I am a number! Kandandran Naming convention

[GreenDragon]

I am trying to determine the significance/purpose of the number in Kadandran names.
The extant examples I can recall:
Dr. Hachi Mara-Two - age 16 and relatively high ranked in her profession
Dr. Kendall Alec-Four - probably in his 30s, and somewhat below Mara in standing
Kreya Keena-Three - 20s, important enough a soldier for a one-way high priority mission

I'd presume the numbers do not work along the lines of King Henry VIII or Charles E. Winchester III. I'll also go out on a limb and rule against a Paranoia clone # reference (its possible but I don't think so).

The two possible theories I have:
1) Age reference, signifying number of decades lived. The three examples support this.
2) Rank within their caste/profession (whatever the terminology might be). Whether it runs downward (with One meaning a leader), or upward to a larger number, is inconclusive.

Anyone else have a theory?

[GreenDragon]

I flipped through Storm Knights after posting last night. There is also a doorman, Randin-Six, but no description given. The number could support either theory though. If he's in his 50s - most doormen in my (admittedly limited) experience are somewhat older - it fits #1. And the task being somewhat menial, it could fit #2.

I am working on my take on Kadandra btw. I like what Apeiros did, but some elements of that were done to fit his setting, and don't totally jive with the original canon. I do however adhere to the Axioms and World Laws I've seen in various places. Magic 2, Social 25, spirit 5, Tech 26 (moving toward 27), and the Laws of Technological Dominance, Prodigy, and Denial.

Early Years
Kadandran history bears some resemblance to Core Earth's, however a lower Spiritual axiom resulted in organized religion not being as large or strong, and not a motivating factor in wars. [If we go with Kadandra as a parallel to Tharkold, then there must have been an event in Mycenae around 1200BC, and thus the War on Earth begins in 3191CE (Common Era of the Kandandran Calendar). Alternatively Kadandran Calendar might derive from an event below, making the same year 51CE.]
This lower degree of Spiritualism becomes particularly evident 500 years ago with the Renaissance. The rise of Humanism (and the Social axiom) brought about a precipitous drop in the Spirit and Magic axioms. There was no concerted effort to suppress religion, but with miraculous events being exceptionally rare, mankind became less concerned with religion other than as a guide to positive social interaction.

Cold War
After the Great War, and by the 1930s (Earth Calendar), three dominant world powers had emerged. (These I borrow directly from Apeiros). The Democratic Alliance (The Allies - America, Britain, France, etc.), European Administration (Germany, Russia, Italy), and Sino-Nippon Pact (in Asia/Pacific). Rather than moving to outright war, the three powers competed to build the biggest and most powerful weapons.
This came to a head in 1945 (Earth Calendar), with a limited exchange of Tech 22 Nuclear Missiles, devastating several of the world's Capitals. Immediately following, the three powers established the World Council to prevent a greater Tragedy from occurring. At first, it was just more of the same political sabre-rattling. But the populace, believing that the dark side of Science had gotten them into this mess, looked to its brighter aspect tot get them out. And as communications improved, both societally and technologically, there was a massive revolution in both areas, with rises of at least one point in both axioms per decade until things stabilized about ten years before the Sim War.

The Sims
By the birth of Dr. Hachi Mara-Two (1975 Earth Calendar, 3175 or 36CE Kadandra) the world enjoyed Peace and Prosperity. Use of Fusion power, Synthecyclers and UltraCAD had ended shortages of food, medicine and energy. Humans had colonized the inner planets and were exploring the outer ones.
And then came the Cosmverse Project, and its warning. With even the scant time they had, Kadandrans reverse engineered the machinery and protective devices used in exploration and civil engineering, incorporating it into weapons technology from a few decades earlier. The result were Tech 24 weapons comparable to those the Cyberpapacy would later 'invent' based on Mara's Data Plate. With UltraCAD, these were quickly available as needed. After the invasion started, Kadandran CyberDeckers were able to raid Sim DataGrid Strongholds for their patterns to achieve parity.

Earth
Watching the war on Earth, via the Cosmscope, Kadandrans found themselves unable to comprehend Orrorsh, Aysle, Magna Verita, the Nile Empire, or the Living Land. These realities all possessed some energy, unknown to Kadandran Science, which defied their Scientific Laws. The Space Gods, they saw as a warning of what their own society might become. But in Marketplace, Terra and Earth, they saw themselves, and a chance to help these worlds along.
But Earth in particular held interest to them. It was just enough advanced in terms of the strange Super-natural phenomena to permit study without being so advanced as to be alien. Just as Kadandra might help Earth advance Socially and Technologically, Earth might hold the key to Kadandra's rediscovery of something they had lost in the process.

