Neumond

March 16, 2015. That's when I finished this knife. I wrote about it, too, and then just let it languish in my drafts. Reinbeast.com got more love because there are so many shows and t-shirts to write about, and so many other things to do in life. I just got work done early, which is very rare, and I'm suddenly finding myself with a free hour. The same happened last week and I decided then to start Stranger Things. What a fantastic decision. That show was a spectacular gem.

But I'm here to talk about a knife design, not TV. I haven't done much with that lately. Life just keeps getting in the way. If these sudden free moments are any indication, someday soon I'll be able to get back to it. I seem to be getting more efficient at my job and things are running more smoothly. So, here's what I wrote about this weapon in early 2015, with a few edits. I thought I lost this, but I just found it in my Dropbox.

It has been so long since I posted one of my designs, or any real knife, that I nearly forgot I used to do this. I was far too busy with a second job, maintaining multiple blogs, learning domaining, trying to study German, and lamenting wasted opportunities. But the biggest reason I basically stopped drawing for the second time in my life (the first was after high school) was that my iPad became unreliable. Some apps started constantly crashing and others couldn't be used at all until they were updated to versions that only ran on iOS 6, which my old first gen didn't support. I eventually bought a refurb Air, in November (2014). I thought I could get back to it, but since then I've had so much to do, and my mother's health to worry about for the first half of this year.

What finally brought me back here is this crescent moon shaped weapon that I actually finished in December 2013. For a long while, I thought I had already published it. I guess work, Christmas preparations, and a time consuming 30 Day Blacklist Challenge on Tumblr (fun but a waste for how few read it) put it completely out of my mind. At the same time, I was also working on Red, a tribute knife for The Blacklist about the main character, played by the remarkable James Spader.

Even with everything going on, I had a post written and the name picked out: Elatha. I wanted something to represent the moon, but I never liked "Luna." I looked for other words that meant moon or were related in some way. I found a list and chose Elatha because it stood out. Then I looked it up again months later, when I discovered I never posted it, to make sure nothing changed, and it seems the page I had originally found it on made a mistake or I read it too quickly. It's really the name of a sun god. I couldn't find or think of anything better, so I decided to keep Elatha, especially after finding out it was the name of a planet in Mass Effect, one of my favorite game series. Maybe that's why I gravitated towards it, because I had heard it before.

Okay then, Elatha it is, I thought. But not so fast. See how the title is not that? When I last worked on this, I had another thought. At the time, I was making up for having missed Joachim Witt's new album, "Neumond." It is such a spectacular, heartfelt, beautifully sung, deep and melodic masterwork that I couldn't go a day without it. All this time later and I still think about it, and listen to it, quite a bit. If I had to pick a single album to listen to for eternity, even considering all of the others I have loved, I think "Neumond" would have to be the one. Though this weapon was designed long before, it just felt right to pay tribute to the album that I can't live without.

If I've got you curious about Joachim Witt now, here's the first song I heard off of "Neumond."

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12 Days of Deals at Shop Blade

It's been a hell of a long time since I've published anything to this site. That's the problem with owning too many blogs, having too much work, constant chores and maintaining of the house, and trying to start a business, along with drawing and learning (very slowly) not only bladesmithing but also the German language, logo design and font design and... You see how I can get distracted. It's just me here, and I have no time for anything, really, that isn't on my main site. I've even written a hundred or so articles for my little video game site that have never seen the light of day.

But I come to you today with Blade Mag shop's 12 Days of Deals. Use the codes below at checkout. I will be updating this post for the next 11 days. Let's see if I can get back into the habit.

December 12 - LASTDEAL50

It's the final day for Blade's sale. Just use the code above to get 50% off your order.

Well, this was a fairly disappointing 12 Days of Deals. Kind of reminds me of Amazon's massively underwhelming Prime Day, but only a little. I spent so much time sifting through all the items that weren't eligible for additional discounts, because Blade couldn't be bothered to have a section specifically for the deals or a filter that would show only items that coupon codes could be used with. And that's why after searching over 200 items this morning, I gave up and bring you only two. Remember, though, that all the books I already found the other days are eligible for discounts, so just check below if you have these already or they don't interest you. And don't even bother looking at any knives. Every single one I have seen is excluded from further discounting.

