The Shipping Forecast

Rockall - Part 3

I'll pause here, little ones, to ask; do you know of the Bastions? I see from your aspect that you do, although you would never have seen one, which is a pity.

Even in my youth, Bastions were rarely seen outside the greater pod-shoals, and those that lived solitary lives were usually reluctant to come near any pod, large or small, and their behaviour was unpredictable. But the Bastions, whether the large blue kind, or the finner, or the round-back, or the strange, deep-dwelling moby, were majestic and wise. The Nam'bia at the time of this story had three large blues in its greater shoal, and we will meet them shortly. What you need to remember is that the Bastions were once, a long time ago, the first creates to reach sentience; to think beyond instinct and their next meal.

All other selves followed into sentience after, even us, and the other beings who think beyond their base nature came even later. The Bastions were the first, and they roamed for many lifetimes without meeting another sentient outside of their own kind. But whether it was the ability to know more than just the vague awareness of oneself, or whether it was the continuation of a decline already in train, the Bastions began to wane in numbers. Slowly, steadily, but inexorably the vast Bastion herds of the brine disappeared, and what few remained became silent and reclusive. The brine stopped ringing to the sound of Bastion-song long ago.

In my youth, those few that remained sane and still able to speak with reason resided in the greater pod-shoals of the brine, as we knew from the occasional meeting of a lone Bastion out on its own long ranging. At such times the bastions would converse, but little else. No issue was forthcoming from such meetings, much to our dismay. They lived unnaturally long lives. So long in fact, that the names of the last Bastions were given to them in the time before our own awakening to sentient thought, and even they had forgotten whether the names they had been given held any meaning. Consider the last Bastions of the Nam'bia; those of this very tale I tell you now. Namericasonn, Ghreynapnaize, and Wesafricanezsong. What meaning did those names convey? No self knew then, and no self knows now.

I tell you this to make sure you understand why the Bastions were so important; why they held such a place in the heart of the Nam'bia, and why the story I tell is one that should be remembered beyond even your own lifetimes, for future generations to come.