Inside jokes and obscure references

(or I Was Really Bored During Server Maintenance Today)

So, it occurred to me that I'd seen a lot of really funny and/or appropriate references to just about everything in CoH, from Raimi Arcade in DA to the freakshow Axel F to well, a lot of other things. So today, during server maintenance, I decided to write down the ones that had struck me, and research the ones that hadn't. This is the result.

ATLAS PARK (Prometheus Park, Hyperion Way, Argosy Industrial Park - all references to Greek mythology)

BOOMTOWN (BAUMTON) (The Fuse, Powderkeg, Primer, Grenadier, Cannonade - all references to explosives)

BRICKSTOWN (at least a few of these place names could be interpreted as referring to things that are deep and dark)

Mashu Bridge - Mashu is a famous landmark in Japan, a lake 20 km wide formed from the deep caldera of an extinct volcano.

Seven Gates - traditional, there are Seven Gates to the Kingdom of Hell.

Dark Waters - nothing obscure I can think of, but still follows the "deep dark" pattern.

The Abyss Towers - an abyss is a deep chasm, sometimes synonymous with an underworld or afterlife for evil folk.

The Chasm - "deep and dark" all right.

The Ziggurat - now this is where my "deep dark" pattern kind of breaks down, because a Ziggurat is actually the exact opposite. The word is Semitic and means, more or less, "to build high". Maybe the CoH designer wanted some counterpoint to all the "daap dark"-ness?

CREY'S FOLLY (all are pretty much related to obvious features. i.e.: Paragon Water Works has polluted water all around, The Blight is the same, The Circus has freaks in it, etc)




DARK ASTORIA (if anybody can tell me what relation this has to undead, I'd be very happy. I did find a guy who had a D&D campaign started in 1992 in a land called Astoria, which had been overrun by undead in the near past, but I figured that was too much of a coincidence. The guy's name is Brad Dunker, and I tried doing some searching to see if he had any connection to NCSoft, Cryptic, or CoH, but came up empty).

Romero Heights _ George Romero, "Night of the Living Dead" fame.

Raimi Arcade- Sam and Ted Raimi of "Evil Dead" fame

Barca Plaza - No idea. Barca is Hannibal's last name (the guy who crossed the Alps in 14 days on elephants), but I can't see where that relates to the undead.

Dido's View - Dido was a historically- and mythologically significant woman, purportedly the founder of Carthage. Her only connection to the undead seems to be that in Virgil's "Aenid", Aeneas comes across her in the underworld and begs her forgiveness (he scorned her at the behest of Zeus, after which she killed herself). Coincidentally, Hannibal Barca's family claims descendance from a nephew of Dido.

Toffett Terrace - this is a long shot, but the only one I have: Toffett = tuffett = small grassy mound = burial mound?

EDEN

Arcadia - mythologically, the woodland Heaven.

The Pit - "learn from our mistakes" maybe?

The Utopia Complex - "utopia" being a perfect world

Aveda Towers - from the Aveda (natural beauty products) Corporation's mission statement: "Our mission at Aveda is to care for the world we live in, from the products we make to the ways in which we give back to society. At Aveda, we strive to set an example for environmental leadership and responsibility, not just in the world of beauty, but around the world."

The Serpentine - a lake in Hyde Park, London. But, more tongue-in-cheek-wise, a public transport system in Switzerland called the "Serpentine Peoplemover System", and what are the DE trying to do in Eden but "move the people"?

The Cascades and The Hive are self-evidently related to nature)


FAULTLINE

Subduction - the act of one continental shelf sliding under another one, resulting in earthquakes.

Dark Canyons, Downfall, Precipice, Aftershock and Reservoir are all self-evidently related to earthquakes.

FOUNDER'S FALLS

William's Square - after the founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams

Louis Forest - stumped on this one. Lots of founders of things named "Louis", but none as clearly related as, for instance, Roger Williams.

Blackstone Hills - the U.S. Constitution was based, in part, on Sir William Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England" (1765).

Hutchison Park - jury's still out on this one.

The Gaspee - The HMS Gaspee was a British navy ship that was burned by American colonials after it ran aground while chasing a suspected "smuggler" in an attempt to collect taxes from the itinerant Americans. It was a fairly large event leading up to the Revolutionary War.

Red River is geographical and Liberty Town is fairly self-evidently related.

