Rayari Xorshu - Ankala

Rayari Xorshu was born to a family in the city of Irkengol. Her father was a craftsman following the path of Khoran Xal, and her mother a scribe for the city’s Thane, Exok Nirka. Rayari grew up privileged in every way, living in a comfortable house and accessing the best education.
Early in her childhood, Rayari excelled in rhetoric and public speaking. She showed signs of having a keen mind and an insatiable curiosity. Her intelligence almost immediately caught the attention of the Pazitvuhl Yxxopin or Wayshepherds, whose job it is in Varkraalan society to help children discover their paths.
Because of Rayari’s potential, her Wayshepherd believed she could have a future in the Mul Sat or with the Vuan Pang. As the day of her Hrongu’um, or election celebration, neared, Rayari and her family had difficulty deciding which path she would devote herself to.
Her Wayshepherd assured the family that she would be invited to join that path’s Bazkan Aarleng or monastery because of her rare intellect. This excited and saddened her parents, who had only Rayari. Her assignment to the Bazkan Aarleng would be permanent, barring some unforeseen complication. Still, they rejoiced, for as the Varkraalan say, “The family loses a child, but the world gains a champion.”
On the day of her Hrongu’um, representatives from the Mul Sat and Vuan Pang were there, ready to argue their case to Rayari and her family. Family and friends gathered in the Xorshu household to celebrate the momentous day. They were eager to see which of the paths Rayari would devote herself to.
The Hrongu’um included food, games, and stories about Rayari’s birth and childhood. Finally, the time came for her to announce her Za’Ruchan, her path in life. Her friends and family looked on with bated breath as Rayari announced a decision they believed she struggled greatly with.
Only she didn’t.
Rayari knew, even at her young age, that the Vuan Pang hunted those with magical abilities. Joining them meant one thing: Her secret would be found out.
Rayari was born with the ability to manipulate magic. In Varkraalan society, such a thing was considered dirty and dangerous. Only her mother knew Rayari’s secret because her mother harbored the same secret.
The mother and daughter kept the secret to themselves, even from Rayari’s father. They had already discussed the danger in Rayari’s Hrongu’um and knew there was one choice for Rayari.
Rayari knew that declaring for the Vuan Pang would be disastrous. She did the one thing that would set her at odds against the Vuan Pang for the rest of her life: She declared her Za’ruchan to be Mul Sat. Rayari graciously accepted their invitation to become a Buultmog or initiate at the Mul Sat Monastery in Irkengol.
There is great sadness and joy on the day of Hrongu’um when a child is chosen to serve in a Varkan Monastery. The Varkraalans call this Krixlat. There is no translation for it in any other known language of Faelon. It is the grief of losing a child but the promise that the child will do more for the world’s greater good. Bittersweet only begins to cover this Varkraalan emotion. It is a Varkan concept and very hard to understand for outsiders. Even for some Varkraalan, it is too deep an emotion.
Rayari entered The Mul Sat Monastery with a mixture of fear and joy. She was always afraid her secret would be found out and cast out of society, but she could control it just enough that she was confident none would ever know.
Unlike some Varkraalan that are born with the magical ability and use it despite their culture’s prohibition, Rayari was truly ashamed of it. Being a good Varkraalan and raised on the tenets of Varka, Rayari was convinced that the use of magic was not good for the world.
Even as she entered the monastery, she was convinced that magic use and users were not only bad for Varkraal but for the world as a whole. It left her with a giant tear in her soul and self-esteem, one she struggled with constantly even as she excelled in her studies at the monastery.
Rayari made the rank of Yxornakh or student very quickly. While most students take nearly a year to become Yxornakh, Rayari was chosen to advance in just seven months. Her teachers were astounded by her intellect and ability to talk about almost any subject. They all saw great things in her future.
Rayari spent the next five years of her life learning everything the teachers at her monastery could throw at her. She was especially interested in the magical traditions of other nations, probably because of her secret. She quickly became the monastery’s foremost expert on energy magic and its uses in the world outside of Varkraal.
She didn’t only learn, though. Her quick wit, probing mind, and solid rhetorical skills made her a formidable opponent in a debate that would rival any Koronnan Thadzo Halada graduate. Even at the tender age of eighteen, she was able to best every other Yxornakh in the monastery and most of the teachers.
By twenty-three, Rayari was assigned to a Cultural Exchange Delegation to the Haradelan town of Teberlin. She accompanied her teacher Aknar Togari. As part of the Delegation, she helped open more trade with Teberlin. She also participated in many debates with Haradelan scholars and religious experts, which she handily won.
Rayari was a rising star in the Mul Sat Monastery. She became well-known for her well-laid arguments and dogged exploitation of any weakness of thought or argument her opponent showed.
