R'tahz Tia

R'tahz Tia
R'tahz on a rare foray to Limsa Lominsa.
Gender	Male
Race	Miqo'te
Clan	Seeker of the Sun
Citizenship	None
Place of Birth	La Noscea
Nameday	18th Sun, 3rd Umbral Moon (Age: )
Guardian	Oschon, the Wanderer
Profession	Adventurer
Theme Song	Go the Distance

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Biography

Early Life

Born into a remote sect of the Raptor tribe living in the jungles and mountains of La Noscea, R'tahz was initially indistinguishable from the others in his tribe, not standing out in any way from the others. His only distinguishing characteristic was that he very early established his notable personality trait of ceaselessly pursuing a goal he has set his mind to regardless of time or effort. When it came to hunting for the tribe, this was greatly beneficial, turning him into a sort of super-persistent predator that would regularly bring back prey that the other hunters had long since given up on. Initially, this made him quite popular in the tribe, and he was frequently sought to partake of hunting parties.

During this time, he also developed what has been referred to as his 'chronic hero syndrome', that is, his inability to let pass a problem that he is aware of. As a child, this manifested as simply going out of his way to help everyone he saw around him with their daily tasks, even if doing so interfered with what he was supposed to be doing. This at the same time drew both praise and scorn from various other members of the tribe; praise from those who received his help and saw it as simply a child trying to do the right thing, scorn from the more cynical members who felt the boy far too naive for his own good. His own parents, while proud of the strong moral fiber they saw growing in him, were equally concerned that his lack of worldly experience would see his good nature taken advantage of by less-than-scrupulous individuals.

Beginnings of a Wanderer

Some years after his birth, long before the boy understood the difference between 'nunh' and 'tia', R'tahz's father, R'sohn, lost his position as nunh of the tribe. R'tahz, in his childish optimism, initially thought it a happy thing as it now meant that he and his father shared the same last name. For the vast majority of miqo'te, the loss would have meant nothing, as the change in stature was as natural to their race as the sun and moons turning in the sky. For R'sohn, however, it was as a mortal injury, for he had suffered the entirely unnatural emotional response as to deeply, and soon solely, love R'tahz's mother, R'pahtalo Hyun. The love was mutual, but the simple fact was that the traditions of their people meant that, as a female of breeding age, R'pahtalo was not allowed to be with R'sohn.

The young boy didn't understand the pain he could see in his parents eyes when they were forced to interact as mere neighbors in the tribe, but he didn't question when both of his parents insisted that he learn as many of the martial disciplines as was possible, so that one day he would have the strength to seize his own happiness and let no one snatch it away from him. So when he was not out hunting in the jungles, where he learned the skill of the bow, he learned the art of the sword from his father, the way of the lance from his mother, and rough-housing with the other children his age taught him the use of fist and foot.

That was not to say that he dedicated every waking moment to training, as he spent a good deal of time also just exploring the land claimed by the tribe. He developed a fascination with the sea during this time period, soon insisting that his training with his father take place on the nearby secluded beaches. He would have made the same request of his mother, were the standing nunh at the time not an overbearing paranoid arse that refused to let the females out of his sight. Both of his parents recognized right away that he had caught the wanderlust disease, and were not the slightest surprised of this development from the child they had blessed in the name of Oschon.

The First Challenge

The desire to wander was not the only thing he had inherited from his parents. Perhaps it was because of their nurturing influence, but he as well became enamored with the concept of love, rather than simply the breeding rights to the tribe. As far as the thirteen-year old R'tahz could understand, the two were one and the same; if he were nunh, then he would be loved. Despite knowing that his attitude would only lead to heartbreak, neither of his parents were willing to disabuse him of his romantic ideals, nor were they willing to deny him his chance at becoming nunh. The boy had recently become enamored with a female a year older than he, R'oya Naqa, and so they knew that it wouldn't be long before the idea to challenge for nunh crossed his mind. Unbeknownst to him, his parents had agreed between themselves that, should he--now or ever--succeed at becoming nunh, they would encourage him to convince R'oya to leave the tribe with him, leading the lives of happiness that they were denied.

The day that R'sohn and R'pahtalo both dreaded and anxiously awaited soon arrived. On the eve of his fourteenth nameday, R'pahtalo overheard her son telling R'oya of his plan to challenge the nunh the next day. It broke R'pahtalo's heart to hear the earnestness with which R'tahz made his intentions clear, with all the sincerity and gravity of marriage proposals amongst hyurans. R'oya expressed her support for R'tahz's effort, and though R'pahtalo knew that the vast majority of tribal miqo'te females were fair-weather supporters at best--showing their favor only to those they thought could win their challenge, and only until proven otherwise--R'pahtalo was willing to give the girl the benefit of the doubt where her son's feelings were concerned.

