Guide to DIYing

The Do's of DIY Creation

Note: If you’re writing a coven or cult themed Index Xenos article, just replace “kabal” with “coven” or “cult”. Index Xenos will henceforth be refered to as” IX”.
Originally by Rogue Trader
Edited by Xelkireth

This guide is meant to be just that, a guide. Whilst many people will have a certain number of ‘rules’ which they believe the fluff of a chapter should follow, the background of the 40k universe is constantly evolving and comes down to individual points of view. A cliché for one person is a great plot hook for another. An unbreakable rule to one poster is a unique feature of another’s kabal. All the being said, there are two rules which all chapters, and posters, must follow.

Rule Number One: Do be original as possible
It is often said that there is no original idea, that someone, somewhere, at some point, would have had the same idea as you. That being said, you can still create an original chapter. To take inspiration from n official chapter, a book, a film, a culture or anything, but to copy an idea completely will lead to a weak chapter. Attempt to add something new, or take a different twist, or remove something, to create something different. It is fine for two chapters be similar, share common themes but to be an identical copy of one another is not possible.

Rule Number Two: Be prepared to accept criticism on your ideas, and to revise your IX accordingly.
Kabals of The Dark City is all about feedback. This forum exists to share ideas about a DIY kabals with other people, each with their own view on the 40k universe and how well ideas mesh together. You don’t have to take every piece of advice given, but if you are not going to budge on anything about your kabal, there is little point in you posting your chapter.

Most members will give helpful feedback, some will be harsher than others, but most will be attempting to be helpful. We all love our own kabals, and we have all been there, but it is important to make sure you don’t drag a poor idea long after its potential has faded. A good IX will grow as you write it, take a life of its own and become, hopefully, better.

Suggestions for creating a better Kabal

Do have a definite theme for your DIY kabal, and follow it through
The hardest but most important thing about a kabal is giving it a theme. This gives the kabal an identity, a purpose and weaves every aspect of the character into a single unity. What classifies as a theme, how to knit into the kabal and when a theme has gone too far is an entire section of its own. Once this theme has been identified, you start to consider how every aspect of the kabal from name, to homeworld, to history, to combat capabilities can be tied together. This makes the kabal seem more realistic, easier to write and, in the end, better.

Do read as much background material as you can
Read, read and then read some more. Try to read any codex your kabal will interact with, and then read the others. The Black Library books, whilst sometimes painful to read, give another view on the 40k universe which is always great.

Do specific research for your kabal
If your kabal is going to be a face a certain foe, make sure you know everything about that foe. If they are going to be fighting in a certain area of space, make sure you know what is happening in that area. If you are basing your kabal on a historical culture, make sure you know a little about them.

Do have a rough idea of your kabal first
A full IX is a big project, with many twists and turns along the way. To attempt to create a kabal without a plan will lead to them feeling disjointed. It is always better to look at an IX article on the whole, as each section helps and links which the next. It would be a waste of time perfecting the home world section of an IX only to realize that it needs to be changed to fit more in line with the kabal’s technological or combat capabilities.

Do keep it simple
As always in writing, it is best to keep it simple. A simple idea written well beats a complex but poorly executed idea, plus simple is easier to write. With an IX, a simple idea will grow and become something more.

Do remember that ambiguity in the right place can be a good thing
Ambiguity, conjecture, conspiracy theories has hooked many people into the 40k universe. Did the Inquisition play a hand in the Celestial Lions destruction, how about the intrigues of the Star Child? The two missing legions are still talked about. Having everything in your kabal “unknown” will often make people believe you are being lazy, but in the right places, with the right amount of mystery, these little conjectures can help create an air of mystery about your kabal.

Do make them infamous but still believable
Dark Eldar are infamous, and your kabal will be the focus of the IX and will often be portrayed in a dark light, but make sure their deeds are believable. Having them destroy an entire Tyranid Hive Fleet, whilst at the same time wiping out a craftworld, slaying Asdrubael Vect and doing all this without taking any losses before dinner, will leave your kabal unbelievable and, probably, mocked.

Do use a GW kabal if you want
There are many kabals which GW have named, maybe given a colour scheme to, but not fluffed out. You can use these if you want, there has been many great examples done. Be warned though, it is possible for GW to pick up this kabal and fluff it out themselves, which will make your background wrong.