Togari’s only note to her student was this: “The aim of a debate is not necessarily to win. You can not debate an opponent into changing their mind. You must conduct your rhetoric in such a way that even if you lose the debate, your opponent will still be pondering your points when they lay their head on their pillow at night. That is the way the seeds of Varka spread.”
Rayari learned these lessons hard. Her mind was split because she needed everyone to see how right she was, but only so that no one would suspect her of being the enemy she railed so hard against.
Her outlook changed after the two-year posting in Teberlin. Rayari was traveling with the Cultural Exchange Delegation from Teberlin to Irkengol. They had been posted there for a two-year mission in which Rayari proved not only a capable member of the Delegation but fit to lead an Exchange on her own. It was already whispered that she would attain the rank of Changeseeker when she returned to Irkengol.
While on the road back to Irkengol, the caravan came across two Varkraalans in an Inn along the route. The two Symkers, a mother and son, tried to flee when they saw the Delegation. Rayari watched in horror as two Kav Drakh monks chased down and captured the two as though they were fugitives. When a Vuan Pang monk approached the prisoners, the boy erupted into an inferno.
He was a magic user.
In the struggle to escape, the mother of the boy and one Kav Drakh monk were killed. The young magic user was knocked unconscious by the Vuan Pang monk. Much to Rayari’s horror, the latter was revealed to be a Nullifier. The boy was bound and hauled back to Irkengol as a prisoner. Rayari never learned what happened to the boy after the group reached Irkengol.
Rayari was awarded the rank of Seeker when they returned. Though she was very proud of what she’d accomplished, her encounter with the magic-using boy and his mother shook her. Her faith in Varka was as strong as ever. Still, her feelings about how aberrations were treated began to sour her on the system the Varkraalans now employed. She was especially disgusted that the mother and son had been accosted outside Varkraalan territory.
Rayari was asked to lead a new Cultural Exchange Delegation to the Thormenalan city of Altanos. She was happy to turn her mind to a new challenge, and leading a Delegation was just what she needed.
Cultural Exchange Delegations have many different goals. Some are purely diplomatic and will take up residence in the governmental sector of whatever town they are sent to. These delegations will often be made up almost entirely of Mul Sat monks. Other Delegations will be sent to open up trade, such as the one sent to Teberlin that Rayari had participated in. A monk from Khoran Xal will often lead them.
Rayari’s Delegation was different altogether. Thormenal is known for its progressive culture. Thormenalans pride themselves on their political and social tolerance, even writing religious and social freedom into their laws. As a result, Thormenal is a place where all kinds of people can gather and live without fear of religious or social persecution.
It’s also fertile ground for the teaching of Varka. Rayari’s task in Altanos was to reach into the community and begin planting the seeds of Varkan teaching. She and her team were to seek opportunities for debate, get jobs as private teachers, and bring their vast expertise as advisors to the rich and powerful of Altanos. She was also tasked with establishing the first permanent Varkan Temple in Altanos. There the people could come and seek the knowledge and wisdom of representatives from each Varkan path.
Rayari’s team would be a permanent fixture in the Thormenalan city, which already had diplomatic and trade Delegations. The team consisted of Rayari as the leader of the Delegation and Narvu Apa, a Mul Sat student assigned to shadow and learn from Rayari.
Also on the team was a Lifeseeker from Takan Paz named Brar Jik, a Loreseeker from Vuan Pang called Nemika Piel, and four Kav Drakh monks for protection. They were Xora Sarv, Joruhl Ilark, Gernar Plizak, and Valxu Ezzen. A second smaller Kohran Xal delegation was also assigned to Rayari, which would build the Varkan temple. The Kav Drakh monks would provide labor and guards for them as well.
Rayari set about her mission with complete devotion. She walked the city, learning about the streets, the people, and the meeting and melding of the different cultures. She, Narvu, Nemika, and Brar made notes, discussed the opportunities, and discussed where and how they should divide the work. After a few days of familiarizing himself with the group, Brar had his own work to do and set off to explore the people of Altanos more deeply.
That left Rayari, Narvu, and Nemika to begin learning, teaching, and seeding the ideas of Varka throughout the population. Nemika was there to learn more than anything but took a role as a private tutor to a wealthy merchant’s children. Rayari and Narvu began walking the streets and talking to whoever would listen. Sometimes they would stand on an upturned crate in one of many marketplaces and teach.
Crowds would gather, some deride their ideas, and others would listen. Rayari never underestimated the fear of magic in groups of everyday people and often used it to her advantage to persuade them of Varka’s rightness.
Rayari quickly found that her greatest challenge lay in the Ankala community snuggled deep within the market district of Altanos. These ancient and usually nomadic people had been in Altanos for generations. They had established an entire neighborhood from which they sold many goods, most notably magic items, and weapons.
