Blood Hounds Trivia
For the curious amongst you.

Blood Bear
Blood Bear's real name, Rufus Bernal Kaltenbach - Kaltenbach means cold creek, Bernal means strength of a bear in old German. So more or less "Strong man from the cold creek." Delightful.

Pops
Pops last name is Addison meaning son of Adam with a first name of Everett meaning strong boar. I have no idea how the boar meaning ties in with Pops but the two sounded good together so I used them. Son of Adam and a rather old vampire go hand in hand in a perverse sort of way.

Black Rat
Black Rat is of polish descent. His first name Lew is a form of Russian meaning Lion, and last name of Bronislaw meaning glorious protector. Quite fitting.




What's in a name?
I was playing a modern military computer game where you lead a six man team of Army Special Forces around. I needed names for all six of them and came up with Wolfman, Long Snake, Blood Bear, Mud Hawk, Flak Jackal and Black Rat. At the time I thought I would eventually use these names in SOG, a modern military game I was also working on. They were going to be used as an example of a team you could build in the miniatures game. Of course we all know now what they were used for. The Blood Hounds specialties were picked based on their names.

Wolfman - Leader of the pack, wolf. Mid range, close combat.

Long Snake - Like a venomous serpent that can reach out for a long range and kill you, a sniper.

Blood Bear - Massive, strong, bloody, close combat, heavy weapons.

Mud Hawk - Mud said to me camouflage, down and dirty, while hawk said quiet bird of prey. Recon, silent sentry removal.

Flak Jackal - Jackal, tenacious, resourceful. Flak, shrapnel bursting etc. Heavy weapons, heavy armor.

Black Rat - Shadow, crafty, creeping along walls. Recon, close combat.

Everybody's skills overlap but everyone has their specialties.

Despite not using the name SOG Special Operations Groups for a game name, I was still able to use the acronym SOG, which I am rather fond of. When perusing the internet for research concerning supernatural phenomena, demons, fallen angels and the like I came across the term "Sons of God", in reference to the host of heavenly angels. The term was immediately applied to a vampire hunting group in Blood Hounds. SoG, Sons of God. I love it when a plan comes together!




Origins
Blood Hounds originated from a game called SOG, Special Operations Groups. This was meant as a modern day special forces combat game. Despite my liking all things modern military, I was not able to bring myself to make the game. I found I needed more room to create fictitious parameters and simply could not plug and play historical data as it was hardly creative. It's like drawing or painting from a photograph. An example of technical ability and disciplinary detail but hardly evoking your creativity.

To spice things up I would try and add an unnatural element to what I was making. So I decided I would still make SOG, but start it in WW2 and follow a group of immortals who fight in many of histories wars. This also eluded my creative grasp as all I would have to do is plug in slightly abnormal immortal humans into what history already created. Again, I could not bring myself to make the game.

The third time was the charm. I said screw the historical aspect and decided to make a modern day vampire game of immense proportions. Combining two loves, modern military and all things supernatural, my imagination was allowed to run wild with very few boundaries.

After months of failing to start on a game I was finally moving in the right direction. What did I learn from all my creative suffering and wallowing in self apathy? My number one rule is that I have to love it, or I can't make it. The second rule that I found out about the hard way is, I need room to create or be creative. To sit down and type anything I want and have it as standing fact in a world I create. Games based in a largely historical context do not allow for unbridled creativity. They allow for adaptation and base stretching of facts but not to run wild without regard. That was a hard learned lesson. It's not enough to love what you're doing, but to have the ability to really dig in and work with it.

As a creator, if you aren't using your creativity, then you aren't using one of your best assets. In failing to use one of your best assets, you have failed as an artist and left your product unfinished. Others may not know it, but you certainly will. At the end of the day you will be sitting there alone with your product. You won't see the fans, money, success or the lack thereof. You will only see what you could have done better. At the end of the day all that matters if that you did your best, so you will see nothing but your best. You owe that to yourself and no one else.




Title Definitions
The titles I chose for some categories might be slightly confusing. Meanings are listed below.

Hounds Sostenuto
A long music note i.e. Howling Hounds.

Exordium
A introduction especially for a composition.

Crux - Eye of the Hurricane
The main focal point.

Mass Purlieu - Haunting Hell's Grounds
Frequently visited place, a haunt.

Mise-En-Scene - The World Is But A Stage
Arrangement of actors and scenery on a stage, a stage setting.

Milieu - Dwelling In Darkness
The social setting in which something develops.

Corpus - The Body of Death
Body of death... Duh.

Stratagem - The Blood Hunt
Introduction to strategy of the hunt.

Postmortem - Life After Death
Occuring after death.

Inconnu (Referenced at end of Aristocracy - Order of the Night)
Stranger, alien, outsider. Used to describe those who do not fit neatly in the human or vampire category. The Blood Hounds themselves would be a good example.