The Don'ts of DIY Creation
Originally by Rogue Trader
Edited and authored by Xelkireth

From here on out, the guidelines become a little more personal. Whilst all of them will be commonly accepted by a high majority of posters, there is nothing (bar the fluff) saying you cannot break them, and as always, a good story can overcome breaking the background. If you go ahead with any of these ideas, be prepared to meet a lot of flak in your feedback.

Don’t claim your kabal is created whole from another chapter
This is a lack of creativity. Yes, it has happened. Kabals are absorbed and dissolved all the time in the political-murder games of Commorragh. Absorbing your own DIY kabals is fine. Absorbing original GW kabals is not okay and should be avoided at all costs. This is directly contradictory to the fluff and contradicted the fluff is a big no-no.

Don’t claim your kabalites are nice
Kabalites are generally centuries if not millennia old. They are a deprived, vicious sect of the Dark Eldar that are the cream of the crop. They are elite, brutal, efficient killing machines. They just aren’t nice. Kabalites function on a Mafioso mentality. They strive for what’s best for themselves and their kabals. They will kills anyone or anything thing that opposes the will of their archon. There is a big difference between helping someone for a benefit for themselves or their kabal, but to help someone out of the generosity of their heart isn’t going to happen. The Dark City is a harsh place, nice Dark Eldar don’t live long.

This section will be added to as need until it’s finished.

Clichés and Lazy Plot Devices
Originally by Rogue Trader
Edited by Xelkireth

Most of the posters in Kabals of the Dark City have seen many DIY writings in their time, so they have seen all the common story lines. There is nothing wrong with using these plot lines, but be warned, many posters will hold them in some grudge and believe they are often used to cover up poor writing. If you write a good story, then lazy devices become great story lines.

Don’t claim your kabal was central to any of the major campaigns
GW have the pivotal moments of their campaigns locked down. The Battle of Macragge was the ltramarines versus the Tyranids; no-one else was present. The more recent campaigns – Armageddon, Eye of Terror – are ideal for DIY-ers. They vastly allow DIY kabal to play a supporting role, perhaps turning up to mop up survivors. However, claiming your kabal was the pivotal force in a well documented campaign is not a good idea.

Don’t mistake Black Library deviations and GW precedents for originality and character
The character of a kabal is defined by how and why it does things differently from other kabal; but do not fall into the trap of loading your chapter with all number of flashy plot hooks and the flavor of the week in the belief this will add character. Just because there is a GW kabal that has something, doesn’t mean it’s a good thing to do for your kabal ‘just because’.

Rogue Trader, the original author of this thread, had this as his final thought and I couldn’t not include it:

The most important thing to remember is that in the end, it's just a game. They're your models, you paid for them, you can do what you like, just as long as you have fun!

Guide to the Index Xenos
Inspired by Commissar Molotov
Authored by Xelkireth

The Index Xenos is an article that appeared in the old White Dwarf magazines. Often times, they were the precursor to an actual codex and provided not only the rules for the army in question, but an in-depth, snapshot of the race in question. Myself, and many others before me, have used the Index Xenos article as a format for the background of their Kabal, much in the same manner than a Index Astartes article is written for a specific chapter of Space Marines. This by no means is the “only way an IX should be written,” but a guide. A tool meant to help you write the best IX you possibly can.

Physical Characteristics:

• When was your kabal formed?
  
• Do they have any unique identify traits or features?

This section is where you can introduce and briefly summarize your Kabal. When and why was your kabal founded? Is your Kabal young or an ancient noble house that founded one of the twilight cults? Does your kabal have any special physical characteristics that separate them from the rest of the Dark Eldar? Do they mutilate themselves in honor of their archon? What alterations and surgeries does your kabal favor?

Homeworld:

• Does your Kabal dwell in Commorragh?
  
• What district does your kabal reside in, if they live in Commorragh?
  
• Does your Kabal have its own pocket-realm?
  
• Is your Kabal fleet based?

Some kabals reside in Commorragh, but some are corsair organizations preferring the freedom of fleet-based operations. If your Kabal doesn’t reside in Commorragh, why? Are the exiled? Did some sinister shame befall your archon? Or perhaps you have your own fortified pocket-realm linked to the Dark City? Every Kabal needs a base of operations. Tell us about it.

If you’re fleet-based, how big is your fleet? How does your Kabal avoid the soul-drain of Slaanesh? Do they have a small outpost within the webway? Have they traded with Eldar Corsairs for spirit stones? Have they developed some alternate form of soul-protecting technology?