In my second and current campaigns, Kadandra used the Cosmscope - which did work fairly reliably - to make the Possibility Wars into a sort of Reality TV, with the Kadandrans able to follow the efforts of Storm Knights against the High Lords via live feeds on the DataGrid. In the post-war setting, they will eventually establish travel between Cape City and its counterpart on Earth. I have yet to determine where that is, but the most famous Cape in the western world in the late 20th century was Cape Canaveral. Since she arrived in North America, near Philedelphia, I entertain the possibility that Cape City corresponds to a major New England city - or Cities, a la Judge Dredd's Megacity One.

As far as the 1200BC event, I consulted Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1209%E2%80%931200_BC

Events and trends

1204 BC—Theseus, legendary King of Athens, is deposed after a reign of 30 years and succeeded by Menestheus, great-grandson of Erichthonius II of Athens and second cousin of Theseus' father Aegeus. Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus. Theseus seeks refuge in Skyros, whose King Lycomedes is an old friend and ally. Lycomedes, however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne and proceeds to assassinate him. (Other accounts place these events a decade earlier. See 1210s BC.)
c. 1200 BC—The Cimmerians start settling the steppes of southern Russia? (Undocumented conjecture).
1200 BC—Collapse of Hittite power in Anatolia with the destruction of their capital Hattusa.
c. 1200 BC—Start of Iron Age in Middle East
c. 1200 BC—Chariots appear in Ancient China.
c. 1200 BC—Earliest writing that survived exists in Ancient China.
c. 1200 BC—Aramaic Nomads and Chaldeans become a big threat to the former Babylonian and Assyrian Empire.
c. 1200 BC—Massive migrations of people around the Mediterranean and the Middle-East. See Sea People for more information.
c. 1200 BC - Olmec culture starts and thrives in Mesoamerica.
c. 1200 BC - San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán starts to flourish.
Those last two correspond to the manipulations of Huitzilopochtli and the departure of the Akashans from Earth. And a quick consult suggests its arrival, and the GMs first brief visit about 200-300 years prior.

[skeloric]

The number might be a rating system pertaining to education or mental acuity?
The "Twos" are truly exceptional, with no example given for the "Ones" we have Dr. Hachi as the highest available grade.
I'd also cite a stronger Asian influence due to Family name being placed first.
Maybe the events of Kadandra have more to do with a new event, such as a plague in the Middle East which wipes out the strongest contender for religious growth comparable to Earth?
Having a much more Asiatic influence upon the formation of World religions could be one heck of a change.

[skeloric]

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I feel dumb.
"Asiatic Influences"
The number refers to the position of the individual in his family.
Mara Two is the SECOND child in her family, she has an older sibling.
Look to the Nippontech/Tokyo Citybook for the naming conventions of adding a number to the name.
[BONK!]
Its all right there.

[GreenDragon]

That could be. Is there a reference to a sibling in the books? If its right, then ol' Randy the doorman came from a big family.

[skeloric]

That could be. Is there a reference to a sibling in the books?
Not that I recall.
Its more speculation and inference than anything to do with actual evidence.


If its right, then ol' Randy the doorman came from a big family.
Which could speak well for his family on several levels.

[Apieros]

I like what Apeiros did Thanks.


but some elements of that were done to fit his setting, and don't totally jive with the original canon. This is totally true. In fact, I'll go further:

The Kadandra I'm building is not intended, and does not try, to rationalize or explain the various "canon" statements about Kadandra. In fact, as I've wrapped in much of the Space Gods background and races, I have effectively jettisoned the canon.

Not that keeping the canon is a bad idea. I'm always interested in seeing what other people will do with it, I'm just not trying to do that.

[skeloric]

The Kadandra I'm building is not intended, and does not try, to rationalize or explain the various "canon" statements about Kadandra. In fact, as I've wrapped in much of the Space Gods background and races, I have effectively jettisoned the canon.

Not that keeping the canon is a bad idea. I'm always interested in seeing what other people will do with it, I'm just not trying to do that.
To be honest, what little we see of Kadandra in the trilogy or even see referenced in Tharkold and Cyberpapacy, is just not really enough to build off of at all really.
in much the way that the Tharkold of the trilogy and the Tharkold of the sourcebook seem to NOT be the same Tharkold, I personally could see any sort of Kadandra following on from the scant source material.

[Stormchild]

I always thought the numbers referred to clone numbers but your version 2 sounds also good. But in an evolved society, I don't think this would show a hierarchical order but rather potential and significance. This is a culture that was socially and technically very evolved and plunged into a war for survival. I think they would come to the point where they have to chose whom to put resources into and whom to leave alone. So they might develop a rating system based on test right after birth or ever prenatal.