Why “Outer Hoard”?

So, why did I choose Outer Hoard as a name for a blog?

Dragons have hoards, and I’ve been known as “flesh-eating dragon” (and variations on that, such as 8′FED) on Usenet since some time in the nineties.

This all started in an email conversation with Marian Rosenberg in which she asked me, “May I assume that you have one of those wonderful Strine accents?“, and I replied, “You have my permission to assume absolutely anything you like“.

Marian replied, “In that case, I’ll assume that you’re an eight foot tall flesh-eating dragon wearing brilliant orange sneakers and a purple and green striped cape (with silver lining)“. I liked the idea, and I’ve used it as an online persona ever since.

A “hoard” implies a collection of miscellaneous stuff, which fits a blog nicely, but why “outer”? The way I look at it, a dragon’s true hoard (the inner hoard) is the big, well-protected pile of treasures in a cave, but there will probably also be a few treasures scattered outside the cave to serve as a lure for any tasty human beings who might be passing by. This is the outer hoard, for which this blog is named.

I really like Anitra’s description of a dragon’s role in life, as a guardian of creativity.