Thar Shaddin

Player Name: Zina
Name: Mudubae Zoko
Age: 28 (appears around 45)
Race: Mtesebra (zebra centaur)
Height: 6' 11"
Weight: 806lb

Physical Description:
Mudu appears at first glance to be a strange-looking centaur. Centaurs themselves are rare in populated cities of Eyropa, so it is not uncommon for him to receive stares in Marn. He has the lower body of a plains zebra, with a very clean, crisply striped black and white coat and tufted tail. His body is shorter than a riding horse's, and more stoutly built for stamina rather than speed. He cannot wear clothing on this part of his body, but often wears a stable sheet or caparison unless it is too warm.

His upper half is usually covered by a tunic or small cloak except on hot days. Still, it is obvious from his face that he is unusual looking even for not being human. Mudu suffers from a rare condition called dermasebresis which is almost exclusively found in mtesebra populations in numbers nearing 60%. It is a form of vitiligo in which the cells responsible for producing melanin are unable to function properly. In dermasebresis, the cells die slowly in a pattern which closely resembles the stripes on their zebra bodies. It is a genetic disorder which usually appears during childhood and slowly depigments parts of the upper body. Mudu is at a later stage, so stripes are clearly visible on his cheeks and forehead. They cover most of his back and chest as well. Beneath the clothing on his human half, he is well-muscled.

The structure of his face, although appearing partially white in skin tone, is clearly of Setkhantos descent. He has a wide nose and gaunt, high-rising cheek bones, full lips, and dark eyes. His hair is the only part of his human half, other than the dermasebresis, that tells he is mtesebra; it is straight, about two inches long down the center of his skull, and stands on end naturally. It is pigmented black and white. Nearly all mtesebra sport this mohawk hairstyle, as culturally it is a symbol of their permanent tie with nature, their strength, and their elegance.

Possessions: Mudu owns two shops in Marn. One is a barber shop which specializes in exotic hair styling and also performs tooth extractions, bloodletting, leeching, and minor surgeries. The shop, titled "Borduli and Zoko's," was the result of a partnership between Mudu and a Corezan man named Javel Borduli. Its clientele is usually mid-ranged on the social chain, though both low and high income individuals have been seen before.

The other shop is a tailor called "Darleone's Finest" and is run by a man named Jori. Mudu manages its finances and marketing while Jori hires and works in the shop. It markets toward the wealthy, but also offers more competitive prices for the modest shopper.

Both shops are located downtown.

Mudu has an elven wife named Thena and a daughter named Ofelia. They live in a single floor, modest home in the residential district of Marn. It has two bathrooms and three bedrooms, one of which has been turned into a sort of stable where Mudu sleeps. The house has been modified so that the doors are taller than normal by half a foot to suit Mudu's size, and it has a soft dirt floor instead of wood or stone. They also have a yard and compost pile where Mudu does his business, as toilets are generally not well suited for horses. The home has other modifications planned, as this is what Mudu spends the majority of his money on. He wishes for there to eventually be a horse-sized shower. He also has plans to extend the house and create horse-sized corridors so that Thena does not have to space out the furniture so far apart, but he may require property for further enhancements.

Strengths:
Businessman - Mudu is a fairly experienced businessman and has a diplomatic streak to him. He is used to dealing with the wealthy and those who have got the most to lose. While he isn't quite a salesman and doesn't manipulate people the way someone else might, he knows how to project himself to those higher up on the social chain than him.

Intelligence - Raised in Marn and brought up in a Puradynic school system, Mudu was more booksmart than anything else when he was younger. Experience and wisdom has slowly made him a more critical thinker. He is capable of rejecting what books might have to say about a subject and forming his own opinion about a variety of things. This becomes a problem when dealing with his wife, Thena, as she has none of these skills.

Intimidating - Mudu is large, of Setkhantos descent, muscular, and tall. His physical appearance alone creates an intimidating image for those who first meet him. Aside from that, his voice is also deep and presents a lot of courage with it, with a very slight Setkhantos accent. Mudu will make threats without actually threatening a person, mostly with posturing his body and saying things that might have a deeper meaning to them. He tends to come off as a person not to mess around with.

