Tsaikatlaua
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:15 am
Player Name: Gia/Tovia (meaning I ain't new, so don't complain about Tsai being overpowered, okay?)
Name: Tsaikatlaua (sigh-khat-law-ah)
Age: 19
Race: Formally human, from Tzalxochitl
Physical: Gentle to look at, Tsaikatlaua stands at around 5 feet and 5 inches tall. Her skin is the color of burnt honey, and her eyes a lighter version of the same. Her hair is dark and wavy, usually tangled, though she keeps it pulled back into a braid. She moves very gracefully, both slightly sinuous like a snake and powerful like a great cat. She wears gold bracelets on her wrists and gold cuffs around her upper arms, with matching anklets. Gold hangs from her earlobes as well, carved intricately and delicately.
Her eyes have a slightly wild look to them most of the time, sort of the look a tiger would have if it was put into the body of a house cat. Her movements are economic and small usually, like she’s preserving energy. She often shivers a bit in the colder climate and appears tense most of the time, though she’s really just trying to keep her shivers to a minimum.
Normally Tsaikatlaua goes barefoot, but in colder climates she wears shoes and warmer clothing in order not to freeze. Her usual garb is brightly colored and loosely hanging, adorned with feathers and more gold. In and around Marn she wears clothing that she considers drab enough to blend in, though the dark browny-grey of it is shot through with violently colored stripes. It is rather eye-catching, and though Tsai is trying to blend in, she’s vain enough to keep it. She also makes no attempt to hide the gold jewelry.
Possessions: Tsai carries nothing with her, trusting the gods to provide as they see fit for her survival. She doesn’t worry about money, because although gold isn’t the currency of this part of the world, it still has decent enough value.
Powers: Tsai has been blessed by her gods and the guardians for her search. Her religion and what she believes in have given her the task of retrieving a book that was stolen from her people, and her gods have also gifted her with strange powers.
-can blend into shadows and forests like a jaguar
-her eyesight is equal to that of an eagle, almost microscopic at close range
-she is an excellent swimmer and can breathe underwater, though she doesn’t have gills
-her body is flexible enough to allow her to slip into places that seem unlikely for a human to get into, and she is also very strong and can crumple both bone and most metal
-she has been gifted with languages, and thus picks up most tongues and dialects very quickly. She also is capable of reading these languages after a few weeks of study.
-can turn stones into gold
-accomplished liar
-can shift into one of five animal forms (jaguar, anaconda, caiman, piranha, eagle)
-can call water in the form of rain or flooding (her will alone is enough to drive it without any preperation or rituals, but she needs a water source to draw from, and her range with this power is just under 50 miles)
-has an immense knowledge of poisons and toxins, both the use of these and how to extract, find, or create them.
Weaknesses: Tsai hates the cold weather. She functions best in the warm, humid jungles of her homeland and the colder climate of Thar Shaddin is trying for her.
She also is still young, and though gifted by the gods, she is prone to overlooking small details and only focusing on the big picture. She is quieter when she first meets people, and rather reserved with details about why she's in Marn.
Her understanding of typical culture in the Thar Shaddin region is sketchy at best. She knows how people in her land act, how they worships gods and use magic, and many ideas are strange to her. She is a quick learner, but the idea that magic is forbidden is appalling and very foreign for her, and it will take her a little while to get used to.
History: (a short history of the Keskaura people)
After the Changers came into power, with Piltzintlicoatl responsible for the lands of Tzalxochitl, the Keskaura people rose in the Changers’ favor, offering him anything he desired that they could give. He held a god-like status in the people’s eyes, though they still worshipped their own gods and the guardians of the jungle, the animals they believed the greatest gods had charged with defending and protecting the forests and rivers and skies.
By the time Farahu and Piltzintlicoatl started the fighting in the Changers War, the lands that the serpent changer governed were steeped in magic. The peoples, humans being the minority in the southern continent, revered magic and it was a daily part of their lives. They gave thanks and praises to both Piltzintlicoatl and the gods and what they called the guardians of the forest. There is no proof that the guardians exist, but the Keskaura believe they have special powers, more so than the other animals of the jungle.
The guardians had been appointed by the gods at the beginning of the world, the Tzalxochitl inhabitants believe, for the purpose of being defenders of the jungle-covered land and keeping its secrets. The jaguar was appointed guardian of the trees, piranha the river, caiman the link between the river and the land, anaconda the link between the land and the trees. The eagle was called on to be the guardian of the air. The gods gave the guardians the shapes best fitted to their tasks—jaguar its dappled coat and silent paws, eagle wide wings and harsh scream, ect.
