About cabal names
Grinding monosyllables like "Shor" and "Goch" stand beside glottal doubles such as "Vua'aurg", where the apostrophe forces a hard stop mid-name. The effect suits armored shock troops in the style of Destiny's Cabal, soldiers named like orders barked through a helmet. Reserve the apostrophe results for commanders, since the extra beat reads as rank.
How cabal names are built
Short, blunt names assembled from six small banks. An onset bank of 15 entries opens every name, followed by one of two vowel banks (one holding apostrophe-bearing clusters, the other plain vowels), then a coda. Patterns range from a tight three-slot onset-vowel-coda build (Van, Goch) to a five-slot form (Tlugag) that repeats the plain vowel. The cluster vowel bank carries unusual entries like ua'au, which is what produces the occasional apostrophe.
Goch
pattern: onset, plain vowel, coda + g + o + ch
Vua'aurg
pattern: onset, cluster vowel, coda + v + ua'au + rg
Tlugag
pattern: onset, plain vowel, middle cluster, repeated plain vowel, coda + tl + u + g + a + g
Naming notes
Results are deliberately heavy and monosyllabic to disyllabic (Shor, Goch, Tlugag), evoking a militaristic, brutish species. The plain three-slot forms give barked single names; the longer apostrophe forms (Vua'aurg) read as harsher or higher-ranked. Pair these as squad-level callsigns or warband leaders for original characters in a heavy sci-fi register; the short length makes them easy to shout at the table.
Questions about cabal names
- Where do the apostrophes come from?
- One of the vowel banks stores clusters that already contain an apostrophe, such as ua'au. When a template uses that bank rather than the plain vowel bank, the punctuation lands inside the name.
- Why are most names so short?
- The dominant pattern is a three-slot onset-vowel-coda shape. Only the five-slot template adds a second syllable, so the bank skews toward blunt, one-breath names.
- Are these official Cabal names?
- No. They are fan-made names in that heavy, militaristic style. The banks reproduce the phonetic construction, not specific named characters from the games.