# Mutagen naming convention and consistencifying the names

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mutagen-naming-convention-and-consistencifying-the-names/10486>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [September 7, 2015, 9:55am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mutagen-naming-convention-and-consistencifying-the-names/10486 "2015-09-07T09:55:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BeerBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@BeerBeer](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/BeerBeer)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 9:55am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mutagen-naming-convention-and-consistencifying-the-names/10486/1 "2015-09-07T09:55:03Z")

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I’m but a lowly peasant, but I would suggest looking over the mutagen names, purely in the name of academic or scientific consistency. I did some brief word research and dictionary-diving and came up with some changes/suggestions below.

Lizard -\> Reptilian  
Bird -\> Avian  
Fish -\> OK? Aquatic?  
Beast -\> Bestial  
Feline -\> (OK)  
Lupine -\> Canine  
Ursine -\> (OK)  
Cattle -\> Bovine  
Insect -\> Insectoid  
Plant -\> Floral? Botanical?  
Slime -\> Invertebrate? Molluscan?  
Troglobite -\> (OK)  
Cephalopod -\> (OK)  
Spider -\> Arachnid  
Rat -\> Marsupial?  
Medical -\> Supragenic?  
Alpha -\> Transhuman? Conflicts with ‘supragenic’? Possibly merge the two categories?  
Elf-A -\> Elven? Trans-elven? Leave it ‘as is’ as a joke?  
Chimera -\> Chimerian? Chimeral?  
Raptor -\> Raptorial

Thoughts so far?

Of course we could do the rational thing and pamper the uneducated audiences and change  
Lupine -\> Dog (or Wolf)  
Ursine -\> Bear

Then again, all the fancy scientific names could be explained in the mutagen descriptions. Using games to educate people 101. I say we go full science though. One always goes full science.

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**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 10:01am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mutagen-naming-convention-and-consistencifying-the-names/10486/2 "2015-09-07T10:01:29Z")

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I’d prefer the latter: dumbing down the names to mention mutation branches directly.

Or even “Mutagen: branch name”

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**Author:** ![Random\_dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4da419/32.png) [@Random\_dragon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Random_dragon)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/mutagen-naming-convention-and-consistencifying-the-names/10486/3 "2015-09-07T16:08:26Z")

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Hasn’t this come up on Github before? I’ll re-iterate my opinion on it: just keep the names as they are, they’re ALL informal designations.

The descriptions in lab books and other places referencing PE-### and refer to the mutagen name in quotes. We could reference the PE designation in the mutagen description (and make up designations for mutagen currently lacking a designation), but the mutagen names currently used aren’t their formal designations. :V