If your Kabal resides in Commorragh, where in Commorragh do they live? Do they have their own district? Do they war over a district with a rival Kabal? If they have their own district, what’s special about it? What defines their district from the rest of the Dark City? Where is the district located? Is it in the lower City or in the spires of High Commorragh?

First Contact

• When was your Kabal’s first contact with the Imperium of Man?
  
• How does your Kabal fight?

Here is where your first contact with the Imperium occurs. It should be consistent with the Dark Eldar timeline in your Codex. It wouldn’t do any good to have your Kabal establish contact before Vect established the kabalite structure. Provide a brief synopsis of the battle. Did your Kabal win? What were they fighting for? Did they learn anything? What branch of the IoM where they fighting?

Combat Capabilities

• How does your Kabal wage war?
  
• Does your Kabal have allies?
  
• What is your Kabal’s specialization?

How does your Kabal wage war? Do they prefer raiders or venoms? Do they call vast numbers of kabalite lowborn or trueborn to their raids? Do they use wych and/or haemonculus allies? Do they have a preferred ally? Do they prefer specific tactics? How do the deploy their sinister forces? Give us a basic idea of how your Kabal fights and who they fight with. This would be a good section to include potential rivalries and outright feuds.

Technology

• What specific technologies does your Kabal employ?
  
• Have they developed their own special technology?
  
• Do they use extensive use of one type of weaponry over another?

Has your Kabal developed some new devious form of soultech? Do they specialize in poisons? Does your Kabal favor a specific weapon or weapon variant? Have they developed their own raider variant? How did they accomplish such technological feats? Do they keep this new technology to themselves, or act as an arms dealer?

Social Structure

• How does your Kabal function?
  
• How does your Kabal interact with other Kabals?
  
• How does your Kabal interact with the other Dark Eldar factions?

How does your Kabal’s social structure look like? Remember that a Kabal have a very militant-mafia approach to its organization. How does your Kabal interact with other Kabals, Covens or Cults? How do the other Cults and Covens fit into your Kabal? Remember that the Dark City is a dangerous place and that it is better to have staunch allies than to risk being alone, few Kabals are capable of existing without support.

Threat Index and Imperial Policy

• If you haven’t already stated it, how big is your Kabal?
  
• How does the Imperium view your Kabal?

The IoM have known about the Eldar race for a while. Until the last few millennia, they thought the Eldar race was one faction. Does the IoM recognize your Kabal? If so, how do they know your force? Have they been engaged repeatedly by Ordo Xenos forces? Have your Kabalites been captured and interrogated? The IoM needs a reason to fear you. Give it to them.

Suspension of Disbelief
Originally by Ferrata
Edited by Xelkireth

Suspension of disbelief is one of the most important factors to an IX article, which is strange for a fictional piece of work which is obviously not fact. What is suspension of disbelief I hear you ask? Well, we all know that Dark Eldar aren’t real (well, I hope we all do) and thus these articles are all pieces of unbelievable fiction. A good writer will be able to suspend this disbelief for an entire article making the reader believe in their kabal. This ideology isn’t only in 40K IX articles; it spreads to all other forms of media. Sometimes a writer wishes to break the sense of disbelief to make sure the viewer knows it is a story (which, as I was informed, is why Moulin Rouge used actual and famous songs instead of making new ones up). Unfortunately, the suspension bubble is weak and fragile and is so easily punctured. Here is a small extract from the Planetfall: Alcmene story (by Rogue Trader):

“Digging the toes of his boots into the rubble, Jarrett pulled his knife from its sheath, and tensed his legs for the lunge toward the traitor.”

A lovely sentence isn’t it? You really believe this is happening, especially if you read the rest of the story. Now, let’s look at the same sentence again but I’ve replaced ‘Jarrett’ with a well-known mythological character:

"Digging the toes of his boots into the rubble, Lancelot pulled his knife from its sheath, and tensed his legs for the lunge toward the traitor.”

As soon as you read the name ‘Lancelot’ it broke your belief that this was really happening. This is just one example of how fragile the suspension bubble is. Now I’ve got you’ve worried about popping your own bubble I shall inform you of some of the major bubble-bursters.

Names
This one carries on from the initial example. Names are one of the most common disbelievers out there as it is so easy to throw in a famous name and think it sounds good. These names can be anything, from famous historical/mythological characters to just cheesy names. I would always suggest avoiding any name that is easily linked to your kabal theme because it makes the chapter seem too neat, another bubble-burster. For example, having an archon called ‘Arthur’ in a random kabal is fine, but having an archon called ‘Arthur’ in a kabal which is hunting the holy grail and has a second in command called Lancelot it a bad idea. Full names, such as Julius Ceaser, should never be used.

