Talavuc's page

Talavuc is an erutaki woman with fine lines around her eyes and mouth and a slightly weathered look to her tanned skin. She keeps her dark hair cut to shoulder length. She dresses in the thick furs and leathers of her people, complete with brightly colored designs that designate her as belonging to the Miusunnit clan are stitched in her tunic. Her ears bear a slight point, less than that of a half-elf, hinting at a possible elven ancestry. A thin whisker pierces her nose, while dentalia pierces one ear and an eagle’s pierces the other. A final piece of dentalia pierces her lower lip. Tattoos of lines and dots run down her chin while more lines run across her face, just under her eyes and onto the bridge of her nose.

A giant mink still in his adolescent years, Naasvit is none the less a prime example of his species. He sports a mink’s long, flexible body with short legs and razor sharp teeth. His coat is silky, glossy, and black, a nearly constant winter coat for the encroaching winters. Talavuc is prone to use him as pillow because of it.

While seemingly open and responsive to others, it always seems like Talavuc is keeping a bit of distance from people. She has a natural curiosity that can lead her to getting into trouble, but usually tempers it well. Patience is a virtue, but a newfound one, so sometimes she fails to heed it. Occasionally, she gives into her bestial side, lending some ferocity and aggressiveness to her otherwise mellow personality.

Important Background Notes
1) Talavuc was the daughter of a Miusunnit hunter, Huikvii. She grew up initially learning the trades often taught to the girls and women of the erutaki, of basket weaving, leatherworking, and homemaking. Her restless nature quickly became evident, as she often skipped her lessons to go and explore the nearby marshes. When times became hard during her early childhood, her mother, Saalit, relented and she joined her father on his hunting expeditions. As she hunted, the urges for freedom took another twist, and she began to enjoy the hunt itself. Tracking, stalking, and killing her prey, the rush of the sudden strike, the smell of blood, she loved it. Huikvii began to suspect something was wrong with his daughter, so he took her to the wise elders of the Miusunnit to hear their wisdom. They spoke of a great and powerful animal spirit that had taken a hold of his daughter. She could become a medium for the erutaki, a spirit-talker, with training. Her father consented.

2) She spent the rest of her adolescent years largely separated from her family. The sporadic visits were not enough to assuage the loneliness that she felt, but she repressed it and delved into her training with a ferocious abandon. Years to learning to hunt and stalk now became lessons on how to commune with nature, to understand the relationship between predator and prey, and sometimes think like the elusive prey animals, who frequently outwitted their would-be killers. Magic became an expression of that, both a tool and a spiritual representation of the hunt. There was a cycle to it, and in the harsh lands of the Crown, those who would live and thrive must understand that. She loved every moment of it, even as the repressed loneliness drew her further away from the people who taught her.

3) Only elders of the clan serve as spirit-talkers, so it is common that the young leave to learn more about the world around them, sometimes following visions in one of the spirit-lodges. Talavuc had never received a vision, something she was deeply disappointed in, but as she came of age, decisions where suddenly thrust upon her. How would she serve her community? Would she leave to gain further understanding and knowledge or stay and commune with the spirits of the land in hopes that they would speak to her. Frustration welling up and the seeming lack of communication from the spirits deepening her feelings of loneliness and inadequacy, she packed up her meager belongings and left Aaminiut with one of the caravans heading south along the Path of Aganhei and into the Lands of the Linnorm Kings.

4) She spent nearly five years in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings and beyond, traveling their length and learning the different ideas of the world that their shamans held. Talavuc had heard of the religions and faiths of the southern lands from the tales told by travelers and those occasional “missionaries” that traveled and preached their strange faiths, but to see them first-hand was a surprise. It was her first real change to her world view.

