RPer: [Falx]

Character Name: Rashka

Character Setting: Arlos (A D&D type Fantasy Setting)

Age: 25

Race: Gaeavalin (common: Goblin, misinterpreted Hobgoblin)

Appearance: Rashka stands around five feet five inches in height. Like most Gaeavalin, her arms and legs seem disproportionally long compared to her torso, giving her a spindly appearance. Her brown hair is kept in short braided rows and always away from her face. Her green eyes scrutinize everything around her with an almost animal quality. Depending on the situation, she dresses alternately in skins, light mail armor, or a single piece of colorful cloth that has been skillfully tied into something resembling clothing. She has a knot work tattoo of a wolf paw on her left bicep, delineating her animal totem.

History: From the time she could hold a weapon, Rashka was trained in the arts of combat. As part of a raeg (common: tribe) of Gaeavalin situated on the western shoreline of mainland of Arlos, she was also taught skills in seafaring and fishing, as well as survival skills necessary to a hunter/gatherer society. As she grew, Rashka’s skill in battle became well known amongst her people as she preferred intelligence, speed, and endurance above brute force. Her ability to assess combat situations from the perspective of predator and prey earned her the totem “Wolf” as she often used tactics similar to those found by animals running in packs. During the Elf and Hobgoblin War, Rashka’s quick thinking saved many Gaeavalin lives from being destroyed in the Massacre at Arlistan Harbor. She won the loyalty of many Gaeavalin as she took steps to take care of the wounded not only of her own raeg but of others as well. During this time she became Raeg (common: chieftain) when her former Raeg was slain in one-on-one combat.

Personality: To a Gaeavalin, honor is life. So it is with Rashka. Though she has a tendency toward curiosity (particularly in the customs of other peoples), she lives by Gaeavalin codes. That is, “The Raeg is his people, and the people are the raeg.” She concerns herself with the needs of her people before her own needs. She has a very dry sense of humor and a hefty amount of cheek, making it difficult to tell when she is joking and when she is being serious. She is rather level-headed for a Gaeavalin, but is quick to anger on matters of honor. One of her biggest pet peeves is the tendency of Humans to refer to all Gaeavalin as Hobgoblins. In the Gaeavalin language, Haubgaeavalin or Haub is used to denote a person who is no longer a part of the raeg. The literal translation means “Not Gaeavalin” or “Nothing” and is therefore a great insult to one who is still a member of a raeg.

Occupation: Raeg

Abilities: Rashka speaks Gaeavalin, Elven, and Common languages. She is skilled at sailing, fishing, hunting, and blade-dancing as well as having a keen observational sense and a head for battle tactics. She is also skilled in many forms of combat and is capable of using just about anything as a weapon.


Character Challenge

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A fat, jolly looking old man, complete with half-moon spectacles and a graying, fuzzy beard stepped briskly into the room. Under his arm he carried a notepad and several books on anthropology. He was wearing an old tweed suit that didn't quite cover his stomach and a garish red tie that went with neither his grey shirt nor the green and browns of the suit. "Hello!" he called to Rashka in a full and confident voice which was, perhaps, a little louder than was decent. "I've come to ask you some questions!" he continued. There was an excited tone in his voice that made his statement into an exclamation. "Is that okay with you? Shall we begin?"

Rashka cringed at the overly loud greeting and tilted her head quizzically at the man, taking his measure as her eyes tried to settle on the least offensive of the colors in his garish attire. She noted the pad of paper and books and settled her gaze firmly on the man's face. She pointed to the books. "You're a scholar, yes? What can I do for you?"

"Yes." Beamed the man in answer to her question as he took a seat, "Indeed I am." He placed the books by the side of his chair, and intertwined his hands in front of his belly, his voice softened slightly as he started to talk about his topic of interest, "I'd like to know some more details about your lifestyle and culture." He pushed his glasses further up his nose - more out of habit than because they actually needed adjusting - and smiled at Rashka. "Let's start simple - for my sake," he continued, with a chuckle. "Is there any such thing as a typical day for you? And, if so, what is it like?"

Rashka grinned at the man. "I suppose that depends on whether you mean a typical day for me, personally, or a typical day for my people, or whether, perhaps, you mean both." She shrugged a bit as her grin broadened. "So, which is it?"

