Location The Protea Inn

[Tazrae]

General Information

On the edge of the beach, just around the gentle southeastern curve from the dock, lies an L-shaped Inn built on solid land where the jungle meets the sea. Named for the beautiful protea flowers that grow wild all over the jungle, The Protea Inn rests in close proximity of The Syka Commons just off the Cobbled Pathway. This bed and breakfast is an ideal location for visitors to stay a few nights or for new settlers to get temporary housing while they are settling themselves in.

Starting out as a modest place with only six rooms ground-floor rooms, an extensive deck system, and a singular gathering spot inside adjacent to the kitchen, The Protea Inn has now expanded to a second floor which includes three deluxe luxury suites. Extensive use has been made of materials available in and around Syka. The decks are covered with woven palm fronds and thatch to provide shade, which is much needed in the tropical sun.

The second-floor suites are accessible via spiral staircases that connect their balconies to the open ground-floor decks.

Rather than glass windows, the Inn features openings that allow sea breezes to cool the rooms. Storm shutters are hung on every opening, allowing the Inn to be sealed up in times of bad weather. The Innkeeper never, however, closes them to the simple rain. She believes the rain renews everything around them and is often cheered by the sound of the droplets hitting the wooden roof.

Being L-shaped, the Inn features two rooms on the short side of the structure and four rooms on the long side. Each room can house two comfortably, and Tazrae had pallets available for children who do not want to stay in their own rooms.

The furniture is all bulky heavy jungle built sets constructed of hardwoods and dressed with off-color linens. Tazrae's decore taste runs to minimalism with bright spots of color and woven reed rugs. She adds color in the form of shells, vases, and unusual stone or driftwood. Many of the pieces she considers art are made into functional furniture peices such as driftwood towel racks and coat hangers.

The Protea Inn is very pet friendly and has wild bird feeders scattered about its grounds. The Innkeeper, Tazrae, loves growing flowers and keeps a multitude of them in containers and planted along the margins of the Inn. She often claims she has over forty varieties of tropical flowers growing around The Protea Inn.

There is also a chicken coup located outside on the northern short edge of the lawn facing away from the sea. The chickens provide fresh eggs and meat for the Inn. Tazrae keeps a variety of the birds and seemingly has different individuals at different times depending on which hens are laying well and which are relieved of egg duty for slacking and end up in a stew pot. She's quite attached to her good layers, but has to guard the whole chicken area from industrial predators that like both chickens and eggs as much as the Innkeeper does.

Her acquisition of these flowers has been exacerbated by the fact she often trades meals for plants if those that venture into the jungle find something new and bring it to her unharmed with roots included.

Occupied rooms are cleaned daily and flowers are placed on tables both inside the suites and on the deck tables. Planters filled with flowers line the deck for decor. There are also seashells scattered about, made into wreaths or used in other creative ways. Large conch shells have been filled with wax and turned into candles. Linens are changed once a seven-day or when guests check out. There are glass jars filled with seaglass set strategically in unglassed window cases designed to catch the light and spread color throughout the guest rooms.

Tazrae makes every effort to create a menu that caters to the needs of the guests and serves that menu three times a day or as often as they need sustenance. Baking is a hobby of Tazrae's, so there are usually treats available in the gathering room along with tea and freshwater.

The Protea Inn has a water catchment system that collects and filters rainwater from the roof of the main structure and decks. This is what Tazrae uses for drinking water. All wash water is drawn from a well. Wash water is available in all the bathrooms, but only the drinking water is available in the gathering room. Guests are advised to fill up their canteens before leaving to explore Syka for the day.

Guests may select their own rooms. They are free to come and go at will since The Protea has no locks on its doors to bar people from the outside from getting in. Each room has a hand written booklet that has a 'What To Do In Syka' Guide. The Guide includes a map, notable areas, where food and drink can be acquired, and the location of the Mercantile. A complete list of holidays and traditions, and warnings about the jungle, the birds, snakes, and sunburns.

Layout :

First Floor Rooms



Second Story Suites

Prices

Room Rates:

Seasonally the Guest Rooms rent for 120 gold per season (2 adults max).
Seasonally the Moon Suite rents for 250 gold per season (2 adults max).
Seasonally the Suvan Suite rents for 300 gold per season (2 adults max).
Seasonally the Sun Suite rents for 350 gold per season (4 adults max).

