Appearance Yuma Ahote is visibly young, just at the start of manhood. He has a ruddy, Shoanti complexion and a traditional smoothly shaved head. Despite his heritage has few scars upon his body and not one tattoo. He wears leather leggings combined with a knee length loin cloth and sturdy boots, though his torso is covered with leather and wooden armor. The emblem of his people, a ram's head superimposed over the shining sun, is painted in stark red across the front of his dark armor. He has a tone, muscular frame, but a surprisingly gentle face with chocolate brown eyes, and often with a sweet, almost naive, smile when at ease. Though not small by any means, he is a bit short for a Shoanti warrior of the Sun Clan, topping out at 5'9" and weighing but 175 lbs.
Background Yuma was Little Horn's birth name, simply meaning "chieftian's son" in Shoanti. He was born the only child of Bloody Horn, a Sun Clan tribal warlord, and as such was often refered to simply as Little Horn, a name easier to pronounce in the common tongue for outlanders. Eventually Shoanti are given a second name upon reaching maturity personifying the way they are seen within the tribe.
From the time he could hold a weapon he had been trained in the art of combat and groomed to one day take the reigns of the tribe, though book learning and civilized education were rarely involved. He was able to channel all of his anger and fly into raging frenzy by channeling his spirit totem like all in his tribe, but at heart the youth had always been a gentler soul. Where other boy's took joy in hunting and violent games of war, Little Horn liked to write poetry and enjoy nature on long, solitary hikes; in secret of course. As he grew to adulthood, it became obvious that he was not as strong as a Shoanti chieftain was expected to be, nor did he have the raw talent for leadership for his words were kind and his demeanor unimposing. To make matters worse his father noticed his eye wandering away from the fairer sex as he matured.
But tradition dictates many things in Sklar-Quah culture so despite not quite fitting in, he was expected to one day assume the mantle that was his father's and eventually sire offspring of his own. Years of harsh life in the Cinderlands weakened the tribe, and Bloody Horn was forced to extend the olive branch to another clan on the steppes, a likewise ailing group of the Tiimir-Quah, the clan of the wind. In order to unite the tribes, upon becoming a man Yuma was to be wed with daughter of the Wind Clan chieftain's daughter. Little Horn despised the forced union, for his heart had no room for the girl, and when he voiced his displeasure with his father upon his 16th birthday, upon becoming an adult, he was cast out after being dubbed Yanisin, or "he who should be ashamed" and told to return only once he had earned the right to call himself a man with integrity through deed.
He spurned this title and instead named himself, something unheard of within his tribe, and set forth to make his way in the world, vowing to one day return and reclaim his lost honor, but do it with a conviction and reasoning very unlike the norm for his people. He now calls himself Ahote, "the restless one" keeping his childhood title and moniker to remind himself everyday of where he comes from and what he hopes to achieve. He wanders, slowly learning of the strange societies of Glorian past warring tribal life and seeking companionship and meaning.