GALAXY CITY (aside from Freedom court, all place names are astronomically related: Nebula is a collection of stars, Constellation is a perceived pattern in the stars, Gemini is a constellation, as is Orion, Equinox is one of two points where the ecliptic cross the celestial equator (if that doesn't make sense to you, don't worry, I feel your pain))

THE HOLLOWS

Most of the geography in The Hollows seems to be self-evident. The Red River is a river, the Cherry Hills are hills (strangely enough, "Red River Valley" and "Cherry Hill Park" were both popular songs in the past, although, as far as I can tell, this trend doesn't extend to any of the other areas in The Hollows, although The Four Seasons were a band that sang popular songs in the 60's.)

Grendel's Gulch - Grendel was the creature from "Beowulf" who, if not traditionally a troll, could certainly be likened to one.

Eastgate Park was just too generic a term for me to research. A quick Google search gave me 5000 hits on places in the U.S, Canada, and England.

INDEPENDENCE PORT (all place names in IP are related to liberty, freedom, and whatnot, or to geographical terms, such as landing, cove, wharf, etc. They all refer to CoH itself.

KING'S ROW

All place names in KR seems to be simple geographical description, sometimes with a word appropriate to royalty thrown in. The only glaring anomoly to this is The Gish. I REALLY REALLY hope this is the reason, because there's an Elvis impersonator named C.J. Gish, and Elvis is "The King". That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.


PEREGRINE ISLAND

Bayside Docks - self-explanatory

Curry Cove - not a clue.

Nelson Borough - My brain is getting fuzzy from all this Googling. A tribute to Admiral Nelson, maybe?

Cutlass Isles - cutlass = sword wielded by pirates = Pirate Isles.

Mera Heights - Ah, and finally the Googling pays off. Arthur CURRY (see Curry Cove, above) is the real name of DC comics's Aquaman. His wife was named MERA.

Portla Court - just refers to Portal Corp.

Poseidon Square - Poseidon is the Greek god of the ocean.

Tempest Quay - a tempest is stormy weather typically associated with sea travel.


PEREZ PARK

Boneyard - just the area where the Skulls hang out.

Hells' Highway - the area where the Hellions hang out.

George Perez (Park), Bill Everett (Lake), and Neil Gaiman (Woods) are folks involved in the comic book field. I'm heard tell that somebody named Bettis is, also, but the only hits I get on Bettis are for football's Jerome Bettis and the movie actress Angela Bettis.

SKYWAY CITY

Astral Way - "astral" meaning "of the stars".

The Gruff - this one's a stretch, but it's my only shot. The Gruff is populated primarily by trolls, and trolls could certainly be described as "gruff". Hey, I said it was a stretch!

Vista Plaza - "vista" being "view seen from on high".

Hide Park - I can only assume this was supposed to be High Park.

Land of the Lost - well, aside from being the name of a popular Saturday-morning television show in the 70's, this is where you find The Lost.

STEEL CANYON

Bronze Way, Copper District, Platinum Lake, Fools Gold District, and Silver Lake are all references to metals, obviously.

Gimry Ridge - "Gimry ridge is one of the well-known Dagestan with the pronounced cuesta relief form. Being raised to a southwest from Buinaksk in 18 kilometers from city on the average, Gimry ridge is the natural boundary of the foothill and middlemountain Dagestan zones. The ridge crest has a wavy character without sharply selected tops. Gimry ridge overall length is equal 42 kms, from which 13 kms are necessary on the ridge section above Sulak channel, and 29 kms are lifted in country between Shuraozen and Avar Koisy rivers."

If the English sounds a little wonky, it's because it's probably the author's second, third or fourth language. Much better than my Russian, no doubt. Gimry ridge is basically a ridge along the River Sulak in Dagestan in SE Russia. I'd give a few influence to know to which developer this place was important, and why.

Blyde Square - Blyde river Canyon in South Africa was easy enough to Google after the Gimry fiasco. Maybe they're both hot mining spots? I didn't research that deeply, but South Africa is well-known for its gold and diamond mines, so maybe...

Royal Overlook - I'll just assume they needed some other "looking down on a low place from a high place" name to go with the Blyde and Gimry references.



TALOS ISLAND (named after Bull-ish protector of Crete in Greek mythology)

Argo Highway - Greek Argonauts killed Talos (actually, Medea killed him, but she was with them at the time)

Circe Island - Another Argonauts encounter (with Circe the sorceress)

Eleusis, (New) Corinth, (New) Thebes, (New) Troy, Ithaca (Island), and (New) Sparta - I don't know my "Odyssey" that well, but my bet is that all these ancient cities had something to do with it.

