21 replies to this topic

[bad arcade kitty]

i know it's a stupid question, but i don't understand. it's certainly not after the summoner class in fantasy role-play games, is it? the only other ideas that i have it's either after those bailiffs who summon people in the court (like in chaucer's 'canterbury tales') or that it means 'one who demands to surrender'. is it even known? i heard that jenner was named after a famous sprinter but it wasn't proven...

[FupDup]

Summoner summons thunder and lightning, which makes it a Thor.

[Khobai]

because it summons bad questions like this

[Juodas Varnas]

Because Clanners suck at naming mechs!

[SpiralFace]

Just what they named it.

Why does the IS name mechs like the Hatamoto-chi, Excaliber, Merlin, etc.

At one point in Battletech history, Mechwarriors where treated as pretty much space knights riding their mechanical steeds into battle fighting for lords under space feudalism. (some of that still rings true in the fiction today.) Some of that still is seen with many of the names for mechs and vehicles mimicking mythical fantasy creatures or ancient military units (Centurion, Hoplight, Cataphract.)

So the fantasy theme isn't too far from the reality of just how everything was named in Battletech.

[Alistair Winter]

Never ask these kinds of questions for a sci-fi universe like Battletech, because the name was concocted by some neckbeard sitting on his 80386 computer at 2 in the morning, eating cheez doodles. Some cheez doodles fell on his carpet and they almost spelled out S U M, so he called the mech he was working on the Summoner.

But the explanation you get from the Battletech writers is always some bogus shoe-horned ad hoc explanation, like "Well, the Inner Sphere targeting computers wrongly identified the Summoner as Summer Ice Cream Truck, partially because its warhorn sounded like this. And thus it was given its name, which would later strike mixed feelings of fear and an appetite for Snickers ice cream bars into the hearts of its opponents"

[Throat Punch]

Alistair Winter, on 22 April 2015 - 05:17 AM, said:

Never ask these kinds of questions for a sci-fi universe like Battletech, because the name was concocted by some neckbeard sitting on his 80386 computer at 2 in the morning, eating cheez doodles. Some cheez doodles fell on his carpet and they almost spelled out S U M, so he called the mech he was working on the Summoner.

But the explanation you get from the Battletech writers is always some bogus shoe-horned ad hoc explanation, like "Well, the Inner Sphere targeting computers wrongly identified the Summoner as Summer Ice Cream Truck, partially because its warhorn sounded like this. And thus it was given its name, which would later strike mixed feelings of fear and an appetite for Snickers ice cream bars into the hearts of its opponents"

Except the IS name was the Thor...

[Alistair Winter]

Mors Draco, on 22 April 2015 - 05:18 AM, said:

Except the IS name was the Thor...

Then I guess my story was factually inaccurate. Good work, Hardy Boy.

[TheSilken]

Because it beckons for an opponent to face its pilot in combat. It is "summoning" them to do battle with him/her.

[Paigan]

Imho "someone who brings bad news to an enemy" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summoner).

Imagine a Summoner jumping over a wall, shouting (over coms) "Listen up, freebirth scum, I've got hellbringers, timber wolves, stormcrows and dire wolves approaching behind me. Prepare to die."

Maybe bogus, but a funny thought

[MeiSooHaityu]

IDK...

Probably the same reason Jet fighters are named what they are or other military equipment.

Because people on the project who could make such decisions liked the name Summoner and officially called the mech Summoner.

[Cyborne Elemental]

Summoner summons "THE SUCK"
So don't call it summoner, call it "THE SUCKONER"

[Strum Wealh]

SpiralFace, on 22 April 2015 - 05:13 AM, said:

Just what they named it.

Why does the IS name mechs like the Hatamoto-chi, Excaliber, Merlin, etc.

At one point in Battletech history, Mechwarriors where treated as pretty much space knights riding their mechanical steeds into battle fighting for lords under space feudalism. (some of that still rings true in the fiction today.) Some of that still is seen with many of the names for mechs and vehicles mimicking mythical fantasy creatures or ancient military units (Centurion, Hoplight, Cataphract.)

So the fantasy theme isn't too far from the reality of just how everything was named in Battletech.

The Excalibur, specifically, is named for the vaguely-sword-shaped, pata-like cowling around the barrel of its Gauss Rifle.

[bad arcade kitty]

Paigan, on 22 April 2015 - 05:28 AM, said:

Imho "someone who brings bad news to an enemy" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summoner).

