The Flightless Hippo

The Flightless Hippo

Over the years, my nation has slowly become synonymous with hippos, flightless or not. But where did it come from? Well, it's quite simple:

When I created my nation, I quickly thought of Sirocco as a name for it (explanations are in a previous blog: What's In A Name?), and made it a fiefdom because I live in the county of Fife, Scotland which is also where I was born, and chose the Belarussian flag because I liked it. The motto started out as 'Nullus Anxietas' ("No Worries") which I'd lifted from a book called The Last Continent. I later changed it to a motto of my own devising ("Don't ask me, I only govern here") which I have used ever since. The currency started out as "arm and a leg" but I soon changed it to IOU which it has remained as since.

The flightless hippo has never been changed as my national animal, as it's become a symbol of me which is apparently recognisable anywhere. But where did I get the idea from, I hear you ask, your thirst for knowledge overpowering my weak defences. The answer, as I've already said, is quite simple, and I was about to tell you it before you so rudely interrupted me.

Ahem.

I didn't get the idea from anywhere. It just sprung into my mind. I was thinking about putting something like 'winged cat' or 'seventy-foot tall turtle' or something improbable like that when I thought it would be amusing to give the animal a characteristic that while supposedly marking it out would be pointless because all the other types have it anyway. I thought of a hippo. What can't hippos do? Fly, of course! And thus, the flightless hippo was born.

A few weeks later, I was intrigued to find that a nation called 1 Infinite Loop was designing flags for people, and I thought 'Wow! That's great!' So I asked for a purple hippo with wings (the thought occured to me that it would be funny for a flightless hippo to have wings) against a yellow background. 1 Infinite Loop obliged, and I've kept the flag ever since.

The notion that after all the thought that went into the name, flightless hippos could fly, later struck me as amusing during an RP. And thus the confusion began whenever I talked about flightless hippos soaring through the midnight skies with grace and dignity and terrifying roars of bloodlust.

The eventual evolved description of the flightless hippo can be read here: The Flightless Hippo.

I reckon flightless hippos would look great on T-shirts or as soft toys, but sadly I'm pretty sure that if there were ever any NationStates merchandise they would not be included!