Kind - Despite his intimidating appearance, Mudu is a very kind individual. He was raised on the Tomes, and while not strictly Puradynic, he follows them loosely. He has a lot of sympathy for individuals under pursuit by the government, unless they have done something violent. An empathetic man, Mudu does his best to help people under stress. He is also a good father.

Ambitious - Mudu is run mostly by money and the will to seek knowledge. He enjoys spending money and learning and so does everything he can to get more. He is materialistic in many ways, but most of the things he desires are to make life easier on him and his family. He seeks a fortune in most of the things he does and is not the type to give up on something he wants.

Big - Mudu is large physically and not easily threatened. However, this is sort of negated by the fact that he is afraid of any sudden change in the environment. Still, if faced with violence, a kick from one of his hooves could potentially kill a person.

Senses - With better vision than most people, Mudu can see movement exceptionally well. He sees in full color, and has better night vision than a human, though it is still poor in comparison to most animals. he also has better hearing than normal and can hear full conversations through a single, but not multiple, walls. His sense of smell is above average, but nothing special.

Language - Mudu can speak Naduri, a regional language spoken in Northeastern parts of Setkhantos. He also speaks very good Eyropan, although with a very mild accent.

Weaknesses:

Age - Mtesebra do not age like humans. They age between a human and a zebra, so their life span caps at around 60 years. Mudu has the appearance of a man in his forties despite being relatively young, but has all of the youthful naivety that anyone else would have.

Fear of Magic - Mudu is afraid of magic. In Setkhantos, he remembers seeing a medicine man when he was two about night terrors he was having. The medicine man gave him a ring to put around his index finger at night. During the evening hours, the ring caused Mudu to levitate from his bed, which the man said would exorcise him from the night demons that held him hostage. The event sparked a short-lived panic attack which has poisoned Mudu against magic ever since. When he came to Marn at five years old, he was taught in a Puradynic school and while he believes that magic is evil, he does not believe that those who are capable of using it are necessarily evil.

Thena - Thena is Mudu's elven wife. They married when he was thirteen years old (his aging made him appear twenty) and she was 104 because they believed they were in love. Mudu has since realized that his wife is lacking in the critical thinking and overall intelligence fields. While she is loving, she is gullible and materialistic, constantly wanting more expensive clothes and furniture. She adores Mudu and he loves her, but their relationship does not have much talking involved anymore. They avoid talks of politics and anything serious in nature. Thena teaches young children at the local elementary school.

Ofelia - Ofelia is Mudu's twelve year old daughter and only child. Her younger brother was killed during childbirth. As might be expected from a pairing between a centaur and an elf, complications usually arise with children. Ofelia is physically handicapped. She walks with a scissor gait due to her hip and knees being abnormally formed. She has dermasebresis which affects her skin like her father, so there are a few stripes on her legs and feet, which slowly increase number as she gets older, though it is less apparent than his because she has a mulatto skin tone. While she inherited her mother's hairline, she has extremely thick hair on her head akin to horse hair. She must be kept on a strict diet due to digestive problems. Mudu adores his daughter and would do anything to protect her.

Big - Having a horse body is a challenge Mudu faces every day living in a city. His home has several modifications to it to make it comfortable for the entire family, but Mudu still cannot sleep in his wife's bed because he sleeps standing up. He is too large to comfortably fit through most doorways so he constantly has to duck and sometimes keep his head lowered in buildings with low ceilings. He can't use normal public facilities and finds it embarrassing to excrete on the street. He is a serious hazard inside of buildings, constantly tracking dirt in with his shoes and having to watch out for knocking furniture over. Mtesebra are ill-suited for city living.

Easily Startled - Mudu has a temper. He is also easily startled by anything out of the ordinary, and is terrified of lightening and thunder. When startled, he sometimes kicks his back feet against his will and can cause serious damage to objects and people. When he is angry, he does not become violent, but he will leave without saying anything and not return for a day.

