Naboo Origins: The Imp, the Slime and the She-Beast

Expedition

The story of the princess of the Mwindaji Tribe, an extraordinary dorobo boy and a mystery slime.

Tala, princess of the Mwindaji Tribe, has just had her Becoming Ceremony, signifying her womanhood and new eligibilityher hand in marriage began to take place, Tala surprised her father with the proposition of fighting to determine her own fate. While the elders of their tribe were furiously denying such an act, Gandiva was overjoyed and highly amused. He granted Tala her wish to enter the tournament and was more than overjoyed to see his daughter of 17 single-handedly defeat every challenger who came her way and win the tournament. Tala smirked as she towered above the defeated Navatu men, claiming no man was ready to be her equal and thus would stay single until a man was ready to defeat her in combat.   Just as it seemed none could ever hope to oppose Tala's strength, an envoy arrived in her village from the Adzewe Tribe, a cursed, nomadic people known to drink the blood of their victims and devour the souls of the unfortunate. The envoy gave Gandiva a letter of challenge, claiming their dorhajhe, Chieftain Obefiyo, wished to duel for the hand of Tala the She-Beast. Though hesitant, Gandiva understood the laws of their people well and denying the Adzewe Tribe a fair challenge would undermine everything the Navatu stood for. Reluctantly, Gandiva agreed to the challenge, still feeling confident in his daughter's assured victory. Tala, however, was not so positive about the outcome and for the first time in a long while felt fearful towards an opponent.   Meanwhile, in the Blightwoods, an extraordinary Dorobo was born. Though he initially seemed like all other dorobo, his peak intelligence and heightened sentience began to manifest themselves and make amongthis Dorobo boy was building higher quality traps than the typical Dorobo, helping his clan catch more food than the surrounding tribes and protect themselves against predators such as the roaming bands of skrali. Though the jackal-like beasts were clever, Dokan was even more resourceful and came up with a unique alternative to dealing with these savage beasts: tame them. Though it took some time, Dokan eventually tamed his first Skrali, a pack leader whom he named Redfoot. With Redfoot at his side, Dokan was able to tame the rest of the pack fairly easily and before they knew it, the Dorobo had forged a powerful bond with the Skrali.   Utilizing their new allies, Dokan and the Dorobo were far more efficient than before, able to hunt and defend themselves far better than they ever could in the past. Though he wasn't the strongest or the fastest, Dokan's intelligence was highly respected among the Dorobo, and his tribe's chief respected his wisdom and knowledge above all others. Dokan's tactics in particular caught the attention of one Dorogai which he called Gimba. Gimba was your typical dorogai: a brute known to smash things first and let someone else ask the questions. Though there was much Gimba didn't understand, one thing was clear: Dokan was smart. As far as he was concerned, Dokan was the smartest creature in all of the Blightwoods. And their tribe needed him. Gimba's loyalty to Dokan was matched only by his loyalty to their tribe's chieftain, another extraordinary Dorobo.   Chieftain Rakka was the first to recognize Dokan's abilities and sentience, as he too, was one of the few dorobo with the ability. Because of this, he began to groom Dokan to one day lead their tribe. Though flattered, Dokan had no desire to rule within the Blightwoods. Instead, he wanted to travel the world, influence dorobo tribes, and find others with gifted sentience, like him so that they might elevate their people's position in the world. Dokan dreamed to live beyond the forest. Rakka gave Dokan a sorrowful smile, seeing much of himself in the young dorobo. With a heavy heart, he informed him there was no chance of leaving the Blightwoods. The Skrali are but the bottom of the food chain within the forest... was the dorobo to attempt to leave the surrounding area in which they reside, they wouldn't survive a day.   A saddened Dokan looks off into the towering trees surrounding his home. Due to the height of the trees in the Blightwoods, not much natural light reaches into the deeper parts of the forest, leaving most unable to see what lies beyond. Suddenly, from the sky, a massive light shines, quickly making its way towards the forest. Dokan watches in wonder as the light crashes into the Blightwoods, close enough for him to feel brave enough to inspect. As he makes his way towards the strange asteroid, Dokan feels an uneasy feeling in his gut, causing him to watch from the cover of the trees as he finally approaches the crash site.   The asteroid was as large as Gimba, black in color with nothing else notable about it except a large crack visible on its side. As Dokan slowly approached the asteroid to better inspect it, he noticed a strange blue liquid seeping from the crack onto the ground below. Dokan again approached closer, taking note there was no distinct smell coming from neither the asteroid nor the strange liquid pouring out of it, unlike everything else in the Blightwoods. After staring for a while, Dokan began to notice the liquid gathering together and taking on an amorphous shape.   