Also for the orphanage. I didn't know if negative gnosis were allowed for NPC's or if the story concerning it is good enough to warrant a mark. If not, I can alter Japheth's history to get rid of his mark; I just thought it was an interesting touch.
Name: Shai Streeter (pronounced
shy)
Race: Mixed Blood (approx. 90% Human, 5% Dhani, 5% Eypharian)
DoB: 91st of Winter, 509 AV
PoB: Ahnatep
Title: Orphan
Skills: 23 Dance, 20 Acrobatics, 12 Escape Artist
Gnosis: --
Additional Info:Shai was born the son of a slave in Ahnatep. He hardly remembers his true mother, if at all; because of that, he's learned to accept others as family, and as such does not even feel his true family's loss.
When Shai was two years old, he was removed from his mother and sold to a new household in Ahnatep. Despite being so young --or perhaps because of it-- Shai adjusted well to his new surroundings, and found himself a favorite among his masters. There was a brightness about him --like a flickering, laughing flame-- that could not be quenched, and while he was small yet to perform many duties, his masters often kept him close out of their fondness for him. As such he learned bits about their interests, and soon adopted them: dancing especially, since he had a poor singing voice, and mild acrobatics.
However, it wasn't to last. Shai often changed hands, found to be more an amusement than a useful, working slave. He traveled with his numerous masters outside of Ahnatep, to Eloab, back to Ahnatep, and then finally up into the Sea of Grass.
There he was freed. A group of Akalak took control of the slave caravan Shai had become a part of
--traveling with his newest masters to be sold in Kenash-- and freed the lot, bringing them to their new home in Riverfall. Shai fell by the wayside, unable to properly care for himself due to his youth and inexperience at being on his own. He began to starve, and would have died had he not met another young boy in the city: Japheth, or as Shai came to call him, Mouse.
The two formed an instant bond, and helped one another through the most difficult of times, taking up the name 'Streeter' to declare themselves as brothers. And so they became. Soon enough the two were inseparable, sticking up for and keeping watch over each other, toughing it out in a city that had no use or sympathy for them. Shai, whose sparkling, boisterous personality subverted the implications of his name, kept Japheth's spirits up, as the older boy was prone to gloom and silence.
Because he was a slave, Shai holds the mark of a tattoo on his wrist that says
Minajim, or 'mine' in Arumenic. This he feels no ill will towards; like everything else in his life, Shai has accepted that the mark is what it is, taking it in stride.
Name: Japheth Streeter (prounounced
jay-feth; commonly called Mouse)
Race: Mixed Blood (Chaktawe, Drykas)
DoB: 79th of Fall, 508 AV
PoB: Eyktol
Title: Orphan
Skills: 27 Shortbow, 25 Fletching/Bowing, 12 Escape Artist, 10 Dagger
Gnosis: -1 Tatani (curse mark)
Additional Info:Japheth's mother was a Chaktawe who was banished from her tribe as a teenager for refusing to forfeit the title of Abayla. As she had been shucked from her people, his mother was forced to wander from group to group, but she never fit in due to her poor, contemptuous attitude. This changed when she met the man who would become her love, a Drykas who agreed to escort her over the Sea of Grass. The two fell quickly for one another with great passion, but despite this the young woman would not agree to live with the Drykas due to her dislike and distrust of community. With an aching heart Japheth's father agreed to leave his pavilion for his love, but to do so he was forced to go against the direct orders of his Ankal, and so he, too, was banished.
The two outcasts traveled as guides across Cyphrus and Eyktol and soon had a son, and though Japheth's father was a gentle man who mourned the loss of his culture, his mother was wicked and bitter. She constantly antagonized the gods that she had disowned, going so far as to wantonly attack and kill any birds that flew too close, or to attempt to poison or divert fresh waterways. Eventually enough was enough and she was punished by Eywaat for her impudence; however, because she held no true value for herself, only for her love and their child, Eywaat cursed the both of them instead.
The negative gnosis soon stole her love from her, for he turned on her now that he had been marked, unable to forgive her for what she had done to him and their boy. He left to beg forgiveness from the Drykas, taking Japheth with him, but when he returned to Endrykas he was not allowed to rejoin his pavilion. It was as the two were just coming to Riverfall --the nearest city-- that Eywaat's mark took his father's life, when he was attacked by a glassbeak. Japheth was only able to escape unharmed due to his father's sacrifice and the aid of the Akalak.
Because of his curse mark, Japheth had to learn to fight and provide for himself, as others tended to avoid him and the birds that constantly watched and harassed the boy. It was in the city that he found his only ally: Shai, whose bright outlook did not allow him to fear the birds, and who lent Japheth strength in his darkest times. The two boys became each other's family, and it was from Shai that Japheth earned the nickname Mouse, due to the rarity in which he spoke, because of his ability to sense nearby danger (a Chaktawe trait), and because of the birds that circled him overhead.
Mouse will not often speak and so Shai has learned to speak for him. He holds a deep anger towards his mother, who he knows caused all of his misfortune, though this does not manifest towards other people, only towards the birds that ceaselessly stalk him. He is viewed as a negative influence in the city because of his curse, and as such has earned the enmity of many of the people there.
