To Lev is to Fly

Warning: This update contains spoilers for the ending of Privateer 2: The Darkening.

As is often the case, the topic several nights ago on Discord turned to Privateer 2. While talking about the game's conclusion, Chris Reid thought to ask: is there any significance to the 'Arris' in his fake name?

To back up: the reveal close to the end of Privateer 2 is that you are not, in fact, Lev Arris but Vell Ricaud II, the long lost first son of the founder of Ricaud Interplanetary. The head of the Kindred, "Kronos", is really your twin brother Sar Ricaud. The booth system will eventually tell you that Ricaud Interplanetary is "the largest industrial concern in the Tri-System" and there are various small hints that Sar has turned it into the Kindred. When you decode the memory solid later in the game the report says that "also the names Larn Regis and Vell Ricaud occur over 150 times, as well as the name Ricaud Interplanetary."

So, the "Lev" in Lev Arris (which is the name that had been printed on his cryo pod) is (almost) "Vell" reversed. But is there a meaning to "Arris"? We speculated for a while but couldn't come up with one that felt satisfying (the closest guess was 'heir is'). Luckily, The Darkening's screenwriter Diane Duane seems to have a memory like a steel trap! We asked her on BlueSky and she was kind enough to reply:

Nope. In the early stages of writing I was just feeling around for a name that seemed easily memorable. For some reason "Harris" suggested itself, and I just dropped the initial H off it so it wouldn't sound so ordinary.. :)

(Want to read more from Diane Duane? Check out her bookstore, Ebooks Direct!)

So there you have it! I did find an interesting joke while I was looking through the ingame text to see where 'Ricaud' was actually mentioned. Check out this characteristically goofy CCN booth update about the Yummiechow's slogan contest:

But then that story continues in another update! You can also get this story which talks about how the Munchems line has failed because, in part, of a pirate attack! The implication seems to be that the Kindred is targeting the Yummiechow corporation because Kronos didn't win the snack contest!