Arelith Equivalent to John Doe

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Maladus
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Arelith Equivalent to John Doe

Post by Maladus » Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:09 am

So I've been kicking around a character concept where the character has lost all memory before arriving on Arelith via the boat. I don't want to give him a name right away since he would literally not know what s good name is. So, is there an Arelith or Forgotten Realms equivalent to John Doe?

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Ebonstar
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Re: Arelith Equivalent to John Doe

Post by Ebonstar » Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:39 am

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Ork
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Re: Arelith Equivalent to John Doe

Post by Ork » Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:30 pm

Maladus wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:09 am
So I've been kicking around a character concept where the character has lost all memory before arriving on Arelith via the boat. I don't want to give him a name right away since he would literally not know what s good name is. So, is there an Arelith or Forgotten Realms equivalent to John Doe?
If you know his ethnicity, you can just look up the given names for that group. Damaran's John Doe would be Bor Bersk for example.

Eyeliner
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Re: Arelith Equivalent to John Doe

Post by Eyeliner » Tue Nov 23, 2021 10:45 pm

"John Doe" is a medieval legal term believe or not but it does sound too modern day. I would probably just take the randomly generated name NWN gives me and run with that.

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Re: Arelith Equivalent to John Doe

Post by CNS » Sat Nov 27, 2021 2:12 pm

Alternatively you could decide his name yourself first and then disguise as John Doe until such a time as he regains his original name if that's something you expect to happen

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Alyxnia
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Re: Arelith Equivalent to John Doe

Post by Alyxnia » Sat Nov 27, 2021 6:15 pm

Pulled from the John Doe wiki page, some more name ideas/background:
Under the legal terminology of Ancient Rome, the names "Numerius Negidius" and "Aulus Agerius" were used in relation to hypothetical defendants and plaintiffs.

The names "John Doe" (or "John Do") and "Richard Roe" (along with "John Roe") were regularly invoked in English legal instruments to satisfy technical requirements governing standing and jurisdiction, beginning perhaps as early as the reign of England's King Edward III (1327–1377). Though the rationale behind the choices of Doe and Roe is unknown, there are many suggested folk etymologies. Other fictitious names for a person involved in litigation in medieval English law were "John Noakes" (or "Nokes") and "John-a-Stiles" (or "John Stiles"). The Oxford English Dictionary states that John Doe is "the name given to the fictitious lessee of the plaintiff, in the (now obsolete in the UK) mixed action of ejectment, the fictitious defendant being called Richard Roe".
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  • Neli Ore - Flew too close to the sun
  • Trouble Brightwood - Missing 411'd
  • Avdotia Zakharova / "Hathran" - Finished her investigations
  • Ghashburz Swordeater - In search of honor
Dead but not gone

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Maladus
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Re: Arelith Equivalent to John Doe

Post by Maladus » Thu Dec 02, 2021 4:45 am

These were all good suggestions. In the end I decided to go with Churl, a medieval insult of sorts. I am RP'ing that someone at the Cordor Docks called him that to insult him and he just took on the name.

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