Shasstisss (shahs-stihs-ss)
Shasstisss was a yuan-ti scholar credited with bringing their society and traditions to the rest of the world. Born somewhere around 2325 1A - based on Shasstisss's own recollection of her number of summers - she lived her early life in the jungle city surrounding the Temple of Yuan-Lumusi on the island of Caladrem. Based on her accounts, she was always an inquisitive child and grew up somewhat skeptical of the faith's dogma and traditions. When she would question why certain things happen or if they could be certain it was the will of their god, the temple elders would scold her and tell her to stop asking questions and doubting their generous deity. But she persisted, and the elders eventually shunned her and cut her off from accessing the temple at all.
As Shasstisss was growing up, she learned to read and write - which was not uncommon for a child of her relatively elevated station. But she also got her hands on a tome written in Common and began to translate and understand that language as well; this tome, she would later recount, was confiscated from a captive who was later sacrificed, but she was able to sneak the tome away from the guards before they could burn it. In her room, Shasstisss kept secret diaries recording the goings-on of her homeland and documenting the various traditions and customs they practiced.
When Shasstisss reached her twentieth summer, she finally set the church elders off and brought about her own exile from her homeland. Over the years, the elders and priests had endured hundreds of questions and theories from Shasstisss, but they always managed to redirect her or quote the sacred texts of Yuan-Lumusi to quiet her down. But over time she began to have more serious questions about the foundation of the religion itself. She worked up the nerve to finally ask her most burning question yet, and she made sure she had an audience with the High Priest to pose it. When they were alone, Shasstisss finally asked the question that would lead to her exile and even calls for her execution. Based on all her experience and the things she had read in the "forbidden" tome, Shasstisss simply asked how the High Priest was sure Yuan-Lumusi was a benevolent god and not an evil tyrant using his power to sow chaos and death.
The High Priest yelled at her to leave the city and never return, and word began to spread quickly through the city of the heresy Shasstisss had committed. As she made her way quickly out of town - for she was prepared in advance for exile being a possible outcome - throngs of people searched the streets for her, hoping to find her and make an example of her to their god. They were never able to locate her, and Shasstisss made it out of the city and into the jungle.
After several days of wandering and barely being able to find anything to eat and drink, Shasstisss stumbled upon the eastern edge of the jungle and the vast swampy bog that lies beyond. As her luck would have it, a small group of bog villagers passed by and found her, though they did not trust her at first. After several weeks in their care being nursed back to health, Shasstisss took her leave and continued to other parts of the island and from there, the world.
Throughout the rest of her life, Shasstisss traveled across the world, studying and learning what she could about the different cultures and other parts of the world, meanwhile spreading what she knew and had collected of yuan-ti cutosms. She was welcomed by the great academies of the world - Torloch, Kort, and many others that were lost to time during The Smiting. Outside the universities and academic settings, Shasstisss was met with scorn and suspicion from the general public, but all of that melted away when she was around other scholars who shared her thirst for knowledge.
The last few years of Shasstisss's life were spent with the family she had created in the city of Fianna'bhaile. She would occasionally venture to Torloch to give a lecture on some topic or another, but most of her time was spent with her husband and their two children. Shasstisss passed away in 2407 1A, at the age of 82, from an illness she had caught while on a trip to Torloch. She was surrounded by her family and many scholars who knew her well over her several decades in academia. The legendary library at Torloch has a wing named after her, and the recent wave of liberalism that has hit Yuan has seen the city dedicate a small statue to her deeds - on the outskirts of the city, far away from the temple she questioned and resisted.
Physical Description
Facial Features
Like many of the snake people, Shasstisss was born with snake-pupil eyes, forked tongue, and pronounced canine teeth. As she developed and grew, the characteristic patches of scales began to appear on her face, neck, arms, legs, and elsewhere. Her eyes were described as dark emeralds, and her smile was said to disarm any suspicions anyone had of her. Her hair was long and straight, light brown like dirt baked dry in the sun, and she always pulled it back with a serpent clasp to commemorate her heritage.
Identifying Characteristics
Shasstisss had easily identifiable patches of green-brown scales down her forearms and on several visible parts of her face and neck. She also reportedly had large patches of greenish scales on her stomach as well, but no one can be sure, as she wore conservative clothing in public, and any reports of more private parts of her body would have come from paramours or possibly jilted lovers.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Portrait art by me using HeroForge
Life
2325 1A
2407 1A
-82 years old
Birthplace
Children
Quotes & Catchphrases
The yuan-ti are misguided and led by inane tradition, but they are a good people and deserve respect instead of hostility.
When my own people disowned me and kicked me out, I found a new world willing to take me in and hear what I had to say.
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