Jiki

Jiki (ジキ) is an irregular Male Nevrean living among the Northern Shamans in the New Age setting. Some elements are drawn from a personal fan fiction.

Appearance
Head plumage is a pale turquoise. Body plumage follows more "parakeet" colors like his father, Muan, but it is a cooler Emerald green, with fades of yellow. Body frame is very robust, long-limbed, yet a slender athletic build, unlike many other Nevrean males. One of the more striking features, is simply his height. Standing far taller than the average Nevrean. His facial features are bolder, resembling a female beak structure.

He wears a simple clothing, often a half-tunic vest with traditional tribal markings and designs.

Biography
Born RC62, Post Shigu-Reono War famine survivor. Shaman Acolyte. Turned activist and Culinary artist.

Raised among Northern Shaman.

Jiki had a natural talent for understanding the flora, fauna, and herbs according to their use, as well as flavors and scents. He'd enjoy learning from one peculiar member of their Shaman tribe, Hekaa, an elderly Nevrean female. Later revealed to be a Shigu defector who lived through the Shigu Conquest, and played a fairly significant support and tactical role. She also fled to GoldRing towards the Shigu decline. She later returned back from GoldRing because she did not like her options in life that were available. Nursemaid, laborer, or criminal.



She is the only one to teach and mentor Jiki about the rest of the world, including traces of old Nevrean culture and language. She regrets not being able to express or teach the subtleties of artistic expression itself. Although she's not a sergal, Hekaa fulfilled the role as a kind of pseudo-matriarch after the loss of their leader xxxx. Avid Kef smoker. She walks with a limp, but is surprisingly sturdy and physically durable.

She possesses well honed personal combat skills, learned from her earlier involvement in the Shigu/Reono wars.

RC(74) His mentor and adoptive father is killed by a dangerous forest creature, the Kusei(Harpoon pineapple). Left to survive and nearly die in the forests, it was an indescribably traumatic experience, leaving him thirsty, hungry, and delirious from ingesting dangerous plants. He vowed to never allow himself to be naiive about Talyxian Flora. He struggled to voraciously learn every intricate detail of every plant, herb and creature he could, as well as absorbing the customs, unique language, and esoteric subtext of Shaman rituals.

RC92 Arriving at Gold Ring, he turns to many odd jobs and labor to help pay for a formal training in Culinary Arts. Despite his self consciousness of his body, he begins a stint of brothel work to supplement his needs and training. Jiki meets with other GoldRing chefs and restaurateurs. His social activism tends to grate on others. The infamous Blaze of Sailzane occured only 3 years prior which left much of that region of GoldRing in a reconstruction period, and continuing Social unrest, despite Human Rights reform decades earlier.

RC96 reunites with father Muan. They instantly recognized each other upon meeting, without words, in a tearfully joyous moment. They've kept the shards of the shell that Jiki was hatched from.

RC97 Jiki tracks down his mother XXX, who has fallen into being an Out Ring criminal. This reunion does not go well. She thrashes him thoroughly beating him bloody, and even cracking his beak. Jiki retreats, but doesn't lose hope, telling her tearfully that she still deserves to be loved. Over the coming years, he does make further attempts. Eventually soothing her vicious nature little by little, singing and dancing to her from a distance, as well as leaving lovingly prepared gourmand foods for her.

Jiki continues to hone his culinary skills, studying the tastes and combinations that the public enjoy, as well as artistically presenting original dishes never before seen.



Around this time, Jiki & Muan establish themselves in running Delicatessen shop which also sells rare perfumes, herbal medicines, snacks, candies, oils, and other personal care and grooming supplies. Around this time, Muan & Jiki occasionally encounter Kharnak the sergal, with whom they don't particularly get along with, partly due to his rather questionable hygiene. Whereas Kharnak will refer to Jiki as "that freakishly tall Nevrean" and Muan as "that runty old Nevrean who keeps staring". Muan finds Kharnak particularly interesting though, giving him flashbacks from his years with the Shigu, as well as recognizing Kharnak as one of the vicious AdHoc brute hires during the Blaze of Sailzane. (They actually have, quite literally rubbed elbows in the past without realizing it.) Upon seeing a unique Leather & bone hair tie that Kharnak was wearing, Muan confronts him with some very revealing details about it and Kharnak's past.

RC103 - meets a female Nevrean, a failed artist, singer, crafter. She finds solace and supports his new husband fully. They share cultural exchange.

RC104 - His son Jiki's attempts at endorsing their Nevrean written language continue to fail to catch on with the Nevrean community.

RC113 - Father Muan dies. While walking with Jiki alongside ColVilous lake. Jiki falls into a very depressive and languid period as he questions and contemplates his life experiences and accomplishments, and learning to accept his failed efforts and aspirations.

RC132 - Jiki dies, in the comfort of XXX his devoted wife, survived by their one child XXX, a gifted musician with odd quirks.

Facts:

- He is a true synesthaet like his father Muan. His senses are combined. (Seeing music.  Seeing fragrance.  Tasting color)

- Jiki recovers Muan's early works on creating a written form for their Nevrean language, but his attempts to compile and propose them also failed in his lifetime.

- His name, Jiki (named after Guerlain perfume.) in-world, was named after a rare, fragrant moss-like growth that is found under precarious cliff sides, which is known to have medicinal and much sought after culinary use.