The people of Tzalxochitl thought and still believe that the more magic one possesses, the more like a god they are. Shifters are particularly special because of the stories of the Changers, who were shifters themselves. The Keskaura revere themselves as the most godly and magical, because their stories have it that the serpent shifter was born from a daughter of their people and Quetzalcoatl himself. The presence of their god’s son among them, while Piltzintlicoatl reigned supreme among the Changers, was enough to boost the ego of the Keskaura people so much that they dedicated their whole tribe to the Changer, though they weren’t the only ones in the jungled land to do so.
Temples and pyramids and great stone statues were raised in his honor, and the Keskaura were among the most skilled stone and gold workers on the continent of Tzalxochitl, so the works were particularly fine. The story goes that the monuments were enough to draw Piltzintlicoatl’s attention back to his own people and charge them with the guarding of a book, and he commanded them to never allow anyone to read it. Why the book wasn’t simply destroyed is unknown. It appears as a book on history, life before the Changers and the origins of the Keskaura.
But of course, things are not as simple as that. The book appears as a history story, complete with illuminations and drawings and exaggerations, but the Keskaura myths say that it is a set of instructions on how to access the great power storm at the bottom of the continent. To speak of the book in Keskaura daily life is to be sacrificed to the gods in order to help keep it safe, and so it is very rarely spoken of.
It is the only book that the Keskaura have ever possessed that is a bound book—the Keskaura themselves do not know how to bind books, though they do have a very sophisticated style of writing. The writer of the book is unknown, as such things often are.
The book was giving to the Keskaura people for guarding when the Changers came to power and Piltzintlicoatl discovered its existence. The Keskaura built a temple and pyramid for the books’ protection and the true contents of the book were passed from caretaker to caretaker. The caretakers were charged with the ultimate guarding of the book, ensuring that no one even saw it.
The caretakers kept the book safe for centuries, but one evening as the caretaker was going in to check on the book and refresh the lights surrounding it he discovered it missing. He quietly left the temple and went to the palace of the ruler, informing the emperor that he had failed in his duty and that the book was taken. Then he committed suicide at the foot of the throne, disgraced as he was from failing his duty to the book, the people, and the gods.
Keskaura waited with bated breath for the loss of the book to come to the attention of the gods. They feared the reprisals, for though they had guarded the book faithfully for centuries, the gods and Piltzintlicoatl had tasked them to guard it forever.
The gods however, had a different plan. The loss of the book was a great blow to both divine beings and mortal ones, and the gods weren’t willing to risk a mortal who wasn’t loyal to them being able to call upon and wield the power of the southern spiral. They chose a young girl from the Keskaura and gifted her, tasking her to either return the book or die in the attempt, to spare her people from the wrath of the gods.
The girl was named Tsaikatlaua, one of the few ‘normal’ humans of the Keskaura. The gods chose a human to act on their behalf because she would, in theory, blend into the world where the book had gone better than a god or one of the other denizens of Tzalxochitl. The reasoning was that people would suspect less of a young, pretty girl than they would of one of the crazy magical beings that Tzalxochitl calls its own.
The gods gave Tsaikatlaua powers of the animals of the jungle, the anaconda, jaguar, piranha, caiman, and eagle. They also gave her the parrots’ power of language, enabling her to pick up most tongues easily and fluently within the span of a few days. The gods placed within her mind a knowledge of where the book was, an image of what it looked like, and the true contents of the book.
Tsaikatlaua had but a few days to acquaint herself with her new powers before the gods bade her to take eagle form and follow the knowledge of the book’s location, and she took to the skies. With the gods feeding her power she flew eastwards across the ocean, touching down to rest in what she merely refers to disdainfully as ‘Farahu’s Land.’ The people of Tzalxochitl despise Farahu, blaming him for the downfall and disappearance of their great Changer Piltzintlicoatl. Northeast over the sands led her to another great stretch of water, and she flew that as well, landing on the continent of Eyropa. She traded wings for feet and learned the basics of the most common language, working her way north, following her knowledge.
Her first sight of Thar Shaddin and Marn filled her with dislike of the place, with its cold wind and colder water. She finds Marn to be a dark and dismal place, far different from her jungles and warm city.
She is aware only of where the book rests in Marn, a large building she doesn’t know the name of. She will do anything necessary to reclaim the book for her people, and she must bide her time and assemble a small force of thieves and people with knowledge of the inside of the large, dank building.
