You know, my little NES page is coming up to be 5 years old, and in its half-decade year of history, along the way, a few inquisitive souls have asked about the origin of my mysterious AOL Screen Name. Now is high time to find out.

Back in early December of 1994, I went with my friend Jason to watch the re-release of The Lion King (hereafter, LK). I had missed its original summer release while summer-vacationing in Puerto Rico after my 8th grade graduation. The Burger King commercials in Spanish didn't fail to remind me of all the LK glasses I'd miss. I was too busy playing Super Metroid and Joe and Mac 2 anyway. As the film transipired that December eve, I was majorly impressed. It was like nothing I had ever seen animated. I selected the hyenas as my favorite characters; one in particular, the female named Shenzi, voiced by Whoopi Goldberg. As I wrote in my journal that night, I was trying to bring up her name, but instead scrawled "...sinyasi?..." before going to bed.

My mom got me a pack of LK cards shortly after, and on December 5th, 1994, I created a mammal-like reptile enemy for my series of game ideas and stories. The original creature was designed directly after LK's hyenas, and these deadly, insurmountable, ridge-backed creatures were given the name Sinyasi. Originally, males and females were respectively known as Male Sinyasi and Female Sinyasi. That would eventually change.

The hierarchy of Sinyasi groups was set up likewise to living hyena; there would be a lead female of the pack, the clan matriarch. Applying that fact, I designated Female Sinyasi as the stronger of the species, with a Female Sinyasi Queen reigning over the entire Sinyasi species.

Fun Fact: In a mated pair of Sinyasi, the Female kills the Male after serving his true purpose, and she then sets him aside as her offspring's first meal. Sinyasi need not know any foolish human conceptions of cannibalism, you frivolous fools!

1995 brought a drastic change in the looks and labels of Sinyasi.

During the February winter break, I decided to have the Sinyasi shed their grey pelts, revealing smooth, red, micro-scaled, purple slash-patterned skin underneath. The back ridges were also removed, giving them a more natural contour. They were given longer, reptilian tails and peach-crayon skin tones on the areas of their face, neck, chest, and stomach.

Female Sinyasi were given a yellow-blond mane in place of the coarse, black dorsal fur of their original look. They also had a pouch around the stomach area where the inky-black Sinyasi "puppies" would be born. This gave the mammal-like reptile a marsupial quality absolutely unheard of in mammal-like reptiles.

Male Sinyasi differed from females in that a bluish-black gel substance replaced their eyes. These 'eyes' were shaped in such a way that Male Sinyasi appeared to be wearing sunglasses. Male Sinyasi were also void of the long mane of the Females, making Males essentially bare.

Finally, Sinyasi were granted the ability to move in both bipedal and quadrupedal positions.

While in Puerto Rico for the summer of 1995, I considered the following; ...chickens...roosters...roosters are obviously male chickens... ...especially when you boldly walk up and swipe at them. I applied this female-male terminological factor to the Sinyasi species.

Chicken is to Rooster as...

...Sinyasi is to Sinyaso.

Thus, Sinyaso is the term used for a male of the Sinyasi species.

Boom. Question answered.

Along the way, I made Sinyasi the common ancestor of its worlds living creatures, gave them more powers, and created their relatives, Siyena, Genubity, Genobity, and Kaliraviot.

And here's an answer to a question unasked. Sinyaso, Sinyasi, Siyena, Genubity, and Genobity are (C) 1995~2006 by Eric Roman. Create your own blasted creature.