The Unicorns of Alnilam started life when I was 14-years-old. I was using a computer program called Creative Writer and they had a pre-made sticker of a unicorn. I started coloring the sticker different ways and stuck them into a document to keep track of who was whom (and, sadly, that document no longer exists due to many past computer crashes).
The "coloring" also consisted of other kinds of stickers offered by the Creative Writer program and I used those as markings on some of the unicorns (think cutie marks, but not only on the rump). Some of the sillier names came from coloring the character a certain way and then naming them (i.e. Chocolate Chip is a leopard appaloosa who is brown with black spots; Cinnamon and Coco are brown) and, of course, because of the fact that I was 14. I also had inspiration from movies and TV shows (Aquiel, Genesis, Justice), and an encyclopedia CD (Medicus).
The population started to grow when I needed a character or characters that could serve a specific function, such as Woodhorn who was created because one of the first fan fictions I wrote involved Angel from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and I needed a unicorn who could be a threat to a vampire (i.e. a wooden stake for a horn). As I got older, I received inspiration from my friends and naming the unicorns got easier when I got the Internet and found BabyNames.com, and coloring them became more interesting as I moved from Creative Writer, to MS Paint, to Paint Shop Pro, to Adobe Photoshop, finally to Clip Studio Paint.
Most of the Unicorns of Alnilam are ready and willing to go through a Gateway and help anyone who needs it. Those that aren't . . . well, just stay out of their way and everything will be fine.
Made lovingly with Microsoft FrontPage 2003 ~ Parent screen resolution 1366x768