Name: Tsaikatlaua (sigh-khat-law-ah)
Age: 19
Race: Formally human, from Tzalxochitl
Physical: Gentle to look at, Tsaikatlaua stands at around 5 feet and 5 inches tall. Her skin is the color of burnt honey, and her eyes a lighter version of the same. Her hair is dark and wavy, usually tangled, though she keeps it pulled back into a braid. She moves very gracefully, both slightly sinuous like a snake and powerful like a great cat. She wears gold bracelets on her wrists and gold cuffs around her upper arms, with matching anklets. Gold hangs from her earlobes as well, carved intricately and delicately.
Her eyes have a slightly wild look to them most of the time, sort of the look a tiger would have if it was put into the body of a house cat. Her movements are economic and small usually, like she’s preserving energy. She often shivers a bit in the colder climate and appears tense most of the time, though she’s really just trying to keep her shivers to a minimum.
Normally Tsaikatlaua goes barefoot, but in colder climates she wears shoes and warmer clothing in order not to freeze. Her usual garb is brightly colored and loosely hanging, adorned with feathers and more gold. In and around Marn she wears clothing that she considers drab enough to blend in, though the dark browny-grey of it is shot through with violently colored stripes. It is rather eye-catching, and though Tsai is trying to blend in, she’s vain enough to keep it. She also makes no attempt to hide the gold jewelry.
Possessions: Tsai carries nothing with her, trusting the gods to provide as they see fit for her survival. She doesn’t worry about money, because although gold isn’t the currency of this part of the world, it still has decent enough value.
Powers: Tsai has been blessed by her gods and the guardians for her search. Her religion and what she believes in have given her the task of retrieving a book that was stolen from her people, and her gods have also gifted her with strange powers.
-can blend into shadows and forests like a jaguar
-her eyesight is equal to that of an eagle, almost microscopic at close range
-she is an excellent swimmer and can breathe underwater, though she doesn’t have gills
-her body is flexible enough to allow her to slip into places that seem unlikely for a human to get into, and she is also very strong and can crumple both bone and most metal
-she has been gifted with languages, and thus picks up most tongues and dialects very quickly. She also is capable of reading these languages after a few weeks of study.
-can turn stones into gold
-accomplished liar
-can shift into one of five animal forms (jaguar, anaconda, caiman, piranha, eagle)
-can call water in the form of rain or flooding (her will alone is enough to drive it without any preperation or rituals, but she needs a water source to draw from, and her range with this power is just under 50 miles)
-has an immense knowledge of poisons and toxins, both the use of these and how to extract, find, or create them.
Weaknesses: Tsai hates the cold weather. She functions best in the warm, humid jungles of her homeland and the colder climate of Thar Shaddin is trying for her.
She also is still young, and though gifted by the gods, she is prone to overlooking small details and only focusing on the big picture. She is quieter when she first meets people, and rather reserved with details about why she's in Marn.
Her understanding of typical culture in the Thar Shaddin region is sketchy at best. She knows how people in her land act, how they worships gods and use magic, and many ideas are strange to her. She is a quick learner, but the idea that magic is forbidden is appalling and very foreign for her, and it will take her a little while to get used to.
History: (a short history of the Keskaura people)
After the Changers came into power, with Piltzintlicoatl responsible for the lands of Tzalxochitl, the Keskaura people rose in the Changers’ favor, offering him anything he desired that they could give. He held a god-like status in the people’s eyes, though they still worshipped their own gods and the guardians of the jungle, the animals they believed the greatest gods had charged with defending and protecting the forests and rivers and skies.
By the time Farahu and Piltzintlicoatl started the fighting in the Changers War, the lands that the serpent changer governed were steeped in magic. The peoples, humans being the minority in the southern continent, revered magic and it was a daily part of their lives. They gave thanks and praises to both Piltzintlicoatl and the gods and what they called the guardians of the forest. There is no proof that the guardians exist, but the Keskaura believe they have special powers, more so than the other animals of the jungle.
The guardians had been appointed by the gods at the beginning of the world, the Tzalxochitl inhabitants believe, for the purpose of being defenders of the jungle-covered land and keeping its secrets. The jaguar was appointed guardian of the trees, piranha the river, caiman the link between the river and the land, anaconda the link between the land and the trees. The eagle was called on to be the guardian of the air. The gods gave the guardians the shapes best fitted to their tasks—jaguar its dappled coat and silent paws, eagle wide wings and harsh scream, ect.
