One of Cjay’s favorite childhood books was Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent, by Bill Peet.
In the book, Cyrus the sea serpent is a loser, floating around the ocean all day not knowing what to do with himself. A shark challenges him to sink a ship, and he agrees, to prove that he is tough. As the next ship is about to leave port, and old man tells them, they will never make the difficult journey across the ocean. Cyrus immediately forgets he was supposed to sink the ship and starts to follow them to make sure they are okay.
After secretly rescuing them from many dangers at sea, he eventually reveals himself when their mast is broken by a pirate attack, and they are drifting aimlessly. He starts to pull on their anchor chain. Oh no, a terrible monster, surely he will eat us, they say!
However they soon realize he is only there to help. After many days and nights of swimming he finally pulls them all the way to shore, becoming a hero.
Cjay loved how this book challenged assumptions of what a monster was, and how the things that seem to be there to hurt us might actually be there to help.
Looking for a more adult story that might have similar inspiration, she searched through myths from the West. However deep the backstory, all the Sea Serpents were monsters that simply wanted to destroy ships and eat sailors. So she looked to the East, and there she found Nagas.
Nagas are legendary creatures throughout Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. They are generally half human half serpent deities, and their purpose is to protect treasure, knowledge, and waterways from people who would otherwise misuse them.
Here she had found her story!
Naga…
Our Naga is a treasure protecting serpent on a mission. Like the Nagas of the East his purpose is to protect knowledge and treasure from those who might misuse it. However Naga is just his name.
Naga is not a half snake half human diety, and he is not Asian. He’s an evolution of Cyrus… a lost soul who found a purpose and strength in being a protector.
And yes Naga is a boy, because the name for a female Naga is Nagini… and that’s the snake from Harry Potter.
As we are lacking any positive snake mythology in the West, Naga is taking inspiration from the East to find what lurks in our shadows and reconsider it’s purpose. He is also there to make us question what treasure really is, and if we are ready to handle the great power that comes with it.
Also, he loves hugs and blowing bubbles :)
The Captainess
What would a Sea Serpent be without a shipwreck?
Knowing Naga could only be half the story, Cjay approached two of her best friends, incredible builders Stephanie Shipman and Jackie Scott.
”I want to build a Sea Serpent, do you want to make a Shipwreck?”
YES
So Naga and the Captainess was born.
The Aldrovanda
We knew we didn’t want the ship to be a pirate ship. It’s just SO overdone. Of course we wanted a female captain- let’s shake up the story! and found a small number of women sailors (and pirate captains) throughout history.
Steph and Jackie wanted their Captainess to be an adventuress, a biologist, a botanist, and we threw in some archaeology for fun- a renaissance woman whose love of travel and exploration needed funding, so she ferried cargo to different ports of call.
Her ship is pieced together from parts of other ships- a Frigate in the front, a Galleon in the back, and the name of her vessel is the Aldrvanda, the world’s only free floating, salt water carnivorous plant- found in all oceans of the world!
