Truth Interview Thursday Spotlight - St Cephalopod

Welcome once again to our Clan Truth Community Spotlight! This week, we are highlighting St. Cephalopod!

CT: So Ceph, let’s learn about you. First of all, what line of work are you in?

Ceph: I’m a healthcare systems analyst.  Basically, I help design the buttons and templates in the electronic medical record software that doctors and nurses use when taking care of patients.

CT: What hobbies or pastimes do you enjoy, outside of videogames?

Ceph: There are other things besides Destiny, and hiding in my undersea Folger’s coffee can? I watch some anime from time to time and a fair number of sci-fi shows and movies.  My wife and I have also really gotten into Great British Bake Off.  We’ve watched so many shows and movies during the pandemic it’s hard to remember which ones we liked more than others.

CT: What is a skill that you have that you take pride in?

Ceph: I’ve gone through a number of hobbies from gymnastics, playing/writing music, streaming (still planning to do this more in the future), and I’m somewhat handy around the house.  In general, I can usually figure out technology and minor fix-it stuff.  This trick is knowing when to stop disassembling the faucet and calling a real plumber.

CT: Any fun facts about yourself?

Ceph: I was born and raised in Montana, and I miss it very much.  My wife and I are working to position ourselves with jobs so we can move back someday. (This is the first I’ve heard of anything Montana being “fun”)

CT: How long have you been playing video games and what are some of your earliest and/or favorite gaming memories?

Ceph: My first video games memories are from the NES and Sega genesis days (I might be slightly older than some of you jokers). My older brother and I had it worked out where we’d play until we died then we’d switch who had the controller.  In hindsight this may have hindered my playtime significantly… Back then I remember enjoying Altered Beast and Sonic, and for some reason I remember spending a lot of time watching my brother play Little Nemo: The Dream Master.  My current video game habits really fired up in high school when I bought myself a modded PS1 off eBay. It came with about 80 ripped games, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater was what really hooked me. Nowadays, it’s mostly all Destiny all the time.  Unless it’s Manhunter, because that game is ridiculous, and the not-so-subtle pop culture references are great.

CT: What are your favorite foods, music, movies, shows, etc.?

Ceph: I’m a huge fan of light roast coffee and have a fairly flexible palate. Living in Seattle provides a lot of options for amazing food. Sushi is definitely up there. Hawaiian pizza is also a common occurrence. My music tastes seem to shift every 10 years or so.  In college I was fully into the whole emo scene. Since then, I shifted more into alt/hard rock, and in recent history I’ve been listening to more EDM, specifically heavy dubstep, some chiptune, and the like. For books I’ve been going through various Star Wars novels, all of the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher, and recently the Broken Earth Trilogy (highly recommend) and other books by N. K. Jemisin.

CT: Is there any special story or significance to your gamertag?

Ceph: Back in the original Xbox days, aside from going uphill both ways in the snow, we could change our names pretty much anytime, and I was spending a lot of time playing Halo CE with my friends.  I happened to be studying octopuses (it’s octopodes) in my biology class and switched my name to Cephalopod.  A couple months later WoW was released, I used the same name, and it stuck. My canonization is a more recent development. When I came back to Xbox in 2017 (I bought one specifically to play D2), my original gamertag was already taken. To avoid using numbers or extra characters in my name I searched for different prefixes to use, and “St” seemed funny and subtle nod to Lovecraft.

CT: Let’s talk a bit about your history with Destiny, and with Clan Truth. When did you first start playing Destiny? What drew you to it?

Ceph: I played quite a bit of Halo CE back in college and dabbled in Halo 2 for a bit, so I was aware of Bungie as a studio. Halo 2 was my first real online gaming experience, but it was so toxic that I didn’t play another FPS until some friends convinced me that Destiny 2 was worth a try. They had all played D1 a lot and knew my penchant for space magic.  Once I saw I could make a robot (Exo for life) I was completely sold. I get a lot of enjoyment from collecting things in the game, and D2 provided plenty of boxes to check so it’s kept me entertained with different things to do, earn, and find. At this point I’m just as invested in the lore and visuals as burgeoning collections and triumphs tabs.

CT: What is your primary/favorite class, and why?

Ceph: Warlock.  Space magic. Done. (damn right!)  I mained slova bomb for the first couple years the game.  I do enjoy playing my hunter and titan as well, but Warlock has always felt most like home as a support and utility role, alongside big booms from grenades and massive purple bombs.

CT: Tell us about your history with Clan Truth (how long have you been a member, how did you find us, what are your favorites moments and memories with the clan?)

