From Azeroth to Linux: Why I've Been Nebu for 20 Years

My website says Dennis Hilk. My terminal says nebu@cthulhu. Old motorcycle photos have NEBU on the graphics. To explain where that name came from, I need to go back roughly twenty years: to a level-60 warlock in World of Warcraft.

His name was Nebukatneza. The long character name became the short Nebu, and that stayed. I have changed operating systems and motorcycles quite a few times since then. My username has required remarkably little maintenance.

Back when Vanilla was just WoW

My first WoW character was a warlock called Nebukatneza. I played on the German PvP realm Destromath and was in the guild Klinge der Macht. Back then, what we now call Vanilla was simply World of Warcraft. The name was inspired by the biblical king Nebuchadnezzar, known from the Book of Daniel.

Destromath was already there when WoW launched in Europe in February 2005. Hearing the name still brings back the massive world PvP in and around Tarren Mill.

I even got calls on my Motorola RAZR V3 in the evenings asking me to help with world PvP. If I was doing something else at the PC, the speakers helpfully announced the incoming call with that familiar crackling sound. Then the phone rang, and the guild master was on the line. On call for Azeroth, flip phone included.

The spelling I used in the game was Nebukatneza. I had clearly not gone for the shortest possible name. People often used Nebu instead of writing out the whole character name. That was how my warlock’s name became my own nickname.

Later, when registering with different services, I tried nebu first. Sometimes the form rejected it for being too short, so the longer name came back into service. A level-60 warlock was apparently qualified for Azeroth, but four letters did not meet every website’s entry requirements.

Linux Mint, Windows XP and four familiar letters

Linux was part of my everyday life long before Cthulhu became my current workstation. I used Linux Mint and kept Windows and Linux in a dual-boot setup for a while. Linux gradually became my main environment.

A screenshot from 2013 shows my Linux Mint desktop at the time. Windows XP is starting inside VirtualBox, and nebu is already visible in the top-right corner. The virtual machine in that picture and my old dual-boot setup are two different things, but both belong to that period of moving between systems.

I like the small details in pictures like this. An old interface, a familiar application, a username in the corner: suddenly there is a bit of everyday life I had stopped remembering clearly. At least the name did not need migrating.

Motorcycles first, timelines afterwards

Nebu also turns up in my old files. On 1 April 2013, I was editing GoPro motorcycle footage in Kdenlive. The project name in the title bar was Nebu1Vid.kdenlive, followed by HD 720p 60 fps.

The clips with their GoPro filenames, the video tracks and the long audio track make it all very tangible. I recorded and edited these videos myself. For me, the Enduro and Motocross hobby included the time at the computer afterwards.

Another screenshot, dated 8 October 2014, shows Sony Vegas Pro 12 running on Windows, with nebu.veg in the title bar. That side of my old dual-boot life belongs in the story too. For all the Linux history, my archive still has a Windows taskbar.

A look into the Windows archive: Vegas, 2014

I still enjoy using Kdenlive today. I know its workflow better than something like Adobe Premiere. When I want to make an edit, that familiarity helps more than the prospect of learning a different application first. Plenty of my other projects already provide opportunities to stare blankly at a screen.

Nebu acquired knobbly tyres

For many years, I documented my Enduro and Motocross adventures, often with a GoPro. My older motorcycles included a KTM 250 SX, a KTM 640 Adventure and KTM 690 models. The name came along for all of it.

NEBU appeared on motorcycle graphics alongside racing number 104. There was clothing and NEBU merchandise back then too. People even called me Nebu while we were out riding. The nickname had long since left the screen.

Looking at the photo of the KTM with my name on it, what strikes me is how ordinary that had become. A name I had chosen for a warlock was now printed on a real motorcycle. The dirt on the rest of the motorcycle was real too.

In 2014, I joined Flickr with my “Nebu Offiziell” profile. Photos and videos from that time carry the name forward. My YouTube channel still has older motorcycle productions with NebuOffiziell in their titles.

That channel has changed with me. The earlier motorcycle videos gradually led to today’s Linux and technology channel. The old uploads still tell the other part of the story: riding outside, collecting footage, editing it later. Technology was already part of the filming and editing work anyway.

Today: nebu@cthulhu

In 2026, my main workstation, Cthulhu, runs NixOS. My terminal still greets me as nebu@cthulhu. The user on my Debian 13 server, Worldnode, is also called nebu.

Even the homepage of dennishilk.com carries the line root@nebunix:~$ Dennis Hilk. My real name and my old nickname sit quite comfortably beside each other there.

These days, I build open-source projects such as BoringOS and Source2Reel. Or I get DOOM running on a Cisco telephone. The warlock has very little to do with those projects, but the username still belongs to me.

Gaming, Linux, motorcycles, video editing and open source do not live in neatly separated folders in my life. Going through the archive makes that especially clear. Across changing computers, operating systems, jobs, hobbies and projects, the same four letters keep turning up.

October 8, 2026: NEBUVERSE is here

Today, October 8, 2026, I installed and configured my own GoToSocial instance on Worldnode: NEBUVERSE. It runs at social.dennishilk.com, and the old name now has a home of its own in the Fediverse: @nebu@dennishilk.com.

Why? I just wanted to see how it works. And then... why not? Trying it out turned into a running server. After all these years, Nebu has apparently treated himself to an instance of his own.

Under the hood, GoToSocial v0.22.1 runs on my x86_64 Debian 13 server. nginx handles the reverse proxy and Let’s Encrypt the HTTPS certificate, alongside systemd and SQLite. The split-domain WebFinger configuration works: the profile lives at social.dennishilk.com, while the address is @nebu@dennishilk.com. Public registrations are disabled.

Linux, open source and a motorcycle in the illustrated banner: that fits the mix that has been with me for a long time. My custom Nebu avatar is installed too. Even Nebby, my mascot from dennishilk.com, is sitting at the top as the instance logo. Of course he belongs there too.

My first public introduction post has been published successfully. mastodon.social also discovered the new profile and retrieved the post. The little instance really is talking to the rest of the Fediverse.

My former account, @dennishilk@mastodon.social, has officially moved to @nebu@dennishilk.com. Mastodon confirmed the redirect and initiated the transfer of the 17 followers my old account had at migration time. The transfer has been started; it has not yet been confirmed that all 17 have arrived.

The first manual backups are in place. Automated and offsite backups are still on my list. A new home, with a few chores left to do.

From Nebukatneza in Azeroth through motorcycles and old videos to Linux on Cthulhu, then Worldnode and now NEBUVERSE: the old name has come along every time. Four letters apparently still do the job.

The name stayed

I could have picked plenty of new names over the years. Instead, I kept the one people already associated with me. Nebu now feels as familiar as my home directory. Just with a little more mud in its history.

If you would like to know more about the person behind these projects, my About Me page tells the longer story. This small part began with a WoW character and has been with me for roughly twenty years.

Same username. Different machines. Twenty years later.