Gravel & Concrete - It is very uncomfortable for him to take walks on gravel and concrete without horseshoes on. In order to walk the streets of Marn, he must have his wife, Thena, place horseshoes on his hooves. He also has extreme difficulty climbing stairs.

Venusteride - Because Mudu is half horse, he is subject to all desires of any human male. When he sees a beautiful woman, or even at random, he may become erect against his will. To combat this he must take small orange capsules of a drug called venusteride to prevent any unwanted attention directed toward him, otherwise he would appear completely unprofessional in a variety of situations. This is a common problem in male mtesebra, but only becomes an issue in populated areas. On the plains of Setkhantos, where most mtesebra live, there is little care over this matter. Usually Mudu wears a stable sheet or caparison to hide these erections. Only when it is too hot outside to wear fabric does he resort to the pills.

Horses - He has a sexual attraction to horses and donkeys.

History:
The Child of Set
Mudu was born in western Setkhantos in a region called Nandukhot. He was born to a woman called Jaruba in a herd of Mtesebra known as the Buntubi. The nomadic tribe had little contact with the outside world for centuries, keeping to their own traditions and strange ways. The vicious nature of the mtesebra would insure that he would not grow to adulthood with the Buntubi.

Jaruba had been with a man from the time she had come of age at eleven years old, and had never looked back at the lonely child she had once been. The Buntubi believed that women were caretakers, and nothing more or less than that. Their duties consisted of cooking, child-rearing, and being open to polygamy. Jaruba was special in that she was the sister of the tribe's leader, Tokir, and had a lot of leeway when it came to skirting around the rules. She'd never really been a lawful sort of person; she liked to do things her own way and had a way of being a bit self-serving rather than looking out for the group as a whole. Tokir had never liked this about his sister.

She was married to a young warrior called Gordu at eleven, but she remained as free spirited as ever. Mudu was born a year later after the yearly celebratory feast. At the feast, all young mtesebra danced in wooden masks to a drum beat to show off their natural strength. The stronger a man was, the higher he would be able to jump into the air and the louder his hoof beats would be against the ground. After this dance, each woman who was of age would choose one of the young men to take to their bed, though nearly all of these women were also married. The highest ranking woman would always have first pick, while other disputes between the mares were commonly settled by violence.

Around a year later, the gestation of a mtesbra, Mudu was born. It remains unclear who his father was, as Jaruba was courted by at least three different men, but this was a common story for new foals. Mudu was raised as Gordu's son for two years until tribal warfare struck. The Buntubi were matched with the larger and more formidable Masibi, who were split into many different harems run by a single stallion. The spread out Masibi gathered together for the war and decided that the best way to defeat the Buntubi and take all of their mares was to attack from every angle at random intervals.

This resulted in raids being commonplace for the Buntubi, no matter how far they moved during the day. The Masibi harems would attack at night most often, when most of the tribe was sleeping. The mtesebra would kill any foal they came across and the stallion would try to rape any mare he could find. The Buntubi stallions put up a valiant fight and together, they could ward off the attackers, but they were often assassinated in their sleep.

Fearing for her son, Jarubi split from the tribe after a month of these vicious attacks and ran with Mudu as far north as they could go before hitting the great river. On the river banks she met a traveler who promised to help the pair. The language barrier between Jarubi and the man proved difficult to get past, but the man managed to tell the mother that he had the ability to transport them to a lush and wonderful place known as Eyropa. The traveler promised the pair that they would be safe there, and that he was the only one who could take them.

The pair traveled with the man for months northward, crossing the river that split the country in two, an arid country of desert, and jungles filled with creatures from the strangest Eyropan story books. They arrived Semerkhet six months later, where they were sold as work animals to Master Wyatt. He took them across the Great Scar to Eyropa's mainland, and then to Vitalis. They lived in the city for a year, until Jarubi became stir crazy and wished to return to her home country. The mtesebra were treated well, not like work animals at all. They were fed and clothed and spoken to like modest servants, and given a special room in the stables to sleep in. Still, Jarubi hated working with the animals and shoveling manure every day. She hated her inability to venture into the city comfortably, and hated being alone. So, leaving her son behind, she ran away.

