Tuft is the son of a Sea Gypsy dolphin and a seal. It was a short term relationship when his mothers pod passed through the area. Though his parents relationship didn't last, both remained friendly to each other and worked together to raise Tuft.

Tuft's real name is in the Cetacea language of squeaks and clicks and doesn't translate into English. His father, being unable to speak Cetacean, took to calling his son "Tuft" or "Tuff" due to the cute tuft of fur he had on his head from a young age.

Though Tuft was like his mother, with flippers and tail. His hybrid physiology made him unable to speak the Cetacean language or any of its dialects. He learned to understand it from an early age, but being unable to speak it limited his social interaction with his mothers pod. While he enjoyed his summers with his mother, traveling the ocean without technology and hunting for their own food, he knew his future wasn't with the pod.

His father took care of Tuft during the school year. Without hands, doing schoolwork was difficult for him, but it didn't bother him greatly. His flexible seal neck gave him a decent amount of reach and he could write using a pencil in his mouth.

During socialization time with his fellow aquatics, he met Leonard the water dragon. The two became good friends. Despite not having legs himself, Leonard did what he could to help move Tuft around when needed. Tuft didn't mind being immobile on land. He could use his flippers and muscular tail to scoot himself around if absolutely needed. His seal skin and fur handled being out of the water well.

As young adults, Leonard and Tuft stayed in contact. Leonard went into deep underwater welding and ROV recovery/repair. Tuft went into the fishing industry as a seahand, helping herd fish into nets and other tasks. His purely aquatic body was perfectly suited for the work. He was a highly desirable person to hire on the smaller vessels that were too small to have a "wet fishbowl" for seahands that could only breathe water or needed to be kept in water when not working. Tuft was perfectly content being kept in even the smallest of "dry fishbowls". They didn't bother him one bit.

Not long after the two began their working lives, Leonard contacted Tuft with some interesting news. Leonard had been looking into getting a wheelchair that was controlled by passive nerve-coms. Doing his research, he found out about the newest implantable cynernetics and thought they would be perfect for someone like Tuft. Continuing their research together, Tuft liked the idea more and more. Together, they got Tuft setup to receive a joycom implant. After recovering from the operating and completing training, Tuft now had what was basically a console controller implanted into his head. A pair of XYZ inputs and a number of function inputs controlled purely by thought let Tuft enjoy many activities for the first time. He and Leonard had an absolute blast playing video games together, perfect practice for learning to use his implant.

With this new ability, Tuft became even more effective at his work. Instead of only having a one-way radio when working at sea, he could now operate a two-way radio to better coordinate with the crew on the fishing boat. He could also have lights and other functions added to his work harness. When not working, he could use a laptop or tablet from his fishbowl to operate the vessels sonar in the search for fish. This was a big deal on smaller boats that didn't have a dedicated person on the sonar.

Tuft is quite happy with how his life has turned out, being able to make a good living with his powerful aquatic body. He's still learning how to use computers and other technology better, excited to make the most of his implant.

This cute ref sheet was drawn by the talented  caribou