diff --git a/deadsands/site_tools/hoppers.py b/deadsands/site_tools/hoppers.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5499c2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deadsands/site_tools/hoppers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+import npc
+
+from language import defaults, types
+from language.languages import common
+from random_sets.sets import equal_weights
+
+
+# some old-west sounding names. The majority of NPC names will use one of these
+# as a given name, but will mix in the occasional fully random name from the
+# Common language base class to keep it consistent with Telisar as a whole.
+given_names = equal_weights([
+    'Alonzo', 'Amos', 'Arthur', 'Art', 'Austin', 'Bart', 'William', 'Bill',
+    'Will', 'Boone', 'Buck', 'Butch', 'Calvin', 'Carson', 'Cassidy', 'Charlie',
+    'Chester', 'Clay', 'Clayton', 'Cole', 'Coleman', 'Colt', 'Cooper', 'Coop',
+    'Earle', 'Edgar', 'Ed', 'Elijah', 'Eli', 'Ernest', 'Eugene', 'Gene',
+    'Flynn', 'Frank', 'Gary', 'George', 'Harry', 'Henry', 'Holt', 'Homer',
+    'Howard', 'Ike', 'James', 'Jasper', 'Jesse', 'John', 'Julian', 'Kit',
+    'Lawrence', 'Levi', 'Logan', 'Louis', 'Morgan', 'Porter', 'Reid', 'Reuben',
+    'Rufus', 'Samuel', 'Sam', 'Thomas', 'Tom', 'Tommy', 'Virgil', 'Walter',
+    'Walt', 'Wayne', 'Wesley', 'Wyatt', 'Zane', 'Zeke', 'Adelaide', 'Alice',
+    'Anna', 'Annie', 'Beatrice', 'Catherine', 'Cecily', 'Clara', 'Cora',
+    'Dorothea', 'Dorothy', 'Edith', 'Eleanor', 'Eliza', 'Elizabeth', 'Beth',
+    'Lizzie', 'Ella', 'Emma', 'Florence', 'Gertrude', 'Gertie', 'Harriet',
+    'Hazel', 'Ida', 'Josephine', 'Letitia', 'Louise', 'Lucinda', 'Lydia',
+    'Mary', 'Matilda', 'Tilly', 'Maude', 'Mercy', 'Minnie', 'Olivia',
+    'Rosemary', 'Sarah', 'Sophia', 'Temperance', 'Teresa', 'Tess', 'Theodora',
+    'Teddy', 'Virginia', 'Ginny', 'Winifred', 'Winnie',
+], blank=False)
+
+initials = defaults.vowels + defaults.consonants
+
+
+class HopperName(types.NameGenerator):
+    """
+    A variant on the Common name generator. In the Dewa Q'Asos region,
+    nicknames are much more common, and while folks may still have multiple
+    given names, they tend to use initials, or omit their middle names
+    entirely.
+    """
+    def __init__(self):
+        super().__init__(
+            language=common.Language,
+            templates=types.NameSet(
+
+                # names without nicknames
+                (types.NameTemplate("given,surname"), 0.5),
+                (types.NameTemplate("given,initial,surname"), 0.75),
+                (types.NameTemplate("given,initial,initial,surname"), 0.5),
+                (types.NameTemplate("initial,given,surname"), 0.5),
+                (types.NameTemplate("initial,initial,surname"), 0.5),
+
+                # names with nickknames
+                (types.NameTemplate("nickname,given,surname"), 0.75),
+                (types.NameTemplate("nickname,given,initial,surname"), 0.5),
+                (types.NameTemplate("nickname,given,initial,initial,surname"), 0.25),
+                (types.NameTemplate("nickname,name,surname"), 0.5),
+                (types.NameTemplate("nickname,name,initial,surname"), 0.25),
+            ),
+
+            # these match the default Common language name generator
+            syllables=types.SyllableSet(
+                (types.Syllable(template="vowel|consonant"), 1.0),
+                (types.Syllable(template="consonant,vowel"), 1.0),
+            ),
+            suffixes=common.names.suffixes,
+
+            # add the nicknames, for which we use the list of NPC personality traits.
+            nicknames=defaults.personality + defaults.adjectives,
+        )
+
+    def get_initial(self):
+        initial = ''
+        while not initial:
+            initial = initials.random()
+        return initial.capitalize() + '.'
+
+    def get_given(self):
+        return given_names.random().capitalize()
+
+
+Name = HopperName()
+NobleName = Name
+
+
+class Human(npc.types.NPC):
+    """
+    A varianat human NPC type that generates names suitable for the dead sands.
+    """
+    language = common
+
+    @property
+    def name(self):
+        if not self._name:
+            self._name = Name.name()[0]
+        return self._name['fullname']
+
+
+# entrypoint for class discovery
+NPC = Human
diff --git a/deadsands/site_tools/shell/interactive_shell.py b/deadsands/site_tools/shell/interactive_shell.py
index 5a57d99..eabb5d2 100644
--- a/deadsands/site_tools/shell/interactive_shell.py
+++ b/deadsands/site_tools/shell/interactive_shell.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from site_tools.shell.base import BasePrompt, command
 from site_tools import campaign
 from site_tools import jobs
 from site_tools import striders
+from site_tools import hoppers
 
 from reckoning.calendar import TelisaranCalendar
 from reckoning.telisaran import Day
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ BINDINGS = KeyBindings()
 
 ANCESTRY_PACK, ANCESTRIES = npc.load_ancestry_pack()
 ANCESTRIES['strider'] = striders
+ANCESTRIES['hopper'] = hoppers
 
 
 class DMShell(BasePrompt):