The Anthropologist paused for a moment to think, like a child momentarily stunned by the vast choice of sweets before them in the shop, "for you personally," he said, "at least for now," he added with a happy grin.

The gaeavalin nodded. "As you wish. Though, to be honest, it could be difficult to separate my typical day from that of my people. " She paused a moment, her brow furrowed in thought before she continued. "To begin with, I am Raeg. The title, however, does not exempt me from duties that are performed by all other members of the raeg. A typical day, then, consists first of a communal morning meal, usually consisting of dried and preserved foods from our food stores. After this, our hunting, fishing, and plant gathering parties form up and set about gathering food for the day's meals. Each of these parties usually has one or two young ones assigned so that they may learn these skills. Those who are not collecting the day's food can be found busy at any other tasks that need attention such as mending sails, caring for little ones, teaching or practicing with weapons, preserving foodstuffs, preparing the day's meals or anything else that happens to come up for that day." She tapped her lips a moment before continuing. "Around midday, those not gathering food gather together for another communal meal. If those who have been gathering food have been particularly successful, they might join those at the village and give over their kills to the ones preparing or preserving foods. If they have not been successful, they will typically gather together with the rest of their party for a light midday meal which each has packed from the food stores. When the meal is over, we return to our duties." She paused again, leaning forward a bit as she spoke. "At sunset all parties return, food is prepared and we again sit down to a communal meal. At the end of this, any food that is left along with any food brought back by the gathering parties is collected and preserved." She smiled broadly with a gleam in her eye. "And then the fun begins."

There was a furious scribbling as the man tried to note everything of importance down, and he silently mouthed 'repairing sails...'. There were a few moments of silence after Rashka finished speaking as he looked over the notes and underlined some things he wanted to ask more about later, "...the fun?" he said, by way of asking her to continue.


Rashka nodded. "After a day's work and the evening meal, there is always some form of entertainment." She let out an almost wistful sigh. "Music, stories, feats of strength…" She paused, her look one of wild excitement, "And of course, blade dancing." The look vanished almost as quickly as it came, as if she suddenly remembered herself and she shrugged. "Of course, after that the evening is reserved for individual activities such as smithing, weaving, combat practice, or more… intimate activities." She stretched her back. "From there, we retire for the evening and wake at dawn to do it all over again."

The Anthropologist nodded as he wrote more things down, his hand-writing getting less and less legible as he tried to keep up, "The stories that you tell," he started, "What are they like? Are they... stories of heroes? Anecdotes from the day, or...?"

Rashka smiled. "They are mostly stories of battle: Our grandest of victories and our most crushing of defeats." She paused, pressing her lips together as if she had remembered something unpleasant, then continued on. "There are also tales of the gods, as well as anecdotes from the day. It all depends on who is telling the story." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "As to your question about heroes..." She tapped her lips for a moment, working out how best to explain. "The short answer is no. We do not have stories about heroes. At least not in the sense that other races might use the word." She paused again, once more trying to work out how to clarify. "When we tell stories, the focus is usually not upon an individual. This stems from the fact that we are not a society based on individual needs and desires. Therefore, in our storytelling an individual might be picked out to illustrate certain traits that are desirable in the raeg or conversely to illustrate traits that are undesirable. The individual might also be chosen in certain stories in order to show how his actions affect the entire raeg. However, it is a very rare case in which the individual is the main focus of the story." She leaned back in the chair. "Now, I think, to be fair, it is my turn." She stared at the anthropologist, her green eyes alight with curiosity. "Tell me something about yourself and why you are so interested in my people."

The man laughed, "I'm a cultural anthropologist!" He said in his initial, loud, cheery tone. Then he quieted down a little as he explained, "some people are interested in books, others dedicate their life to sport, or sailing, or medicine. Me, I'm interested in finding out about other peoples." Then he chuckled and shook his head, "The search for what the biologists call LUCA isn't just a scientific one, even if that's what the scientists want you to believe." He winked at Rashka, "Silly people. They think if they can't see it, measure it, or quantify it some way, it's not worth studying." He paused for a moment, then continued, "Yes. LUCA is what I'm after, in my own way. But I'm looking for a tribe, a village, a society, rather than a genetic code, or a single individual. Did you know that of all the hundreds of tribes all around the world that I've met, there are only three who don't have a flood myth of some sort? Even tribes who live hundreds of miles away from the ocean! Now, I say, if you can't find evidence of such a universal flood - and we can't - then maybe it was a lot smaller flood, and it's just that the ancestors of all those tribes happened to be in the same place when that flood happened - a first tribe, from which all others - or most others - descend." He talked quickly, in an enthusiastic voice, eyes sparkling and alive as he talked about the subject and theories he loved. "But I'm rambling!" He said cheerily, with a little chuckle. "So, what about it? Do you have any ancient flood stories amongst your people?"

