Discussion In-Character Titles

[Auteme]

Just something I'm curious about; what are your thoughts on IC titles for characters? Cool nicknames, monikers, callsigns, etc -- not titles like, "king" or "emperor" or whatever. How do you come up with them? Have you ever come up with one for another character that worked well and stuck?

EDIT: Do other characters call yours by any nicknames?

 

[Collector]

Hello yes I like them a lot. I kind of treat it the same way the film Thirteen Ghosts approaches it - with titles fitting the character with a flair of dramatics. I try to come up with a couple monikers for my more recent characters, both for fun titles to fill up a character sheet but also to give me a written goal of how I'd like the character to come across. A lot of flavor text with a side of function. It also gives me a bit of a tarot card vibe.

 

[Teyla Sal-Soren]

Back when I wrote my X-Wing pilot Jamie, I came up with her callsign NAGS after doing a little research into how callsigns are typically 'given'. So I thought of the most out of character thing she might do and ran with it.

Jamie was a very straight laced/tightly wound kind of woman, with a very low tolerance for bullcrap. The callsign was designed with a backstory that involved a night of (uncharacteristically) heavy drinking, bad dancing, and sprained ankles, subsequently being given the callsign by her squadmates who used it to poke fun at her (and even unscrew some of those tightly wound bolts) until it eventually stuck.

Only certain privileged characters knew the full backstory. Those that didn't made up their own assumptions for what they thought it might have meant. It was a great deal of fun and added a lot of flavor to the character.

 

[Starlin Rand]

Auteme

I certainly don't mind 'em, though I am wary of people who do it just to make their character seem cool and legendary. Generally speaking, if you are a new writer who nobody knows, it can look tacky if you go around claiming to be "the Savior of Coruscant" or whatever. If your character has done something worthwhile in an RP, sure. The main thing is you have to be able to back up your claim to whatever title.

On the other hand, you can have titles not based on something your character did, but on specific traits they have. I've occasionally referred to Starlin as the "Silver Dragon" which is a reference to his having been a member of the Silver Jedi, and his ability to breathe fire/smoke. I think somebody once referred to him as "Jokerman" at one point, because of his constant quipping.

It also kinda overlaps with euphemisms. And now this is reminding me that I need to eventually give Kai Bamarri a real name. "Kai" was already taken.

So yeah. As with most things, it's fine as long as you don't abuse it or make it cringe.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Yes

 

[Naivia Neryn]

I think nickname are somewhat a portrait of a person during specific timeframe, chains of events, decisions etc. So if one should come up with an option, it should be reasonable + contain some original ideas ^^

 

[Valery Noble]

Starlin kinda captured my thoughts on it when it comes to establishing nicknames for your own characters. Gotta do it right or it's going to have the opposite effect, and cause cringe rather than curiosity into how the name came to be or whatever.

But the real juicy ones are always the nicknames that spawn from character interactions and stories but can be hard to do. I see it typically with characters that have more 'extreme' personality traits or things about them that really stand out.

Back when I still played Star Trek Online (no kill pls), I had a character who was very normal. A boring-ass human with no special rank or accomplishments in a Galaxy full of strange Aliens and heroes and whatnot. But pretty much daily, I had him go into a bar and he'd order a simple beer. His nickname became "Beers" and that stuck for years. Nothing super fancy but I kinda liked the simplicity - fit the character

Other examples don't come to mind, and I haven't been here long enough for it to have happened, but it can be cool!

 

[Elle Mors]

Elle calls Sylvia Virtos "Sylv" and she in turn calls Elle "Ellie". Grew up together and all that. I don't think any of my other characters have nicknames that I can think of off the top of my head, though there's been a few times that Darth Mori has been referred to by epithets that go with her Sith name but usually just as a way to avoid giving her the satisfaction of calling her by either her actual name or Sith name.

 

[Christina Locke]

Haven't really got any special ones from rp yet on any of my characters but thats more down to time and interaction style.

But the idea is welcome as it lends a further depth to interaction between characters. Self assigned generally doesn't sit well with me. It's easy to go around calling oneself the greatest or savior of.

Meanwhile we have characters like Carni running around that invoke dread/rage by mention of his name or mere presence. A nickname would almost detract from that imo so it ends up being a strange line to walk.

 

[Darth Metus]

Deadbeat.

It's a long, child support ridden story.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Deadbeat.

It's a long, child support ridden story.

Mood.

 

[Audren Sykes]

When I wrote a pilot on a previous site there weren't many pilots around. Would prefer to have others give the nicknames but he needed one and it was up to me. So I used a facet of the character; he liked to make things explode and was called Boomer. Super-creative.

 

[Auteme]

Darth Metus idk if u forgot but u write auteme's dad and i am crying rn LOL

 

[Christina Locke]

insert cereal ad for Darth Metus here

 

[Allyson Locke]

Auteme

Haha. Definitely a thing I found more common with fighter pilot characters. Allyson earned both “Lucky” & “Safety” back in the day both relating to her uncanny ability either blow something up or get herself blown up. Characters who know her the best still use these call signs. Symbol of the true homey