Mudu never did find out if his mother made it back to the Buntubi or not, or even if the Buntubi were still alive if she did get there. He would have been raised as a servant had one woman not taken an extreme interest to him.

Eve was a half-faery, half-human who heard about Master Wyatt's zebra centaurs through the nobility grapevine. She had wanted a child, a son, for years. Sadly, after she was married to her betrothed, Eve proved to be infertile. No matter how many doctors and magical healers she spoke to, none had been able to give her a child. Her husband wanted to leave her.

Eve didn't go to Master Wyatt's manor to buy Mudu. She found magical creatures of all sorts of serious interest. Her husband was a scientist, a difficult thing to be in a world were science and magic intertwined. She and her husband, Miguel, went to Wyatt to see the centaur and study it. When they arrived, they were led to the stables where they found Mudu huddled in a corner, his hands in his face, crying. Wyatt informed the couple that the child's mother had recently disappeared.

Eve looked at her husband. Her face was soft, and her mesmerizing eyes were glassy and hurt. Miguel frowned at his wife, while she looked back at the child and listened to his soft coos. The child looked up at her from his corner, and his face and neck were wet and filthy. The lovely white on his striped body was dirtied with mud and manure. He looked to be about six years old from his face, but it was difficult to tell with the way his dark-skinned face was tainted with white stripes. He tried to speak for a moment, but little came out, and what did come out was mostly Naduri, Mudu's native language. There was fear written all over his face, and his arms were clutching his upper body as if afraid that the woman and men staring at him would hurt him. Mudu and his mother were never struck unless they did something particularly bad, but losing his mother was still fresh in his mind.

The woman staring at him was beautiful. She had the face of an angel, with almond shaped, green eyes that reminded him of the savanna after a dense rain storm. She was white-skinned like most of the Eyropans, as was her husband. Her hair was long and meticulously braided, its red-brown having a copper shine to it like a precious metal. Mudu rubbed his eyes. The woman reached her hand out to him and helped him stand.

The walk to his new home with his adoptive family was a long one. They were full of all sorts of questions regarding his past and his life on the plains of Setkhantos, as well as his family. He spoke very little Eyropan, and could hardly understand any of their words, but they kept asking anyway. They were a curious people, he had found, the Eyropans. When they reached his new home, he found it to be much more modest than Master Wyatt's manor. They had only a small stable and a greenhouse on the property, which was full of the scent of tomatoes and sweet onion. There were water fowl and chickens of several varieties wandering around the grass in the back yard. The house itself was two stories tall with stone floors and wood paneling on much of the walls and furniture.
"This is your new home, Mudubae," said his new mother.
He looked at her, and hugged her. He was as tall as her already. They would make for an interesting family.

Mudu slept in the stable of the house and they lived there for only a year before Miguel and Eve separated. Miguel told Mudu many times that the child had nothing to do with it, but Mudu has always thought otherwise. Living with a child centaur in a city was a difficult road to take in life. Miguel wanted little part of it, as interesting as it all was. His adoptive mother, on the other hand, developed a real love for her new son. She doted upon him and tried as best she could to allow him to fit in. She told him about difficulties she had growing up in a racist community, being half-fae. He remained unconvinced that he would ever be able to do well, but he picked up the Eyropan language quickly under his mother's instruction.

Not long after Miguel left the household, the small family moved to Thar Shaddin when Eve was offered a hand in marriage once more, this time to a man of middle means. She tried to explain to Mudu that marriage was sometimes a necessary thing to insure the well-being of a family, but he did not understand at the time. Later, Mudu would realize that the real reasoning behind Eve's second marriage was simply desperation; she was lonely, and quickly slipping into poverty as she cared for her mtesebra son.

The Marnian Mtesebra
Eve's new husband was Jinn Hoggart. Eve's new name was Eve Hoggart. It was a numb change.

