Opennopf Eriksonsonsonsonson
Nautical Inventor
Opennhopf was still a young Nerrid when he moved his his workshop permanently to Furnof. He had, in his youth, spent much time researching the newly discovered combustable rock known as "coal" and believed that its slow burning properties could be combined with a furnace that boiled water. That boiling water would, of course, give off heat that could be used as a source of energy. As Opennhof's true love - ever since he was a young Nerrid playing along the banks of Mole River - was boating - he had a theory that this steam energy could be used to oars and propel a ship.
He was, of course, correct. Building a ship with two strengly shaped, almost spherical paddles, he quickly became the envy of other Nerrid shipwrights in the Shrew's Maw until one day decided to attempt a longer journey in the Zennon Sea. With three apprenctices he set "sail", heading north in his paddle-ship. The voyage went swimmingly, his ship moving at speeds unheard of except by the fastest of clippers under the strongest of breezes. Unfortuatnely, around sunset, just as passed the point where the peninsula cuts sharply inward, he ran out coal. Adrift and floating toward the open sea Opennhopf elected to burn part of the wood on his ship inorder to restart his paddles. Hoping that he could generate enough fuel to reach short before he canabilized so much of the ship that it sank, he fed logs into the onboard furnace only to watch the wood explode into flame. Paddles moving furiously, they fanned the flames and soon the entire ship was engulfed, sinking in the bay that bears his name, with all but one hand lost.