5) Talavuc fell in with a Pathfinder by the name of Pavius Ravion. Pavius urged her to explore more and more, and the time to return to her home came and went. Her view of the world widened and even as she came to dislike or even hate some parts, such as Pavius’ home country of Cheliax, there was so much more wonder to discover and so much more to love, include Pavius. She found herself halfway across Avistan before the message found her. Her father had perished in a terrible storm on the High Ice. She rushed back across Avistan, braving many dangers, making many foolish decisions, and earning many scars, all with Pavius in tow.

6) She returned home to find her mother still in grieving. She had not gotten the full story until then. Huikvii had been chosen by one of the elders to take part in a great hunt, attempting to slay a white dragon that was menacing merchants along the Path of Aganhei. They had tracked the beast to its temporary lair along the Path, but it quickly retreated after slaying a couple of the younger hunters. They followed the beast over a great distance, past the village of Iqaliat and onto the High Ice. One of their number had been left in Iqaliat due to a malady that had come over him and was treated by their spirit-talker. The hunters never returned, unknown as to whether the ice or the dragon had taken them. Her mother grew increasingly ill as she refused to take care of herself in her grief. Only through Talavuc’s constant care did her health improve.

7) A few months later, she was engaged to be married to Pavius. He received a message of his own. Something had emerged in the south and he was needed. Talavuc and Pavius spent their last night together and the next morning she said her goodbyes. Runelord Karzoug had returned and the Pathfinders were concerned. She worried that Pavius would never return to her.

8) The news of the terrible events befalling the world was slow to reach the isolated communities of the Crown. Each time one of them reached Aaminiut, Talavuc would worry about her beloved to the south. She sought the spirits guidance regularly, but they still did not speak to her. The elders began to doubt their choice and she increasingly indulged her bestial urges, slowly unbinding what she had learned to bind tight during her adolescence. Then, four and a half years ago, Pavius returned, bringing dire news of the state of the world. He had returned for two reasons, to see his beloved and possibly spend what time he could with her and to catalogue more of the erutaki, to keep it safe for future generations should something unspeakable happen. She taught him as much as she could and spent as much time as she could spare with Pavius, finally marrying him in a quiet ceremony. They were oblivious to the worsening conditions in the Crown. The dooms that had visited the southern lands were preparing to visit the Crown.

9) The winter that year was the worst that any could recall, and the elders had encountered dire winters before. Tales of the restless dead spread, as did those of lost villages. Aaminiut was spared a great deal of the worsening weather, due mainly to the hot springs of the marshes. Tragedy came to her family’s door one night that winter. As she lay in bed with Pavius, a knocking was heard at the house’s door. Her mother, staying up late again went to the door. Talavuc remembers hearing her mother’s response, “Oh dear! You’ve finally returned!” She and Pavius crept out of bed, curious as to the meaning of that exclamation. What they found was the frozen corpse of her father, embracing the body of her mother, Huikvii having already torn out Saalit’s throat. The screams of others in Aaminiut could be heard as returned fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters slew their loved ones while dire spirits of frozen death danced in the streets. Talavuc and Pavius fled the home and fought her undead father while the rest of the town rose to the screams of the dying and the laughter of the dead. The roused forces of the clans fought off the dead, bolstered as such by the elders, but in the fighting, Pavius was slain. She cradled her beloved’s body in the walkways of Aaminiut, her wails of sorrow joining the many of those that had lost their loved ones at the cold hands of family.

