Disclaimer: None of the authors own Mass Effect or Sonic the Hedgehog.

Another snip by Masterweaver. And with this, we finally catch up to all the omakes that have been posted so far! Will there be more? If my readers or I feel like it, sure. And remember, you guys here can contact me via reviews or PMs if you're interested!

APOCRYPHA: Etymology and Politics – by Masterweaver

"...Can I ask you a question, Amy?"

"Oh, sure thing, Vilmis!"

"Why are you named Amy? I mean, as opposed to something like Sonic the Hedgehog, or Jewel the Beetle..."

Amy took a thoughtful sip of her tea. "Well now, that's a complicated question. Hmmm... Has anyone told you about how Bright discrimination used to be a thing?"

"Yes, I've been informed. Humans evolved sapience first, so when Brights first developed they were treated as animals."

"That's an oversimplification, but it does get the general gist across. Human/Bright relationships were tense in the ancient world. At best, we'd be seen as some sort of nature spirits. Actually, I think one of the four great civilizations worshipped Brights as gods, there are a lot of animal-headed statues in pyramids around the globe." Amy shrugged. "At worst, we were 'demonically possessed' and had to be put down for the good of the world."

"My goodness," Vilmis deadpanned, taking a sip of his own tea.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, those were the extremes. As times went on, things mellowed out a little, but that doesn't mean they were any more civilized. During the medieval period, for instance, the country that would eventually become Spagonia essentially treated us as domesticated animals that happened to talk. Which meant we would be given the same sort of names people would give pets. A dog bright with spots would be called Spot, a cat Bright with white fur might get the name Pearl... nouns, verbs, adjectives, but never 'proper' names."

"And this tradition spread out, I take it?"

"Mmyep. About... four hundred and fifty years ago, give or take a couple decades, Spagonia and its neighboring countries entered an imperial colonial period, competing with each other to 'colonize' the world and running roughshod over any culture that was already present in the area."

"A well known phenomena," Vilmis confirmed somberly. "Technological development can often make one nation feel that they are superior to their surrounding compatriots. And the allure of wealth can divorce people from the concept of empathy."

"Yep. Greed, arrogance, and power. Not going to lie, Spagonia did a lot of cultural destruction in those days. Robbed entire countries of their artifacts, forced everyone to speak english..." Amy shrugged. "But the same networks they forcefully established for trade also allowed their citizens to take vacations to other parts of the world, whereupon they would see with their own eyes that people were people no matter what."

"The very systems meant to reinforce bigotry would lead to its destruction."

"Yes, that's a very good way of putting it. Of course, it wasn't instantaneous, so what Brights would call ourselves was a big question that came up during the political movements. Some people were fine going with the noun/verb sort of name, only adding on their species as a way to give themselves a family name. Others looked for more specific 'impactful' names." Amy chuckled wryly. "Look up Revelation the Rat sometime if you want a really good example of that."

"Revelation the Rat?"

"A very, very controversial historical figure. Also something of a meme in modern times. Anyway, so that's where the X the Y sort of names come from, but it wasn't the only option Brights took. There were those who tried to give themselves names based on the scraps of their original culture that remained, to reclaim their identity. And then there were those of us who took english names, implicitly putting us on even footing with the primarily Spagonian culture of the time."

"And your family was one of those?" Vilmis asked.

"Yep. Five or six generations ago, Rosy the Hedgehog renamed herself Jennifer Rose." Amy smirked. "And she kept the name when she married, which was its own statement because a lot of traditions at the time tracked families patrilineally rather than matrilineally. And ever since then, the Rose family of hedgehogs have been around."

"Fascinating. You know, part of learning the languages of the Citadel that nobody thinks about is their cultural context?" Vilmis leaned back. "For instance, a salarian's full name includes, in order, our homeworld, nation, city, district, clan name and given name."

"Really? That... sounds more like an address, if I'm honest."

"It did start that way," Vilmis admitted. "And if I was a Quarian, my name would be Vilmis'Padmin nar Sur'kesh when I was born, and Vilmis'Padmin vas Letos after I joined a crew."

"They rename themselves after the ships they serve on?" Amy clarified.

"Oh yes. And the Hanar, well, they have face names and soul names, as well as very strict forms of grammatical politeness...