I had the following entry sent in and promised to share it!
Rin Tular, Casanii Creator The inventive spirit that drives the engineers of the Fubarnii is not exclusive to the Empire. It is a primordial drive to experiment and create that appears in a handful of individuals within every Fubarnii tribe. Whether they have gunpowder, steel and alembics to tinker with, or rock, leather and dirt, they simply cannot help themselves – they must create. Rin Tular is one such creator.
As a jenta he was always making things. One day it would be an egg-warmer, the next a contraption for filtering weevils from grain, or an ointment to keep hooves shiny. Most worked after a fashion, though none were going to change the tribe’s fortunes overnight.
When Rin joined the feral braves, along with the rest of his age group, he did so because that was what everyone did. However, unlike his peers he was not content to simply go along with what was expected. Instead, he spent much of his time devising new traps, self-cleaning cooking pots, and – his real passion - trying to work out how mutts could be ridden. It all seemed so obvious. They were brim-full of energy and there had to be a way to harness that for moving things about, even if they were too small to support his whole weight. Perhaps if he used several at once? Now that had promise.
Rin’s plan was to harness two of them side by side, with a carefully-designed saddle on each. The saddle had a slot in the top, into which Rin could slip a hoof, so that he could stand with one foot on each mutt. Meanwhile, the rest of the harness held the mutts together so they could only run in one direction. To the amazement of the other braves, it almost worked. Almost.
As soon as his bones were healed he was at it again. His long convalescence allowed him time to think, and he had decided to abandon mutts as riding beasts. They were too small and skittish for what he had in mind. Instead he decided to see what could be done with the largest of the plains beasts, like the haughty dompaku and majestic ampladar. What, thought Rin, if they could be ridden like erillai, or harnessed like bagrun? Maybe the tribe’s traders could carry more goods to exchange with the neighbouring tribes, or perhaps the dompaku could carry giant water skins so that the tribe could travel wherever it wished, regardless of supplies. Maybe a herd of ampladar could even be persuaded to carry huts on their backs, so that the whole village could move without the time-consuming setting up and dismantling whenever they migrated. All that was needed was a way of controlling them.
The bones Rin broke with his mutts were not the last…
Playing Rin TularRin isn’t really a fighting character. He is average in melee, but nothing more, and this only because he has had to look after himself for so long. He might look fierce in his warpaint and feathers, but it’s all for show. He’s not interested in fighting for the sake of it. What allows him to survive in the wilds is a combination of luck, guards, and his own cunning creations. Having said all that, Rin ends up in the middle of a lot of difficult situations, precisely because he is always out in the wilds, exploring the margins of the tribe’s domain.
GuardsWandering over the plains seeking out the largest of the dompaku and ampladar is a dangerous job, and one that Rin has done well to survive for so long. However, even though the tribal elders think he’s a bit peculiar, he also has clear talent so he seldom travels alone. Like the traders and the engineers of the Empire, he is considered too valuable to leave his fate to chance.
CreationsRin is not oblivious to the dangers of the wilds. In fact, he has concocted a few novel surprises of his own to thwart any would-be attacker. Here are three he always carries with him:
Pepper bombs: Confuse and distract an enemy. Rin empties unfertilized eggs and fills the hollow shells with his special blend of herbs and spices. When thrown at an enemy, or crushed on them in melee, the resulting cloud of dust blinds the victim with their own tears, and leaves them feeling like they’re being crawled over by thousands of stinging ants. Inexperienced foes can panic, and even veterans can’t see well enough to fight properly. Rin uses these moments to slip quietly away.
Spear thrower: allows him to throw a spear harder and further than normal. A last resort.
Cargo-carrying mutts: a pair of highly-trained mutts follow Rin around wherever he goes. They each carry bulging panniers, filled with Rin’s experiments, lunch, spare pepper bombs and extra spears. As long as one of them is within arm’s reach, Rin can carry on throwing spears and pepper bombs to his heart’s content.