Bladesmithing with Murray Carter, $7.00
Knives 2015, $9.99

After the discount and with the lowest cost shipping of $4.98, these two books come to a total of $13.47. I would get them, because this is an extreme discount, but at some point I have to say no and curb my spending. Have to be able to afford my next car payment. If it's after December 12 and you missed these deals but still want the books, you can of course check their current prices at Blade or eBay, or you can support this site and shop on Amazon...pretty please. :)

   

December 11 - $1.99 Back Issues

Oops, I almost forgot today's deal. It's been a bad day. Messed up my leg somehow, so I've been dealing with trying to get comfortable all day long. But there's still time for you to get most digital back issues that are available for $1.99 a piece.

December 10 - 10OFF35

Today you can get $10 off when you buy $35 worth of merchandise. That would bring your total down to $25 and you'd also be eligible for free shipping. Since so many items (more than 50% of their stock at least) are not eligible for additional discounts, I've gone through again and found some that you can use this discount on. Unfortunately, they are all ebooks. I would much prefer a physical copy. I find that I tend to forget about ebooks that I've bought, but maybe you have a different opinion on that.

You cannot combine coupons, but if you spend a bit more than $35, try coupon code KERTZMAN20 for 20% off your order.

eBooks:
Best Custom Knives of Blade's First 40 Years
Best Factory Knives of Blade's First 40 Years
Knives 2012
Knives 2013
Knives 2014

If you missed Blade's sale, you can buy all of these on Amazon.

   

       

The Knives 20xx ebooks are also available in paperback editions through these links, with many at lower prices from third-party Amazon marketplace sellers.

December 9 - 50% Off Clearance

There are only 6 deals in the clearance section today, including the Incendor Knife for $27.50, Forging Mosaic Damascus DVD for $15, and Blade 1997 to 2007 DVD for $20.

If you missed the sale, I found two of these products on Amazon.

   

December 8 - 50% Off Select Best-Sellers

They mean books, mostly. But you're sure to find something here that you've been wanting, like Collecting Case Knives for just $15 or the Iconic Knifemaking Book Collection, which includes "How to Makes Knives, "The Wonder of Knifemaking," and "Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop" for just $35.

If it's after December 8 and you missed the deal but still want the books, you can check their current prices at Shop Blade, maybe find a better deal on eBay, or support this site and buy on Amazon.

           

December 7 - $10, $20, or $30 Off

Completely missed the Blade email announcing today's deal and, therefore, completely forgot I've been doing this. I've been way too busy to be bothered to do such a thing as remember. Only updating for completeness, unless you can shop lightning quick. Just 6 minutes left.

December 6 - Shizuka Noh Ken Knife

Save 29% off retail on this knife designed by James Willliams. Just $99.99 and shipping is free. The Shizuka Noh Ken is excluded from additional discounts, so you can't use the KERTZMAN20 code I mentioned in the December 5 entry, but it will still work on any other items that also aren't excluded.

December 5 - FREESHIP

Well, I missed a day already in the 12 Days of Deals. I apologize, but I was busy decorating for Christmas and I was writing a post for Reinbeast.com about Doctor Who because last night was the finale of an amazing season. It wasn't a special day anyway for Blade. The coupon was only for free shipping, which is normally just $3.99 and was free for U.S. customers a day or two earlier, even though that wasn't the deal of the day.

I do have a make up offer, though. I found a coupon in my email from the middle of November takes 20% off any order. I tried it and it still works. With KERTZMAN20 I got $2 off Knives 2015. That's the only thing I want right now or else I could have saved far more than the $3.99 of the lowest cost shipping.

December 4 - 50% off Books and eBooks

There are 80 books available in the store, many of which are half off today only. No code required. I have gone through and picked some that I haven't already mentioned below.