Rashka nodded, "We do." She paused a moment and closed her eyes before beginning, "Once, in the Before Time, when the world was still called Gaearon, the Nine walked upon their new creation and they saw that it was good, for this sphere which they called ‘Gaearon’ represented the unity and harmony of their four powers. The Nine, however, were sad, for although the sphere was perfect, it was a barren, lifeless place. So the Nine said to themselves, ‘It would be good to have someone to bring life to our creation.’

She stood and began moving, her arms swaying as she spoke. "And so, together they formed a small seed which they planted in the soil and tended to. From this seed, there grew a tree and they called the tree ‘Etrius’, for from him all life would spring. The Tree indeed knew his purpose, and began to populate the sphere with creatures represented his creators. The Nine smiled and were well pleased."

Her tone turned dark, her movements less flowing as her eyes snapped open, "However, it happened that while the Tree was still young, demonkind, who were of ancient time the enemies of the Nine, looked upon the sphere with jealousy. They thought to themselves, ‘Why should this Gaearon of the Nine have Life? Let us destroy their Tree and leave their creation barren once again.’ Thus, they attacked those things the Tree had created in their advance upon Etrius. The Tree saw that his creations could not stand against the demons, and so, using them as a model, he fashioned creatures who moved like those who came against him and called back to himself the other creations, lest they be destroyed.

When the Nine saw what was happening, and how demonkind still made headway against Etrius, despite his new creations, they said, ‘Look, the demons will surely destroy Life if this continues, for the Tree is young and does not yet understand this enemy. Let us do battle with our enemies of old and save our young Tree from this onslaught.’

And so, the Nine caused a great rain to come upon the sphere and the waters of the seas and the rivers swelled and broke their bounds. And for many days and many nights, the waters covered the land, while the lightning flashed, and the earth opened up, and fire and ice blown about by swirling winds purged the sphere of demonkind."

Her tone became mellow, her movements less harsh and she once again closed her eyes. "When the storms died down, and the waters returned to their bounds, the Nine came to the Tree. They said to him, ‘You are young yet and the demons will return. It would not be good to have to scour the sphere again.’ The Tree nodded and spoke, ‘I must create from myself those to care for and protect the others who have come from myself so that when the demons come again, we may not have to destroy these and start again.’

And so, Etrius brought forth from himself all those things which he had created before the demons sought his destruction. When this was done, he thought for a time, and then, he brought together earth and fire and fashioned it into the likeness of demonkind. However, as he fashioned, he lengthened the legs to give this creation speed and agility and he lengthened the arms to give them greater reach. The Tree then placed himself into the creation and he called them, ‘Gaeavalin’ for they had been formed from the earth. And the Nine saw them and blessed them, giving them strength with which to do battle."

Rashka opened her eyes and looked rather serene as she sat back down. She smiled lightly. "And what of your people? What tale of flood do they tell?" She stopped suddenly, struck by a thought, "And who or what is Luca?"

The anthropologist talked as he made his notes, "My people have a very strange story about a loving God who decided his people were too evil, and so killed them all. Well, all except one family. He let one family survive and they built a huge floating city, and took with them animals of all kind. And when the flood waters finally receded, many generations later, they abandoned their floating city and returned to the land. The city, without anyone to maintain it, eventually sank." He looked up from the pad he was gradually filling and explained, "LUCA is the 'Last Universal Common Ancestor'. Scientists believe that at some point, all the different life we see on the planet came from one source - one life form that replicated and evolved in a multiplicity of different ways into all the different animals and peoples that are on the planet. I have a more modest goal of finding the last universal common tribe. But again - enough about me! There are so many questions I need to ask!" He flipped back through his note pad at all the red underlinings he'd made to remind himself to ask for more detail or find out something else, "as fascinating as it is, we're going to have to leave this thread of conversation for a moment." He said, sounding genuinely disappointed. "Could you tell me about a typical day for yourself, as an individual?"

