Information

Namesake
Legacy Name: Namesake

The Hydrus Telenine
Owner: Nrogara

Age: 12 years, 9 months, 3 weeks

Born: June 21st, 2011

Adopted: 6 years, 8 months, 3 weeks ago

Adopted: July 22nd, 2017

Nominate Pet for Spotlight

Statistics

• Level: 94
   
• Strength: 203
   
• Defense: 102
   
• Speed: 66
   
• Health: 174
   
• HP: 169/174
   
• Intelligence: 135
   
• Books Read: 130
• Food Eaten: 269
• Job: Ore Miner

The problem is, of course, that there are too many stories to tell. I have lived a great and long life, and I am sure it will only stretch on longer. I am the Namesake; I am the one passed down, I am the one that keeps happening, over and over until no one can remember what name I am holding, so, I am simply my title. That is why I have now left my community, which was dwindling and dying anyway, and have not sought another one in the sea. Now I exist on land. Perhaps, away from my kind, no one will pass on down to me. Perhaps, at long last, I will finally die. I do not hold too tightly to that dream though. I have tried to leave before. They are always pulling me back. And some new heart will move through me, and I will find vigor for life again.


In the past I have been a blacksmith. Usually I am a blacksmith, or an ironsmith, or someone else who is strong and works with their hands. Now though, I am itching to write. I'm not sure if it is a name in me that is wanting to write, or if I'm finally free enough of names for my true self to shine through. Whichever way it is, I now have this strong desire to write down every story that I have ever lived, or witnessed, or partnered in. Stories of fantasies, too. Things that might have been, so many "what if?" questions… But how do I have the time? I'm still a warrior in my blood, that never changes, and though I've left the realm of the sea, I still have a clan, and that clan takes looking after. I'm their protector and a fellow breadwinner (we all work to eat here), and my brother, who wrote to me and invited me to stay, knowing of my situation- he needs training, and we need to buy weapons, or else make them, and I have new fighting tactics to learn, the kind that will work on the land… there is so much to be done! But also so many stories to write. And you may well say, “well, you have lifetimes to write them!” But the problem is that the lifetimes keep happening. Every day, I have more things to write down. The pile never gets any smaller; only larger and larger, till I'm so overwhelmed that I find myself incapable of writing anything at all.

I don’t talk about my record keeping tendencies, but everyone in my new family seems to know about them anyway. Zvi buys me books about writing, Rakover adds quills and ink to the shopping list every week, Absolum is always trying to catch me at work so he can make sure I am saying good things about him, and Torion tries to make sure I have enough free time everyday to at least get a little bit of something written down. Everyone knows better than to ask me about it directly though. They all know my temper, and my great love of privacy.

It’s a strange clan, this little family that my brother has invited me into. It is only just beginning, and they are all unsure of each other yet, and are often fighting. We are quite poor, and spend a lot of time working at our various tasks. Besides my intense training regimes, I also work at the candy shop. It’s a strange job for me, but right now I'm a flavor tester, and I do have quite sensitive taste buds, so it works out alright, I guess. It’s what Rakover found for me. He’s the head of the group, and enjoys bossing us around probably a little too much. He’s also in charge of finances. Zvi seems to be in charge of new membership, however, and refuses to be bossed much. With her, Rakover has to negotiate, and I’m surprised that he tolerates it so well. They’ve been together the longest out of all of us, however, so perhaps they have an understanding.

Absolum is primary transportation, and when Rakover goes on shopping trips, Ab is charge of taking those things home again. He also runs the shop on weekend mornings, which is full of all the random things Zvi has picked up through the week as favors for running errands, and which none of us have any need for. They are usually ugly clothing items or useless knick knacks. We don’t get a whole lot for them, but at least they're not cluttering up the house. Zvi insists on keeping all the bean bags and plushes, and the main room is completely full of them. They are assembled in a plush tower, you can't get through the room without stepping on them and climbing over them, and so Rakover, in frustration, has made that her room. She sleeps on her pile of plushes like a king on his throne, and seems quite contented. She is dragonborn, after all. It’s only natural that she likes collecting things. It’s just that none of us would have guessed at this being her obsession.

Torion is her primary companion and also works part time at the kennels. He’s stormborn, and still trying to get a rein on his powers, so whenever he's not following Zvi around or scrubbing kennels or practicing making it rain, he's reading books about nature and water and the sky; phases of the moons, patterns of the stars, tides of the oceans… anything that he thinks might help him understand his abilities better. Or help him understand my culture and where I come from. He reads far too many books about the ocean to just be learning about rain, though he’s never told me that is what he’s doing. He will be hard pressed to understand the Hydrus from books though; we don’t tend to write many, so the books that do exist are by outsiders, who only see us as if through a peephole. Even in the stories that I write, I do not tell our secrets. There are some things you do not deserve to know unless you have lived there.

Torion is my only true living relative, but we have never actually lived together before now. He is quite a bit younger than me, though not near as young as our clan mates. We have always written back and forth to each other, because our parents died when he was a pup, so he set out to find all his siblings, and I was the only one that ever kept up with replying to his letters. I don’t know why I did; I'm not a kind or sentimental being, but I suppose it's a matter of loyalty. Our other siblings have gradually gone missing on dangerous quests, or died of disease or war. We are the only ones remaining. So when my community was shrinking and I was sick of the sea, and he wrote me to tell me that during his wanderings, he had found a small group of intellectuals who might be able to help him in his path, and asked if I might like to join them, I took his offer. I climbed out of the sea, for the first time since I became a Hydrus, all those long, long decades ago, and joined him on the land. There are days when my bones still ache from the different atmosphere, but my body is adjusting well. I like the land; I'm not sure where the intellectuals are that he spoke about, but I'm enjoying the change of scenery.


I haven't always lived in the sea, of course. Before you join the sea, you must voyage the sea, and if you voyage the sea long enough, eventually, it will swallow you up. It will make itself your mother and your home, and you will dwell in it so long and so entirely that you will forget all other life exists. At least, for awhile, until you start dreaming of ships again, or some far away brother begins to write to you.

Perhaps, when I'm done living on the land, I will go back the ships for awhile. I remember enjoying my time there. I remember the ocean breezes and the salt drying in my fur and and the songs we used to sing, and how tired and sore and contented I was at the end of every day. Or course, it might be nostalgia. It might be that I enjoyed it at the time because I was young. But we of the sea age well. I am only stronger than I was before. Perhaps, this time round, I would be a captain. Perhaps I would run my own trade route, or perhaps I would live a pirate and raid trade ships. Perhaps I would sail a military vessel, and order about uniformed soldiers.

When I write fantasy tales, this is what they usually consist of. Ships and pirates and uniforms. Gold and song and wind.

[Namesake would like to post a PSA about the Southern Resident Killer Whales]

Please don't buy endangered Pacific salmon, or farmed Atlantic salmon, which are farmed in sea nets and spread disease to the local fish! The southern resident whales depend on the salmon as their only food source, and are slowly starving thanks to overfishing, disease, and dams that block the salmon's breeding runs. You can help by only buying wild Atlantic and Alaskan salmon (or simply not buying salmon at all), and by adopting an orca via the link above! Some good instagram accounts to follow to learn about ongoing petitions, and for information about where to send letters, are @pnwprotectors, @coextinctionfilm, @jenrichardsart, and @searchingforchinook. They also post awesome pictures of the orcas!

[Namesake is passionate about the ocean and her creatures, and is grateful for any and all help in sustaining them!]

Pet Treasure

Pet Friends