Book:
Knife Laws of the U.S.

eBooks:
Best Custom Knives of Blade's First 40 Years
BLADE'S First 10 Years Digital Download
BLADE'S Guide to Knives and Their Values
Knives 2010 - This one is just $5. Knives 2004 - 2009 downloads are also the same super low price.
Mosaic Damascus Knives
The Wonder of Knifemaking

December 3 - BOGO on Books

Unfortunately, it's not any two books, but only two books. Still, it's a spectacular deal. The email I got said buy Knives 2016 for $23.99 (retail $32.99) and get 101 Knife Designs (retail $29.99) for free. I put them in the cart to see if the deal was working and it turned out Knives 2016 is now on sale for $16.50, 101 Knife Designs is $15.00, and somehow the total came to just $11.97. There is no question that I have to take advantage of this. Of course, shipping is only free at $25, so I'm going to spend all day deciding whether to pay for that or find another heavily discounted item or two that will get me free shipping. And even though the site said free shipping for orders of $25, standard shipping is free for U.S. customers!

If it's after December 3 and you missed the deal but still want the books, you can check their current prices at Shop Blade, maybe find a better deal on eBay, or support this site and buy on Amazon.

   

December 2 - 12DEALS40

This code will take 40% off throughout (some of) the store.

A lot of products are already discounted and are not eligible for this sale. So, I spent time gathering a basketful of items that do qualify. I checked a number of different knives and it seems the code will not work for those.

BLADE Digital Back Issues:
April 2015
November 2012
July 2012
June 2011

DVDs:
Blade: 1997 to 2007

Books:
Art of the Knife eBook
How to Make Knives
Knives 2016
Knives 2015 (already at the insanely low price of $9.99)
Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop
Spirit of the Sword eBook

December 1 - KITSAVE15

This code is for 15% off kits and collections.

Available products are the Iconic Knifemaking Book Collection, FAMARS USA SRT Survival Knife Value Pack, BLADE'S Knife Values Bundle, and BLADE Military Knives 2010 and 2011 Value Pack Download.

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Red Alpha

It's my birthday today, so I decided I had to finally complete this as a present to myself. I named it Red Alpha because I was finishing it while watching Richard Hammond drive a red Alfa Romeo 4C in the second episode of the 21st season of Top Gear.

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Red ~ Inspired by The Blacklist

This has to be both the shortest and longest it's ever taken me to design a knife. One morning I woke up very early because of a particularly freaky dream and couldn't fall back asleep.

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Eviscerate

The weapon I never wanted to finish. The weapon I have hated to look at, even though I quite like it. If I didn't then I wouldn't be sharing. I've drawn many things that looked far better in my head than what ended up on paper, but this was one of the few that just worked immediately.

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Reassemble

Phil Coulson's death in The Avengers was a beautifully-done, shocking moment, and cemented it as one of my favorite movies. It might seem a little cruel then that I drew a knife, since Phil was stabbed, but this is how I commemorate. This is how I contribute.

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North Star

Unlike most of the blades I've posted, I don't have a story for North Star. It wasn't inspired by a TV series, movie, or life event. I was finished with it in maybe an hour. It just came together very quickly, which was great because most of them take quite a while. I even came up with the name in a few seconds. But when it came time to turn it into a vector, it was too plain. I always put off designing a pattern, and I got stuck on the original handle wrap for weeks and always got bored with it. After a few minutes I would move onto other things, like writing about The World's End and The Wolverine and the endless parade of great shirts from TeeFury and RiptApparel. Eventually I realized the wrap was not worth the effort. When I make the real thing one day, then I'll know what works.

Original: September 20, 2007

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Brave New World

Woohoo, it's finished! At least on paper and digitally. This is my second knife for Almost Human, a new JJ Abrams show premiering in November on Fox. Yes, I am already a fan. Why? Because it was created by Joel Wyman, a showrunner and writer for Fringe, an all-time favorite. In fact, the name Brave New World is in tribute to it, not to Aldous Huxley. I should probably read that book sometime.

The hardest part of this by far was the lettering. I was originally trying to come up with some of my own and had done something similar to the A and L. While I was trying to figure out the O, S, and U, I got my answer in the first official trailer. Except for the T and H, the lettering comes directly from Almost Human. I had to reshape those two, because you can't have a Wyman show without heart.