Helen Point - Helen, was, of course, the wife of King Menelaus (sp?), who was "stolen" from him by Paris, the younger brother of Prince Hector, and son of King Priam of Troy, while Hector and Paris were on a diplomatic mission in Sparta (home to Helen and Menelaus). They (Paris, Helen, and Hector) fled back to Troy, Menelaus begged his brother, King Agamemnon, to make war on Troy, and thus we got the siege of Troy, the Trojan Horse, the legend of Achilles, and Helen, "The face that launched a thousand ships".

Scylla Island - Scylla, along with Charybdis, was one of the rocks the crushed ships between them across which Odysseus and friends came during "The Odyssey". I think this was the part about stuffing their ears with bit sof wax to blot out the song of the sirens (harpies) which would lead them to be smashed on the rocks.

The Serpent's Teeth - ok, this one is a long one. Zeus steals Europa, sister of Cadmus. Cadmus is charged by his father to seek her out. Athena helps him out. He has to slay a serpent, and when he does, Athena instructs him to plant the teeth in the ground. He does, they turn into warriors and fight each other. When 5 remain, they build Cadmus the City of Thebes and install him as king. Teiresias is a descendent of one of these men who sprang from the Serpent's Teeth. His relevance to the Odyssey is that Circe instructed Odysseus to journey to the land of the dead to speak with Tiersais, the only woman (apparently, s/he changed sexes several times in his/her tale) in the underworld allowed to retain her intellect and sanity by Prosepine, and consult her about a way to make it home. Told you it was long.

TERRA VOLTA

Challenger Technology - I would assume this is tribute to the 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle that exploded on take-off with a civilian on board, Kristin McAuliffe (sp?), who was to be the first civilian in space.

I've heard tell that all the names in TV come from early pulp comics heroes's names. Gordon Trench is easy to translate into Flash Gordon, Rodgers Industries into Buck Rogers, Walker Energy comes from Kit Walker (The Phantom) and so on. I'm too lazy to research the rest. ok, ok, there's only two more. I'll take a stab at Raysun...um...er, how about Grayson, as in "Dick Grayson", the "Robin" side of the Batman and Robin duo? And Savage Waste Disposal is probably referring to Doc Savage. Ok, so it wasn't all that hard. I still don't know what Coroman refers to, though.

VILLAINS (this one just popped into my head, so I had to include it, since I laughed my [censored] off and my 18 and 23-year old roommates had no idea what I was laughing about)

(Freak BosS) Axel F - very famous movie theme song(by Harold Faltermeyer) from the 80's. Refers to Axel Foley (played by Eddie Murphy) in "Beverly Hills Cop"

I'd love to hear if anybody else can fill in the gaps for me, especially about Coroman (I was thinking Roger Corman), but any insights would be nice to share. And any other things I didn't mention would be fun, too, like the "I'm feelin' kinda...invincible" "Big Trouble in Little China" quote and such-like.

wow, and here i was expecting a real inside joke like "Kill skuls" or "stop the jerk hacking"

Pretty good...I'll give you a clue on Brickstown...think Mesopotamian...

I personally get a kick out of the thugs quoting Bruce Lee to each other: "Move like water!"

Brickstown:

Ziggurat -Ziggurats were a form of temple common to the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. See here for more

The Crescent- perhaps the fertile crescent, what the area between the tigris and euphrates river is known as.

Mashu Bridge- Perhaps something relating to this "everything old Gilgamesh went searching for in his famous trek to the lost "City of the Gods" to search the tunnels beneath "Mt. Mashu" in the desert lands."

Seven Gates:

[ QUOTE ]
Babylon: Ishtar's Descent


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Ishtar's Descent
Ishtar thinks to go into the Place of Darkness in search of her beloved spouse Tammuz. Arrayed in her magnificent power and splendor she enters the cavern that leads to that realm. The place is surrounded by seven walls and has seven gates and at her demand for entry, the watchman, Nedu, begs leave to consult with his mistress, Irkalla, sister of Ishtar. The mistress of the Place of Darkness bids Nedu to admit Ishtar in accordance with the ancient rites.

