Sette Tawhoq's page

Born in the Sodden Lands, Sette is no stranger to water, wetness and harsh weather. Her ratfolk community built their warrens underneath the village of Jula, one of the very few places that hasn't fallen into barbarism. Since childhood, Sette trained as an underwater scavenger, diving to retrieve items from the sunken kingdoms of Lirgen and Yamasa. Sometimes she would find treasure or even an artifact, but most of what she managed to bring back was, plainly put, junk. Still, she enjoyed studying her findings and tinkering with them, trying to guess at their purpose or the shape of the object when it was still whole and functional. Where the other young divers would spend their free time playing marbles, chasing each other through the warrens or splashing in the shallows, Sette would seek out Father Heveril, the fallen paladin of Erastil, and mercilessly hound the poor man with questions. Who were the people who lived under the water? What happened to them? Who was Aroden? How did he die? But he was a god? Why did he die? If Aroden comes back, will he fix up the broken lands?

Her curiosity and insatiable thirst for knowledge remained one of her defining traits as she grew up. It was those traits, together with the unfortunate fact that she was the youngest of her many brothers and sisters, that made her the ideal candidate to send on a mission of vital importance. You see, not everything that the divers brought back to the surface was beneficial; one of them returned one day with a curiously-shaped box decorated with intricate carvings and indecipherable runes. Once opened, it released a powerful curse that affected more than half of the population of Jula. The sages of both communities - human and ratfolk - were at a loss on how to lift this curse or even what its origin was. As a last resort, they selected ten promising youths to travel to places of knowledge and learning and hopefully find a solution.

Sette's journey took her to Absalom, where she spent over a year researching until she finally came across a lead. A very old scroll on Thassilonian runes triggered a spark of recognition; some of those runes looked similar to the sketches she had made of the box and its inscriptions. However, the difference was enough to lead Sette to the conclusion that Thassilonian was not the language used on the artifact. Further research led her to the presumed precursors of the Thassilonians, the fabled Azlanti. There was even less material on the Azlanti than on the Thassilonians, but Sette persevered, and after another three years she had become something of an expert in the ancient civilization, her budding reputation spreading outside Absalom, perhaps boosted by the unusual element of her race. It was this expertise that led to her selection for the second expedition to the ruined continent, and Sette leaped at the chance of furthering her research in the field.

Sette is usually very well-groomed, but after weeks of travel her appearance is on the grubby side. She is rather large for a ratfolk, both in stature and in girth. Having gone from a physically active lifestyle to a rather sedentary one in the past four years has thickened her body, although her diving-trained muscles remain somewhat strong. Her dark red eyes tend to be off-putting at first sight, as is her hairless tail, her protruding muzzle and her constantly twitching whiskers. She prefers practical clothing with many pockets, often sewing additional ones herself, as well as belts with hoops and pouches for all the junk that she likes to carry around. Quite literally deserving of the term "pack rat", she even stuffs things in her cheek pouches, which makes for a rather comical sight.

A bright and inquisitive young ratfolk, Sette has always enjoyed tinkering with things and figuring out their secrets and hidden possibilities. She is particularly adept with organic matter, mixing all sorts of abominable concoctions and testing them on herself. She has been keenly feeling the weight of the expectations placed upon her and as such she does not perform well under pressure, becoming nervous and clumsy. While rather shy in public and all too aware of the stigma placed upon her because of her race, she is a veritable chatterbox in private. It doesn't matter if there is nobody to talk to, or to listen to her, she will happily talk to herself, debate with herself and even argue with herself in a constant stream of babbling. Her life in the Sodden lands has taught her frugality, and she has managed to not be seduced by the myriad lures of the city life, with one exception - sweets. Sette has a huge sweet tooth, but fortunately for her purse she is also very selective in her preferences. She has been a regular customer of Absalom's best bakeries and chocolatiers, and since the beginning of the voyage she has felt their absence keenly, the lack of sugary goodness making her cranky and irritable.

The fog was undoing all her careful work. Unable to sleep the previous night due to a mix of anticipation and anxiety, Sette had spent several hours carefully grooming herself, as she had read in a book on social interactions that first impressions regarding one's physical appearance were usually very important. She runs a clawed hand through the fur on her shoulder, now dull and hopelessly frizzy, and heaves a deep sigh. Taking one last, fortifying bite from the sweet bun in her other hand (sour cherry and cream filling with white chocolate frosting and saffron sprinkles, only three silver a piece), she makes her way through the thickening throng of people towards the pier that was her destination.

“Excuse me, pardon, ow, sorry, oh, that's perfectly alright sir, I'm sure it was my fault, how silly of me to leave my tail lying around like that, please don't scream, ma'am, I am not a giant rat, although I imagine that it is an easy mistake to make, oops, didn't see you there, mister kobold, pardon me.”

She keeps up a steady stream of nervous chatter as people turn to stare at her. Almas was a rather progressive place, but she misses Absalom's diversity and open-mindedness as stevedores stop their work to gape at her and there is the inevitable pointing and jeering. Although she has to admit that the docks are an unusually diverse place right now as she spots an undine, a half-orc and even a lizardfolk ahead of her. And then of course there was the kobold she had almost bumped into earlier. Sette makes her way to the passenger gangplank, gazing curiously around the Peregrine.

“Ah, yes, captain, I will be accompanying you on this extraordinary voyage. Being something of an expert in the culture, history and civilization of the Azlanti, although of course there is so little to study, third hand accounts at best, so you can understand that I am very pleased to have the chance to see the Azlanti lands with my own eyes, or at least what is left of them as their geography has been vastly altered, much like my own homeland. Did you know that one of the prophecies of the Saoc Brethren bears startling similarities with a Varisian legend...?" Sette trails off as she examines the captain’s outstretched hand with a puzzled frown. Understanding dawns after a moment and she raises a hand to one of her cheek pouches. After massaging it briefly, she extracts a roll of oiled leather with her other hand and gingerly unrolls it to reveal the required writ. She smiles awkwardly at the captain, briefly revealing a row of needle-sharp teeth. ”I can assure you that it is clean and perfectly sanitary. I have a certificate that I am free of diseases and parasites, as well. It seemed like the best place to store such an important document, no chance of pickpockets getting it from there.”

After the captain, with a very understandable eyebrow raise, accepts the writ, Sette turns to Ms. Ramona with a cheerful, toothy smile. ”Lovely to see you again, and I am thankful for the opportunity that your company has offered me. I can understand if other passengers do not wish to share quarters with me, in which case I will be happy to bunk in the hold. And if this ship has rats, it will be my pleasure to persuade them to relocate, as a goodwill gesture to the good captain.”

With a final wave and smile, she sets off to find a spot below decks. Poking her head through the first open door that she runs across, she nods at the dwarf wreathed in smoke sitting inside. ”Good day, sir, would you mind me sharing the room for the duration of the voyage? I am hygienic and disease-free.” A thought occurs, and she massages her other cheek pouch, extracting a small package wrapped in oiled paper. ”Would you like a sweet bun?”

One of the other ratfolk sent to find answers is Sette's childhood best friend, Jivi. They lost contact after Sette went to Absalom.
Aside from scholarly pursuits, Sette is an aspiring baker. She is constantly searching for recipes and for ingredients to employ creatively in her culinary experiments.