R'izeth Tel (Southern Mariposa Si'vali: [rr-E-zeth, tell])
Ikko Ruhl Izeth Tel (a.k.a. The Dry Wind)
"Whether they intended it or not, your ancestors will always resonate within you. The pains they knew, the pains you know, these are things that will define who we become, and it falls on all of us to make sure it is remembered."A frontier doctor and lawgiver with a metal arm who wields ancient magicks that date back to the first of their ancestors, R'izeth Tel carries the task of navigating old, sacred traditions in a new world that views they and their people as the enemy in their own homeland. Wise, powerful, and cool headed, R'izeth speaks softly, but when they do the storms give pause to their words. However, compared to the wild blazing star that R'izeth was in their youth, R'izeth often worries that the person they once were, for all their flaws, would spit on the person they became.-Eldermother Danna Tel
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Rizeth is in excellent shape, with toned muscles and a strong frame. Rizeth lost her left arm when she was 15, but received a replacement arm salvaged from Avarician ruins that grew with her into adulthood. Even so, the arm is more resilient than she is, and she wields it as if its her natural appendage.
Body Features
Rizeth's arm is comprised of tightly fitted, articulated plate bolted into a flexible sheath of black leather. From an outward appearance, it resembles a heavy armored gauntlet, but underneath lies a densely connected series of heavy duty electrical cables and a reinforced Aethersteel skeleton. Additionally, Rizeth's shoulders are littered with scars, most of which are cane marks she received from her grandmother as part of her disciplined upbringing.
Facial Features
Rizeth has a long, slender face with almond eyes and a low, strong jawbone and bent nose. Additionally, Rizeth has a short, shallow scar over her right eyebrow.
Identifying Characteristics
Aside from her arm, Rizeth is tall even among Si'vali, and often stands over other people. As well, Rizeth tends to carry loads of equipment with her in straps along her torso, including her quarterstaff, so she can often have an imposing silhouette.
Physical quirks
When in times of calm, Rizeth's penchant to wander with her thoughts can often result in a delayed response to things going on around her. Rarely to the point of not acting fast enough, but she is certainly not paying full attention.
Special abilities
Rizeth is skilled in medicine, martial arts, Si'vali law, and the art of war and peace.
As magic has waned considerably in recent centuries, Rizeth herself is not able to conjure magic on her own, but it is said that in the final moments of an Ikko's life, their soul will scream out with a spell unique to her, and the final embers of her soul will be imbued in the tapestry of the next.
Apparel & Accessories
In addition to the traveling uniform common for all ikko monks, Rizeth carries mechanical supplies for her bike, camping supplies, and medical supplies in a tightly packed rucksack. Rizeth also wears an orange and blue hairband adorned with strings of seashells, a gift from her mother that originally belonged to Rizeth's grandmother.
Specialized Equipment
Rizeth's uniform, a traveling garb meant for long periods of travel across a variety of terrain, is both practical armor and load bearing vest and magical artifact. The shoulder pauldrons and armored skirt are forged with ceremonial Aethersteel as to deflect gunfire and magical attacks -- the plates of the skirt in particular also work as ceremonial grave markers imbued with high magicks.
Rizeth is also armed with a ceremonial pewter staff, her mechanical arm, and a cloak unique to her known as the Crow's Feather, a cloak adorned with shimmering paper talismans meant to resemble blue raven feathers. Each talisman is scrawled with the name of a previous ikko, and carries with them the Final Magic of the user. While not as powerful as the actual magic, even a fragment of a Final Magic spell can have monumental effects.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Prior to the end of the The Thousand Year War, Tel'randese Ikko monks served a vital role as the primary body of Si'vali resistance to Rolandite occupation tracing back as far as 900 years ago, near the start of the war itself. Experts trained from birth in matters of war and peace, most ikko came from the single town of Tel'rando, near the border with Roland along the Wyvernteeth Divide. For centuries Tel'rando housed a massive temple complex carved into the mountain itself, and at its peak trained over ten thousand ikko monks a year.
However, targeted effort and technology sourced from their wars with the Dominion of Iroha gave the Rolandites an edge, and over the last two hundred years the Tel'randese population has dwindled, with fewer and fewer ikko trained each year. Now, 30 years after the war has ended, even though hostilities have ceased, the traditions of ikko monks has continued to dwindle. Rizeth was always destined to be one, their family being the matriarch clan Tel'rando takes it namesake from, but she is the only ikko of their peers, and isn't sure themselves if ikko monks still have a place in the world.
