Nagaji, the
serpentine servitor race of the Nagas of Tian Xia. This week I gave myself the
added challenge of working outside of my own comfort zone. I always play male
characters. I find it hard to play outside of my gender, and thus I
occasionally write female characters to make sure I can make them as varied and
three-dimensional as my male characters. This time I'm trying to push farther
than that in attempting to write a transgender character.
First I want to
talk about character options. With the extremely high CHA I really liked the
idea of the Nagaji Alt racial trait Hypnotic Gaze. The stats really set
themselves toward a CHA caster, and in this case I went with summoner. Rolling
on the summoner background I got something that really fits where I was already
heading with the character in the first place. See below.
[Stranger in Your
Own Skin]: You have felt awkward and uncomfortable your entire life, as if you
were born into a body that wasn't truly yours. Your quest to become what you've
always felt you should be led you to your eidolon, in which you found what you
see as your own idealized form. The link that you and your eidolon share allows
you to escape some of the inherent limits of your form from time to time. You
gain access to the Linked Surge magic trait.
Chumana
Born in one of
the many small towns that dot the swamps of Nagajor, Orochi's parents were
traders along one of the most prosperous trade routes in the province. For the
most part, his life was simple and average. His parents were caring, he
received schooling as befit the merchants of the town, and all was well. When
he was six his parents gave birth to a younger sister who they doted upon as
she grew up.
The Nagaji raise
their young as a community or a clutch, and Orochi spent many hours learning at
the feet of his aunt, his mother's sister. The older Nagaji was caring and when
his parents began to spend more time meeting the needs of his younger sister
she was always there for him. As he grew into his teen years the favorite aunt
died, leaving young Orochi adrift. His parents still cared for him, but most of
their attention was placed on his younger sister and he was left with a hole
from his aunt's passing. This hole was eventually filled when one of the
leaders of the major merchants guild took Orochi under his wing to teach him
the ways of commerce.
The merchant king
was a shrewd man, more concerned about what went into his pocket than what
other people thought of him. His true motivation for bringing Orochi under his
wing were twofold; To make sure the young Nagaji's families empire would stand
with him and to use Orochi as a foil when dealing with other merchants who went
against his desires.
Although this
relationship gave Orochi a way to fill his time he still felt like he was
adrift in the world. The loss of his aunt still weighed heavily on his mind.
Seeing his sister receive such adoration from his parents that he did not made
him feel like he was somehow less.
Eventually it was
his relationship with the merchant king that would drive him to finding
himself. A number of the other merchant families were working to relieve the
stranglehold that the merchant king had on certain commodities. In an attempt
to break this alliance the merchant king told Orochi that the other merchants
were working against his family's interests. Even though he felt excluded from
his family, they were still kin and thus he went to confront these merchants
who were supposedly stealing money from his family's coffers.
The confrontation
did not go as expected. Orochi, usually unsure of himself and his place in the
world, met these merchants with a growing sense of anger. A piece of him that
he was unaware he had snapped when these "traitors" who were working
against his family denied their involvement. That piece of him was not just
emotional but physical. If any at the meeting had survived they would have
spoken of a transformation that took over Orochi's body.
Orochi's rage
summoned forth a creature that found a connection to the young Nagaji. The
serpentine being fused with him, impelling him to not hold back his emotions
and do what he thought was necessary. It wasn't just a release of emotion that
made Orochi feel whole. It was the transformation as his body took the form of
the serpentine creature.
Many things
changed after the massacre, Orochi ran and hid for days; staying connected in
the form the creature gave him. He felt no remorse for the deaths he caused, as
that too felt natural to him. He spent the days talking to the being that inhabited
his body, learning her name was Coaxoch. She was a creature from the maelstrom,
a creature of pure change and the piece that made Orochi whole. When Orochi
finally came out of hiding Coaxoch separated herself from him and he knew
something was missing.
With the meeting
being a secret, nobody except the merchant king realized Orochi was responsible
for the deaths of all of these people. The manner of their demise seemed more
like an animal attack than that of a person.
Without Coaxoch
bound to his body Orochi began to feel empty. Over the course of months he
began to seek this wholeness without Coaxoch being present. He changed his
style of dress to more match the feminine aspects of the serpentine creature
and eventually decided this was a more apt representation of who she really
was.
When she finally
felt that her everyday life more matched how she felt when combined with
Coaxoch she confronted the merchant king. With more confidence, understanding
her place in the world, his threats of exposing her as the murderer meant
little. When he called her Orochi, she corrected him by saying because of the
situation he put her in that was no longer who she was, and from now on she
would be called Chumana.
The merchant king
went to strike her but her change also brought on new abilities and when she
caught his eye he was trapped within their hypnotic gaze. For the first time
since the massacre she called upon Coaxoch and became the full being she was
meant to be. The merchant king did not survive the encounter.
Now more sure of
herself Chumana has left her small town, which she has outgrown in the fullness
of her being. She seeks to make her own way as Chumana, leaving behind all old
familial connections. With her new strength, bolstered by her connection to
this being of change, Chumana knows that she can do whatever it takes to
succeed in the world.
This is what I made, what did you make?
Writing about something that is so far from my experience
is difficult for two reasons. The first is simply not having a full
understanding of the reality of people different than you. The other is fear of
writing a character that is a stereo type or that demonizes the other group of
people. Luckily I have friends who have gone through these experiences that can
help me understand these characters that I'm trying to write. There was a minor
concern that the character was evil but with the understanding that random
rolls are random rolls and I did not write her specifically as the villain, I
think I did a decent job.
Life has been
breathed into yet another group of disparate rolls giving a complete character.
If you enjoy seeing the process of creation please help fund what amounts to a
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