The person behind this site is Ned Gulley.
I work for The MathWorks designing software and doing user interface design. The Star Chamber site goes back to 1996. Originally it was a sort of weekly proto-blog maintained by four people. Each of us chose a pseudonym; mine was Paracelsus. In 2001 the site became a blog solely maintained by me. I no longer use the Paracelsus moniker, but you still see it around the site here and there.
Who is Paracelsus?
Paracelsus lived from 1493 to 1541 in and around what is now Switzerland. His parents named him Theophrastus von Hohenheim, but he renamed himself Paracelsus (in characteristically modest fashion) to indicate that as a doctor he was the equal of the famed Roman medical theorist Celsus. Paracelsus was a doctor, scientist, philosopher, theologian, and mystic. He was also a crank, a troublemaker, and a drunk. He was an outspoken advocate of treating patients by carefully observing their symptoms and their response to his prescriptions. This was radical for a time when most doctors were either bloodletting barbers or rote hands-off academicians. What makes him particularly interesting is that he epitomizes a time when science, mysticism, rationality, religion, and magic were fused together in a single body of knowledge.
Paracelsus was an interesting guy.
Hi Ned,
My name is Sonia. I have a question for you about your Elvish Alphabet, is it the exact same writing as on LOR? If not can you direct me to a site or person that does know? I am getting married this year, and I would like “Heaven Sent” inscribed on my soon-to-be husbands ring. Please let me know and thank you very much for your time.
Sonia
Hi Ned,
I found your elven tutorial quite inspiring… I am, though, not so sure about how to properly write my elven name: “Eruantien”, It is pronounced “Air-oo-ahnt-ee-ehn” and I was wondering if you could resolve my confusion… cause I have found I wrote it wrong like 5 times…
Please help.
Thanks,
Matt
By the way…
I THINK it is spelled:
Hi Ned.
Just want to thank you for your really good site about how to write names in elvish. It really just took me about ten minutes to understand and I can now write my sons name that will be tattooed on me in a short while.
So thank you, thank you, thank you.
When the time comes and my not so very good homepage is done I’d be happy to link to yours. If you have a banner to mail me, I’d be glad.
’till then….. have a great time!
Hi Ned! this is a totally random comment/email. I’m Beth Harrelson. We went to Brunson/Wiley/Paisley/Reynolds together in WS. I just heard this week that the guy who invented dungeons & dragons died. Did you hear that? It made me think of you and those other boys in Mr. Wilson’s class at Paisley and how you would play it all the time. So i googled your name and found your blog. how random is that? i remember seeing you and Wendy at the 20th reunion. I just/finally got married in Sept to a great guy and we live in Raleigh. I sometimes get back to WS, but not often, since my parents live here in Raleigh. I hope all is well with you and Wendy. Please tell her hello for me.
hi Ned ;D
i am trying my best to learn to speak Queya – elvish.
and i really like spelling lots of stuff with the elvish alphabet !
… but i got a little problem !
both of my names ( simone & Liv ) look really ugly when i make them…
and all of the nemes ( robert, lynne and so on ) are just so beautiful =)
could i ask you to make my names in elvish letters and send it to me on my mail ???
- i just wanna learn to do it correctly, and my names seems like thet are spelled wrong..
thanks !
=)
Simone Liv – Denmark.
Hi Ned,
Found your link through the Elevn language page. It was so easy and helpful it only took me the one read-through to figure it out, really just a few minutes! Though I do have a question : My name is Sally, when writing my name which has two ‘L’s’, would it be more appropriate to use the elven symbol for ‘L’ twice or just once (would same apply to any double letters like the ‘R’s’ in ‘cherry’)? I loved your above blog about Paracelsus; I love learning neat tidbits about history like that. I am very interested in the Dark – Middle ages; for all the amazing things that transpired during those awful time, we still know so little. Thanks for a great web-page and I appreciate any help that can be sent my way.
Sincerely, Sally - New England, USA
Hi Ned,
I found your tutorial on elven script writing really helpful however, i still can’t figure out how to write my name craig in the Tengwar Quenya mode?
Please help.
Cheers mate
Hello! I like your page on the Elvish alphabet. I am still a mite confused, you see you my have over simplified the content. I would really like to learn to write in Elvish. The characters are beautiful, and I would love to substitute them for my native English ones. Could you possibly find the time to send me a link to slightly more detailed instructions on how to write in Elvish? Or could you publish a more advanced version to the one you currently have up and send me a link? I have managed to figure out how to write my first name, but not my middle name that starts with an A or my second last name that starts with an E. yes I have two last names, on from mom and one from dad. Any who thank your for your time and soory for the long comment.
Craig.
Hi Ned,
I was wondering, I have some text in elvish which I would have liked to be translated into English, but I can’t seem to work it out. I was wondering, since you seem to have some skill in it, are you up to a challenge and would you like to help me translate the text?
Best,
Jan
I’m having trouble with my Elvish! I looked at the Eileen example, but not sure how to incorporate the H in my name in front of the EI
Hey Ned,
I’m leaving a message for you here because I’m too lazy to read your pages about Elvish.
http://www.starchamber.com/paracelsus/elvish/elvish-in-ten-minutes.html
http://www.starchamber.com/paracelsus/elvish/tattoos.html
Also, will you please send me $100?
Thanks,
Matthew
Hi ned i was looking for names that was in the civil war to see if there where family was found my grandfather and grate grandfather is from Arkansas thay had a lot of land now it is a park called the gulley park north west of arkansas .I came across yor blog i don’t no if we are family my grandfather lived in ely nevada my mom met my dad there in the 40s i live in slc utah i’am 45 have two brothers and on sister all older .Do you no gulley’s in nevada or arkansas email me back .thanks troy gulley.
Hi, Mr. gulley, I was wondering if you could just clarify something for me?
I love your elvish alphabet but am slightly confused about the letter ‘Y’.
I usually move it down and to the left in all my writing, ( .. )however I notice that you have different forms for a ‘consonant’ and a ‘vowel’.
I’m not quite sre why that is and was wondering if you could explain, with possible examples?
Thank you for your time :)
Hey Ned,
I just found your page and the sight today and its really great. I noticed how many people asked you to write words for them- i bet that was really annoying. I actually found writing in Elvish easy because of the great tutorial- it explains everything!! I hope i’ve actually been doing it right!
I absolutely LOVE lord of the rings- they’re like the best movies!
It’s really good and I think really inspiring that you can have such a passion and interest for something like this type of writing for so long.
Keep it up!
Cheers, Esther :)
Hi Mr. Gully!
I was just writing my name in elvish, and I was wondering what you were supposed to do if there was a vowel after a double consonant. I don’t believe the vowel is silent. Other than that, thank you for your really helpful article!