Wenata of Tharna

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Name: Wenata of Tharna

Free or slave: Wenata is a free woman

Caste: Scribes

Age: 197

Apparent Age: Around 30

Bio: Wenata was born to a rich Scribe mother in the city of Tharna nearly 200 years ago, she have no idea who her father is, her mother simply went to a physician which was the custom and a male was chosen for her to father her children. Wenata's mother was one of the Tatrix's aids so she grew up in wealth and luxury never wanting for anything. At the age of five the young Wenata's training as a scribe begun, her mother wanted her only daughter to have a bright future and the young girl was hungry for knowledge and eager to learn so she early begun to impress her tutors.

When Wenata was eleven she got her first silver mask and begun to help out with her mother's duties, by the time she was sixteen she had gotten a desk job at the Tatrix's palace and her future looked promising, she was rich, smart and had the right connections, everything indicated that she would herself become an aid to the city's ruler one day or even city on the Tatrix's council. Wenata herself however was unhappy, but she did not know why, there was a deep longing in her she did not understand, though at times she found herself casting long glances at the male merchants and traders that sometimes visited the city of women, and at the male servants working at her mother's house, and after some time Wenata found herself wondering how the forbidden touch of a man would feel.

The young scribe was twenty years old when she met Yul, a young merchant looking to be of the same age as her, though with Goreans not aging such things where hard to determine. Wenata only wanted to buy a bracelet from Yul but she became lost in the traveling merchant's brown eyes. Later that night the young scribe sat in her bedchamber spinning her new bauble on her thin wrist when she heard her mother give the order to go and arrest a man who had stayed in the city past he deadline and the girl's heart made a terrified jump when she heard that the man to be arrested and enslaved where a merchant named Yul. Wenata knew her actions where foolish, but she for some reason could not stand to see the young man she had shared a glance with earlier that day end up a farming slave, just because someone neglected to tell him that despite Tharna's apparent hospitality men who stayed in the city past the deadline became slaves by law. Wenata threw on her mask and a simple robe and ran through the street until she found Yul's merchant stand and warned the young man of the soldiers coming for him, then she, even if she knew it was treachery helped Yul flee through a side gate.

Wenata knew that if discovered at best she would be executed for her crime, at worst she would become a slave, there was nothing left for her in Tharna anymore so when Yul asked her to come with him she accepted the offer of this man she hardly knew. Five years passed and Wenata traveled far and wide with her new friend. There was allot to get used to for a Tharna silver mark, for once she had never before seen a female slave, the maids that served her in her mother's house where all free women who earned a living as domestic servants, to see women naked, bound and beaten in the streets shocked Wenata to the core, however over time she came to accept it as no worse then what her home city did to men, she sure was glad she had Yul there to protect her though or she was not sure she could have survived. Five years after their escape from Tharna Yul offered Wenata companionship and the young scribe gladly accepted, she loved Yul and now finally she could show it.

Yul and Wenata was companioned for over 100 years, over that time they had four children, two daughters, Lallia and Tyla and two sons Riman and Dorell. Wenata helped her companion with the books for his business and which her scholarly aid soon the young merchant could buy an actual store, and soon he was one of the richest merchants in the small Northern city he had made his home. Yul and Wenata was very happy together and their family lived in peace and harmony, their children grew and became adults, the Priest Kings smiled at them and life for the young scribe was good.

After one hundred years as free companions Yul told Wenata that his loved had waned, this in itself was not uncommon among Goreans, when you do not age and most count their lives in centuries it is hard to stay with one person for one's entire life. Wenata still loved Yul but she accepted his decision and they left as friends. Yul was still fond of Wenata and he felt he owned her both as the mother of his children and someone who had once saved his freedom, so he gave his former companion enough coin when they separated that Wenata could live as a wealthy woman for the rest of her life.

Wenata could not stay in the city she had known as her home for the past one hundred years, her heart would shatter she knew if she saw Yul take another companion so she found a new home in another small Northern city, she bought a house there and swore an out of citizenship on the town's Home Stone before she set up shop as a scribe and continued with her life. Over the years Wenata had a few companionships but none lasted more than a few years, after Yul left her she had a problem allowing herself to truly love again. Wenata did well as a scribe though some thought the mask she wore was strange as opposed to a veil, the young woman insisted on wearing it though, it was the one reminder of her home and her mother she still had. One day wearing that mask would cost her dearly though when the city that had been her home now for decades came under siege by a local warlord who wanted to take it over.

War is never a comfortable thing and Wenata remember five days filled with fear and terror as the warlord and the city defenders fought. Wenata herself helped out where she could, she felt that was the duty of any free citizen, so she carried water to the soldiers on guard duty and helped the physicians care for the wounded.