Had Dokan's reflexes been a second later, that would have been the end of him as the strange blob turned a deep red. Immediately it formed a spiked tentacle, lunging in his direction, Dokan just barely evading the surprise attack from the creature before him. Nervously looking about him, Dokan raised his hands up, expressing that he meant the alien blob no harm. No reaction. Dokan took a small step forward, again calling out that he was not going to hurt the blob. The blob then turned back to its original light blue color, exclaiming, "I mean you no harm." A confused Dokan cocked his head to the side, perplexed by the strange blob. "Who are you?" he exclaimed, "Where did you come from?" "Who are you? Who are you?" the creature retorted, causing Dokan to groan in aggravation. Before he could ask the slime any more questions, a bird shot out from a nearby bush between them. Once again the slime turned red, lunging out and piercing the surprised bird before completely enveloping the small creature with its tendril. In an instant the tendril snapped back to the slime, absorbing the bird in the process before a horrified Dokan. He watched as the slime began to twist and contort, before finally taking on the form of the small bird it had just eaten. The slime, now in the form of a bird, flew to a nearby branch above Dokan, again calling out "Who are you? I mean you no harm."   The day of her duel against Obefiyo, Tala fled into the woods, her close friend Otsoa, a timid but skilled tracker, at her side. Unwilling to risk becoming a pawn of the Adzewe, Tala took her mount south until she reached the Blightwoods. As she entered the cursed forest, Tala found herself immediately surrounded by ghasts, the undead minions of the Adzewe. Though she could fight them, Tala knew Obefiyo wouldn’t be far behind and continued to ride her mount deep within the Blightwoods. Before long, Tala and Otsoa realized not only had the ghasts stopped pursuing them but they were lost within these dangerous woods.   After a few days lost wandering the Blightwoods, Tala and Otsoa began to worry. Though they were able to fend off most of the creatures that inhabited the forest, the Blightwoods were known to be an extremely dangerous beast known as the Kudrao. Standing at over 6 feet tall with a hooked bill and scythe-like claws, the Kudrao was the apex predator of the forest, scaring away all that would dare compete against it. As pack hunters, the Kudrao were known to stalk the Blightwoods in groups of three or four, but at times they could be seen in groups up to as many as twelve. With this threat lurking about, the two Navatu were forced to always be on their guard, lest they become prey for this predatory monster.   Over the next few days, Dokan intensely studied the strange creature he found in the asteroid. The slime was capable of learning his language through mimicry and was able to take on the form of any living creature it absorbed. It required no sleep nor did it eat or drink. The slime's existence was a mystery to Dokan, one that he took great interest in uncovering. In time, the slime began to warm up to Dokan, even coming to call him friend as it began to trust in the young Dorobo's intentions. With his newest ally and friend at his side, Dokan began to plan to escape his forested prison.   With Gimba, Redfoot and the slime at his side, the young Dokan wished his tribe well and departed from the safety of the cavern he'd called home to leave the Blightwoods. The initial journey was simple enough, with Dokan's knowledge of the forest and its inhabitants allowing him to evade the more dangerous creatures as they made their way towards the center of the forest. As night began to fall, Dokan figured it would be safer to sleep along the outskirts of the Blightwoods uncharted areas, lest they risk attack by an unforeseen threat. As Dokan turned to head back towards safety however he found himself face to face with a kudrao, menacingly staring down his new prey. As Gimba quickly moved to protect his friend, the kudrao swiped with its scythe-like claws, gravely injuring the large dorogai and forcing him to a knee. Before it could attack again, suddenly the kudrao let out a loud shriek, recoiling in pain as an arrow flew through the darkness and lodged itself in the beast's chest. The kudrao took off into the forest, leaving Dokan and an injured Gimba safe for the time being as Tala and Otsoa carefully approached the group. Tala and Dokan locked eyes, a mutual feeling of cautious floating in the air between the two. Tala's expression then softened, motioning Otsoa to lower his bow as she approached the injured Gimba. Though Redfoot growl, Dokan calmed the creature, watching as Tala retrieved some herbs to tend to the larger man's wounds. After a moment, Gimba's pain began to subside, his eyes gazing at the Navatu woman acting as his savior.   For both of their survival, Tala offered Dokan and his group a place by their fire. Though a natural language barrier stood between the two groups, through the use of hand signals, Tala was able to communicate with Dokan, even teaching the young man some sign language over the course of the night as they stood watch. After coming to the understanding they both wished to escape the forest, Tala and Dokan agreed to ally together in order to escape the Blightwoods. As the sun's light began to break through the cover of trees above them, the newly formed group headed out into the deeper parts of the forest.   