Jinn was not a particularly interesting man. He made a decent living selling cheese in Marn's market downtown. They moved into his small home in a tenement. The first floor of their building was devoted to a gem shop and metal-working area. The first problem the new family ran into was the stairs; Mudu was not only bad at climbing stairs, he was quite loud on them. For the first month or so, Jinn was perfectly content with ignoring his new stepson. After a time, the management of the building began to complain to Jinn about the noise and raised concerns about the tidyness of a half-zebra half-boy. A slew of embarrassing questions meant to rouse anger was released, but Jinn stood silently in the doorway.

Mudu crept toward the front door of their unit as quietly as a hooved beast could.
"I can't imagine the cleanup after he uses the washroom, for a bath or otherwise. You can't honestly expect me to stand idly while you let that.. creature ruin good floors and porcelain pieces."
Jinn said nothing. He pinched his fingers against the bridge of his nose and slid his hand up his forehead. It was midnight.
Eve, standing back in a thin gown, walked purposefully toward the door. The gown was too thin to be considered decent, but there was a frown stretched firmly across her lovely features.
"Do you have a problem with my son?"
"Yes."
The response took Eve by surprise. She recovered herself.
"And what problem would that be?"
"He is not fit to live in this building."
"I see. And are you fit to live in this building?"
"What?"
"Sir, you are covered in sweat. You stink as foul as an ox in the heat of the desert. You wear a perfume fit for the king of rotten fish. I daresay you will ruin all of the carpet and furniture should you sit or step on it."

They received an eviction notice the next evening. All of their belongings had been dumped outside, into the cold and dreary rain of the city. Eve apologized, repeatedly, to Jinn. They quickly moved into a cheap home in Shim, despite the commute distance. Mudu began to see bruises appear on his mother's arms and occasionally her face. This was alarming to him, but she told him not to worry.

Without a mule, it was difficult for Jinn to move market items from the house to the market. Mudu offered to help with this task, being large enough to carry a fair load on his back at only age six. Every morning, Jinn and Mudu helped to load a small cart full of cheese. They would set off, Jinn sitting atop the cart while Mudu pulled. Being only half grown, the task was difficult for Mudu. He was not built to be a pack animal. But, knowing that much of the family's money was being spent on his behalf (he ate much more than an average six year old human), he felt obligated to help.

A centaur was not good for business in Marn. The city was plagued with suspicion and doubt of Mudu. They isolated him and pointed fingers. Sometimes people would yell nasty curses and insults at him for no apparent reason. When they weren't actively watching him, most people would steal glances at him, studying him the way a child studies an ant before killing it.

So, during the day, Mudu would go to public school. This was as much, if not more, of a challenge than standing idly beside Jinn's cheese booth. The children at school were cruel to him. Though some were capable of magic or were partially of elven blood, they did not stand out the way that Mudu did. The teacher taught Mudu and his classmates the tomes, and used him as an example of being accepting toward others. The tomes taught kindness and good. They taught Mudu that he was human, and that the evils of magic had morphed him into something twisted and bad. However, Mudu knew that this did not mean he was a bad person. He was simply the victim of a corrupt world.

Late in the day, Mudu and Jinn would load the cart back up and return home. At home, Jinn would use the milk he bought from farmers in Shim to make cheese. Mudu tried to help out by keeping his work area tidy, but he was not a tidy beast by nature.

Friendships for Mudu were often fleeting. He was confused further by changes in his body. Puberty hit him long before anyone else, at an age where most children are still amused by slides and clapping games. He began to feel strange at school, feeling things toward more adult-looking women that no one else felt. His emotions began to swim with turmoil, feeling wonderful one moment and angry the next. His teachers noticed this. They informed his parents.

His mother wanted to move Mudu into an older class to deal with this, but Jinn opposed her. His reasoning was that Mudu had unique challenges, but would have to face them like everyone else, by charging through the system and learning from his mistakes. After several shouting matches, Eve relented, and Mudu stayed in a class of ten year old children.