Ceph: I joined the clan near the end of Season of the Drifter after finding a recruitment post on Reddit. I had gone through a handful of clans with various levels of activity and toxicity before landing here. Initially I was really interested in having more people to play with since we have a larger group, but I came to learn that we have a ton of quality people in the group. There have been a lot of fun moments, from having Bungie themselves proclaim that we ban Pentad, to some heroic moments in sherpa runs in Crown of Sorrow, to absurd PvP shenanigans. One of my favorites was when we did a raid race last year. We lost on time for every raid except Last Wish. We completely smashed LW, and had a ridiculous moment fighting Riven where we didn’t remember to call out eyes. Two people guessed the correct ones before we wiped, and we finished in record time. It was glorious. Overall, we have a great group of people, and I’m happy to be included as a member and admin.

CT: If you could remove any one weapon from the game, which one and why?

Ceph: Honestly, the sandbox is in a pretty damn good spot. Some things still grate a little, but nothing really feels like it should be straight up removed anymore. Except maybe Chaperone, mostly because I’m not as good with it, and getting mapped by a squirrelly hunter is aggravating as hell.

CT: If you could design an exotic weapon or armor, what would it be?

Ceph: Two things here.  First, I still want Bungie to add new feature to Nighthawk where it turns Blade Barrage into a single giant anime sword that you throw.  Second, I would love an exotic that could create an actual summoned creature. Just imagine having a little solar puppy running around biting everything. (Great, now I miss my water elemental from WoW…)

CT: That’s some great information, I also would like to throw a giant anime sword. Let’s move on to the stuff people really want to know about you. First, why is your name “Street Cephalopod”? Did you have a lot of octopodes living in your neighborhood as a kid or something?

Ceph: My cred (you have cred? Where’s mine?) had to come from somewhere.  From the streets to the skies, the tentacles will rise. (I’m sure that can’t be construed any way other than I intend). (Feels like a Metallica song to me)

CT: Rumor has it that you’re the tallest admin, what’s that like? Do you think you’re better than the others?

Ceph: The Irken Epire demands that you must worship the almighty tallest!  Just because I can’t breathe as well in this crisp, thin air, and I know when it rains before everyone else doesn’t make me better.  I’m only slightly more cost effective since I pay the same price for clothes and get a little more fabric.  Now go grab me another cup of coffee, or I won’t tell you when to bring an umbrella. (Joke’s on you, I’m a Washingtonian, I am immune to rain)

CT: What jobs have you had over the years that you have loved and/or hated the most?

Ceph: I do love my current job. I find it really satisfying to support clinicians, and indirectly support thousands of patients. My first college degree was in Chemistry, and I worked the stock room for the general and organic labs. My supervisor was a sarcastic, kind dude, and he let me double dip paychecks by grading papers on the job. That was awesome for a poor college kid. When I went back to school, I had a job setting up a new lab environmental research professor who was trying to develop an industrial activated carbon filter to remove pollutants from factory emissions. At first the work was interesting, but I had no direction, and he wanted me to order a ton of equipment for his new lab. I had no clue where to get some stuff or which models of things he needed. It was a bit stressful to say the least and I messed up a bunch of stuff with the experiments. Another college job I had was at GameStop.  Working retail can generally suck, especially during the holidays, but man we got up to some stupid stuff on the clock. I worked the midnight release of Halo 2 and the Xbox 360, and both times one of my coworkers snuck in booze.  The Halo 2 release was especially ridiculous because the local Coca Cola distribution center donated a cooler of Red Bull. We’d take one in the back room, drink it halfway down, refill it with Jager, and head back out, can in hand, to help customers. A couple of my coworkers were almost falling over by the time we closed. (It’s a good thing we never drink while performing admin duties, right? Right?)

CT: I assume that cephalopods are your favorite sea creatures. Any reason why?

Ceph: This is true. Octopuses (it’s still octopodes) especially. One is even prominently displayed on my entire left forearm as part of my tattoo sleeve. They’re very intelligent creatures, can make their skin crazy color patterns and textures, and are pretty alien in a lot of regards. The aquarium here has Octopus Week each February, so they have extra to see, and I get to see them in real life (in a tank anyway) somewhat regularly.

CT: Aside from cephalopods (I really like writing this word), what are your favorite sea creatures? What about those of land and sky?

Ceph: Jokes on you, octopuses (OCTOPODES DAMNIT) can walk across land too. I tend to like animals in general. Throughout my years I’ve had special affinities for lions, turtles, and giraffes. Sky creatures are fine, but weird. I’ve been bitten or pecked by more birds than dogs… pompous, feathery jerks. Fireflies are cool though. We’ll go with that. (I really need to hear more about how you’ve been attacked by so many birds. Did you piss off JoneZii or something?)

CT: Why is your dog so cute, and can you please post more pictures?

Ceph: I really don’t know why, but it definitely makes getting work done much more difficult than it needs to be.  I’ll post some Christmas card outtakes soon.

CT: Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself that we haven’t covered yet?

Ceph: I think that largely covers it.  I don’t always talk a lot in the discord, but I lurk as well as any other invertebrate. Always appreciate the good memes and pet pictures. Thank you for this opportunity. Time to slink back into the sea cave.

CT: That sounds like a good place to wrap things up. Thank you, St. Cephalopod, it was great getting to know more about you!