With Tala's strength and Dokan's knowledge of the beasts within the Blightwoods, the group were making their way through the forest at blinding speed. Things changed however when they found themselves forced to run from Obefiyo's ghasts, having finally entered the forest to retrieve Tala. Though they would have proved an issue alone, with her new allies Tala was able to fight back the spawns of the Adzewe until Obefiyo himself appeared before her. Approaching with a menacing aura about him, Dokan slowly opened the small flask at his side that the slime had been hiding in all this time, in case of an emergency. Obefiyo smiled, asking Tala to return back with him so that they might have their duel. Despite his initial fear, Otsoa stood between tala and the Dorhajhe, informing the man that Tala wasn't going anywhere with him. Before anyone could act, Obefiyo moved forward, grabbing Otsoa by the throat as he glared at the man before him, questioning Tala as to why she would choose the company of such a weak man over himself. Still frozen in fear, Tala didn't reply, fighting her nerves. Dokan, shaking off his fear himself, grabbed Tala's hand and turned to run, only to gasp as he found Obefiyo cutting off their escape. Before he could strike down the young dorobo, Obefiyo found himself instinctually taking a step back, nimbly dodging the red spiked that protruded from Dokan's flask as the slime attempted to protect his friend.   Obefiyo sighed, noting that this was becoming bothersome, as he took note of movement from the trees behind them. He then looked back at Tala and smiled a toothy grin, swearing he'd come to retrieve her hand in marriage one day. But today, she must rest, as their fight was interrupted. Before anything else could be said, Obefiyo took off into the trees, leaving a shaken Tala disgusted with her own cowardice. As they regrouped and continued to make their way out of the forest, Tala and Dokan were shocked to find the corpses of several kudrao nearby, believing them to have been following their group until Obefiyo dispatched them.   Two days after their encounter with Obefiyo, Tala and her group found themselves finally free of the Blightwoods, a curious and excited Dokan amazed at the open plains before them. When they arrived back in Tala and Otsoa's village Gandiva and the others of the Mwindaji Tribe welcomed Dokan and Gimba will welcoming arms, grateful to the ones they accredited with returning their successor to them. To celebrate her return a great feast was held as Dokan expressed his merriment with the Navatu people. As the people around him celebrated, Dokan took notice that Tala had once again disappeared. It didn't take long for him to find the She-beast, training in her usual spot within the village, working up the nerve to face such an impossibly strong opponent. Though she had seemingly lost her resolve, it took Dokan reminding her of her great strength and tenacity to give Tala the push she needed to steel her resolve and fully devote herself to her training for the upcoming fight.   When the day of the fight arrived, Tala stood before Obefiyo as he slowly approached the people of the Mwindaji Tribe. To their surprise however, he declined her request for a duel, claiming that by standing up to him, she proved herself to be someone that truly valued her freedom and had the strength to protect it. That, was someone who would make a great ruler, should she have a husband or not. Despite this, Tala pointed her spear at Obefiyo, stating the fight was happening whether he fought back or not. Obefiyo smiled, charging the She-beast as the two quickly came to blows. Initially, Tala found herself on the defensive, taking note of the difference in strength between the two of them as she slowly was losing ground. As Dokan and Otsoa cheered her on, Tala once again found her fighting spirit, revealing her newfound mastery of the Wind God Style as she went on the offensive. From the crowd, Gandiva smiled, finally realizing what he'd suspected about his daughter this whole time as her divine lineage began to shine during her fight. Obefiyo began to frown as he now found himself on the defensive at the hands of the demigod before him, eventually backing off. Obefiyo, realizing Tala's true strength, surrendered the fight, noting that he could never defeat someone so beloved by the Spirit of Wind. Though curious as to why he chose not to fight with his full power, Tala accepted the victory.   It was this day, that Tala was recognized as the one who overcame tradition as the one who would choose her own husband when the day came. Dokan, with the help of the Mwindaji Tribe, went back to the Blightwoods to retrieve the rest of his people, freeing the dorobo from their forest prison and for once, giving them the freedom that Dokan foresaw for them all, to explore the world as they saw fit. Due to the friendship of the She-beast and the Little Imp, the Mwindaji Tribe began a longstanding alliance and treaty with the dorobo people, one that would prove to stand the test of time.