I originally wanted to use the name 'Savia', pulled from a character concept I've had for awhile but never formally put into play as actual-fleshed-out-character. However, it didn't quite work with miqo'te naming conventions, so I played around a bit with the sounds until I arrived at Zavi, and then threw in the 'h' both because I wanted the shzuh sound, and for the miqo'te hissing thing.
I deliberately used a name-name, as opposed to something more simple and street, despite the fact that Zhi's mother is a whore and city-born (second generation). Zhi's mother was an idealist, a lover, and a dreamer. Though she broke away from her parents (or was kicked out, depending on who you asked), she idealized Keeper culture and picked a name for her daughter that she felt conveyed that ideal.
Streetrunner/Gutterborn was my way of contrasting that beloved child with the nasty, crass person Zhi eventually became. Yes, Zhi's mother could have given her bastard child a surname, but 1 - she wasn't about to use her parents', and 2 - she didn't actually know appropriate Keeper surnames. Zhi's mother therefore only gave her child the single name, Zhavi, and it was through Zhi's interaction with others on the street that she essentially became Gutterborn: a street kid who was a bastard and had no claim on an actual surname.
Zhi's naming herself Streetrunner was a way of molding herself, of excising herself from a past she feels she's risen above (there is some denial, deep down, towards some of the things that happened in the past, a perception that it happened to the other her who was weak and cowardly, and that she is no longer that person). It's her way of taking herself back from the people who would use her. The irony, of course, is that she's still beholden to any number of people, still a child in many ways, and very much a product of her upbringing. She runs the streets, that's it: when you look at her and what she is, there really isn't anything speshul that makes her any better than where she came from, and there's certainly a lot of things that make her worse than those she openly despises.
Which, of course, leads to the name her mother used to use affectionately: Zhio. There's a reason why there was only ever one player-character who used it (Miza Fhey), and why there are exactly two NPCs who use it affectionately, or at least as a means of establishing familiarity. 'Zhio' is my way of recalling her humanity (errr, miqo'te-y?), of showing that she isn't a total lost cause. Even though she's a scumbag and a morally corrupt person, there's still that little girl in there, down deep, wishing for something better and struggling to be someone who matters. Every time I use it in writing it's to establish that she is capable of forming positive relationships, even if they are terribly warped and probably carry unhealthy undertones. It shows that she still accepts, even if it's deeply subconscious, that she's not the cold-hearted bitch she thinks she is who is totally devoid of warmth or emotions. She isn't a completely lost cause -- but she's definitely not on the right path.
I deliberately used a name-name, as opposed to something more simple and street, despite the fact that Zhi's mother is a whore and city-born (second generation). Zhi's mother was an idealist, a lover, and a dreamer. Though she broke away from her parents (or was kicked out, depending on who you asked), she idealized Keeper culture and picked a name for her daughter that she felt conveyed that ideal.
Streetrunner/Gutterborn was my way of contrasting that beloved child with the nasty, crass person Zhi eventually became. Yes, Zhi's mother could have given her bastard child a surname, but 1 - she wasn't about to use her parents', and 2 - she didn't actually know appropriate Keeper surnames. Zhi's mother therefore only gave her child the single name, Zhavi, and it was through Zhi's interaction with others on the street that she essentially became Gutterborn: a street kid who was a bastard and had no claim on an actual surname.
Zhi's naming herself Streetrunner was a way of molding herself, of excising herself from a past she feels she's risen above (there is some denial, deep down, towards some of the things that happened in the past, a perception that it happened to the other her who was weak and cowardly, and that she is no longer that person). It's her way of taking herself back from the people who would use her. The irony, of course, is that she's still beholden to any number of people, still a child in many ways, and very much a product of her upbringing. She runs the streets, that's it: when you look at her and what she is, there really isn't anything speshul that makes her any better than where she came from, and there's certainly a lot of things that make her worse than those she openly despises.
Which, of course, leads to the name her mother used to use affectionately: Zhio. There's a reason why there was only ever one player-character who used it (Miza Fhey), and why there are exactly two NPCs who use it affectionately, or at least as a means of establishing familiarity. 'Zhio' is my way of recalling her humanity (errr, miqo'te-y?), of showing that she isn't a total lost cause. Even though she's a scumbag and a morally corrupt person, there's still that little girl in there, down deep, wishing for something better and struggling to be someone who matters. Every time I use it in writing it's to establish that she is capable of forming positive relationships, even if they are terribly warped and probably carry unhealthy undertones. It shows that she still accepts, even if it's deeply subconscious, that she's not the cold-hearted bitch she thinks she is who is totally devoid of warmth or emotions. She isn't a completely lost cause -- but she's definitely not on the right path.
