Are naiads common in Sparta? Or was Penelope kinda unique in that regard?
Technically, nymphs are everywhere there's nature. Or fountains. They are in the waters, the woods, the flowers, etc. Penelope isn't unique in that regard. Actually there's quite a few characters in general who have either had a nymph as a wife OR who's mother was a nymph. (it's mostly naiads and dryads though)
And for Sparta, it's very near Eurotas River, big AF river so there's lots of nymphs there. Nymphs are technically everywhere and much more "ingrained" in the myths than most think I believe.
Penelope is a fairly special case in a way, because if you go with the whole "Penelope is 75% nymph, because her grandmother is Bateia." that means that a LOT of the "royal" family (as it's Tyndareus and Icarius who have nymphblood) has a lot of nymph heritage. I've always had fun playing with that as that means the ties to humans could be somewhat closer than in other places who may not marry or start families with nymphs as often.
Penelope is technically not "unique" in terms of children of nymphs, it also depends on where or when and how silly you wanna get with the lore with it. I mean there's probably plenty more folks who are born from nymphs mythos. Heck there's a random guy in the Iliad in Book 21 who is a child of a river.
[...]charged Asteropaeus, son of Pelegon, born to the broad river Axius and Acessamenus’ eldest daughter, Periboea. The deep swirling river had had sex with her.
(Book 21, Ian Johnston)
So like, Penelope's whole family is "unique" if you go with the "Bateia is Tyndareus and Icarius' mother" route in a way, and then play with the whole "many nymph/mortal marriages" idea then yeah. But eh, you know. It depends on tbh. And in general there's not a lot of "concrete" stuff either way. just gotta research stuff and then find what you want.