At the first gate he removes her splendid crown.
At the second gate he removes her necklace with the eight-rayed star.
At the third gate he removes her bracelets of gold and lapis lazuli.
At the fourth gate he removes her shoes.
At the fifth gate he removes her veil.
At the sixth gate he removes her outer robe.
At the seventh gate he removes her garment.

[/ QUOTE ]

from here

The Gruff- Of the three billy goats.

A ziggurat looks exactly like the prison does, it's an architectural form.

Freak Bosses have lots of references. I fought one today named Stone Cold (Steve Austin), you fight one called pwnzor too.

The bilboards around town that have such a paranoia feel are alot like the anti-muti propaganda that the X-Men fought.

I was really amused when fighting "Mass Def'" Whom I assumed is an Homage to Mos Def the Hip Hop artist.

ah...ok, then:


BRICKSTOWN

The Crescent - of course, I almost forgot this one. Mesopotamia existing in the Fertile Crescent. The Crescent, btw, in my opinion, has the best district music of any district in the game. Is there any way to find out who was responsible for that music?

Mashu Bridge - With any kind of luck, nobody will notice that my name is taken in part, from Gilgamesh, a Babylonian priest-king. Anyway:

"Gilgamesh allows his life to fall apart; he does not bathe, does not shave, does not take care of himself, not so much out of grief for his friend, but because he now realizes that he too must die and the thought sends him into a panic. He decides that he can't live unless granted eternal life; he decides to undertake the most perilous journey of all: the journey to Utnapishtim and his wife, the only mortals on whom the gods had granted eternal life. Utnapishtim is the Far-Away, living at the mouth of all rivers, at the ends of the world. Utnapishtim was the great king of the world before the Flood and, with his wife, was the only mortal preserved by the gods during the Flood. After an ominous dream, Gilgamesh sets out. He arrives at Mount Mashu, which guards the rising and the setting of the sun, and encounters two large scorpions who guard the way past Mount Mashu. They try to convince him that his journey is futile and fraught with danger, but still they allow him to pass. Past Mount Mashu is the land of Night, where no light ever appears. Gilgamesh journeys eleven leagues before the light begins to glimmer, after twelve leagues he has emerged into day. He enters into a brilliant garden of gems, where every tree bears precious stones.."

Seven Gates - in Sumerian/Assyrian/Babylonian mythology, Ishtar had to descend through the Seven Gates of Hell, leaving a piece of clothing or insignia at each of the gates, in order to rescue Tammuz. We'll leave the rest of that particular story to the imagination.

Dark Waters - the "dark waters", traditionally the realm of Nuu, the god of the abyss, are actually all the world's waters, although the Nile is the source. Nuu, is, of course, (I hope) the Egyptian corrolary of Enki.

The Abyss Towers - Enki, chief god of the Sumerians, was the Lord of the Abyss. We'll just keep to ourselves what else he was lord of.

The Chasm - not sure how this relates, except in the obvious manner.

The Ziggurat - typical temple structure of the Mesopotamians.

and States, if I may be so bold, did Hiro Protagonist have anything to do with this interest in Mesopotamian culture?

[ QUOTE ]
I personally get a kick out of the thugs quoting Bruce Lee to each other: "Move like water!"

[/ QUOTE ]

My favorite was when the freak tank "Axle" started quoting Guns & Roses. "Welcome to the Jungle!"

I noticed your name...

Listing all the references would take QUITE awhile!

For instance, I think there are quite a few Stargate references in the Shadow Shard (though I never watched the show so they go right by me). The first TF in the Shard had a boss named Vezeni (sp?) and then one named Humperdink, of Princess Bride fame. Jillions of shop names, too.

And your first contact after stepping through the stargate... uh I mean portal is General Hammond.

Wow.

As large of a read that was, it was definately not a waste of time. I love obscure references. =)

Does Abyss Towers get extra points for being an oxymoron?

Not sure about a Bettis reference in the park, but the badge Around the Bendis is likely a reference to comic writer Brian Michael Bendis.

Challenger Tech could be a reference to the Challengers of the Unknown.

Raysun may be a backwards reference to The Shadow, the most notable pulp hero you don't mention in that list.

Eastgate Park may just be a reminder that before the hollowing the area was called Eastgate. As for Eastgate itself being a reference... I dunno.

Astoria was the town in The Goonies. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a connection.

[ QUOTE ]
Boneyard - just the area where the Skulls hang out.