Side note: This made me very happy. Joel is always sweet.

@Reinbeast Nice! Sensational!!!

— JOEL WYMAN (@JHWYMAN) June 13, 2013

Over the last two months I've had pages of ideas from which I may be able to scrape together a third knife for this show. But I need a bit of a break. The last two out of three projects have taken just too long. This one I was obsessing for days over the letters being exact, even though the half millimeters of difference would be seen by no one at 600 pixels wide. So for right now I'm going to work on shiny dangerous things I've already designed. Eventually I'll create something for Supernatural or Game of Thrones, shows where weapons like this make more sense, or another for Fringe, which I've been wanting to do since last October. Hopefully, they won't take all my time.

Alternate colors version. I had three others, but this was the best.

Original: May 27, 2013

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Stalker

Well, I finished this one a whole lot faster than the last. This one doesn't have a pattern. Didn't feel it needed one right now. Of course I could change my mind at any point, especially if I ever make this into a real weapon. As for the name, I was going to call it Silence or Silencer, then I remembered I already have In Silentio. "So, hmm, Red Death? Nope. I have Ruber Mors." That got me thinking of Poe, so Nevermore? Nah. "Ooh, Raptor!" Already used that. *grumble* Got it. How about the raptors of Dead Space, since I just finished Dead Space 3? This looks almost as dangerous, so Stalker it is.

Original: June 17, 2007

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Talon

Wow, it's been a really long time since my last weapon. Things just kept getting in the way, like work, movies and blogging about them (Iron Man 3 and Star Trek: Into Darkness last week), and family. Usually I can get one done in a week and a half even with distractions, but this one had all those little lines. They weren't hard. They were just annoying and every time I would choose the distraction instead.

The pattern I originally drew on paper was craggy, but the tool I used in iDraw (pencil, I think it was) automatically smoothed the lines even on the lowest setting of 0, which I assumed meant no smoothing but doesn't. So, I started the pattern from scratch two more times to find the right look. Turns out I had to do it the hard way, by creating each turn manually as a new point with the bezier tool then later choosing which ones I wanted to smooth. I also then had to connect some lines and separate others in order to color them correctly. This might be the most complicated simple weapon I've done. And, if you look close enough, you can see I ended up going with different styles for the handle and blade. The handle looks somewhat veiny, while the blade looks more like crackling.

This was almost called Raptor, which is now the name of a different weapon that actually has a bird on it. Funny thing is Raptor was originaly named Talon. They were just a bit mixed up. Then @kevinphiggins said that this one looked like a talon, so I had to use it.

Original: April 21, 2006

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Blur

I was supposed to finish and upload Talon, but I just had to get this one done. It's inspired by a new show, Human (now Almost Human) that's currently filming or recently finished filming its pilot; not sure which since there's been little information for weeks. Why would I bother? Because Joel Wyman, executive producer of Fringe is running the show. For more about the knife, please read Blurring the Lines.

Original: March 25, 2013

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Raptor

Yes, Raptor. That's all I could come up with. For some reason I didn't think to ask someone with help on that last week. No interesting or even narcolepsy-inducing story about this one. I wish there was, because it's always easier to name then. If you can come up with anything good, please share.

Original: October 25, 2007

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With the Darkness Fed

Strangely, this one uploads blurry to Photobucket, while all others have been fine. I don't have any idea why.

For no other reason than that I heard the Gladiator theme last night, and I was looking around the living room today for inspiration and immediately came upon the latest issue of Maximum PC, I named this knife Maximus. Quick and easy. And that lasted all of 20 minutes. I decided it didn't fit at all. It's not a large blade and it's not my best, so a name meaning "greatest" doesn't really work. I then thought about Imagine Dragons, my newest favorite group, of which there have been more than expected lately. I've been listening to "Bleeding Out" and "Radioactive" multiple times a day in the car. It felt right to take the name from the lyrics in one of those songs. (With the) Darkness Fed would have sounded odd and Darkness was almost right. So with a slight change, Feeding Darkness seemed like a good one.

Original: November 15, 2008

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Szerszeń

I finished Szerszeń today...again. Happy birthday to me!