Imagine a Summoner jumping over a wall, shouting (over coms) "Listen up, freebirth scum, I've got hellbringers, timber wolves, stormcrows and dire wolves approaching behind me. Prepare to die."

Maybe bogus, but a funny thought

:3

the link which you gave though it's that bailiff variant which i supposed, summoners were bailiffs of the church courts (as i understand it)

but honestly a derivative from 'to summon' as 'to demand for surrender' sounds more probable

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/summons
>(military) A demand for surrender.

it seems nobody knows for sure though

SpiralFace, on 22 April 2015 - 05:13 AM, said:

Just what they named it.

Why does the IS name mechs like the Hatamoto-chi, Excaliber, Merlin, etc.

At one point in Battletech history, Mechwarriors where treated as pretty much space knights riding their mechanical steeds into battle fighting for lords under space feudalism. (some of that still rings true in the fiction today.) Some of that still is seen with many of the names for mechs and vehicles mimicking mythical fantasy creatures or ancient military units (Centurion, Hoplight, Cataphract.)

So the fantasy theme isn't too far from the reality of just how everything was named in Battletech.

but it's not that knighty kind of fantasy theme
summoner as a fantasy class it's rather something from the modern rpgs

Edited by bad arcade kitty, 22 April 2015 - 06:38 AM.

[Lily from animove]

Paigan, on 22 April 2015 - 05:28 AM, said:

Imho "someone who brings bad news to an enemy" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summoner).

Imagine a Summoner jumping over a wall, shouting (over coms) "Listen up, freebirth scum, I've got hellbringers, timber wolves, stormcrows and dire wolves approaching behind me. Prepare to die."

Maybe bogus, but a funny thought

and the MWO reality:

"Piss off we have quirked stalkers and FS9's and Dragon godfists over here"

[Gigastrike]

Because it can summon this thing:



Freeborn scum don't stand a chance vs Mecha Bahamut.

Edited by Gigastrike, 22 April 2015 - 06:49 AM.

[Scout Derek]

Mors Draco, on 22 April 2015 - 05:18 AM, said:

Except the IS name was the Thor...

Those were the codenames the IS gave the clan mechs because they didn't know what the hell they were or who they were from. That's why the IS call the Timberwolf the Mad Cat, for it's large LRM 20s on each shoulder of the mech and how dangerous it was in combat. They gave the IS name Thor to the Summoner because It had Lightning, like the Norse God, it flew (Jump Jets), and it's lbx was also the manpower of the god (mech).

Anything else?

[bad arcade kitty]

they named myst lynx 'koshi' i.e. little death because it was small and easily died, right?

[Scout Derek]

bad arcade kitty, on 22 April 2015 - 06:57 AM, said:

they named myst lynx 'koshi' i.e. little death because it was small and easily died, right?

Named little death because it was mainly a scout that could crush infantry, tanks, and infiltrate areas because it was so small.
Come to think of it, it's fists, man. You think an infantry soldier could take that think out with a MG? Nope, Mist Lynx will crush it, with it's peasant of a foot

Also I do believe it was used in kidnapping operations in later times. D:

[Strum Wealh]

Scout Derek, on 22 April 2015 - 06:51 AM, said:

Those were the codenames the IS gave the clan mechs because they didn't know what the hell they were or who they were from. That's why the IS call the Timberwolf the Mad Cat, for it's large LRM 20s on each shoulder of the mech and how dangerous it was in combat. They gave the IS name Thor to the Summoner because It had Lightning, like the Norse God, it flew (Jump Jets), and it's lbx was also the manpower of the god (mech).

Anything else?

"Mad Cat" is from its resemblance to both the Marauder (MAD-xx series) and the CATapult (CPLT-xx series) 'Mechs.

"Thor" is from the primary config's armaments being composed of 'thunder' (LB-X AC), 'lightning' (ER-PPC), and 'rain' (LRMs); the mythological Thor was more a storm god (among other things) than just a thunder god.

"Loki" is from the commentary that the primary config's armament was "utterly mad" in its selection & layout, and that its sharing several parts (the legs, and the design of the Loki's arms being the same as Thor's right arm) making them 'brothers'.

The Jenner & the Owens, both noted for their speed, are named in homage to famous, multi-gold-medal Olympic runners - Bruce Jenner & Jesse Owens, respectively.