The gaeavalin stood and began pacing as she thought. "As I mentioned before, separating my day from my people's day could be difficult." She halted immediately in front of the anthropologist, giving him a sincere look. "But I will try."

She began to pace again. "Being the Raeg does not exempt one from duties performed by other members of the raeg." She folded her hands behind her head and spoke as she thought. "For me, I try to rotate among the various groups, being with one group one day and a different group another day." She paused for a moment and tapped her lips, tilting her head at the man. "Though, I am not sure if that answers your question."

She took a deep breath and began again, her footfall silent against the floor as she paced. "There are duties which the Raeg performs which are not performed by the raeg." Her brow furrowed as she continued, trying to explain, "The Raeg is the people and the people are the raeg. When one is Raeg, the needs and safety of the raeg come before one's own." She pressed her lips together, unsure if this was what the man was looking for or not, but she continued. "The Raeg is responsible for overseeing the formation of contracts between individuals and for mediating broken contracts. The Raeg leads the people in battle when we are threatened or when alliances are broken." A brief look of sadness passed over her face and then was gone as she stopped pacing. She shook her head. "I do not think that was what you were after either."

Rashka took a deep breath, and tilted her head back as she let it out slowly. When she brought her head back down, she stared at the anthropologist, chuckling dryly. "This is very hard." She started pacing, beginning again. "As I said, my day follows my people's. " She smiled, struck by a sudden thought, "But then, in the evening, after the evening meal, I can be found doing one of several things." She stopped pacing, talking quickly, her hands talking as much for her as her voice. "There are times when I tell stories, though this is rare as I am not the best storyteller amongst my raeg." She grinned, "It is more likely that if I am doing the entertaining, I am dancing." She opened her mouth to say more about this, then realized she would be getting off topic. "Most nights, however, I can be found keeping my battle skills sharp, for the Raeg's strength represents the strength of the raeg." She smiled, "But there are some nights when I like to be off by myself and play the reeds." Her smile widened and her look seemed far away. "Or, on those nights when he can be with us, I prefer to spend time with my mate." She sat down cross-legged in front of the anthropologist, and eyed him critically as she placed her chin in her hand. "And what about you? Do you have a mate? Or are you too busy with books and parchments and research to devote time to the pursuit?"

I used to devote time to it," the man replied with an embarrassed chuckle, "But I was never very good at it. A typical case of the women available not being the type I would get along with, and the type I get along with not being available - all away in foreign countries, studying new peoples, of course!" He flipped to a clean page in his notepad. "And stop worrying about your answers - to me, everything is interesting. And besides, when I was a young PhD student, still full of life (and a good deal thinner, too) I had a professor who would constantly remind us that there were two chief reasons for not getting the right kind of answer to our question - the first is a cultural difference. The question you're asking just might not make sense to them. The second is that you asked it badly. 'Never forget the second reason!' he would remind us." Then he gave a mock-sigh and rolled his eyes, "Look at me - rambling away again!" he shook his head with a smile, despairing of himself. "Now. You'll have to forgive me the sudden jump in topic again, but I must ask before I forget. This animal totem of yours... could you explain a little about that?"

The gaeavalin's hand lightly traced the knot work tattoo on her right arm. For a moment, she seemed not to even notice the anthropologist's presence. "The discovery of one's totem, "she began, shifting her weight a little, "represents the transition from childhood to adulthood. It requires a great deal of patience and observance of how the individual parts make up the whole, not only in nature, but in one's raeg and oneself." She placed her hands on her knees. "When our young ones reach an age where they understand how to perform the various duties of the raeg, a shaman takes them aside on certain days to prepare them for the ritual." She leaned back on her hands. "The preparation has many parts, all of which are designed to help discipline both body and mind." She chuckled a little, "It is one of the few things we do that is dependent solely upon the individual." She paused to let the man finish writing before she continued, "The preparation can be very easy or very hard, depending on the person being taught. When the shaman deems one ready, one is sent upon their quest to discover their totem." She let out a small sigh, "It is the first time in a young one's life that they are truly left alone." She smiled a little, "I remember thinking when they left me in the forest that this must be what it was like to be haub: To have nothing, to have no one but one's self on whom to depend. It was a frightening thought to me." She nodded once to herself, "But I digress. The ritual can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, again it depends on the individual. Some do not find their totem right away. To those who do not, if they ask me, I tell them, 'You do not find your totem. It finds you.' I let them ponder that for a while. When they feel they are ready they may try again."

