Gnubigena, sounds strange, doesn’t it? I figured I’d give an explanation of my odd in-game name, as I’m sure lots of different people have a story behind their names as well (I could’ve added a rant about people with unoriginal names here, but I think I won’t, it would just make this blog-post to a impenetrable reinforced wall of text – I might do it someday though).
It all began back in the days of Diablo II, which I – being a big fan of the prequel – had looked much forward too. I chose my first real Battle.Net-based character as a Paladin, and started the long quest towards glory, fame and level 99. After killing, Andariel, Duriel, Mephisto, Diablo, Baal and hordes of lumbering hell bovines, it happened, and other characters was made. Ofcourse, the paladin, being my only level 99 (with a close runner-up in form of a druid as level 95), kept being the favorite as he could solo anything in the game, without breaking a sweat. Good times, which more or less lasted till the time World of Warcraft got out.
Now, without going too much into nostalgia and off the topic, the name of the paladin was the interesting part. I had a small problem coming up with a good name, and for some reason I ended up looking at pictures at a danish website called Gnuland, which I at the current time had enjoyed alot due to the humor it used (this was before my fascination of the gnus started, but it might as well have been the silent catalyst, that eventually surfaced later). I ended up liking the name of a handdrawn gnu called “Gnuliath“, mostly because the pun was awesome, but also because the Goliath-part seemed fitting enough for a paladin. It also sounded nice and unique.
When World of Warcraft got out, and I – unexpectedly – got invited into the later phases of the closed beta, I naturally rolled a paladin with the name of Gnuliath. I liked the class, but only had time to reach the 40’ies before the closed beta ended, and the open started, where I looked at some other classes, with different random nicknames. At release, I rolled Gnuliath once again as my main character, and got him to 60. Originally I had planned that he should’ve been Protection-specced, as it was the way I had always looked at my D2-paladin. He ended up being a healbot though, which I – at that time – enjoyed alot. I still got to enjoy the hardiness of the paladin when I sometimes ventured to Warsong Gulch with my guildies, where I kept the flagcarrier going, while enjoying the pitiful attempts of different classes trying to kill me.
Burning Crusade arrived, and when I found out the Draenei race seemed to have that certain unique look I had looked for, besides the hilarious option of being able to look like a gnu (the horns are perfect, they’re goofy, and they have hooves), I was sold. Naturally, I still digged the paladin class, so my initial though was to reroll as a paladin, but dismissed the though after some time, it was a bit too silly. The shaman class however, did seem appealing, and I loved the thought of being able to throw lightning left and right (my fascination for that had been going for quite some time too, so that helped me choose too). Besides, I was still a hybrid, and could heal if problems arose.
Then naturally, the problem with naming-problem started again. I decided that I’d stick with the Gnu-part, while – in the hopes of being lucky with something cool – being able to add the magic b, that had become a part of it during too many hours of raiding. People were naturally too lazy to call me Gnuliath, so it became Gnu. Common for many, it’s often funny to call each other newbies, and as a result, nub. The connection there was easy: Gnub. It only made it better that the g is numb.
Anyway, after looking around for some good ideas, I ended up with finding the latin word nubigena, which means born of a cloud. I found it fitting in many ways; it fitted the Draenei race, as they “crashed” on Azeroth and lightning comes from the clouds. Since I was going to be elemental, it seemed perfect. Plus, people could keep calling me Gnub, which made everything easier. And thus, it stayed, and I probably don’t intend on changing it again.
I also just found out a pretty random thing. There’s appearantly a kind of plant called “Castilleja nubigena”, which only grows in Ecuador. Keeping the fact in mind that my girlfriend loves the place and has been there for quite a lengthy bit of her life, I found it to be a quite fun fact. It’s a small world.
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