Having an obvious connection between your fleet names is a good thing. I had seen Stonewallers in the game before I joined the fleet; that level of activity is a selling point for prospective members, and you're reducing it if you're flying under an unconnected name. The implied LGBT connection is also a big plus. I have had people /tell me "oh, hey, is that a gay-friendly fleet?" on my Fed characters; not so on my KDF.

"Stonewall" is memorable because it has existing associations in people's minds. They may know about the riots; they may think of the general; they may just think of a wall. But it does call up some sort of imagery for any English speaker, and that makes it more memorable. Heck, even the name "Romulan Empire" was specifically picked to call up assocations with the Roman one. A fully alien name doesn't have that advantage.

As for HNR...frankly, it's because I find "Nagh'reD" such a pain that I don't think another incomprehensible name is a good choice. I probably still wouldn't know what Nagh'reD actually meant if not for the discussion surrounding the Romulan fleet. I still don't know how I'm supposed to pronounce it -- probably two thirds of our members couldn't spell it on the spot. Because of this, though I've been in the fleet for ages and I love my Orion toon, I feel no sentimental attachment to that word the way I do "Stonewall."

Worse, to a prospective member, all the fleets called "House of [coughing fit]" just sort of blend together. The number of people for whom "Jorreh'honn Karanha" is any more meaningful than "Shmiddlydoo Flobbilitwop" is... well, let's face it: they're all on this thread already. Even our own members who join after the fleet is inaugurated won't know why it's called that.

Call it Stonewall Karanha or Galae Stonewall or the Stonewall Senate or the Raptors of Stonewall, and immediately there's an image to latch on to in addition to that bit of Romulan flavor. Our legacy becomes apparent to anyone who sees us in the game. The new group is bound in with the Knights and Lords and Vanguard and Fleet and Deep Spacers. I don't think that the initial novelty of a fully Romulan name outweighs the long-term value of a more communicative and practical title.

Quote by Twinkleboy

C'mon guys spread the word, I want so badly to bring Stonewall to Nexus.

I'm trying, I'm trying.

Or was, anyway. :p

Not much interest in it a few months ago, when I brought it up. Could swear I'd made another topic about it previous to that, but maybe I'm mistaken.

I'll probably play a Mechari Dominion side and Aurin Exile side (If there are males. It looked like there were male Aurin in one of the videos.)

I am definitely going to be an Esper(Scientist). Whichever faction we all play on is where I will be for sure. Love the mage/healer combo classes.

Ditto, I joined this fleet because you popped up in the google search, until I joined I'd never seen anyone from Stonewall in game.

I guess the way it's been done in the past fit the way the game was done in the past. You joined a Federation fleet when you just started the game at level 1, then you had to wait until you levelled up until you got to 6 or now 20 before you could start a KDF character, in which case you either joined the KDF affiliate for your current fleet, or were savvy enough by that point to know how to pick your KDF fleet on your own. Because of all this, the name of our KDF fleet had less of a need to be a drawing card.

Now, players will be able to play the first level of the first character of STO in one of three factions. It may necessitate our restrategising how we market ourselves.

On the flipside, as SaintPlazma said, if folks want to find us, they will. I saw about joining this fleet even before I had the game installed. (I bought the game just after it went on the market, but it was several months before I was in a situation to install it.) I knew I wanted to join an LGBT fleet, and Google and the game message boards were my friends. Also, the fleet search capacities within the game itself make it pretty easy to find us without having to resort to Google-fu.

Quote by DoctorDisaster

I think it's more consistent and clear to use "Stonewall" in English along with a Romulan-themed word that means "fleet" or "legion" or something like that. This makes it really clear that it's part of our family of fleets. Purely Romulan names don't communicate anything to someone seeing them the first time, and I think they're difficult to identify with. Most of us won't know how to pronounce them, and no one who wasn't present for the decision is going to know what they mean.

I don't see this as an issue. If you do a search for 'stonewall' under the social window under find a fleet it will pull up that word in the fleets description. Since all of our fleets have the word "stonewall" in them no matter the name we can find someone with invite power. There is also the stonewall chat. We are far from hard to find, if someone is looking for us they will find us.

Quote by Ereiid

Quote by DoctorDisaster

I think it's more consistent and clear to use "Stonewall" in English along with a Romulan-themed word that means "fleet" or "legion" or something like that. This makes it really clear that it's part of our family of fleets. Purely Romulan names don't communicate anything to someone seeing them the first time, and I think they're difficult to identify with. Most of us won't know how to pronounce them, and no one who wasn't present for the decision is going to know what they mean.

You make a great point, but has that been so much of an issue for the House of Nagh'Red? Just a point of curiosity.