In their youth R'izeth, much like many Tel'randese youth, was involved in a motorcycle gang that patrolled the southern Si'vali grasslands. Motorcycle gangs grew to prominence only in the last 30 years, as the caught in limbo following the end of the war refused to take up the Walk, and instead sought to lash out and strike their own freedoms. Many ikko left Tel'rando anyway to pursue their own futures, but those who stayed garnered a following of rebellious youth desperate to resist a culture of servitude and duty.
Gender Identity
Ikko are conceptually gender neutral, as a result R'izeth carries themselves as agender. See also Sexual Identity in Si'vali Culture.
Sexuality
R'izeth identifies as asexual.
Education
Like all ikko monks, Rizeth is adept in medicine, outdoorsmanship, martial strategy, martial arts, as well as philosophy, Si'vali common law, and the traditions, teachings, and ceremonies surrounding larger Si'vali religion, known as the Everlasting Grassland. Rizeth received their training under the mentorship of their grandmother, Danna Tel. Danna also taught Rizeth the more modern Si'vali past time of junker mechanics, which garnered popularity in the last 50 years as Avarician relics began to make their way across the Si'vali mainland. Rizeth's mechanical knowledge is limited, as aside from R'izeth arm and bike the region is relatively low tech.
Employment
As an ikko, Rizeth is tasked with embarking on a grand journey, known as The Long Walk. Rizeth has put the Walk off for 10 years, but sooner or later will need to leave Tel'rando to travel the world as an arbiter of Si'vali justice.
Accomplishments & Achievements
The feat of graduating as a full fledged ikko is no small feat, requiring training from birth up to 20 years. Additionally, Rizeth has a reputation as a folk hero among the younger generations in Tel'rando.
Failures & Embarrassments
While not their fault, Rizeth carries a shame related to how they came across their robotic arm. In 1896, at the age of 15, Rizeth's gang ran into an Rolandite scouting party while out on patrol. The Rolandite patrol shot and killed two of Rizeth's companions, but Rizeth managed to distract the Rolandites enough to allow the others to escape. The Rolandites captured Rizeth, beat them with batons and the butts of their rifles, and cut off their arm just above the elbow before leaving themto die.
Rizeth survived the experience, but the resulting trauma fills them with emotions that, they feel, betrays their obligations as an ikko.
Mental Trauma
As noted previously, Rizeth's traumatic assault at the hands of Roland soldiers has haunted her for over 15 years, and has resulted in a disassociation with others and a general distrust of outsiders that she knows is sometimes unwarranted. Ikko are forbidden from taking a life except in times of war, despite how Rizeth may personally feel about the matter, and as a result Rizeth can be particularly hard on those who take life needlessly as she, in a way, envies that freedom to do so.
Intellectual Characteristics
Rizeth is acutely wise, and always thinking four or five steps ahead, but as a result she is rarely in the moment, and often lost in thought almost to the point of being regularly caught off guard.
Morality & Philosophy
While Rizeth is aware and appreciates older traditions, and reveres the stories of her ancestors and the presence they must have had, she much prefers to see the presence of the commoner, for they can often have stories that are just as interesting. As a result, Rizeth believes that those who would seek to exploit the commoner are the evil in the world, and must be opposed at all times, although she sometimes feels her role as an ikko in times of peace precludes her from being able to act.
Taboos
Initially, Rizeth views showing sympathy to Rolandites as a taboo, but she recognizes that this goes against the larger ikko mythos of providing justice fairly, and assistance openly.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Rizeth has resisted departing on her Walk, partly out of a growing discomfort over Roland occupation of nearby territories, but also because she views the path of the ikko as inadequate to safeguard against the tide of the Roland advance. While she had grown content to watch, the beast that bears too big to handle, upon meeting Estelle and the party Rizeth chooses to join them and try to secure her people's future with a direct hand.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
Rizeth can cut through a situation with the soft hand of diplomacy just as well as she can wield a staff. Ikko monks are forbidden from carrying a lethal weapon except in times of war, and their philosophy compels them to seek a non-lethal alternative whenever possible. Rizeth in particular embraces the challenge, and while she is more than capable of ending a fight quickly, she will often go out of her way to give her opponents a chance to surrender.
Likes & Dislikes
Rizeth enjoys any opportunity in which she can disappear into her thoughts, either to squash them, or to find a moment without them, if only for a moment. Much like the tangled philosophical yarn ball that is her inner mind, Rizeth enjoys puzzles, piecing things apart, and the investigation phase of any good mystery. At the same time, Rizeth loves fun more than anything, in any form that may take, but she absolutely abhors anything that seeks to rob the fun from others.