10) Talavuc fled. She fled from duty. She fled from sanity. She fled from the pain. For the next two years, she lived in the wilds, acting as a beast. Living from moment to moment, focusing on nothing but survival, it kept the pain away. Her spells flowed from her lips as one might release and arrow from a bow or a cat might swipe with its claws. She would still be there if not for the first time that the spirits spoke to her directly, rather than through the magic they granted. The reindeer she was stalking had led her on a great chase, giving her more trouble than it could possibly be worth, but always just tantalizingly within reach. She found herself in the marshes again, but rather than wonder why it would travel in such a place with so many hidden dangers, she kept following. The chase ended in a small grotto, nestled up against a short cliff, with a hot spring that shot water high into the air just as she entered. The rainbow of colors that played across the mist in the sunlight drew her attention and she stood there in rapture. While she stood there senseless, she saw the storms reaching wide, encompassing Golarion. The lands she had traveled were bathed in snow, but rather than the natural dying of winter and the revivification of spring, these endless snows brought nothing but unending death. Trees withered and died, but did not spring to life again, even those that never retreated in the winter months. Animals froze to death, as did people, and in their place rose the death and cavorted dark fairy creatures. She mindlessly touched the tip of her ear at the sight of the wintry fey. Her reverie was broken by the sudden tackle of a baby giant mink, the black ball of fur bowling her over. The two wrestled for a while before she fed it a bit of meat from an earlier kill she had made that week. This giant mink, who she named Naasvit, helped to draw her out of her predatory mindset.

11) After weeks of hunting to feed the Naasvit, she was discovered by a group of hunters from Aaminiut. One in their number recognized her, and after a long conversation, she followed them back to the town she once called home. The mink followed her, much to her surprise, but even more so to that of the hunters. She entered Aaminiut to find it diminished, but still holding against the storms and the walking dead. The place had changed in her time in the wilds and fortifications had been built to protect against the horrors that stalked the Crown. She visited the elders, who greeted her gladly and spoke with them at length.

12) After several months of relearning and remembering how to interact with people, she entered one of the spirit-lodges, much changed by her experiences. She sat and waited, Naaslvit waiting curled up nearby. Loss and joy faded away as she concentrated on the experience she had months ago in the grotto, seeing the simple beauty of the mist in the spirit-lodge, the patience she had learned through her ordeals becoming an asset. The spirits spoke to her in time, when she was ready, so she would wait for them. Two days passed in the lodge, Naasvit leaving to hunt and returning to rejoin her reverie. The vision came as her sight focused on a particular curl of smoke, continuing the one she had before. She saw the winter encroaching upon Avistan and her vision passed over the land, still vital to a shining city still standing against the destruction that crept upon it from all sides. The eagle shone brightest of all and the snow began to fall. It would dull, but the vision ended and she awoke, startled by the sudden ending of the vision. She knew what she had to do. She must find that city. When she told them of her vision they gifted her something that she had not even realized she missed, Pavius’ Wayfinder. The elders held onto the item and when no one came for it, they put it away. Seeing the transformation in Talavuc, they gave it back to her, although bereft of Pavius’ ioun stone, not as a reminder of his loss, but rather the joy that she had experienced both as his lover and as his traveling companion.

13) A year and a half ago, Talavuc left behind Aaminiut and traveled again into the world. No longer was she the wide-eyed explorer, now she had a purpose, a goal. Pavius had spoken of preparing for the worst. She would seek to prevent it, or die in the attempt. She traveled down the Path of Aganhei to find the Land of the Linnorm Kings lost in the grip of the eternal winter and entrenched a seemingly ceaseless war with the forces of Runelord Karzoug to the south. Her inquiries about the shining eagle she had seen in her vision were to go unanswered, but for a chance encounter with another Pathfinder, Storjek Cloven-Horn. He recognized the wayfinder and spoke with her at length about their respective stories. As she shared her vision with him, he told her of the Andorans and their summit. Storjek helped her find a ship to take her Almas, the capital of Andoran, where she hoped to find the shining eagle.

1) Talavuc wants to find a way to combat the encroaching winter that all of Avistan is experiencing. She assumes that her vision has something to do with this. She hopes to save her home from the terrible morozkos and the frozen undead. The concept of it impacting more of the world is not something that she’s wrapped her head around and it may just overwhelm her.

2) Pavius’ wayfinder feels incomplete, empty in her hands. The small stone that he kept socketed in the slot on the center of its surface. Finding an ioun stone to fill that slot symbolizes somehow her filling the hole in her heart created by his death. Almost an unformed desire, she is only hazily aware of the symbolic nature of her desire.