Eventually the small Northern city fell and the warlord and his men begun pillaging and killing. Many of the women who had became Wenata's friends over the years took the safest option when the city fell, they stripped and hid in the local slave kennels hoping the invaders would see them as spoils of war and not the enemy's women. Wenata could not blame the women who made such a choice to save their own lives but she would not accept slavery to save her life, she was a daughter of Tharna and no man's slave! Eventually the invaders found Wenata who had hid with a number of the other free women and children of the city in a small cellar under the main stables. What happened next will forever haunt Wenata's nightmares, the warlord's men had a certain degree of mercy in them, young children they took to raise among their own, older children where killed on the spot, but at least their death's where swift. The adult women however where taken outside and given a choice of death and slavery. Most chose slavery and where raped then and there as they watched their homes burn and gleeful soldiers rise the heads of their brave men on pikes, Wenata and the other women who choose death however where impaled.

Wenata remember well the screams of the first three women who had stakes rammed up their privates before they where lifted up to slowly slide down the pole. Impaling is a gruesome death and yet Wenata tried to stand proud and strong as she waited her turn, her heavy, silver mark hiding her quivering lips and the tears flowing from her eyes. When the ruffians finally made their way to Wenata one of them explained.
"This slut in from Tharna!"
Quickly he told the others about the city where women had overthrown men and they all decided to teach the proud scribe a lesson.

The young scribe do not know how many times the men raped her, they showed her a bit of dignity, they let her keep her mask, but that was little comfort as she was brutally and painfully invaded by these ruffians. Wenata eventually broke down and wept, but she never begged, she would not give them the satisfaction, at least she could die with some shred of dignity left. Eventually the warlord's men tired of the silver mask and decided to impale her like the others, but the man who did the deed was both skillful and cruel, he placed the pole so that it went in Wenata's womanly part and out her shoulder while missing every one of her vital organs so she would live for days, and she did.

Two days Wenata suffered on that stake, the scribe lost track of time as she hung there, naked, bleeding with only her silver mask covering her shame. Every now and again the ruffians would lift her mask and give her a few sips of water, so she would not die to soon and end the punishment they seamed to think she deserved, all the time the men would taunt her, touch her and spit on her, but Wenata was in to much pain to care.

Finally after two days Wenata lost consciousness and she believed that was the end, but then she woke up, groggy from medicine in a Physician's make shift tent. Yul had heard about the attack on the town Wenata called home and the merchant had come for the mother of his children with an army of mercenaries expecting to avenge her death, instead he had found her, impaled and barely alive, the only survivor of the impaled women. A field physician had managed to save Wenata's life. A earth women would not have lived, but thanks to the stabilizer serums Wenata's body was strong enough to pull through, the impaling left her barren and bed ridden for several months, but she lived.

Wenata's mind was more damaged than her body and really what she needed was a stable home. Yul offered her to stay with him and his new companion but Wenata could not bring herself to see her beloved happy with another woman, so as soon as she was strong enough she left. Since that time Wenata have gone from city to city as a traveling scribe, she earn enough to keep her in reasonable comfort and enough to pay for guards as she take the dangerous journeys between cities. Wenata do not know what she is looking for, perhaps a way to understand how the Priest Kings could let a tragedy like the one she witnessed happen, or perhaps some new place to call home, but for now she wanders, a wounded scribe with her pain hidden behind her silver mask.

Appearance: Wenata is a tall, beautiful woman, her eyes are dark bluish gray like the sea during a storm, her hair is jet black and long enough to reach her knees. Wenata usually have her hair pinned up in a complicated design. Wenata wear a long, embroidered, pale blue, almost silver colored robe and her under robes are all pale gray, she hides her pretty face behind a elegant silver mark that look like a stunningly beautiful, but cold woman, the mask is tied with thick, blue, silk ribbons that mix in with her hair. Wenata wear several silver bangles on each wrist and carries a long, silver dagger in her sash. Wenata have large, almond shaped eyes, dark, plump lips and a thin, slightly curved nose. There is a dark look in Wenata's eyes and she seldom smile, though few would see her smiles even if she did.

Personality: Wenata is a kind, warm woman who have been badly traumatized and scarred, she is proud but not arrogant. Wenata is not afraid of hard work and she have a practical attitude and do what need to be done no matter what the task is. Wenata is very intelligent and she is a skilled scribe, she hunger for knowledge and in particularly she love languages. Wenata longs for love but she is still to wounded by Yul abandoning her nearly 100 years ago to dare to really bare her emotions to any man, instead she forms short time companionships and leave them before she can really bond with the man in question. Now Wenata also fear she will never find love again due to being barren. Wenata can at times seam cold, but inside beat the heart of a young, terrified woman who have been hurt so badly and who only want someone to hold her and tell her that it is okey. Wenata have a keen sense of honor and justice and she will risk much to help others she feel have been treated unjustly.

Possessions: A healthy bank account, tools and equipment she need as a scribe. Two shifts of clothing, and a lighter dressing robe and chamber tunic, a bedroll and other things she need for traveling. A purse with some coin, a good quality silver dagger, a small bone carving of each of her four children, her silver mask, a bosk bone hair comb and other things she need for personal grooming. Molly a young maid slave that assist her daily life, several hidden daggers and various odds and ends.