The man nodded, and, after he had finished writing, looked up, "but what exactly is the totem?" He asked. 'I mean, is it a symbolic representation of inner strength, or a metaphysical tie to nature, or... something else entirely?"

Rashka closed her eyes, her hands talking for her as much as her words. "It is… an… affinity." She shook her head slowly. "I do not know exactly how to explain it. I am not sure it is the same for everyone. I can only speak of what I experienced." She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I was left without food, without water, and with no way of knowing, exactly, my way back to our village." She smirked a bit, "That part, at least is the same for everyone." Her eyes remained closed as she spoke, as if she were watching something behind her eyelids. "I was not exactly concerned, though I had no weapon to speak of with which I could kill for food. I spent most of the first day trying to determine where I was and finding what food was readily available, concerned only for myself and my well being. It was an unsettling feeling when I finally recognized it for what it was. Until that point, it had not crossed my mind that I was capable of such selfishness and I was ashamed. I realized I knew so very little about myself." She shook her head, and continued, "Over the next few days I diligently focused on animals that I thought represented who I am and what I believe, thinking that since I had realized I knew little about myself, I would have no trouble realizing my totem when I saw it." She chuckled dryly, opening one eye. "Admittedly, I was young and not very bright." She closed her eye and went on, "I grew very frustrated. Why couldn't I just find it? Why did it not show itself? I felt I should never understand." She smiled a bit at the memory. "I sat down under an old oak, and I am not ashamed to say that I wept. I was angry at the situation, at myself. I cried until I could cry no more, and in that release was sparked the revelation. When I had vented and was finally silent in both body and mind, I realized what I had been missing: That although I had been left on my own, I was still part of a bigger raeg. I listened to it within the silence of myself. Its voice was the birds and the wind in the trees, the chatter of the squirrels, the hum of the insects, the rushing of the stream. Its strength was the earth and the stone and its heartbeat was within all those things that live and within myself." Her fingers traced the tattoo once again. "I found myself walking, my feet moving as if of their own accord. It had begun to grow dark at this time and when I came back to myself, I was standing on a rocky outcrop in full view of the light of the moon. In the distance, I heard the wolves call and I felt compelled to answer. Deciding this was not a good place to stay for the night, I turned. At the edge of the forest stood a white wolf. He bowed his head to me and I nodded once back. He walked toward me and stood at my side, looking over the outcropping. I followed his gaze. Below us I saw a pack of wolves. I stood there, observing them, watching the interactions." She sighed. "It is strange. I do not remember falling asleep, nor do I remember returning to the tree, but I awoke there. I sat for a while, pondering what I had seen. It struck me that this was what I had been seeking. That the alpha wolf, like the Raeg, protects and cares for his own and that the pack, like the raeg works together for the good of the pack." She opened her eyes, leaning back on her hands. "So, I suppose to answer your question more succinctly, it is both. The wolf represents who I am and what I believe and the ritual to get to that point ties me to the greater raeg of nature." She grinned, "Of course when I found my totem I had no way of knowing I would be Raeg eventually, but, well, here I am." The gaeavalin stood and cracked her back. "But that is a different story all together."

"A splendidly useful account!" Beamed the anthropologist, flipping another page of his notebook and scribbling away as fast as he could. Then when he was done, he looked up at Rashka apologetically, "I'm afraid we're going to have to change subjects again," he said, sorrowfully, "So many questions, so little time!" and he cast a worried glance at his wristwatch. "You're appearance - your eyes, hair color, et cetera," he started, "are they a common combination for your people?"

Rashka chuckled at the man. “You are a bit intense, aren’t you?” She smiled, waving away any response he might have made to the question. “It’s all right. I’ve exchanged information with scholars before.” She nudged him with her elbow. “The hard part is getting it all down without forgetting everything you want to ask and then remembering once you’re gone that there were six thousand other things you wanted to ask. Am I right?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Now, to answer your question: My coloration is rather typical. Our eye colors vary from deep brown to…” She motioned at her eyes. “…and shades in between. Our hair color is mostly light to dark brown, though there are some with lighter or darker shades. It depends on if both mates in the union were gaeavalin." She shrugged. "We keep it short and tight to our heads." She put her hands over the braids. "It makes it harder for someone to hold onto in the midst of battle." She demonstrated, quite unable to get a good grip on her own head before she went on. "Our body structures are similar to mine, though, as you can see, most of our height is in the legs,” she said, pulling the long cloth serving as a skirt up to reveal the full length of her leg. She grinned, letting the skirt fall back into place. “It makes us very fast.” She sat back down on the floor resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. “And you? I have met a few humans in my time and nothing seems typical amongst them at all. Is that usual?”

