Seju

[Seju]

Seju (Say-ju) Age: 26 (17 Fall, 487AV) Race: Human Height: 5'9 Weight: 152 lbs

Seju is quick and sinewy, with a scruff of hair that's shaved on the sides, leaving it untidy on the top. The slant of his jaw is grim, and his eyes are umber. They look out from reddish lids. His left brow is cleft by a scar, as is the corner of his lower lip. There are minor lacerations over his arms and ribs, in addition to a puckered scar below his left clavicle, and another along his right thigh. He has a silver ring through his left earlobe, while below a hide strip fastens a bronze trinket around his neck. He favors a girdle of metal rings stitched over padding, which is partially covered by hides painted like devil's ribcage. There are greaves for his legs. Seju's right arm is cradled by a sleeve of segmented leather, while his left is naked save for a bracer. He carries an oval shield, with a single-headed axe looped in his belt and a short, ugly sword. He also carries a pair of curved daggers. He wears baggy trousers tucked into supple boots, with a vest draped by a striped shawl. you got to tell me brave captain, why are the wicked so strong, how do the angels get to sleep, when the devil leaves the porchlight on - tom waits Jaded by illusory plinths and jumbled shanties, Seju discards his stagnating virtues. This impels him to the grog shops, where he culls secrets from gap-toothed sailors and raggedy priests. Their slurring lips provide glimmers of opportunity, despite all the shaky lies and bluster – and the sordid thrill of knowing. The quandaries of this pursuit rarely affect him. Seju is a glutton of rumor. The bottle also dulls his restlessness, but he doesn't enjoy it half so much as these mutterings. Though cautious, he is also shrewd and rather selfish. Thin lips part with sarcasm. There are few wrongs he hasn't seen or heard spoken of, and he accepts these with bluntness. Seju is convinced that all things have spirits. To him, they are usually mischievous or just plain bad, and he nervously makes offerings to his idols to dispel imagined enmity. These customs derive from his juvenile maledicting, which left him deeply troubled. Seju isn't one to struggle unless cornered. Bright jewels mean little to him. Delights of the flesh seldom excite him, either. Though he desires power over others, he doesn't reach for it. Tempting though it seems, there are lines he doesn't want to cross just yet. now desperate times call for desperate men i'm just a kid but i'll pretend my time will come, but until then sun, don't you rise no more - two gallants In 486AV, a crippled saique lurched over the swollen waves, making for Alvadas. Tarry ropes and shreds of lateen sail trailed off the stern. The jib groaned, savaged by a receding squall. The bilge slowly filled, spoiling bales of tobacco and eddying around jars of oil. Tiny jets spilled from the pumps, though erratically. The sailors were tired. The saique reached the city of illusions before night, while the sky was yet drenched a dusky pink. It slid into the bay, passing by skiffs and shanties on stilts. In the rigging, a tawny-skinned man gazed at a bronzed dome on a hill, pondering not on the men who'd perished in the squall, but the dome's likeness to an onion. The man's name was Jek. Though once a slave in Kenash, he'd shed and taken up with smugglers. There'd been some time he'd tried at being a priest, too, but he hadn't done well at all. The smuggler had it made, he'd decided. The saique carried him between coasts, and there were plenty of charred ribs and strong, spicy rum for his jollies. Jek liked his rum. Jek also liked the sea, but the squall made him think again. That evening, clad in garish rags and carrying a bag that jingled, he sauntered into illusion. Jeska, a slim, pointy-nosed renegade, had done much the same in 485AV. There just wasn't as much jingling. Trenchant pilasters guided her along a tiled road studded with purples and greens. The illusions offered her refuge. Jeska needed it badly. Yellowed fetishes hung thickly around her neck, the small bones clacking in every, ebbing breeze. Shriveled things hid under the furls of a striped djelaba. She'd melted into her addiction to maledicting. Clung to it with a delinquent zeal. There was a sordid underbelly to chimera, and she tapped it. The jewels trickled in. The loss of a thumb didn't dissuade her. That night the illusions did their thing. They confused with noise and lights, fairly trembled with the bizarre. Timbers caked by salt rose from a garden infested by glowbugs. Turtles floated over great arches of masonry. Jek strolled by a bundle of cloves that abruptly jumped into flame. That disturbed him. To calm his nerves, he cajoled a bit of rum from a nine-fingered woman. Jeska wasn't all that impressed by his guzzling, but she decided the smuggler had nice lips. Jek thought she had nice legs. Jeska punched him. Jek kissed her. Jek didn't regret it a bit later, they lay sweatily in a strange hall lined by jade sculptures, looking up at paper lamps hanging from the ceiling. Jeska only regretted the lack of a rug. They lived together for a while, but neither had that kind of thing in them. Jek returned to smuggling in 487AV. Jeska began feeling queerly and her belly swelled up. Rage filled her when she realized what he'd done. This wasn't supposed to happen. Seju might've been a mistake, but he giggled when Jeska's bones clacked together. Jeska liked that. Seju recalled their shanty by the shore, all stone and red clay with beads strung over the rafters. The jar with its bitter tea. The sundry idols he was permitted to fiddle with, and the ones he wasn't. Jeska seldom chided him. Seju knew not to upset her. Jek was another matter. Jeska could never bring herself to hate the smugger. Seju only knew that Jek turned up abruptly, with a few puzzling trinkets and a stupid grin. Jeska would begin yelling, and Seju hastily left to collect shells. These he'd always toss at the gulls, which he'd always disliked. Tepid light warmed