Cheesy names are harder to define, as one persons cheese is another persons cool. Having your archon called ‘Bloodbath’ or ‘Uberman’ will instantly break any readers belief that this guy is real. This is more common in planet names and chapter names then in character names. Planets called “Death’s Door” or “Hellmouth” will probably make the reader laugh at your attempt at naming your planet.

Over Themeing
This one again is hard to define as there is a very fine line between a theme and over-themed. GW themselves are prone to over-themeing a kabal, it is quite lucky that a chapter named the Flayed Hand actually skin their hands or surgically remove them as opposed to the Flayed Skull. This extends to kabals being named after animals which just so happen to be at the top of the food. How do you control this? It is very hard, you just need to keep looking back at your IX article and ask yourself if you are pushing something too hard.

Extending this to the theme themselves which can often be a fall for many kabals. Keeping with the slight Persian empire theme, a kabal only needs hints of this to make it a good themed kabal, whilst too much is bad. What are the good things to take? More the mentality over anything else, as these are easily translated into a kabal. The Persians were meant to be a vast, hedonistic horde, often viewed in history as dishonorable and individual; all these can easily be part of a kabal. A kabal seeking a holy grail or a love triangle between two kabalites and a woman isn’t likely to be happening in the 40K universe, but even these can have their spirit altered to fit.

Awesomeness
Another great killer of the sense of belief. Everyone wants their kabal to be the greatest of all and no-one wants their kabal to be weak, it just isn’t cool. This is a big pitfall many writers find themselves in as they write their IX. Making your chapter too great, uber, awesome, fantastic or however you want to describe them will only lead to the reader questioning your kabal. If they are so great, how come we haven’t heard of them yet?

Out-of-character Phrases/Knowledge
There are two versions of all fictional stories, an in-character and an out-of-character story. The first is what the subjects of the story know, how they react and how they feel. The second is what the writer knows and the reasons behind the decisions in the story based on the writers feelings. A great example of this is a kabal having knowledge which they wouldn’t know. As soon as an article states something which shouldn’t be there, the suspension of disbelief is broken. If the reader needs to ask why a kabal has done something, again the bubble is burst. You don’t need to justify everything about a kabal based on why they are doing it, but everything major should be.

Phrases are another key one. This just includes terminology that we use today that would be around in another 38,000 years. Saying a kabal ‘let that cat out of the bad’ in regards to a secret will break all disbelief, instead something along the lines of ‘[character] was able to draw the information out’. This probably includes keeping in theme with the rest of the 40k imagery as well. Make you’re your kabal seems to fit nicely within the realm of the story. Remember, in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war not fluffy kittens and nice soul vampire, cuddling machines.

That pretty much sums up this confusing theory. The key is to suspend disbelief as long as possible or make the reader question it as few times as possible. Go back and read all of your favourite pieces of fluff and you will see how the writer makes you believe this kabal is real all the way through.

Refining Ideas
Originally by Telveryon and others.
Edited by Xelkireth.

It's exceedingly common for people within the hobby to want to come up with at least a little story to go along with their little plastic men, but it seems like there's an issue with finding a core idea and then extending it to its logical conclusion. The intention of this article is not to show you how to write your article so much as it is to help in the process of developing your concepts to the point where it can practically write itself. You've already done the hard part if you can honestly say that you know what they're going to be and all of the consequences that come from that decision, with the rest being detail work and polish.

Welcome to Boot, Meat


The Rule of Cool

First and foremost, the project itself needs to appeal to you as a writer and a fan of the universe. If it doesn't seem cool then you're not going to be motivated to finish it.

Regardless of any editing that may come or suggestions that you receive from the community, the thing to remember is that you're the one who has to live with these guys once they're written, painted, and on the field of battle. Make sure that the central themes that you saddle them with are going to be ones that you find to be worth exploring, not because you find out that you have to but because it's enjoyable to think about. Whether cursed half-shadow daemons are your thing or you'd prefer a profound but smoldering hatred for the Craftworld Eldar that's borne out through a pronounced independence, pick it and stick to it.

Mine, Not Yours

While we are here to pick apart errors and show you all the failings of your moral character, ancestry, personal grooming, and just about anything else that might give an angle to show how an idea won't work, the simple truth is that your ideas belong to you. If you don't want to accept the view that someone else expresses then you are absolutely within your rights to keep your writing exactly as you want it to be.