'There are definitely typical traits amongst humans" said the anthropologist, still scribbling away on his pad, "But the thing with humans is that they're like sand. They get bloody everywhere." He grinned and looked up briefly from his pad, "But if you get a group together who were born and raised in the same area, then you'll see definite similarities. In some areas, everyone has black hair and brown eyes. In other areas, black hair is a rarity because most people have fair hair and blue eyes." He shrugged. "So. Tell me." He said, with a grin which suggested he was about to completely change topic again, "how do your people get along with other races?"

Rashka let out a long sigh, and for a moment seemed much older than she really was as the playful curiosity drained from her voice. She placed her hands on her knees, sitting up with a rigid straightness. “That,” she began, “is a long and troublesome topic.” Her green eyes stared straight ahead and her lips pressed into a tight, thin line. “I realize how many races view us. They believe us to lust for battle, to steal and kill without thought. I realize, too, that much of their beliefs stem from their run-ins with groups of haub who raid their caravans and farms. However, there are those, like yourself who seek understanding.” A wry smile crept onto her face. “I doubt anyone wishes for more people to die due to cultural misunderstandings.”

The smile vanished as she continued, “For the most part, we prefer to be left to our own devices. We do not wantonly engage in battle.” She frowned and her voice became quiet. “Long before I was Raeg, we shared our hunting grounds with a group of Torialeth…” She paused, “I believe your word them is wood elves.” She shook her head, going on. “For a time we held an uneasy alliance with them. Neither group really trusted the other. One day, one of theirs (a scholar, much like yourself) was caught observing a group of our hunters. He had been furiously taking notes when he was captured. He was taken before the Raeg, jabbering on incessantly trying to get us to believe that he was interested in understanding and not working as a spy.” She smiled a little, then shook her head and continued. “Dennig, who was Raeg at the time, decided that the young Torialeth should prove the sincerity of his intentions by allowing one of ours to observe his people as well. The hunter who had discovered him was the choice. Between the two, our young hunter and the Torialeth scholar, much was learned about our two peoples. The more that was shared, the more we found we had in common. Thus, we made the first alliance between Gaeavalin and E’eth since the time of the Kaireth in the Before Times.” She closed her eyes. “The alliance was strong for quite some time. They became like an extension of our raeg and we became an extension of their tribe.” She shook her head sadly. “It did not last.”

When she opened her eyes, she stared off blankly. “We do not know what sparked the incident. All we knew at the time was told to us by one of the young ones who was with the hunters at the time.” She shook her head, pressing her lips together. “He came alone and was severely injured and in a state of panic. The most we could get from him was that the Torialeth had ambushed the hunters and they needed help. Haszra,” she sneered as she said the name, “who was Raeg at the time, gathered a group of us together as quickly as he could, but we arrived too late.” She looked up at the anthropologist, her face set hard. “What we found was nothing less than slaughter. There was no honor in the manner in which they died. It took some time to locate all of their pieces. We could not let a betrayal of this magnitude go unanswered.” She sighed, her gaze returning to a blank stare. “We marched on them as one. We killed the entire tribe.” She glanced again at the man, shook her head once and leaned back on her hands. “It would have been left at that, had we not received word from other raegs that incidences such as the one we experienced were occurring nearly everywhere else as well. It seemed obvious that the E’eth meant to exterminate us as they had once tried in the Before Times. To our way of thinking, they had done nothing less than declare war upon our race and we answered in kind.”

