About Ula! Ulo
Appearance:
Black short cut hair, with flecks of light grey. Kind brown eyes that dart about never resting too long on anyone thing. He is tall and muscular (5ft 10in, 170lbs) while he still has the body of a warrior and runner, his skin is a bit looser in places, and the wine has added some fat to his stomach. He has ritualistic scars on his upper chest and arms.
Area he is from: southern Gwuara, Inspired by the Igbo and Zulu peoples and lands.
The land Ula! Ulo comes from is a land of stark colors.
Blue skies, dark brown earth, yellow sand, light brown grass, red cattle and black skinned people.
There is little rain, but when it comes every year it rains for days and weeks on ends till the ground is more liquid than solid and all the vegetation is as green as it ever will be.
The people rejoice in the rain singing, dancing, making love and making war in it.
Due to the harshness of the climate and lack of water villages are far apart and small, families living in compounds of several huts.
Villages are centered around deep wells full of water, and large communal herds of cattle that are grazed on the tough grass of the area.
Warriors are needed to protect the cattle, which are the peoples second most important life source after water, from members of other villages or tribes as well as the predators of the area.
All are eager to snag a lone cow.
Men and women will take multiple partners, often all living in a communal compound with each person having their own hut and bed.
Young men are taught to be strictly masculine warriors, and as they grow into middle and older ages they transition to being storytellers and wise elders.
Idea / Themes:
Ula! Ulo is lost and unsure of his place in the world, in his culture men transition from warrior to elder, storyteller or shaman near his age but due to grief he never started that journey and is left unsure of his place.
As he ages he feels it in his bones more and more every day, and with the weariness there is waning confidence in his skills as a warrior … however his stories have grown stronger.
Ula! Ulo is at heart a curious soul eager to learn new stories, and while he is also deeply lazy this is what drives him onward… well that and the guilt and shame of running away.
Ula! Ulo is honest in a strange way, that is he does not lie in his own mind, more he tells a story and that story becomes his story, thus his past present and future are somewhat in constant flux.
This said he is not a good liar, and those who listen close will often know that his story isn’t an objective truth.
He shies away from women scared of their advances in the memory of his lost love. Likewise he is unsure and unskilled in the ways of seduction.
Backstory:
In his youth Ula! Ulo was a great warrior, renowned throughout the lands for his strength and courage... or so he told himself.
Truth is he was a warrior of some skill, there were a few better in his village and the villages around him, but he always came back with spoils and so he lived a well enough life and took for himself in time a wife and fathered children, and took another wife and fathered yet more children.
He build a compound of huts for himself, his wives and his children. It wasn't until he met his 3rd wife that he knew love, and peace. It was with her that he saw a future.
As he aged he was happy, and content, long gone was his warrior spirit.
Now he sang and danced.
Drank wine and fished with friends.
Longer and taller did his tales grow.
Soon his one true life gave birth to a new son and he shone with love happiness and life. But death was at the door and not three days a passed before his wife fell ill and his newborn son ill at her breast as well. This troubled Ula! Ulo greatly, he sat by her bed for many days and many nights selling what he owned to bring shaman and healer to her hut.
His other wives and children seeing the ruin of Ula! Ulo's family took what they wanted and left. So it was when his 3rd wife died along with his newborn son Ula! Ulo was left alone and greatly in debt.
After the customary month of mourning had passed and he did not emerge from his hut, whispers began. After another month those he owed debts to came and he made bold promises of repayment... if only they would give him time. They left happy for he had been a great warrior surely he would repay them. Days passed into weeks which faded into a month or more, and he made no payments. Soon the creditors grew angry and sent men to demand payment.
Ula! Ulo seeing what ruin he had brought upon himself did what a noble and honorable warrior should he faced his misdeed and started to make amends ... HAHAHAHAHA no he ran away.
Ula! Ulo the great warrior who barehanded wrestled a great fish 4 times the size of a man.
Ula! Ulo who chased a deer for three days and four nights.
Ula! Ulo who had snuck into an enemy village naked to steal his first wife.
Ula! Ulo ran far away in the dark of night.
