So I've been listening to the 'Mechanicum' audiobook on my way into work, and something has stuck out like a sore thumb.
The Dark Mechanicum.
Apparently, that's a name they gave themselves, not an appropriated appellation, or ironic, or Imperial propaganda. This peanut gallery apparently sat down, thought: "We're not the Mechanicum any more. We're evil. Let's call ourselves the Dark Mechanicum now."
What.
That's just dumb.
Like, dumb like big dogs, dumb.
The Dark Mechanicum? Really?
See, I'd always assumed that was just what the Imperium called them, but no, no, they actually call themselves 'Dark'. They actually think they're evil. It's so stupid, so counterintuitive it makes my head hurt. Every political faction that has ever existed thinks they are the hero of their story. Everyone, from groups as different as the Civil Rights movement to the KKK. It doesn't actually mean you are the hero; just that you think you are. Look at Hitler - genuinely bought his own hype that he was the messianic saviour of Germany. Of course, you don't get to say if you were a hero; history does.
But the only people who call themselves something like The Evil Engineers (which is what Dark Mechanicum basically means, yes?) are either doing it with hipster irony, or they're a lone nutbag who is so self-hating they've actually come to believe what other people say about how bad they are.
So far, the Dark Mechanicum (even typing that ridiculous name makes my toes curl) don't see themselves as evil. At all. They see themselves as the purest incarnation of the Cult Mechanicus, rejecting the Emperor as a False Prophet who manipulated their faith for his own advantage, and banned them from researching the Daemonic, which is simply a scientific field humanity hasn't fully studied yet.
WHY WOULD THEY CALL THEMSELVES THE DARK MECHANICUS?!! IF ANYTHING, THEY'D CALL THEMSELVES THE TRUE MECHANICUS!!! You know, because they think they're moving in the true direction they were always supposed to until the Emperor stopped them. Because it's a religious schism as much as a political one. Calling themselves 'Dark' makes as much sense as Protestants calling themselves 'Mildly Satanics'.
It's just dumb.
Same goes for the Dark Eldar for exactly the same reasons. If they were going to be calling themselves anything, it should be 'Eldar', because they're the ones who still cling to the old ways from before The Fall. Their codex should just be 'codex: Eldar'. Calling them 'Dark Eldar' because that's what the Craftworld Eldar call them makes as much sense as 'Codex: Beakies' for the Space Marines, or 'Codex: Gue'vesa' for the Astra Militarum.
So: I propose that we need new names for these factions. Names they would actually call themselves that don't mean 'I AM EVIL', but instead mark out their philosophical viewpoint.
And before anyone says it, yes, there's the Dark Angels, but they get a pass because that IS deliberately trying to sound scary. Also, the 'Dark' is juxtaposed with the word 'Angel', creating an oxymoron, which has the effect of suggesting they are still good (e.g: 'angelic') but do their good deeds in ethically questionable ways (hence the 'Dark' part). For them, it makes sense.
For the Chaos Mechanicum and Evil Eldar, it makes as much sense as using a chocolate teapot as a prophylactic.
Thoughts?