This curved staff never had a name. Many of my weapons don't. It was inspired by nothing, commemorated no events. I already had The Nameless One, which I then entered into a contest and renamed Ruber Mors,  so I couldn't use that. It went for five years without a name, but I thought of a yellow jacket as soon as it was complete, though there are no stripes and it doesn't remotely resemble the insect. It must have been the black and orange (close enough to yellow) combined with the "stingers" in the rear and the aggressive look.  

But there was no way it was going to be called "Yellow Jacket." That's not a name. That's not interesting. I thought a simple translation might do, except I'd like not to translate literally to outerwear. So, I decided to go with a translation of "wasp," but nothing sounded right. Then I tried "hornet" in German. (I just needed a yellow and black insect. Any would do.) I liked "hornisse," but didn't love it. Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, Greek - none of them worked. Russian seemed to fit with "shershen'," but I wanted to see it in every language Google Translate has. I came across the Polish "szerszeń," which sounds almost exactly like the Russian word, and I knew that had to be it. My father's side of the family is Polish and Irish, so it works. And it doesn't hurt that I imagine it to make a similar sound when swept through the air. ;)

As for the design, some kind of grip or wrap was planned for the handle, but I like the pattern too much to cover it.  Since it's not real yet, it doesn't matter. So, I was done. I was about to send it to Dropbox and Photobucket. But suddenly a copy appeared. I thought I accidentally made a copy, which I've done a couple times before. Stupidly (because I know computers and software screw up all the time) I deleted what I thought was the copy before I saved it anywhere else. Then I went on a grand adventure trying to recover it. What happened was it was some kind of ghost and I deleted the original. I couldn't open the ghost. I exited and reloaded and they were both gone. For an hour I tried to find recovery software for just the one file, but the only one that may have worked wouldn't work with the newest iTunes.

I didn't realize I could back up my iPad to iTunes, because I hardly use iTunes. I never even synced after I upgraded my computer last summer. iTunes wanted to erase everything because the iPad was tied to the old library, so I haven't really played with it since. And I completely forgot that I set up iCloud to back up over Wi-fi when I charged it, so there was a save file from that morning. I then backed up everything to iTunes in case iCloud didn't work, saved the Art Studio files so I wouldn't lose the background, foreground, pattern, and the copy I had of the weapon almost completed (just not in a scalable vector file that's editable in iDraw), and then erased all settings and documents. That's the only way to get to the set up screen where it asks you if you want to recover from iCloud or iTunes. Why go through all this since, if I had to, I could finish it in Art Studio or start over in iDraw? I'd rather not have to, because it wouldn't be exactly the same and I spent too much time on it for that to happen.

Later that night... Well, even though the backup was supposedly from before the file was erased, the restore was definitely from a point after. I know this because I made a new file in iDraw with what I scavenged from Art Studio and that's the one that was restored. Yet the version of the background I had worked on a few hours earlier was not restored. Odd. No matter. I found out that iCloud was a good idea to set up. Though I didn't get back the one file I needed in this case, I learned that it does work, and not all is lost. I will now be saving revisions to my Dropbox or email. Nothing had ever happened with this app before and I got lazy. Never again. 

Original: September 6, 2007

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Defiance

Why Defiance? Though I didn't realize it at the time, I actually got the name a few months ago while I was reading Stephen King's 11/22/63. It came from a beautifully-written passage that ended with, "A universe of horror and loss surrounding a single lighted stage where mortals dance in defiance of the dark." One day when I was looking at this it just came back to me, so I knew what the name had to be.

Anyway, it's been five years since I first drew this trident. In all that time I didn't have a handle for it. To be fair to myself, though, after I finished it I hardly gave it another thought. I had too many others on my mind. Well, weeks ago I was "ready" to post Defiance and then realized a handle was probably necessary. How else would you wield it? It's not exactly shuriken-sized.

Original: September 13, 2007

You may notice that I flipped the design at the top and changed the one at the bottom. I think that was the right decision.

