Oola
Blightsister Oola Scrumph of the Kosheer
Oola is an elfing death priestess who has been exiled by her tribe.
Deep in the least hospitable parts of the Black Forest, on the northern banks of the Narlimar River there is an even less hospitable area called the Star Marshes. The poetic name must have been given to the region by a very optimistic traveller, who didn't spent much time there, for the stars are almost always covered by the musty-smelling fog that always rolls cloyingly over the fetid landscape. On a small island in this depressing landscape a small tribe of Ydoran elflings scrape out a meager existence by fishing and hunting lizards. They call themselves the Kosheer (the Bonegnawers), and they practice a distinct version of the Old Faith, heavily influenced by their fetid surroundings: in each generation, two baby girls are annointed to be priestesses of two aspects of the allmother: the blightsister and the bloomsister. it is considered an especially good sign if they are actually sisters (i.e. twins). The blightsister takes care of everything related to death and the bloomsister everything related to life. when one dies, the other one usually follows her sister in death, so that a new sister-pair can take over. Oola scrumph and her sister Aela were born twins in 727 SE and annointed in this way, Oola as the blightsister and Aela as the bloomsister. They were given over to the sisters of the tribe, and they were never told who their real parents were; the only guardians they knew where Gainin, the bloomsister, and Anasta, the blightsister. Each girl grew up learning from their mistress, Aela learning midwifery, healing and medicine, and cooking, while Oola learned hunting, potion making, and how to perform funeral rites and animal sacrifice. Oola also learned how to harness the spirits of the ancestors, to help the tribe and hurt their enemies. Anasta and Gainin were old, even when the girls were small, and it was expected that they would take over the spiritual leadership of the tribe when they turned 19, but when the day came, in 746 SE, Aela disappeared mysteriously. Oola and her had, as they always did, slept in a tent together, but when Oola woke in the morning of the day the rite of transfer was going to be performed, Aela had vanished. No one had seen her leave, and no tracks could be found. Most agreed that it was a very bad omen; perhaps she had been spirited away by agents of the elves under the mountains, who wanted her power for themselves, or maybe the ancestors had made the earth swallow her up, to warn the tribe that the sisters were the wrong choice. The people of the tribe saw no other option than to chase away the young Oola to keep the balance, while Gainin and Anasta would remain in charge until a new pair of sisters could be trained. The tribesmen threw stones and roots at Oola, and she was forced to run away, with nothing but the clothes she had slept in. Oola wandered around the swamps for weeks, surviving by eating worms and bugs, until one day she was attacked by a swamp-croc, one of the fiercest predators in the swamps. The massive creature shot out of the swamp and clamped down on her torso, and she was almost bitten in two, before she managed to poke it in the eye, making it let go of her for a moment. Bleeding from several massive tears on her midrif, she scrampled to a nearby tree, and just managed to climp out of reach of the monster's snapping jaws. A few meters up a tree, on a branch that wouldn't support her weight for long, she saw one last chance to save her life: a wasp's nest. She reached out with one hand to poke the hive, letting several angry hornets land in her open palm to sting her. Then, she quickly shoved them in her mouth, and using all she knew of the power of death and decay, imbued the hornets with necrotic magic and spat them at the massive swamp-croc right beneath her. The hornets stung the creature about the lips and eyes, and massive, pussfilled boils erupted and burst, making the reptile bellow and hiss in pain. Just then the branch gave way, and Oola plummeted to the ground, landing right in front of the crocodille's gaping maw. But instead of lunging to swallow her, it simply let out a long, pained hiss, and slumped over, dead. Gravely wounded, Oola lay in the stinking mud of the swamp, next to her would-be killer, as the angry wasps swarmed around her and stung her until they had had their fill. For days she drifted in and out of consciousness, her only source of sustinance the progressively more putrid flesh of her attacker. But somehow the Blightmother (Rhya's aspect of decay) spared her life, and in her weakened state she saw a vision of a pleasant land outside the swamps, where the rivers flowed with milk and honey. She decided to leave her place of birth, and when she was well enough she fashioned an armour and a weapon from the bones and hide of her defeated foe, as is the tradition of her people, and set forth to find the world outside. She wandered alone for many moons reaching first the borders of the swamp, and eventually the forest. Unbeknownst to her, she had emerged in the county of Remental though this didn't matter to her; all she knew was that there was bread to steal and livestock to slaughter and eat, so long as you could outrun the peasants' hounds. it was in many ways an easy life compared to the life in the swamps, but Oola still felt terribly lonely. She was glad to be rid of the tribe that had so readily turned on her, but even if she wasn't willing to admit it, even to herself, she needed a place to belong. She drifted westward, and then northward, avoiding