Other rates can be arranged if less than a season is required. Each room has a large double bed, dresser, desk, and access to a shared restroom that comes with fresh towels. Linen is replaced weekly or when guests move out and new guests come in.

Suites have separate bedrooms, walk-in closets, fireplaces, and a communal seating area. Private balconies overlooking the sea and jungle are also included in the Suite prices.

All rooms have access to the kitchen area and have meals included in their stay.

All guests have access to the guest and main decks, the gathering space indoors, and an outdoor fireplace. Use of the outdoor shower and tours of the Reptile Garden are available. There is a fire pit down on the sand. Games are available to be utilized on the deck or beach and include chess, checkers, decks of cards, bocci ball, and a few other things... just ask.

Please arrange IN THREAD to rent a room from Tazrae. Do not assume you are staying at the Inn unless you have a conversation with the Innkeeper.

Meals:

Each guest can expect a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner that comes with their rooms. Breakfasts and dinners are fleshed out fully cooked affairs. Lunches are 'grab your own' or sandwiches pre-made in the icebox. Taz will make up picnic baskets upon request or other travel-friendly things. Non-guests can drop by and enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner on the main deck for 1 gold a meal. Meals consist of hearty home cooking with fresh bread, a main dish, and dessert included. Tazrae will not let anyone leave hungry, so seconds are encouraged. Drinks taken without meals are a couple of silver apiece and are served with complimentary fruit and snacks dependent upon what Tazrae has freshly baked or on hand. Running tabs can be opened if people are local Sykans and not visitors to the city.

Guests have access to snacks around the clock. Tazrae often has cookies, brownies, scones, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, small finger sandwiches, and snack foods free of charge for those that get hungry outside of dinner areas.

Other Services:

The Protea Inn can accommodate - on its beachfront, main deck, or gathering room - things like parties, weddings, and other special occasions. Tazrae will also cater to special events offsite if her cooking is required.

Tazrae offers Settlement Tours, referrals for a Massage off-site, and Storytelling as part of the package involved in staying at The Protea.

Since flower growing is one of her hobbies, Tazrae is also happy to provide bougets of flowers from her own personal gardens around the Inn for varying rates. Most of her flowers consist of Protea, Blood Flower, Trumpet Vine, Canna, Taro, Sweet Potato, Cassia, Salvia, Blanket Flowers, Amaryllis, Elephant Ears, Spider Plants, Yucca, Begonia, Jade Plants, Powder Puff Trees, Rose Grapes, Anthurium, Bird of Paradise, Ficus, Peace Lilies, Crota, Aloe Vera, Philodendron, Orchids, Palms, and Violets.

In the Fall of 520 A.V., Tazrae added a dock to the property. The two-part dock has a fixed edge leading down to a tie-off shackle piling dock that ends in a sixteen by sixteen-foot palapa. The dock itself is roomie enough for multiple casinors to tie off too. At its lowest, barring extreme tides, it is ten feet deep. The dock averages well above the ten-foot mark on an average day making larger boats able to tie off. The end - where the palapa is covered with palm frond - is the perfect setting to watch the sunrise or fish.

Tazrae has added a fish cleaning station on one edge and a large bench in the center to relax on. The palapa is a perfect place to set lobster traps or set crab pots. A great deal of her seafood comes from the end of this dock once it was built. And after particularly large clam digs, she often hangs mesh bags of the bivalves from pilings so as to clean the clams letting them filter feed in the clear turquoise water.

There are paddleboards and paddles for guest use. There is also fishing equipment and crab/shrimp/lobster pots. Tazrae also has kites, balls, and rackets, horseshoes plus other fun things for the younger guests to enjoy.

There is a guest cupboard that is filled with games for rainy days. Guests will find cards, chess, checkers, and an assortment of other things within this cupboard. There are also a healthy supply of art supplies, writing materials, and toiletries such as bug spray, sunscreen, sunburn cream, and toothpaste in case items have been forgotten. Soaps, shampoos, and other items are provided free of charge in the bathrooms and shower area.