This is going to be your article and so it should come almost entirely from you, which means that we have no real say over how you go about constructing it. Take exactly as much criticism as you think is useful and then discard the rest. Nobody can tell you that you're not allowed to believe that Vect and Malys would all have children and organize their sons into a new Kabal that's the size of the pre-fall Eldar Empire, though they can say that it won't fit with the current universe at all.

And on that note...
1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration


The Almighty Why

Things happen for a reason.

It's not just a platitude that people pass around in times of strife, it's basically a law of literature and human history. When fleshing out your Kabal, it's important to keep in mind their reasons for doing as they do and making the choices that lead them to their current position. This also goes for outside events that shape their beliefs and practices, since there's usually a motivation for an Eldar corsair to be raiding settlements or Chaos warbands to be assaulting a planet.

Why does your Kabal hate another or a particular Craftworld? What's with that obsession that they have over locating archeotech or creating new soultech? Where did all those voidraven bombers and venoms come from, how did they get them, and how is it affecting the way that they prosecute their realspace raids?

These questions and more help you to put flesh on the bare bones and their answers are what make a Kabal more than just another tickbox on the roster back at Commorragh. They're also the most difficult, controversial, and demanding aspect of the entire process because of the broad knowledge of the 40k universe that is often required to make an idea fit into the established world. Plausibility sometimes denies the coolness of an idea and some quirks make for easier justifications than others. It doesn't take much to explain why your Kabal hates the Kabal of the Black Heart, but it could certainly take more work to convince your brethren on the board that the archon would spare the lives of kabalites who lead an open rebellion against him.

As a general practice, you want to find a reason for any deviations that your Kabal displays but it isn't necessary to spend inordinate amounts of time in explaining each one. If you find the writeup becoming cumbersome and bloated, it's probably best to step back to reevaluate your position.

Time to Take Your Medicine - Consequences Hurt

The most often overlooked or glossed-over aspect of writing an Index Xenos is the dreaded application of consequences, where one takes the sum of their experience and beliefs and figures out just where it would leave them in relation to the 40k universe.

If you're trying to write a Kabal that tickles your fancy without quite going over the line into Mary Sue territory, it's sometimes difficult to keep a hold of the elements that make them seem cool without denying the more negative aspects. However, to do so is to remove your work from the grimdark that we all know and love.

To pick an example, there have been many Kabals written which detest the Black Heart and Asdrubael Vect for their insurrection and occasionally questionable loyalty. It's a perfectly viable plot element to include in your writing but it comes with an awful lot of baggage that often isn't represented terribly well. The political climate in the Dark City is such that any Kabal which blatantly defies the Black Heart or which makes public its dislike will soon find itself on the receiving end of their ire. Very few organizations within the Kabalite structure are going to be in a position to cause you hurt in as grandiose and far-reaching a fashion as they. Quite pointedly, they are the largest and most powerful Kabal in Commorragh.

You can certainly write your Kabal into animosity with the Black Heart, but it will have a profound effect on the way that they wage war and their political intrigues. How do they keep their hate of Vect secret? How have attempted to oust the upstart commoner? Most important of all, how have they plotted and avoided Vect’s notice?

I Need Less Cowbell! - Toning It Down In the Forty First Millennium

Everyone wants their Kabal to be engaging, powerful, and eye-catching enough that they will stand out from the sea of serrated armor. The issue that must be avoided if you want to productively make use of the Kabals of the Dark City is one of scale, however.

It's perfectly acceptable for your Kabal to be ancient soul-drinking, elves in space that are killing machines that do the work of their Archon until they're either incapacitated or dead, since that's what an Kabalite warrior is. The problem arises when people try to write too much awesome into their creations and make them something which rivals or even exceeds the already published material in terms of scope and scale. Balancing between what you find a cool and appealing idea and what the community finds to be overwrought and Mary Sue can be a difficult line to walk, but it's generally best to tone things down if there's any doubt in your mind.

