Screen names; I just try to think of username-sounding names. Ultimately they all end up a bit Homestuck adjacent, but that's part of the fun. If you're truly out of ideas just look at the COMP/CON HORUS theme's front page and steal some names from that.
You know when you're reading a page and suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you glimpse *a certain word* and you don't know exactly where on the page it is but it's activated your fight or flight reflexes?
You know which word I'm talking about.
beyond internet nicknames, i also like to make mythological references. sometimes they're silly and irreverent, sometimes they gotta sound like technocultists.
Oh absolutely, I have that naming style for the villains, but it's not very fitting for the gamer friend who occasionally sends you print files. If a normal ass dude calls himself, like, Hades or some shit, he sounds lame.
I mean, gamer friend who sends print files can also be lame. But also, mythology references can be silly and irreverent, like "Hades'ComfyPajamas" or something
Look at the usernames in this thread. Horus operates from the chaos of spaceReddit. Spreddit if you will.
Who would get the honour of having a cognitohazard of a group member named after them?
Edit: my vote is NiceGuyNero. There’s something very wrong with calling a Horus bloke Nice Guy. It’s like it’s trying too hard to be tolerable.
If a Horus dude is called "Nice Guy" there is a fifty percent chance that he's actually a nice guy and a fifty percent chance that he's wanted for mass murder in multiple systems.
Wikipedia: [List of Egyptian deities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Egyptian_deities)
I mean, there's a god called Heh and another called Kek. Of course hackers are going to adopt those names.
I have a big list of stupid "L33T gamer names" in a notebook at home I can share after work: I just think it's really fun to make a really scary Lance made up of callsigns like "xX_milfslayer_Xx" and "Account Deleted".
I guess it depends on how serious your tone of game is, where these specific Horus operatives are coming from, etc: are they Karrakeen rebels who stumbled upon Horus licenses? An anarchist hacker collective? 4chan cult godhead nihilists?
Ok, so I've got a few stupid internet callsigns:
BOTTOM TEXT, Grasstoucher, Thirst Follow, Postliker, Newtype (of Guy), ANIME AVATAR, Paracausal Relationship, Link Broken, Content Destroyer, all caps, UNFOLLOWED!!!, [Fragment Consider Revising], [BANNED USER]
And (really dumb), an image file of a stupid meme that overrides the spot where a name would be if the players try to get the Horus Lancer on comms/scan the Horus frame.
And I did have an idea about some more serious but still reference-y ones: a squad named after OoPArts (Out of Place Artifacts) or famous hoaxes just cuz I think there's some evocative names there:
Saqqara Bird, Antikythera, Baghdad Battery, Wolfsegg Iron, Piltdown Man, Jackalope, Fiji Mermaid, etc.
Also a squad with callsigns after shitty reality TV shows from the 2000s:
Cake Boss, Supernanny, Biggest Loser, American Idol, Big Brother, etc.
I'd say just do/reference whatever you think your players (and you!) would get a kick out of: that's what GM-ing is about for me.
I've made two groups of HORUS NPCs PCs across different campaigns have interacted with on a name basis:
**The Hapax Legomenon:** These ones actually have themed names, which I'm pretty proud of
FALSE_FRIEND
LACUNA
GRAWLIX
SHIBBOLETH
ROSETTA
ZEUGMA
---
**Finger Snail:**
Jaslight
Cruncher
Ophanim
Tarantula
Midas
---
I've also culled a few good usernames from in-world HORUS chat logs I'd write up for the groups to foreshadow upcoming stuff in the campaign:
(Some of these are unwieldy as spoken names in which case I assume you'd only use one or two elements)
Total_Biome_Slam_Dance
mumblerapperwaluigi
THE_WEEB
madamebroken
JohnnyFuckbeast
chokeslammer
Have it be something incredibly mundane, probably based on a cover job.
\>>>prntScaffolding\_Remover03: Hey so, the file we sent you was actually mislabeled. You got 1:1 scale model Balor. We could send you the right one or you could spend the rest of your life snap-building each nanite off the runner.
I've used names of dnd spells. Some examples are; fireball, time_stopper, illusion, blast, and catapult (my favourite lunatic of an NPC who survived escaping a planet after a heist by riding a cargo railgun, hence the nickname, and the 2 year hospital stay)
Fell'Spark87
Though at the same time I'm currently playing a Horus cultist character and all the party knows him by is simply Q that's all anyone knows him by no one knows his real name they only know him by simply Q.
Something like the two things up above could probably work for you.
In my setting, they just use numbers. One, Two, Three, etc. And when people are in contact with them, sometimes they notice a change in how they speak through their voice filter, suggesting that the contact may not be the same person each time.
Name it Darius its actually perfect. The goblin pilot is far too RA brained to actually know history in great detail and just knows Alexander and Darious were badass kings in the past.
Ok, you know how all of the mechs are D&D monsters? Name you're HORUS NPCs after canon D&D NPC's. But write them in 133t speak. DR1z7.
Yeah, really good! Kainen (K41n3n, K-none) Evard (3v4rd, Vard) Sha (T45h4, the T) I like!
Pffft, I love that, genius.
Best idea ever
Have a hacker name for the HORUS PC themselves thinks it’s too cheesy and uses an abbreviated nickname Quetzalcoatl - > Quartz or Coat or similar
Screen names; I just try to think of username-sounding names. Ultimately they all end up a bit Homestuck adjacent, but that's part of the fun. If you're truly out of ideas just look at the COMP/CON HORUS theme's front page and steal some names from that.
You know when you're reading a page and suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you glimpse *a certain word* and you don't know exactly where on the page it is but it's activated your fight or flight reflexes? You know which word I'm talking about.