1) She was secretly grateful for her mother’s death, but the thought of feeling such horrifies her. Caring for the woman had long since generated bitter feelings, ones that she repressed. Although she misses her parents from time to time, a part of her is grateful for being free from her parents’ shackles.

2) Pavius once managed to convince her to join the Pathfinder Society. The initial mission that they went on went horribly awry, resulting in the death of another Pathfinder. She left the order voluntarily and still blames herself for that failure and although she still loves the Society, the prospect of trying to join again is something she cannot bring herself to do.

3) Her paternal grandfather, an erutaki half-elf by the name of Niisik, was a werewolf and still lives. He fled to Avistan long ago, but has recently rediscovered the descendants of the family he left behind. His feelings at rediscovering his family are deeply mixed and he is unsure as to what to do about them.

1) Naasvit, male giant mink: Talavuc’s constant companion and most loyal friend. The mink has weathered the last two years with her. He’s a mischievous and curious short, with a hunger that is typical of such animals. He frequently sneaks away with meat when he thinks he can. He’ll defend Talavuc to the death, but she’d never want that.

2) Storjek Cloven-Horn, male half-orc: A Pathfinder that Talavuc encountered in her last trip through the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. His orc ancestry is as evident as his ulfen parentage, giving him an immense stature and blonde hair that seems strange against his olive skin. His mother talks little of his father and he leaves such alone. Talavuc and he have spent a great deal of time sharing stories and she considers him a friend.

3) Niisik, half-elf werewolf: Talavuc’s paternal grandfather. His blood is the source of her beastial urges. The only survivor of a hunting expedition in his youth, he soon found himself afflicted with lycanthropy. He learned to keep the beast caged inside him, only letting it out when he must. He long kept his condition hidden, even from his wife, until he lost his temper after a particularly difficult hunting trip in which his secret was almost revealed. He nearly killed Talavuc’s grandmother, but upon realizing what he had done, he fled in shame and horror from the Crown of the World. He has tried in the past to look in on his family, but only until recently did he finally make the trip. He saw Talavuc for the first and last time nearly two years ago and has since learned much about her through the people of Aaminiut.

4) Saalit, female undead erutaki: Talavuc’s mother and source of both love and tragedy. She grew up as a proper erutaki woman and stayed by the side of Talavuc’s slightly distant father for many years. After his death, she found it impossible to come to terms with his passing. As Talavuc cared for her, she noticed the bitterness in Talavuc’s eyes and Saalit came to feel shame for it. When her husband came to her as a frozen corpse, she saw her chance to die in her love’s arms and free her daughter. As her life fled though, a hiding hatred for her daughter’s bitterness that drove her to die as such bloomed. This was for her, but why should she? The thought came too late, and the unanswered question kept her from passing on properly. Her spirit wavered in between this world and the next, troubled by such emotions when the deathly magic growing in the Crown brought her back. Love fled and the hatred began to consume the undead woman. It was her daughter’s fault. All her fault…

1) Nightmares of the night that she lost her family and her lover still haunt her. Many times, she sees the undead faces of her mother and Pavius accusing her of causing her deaths. Her undead father stares on impassively, providing neither love nor hatred, only judgement. She awakens screaming as they reach for her hungrily, tearing at her flesh. Sometimes, she bears scratches from where she tore at her skin as she dreamed. Naasvit will often bite her lightly to try and wake her.

2) Talavuc has a taste for raw or very lightly cooked meat. Some of this comes from her time in the wilds, but more so from her grandfather’s tainted blood. She doesn’t indulge it often, typically only in times of great stress or deep depression. The meat will sometimes leave her with an upset stomach if it has been a while she has eaten as such, but her druidic magic prevents disease.

3) When distracted, bored, or lost in thought, her hands often wander to the wayfinder she carries on her belt, sliding over the intricate surface. A slight smile sometimes plays across her face while doing as such, but the moment she touches the empty socket, it disappears.