The people of Tzalxochitl thought and still believe that the more magic one possesses, the more like a god they are. Shifters are particularly special because of the stories of the Changers, who were shifters themselves. The Keskaura revere themselves as the most godly and magical, because their stories have it that the serpent shifter was born from a daughter of their people and Quetzalcoatl himself. The presence of their god’s son among them, while Piltzintlicoatl reigned supreme among the Changers, was enough to boost the ego of the Keskaura people so much that they dedicated their whole tribe to the Changer, though they weren’t the only ones in the jungled land to do so.
Temples and pyramids and great stone statues were raised in his honor, and the Keskaura were among the most skilled stone and gold workers on the continent of Tzalxochitl, so the works were particularly fine. The story goes that the monuments were enough to draw Piltzintlicoatl’s attention back to his own people and charge them with the guarding of a book, and he commanded them to never allow anyone to read it. Why the book wasn’t simply destroyed is unknown. It appears as a book on history, life before the Changers and the origins of the Keskaura.
But of course, things are not as simple as that. The book appears as a history story, complete with illuminations and drawings and exaggerations, but the Keskaura myths say that it is a set of instructions on how to access the great power storm at the bottom of the continent. To speak of the book in Keskaura daily life is to be sacrificed to the gods in order to help keep it safe, and so it is very rarely spoken of.
It is the only book that the Keskaura have ever possessed that is a bound book—the Keskaura themselves do not know how to bind books, though they do have a very sophisticated style of writing. The writer of the book is unknown, as such things often are.
The book was giving to the Keskaura people for guarding when the Changers came to power and Piltzintlicoatl discovered its existence. The Keskaura built a temple and pyramid for the books’ protection and the true contents of the book were passed from caretaker to caretaker. The caretakers were charged with the ultimate guarding of the book, ensuring that no one even saw it.
The caretakers kept the book safe for centuries, but one evening as the caretaker was going in to check on the book and refresh the lights surrounding it he discovered it missing. He quietly left the temple and went to the palace of the ruler, informing the emperor that he had failed in his duty and that the book was taken. Then he committed suicide at the foot of the throne, disgraced as he was from failing his duty to the book, the people, and the gods.
Keskaura waited with bated breath for the loss of the book to come to the attention of the gods. They feared the reprisals, for though they had guarded the book faithfully for centuries, the gods and Piltzintlicoatl had tasked them to guard it forever.
The gods however, had a different plan. The loss of the book was a great blow to both divine beings and mortal ones, and the gods weren’t willing to risk a mortal who wasn’t loyal to them being able to call upon and wield the power of the southern spiral. They chose a young girl from the Keskaura and gifted her, tasking her to either return the book or die in the attempt, to spare her people from the wrath of the gods.
The girl was named Tsaikatlaua, one of the few ‘normal’ humans of the Keskaura. The gods chose a human to act on their behalf because she would, in theory, blend into the world where the book had gone better than a god or one of the other denizens of Tzalxochitl. The reasoning was that people would suspect less of a young, pretty girl than they would of one of the crazy magical beings that Tzalxochitl calls its own.
The gods gave Tsaikatlaua powers of the animals of the jungle, the anaconda, jaguar, piranha, caiman, and eagle. They also gave her the parrots’ power of language, enabling her to pick up most tongues easily and fluently within the span of a few days. The gods placed within her mind a knowledge of where the book was, an image of what it looked like, and the true contents of the book.
Tsaikatlaua had but a few days to acquaint herself with her new powers before the gods bade her to take eagle form and follow the knowledge of the book’s location, and she took to the skies. With the gods feeding her power she flew eastwards across the ocean, touching down to rest in what she merely refers to disdainfully as ‘Farahu’s Land.’ The people of Tzalxochitl despise Farahu, blaming him for the downfall and disappearance of their great Changer Piltzintlicoatl. Northeast over the sands led her to another great stretch of water, and she flew that as well, landing on the continent of Eyropa. She traded wings for feet and learned the basics of the most common language, working her way north, following her knowledge.
Her first sight of Thar Shaddin and Marn filled her with dislike of the place, with its cold wind and colder water. She finds Marn to be a dark and dismal place, far different from her jungles and warm city.
She is aware only of where the book rests in Marn, a large building she doesn’t know the name of. She will do anything necessary to reclaim the book for her people, and she must bide her time and assemble a small force of thieves and people with knowledge of the inside of the large, dank building.