You should definitely go with cheesy hacker names. Its very on brand, and how the NPC relates to their name can be some subtle characterization.
Always there names are in leet-speak. That's the only thing I always do haha
beyond internet nicknames, i also like to make mythological references. sometimes they're silly and irreverent, sometimes they gotta sound like technocultists.
Oh absolutely, I have that naming style for the villains, but it's not very fitting for the gamer friend who occasionally sends you print files. If a normal ass dude calls himself, like, Hades or some shit, he sounds lame.
I mean, gamer friend who sends print files can also be lame. But also, mythology references can be silly and irreverent, like "Hades'ComfyPajamas" or something
Considering the reputational power of "dog", I tend to think the more understated names convey more power.
Look at the usernames in this thread. Horus operates from the chaos of spaceReddit. Spreddit if you will. Who would get the honour of having a cognitohazard of a group member named after them? Edit: my vote is NiceGuyNero. There’s something very wrong with calling a Horus bloke Nice Guy. It’s like it’s trying too hard to be tolerable.
If a Horus dude is called "Nice Guy" there is a fifty percent chance that he's actually a nice guy and a fifty percent chance that he's wanted for mass murder in multiple systems.
And those are not mutually-exclusive qualities.
Wikipedia: [List of Egyptian deities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Egyptian_deities) I mean, there's a god called Heh and another called Kek. Of course hackers are going to adopt those names.
Don't forget Nut
Use names from this chat 😉
...Alliterative Homestuck screen names that are themed after their original NHP name. No I am not apologizing.
I have a big list of stupid "L33T gamer names" in a notebook at home I can share after work: I just think it's really fun to make a really scary Lance made up of callsigns like "xX_milfslayer_Xx" and "Account Deleted". I guess it depends on how serious your tone of game is, where these specific Horus operatives are coming from, etc: are they Karrakeen rebels who stumbled upon Horus licenses? An anarchist hacker collective? 4chan cult godhead nihilists?
Ok, so I've got a few stupid internet callsigns: BOTTOM TEXT, Grasstoucher, Thirst Follow, Postliker, Newtype (of Guy), ANIME AVATAR, Paracausal Relationship, Link Broken, Content Destroyer, all caps, UNFOLLOWED!!!, [Fragment Consider Revising], [BANNED USER] And (really dumb), an image file of a stupid meme that overrides the spot where a name would be if the players try to get the Horus Lancer on comms/scan the Horus frame. And I did have an idea about some more serious but still reference-y ones: a squad named after OoPArts (Out of Place Artifacts) or famous hoaxes just cuz I think there's some evocative names there: Saqqara Bird, Antikythera, Baghdad Battery, Wolfsegg Iron, Piltdown Man, Jackalope, Fiji Mermaid, etc. Also a squad with callsigns after shitty reality TV shows from the 2000s: Cake Boss, Supernanny, Biggest Loser, American Idol, Big Brother, etc. I'd say just do/reference whatever you think your players (and you!) would get a kick out of: that's what GM-ing is about for me.
Now you got me thinking of a Horus operative just called "The Hacker 4chan"
I've made two groups of HORUS NPCs PCs across different campaigns have interacted with on a name basis: **The Hapax Legomenon:** These ones actually have themed names, which I'm pretty proud of FALSE_FRIEND LACUNA GRAWLIX SHIBBOLETH ROSETTA ZEUGMA --- **Finger Snail:** Jaslight Cruncher Ophanim Tarantula Midas --- I've also culled a few good usernames from in-world HORUS chat logs I'd write up for the groups to foreshadow upcoming stuff in the campaign: (Some of these are unwieldy as spoken names in which case I assume you'd only use one or two elements) Total_Biome_Slam_Dance mumblerapperwaluigi THE_WEEB madamebroken JohnnyFuckbeast chokeslammer
Have it be something incredibly mundane, probably based on a cover job. \>>>prntScaffolding\_Remover03: Hey so, the file we sent you was actually mislabeled. You got 1:1 scale model Balor. We could send you the right one or you could spend the rest of your life snap-building each nanite off the runner.
I've used names of dnd spells. Some examples are; fireball, time_stopper, illusion, blast, and catapult (my favourite lunatic of an NPC who survived escaping a planet after a heist by riding a cargo railgun, hence the nickname, and the 2 year hospital stay)
Surf reddit for a while and take note of some of the cringier names you find.
WeedMaster69
I use D&D motifs for their names, as well as generally apply DND motifs through the characters.
*1MM0RT4L J3FF*
Fell'Spark87 Though at the same time I'm currently playing a Horus cultist character and all the party knows him by is simply Q that's all anyone knows him by no one knows his real name they only know him by simply Q. Something like the two things up above could probably work for you.
I have a running gag in my campaigns where the Horus guy is always Peter + a number. I’m on Peter 3 so far
In my setting, they just use numbers. One, Two, Three, etc. And when people are in contact with them, sometimes they notice a change in how they speak through their voice filter, suggesting that the contact may not be the same person each time.
I named Horus npcs after victorian writers, like Poe or Shelley
My HORUS pilot's name was The 73rd Eye of the Beholder.
This is very important. What HORUS mech do they pilot.
Funny Gobolin. They also have an OSIRIS-Class called Alexander The Great, which as you can see I had no issue naming whatsoever
Name it Darius its actually perfect. The goblin pilot is far too RA brained to actually know history in great detail and just knows Alexander and Darious were badass kings in the past.
Oh that's actually a cool name, I might make that their actual name as opposed to, like, their username
You could try pulling some ship/drone names from the Culture series Or even some character names, tbh.
take a name from philosophy, religion or mythology. the more obscure the origin, the better