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Corrosion

Corrosion was not supposed to be my next weapon. I completely finished a blade, a trident named Defiance, when I realized I really should draw a handle for it. The original was unfinished, because I couldn't come up with something fitting and moved on. Again, I had no ideas, so I started his one instead. That's why it looks like I took a few weeks off. I was drawing most of the time, but I was also on a self-imposed deadline at my other blog.

Original: January 2, 2008

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Lyssa, the Widow

Spider-Bat, Spider-Bat. Does whatever a Spider-Bat does.

I finished Lyssa days ago, but I've been too wrapped up in editing a post about Fringe that I've been working on for the last year. I have to take some time for this, though, because the other won't be done until at least the 18th, the last day of Fringe's finale. And I promised it months ago. I just completely forgot. So, here is Lyssa. This weapon was originally one of the quickest to come together, and it was also the easiest to draw in iDraw. Didn't take long at all. Simple, I guess, but I like it.

Why Lyssa? I've named a couple after women so far - Kerrigan and Miranda - and I felt like keeping it up. I also immediately thought of The Widow of the Web from Krull. No, it's not a great movie. Still, I love it. You might think it was because of one of my first crushes, Liam Neeson. I had no idea he was in it until I saw it a number of times. My favorite part of it was Ergo (David Battley), who I always remembered as the teacher that delivered the best line from Willy Wonka.

"I've just decided to switch our Friday schedule to Monday, which means that the test we take each Friday on what we learned during the week will now take place on Monday before we've learned it. But since today is Tuesday, it doesn't matter in the slightest."

~Mr. Turkentine, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

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Miranda

Happy Birthday, Miranda!

Well, this one was actually easier than I thought. The design was the only part I hit a little snag. I had to cut the areas where they overlapped so I could place them correctly, because I didn't think ahead. Then I had to separate multiple sections in order to have more than one gradient. Overall, though, this one was the easiest I've done. The hardest part was coming up with a name. From a suggestion, one of my latest blades was named Kerrigan. I thougt maybe something along those lines instead of leaving it nameless. Then I realized I was finishing it in time for Miranda Doerfler's (Twitter, website) birthday, which is actually tomorrow, but I couldn't wait. So, that had to be it. Now I'm thinking of Serenity, and the deadliness of its look is reminding me of reavers. Also, the color scheme of brown and orange is quite Firefly, so I think the name might be perfect.

Original finished June 7, 2007.

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Oblivion Has Arrived

This one was supposed to be easy. I was almost done with it over a week ago, just a day or two after I started. That's a great time for me since life is busy. But, as I always do, I decided it wasn't enough. Oblivion always seemed unfinished. In fact, many of my weapons do, because I used to get ideas so quickly that I wanted to move on to the next as soon as the shape of the last was set in pen. Maybe a third of my weapons actually have designs on them for this reason.

Here's where I almost stopped. I'm glad I didn't. I really like the scales.

And this is the original, completed March 13, 2008.

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Kerrigan

I had something to say about this weapon last night before bed. Why I didn't write this then I have no idea. I remember nothing. Oh, well, at least I have a name for it courtesy of @kevinphiggins. He said...

@reinbeast @docsaico woah. Is there a word that means "evil and sexy"?

— Kevin Pea Higgins (@kevinphiggins) November 24, 2012

@reinbeast @docsaico combining this with a previous convo, I submit that word should be "kerrigan", in honor of the Queen of Blades herself.

— Kevin Pea Higgins (@kevinphiggins) November 24, 2012

I played the first game, but it was so long ago I don't remember much, and I don't have the sequel yet since, until recently, my PC was a dinosaur. So, I looked up Kerrigan and the name certainly seems to fit. It's almost as if I was inspired by the character. And the more I think about it the more the name grows on me, like when I had to name The Nameless One for the Spartacus online game contest. I settled on Ruber Mors (Red Death).

So, thank you, Kevin, for the perfect name, because I had absolutely nothing.

By the way, yes, I noticed that the Twitter embed buttons are in Indonesian. It's not my Twitter settings, which I just changed four times, and I haven't been able to find anything in the template yet. It took way too long to find a template I love, so I guess I'll live with it for now.

Original: January 24, 2006

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