User:GW-Soja

Greetings. I go by Soja, but it's completely fine to also call me by my real name, Ivan. I have played Guild Wars since September 21, 2005 and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I have ten characters, and they are listed in their order of creation. All of them are PvE characters though I dabble in PvP, mostly Alliance Battles and Competitive Missions.

Characters
R/Any Soja Aurion Me/N James Barrow W/Any Shea Branch E/Any Chicory Branch A/Any Hakufu Fujibayashi Mo/Me Dschinghis Kong D/E Ereshkigal Kurlil P/W Ashtoreth Khalida N/Mo Rydia Aurion Rt/N Xiang Shenhua
 * Soja is the name I've used for nearly everything online. It's taken from the OAV of Tenchi Muyo! specifically from the name of Kagato's ship. It is Japanese in origin and means either twin serpents, serpents' nest, two-headed serpent or temple of several gods. It is also a city of Okayama Prefecture in Japan.
 * James was created in tandem with my girlfriend's Mesmer to be an allusion to both Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde. Her Mesmer is named Jesse Parker. Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker. James, Jesse. Get it? GET IT?!
 * My girlfriend and I also created a role-playing setting that sustained a popular following for several years before its decline in 2006. Shea and the next character, Chicory, were the in-story daughters of my primary character.
 * See the above description of Shea.
 * Since Assassins are ninja, I needed an appropriately Japanese name. Hakufu is derived from the characters that mean white and wind in Japanese. Fujibayashi I simply lifted from the character of Sheena from Tales of Symphonia, even though I later found out that the name was taken from a famous ninja master of Iga province from Feudal Japan, Nagato Fujibayashi. I believe the surname Fujibayashi means woods at the foot of Fuji, as in Mount Fuji. Correct me if I am mistaken, please.
 * Created as an homage to the inimitable Dschinghis Khan, a German disco group of the '70s who, at the time of this character's creation, were an Internet phenomenon due in part to the flamboyant dancing of the group's leader in the performance of what is perhaps the group's most famous song, Moskau.
 * Ancient Middle Eastern mythology, and mythology in general for that matter, has always been a love of mine. Ereshkigal is the goddess of the underworld in Sumerian mythology. Her name literally means lady of the great earth, so of course it fit perfectly. I BS'd the last name from word fragments. Kurlil, I believe, means 'cold wind'. So there you literally have the two primary branches of Dervish magic in her name. Awesome.
 * Countermanding Ereshkigal's dark nature is my Paragon. Since it seems that ANet literally designed the two as a duality, I ran with it. Ashtoreth, more commonly known as either Astaroth or Ishtar, is Ereshkigal's rival and foe. Of course, thanks to Soul Calibur, Astaroth doesn't sound very feminine, and I thought Ishtar would be overused in the setting. So I went with the more obscure version, Ashtoreth. Khalida is the feminine form of a Persian name meaning friend.
 * Now, let me make one thing clear: I hate Final Fantasy. So it may be misleading to think that I took this name from Rydia of FFIV. I actually took it from Lydia off of Beetlejuice and corrupted the L into an R. Then I appended my Ranger's surname at the end (which, by the way, I blatantly lifted from Kratos Aurion of Tales of Symphonia).
 * The 20th and hopefully final incarnation of my beleaguered Ritualist character, Xiang Shenhua is Chinese; Xiang means auspicious or lucky, and Shenhua means spiritual flower. Again, fitting, and also an homage to the character of Ling Shenhua from Shenmue.

Famous Encounters
I've met a few GuildWikians in the game by pure accident. I list them here:


 * Auron of Neon - Met him in Marhan's Grotto when he started goofing off with another Warrior and liked the color of my Elite Druid's armor. Sarcastic, but funny guy.


 * Arshay Duskbrow - Saw her at Doomlore Shrine and waved her down. We talked a bit and she invited me to join her party with P A R A S I T I C for a foray into Rragar's Menagerie. Cool, with a tendency to overaggro. Also, she's a Legendary Vanquisher. Way to go, Arshay!


 * P A R A S I T I C - Met him with Arshay. Led us on a madcap dash through the Charr Homelands, which inevitably resulted in Arshay's death at one point. Funny, but bad sense of direction. Calls Siege Devourers his "precious."

Current Projects

 * Filling the Zaishen Menagerie.
 * Journeying the world as any good Ranger would (Cartographer).
 * Raising Shenhua.

Interesting Facts

 * Founded and leads the Darkstar Industries [DSI] guild alliance.
 * UPDATE As of an unrecorded, recent date, both the aforementioned guilds have ceased existence.
 * Interrupted Reversal of Fortune nine times.
 * Is stuck on 99.0% Tyrian Cartographer.
 * UPDATE As of 5/16/2008, Soja has been called "Grandmaster Tyrian Cartographer"!
 * Finds excessive scantiness on Elementalist armors repulsive.
 * Loathes the 33%-25% nerf on Tiger's Fury.
 * Absolutely loves the 8/7/2008 buffs on Expert's Dexterity and Incendiary Arrows.
 * UPDATE Is disgusted with the PvP nerf of Expert's Dexterity.
 * UPDATE Is even more disgusted with the loathsome, horrible PvP nerf of Read the Wind.