his face. The waves sometimes boomed on the rocks. The skiffs were lashed down then, and everybody stayed inside where it was sticky and filled with smoke. Jek usually wasn't there when Seju returned. Jeska wouldn't speak of Jek and Seju didn't care enough to ask. Illusions passed. Eventually an ugly patina formed over the shanty. Jek stopped coming in 498AV. Jeska figured that his luck finally ran out. They didn't need him, anyway. Jek was almost forgotten by 503AV. Seju's jaw grew fuzzed, and his muscles hardened as he unloaded sacks of trade goods and great, painted amphorae from passing ships. Jeska was troubled that he wasn't taking to maledicting, upon which she'd become increasingly fixated, and demanded that he take part. Seju began pursuing animals through the rising knolls and dry pine gulches, gleaning feathers, bones, and other, less savory things. Teasing got him to begin etching them. The outcomes weren't pretty. Seju jostled cups with conjurers and lazing traders, picking up on a few rumors. They led him to a juddering kind of animism. Seju was appalled by his accidents, and he refused to keep going. The guilt of tampering with the bones was too much for him. Jeska argued with him about it, sneered at his dread. Seju left her then, taking to the hills. There he roughed it for a while, before being mauled by a squad of slavers. They trussed him up and took him to a hidden cave. There were a few slaves already there, kept down a hole and impelled to dig a tunnel through the rocks. Poyut, a disgraced solder with a grizzled beard. Dyah, a thin boy with drooping eyelids who hated all priests, and Tugak, a bald angular man who'd been enslaved on a galley. They were all caught up in perpetual night. Seju scratched at rocks, scuffing his skin, and carried baskets of debris until he was reduced to crawling. There was little to drink, and the scraps he was fed were rancid or burnt. Seju weakened, his lips cracking and sores erupting on his skin. Poyut and Tugak kept to themselves, letting out little more than grunts. Seju was a bit closer to Dyah. They'd find bits of metal every now and then. Tiny shards of pottery. There were bones as well. Dyah let slip that they were digging over a buried temple, which their captors planned to scavenge. Then they'd probably kill the slaves, he said with a grim laugh. Seju didn't doubt it, but that laugh stirred his deep, desperate suspicions. Dyah wouldn't tell him any more, though. Seju was certain there was more going on. Tugak and Poyut kept muttering to each other. Dyah was sometimes with them, but he mostly stayed with Seju. Then it ended. Tugak jabbed a slaver with a nail. Pojur kicked out his legs and hit him with a rock. Dyah grabbed at the slaver's sword, turning to meet another. Seju was dazed by it all, but he quickly bared his teeth, joining the struggle. They killed the slavers. Poyut perished in the attempt. Tugak was impaled by a spear, and he didn't make it much longer. Dyah limped along with Seju, both of them banged up and bleeding, until they returned to Alvadas in 504AV. Jeska was gone. Seju didn't see her again, leaving him bitter and aggrieved. Jeska had picked her maledicting over him, he decided. That stung. Toil and scabs were all that remained. Dyah was laid up for a while, which only added to the burden. Seju took to drinking heavily. Afraid of leaving the illusions, he returned to unloading the trading pinnaces and slender, colorful saiques. Dyah joined him later. In 506AV, they brushed up against Jasper, an affluent merchant, and his pair of jaunty guards. Teya was a chubby girl who'd wanted to be a smith, but ill fortune had dashed her dreams. Tagoh, burly and brooding, didn't want to be much at all. Jasper was headed to Kenash, but he lacked men to sail his saique. Seju didn't find this odd, and he and Dyah agreed to join Jasper. Teya later revealed that in the course of voyaging, Jasper had incurred the profound displease of Laviku. This quickly became apparent. The saique was butted by a large, unseen monster. Taking on water, they were beset by corsairs. Dyah, Jasper, and Teya were killed. Seju and Tagoh jumped into a skiff, making for illusion. In 508AV, while passing through the bazaar, Seju's jaw dropped. Jek was there, though balder and wrinkled. Seju accosted him, but realized they'd nothing to say. There was a part of him, though, that wished the did. Jek offered to bring him into smuggling. Seju declined, saying that he wanted to make his own destiny. They parted amicably. Seju abjured to the tall pines, trudging through canebrakes and craggy gorges where, in 509AV, he fell in with Bojed. Bojed was a short mixed-blood with bad molars, but he had a knack for hunting. They went after antelope and squirrels, mostly for the pelts. This kept up until 511AV. Tagoh, who'd stayed loosely in Alvadas, asked that Seju come with him to Karjin. Seju was obliged to go, though he didn't want to do it. Tagoh had rescued his bacon on the saique, after all. Bojed decided to come as well. Tagoh didn't seem comforted by that. Seju put that down to brooding, but he realized why when, one night, they were attacked by a pair of robbers. Tagoh joined with them. Seju was shocked, only getting through it because of Bojed. The robbers weren't quite as fortunate. They perished in the mud. Tagoh got away, though. In 512AV, the illusions turned against Seju. It was difficult for him to sleep, and he took up drinking again. This didn't go well. Thinking everybody was against him, he slid into a funk. The only pleasure that remained to him, through all his sordid tribulations, was gleaning secrets. They imparted a measure of power. They let him see what men were. Seju began to see what he'd been missing. Jeska had given him up not because they'd argued, but during her descent into depravity. Dyah was only killed because of the deceitful Jasper. Tagoh had then given him up just because he could. That hurt the most. Seju brooded over his cups, knowing he wouldn't make those mistakes again.