Virtues & Personality perks
Rizeth's lightheartedness even in stressful situations can often put those around her at ease, as a rock to lean on, or a calm face in a heavy storm. With a penchant for the right word at the right time, Rizeth is at her peak when all those around her are at peace, if only because its one less thing to think about at the time.
Vices & Personality flaws
At her worst, Rizeth can be self-obsessed by her own thoughts and the numerous consequences for the numerous outcomes she could influence. Often, she can spend so long thinking of how to act, that she ends up not.
Personality Quirks
As one of the larger fish in the pond, Rizeth can be quick to put her thumb down on the scales to tip a situation one way or the other. Part of this is to keep things within a certain sphere of control, the other is to allow others the room to find their course on their own. but when other people go out on their own, or act irrationally, Rizeth can be thrown off kilter.
Hygiene
Rizeth knows that good hygiene is necessary for good health, and encourages others to take the same care with themselves.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Rizeth has a close relationship with most of the citizens of Tel'rando, in particular her grandmother Danna Tel. Danna raised Rizeth following the death of Rizeth's parents, just after Rizeth was born. Rizeth grew up around the remaining ikko monks, before most of them took to the open road, left to scavenge ruins in Northern Si'val, or became leaders of local bandit gangs of which Rizeth would eventually join one of.
That gang, known as the Desert Jackals, patrolled the desert lowlands west of Khandha, on the road to the Si'vali capitol of Si'veras. Many of the members have since gone on to pursue work outside of Tel'rando, but their exploits have garnered a legendary status among newer generation of roamers.
Family Ties
Rizeth ties to her grandmother are strong, despite her disciplined upbringing. While Rizeth knew her parents, their departure early into her life left Rizeth somewhat scarred and distant from the rest of her family.
Religious Views
Rizeth follows a strong adherence to the tenants of The Everlasting Grassland, however these tenants primarily influence Rizeth's conduct with others, and are fairly tolerant of other faiths and religions.
Social Aptitude
Rizeth does very well with children, and can be particularly sensitive to the suffering and plights of others. At the same time, she maintains a necessary distance from others, as often their lives are in the midst of tumultuous change.
Mannerisms
Rizeth can be distant and cold on first glance, and tends to lurk in the background floating from scene to scene in quiet observation.
Hobbies & Pets
Rizeth enjoys taking to the open road on her bike, even now. The wind through her hair and the rush of a tight turn makes her hair stand up on end.
Speech
Rizeth speaks shortly, and to the point, but with a gentle hand and tone that can deliver even terrible news with a soft compassion.
Wealth & Financial state
Rizeth's wealth is tied to the town of Tel'rando. She is not herself wealthy, but she is provided for and receives a small stippend of credit in the local markets.
Alignment
Neutral Good
Currently Boarded Vehicle
Species
Ethnicity
Other Ethnicities/Cultures
Honorary & Occupational Titles
Daughter of Tel, Sister Ikko
Age
30
Date of Birth
Yoran 6th, 1880
Circumstances of Birth
Rizeth was born on the eve of an assault on Far Reach, the seminal tragedy that would result in the death of Rizeth's parents, as well as the then King of Roland and his Princes. As a result, R'izeth has never known either of their parents.
Birthplace
Tel'rando, Southern Si'val
Family
Children
Current Residence
Tel'rando, Southern Si'val
Pronouns
They/Them, She/Her
Gender
Female
Eyes
Bright amber spheres in crystal clear white. Rizeth's eyes reflect how they are always lost in a haze of thought and inner monologue.
Hair
Black, a very slight curl, and with the texture of raven feathers. Rizeth's hair is sloped back over her head under a decorative orange and blue beaded hairband.
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Chocolate with hints of rose. Rizeth's skin is dotted with scars and bruises across their body and face.
Height
6'2"
Weight
180lbs
Quotes & Catchphrases
Each feather on my shoulder holds the name of my brothers and sisters who left for their walk long ago, a hundred generations back. When an Ikko dies, our souls are emblazoned in the walls of our monastery back home. So that we may protect new Ikko when they begin their own journeys.
Rizeth trails her fingers across the plumes of each feather.
And there we remain, until the mountains fall on our heads or the last Ikko leaves Tel’rando.
Other Affiliations
Related Myths
Appears in...
Character Prototype
Direct prototypes
- Roberta (Black Lagoon)
- Urianger Augurelt (Final Fantasy XIV)
- Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)
- Emeralda Kasim (Xenogears)
- T-elos (Xenosaga)
- Alucard Tepes (Castlevania)
- Navajo folklore
- Mongolian folklore
- Chinese folklore
- Bosozoku culture
Comments