She returned to the upright posture, her hands on her knees. “Which brings us to our relations with the human city of Arlistan.” Her face relaxed a bit as she began, “Before the war, we did not have much contact with them aside from a few skirmishes with their merchants due to cultural misunderstandings.” She shrugged a little, “When one sails ones ships into our waters with their guns at the ready, we assume they mean harm to the raeg and engage them in battle. They, of course, believed we were hostile because of their experiences with haub and the fact that while they had fired no shots, we attacked them didn’t exactly help our case. Most of the time, however, they were content to simply avoid the areas we frequented. It was a gunder by the name of Nodon Foehammer who discovered that we made no attack so long as the ships sailing through were not considered a threat.” She smiled. “I like the gunder. He has good brains in his head.” She chuckled at herself and went on, “Because of him we had an understanding with the people of Arlistan. There was no alliance made, but both sides were content.” She sighed and her good humor seemed to escape her body with the air as she once again sat rigid. "The Raeg of Raegs wished to use the port city as a staging point to launch a full assault on the E'eth capital of Talmyrend. The people of the city had no desire to become an occupied territory of enemies of their trade allies."

Her face became hard again, anger evident in her voice. "They fired the first shots and we attacked them in their own harbor. Though they had several crews who were extremely skilled in naval combat, our superior numbers quickly turned the tide to our favor." She glared at nothing in particular. "They turned their ships inward toward the dock. I ask you, what navy in their right mind tries to pull the enemy into their harbor when they don't have a plan up their sleeves?" She shook her head. "They trapped us neatly within range of their harbor guns which we might have survived had they not also brought reinforcements from the nearby isles." She closed her eyes, taking a calming breath. "I hold nothing against the people of Arlistan for the massacre that occurred in that harbor. They acted only in defense of their land and their people. They outsmarted us." The gaeavalin cleared her throat. "Or, rather, they outsmarted our poor excuse for a Raeg of Raegs." She spat, "Idiot." She shook her head again. "I am sorry, this is not probably what you want to hear about." She took another deep breath and let it out slowly to calm herself. "Since the end of the war, we have begun to trade with the people of Arlistan. Their lord mayor has made it clear that I am an…" she searched for the proper word, "ambassador." She tilted her head at the anthropologist. "Does that answer your question?"

"Very much so," answered the interviewer, who had given up writing about halfway through Rashka's explanation, and just hoped he could remember it all for later. "And it raises so many more questions I'd like to pursue," he continued, "did you finish your war with the..." He checked his notes, "Torialeth?"

A pained look crossed the Raeg's face as she nodded slowly. "Yes, though, in truth, the war was with all E'eth not just the Torialeth." She shook her head, folding her arms across her chest. "It did not end well for anyone involved, particularly not when one considers that the only reason both of our peoples have not been wiped out is because it was revealed that both sides were deceived into attacking one another." Her eyes blazed. "We do not know who is responsible for that, but there was so much deception going on in that war, we may never know." Rashka's hands dropped to her sides with her hands clenched. "Haszra lied to us, the Raeg of Raegs lied to us…" She growled, "And if I ever get my hands on whoever is responsible for this atrocity, I will kill them myself." She shook her head and took a deep breath. "Forgive me. The outburst was not directed at you." She sighed and continued on, "The deception has been hard on us. Learning that one has slain an entire village of one's closest allies is quite like waking up one morning to find that you've slaughtered your entire family while you slept. We've done the only thing we could. We held a memorial to honor those who fell in the war, both ours and those who we killed in the village." She turned her head. "It doesn't make our shame in what we did any less, but at least the dead may have some measure of rest."

She suddenly chuckled. "Listen to me, being all depressing! You surely do not want to listen to me mope." She smiled, though it seemed a bit forced. "In short, the war is over, but relations with the E'eth are still hostile at best. But, what else is new? We have been hostile with each other since the Before Times!" Her smile faded to a neutral expression. "Now, what else would you like to know?"

'So many things!" cried the Anthropologist in a loud voice, "but alas! We're out of time." He looked truly mournful as he declared this, starting morosely at the notes he had gathered, which seemed so meagre to him now. He stood reluctantly, "perhaps we will be allowed to continue this conversation at another time," he said with a wan smile, "if you can cope with being peppered with even more questions from me!" he added, with a more genuine hint to his smile. "Thank you for all you've told me, it has been fascinating and incalculably helpful."

Rashka stood and bowed to the anthropologist as she showed him to the door. "You are most welcome. I thank you for the opportunity to further understanding between cultures." She gave him a warm smile. "It's always a pleasure to talk with scholars. Please, feel free to return whenever you wish." She waved as he left. "May a good wind always fill your sail and may you always return successful from your hunt."