In the same season as the dock was added, Tazrae helped Randal Zor build a series of snake enclosures off the backside of The Protea Inn. This area, called The Reptile Garden, is where Tazrae started a breeding program for Mussurana Snakes so she could increase the survival rate of snake eggs and release the young under favorable conditions throughout the Settlement. Mussurana snakes are known for the fact they prey on other snakes - especially pit vipers and other venomous species - to help control both the dangers of snakebite so close to the Settlement and keep the rodent population down.

Although Mussurana's fangs contain venom, these snakes pose no danger to humans and other sentient races. Even when handled they usually do not bite. They make good snakes to dwell among humans, within their crops, and to protect their food supplies.

Tazrae's interest in Herpetology came about when she was bitten by an eyelash viper at Kihala's Shrine and almost lost her life. She decided then and there to fight nature with nature and do something about the infestation of very toxic snakes among Syka's settlement. Her Reptile Garden is a work in progress with new enclosures added as needed.

NPCs:

While Tazrae is around and available to rent a room from, the denizens of Syka can always count on certain NPCs to be at The Protea at any given time to interact with. These NPCs are city NPCs and are thus available for interaction without specific permission. Tazrae has Amira hired full-time to mind the Inn if she needs to be away. Amira does a lot of the cooking, all the cleaning, and generally fusses. She has a bossy nosey personality, one that is quick to offer an opinion or advice. Amira is also available to babysit as a spry grandmotherly or old auntie figurehead. Children like her and she likes them.

Abbas, while not employed at the Inn, is often found in the evenings playing instruments for the Common Room, on the deck, or out on the beach around The Protea. Tazrae feeds him and his wife for free. Children also enjoy his company and he is often seen with several trailing him. He puts them to work and gives free music lessons, especially to the orphans.

Nasir, their son, is around as well. He often plays with his father, but is not employed per say by the Inn itself. He's just a fixture watching over his aging parents and trying to find his way in Syka as a horse breeder who now lives in a place where there are no horses and never will be any. He's got his eye on the Jungle Ixam though and is learning about these reptiles with as much interest as he took to horse breeding. His father, Abbas, however, is deeply resistant of a reptile creature being the equivalent of a horse and more useful than one in this current environment.

 

Amira

Name: Amira Timari Kois
Race: Benshira
DoB: 471 A.V. (52)
PoB: Gold Lake - The Quas of the Kois.
Title: Assistant Innkeeper, Musician, Cook, Babysitter
Skills: Hostessing 75, Childcare 55, Teaching 45, Cooking 65, Play Musical Instrument (Quanoon) 45, Play Musical Instrument (Ney) 35, Play Musical Instrument (Riq) 50, Singing 27, Storytelling 33, Riding (Horse) 45, Animal Husbandry 35, Medicine 30, Cleaning 35, Sewing 40
Gnosis: None Revealed

Additional Info:

Amira spent her life in Gold Lake supporting her tribew and working diligently among the Timari branch of the Kois. When she was 16, she married Abbas and found love within that bond. Amira spent her life being a homemaker, a songstress, musician, an upstanding leader of her household, and bore Abbas multiple children. Of the eight, most stayed in or nearby. Abbas was a breeder of fine horses and a high caliber warrior, so they never lacked in perstige or for coin.

In the later years, their branch fell to disfavor as the Leadership of the Kois was compromised. Standing up against the compromised leadership earned them exile from not only Gold Lake but Eyktol itself. Aging, falling into hard times, the couple fled Eyktol and upon their exodus from Eyktol fell prey to slavers.

They ended up in the markets of The Outpost via Syliras' Dovecote.

Later, purchased by a Sykan Resident, Amira, her husband Abbas, and her son Nasir as a family unit were arranged to be delivered to Captain James of the Veronica where he would take them to Syka and too their freedom. Many of her children and grandchildren are still missing.