Survival: 10 (10 SP) Hunting: 10 (10 SP) Shield: 17 (15 RB; +2) Weapon: Short Bow: 10 (10 SP) Weapon: Short Sword: 13 (10 SP; +3) Weapon: Battle Axe: 6 (5 SP; +1) Malediction: 5 (5 SP) Rhetoric: 2 (+2) Intelligence: 3 (+3) Observation: 3 (+3) Detection: 2 (+2)

Local Culture of Alvadas Alvadas Foothills Intelligence: The Art of Listening Assassins: Those who leave a white hand-print

Common, fluent

List Form : Purchased at Creation Vest, cotton Low Boots Trousers, cotton (2) Belt, leather Tunic, medium wool Robe, cotton Loincloth Shawl, medium wool Tent, small Body Pack Flint and Steel Tin Bowl Tin Spoon Waterskin (2) Rustproofing Oil Bone Dice Sack Whetstone Hunter's Toolkit Krolar Poultice (1) Iskyny Tea (1) Narnvayt Oil (1) Rugberry Tea (2) Leather Armor (with metal rings, hide - see notes for explanation) [H] Helmet, chin guard Short Sword (scabbard) Dagger (2) (scabbards) Battle Axe Shortbow Bow Case Quiver Arrows (22) Cestus Silver Earring Bronze Torc Everyday Togs: consisting of a plain loincloth, a pair of ragged boots, a reddish vest that laces up the front, and baggy, flowing trousers of a dull brown. There is also a worn belt. Armor: primarily a girdle of loosely-spaced metal rings stitched over leather padding. This is partially covered by hides with irregular splotches of white paint. The right arm is cradled by a sleeve segmented leather. The left is naked save for a bracer. There is minimal jingling. There are a few specks of rust and a bit of fraying, but the armor is hardly about to fall apart. Helmet: this heavy, brown-mottled helmet has cheek guards, a nasal bar, and a lankly hanging plume of horsehair – dyed orange. It is plain and badly dented, cinched by a strap under the chin. It was taken from a ruined temple in 504AV. Shawl: a length of wool that is fringed on two ends, striped orange, black, and brown. Earring: a tiny hoop of silver, fitted through the upper left ear. Trinket: a piece of battered, twisted bronze dangling from the neck by a strip of hide. Body Pack: a flat, rugged hide pack contains a flint and steel, small leather flask of oil, a tin bowl and spoon, a pair of waterskins, a set of bone dice, a sack, and a whetstone. There is a bedroll strapped on its upper flap. Tent: a cramped hide tent, a bit flimsy and with a bunch of inexpertly patched holes. Tools: the primary implements of a hunter, including an awl, gut thread, skinning knife, scrapers, spare bowstrings, gobs of resin, twine, and bone needle. Short Sword: ugly yet sharp, this sword has a cross-wrapped grip of yellow leather. The metal is discolored and more than a little scraped up. There is little taper. The sword is jammed into a sheath of cedar and peeling hides. Shield: an oblong of springy, metal-braced linden boards with a laminate covering over the convex surface. The shield has leather loops to hold it steady, as well as a handle and a metal rim. The surface is a dirty, reddish-brown, with a faded black bull painted in the center. Though slightly clumsy to carry, it's just large enough to squat behind. Shortbow: made of walnut braced by ringed horn, this bow has a corded grip and is carried in a case of sturdy, though stained calfskin. Quiver: a hide sheath, painted with reddish patterns and adorned by bead-work along the edges. It is canted slightly back with a flap over the top, and is attached to his belt. It holds about twenty arrows. Arrows (22) Battle Axe: capped by a single-edged head, the haft of this axe fits into a belt loop. The haft has a binding of leather strips. The edge is steeply curved. Daggers: two singled-edged curved blades, one of which is much shorter than the other. These are kept in plain hide sheaths, chased by bits of brass. The longer dagger has a handle of horn. Cestus: a sling of padded leather that is fixed over the hand, bracing the knuckles with brass plating. Small Bundle: a brown rag, striped by indigo, contains unglazed ceramic jars containing Iskyny Tea (1), Narnvayt Oil (1), and Rugberry Tea (1), as well as a plugged-up gourd holding Krolar Poultice (1). It is stuffed into the body pack. Spare Togs: consisting of a djelaba with brown, orange, and white stripes, a loose pair of trousers, high-laced sandals, and a heavy wool tunic.

