Zenyi
Captain Zenyi den-Rayma
Dear Laeken!
Today we stopped in Pala. There was this issue where a man's goat had been stolen, and he kept accusing everyone in the village of stealing it. It seems he couldn't even remember what his own goat looks like. Can you believe that? Ok, so you probably can sir-raised-in-a-castle, but trust me. I grew up around farms and there is no way I would get my goats mixed up! So anyway, this mister had been running around town accusing anyone with goats of robbing him and demanding payment. It took forever to sort it out! But eventually it turned out he got drunk, slaughtered his own goat to cook a feast for a girl, but the girl turned him down. The next morning, he was so embarrassed and annoyed he decided to at least reclaim his losses by hoping to intimidate someone into paying him. What a mess, eh? We're still in Pala now. We set up camp at the port and I'm writing this while Kagin cooks dinner. Hopefully an Andat heading the opposite way will pick this up for me and deliver this to Temru. I hope things are going ok back home. I really miss you and I worry about you a lot. I hope you finished that speech you were fretting over. It's fine, I promise! I really liked it when you read it for me. See you in a few months! Zenyi =)
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Zenyi is short and lean. Though she's physically fit as a soldier, her build is more like a gymnast. She is adept at climbing all over an Indarig and has excellent balance.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
A young Baan woman from a small village in western Tsemyu known as Rayma. She was born male with the name Tamyo. She grew up working on her family farm, growing food just to get by, and always spent her evenings staring out at the grasslands and imagining all the wild adventures happening in the rest of the world. To her, the endless expanse of grass might as well have been the sea, and occasionally traders passed through the village like sailors making port. When she was 13, an Andat passed through the village and stayed a while because their captain had been injured. Zenyi, still going by Tamyo, assisted the village doctor in taking care of the captain and spent a lot of time sitting with him and talking, hearing stories of his adventures across the empire. By the time the captain, Hardim, had recovered, Zenyi knew she wanted to join the army. Against her parent's wishes, she left home with Hardim's andat and travelled to Temru.
In Temru, her first job in the army was as a stable boy in the Indarig breeding grounds. She was initially upset about this because she wanted to join an andat right away and begin travelling the world, but she worked hard nonetheless. When she was 14, a female indarig gave birth to two calves and abandoned the runt. Zenyi was put in charge of taking care of the infant after the mother rejected it, and over the next few months, bonded closely with him. She named him Tabo and it quickly became normal around the grounds to never see her without her indarig calf close behind - at least until he started getting too big to easily follow her down streets. Though Tabo never reached the size of the beasts regularly used for the military, he made up for that in speed and agility.
When she was 14, she met and befriended Prince Laeken when he began taking fencing lessons alongside her. They quickly became close friends.
At 15, she began to come to terms with being transgender and thinking about transitioning, though she wasn't sure if the military would allow it. She began to think of herself as Temyu, the feminine form of her name.
During this time, she also received standard military training. She was an exceptional shot with a bow and arrow and also excelled with a sword. She worked hard, eager to prove herself worthy of joining an andat, and quickly became the star pupil. Her growing feelings of dysphoria made it difficult for her to connect with her all-male peers, though, so her only close friend was Tabo.
At 18, Tabo was now fully grown and she got what she'd always dreamed of: a place in an andat. A more experienced soldier, Jal, was made the captain and she was his second. Because Tabo was still young and the andat newly formed, they patrolled close around Temru for the first two years with only occasional long-distance trips. This helped Zenyi stay in touch with Laeken, as their relationship was getting very close and she was developing quite the crush on him.
Soon after, she came out to Laeken about her feelings on gender and to her surprise he fully supported her and told her she should live life however makes her happy and screw what anyone else thinks. She later discussed it with her andat, who by now were close friends, and everyone there supported her, too. The next time she returned to Temru, she requested a change of name in the military records and transformed her identity. The military higher-ups were not keen on it, but Laeken stepped in and insisted and they didn't dare defy the emperor.
When she was 20, Jal was killed in a skirmish with Vishim raiders during a drought. Zenyi was promoted to captain in his place, becoming the first female captain in Taalora.
These days, she travels in and out of Temru, patrolling the steppes and travelling all across the empire to places she only dreamed of as a child. She comes home to tell Laeken all about it, and he returns the favour by teaching her to read, teaching her (slowly) his native language (Sarvich, in contrast to Zenyi's Baanang), or just enjoying each other's company - especially in spring when the steppes erupt into wildflowers, which both of them are very fond of. They have romantic feelings for each other, though are doubtful anything could come of it due to their different stations.
Gender Identity
Woman
Sexuality
Straight
Education
She grew up being educated by her grandmother. Her education in childhood focused on learning animal husbandry and understanding the cycle of the seasons and Timilism.
After she arrived in Temru, she received military training focused on swordplay and archery. She also learned about military history, the inner workings of the military and government, and tactics.
While being friends with Laeken, he took the time to tutor her in his native language, Sarvich, as well as teach her how to read and write.
Social
Religious Views
She is a practitioner of Timilism, which maintains a steady background presence in her life. Though she isn't sure entirely about the Divine's creation of the world, she does believe in the energy of chiig flowing through the world. She feels it when she works with animals and feels a connection to them.
Speech
She has a rich, low-pitch voice for a woman. She practised for a long time to get used to speaking in a higher pitch to help pass.
She tried hard to use the Temru dialect, but when she gets excited she slips into the rural dialect she grew up with. She doesn't like this because she thinks it makes her sound like a hick.
Zenyi rarely swears and tends toward gushing her thoughts out without thinking them over before speaking. This is more common in casual conversation, where she tends to ramble on and use a lot of "Ums". While speaking to her troops, she puts more care into her words and speaks much slower, because those 'ums' are still happening internally, she's just carefully not saying them to appear more professional.
Ethnicity
Year of Birth
436 AR
21 Years old
Children
Gender
Male
Eyes
Green-brown
Hair
Light brown, thick and straight
Height
5'4"
Weight
125 lbs
Aligned Organization