those places where the farmers became savvy to her cattlerustling, but everntually, in 751 SE, her luck ran out, and she was captured somewhere south of Pencaster, and she was thrown in prison, while the castellan's men tried to figure out who she was. An inquisitor was brought down from Dalrith, and as he spoke Yunathran, he could interogate Oola to determine if she was a heretical threat. He everntually concluded that she wasn't tainted by demonic influence, but her savage demeanour and pagan ways was considered too dangerous to simply let loose, so she was given over the the nobleman from whom she had attempted to steal, so that she could work off her penance to him. For the next few years she was forced to work the fields planting and harvesting, and do other menial tasks around the farm, alongside other bonded peasants and farmhands. She learned Sarkaran, and everntually became something like the healer of the little farming community, though her shack was still locked at night, and her ancle was chained when she was left unsupervised. This was not the community Oola had been missing: she resented the way everyone derided her for her stature, though they were happy enough to let her climp up in the rafters of the barn to chase out the birds, or climp into fox holes when the chicken coup had been raided. And she hated doing the midwifery and spring planting and all these other tasks that would have been Aela's back at the tribe; she was the Blightsister, and here she was making soothing salves for the farmhands' blisters, or pain releaving tinctures for the whimpering women's menstral cramps. Then one day, in 755 SE, a cirkus came to town, and it was the weirdest assemblage of creatures that Oola had ever seen. This was the chance she had been waiting for: this group of strange and exotic people was much more like the community that Oola could see herself as part of. While she was chained in the cabbage field, expected to pick the summer crop of cabbages, she dislocated her ankle so she could slip her foot out of the manacles. She then healed her bone again with a chant to the Blightmother, enough that she could hobble up to the manor house and sneak into the master's armoury, where she found, as expected, her jawbone sword and crock-skin armour. She had learned years prior that the lord of the manor had kept her prized items to himself after her release into his care. She slinked away in the night, and climped into the back of one of the circus' wagons. Once the caravan was well clear of the village, she revealed herself to the circus troupe's leader, and made it clear she was willing to make herself useful in any way he might like. To her surprise he decided to make her part of the act, as The Horrible Swamp Woman.
Background:
Deep in the least hospitable parts of the Black Forest, on the northern banks of the Narlimar River there is an even less hospitable area called the Star Marshes. The poetic name must have been given to the region by a very optimistic traveller, who didn't spent much time there, for the stars are almost always covered by the musty-smelling fog that always rolls cloyingly over the fetid landscape. On a small island in this depressing landscape a small tribe of Ydoran elflings scrape out a meager existence by fishing and hunting lizards. They call themselves the Kosheer (the Bonegnawers), and they practice a distinct version of the Old Faith, heavily influenced by their fetid surroundings: in each generation, two baby girls are annointed to be priestesses of two aspects of the allmother: the blightsister and the bloomsister. it is considered an especially good sign if they are actually sisters (i.e. twins). The blightsister takes care of everything related to death and the bloomsister everything related to life. when one dies, the other one usually follows her sister in death, so that a new sister-pair can take over. Oola scrumph and her sister Aela were born twins in 727 SE and annointed in this way, Oola as the blightsister and Aela as the bloomsister. They were given over to the sisters of the tribe, and they were never told who their real parents were; the only guardians they knew where Gainin, the bloomsister, and Anasta, the blightsister. Each girl grew up learning from their mistress, Aela learning midwifery, healing and medicine, and cooking, while Oola learned hunting, potion making, and how to perform funeral rites and animal sacrifice. Oola also learned how to harness the spirits of the ancestors, to help the tribe and hurt their enemies. Anasta and Gainin were old, even when the girls were small, and it was expected that they would take over the spiritual leadership of the tribe when they turned 19, but when the day came, in 746 SE, Aela disappeared mysteriously. Oola and her had, as they always did, slept in a tent together, but when Oola woke in the morning of the day the rite of transfer was going to be performed, Aela had vanished. No one had seen her leave, and no tracks could be found. Most agreed that it was a very bad omen; perhaps she had been spirited away by agents of the elves under the mountains, who wanted her power for themselves, or maybe the ancestors had made the earth swallow her up, to warn the tribe that the sisters were the wrong choice. The people of the tribe saw no other option than to chase away the young Oola to keep the balance, while Gainin and Anasta would remain in charge until a new pair of sisters could be trained. The tribesmen threw stones and roots at Oola, and she was forced to run away, with nothing but the clothes she had slept in. Oola wandered around the swamps for