Event +/- Season Total Starting Funds + 100 - 100 Cashed Shelter + 500 - 600 Starting Items - 260.98 - 339.02 Starting Items : Item Cost Total Cost Vest, cotton .36 .36 Low Boots .3 .76 Trousers, cotton (2) 2 2.76 Belt, leather .4 3.16 Tunic, medium wool .75 3.91 Robe, cotton 1.25 5.16 Loincloth .03 5.19 Shawl, medium wool .75 6.94 Body Pack 10 16.94 Flint and Steel 1 17.94 Tin Bowl .06 18 Tin Spoon .01 18.01 Waterskin (2) 2 20.01 Rustproofing Oil 10 30.01 Bone Dice .05 30.06 Sack .1 30.16 Whetstone .02 30.18 Hunter's Toolkit 25 55.18 Krolar Poultice (1) .5 55.68 Iskyny Tea (1) 10 65.68 Narnvayt Oil (1) .2 65.88 Rugberry Tea (2) 2 67.88 Modified Leather Armor 87 154.88 Short Sword 10 164.88 Scabbard, sword 4 168.88 Dagger (2) 4 172.88 Scabbard, dagger (2) 4 176.88 Battle Axe 10 186.88 Shortbow 30 216.88 Bow Case 20 236.88 Quiver 20 256.88 Arrows (22) 1.1 257.98 Cestus .5 258.48 Silver Earring 2 260.48 Bronze Torc .5 260.98

Notes : 1. History 1.1 Jek is mentioned as a smuggler, but this refers less to moving prohibited goods than pilfered ones. 1.2 Tugak is mentioned as being enslaved on a galley, which is a loose categorization of the Kersha, the native vessel of Eypharians. 2. Skills 2.1 Survival refers to wilderness survival, specifically the temperate, hilly forests by Alvadas. 3. Inventory 3.1 Seju's body armor is a combination of chain shirt, hide, and leather – with the additions of a leather rerebrace and greaves. Because approximately half the chains of the shirt are used and perhaps a third is hide, price was calculated as (100gm x .5) + (15 x .33) + 10 = 65 + 10 (leather rerebrace) + 12 (leather greaves) = 87 3.2 The trinket is priced as a copper torque. 3.3 Tools fall under the hunter's toolkit, but as that seems like mostly a guide, I've altered a few of the specifics. The tarp and preserving kit seem too bulky and quite frankly, not useful to Seju. They're replaced with things like the awl and scraper, which were used by paleolithic hunters. 3.4 The shield is a composite of large wooden and large steel, so their price is calculated at (7 x .5) + (20 x .5) = 13.5 3.5 The cestus is a Roman fighting glove which took many forms. It's essentially a knuckleduster, which I've priced it as. I just prefer this particular term. 3.6 The djelaba is a form of robe, and it is priced as such. 4. Language 4.1 Seju only speaks common because he seldom, if ever, interacts with other races and culture.

Trouble's Braids (63 Summer, 504 AV) Just Ain't Cuttin' (7 Winter, 513 AV) Crawling Flesh (11 Winter, 513 AV) Bones (50 Winter, 513 AV) Sleeping Bear (48 Winter, 513 AV) Devil's Polka (82 Winter, 513 AV)