Another Captain, another “NT” name. Triskaideka means “13” because this is set in the past.
Remove All Doubt
An old saying: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
Caesar Giornopolous
Giornopolous translates (liberally) to ‘son of John’. Little Caesar’s, Papa John’s, and diGiorno are American pizza brands.
Valeria Matatabi
Matatabi is the Japanese name for silver-vine. It, and valerian, are alternatives to catnip - particularly if your cat isn’t susceptible to the effects of ‘nip. Cat Drugs.
Ashley Nimbus
A dark-grey cloud full of rain is a nimbus cloud. Ash: also grey. Grey grey.
Suet Pud
Traditional suet puddings are steamed - because a watched pot never boils.
Hooly Dooly
This is a somewhat archaic Australianism for shock (cf: Holy Moley). Hooly is the name of a character in the Dragon Quest spinoff Rocket Slime. The character is a healslime.
Pippin Harrier
The Lord of the Rings features a character named Pippin, short for Peregrine. Harrier is an occupational surname for a particular kind of bird trainer.
Edwyn Boskovic
You might not know Ed Wynn’s name or face, but you know his voice. I’d done my best to transcribe the accent, but it’s been imitated enough that I’m sure you’ve heard something based on it.
Bosko is a Balkan name that shortens to Bozo, as in the clown.
My characters, including IC book authors:
Spoiler
Jane Breenious
A spoonerism of Brain Genius. Jane’s not particularly smart, but I liked the name too much to wait until I made a scientist-type character.
Katherine Protheroe
The character began as a ‘syndicate survivor’ ghostrole on one of the Goobs. I forgot the autogenerated name, but I remembered being a bright-green vulp. To that end, I used an autogenerated surname here.
Katherine shortens to Kate, because she’s a syndie - Kate.
Genevieve Blaine (author of Zero-Sum)
This also spoonerises to Jane. If you’ve ever interacted with Jane Breenious you’ll know it’s impossible for this to be her nom de plume, but it’s plausible on the face of it. Don’t worry, no player characters appear in the Zero-Sum franchise.
Anne d’Taine (author of an advanced botany guide I wrote)
Sounds sorta like “Interdyne”, the syndie genetics and pharmaceutical company - whether she’s a defector or a pseudonym (credited as the source of information gained from corporate espionage) is up to the viewer.
For my part, I get most of the jokes in Wizard incantations (Gin’Yu Capan being DBZ Captain Ginyu, for eg), but Oni’Soma is eluding me. It would be baffling to have this being the only non-joke incantation, so what gives?
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