Horatio's Name

[flightofmorning]

This is somewhat full of spoilers, so read on at your own risk.

I know Horatio's not really his name, but why Horatio? My first thought is because of Horatio in Hamlet, because he's the silent friend who is the only one left at the end of the carnage, which is fitting, but I didn't know if there was some hint in the story I missed? Or if I was reading too much into it...

[Mark Y.]

It's a false etymology of HORUS-ratio, or the reasoning layer of the HORUS. Years ago in a prior adventure design I had a similar naming trick with a character named Horace who was actually the spirit of a demon named Uross. So it's sort of a legacy of that.

Obviously, there's a lot of Shakespeareana in the game, so that may have been in the back of my head.

[Mark Y.]

Reviewing my old notes, I'm reminded that it was also a reference to Horatius Cocles.

[flightofmorning]

OHHH cool! That makes sense!

Also I wondering, if you're willing to answer more questions about origins of names... why Crispin? My first thought was St. Crispin, but I don't really have any good ideas other than that.

[flightofmorning]

AH i had to look up Horatius Cocles but that makes so much sense

[Mark Y.]

Crispin is the patron saint of a variety of craftsmen. There's also the St. Crispin's Day speech in Shakespeare's Henry V, which is referenced during the Rex naming process. I wanted him to have a more playful name -- some others I considered were Binsin and Fillip; I also played with Cognomen ("Cog") for short and Cam or Waldo (machine pats). But Crispin won out.