Lolha Silverneedle
Lolha Silverneedle
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/ev1lr0b/goatfolk/ (great artwork for family etc!)
Legend has it that after the great flood, the first settlers of Highspire lived in the foothills, but suffered from a plague as the result of a long drought. As their last hope, a few villagers headed up the mountains to seek out a mythical tea plant that could cure them of their plague and bring water to the dry river beds. On the first day of the climb, many fell from the rocky precipices. On the second day, even more heard fell whispers in the mountains which turned them to stone. There remained only one elderly man, a Caprini who thanks to both his sure footing, and the thick hair that grew from his ears, evaded the dangers and on the third day made it to the summit of the Spirean Peaks. He found just one fragile sapling here, whose soft-haired leaves glistened in the moonlight, and he carefully brought it back to the village. The buds of the young plant were used to make a special white tea, which cured the village of plague and released the people of stone. Pleased by his bravery and care for the delicate plant, the goddess Ritah blessed the settlers with gentle rains that filled the river beds, and swept the loose debris from the paths into the mountains. There in the misty highlands, the settlers found fertile soils and founded the city of Ryuklo, building a shrine to the goddess Ritah.
It is from here that Lolha Silverneedle hails. She is a 31 year old female Caprini. Daughter of Tinley (father) and Choyong (mother), and sister to Choden (brother). Lolha's parents own one of many (but some would argue the finest) Silverneedle tea plantations in Highspire, and claim to be direct descendants of the elderly Caprini of legend (who the people call Jungney, or The Source). They are also one of many families that claim this title.
Lolha grew up in more than comfortable wealth, but somewhat in the shadow of her pious brother Choden, who became a monk in the temple of Ritah, tending and guarding the beautiful temple gardens (pious or not, smug Choden revels in this favouritism). Like all in her family, Lolha is devout, and while fiercely competitive puts on an air of kindliness and generosity to present her best side to others in the community, upholding her family's station. She generally aims to be a good person, but if she thinks she can get away with it, is not above bending the rules to suit herself or her friends. She is strong willed, sensitive, and (outwardly) mild mannered.
Her closest friend is Tashi. Tashi, also a Caprini, was orphaned at a young age and worked at the Silverneedle plantation for room and board. She was wide eyed, excitable, and although she rarely came up with them herself, would always gleefully go along with Lolha's pranks and schemes. As a child Lolha would join Tashi in the field, helping her finish her workload so Tashi could leave early and play with Lolha. In their teens, Tashi would get extra work staffing formal dinners when important clients were visiting, and Lolha would convince Tashi to steal the extravagant foods for them to sample.
On one memorable occasion, the kitchen staff were instructed to prepare a particularly lavish feast in celebration of an unnamed guest that would be visiting the plantation. The week before, Tashi and Lolha saw a blue dragonborn with piercing, ice-blue eyes and a cruel looking barbed whip brought into the house through a back door. The next morning, a clutch of 5 cockatrice chicks had been set down in a cloaked cage in the kitchen larder. These chicks were supervised at all times, and carefully fed in the dark for 7 days, high over a pile of just smouldering tea leaves. On the night of the banquet, they would be drowned in fire brandy, fried in butter, and consumed whole. This crowning jewel of the meal was apparently a rare delicacy known as Yansi (or Drowned). Though it was a high crime to make such a thing, it was also a gift and honour of the highest order to serve, not to mention a lavish demonstration of wealth. The whole thing was shrouded in mystique, and while the friends knew they could never hope to steal one unnoticed, they each gained a rapturous fascination for this debauch branch of cuisine.
When they had come of age, the two left Highspire with the dream to open their own secret restaurant concealed within a respectable (albeit a bit dingy) looking tea shop, which Lolha's parents helped finance, unaware of the ruse. They took a ship to Taranthia, and took a lease on a small hole in the wall beneath the harbour arches, and named it The Argentum. Officially, they provided an authentic tea service with a wide offering of Spirean varieties. The water in Taranthia however was far too hard for the light white Spirean teas, producing only a flat unsatisfying brew, and so the tea shop itself was highly unpopular- just as they wanted it. Behind the kitchen curtain, there was usually a table that could be set for the wealthy and close lipped to try "hard to procure" delicacies, and in this arm of their venture, business was booming. Tashi and Lolha made a name for themselves in closed circles, but dreamed of one day recreating the Yansi, the pinnacle of forbidden foodstuffs.
Tashi secured a job in the mail keepers guild in order to covertly smuggle goods into the city, but having gotten a taste for the wider world, started itching to travel further afield with greater freedom, to source their own ingredients. Over time, Tashi formed close ties with the Cuttle and Bone company, who were equally glad to find someone with their own motivations to smuggle goods into Taranthia, where they no longer had easy passage.
After a few years, Lolha's parents made a trip to come and visit the shop. Having been thrilled with their daughters apparent success, they had at last heard rumours from a family friend who had returned from a trip to Taranthia that the shop was far from a prime destination. Upon visiting and seeing the truth for themselves, they confronted Lolha, and accused her of cuttign corners at Tashi's suggestion, who could never hope to appreciate the intricacies of their family's heritage. Tashi, just then returning from an expedition with the guild, heard Lolha fail to defend her, and it became a great source of contention between the friends.
Weeks later, having set out with a crew bound to deliver a shipment to Yr the Tryhalf Chain, Tashi went missing, and Lolha has not heard from her since. Lolha suspects that she has now joined the Cuttle and Bone company in earnest, and will not be returning. While sad to have lost her friend, she also feels angry that Tashi did not fully appreciate the pressure her family puts on her to maintain their standing, so she bitterly pushes on with the tea shop alone.
With her supply chain having dried up, the Argentum was now every bit as unsuccessful as it looked. Lolha sold much of her fine clothes, jewellery, and belongings, and began renting Tashi's old room to passing travellers in the port to make ends meet. One such tenant, a Tabaxi named Bat (Screech of Bats) spent a few weeks as a cleaner in the shop, before leaving suddenly one night having robbed Lolha of all the coin she had, as well as her last treasured possession- a beautiful set of antique Spirean tea bowls- wooden, with carved silver lids depicting the shivering wheat sheafs of Ritah encircled by an intricate design of drifting clouds- her family crest.
Unable to face her family, and desperate to make a success of herself in spite of the perceived betrayal by Tashi, Lolha packed up her last few belongings, sold the remaining stock of tea for a scant purse of gold, and joined a passing ship in the Taranthian port that was in need of a cook.
Age
31
Children
Gender
F
Eyes
Amber/Dark
Hair
White
Height
5 ft 3
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