So back when Star Wars: The Old Republic was new I fell into it, completely.  An MMORPG with a strong story in one of my favorite universes… yes please!

So my pretty pale-skinned red-headed smuggler needed a name, and most of the various celtic inspired names I wanted we taken, so finally I locked on Fi’onna.  Generally the name Fiona means white or fair.  This was great, and after a few levels I was given a chance to choose a family name via a Legacy, one that would apply to all my characters.

That’s when it hit me, I wanted a name that made a fine counter to the fair and sweet name of the root name Fiona… I loved deity names, and Eris was available because the game was so new.  Eris, Greek goddess of chaos (well, strife and discord) and goddess worshiped by Dischordians.

Why was this so perfect?  Oh, I tend to play this main character in a chaotic neutral manner, to start with.  Then factor in the most famous myth involving Eris was the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.  In the middle of the wedding Eris throws a golden apple of discord, inscribed with “To the fairest one” which caused a three way cat-fight between Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera – they all thought they were the fairest.

So yes, the apple of discord being a prize for the fairest ties into the name Fiona/Fi’onna… but then take the icon of the fruit by itself…

F’ionna Eris becomes… Fiona…. Apple?

Who’s biggest hit was “Criminal”?  For a smuggler?

Awww yeah.  Let’s layer on that wordplay.

And the Smuggler’s first personal quest is to recover her ship…so while the game never lets you name your ship you sure can refer to it during role-play (did I mention I was on an RP server)… And Fi’onna was captain of the Golden Delicious in my mind.

Not one person out in the world got the joke, but just the layers of puns and meaning meant so much to me that it gave me great joy.  Sure, the jest was mine alone, but it was such a careful craft, executed so well… it was almost a work of art by itself.

Until they merged my server with another and I had to rename my character as well as my Legacy.  Fie.  (I’m still a little bitter.)