Excellent question Sej, so I will answer your question by posing two of my own. (and this is to anyone reading this thread or has had this happen to them.)

How many times have you heard of a player joining our Fed fleet(s) because they saw one of us in our Fed toons with the name "Stonewall" clearly displayed over our ship or character?

Now, how many times have you heard of a KDF player doing the same thing because they knew how to read Klingon?

There were other factors yes, but I feel recruitment for Nagh'reD may have suffered because of it. Stonewall (in English) is classy and recognizable and is a big part of who we are as a community without being overt.

Quote by DoctorDisaster

I think it's more consistent and clear to use "Stonewall" in English along with a Romulan-themed word that means "fleet" or "legion" or something like that. This makes it really clear that it's part of our family of fleets. Purely Romulan names don't communicate anything to someone seeing them the first time, and I think they're difficult to identify with. Most of us won't know how to pronounce them, and no one who wasn't present for the decision is going to know what they mean.

You make a great point, but has that been so much of an issue for the House of Nagh'Red? Just a point of curiosity.

Oh, and while I'm not such a fan of the Rihannsu canon of Diane Carey's (eminently reasonable, and a clear fan-favorite), I do see the draw.

I might suggest that perhaps we take one of the Rihan canonical names, and consider abbreviating them? I mean - Romulans must have contractions, amirite?

eg: Jo'honn Karansu, or perhaps Reh'honn Karansu

Thoughts?

Oh, great, there went my Romulan character name which I've been saving since launch: Karasu (which is Japanese, so I suppose it wouldn't have worked anyway).

How many of our Vulcan/Alien characters are allowed to defect, do you suppose? Coming Out Day!

Quote by Keioel

OK so my vote would be for either:

Karanha Jorreh'honn or Karanha I(III) Jorreh'honn

or

Jorreh'honn Karansu

although the first option Jorreh'honn Karanha is also fun ;)

If we're going to keep Stonewall in English then we're going to have to change the Klingon Fleet's name as well.

Quote by Ozy

Jorreh'honn Karanha - Stonewall Legion (In Romulan)

Jorreh'honn Karansu - Stonewall Legionnaires (In Romulan)

Thanks Bud! Its a fairly valid point about "Stonewall" beign in English, but I think Kei, makes a really good point too. Our Klink fleet hasn't had "stonewall" and by extension any link with stonewall either. Maybe that's worth correcting if we go with that.

My personal leaning is Stonewall Karansu, for two reasons; 1 it just rolls off the tongue moreso that "Karanha" and second because "Legionnaires" is cooler. LOL

OK so my vote would be for either:

Karanha Jorreh'honn or Karanha I(III) Jorreh'honn

or

Jorreh'honn Karansu

although the first option Jorreh'honn Karanha is also fun ;)

If we're going to keep Stonewall in English then we're going to have to change the Klingon Fleet's name as well.

Quote by Ozy

Jorreh'honn Karanha - Stonewall Legion (In Romulan)

Jorreh'honn Karansu - Stonewall Legionnaires (In Romulan)

I think it's more consistent and clear to use "Stonewall" in English along with a Romulan-themed word that means "fleet" or "legion" or something like that. This makes it really clear that it's part of our family of fleets. Purely Romulan names don't communicate anything to someone seeing them the first time, and I think they're difficult to identify with. Most of us won't know how to pronounce them, and no one who wasn't present for the decision is going to know what they mean.

(Invalid video video code)


Look, I found a game-play video for it. Looks fun.

Jorreh'honn Karanha - Stonewall Legion (In Romulan)

Jorreh'honn Karansu - Stonewall Legionnaires (In Romulan)

Vroth Jorreh'honn children of stonewall

PUNCH AND PIE, PUNCH AND PIE!!!!!!!!!!

I still think we should refer to our fleet either as a fleet or a legion, I'm partial to a legion in the old roman style of naming, that's what I meant by a Roman Republic naming style as opposed to a Roman Empire naming style not that the word Republic would be in our fleet name, we're already in the Republic, that would be like calling the USMC the United States Republic Marine Corps...or calling my unit Republican Oscar Battery etc... uh No ;)

What I meant was something similar to Legio 3 "Stonewall" but in Romulan. The 3 cause we're the 3rd fleet or legion of Stonewall in the game.

Thanks for the read. It has given me a few things to think about.
xo
Shawn

Thanks for sharing of yourself with us all; I enjoyed the read and learning a bit about you. It's always interesting to learn of other people's stories, the obstacles to happiness that they faced and how they overcame those obstacles to eventually be at peace with who they are, as LGBT people.

Cheers :)
Dave.

What's cool is that one of the folks that got tangled up in all of this contacted me with an abject apology and reconciliation, which was more than I was expecting, though honestly, knowing this person, I should have raised my expectations.