A quick and dirty way to test your ideas for failing this aspect of writing an article is to compare them to the established Kabals, then to ask yourself whether or not the characteristic you want to keep would make them known galaxy-wide. For example, claiming your Kabal has thirteen screaming statues in their district because Vect does... ideas like these are against people's perceptions of the W40k universe. Kabals like these have been around for countless millennia and have a great deal of standing and political clout within the Dark City due to their efforts and existence being measured in millennia rather than centuries. That shields them from consequences that your Kabal may not be safe from. Always remember that, unlike GW Kabals, your Kabal needs to fit within the Warhammer 40,000 universe rather than making the universe around them. This includes adding your Kabal into Campaigns that have already been established by Games Workshop, it may work on the rare occasion - but why wouldn't GW mention them in their texts? See, we're back to that all important 'Why' again. The main point to take away from this ramble is that you're not Games Workshop designing a new Kabal, you have to fit within the rules of their universe, not shatter their rules to fit within that universe. If you can honestly look at what you've written and say that they're not so powerful or unusual that even the lowliest Ordo Xenos scribe would know about them, then you might have hit that sweet spot. We're not the Kabals of Legend and our writing should be aimed accordingly, since we cannot be better or more visible than they are.

Trust your instincts. If it seems too super, it probably is.

Evolve or Die (Or How I Learned to Love Being Wrong)
Too many writers tie themselves down by stubbornly sticking to a single idea no matter how untenable or difficult incorporating it may be, to say nothing of internal inconsistencies. If there's a concept that you want to incorporate but it's just too much of a clash with the rest of your Kabal or it breaks too much with canon, then perhaps you can set it aside for later use or find a new approach to that allows it to come back in a different form. There's no shame in admitting that you have too many ideas to put them into a single project or that they can't all be welded together into a harmonious whole.

This aspect of the process should become easier as you follow the earlier steps, since things that are contradictory have already been dealt with or isolated from the rest of the article. Once you see the lumps, hack them off or smooth them down.

Stepping Out - Making Friends and Ripping Off Enemies

While we all know and love the 41st Millennium and the world that has grown up around the basic ideas, it would be foolish to stick only to that universe for inspiration. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using books, movies, comics, fairytales, folk lore, music, religion, philosophy, art, or just about anything else to come up with ideas. Just make sure that you liberally salt them with grimdark and put on your thinking cap when it comes time to justifying their presence within the universe.

Reserved for A Guide to Giving Feedback

Reserved for Naming Kabals, Covens, and Cults

Reserved for Invaluable Resources

Okay, I've unlocked this for now. I've gotten as much work done on this as I'd like to for tonight. Feel free to read and comment away.

Huh, wish this was around when I did the preliminary work on mine. Should be very helpful, thank you for putting this up.

Lol. You can always edit. I figured it would help. I never thought of reposting it and twisting it to our needs.

Very helpful, thanks, Xelkireth!

However, there are a few mistakes and inconsistencies in there, that you may want to edit out. For one, there are a few spelling mistakes and double words hidden in your text, especially when you had to write a new paragraph for the guide, such as in the "Don't claim your Kabalites are nice" part.
Then, it is obvious that you tried to exchange every "Chapter" through "Kabal", but you didn't get every one of them, so the text may be confusing for some readers (especially in the first pages).
Lastly, certain headers or concepts of the original Guide don't apply here, such as "Homeworld" or "Don’t claim your kabal is created whole from another chapter".

This is in no way meant as a rude comment, but as criticism with good intentions. I can imagine that this is just the first draft and look forward to the finished product!

Thanks for you hard work, Xelkireth.

No worries. It was an effort to get them all in as it was. Thanks for the notice on the errors. I don't have time to fix them now. I'll get them edited again later.

I would like to see some information on a guide to naming Kabals, and Archons. Anyone have any advice? I want to create a female Archon but cannot think of the best way to name her or the Kabal she leads. Ideas?

Good idea. I've been working a lot of double shifts lately. I'll add this to my plate of things to do.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

Lots-o "evil" name generators, including custom "Evil nickname", "Supervillain Theme" and "Pirate ship name", which work pretty good for DE.

Remember to check all categories and set ammount of results to maximum. Or go with maximim randomness and click "Random generator".

What, no one want be Incubi from The Illuminated School of Destructive Cats?






Ok, Shrine of the Hellish Blazes sounds better.

Also, this:
http://online-generator.com/name-generator/elf-name-generator.php

And if someone wants to champion revisions and or their own material for the guide, feel free to PM me. You'll get credit for you work.

I think that's the best way to approach this. I've been overwhelmed lately with too many projects in both hobby aspects and mostly in real life.

Wow. Just... wow.
http://phrontistery.info/ihlstart.html

Also, this:
http://phrontistery.info/colours.html


Happy naming from Archimandrite of Solferino Tirailleurs

Really great info here. Great job