Over the years, Mudu was molded by Marn's school system into a proper Puradynic citizen. His body grew much faster than other children, but his twelve year old mind was the same as any preteen. It was during this time that Mudu began to wonder if everything taught by Marn's schools was true. He had learned that Marn was a haven from the outside world, a place free of unnecessary magic, and thus free from corruption. The most respected were the settlers who had originally come to found Marn. The least respected were outsiders, with strange races like Mudu being the butt of an ugly and horrible joke. Others did not trust Mudu. His growth rate confused his teachers and other adults. Children both respected and feared him, unsure of how to react to a person who looked like an adult but acted like a child.

Then, one night, noise began to reach him from his mother's bedroom. They were not normal sounds he was used to. She sounded as if in pain. Unsure of whether or not he should intrude, he decided not to until he heard her shouting. Her panicked footsteps were not normal, and the word "stop" came through the walls on several occasions.

Mudu burst into the room. Jinn and his mother were naked, but he was grabbing her by her hair. New welts had appeared on her body. Jinn screamed at him to get out, but then Mudu understood such intimacy was not normal. The look of terror in his mother's eyes enraged him, and he kicked out at Jinn with his hooves. His stepfather fell backward. His skull cracked against the stone wall of their home.

The Marn hospital staff were caught by surprise when a centaur carrying an unconscious, bleeding mess of a man entered the building. They took Jinn and patched him, shooing Mudu into the waiting room, the one separate from non-magic folk. There he paced in circles until a Guard came to question him. Mudu explained that it was an accident, that the man had hurt his mother, that he didn't mean to hurt him. He asked repeatedly if Jinn was okay, if he would live. He melted in tears, kneeling on the floor.

Many hours later, just as the sun glinted outside in a pale blue dawn, a doctor came to him with news. Jinn would be okay, but his mind was shot. They did not know if he would ever be able to speak, and he was in no position to run a business.

Zebras in Business
In a wheelchair, it was impossible for Jinn to run the cheese business. For a short time, Mudu would make the cheese every day, cart it to the market, and attempt to sell it there alone. Buyers were much more wary of Jinn's stepson and business was extremely slow. The family began to quickly lose money, and Mudu and his mother were forced to sell the business. Jinn, paralyzed and unable to speak or write, would never recover from the accident.

After the savings of the family ran dry, Mudu stopped going to school and was hired as a stable boy. He juggled different jobs during this time period, all of which were manual labour, in order to support his family. Sometimes working three different jobs in a single day, it became easier and more efficient for Mudu to stay within the Marn city limits rather than commuting every day. This was a difficult adjustment period. All on his own, Mudu struggled to connect with other people. Depression snaked its way into his fourteen-year old mind as puberty reached its peak. In the body of a young adult, Mudu appeared as a late bloomer, and did not hold conversation well.

To combat this, Eve began working night shifts at The Red Chalice. During the day she worked tirelessly as a nurse to her disabled husband. Lack of sleep greyed her beautiful hair and hard work took its toll on the family. However, it paid off eventually. After two years, the family was able to save enough for Mudu and Eve to become a partner of a business.

A Marnian barber shop, "Borduli and Zoko's," belonged to a man named Javel Borduli. Native to Corezo, Mudu met Javel by chance while visiting The Bitch's Bite one evening. The two talked for hours, discussing their homelands, and their experiences in Marn. For the next week, Mudu visited with Javel at the shop. Javel was thinking of selling the business. Seeing potential in the shop, Mudu jumped at the opportunity to become a business partner. The family instantly began to see a source of new income, if only a small pay, for almost no labour.

Mudu returned to school, completing high school early from his own perseverance. He then spent much of his time in the library, reading everything he could get his hands on regarding business practice, which was quite limited. His idea for the little barber shop was simple; he would create an environment suitable for the wealthy. He would hire a barber also experienced with minor forms of medicine, and cater to those who could afford the best, as well as the middle class. Targeting multiple demographics with this strategy, the business quickly boomed after its initial slump.