I’m one of the biggest Star Wars fans I know of. I’ve read nearly all the books, comics, and graphic novels. I’ve seen nearly all of the mini-series, documentaries, different movie variations…Anyways, my most favorite thing about Star Wars is the Sith. The beginnings of the Sith have very Egyptian-like scenery to them, but are written in a Greek-like epic way. There are numerous tales of deception, defeat, exile, rebirth, and murder. I’m a ridiculous fan of all types of mythology, so I feel right at home with those themes. I grew up reading the books and comics my whole life, and still do to this day.
The beginnings of my internet phi-sod trace back to 1999 with Quake III Arena, when I was 10 years old. I knew that I needed to come up with a name, but I really wasn’t sure what to use. After a day or so of thinking, I finally settled upon SithLord07. SithLord is pretty self-explanatory. The 07 came from my expected year of graduation. I sported that name for…4 or 5 years before it upgraded.
I have to explain this before I go any further.
When I was younger, I read a lot of mythology and philosophy books. I hated my stereotypical Southern white church upbringing, and craved all of the knowledge I could find. I stumbled across a book in the library one day titled “Thus Spake Zarathustra.” The particular copy I found was difficult to read, but I pushed through with help from my dad. The book was so influential on me that I named my first D&D character (Human Wizard) “Zarathrustra” when I was 8 years old.
I’ve been using “Zarathustra” as a character name in nearly every MMO or RPG that I’ve played since then.
Now to continue.
Shortly after Quake III Arena, I began playing Everquest with my cousin. I wanted to try something different from my traditional magic user named Zarathustra, plus I think the name was taken already. I settled upon an Iskar Monk named Kankuri. I don’t exactly know how I developed the name. I’d like to think it came from a combination of characters that I can’t quite remember. Kankuri became my normal character name for anything melee oriented in a game. I continued playing Everquest until Gates of Discord released in 2004. That expansion was so horrible that even SOE admitted it was bad.
I picked up Halo: Combat Evolved for PC that same year. I must have spent thousands of hours on that game. I must admit that up to this point, I didn’t view online gaming as very serious (though I played EQI lololol). I stumbled across a few people that I really enjoyed playing with, and they introduced me to Xfire and TeamSpeak. I got involved in that, and soon found myself among a group called “the PLs.” I remember many of them; Oyster, Coltz, Diesel, Hensai, Ray, Ninja, Ace, and a few others that escape me at the moment. They didn’t like to refer to themselves as a clan, but more of a gaming family. I didn’t quite know what to think of this as first. When I began buying and downloading other games they played, I saw what they meant. Every time I joined into a game with them, it felt like I was sitting in a living room and playing with family members. I played with them so much that I began sporting the PL tag on my name (SithLord07PL).
I also began World of Warcraft in 2004, and even played with PL members. My first character? A Tauren Warrior named Kankuri. Second character? Undead Mage named Zarathrusta…Yeah, Zara***thustra*** was taken.
For 3 or 4 years, I hopped on every day after school for hours and played with them. I didn’t have many friends, and didn’t like a lot of people at my school. The only class that got a glimpse of me was Band. I was a lunatic during Band class. I took my music very seriously, and often hit myself if I couldn’t get something right. My director/teacher tried his hardest to help me in 6th-9th grade with that, but he just gave up. You don’t become the best by being sane.
After high school, I went to college. Derp. I lost contact with my fellow PL members due to ever increasing stress from school. I really don’t recall gaming a whole lot during that time. I failed my first semester, then brought my grades back up the next one. I hated my life at that point, so I stopped going to school, didn’t get a job, then got kicked out of my house. Honestly, 2008 to late 2009 is kind of a blur.
I didn’t really start gaming again until 2010. When I jumped back on everything, I shortened my name down to SithPL.
So, there is the history of my internet aliases.