[/ QUOTE ]

KILL SKULS!

Astoria is a section of New York City, which Dark Astoria reminds me of (Nice, classy...only zombies)

Ill comment on the Clockwork since..well I'm a tech head.

Babbage - Charles Babbage
Born December 26, 1791 in Teignmouth, Devonshire UK, Died 1871, London; Known to some as the "Father of Computing" for his contributions to the basic design of the computer through his Analytical machine. His previous Difference Engine was a special purpose device intended for the production of tables. (as in math tables)

Tesla Prince/knight/king/duke -Nikola Tesla's main claim to fame lay with his invention of the alternating current motor. Tesla believed that alternating current was vastly superior to (Edison's) direct current, but the problem was the lack of a practical motor. Alternating current is practical because of the fact that it can be altered or converted to suit a variety of situations. For example, if the voltage is made quite high, then the current necessary for a specific level of power is very low. This low current then becomes very efficient when sending electrical power over very long wires. (This is the reason why the power lines running across the countryside are at very high voltages.)

Perfected/prototype/advanced Oscillator -
1 : one that oscillates
2 : a device for producing alternating current; especially : a radio-frequency or audio-frequency generator

Howitzer (named clockwork boss)
Etymology: Dutch
houwitser, ultimately from Czech houfnice ballista
: a short cannon used to fire projectiles at medium muzzle velocities and with relatively high trajectories

Golem (named Clockwork)
an artificial human being in Hebrew folklore endowed with life

Most of the other names in the Clockwork are either common noises made by machinery (Ta'Ching,Ping Ktang,kzzt bzzt) or are common parts found in well...clockwork devices. (gears,sprockets,bolts)

and finally..Clockwork

1 : the inner workings of something
2 : the machinery (as springs and a train of gears) that run a clock; also : a similar mechanism running a mechanical device (as a toy)
3 : the precision, regularity, or absence of variation associated with a clock or clockwork <a clockwork operation> <the planning went like clockwork>


Yay for online research for quick cutting/pasting

EDEN

The Pit - the pit is another name for Hell, more or less. ie. demons from the Pit.

Serpentine - Biblical reference to the serpent in the garden of Eden. The serpent convinced Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, which God had forbidden. Even then convinced Adam. This is what caused Adam and Eve to be expelled from the garden.

I chortled at the "Abyss Towers." It struck my punny bone just right.

Dark Astoria

Might be a Dev's hometown. I'm familiar with the one in the NYC area, but I'm sure there are others.

St. Elegis hospital is the name of the hospital from TV's St. Elsewhere.

Toffet Terrace might be a version "tophet."
SYLLABICATION: To·phet NOUN: 1. An extremely unpleasant or painful condition or place. 2. Hell.

Barca might be Catholic; there are a lot of Catholic references in the game. As I recall, Barca was a see (diocese) that was destroyed. Crusades, maybe?

Founder's Falls

Thomas Hutchison was the royal govenor of Massachusetts in the run-up to that whole "revolution" brouhaha. Then there was Anne Hutchison (or Hutchinson), America's first feminist, also in MA, but a century or so before Tom's infamy. (Who says PBS is waste of money?)

Terra Volta

Challenger Technology -- could be a reference to Professor Challenger, the protagonist of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. There's also the comic Challengers of the Unknown.

Cool post.

Actually, the Ziggurat looks just like a ziggeurat.

Some cultures sacrificed to their gods on ziggurats. Humans even. Dark enuf?

Babbage= rhymes with cabbage... both are yucky.
Tesla= 80's hair band...
Terra Volta- from the greek root words Terr and Volt. Means "yucky when you dont have vertical travel powers".
And Rikti Drone is ummm... I dunno, I just don't like em....
My brain hurts from all this big thinkin, I'm gonna go take a nap now...

I enjoy the Nemesis Automations saying: "I need to see those TPS reports" which I will take as being from the movie Office Space.

[ QUOTE ]
The Gaspee - The HMS Gaspee was a British navy ship that was burned by American colonials after it ran aground while chasing a suspected "smuggler" in an attempt to collect taxes from the itinerant Americans. It was a fairly large event leading up to the Revolutionary War.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did the ship "founder"?

[ QUOTE ]
Hide Park - I can only assume this was supposed to be High Park.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or a reference to Mr Hyde, a troll-like creature?

My challenge to ya'll is..... relate everything to Kevin Bacon! Go!