Rayari found them fascinating but was eager to talk about Varka with the Ankala people. She was stunned to find Symker people among them, for she thought Ankala were of Chaler descent. The Symkers seemed to melt back into the shadows of the neighborhood when Rayari came around, which bothered her.
Rayari met with the Kalai, their word for leader, and asked if she would participate in an open debate of Ankala ideas versus Varkan ideals. The Kalai, Denna, was an older woman with graying hair, wrinkles along her smile lines, and an unexpected spring in her step. Denna was very gracious and accepted Rayari’s request.
The debate went differently than Rayari had hoped. Rayari was more than prepared and was a professional debater. Denna was kind and agreed with much of what Rayari said but delivered a line that would forever change Rayari:
“What do you and your people know of freedom? You can not even come to terms with who you are. My people have been persecuted, pursued, and destroyed like your people. Yet we remain true to who we are and how we are born. Do you? You speak of being free from oppression, yet you repress yourselves. Among my people in this neighborhood are some of your people who escaped your ‘freedom.’ You are now standing before me speaking of freedom, and you are not free. I think we will keep our freedom.”
Rayari was stunned into silence. She quickly left the Ankala, her arguments not beaten but felt personally destroyed. Denna had tapped into something far more profound than philosophical debates; she had gone straight to the heart of Rayari. Had she known about Rayari’s magic? Could she read minds? There had been rumors about Ankala practices.
Later that week, Rayari snuck out of her diplomatic compound and back to the Ankala neighborhood after dark. She was greeted by Denna, who had been waiting for her with a wry and wrinkled smile.
Denna had identified Rayari as a repressed magic user almost immediately, not from any magic ability of her own, but her positions and arguments. Denna and Rayari started a relationship that night that would blossom and grow over the next year.
Even as Rayari carried out her mission and led her Cultural Exchange Delegation in Altanos, she visited Denna and the Ankala almost weekly. Denna became a teacher to Rayari, and despite herself, Rayari found herself attached to many points of Ankalan philosophy.
Almost a year after they had met, Denna introduced Rayari to Ogez and Jaendel Tarlu, two Symker members of the Ankala Saya. Denna revealed that they were not only Varkraalan but also magic users that had escaped their homes and the scrutiny of Varka. They had been led into Thormenal by small groups of Ankala smugglers known as Atalai, or herders.
Rayari was stunned. That Varkraalans wanted to escape from their homes was a lot to process, but that Denna and her people were helping them overloaded her tidy mind. She staggered back to the diplomatic compound, unsure what to do with the information she had been given or even what she thought about it.
She could turn them in. It would be a simple matter to tell Nemika, the group’s representative from Vuan Pang, about the flow of magic users coming out of Varkraal. That information would be enough to keep the Nullifiers out of Rayari’s affairs for the rest of her life. These things only passed through Rayari’s mind as a means of self-preservation because, in her heart, she already knew what she wanted and needed to do:
She had to help Denna and the Atalai.
Rayari returned to Denna, who only boasted the remnants of a told-you-so smirk when they met again. Rayari explained that she wanted to help them but believed staying a Mul Sat Changeseeker would be the best way to do that. Denna only smiled in return, and it occurred to Rayari that she had been vetted for a cause just as Rayari had targeted Denna to further Varka.
Rayari spent the next year meeting Atali operatives and learning the route they used to smuggle Varkraalan into Thormenal. She was also introduced to the Atalai, who were disrupting the slave trade in Kandor, something both Varka and the Anakala could agree on.
Rayari only went back to Varkraal twice a year, and both times she would help the Atalai in any way she could. Denna and her Saya would send money and other materials north with Rayari to disburse among the Atalai operatives working in and amongst the Trilians in the Reach. On the way back to Altanos, Rayari would help smuggle Varkraalan fugitives south in any way she could.
It was often easy because they could pose as simple travelers and join Rayari’s band going and coming from Varkraal. Other times Rayari would have to actively hide her charges for parts of their journey that overlapped.
Rayari gladly slid into the part of the smuggler, and she found she was good at it. Over five years, Rayari helped smuggle around fifty people from points in the Reach to Altanos.
Smuggling magic users wasn’t without risk, of course; even Rayari cannot hide every part of what she does perfectly. Her fellow delegate, Nemika Piel, questioned the Ankala and the inclusion of Varkraalans in their Saya. Nemika has also noticed that Rayari spent a great deal of time with the Ankala Saya, a fact that Rayari has been able to pass off because of her mission.
Nemika continues to ask questions and raise concerns about the Ankala and the Varkraalan among them. Rayari has passed warnings to Denna, but Denna seems unconcerned about The Vuan Pang or about much of anything.

Patron Special Rule:
Ankala Support. After any game, you may pay 5 gold once and acquire one magic item randomly from one of the Magic Items tables of your choice.