With the next day's dawn, R'tahz issued his challenge to the standing nunh, R'wazi. Because of R'tahz's young age, the match was set as a swordsmanship contest until surrender or first blood. Initially, R'tahz was overconfident at his skill due to the many hours he had spent training with his father, but this faded when R'wazi effortlessly parried his strikes and even managed to disarm R'tahz. The older male was one of the ones who had been impressed by R'tahz's drive and determination as a child, and offered to let him surrender right then with no loss of face. Refusing to give in, R'tahz managed to evade the nunh's strikes until his blade was returned by R'oya. Rearmed, the boy renewed the battle in earnest, but it was clear to everyone but R'tahz that R'wazi was not having to exert his full effort to defend himself.

Finally, after letting the challenge go on long enough for everyone to see that R'tahz meant business, R'wazi disarmed the youth and followed it up with a punishing body check, and before R'tahz could pick himself up again, he found the point of the nunh's blade at his throat. Left with no other choice, R'tahz swallowed the bitter pill of his pride and forfeited. To the boy's surprise, R'wazi immediately yanked the young miqo'te to his feet and declared a day of celebration in honor of, in his words, "'Tahz's knowing just what he wants and having the guts to attack it with everything in him, body and soul. Though he may not have won his challenge, we as a tribe are victors in the knowledge that we have such an able and forward-thinking brother among us. And the day will come when young 'Tahz will claim his birthright, and we will grow even stronger for the progeny he has in store for us."

It was uplifting to be praised even in defeat, but the attitude was not to last.

Character

Personality

Despite all things, R'tahz has a positive outlook on life and a relatively-upbeat demeanor. This is an active effort on his part, choosing to look to the brighter side of things and view the world as a half-full glass than let himself get mired in pity parties. He has a tendency to space out and let his thoughts wander far afield when not directly engaged in something, lending the appearance of being slow or dull-witted.

Notably, he has an inability to let pass any situation in which he could help someone. Part of it is due to his dislike for seeing wrongs go unrighted or bad deeds unpunished, the majority part is a need to validate himself against some arbitrary measure of worth by doing these good deeds.

Once he's decided on a course of action to take, a goal to pursue, or a sidequest to undertake, he is remarkably single-minded and pig-headed in his determination and efforts in accomplishing that task. However, if he experiences enough failure in a task--usually in the form of repeated attempts--he becomes completely disheartened with that task and will abandon it; to date, he has not returned to any such abandoned tasks. Because of this tendency, he's usually reluctant to engage in challenging tasks to begin with.

Trivia

Likes

• Sandy beaches

Other

Rumors Some of these rumors are untrue or are greatly exaggerated. Please feel free to add your own rumors under PC! ◢ Common Rumors (Easily overheard) ■ "He's stubborn as an aurochs when he wants to be, that one. Challenged fifteen different nunhs across ten years and never came close to winning." - Limsa Lominsan citizen ■ "He's got a bit of skill with every weapon under the sun. Part of it's tribal miqo'te upbringing, other part's him trying anything and everything he could to try and win himself breedin' rights. Not a lick of talent with magic, though." ■ ◢ Uncommon Rumors (Moderately difficult to overhear) ■ "Kid's got an idealistic streak a mile wide. He hides it well enough, but if he sniffs out somebody in trouble nearby, he'll be the first one to throw himself into the fray. That chronic hero syndrome's going to be the death of him." - Cris Ganale ■ ■ ◢ Rare Rumors (Very difficult or rarely overheard) ■ "I felt a bit sorry for that boy. As far removed as I am from our tribe's affairs, it says a lot that even I've heard of the 'Boy Who Could Not Be a Man'. So I've, on occasion, directed Baderon to throw the poor sod a bone or two of adventuring work. From what I hear, it's turned out far better for him than I could have imagined..." - R'ashaht Rhiki ■ ■ ◢ PC Rumors (Rumors from the character's of other players) ■ ■ ■ ■

Relations ♥ Romantic Interest ♥ Platonic Love ● Good Standing ● Poor Standing ♥ J'karu Rhome : Description

Annotations

22-Sept-14: Page created. More to come. 23-Sept-14: Massive early bio dump. And some quotes.