Aone-wordmagicalspell.Severalyearsback,that’sexactlywhatJosephTartarothoughthe’ddiscovered.Itwasaspellthat,ifusedproperly,promisedtomakeone’sproblemsdisappear.Andsohecrossedhisfingers,utteredthewordandcasttheenchantmentonhimself.Theresult,however,wasanythingbutmagical.

UnbeknownsttoJoseph,byunleashingthisspell,he’dearnedalifetimemembershipintoacursedcommunity.Aclanmadeupoffolkswho,throughnofaultoftheirown,hadbecomenamelessandinvisible.Today,thestoryoftheseunfortunatesouls,thedarkdigitalartsthattooksomuchfromthemandthewizardryneededtogivethemnewlife.

SpecialthankstoSarahChasins,TonyHoare,BrianKernighanandtoPatrickMcKenzieforwritingthatwonderfullistofassumptionsprogrammersbelieveaboutnames.Andalsotoallthefolkswhospoketousandemaileduswithstoriesoftheirown‘problematic’names.

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