 

Abbas

Name: Abbas Timari Kois
Race: Benshira
DoB: 458 A.V. (65)
PoB: Gold Lake - The Quas of the Kois.
Title: Reknowned Horse Breeder, Swordsman, Musician, Timari Patriarc
Skills: Animal Husbandry 85, Riding (Horse) 80, Scimitar 75, Play Musical Instrument (Oud) 65, Play Musical Instrument ( Rabab) 60, Play Musical Instrument (Drum) 55, Singing 60, Planning 45, Strategy 40, Medicine 35
Gnosis: None Revealed

Additional Info:

Abbas grew up as if in a dream. The dream was strength, security, peace, and living among one of the most affluent and thriving tribes of the Benshira. He had the good fortune to be born to the Timari, some of the most renowned horse breeders in the world. His families horses were some of the best desertbred known to Mizahar. He learned the art of bloodlines, pairings, and training at the side of multiple generations of Timari Kois. It was his branch of the Kois that formed one of the cornerstones of the tribe. Horses in the desert equaled wealth and the ability to move fast, far, and smoothly.

Abbas grew to adulthood and then became one of the tribal leaders ruling his particular branch. He was tried and tested on the battlefield and a council member who advised Florentin Arcadius, the ruler of the Kois.

In the later years, their branch fell to disfavor as the Leadership of the Kois was compromised by an ancient foe who latched on to Florentin's form and crawled inside him like a parasite. Shortly thereafter, Sran’tuka began pulling the puppet strings of the entire Benshira clan. Standing up against the compromised leadership earned most of the Timari exile from not only Gold Lake but Eyktol itself. Aging, and falling into hard times, the Addas and his wife Amira fled Eyktol. And upon their exodus from Eyktol, they fell prey to slavers.

They ended up in the markets of The Outpost via Syliras' Dovecote.

Later, purchased by a Sykan Resident, Abbas, his wife Amira, and his son Nasir as a family unit were arranged to be delivered to Captain James of the Veronica where he would take them to Syka and too their freedom. Many of his children and grandchildren are still missing.

 

Nasir

Name: Nasir Timari Kois
Race: Benshira
DoB: 493 A.V. (30)
PoB: Gold Lake - The Quas of the Kois.
Title: Storm Warden, Horse Breeder, Warrior
Skills: Animal Husbandry 65, Riding (Horse) 70, Horse Bow 75, Play Musical Instrument (Guitar/Sintir) 65, Play Musical Instrument (Mizmar) 60, Play Musical Instrument (Bendir) 35, Singing 50, Planning 45, Strategy 40, Meteorology 55, Dagger 65, Saber 65
Gnosis: 2 Marks Zulrav

Additional Info:

Nasir is the son of Abbas and Amira Timari Kois

Nasir was born with a mark of Zulrav on the back of his neck. Later, another appeared in his early teens. His father always said he was born among the horses with a storm in his heart and the blood of the Timari Kois flowing through his blood. He took an early interest in meteorology, the sky, and how weather behaved.

Though he followed neatly in his father's footsteps, Nasir also forged his pathway in many ways. He learned the family business of breeding and raising horses. He became an excellent trainer and warrior among his people. One need not have the finest horses in the desert unless one can defend them.

Nasir enjoyed many years thriving among his people. He married young, often, and sired multiple children from numerous wives in his early twenties. As he approached his thirties, his luck changed. As the situation with the Kois became increasingly dangerous for the tribesman, Nasir lost wife after wife and multiple children to misfortune that seemed somewhat staged to get his family to fall in line.

In the later years, their branch fell to disfavor as the Leadership of the Kois was compromised. Standing up against the compromised leadership earned them exile from not only Gold Lake but Eyktol itself. Aging and falling into hard times, his parents fled Eyktol and fell prey to slavers upon their departure from Eyktol. Most of his branch followed and lost their lives, including Nasir's remaining wife and children. As a sort of revenge, he followed and vowed to kill everyone responsible for his family's death. But first, he went to rescue his parents. The move cost him his freedom and he ended up enslaved alongside them. The whole of the Timari lost their lives, and the three sole survivors ended up in the markets of The Outpost via Syliras' Dovecote.

Later, purchased by a Sykan Resident, Nasir, along with his parents Abbas and Amira, were arranged as a family unit to be delivered to Captain James of the Veronica, where he would take them to Syka and to their freedom. Many of his siblings and their children are still missing.