weeks, surviving by eating worms and bugs, until one day she was attacked by a swamp-croc, one of the fiercest predators in the swamps. The massive creature shot out of the swamp and clamped down on her torso, and she was almost bitten in two, before she managed to poke it in the eye, making it let go of her for a moment. Bleeding from several massive tears on her midrif, she scrampled to a nearby tree, and just managed to climp out of reach of the monster's snapping jaws. A few meters up a tree, on a branch that wouldn't support her weight for long, she saw one last chance to save her life: a wasp's nest. She reached out with one hand to poke the hive, letting several angry hornets land in her open palm to sting her. Then, she quickly shoved them in her mouth, and using all she knew of the power of death and decay, imbued the hornets with necrotic magic and spat them at the massive swamp-croc right beneath her. The hornets stung the creature about the lips and eyes, and massive, pussfilled boils erupted and burst, making the reptile bellow and hiss in pain. Just then the branch gave way, and Oola plummeted to the ground, landing right in front of the crocodille's gaping maw. But instead of lunging to swallow her, it simply let out a long, pained hiss, and slumped over, dead. Gravely wounded, Oola lay in the stinking mud of the swamp, next to her would-be killer, as the angry wasps swarmed around her and stung her until they had had their fill. For days she drifted in and out of consciousness, her only source of sustinance the progressively more putrid flesh of her attacker. But somehow the Blightmother (Rhya's aspect of decay) spared her life, and in her weakened state she saw a vision of a pleasant land outside the swamps, where the rivers flowed with milk and honey. She decided to leave her place of birth, and when she was well enough she fashioned an armour and a weapon from the bones and hide of her defeated foe, as is the tradition of her people, and set forth to find the world outside. She wandered alone for many moons reaching first the borders of the swamp, and eventually the forest. Unbeknownst to her, she had emerged in the county of Remental though this didn't matter to her; all she knew was that there was bread to steal and livestock to slaughter and eat, so long as you could outrun the peasants' hounds. it was in many ways an easy life compared to the life in the swamps, but Oola still felt terribly lonely. She was glad to be rid of the tribe that had so readily turned on her, but even if she wasn't willing to admit it, even to herself, she needed a place to belong. She drifted westward, and then northward, avoiding those places where the farmers became savvy to her cattlerustling, but everntually, in 751 SE, her luck ran out, and she was captured somewhere south of Pencaster, and she was thrown in prison, while the castellan's men tried to figure out who she was. An inquisitor was brought down from Dalrith, and as he spoke Yunathran, he could interogate Oola to determine if she was a heretical threat. He everntually concluded that she wasn't tainted by demonic influence, but her savage demeanour and pagan ways was considered too dangerous to simply let loose, so she was given over the the nobleman from whom she had attempted to steal, so that she could work off her penance to him. For the next few years she was forced to work the fields planting and harvesting, and do other menial tasks around the farm, alongside other bonded peasants and farmhands. She learned Sarkaran, and everntually became something like the healer of the little farming community, though her shack was still locked at night, and her ancle was chained when she was left unsupervised. This was not the community Oola had been missing: she resented the way everyone derided her for her stature, though they were happy enough to let her climp up in the rafters of the barn to chase out the birds, or climp into fox holes when the chicken coup had been raided. And she hated doing the midwifery and spring planting and all these other tasks that would have been Aela's back at the tribe; she was the Blightsister, and here she was making soothing salves for the farmhands' blisters, or pain releaving tinctures for the whimpering women's menstral cramps. Then one day, in 755 SE, a cirkus came to town, and it was the weirdest assemblage of creatures that Oola had ever seen. This was the chance she had been waiting for: this group of strange and exotic people was much more like the community that Oola could see herself as part of. While she was chained in the cabbage field, expected to pick the summer crop of cabbages, she dislocated her ankle so she could slip her foot out of the manacles. She then healed her bone again with a chant to the Blightmother, enough that she could hobble up to the manor house and sneak into the master's armoury, where she found, as expected, her jawbone sword and crock-skin armour. She had learned years prior that the lord of the manor had kept her prized items to himself after her release into his care. She slinked away in the night, and climped into the back of one of the circus' wagons. Once the caravan was well clear of the village, she revealed herself to the circus troupe's leader, and made it clear she was willing to make herself useful in any way he might like. To her surprise he decided to make her part of the act, as The Horrible Swamp Woman.
Alignment
True Neutral
Species
Ethnicity
Year of Birth
727 SE
37 Years old
Birthplace
The Black Forest
Children
Pronouns
Her
Belief/Deity
A distinctly Kosheeri cult of the Old Faith
Sarkaran (common)
Comments