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Apr. 12th, 2013 09:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fearlessherosheartPlayer Information:
Name: Stareyes
Age: 29
Contact: beccastareyes @ gmail or plurk
Game Cast: Zelgadis Graywords (Slayers)
Character Information:
Name: Tazendra
Canon: Dragaera series
Canon Point: At her death in Sethra Lavode
Age: Around 1000 years. This corresponds roughly to 1/3 of a normal Dragaeran lifespan.
Reference: http://dragaera.wikia.com/wiki/Tazendra
Setting: Steven Brust's Dragaera series takes place on the planet Dragaera, which is Earthlike and developed its own native intelligences (the Serioli and the cat-centaurs). Several hundred thousand years pre-canon, humans from Earth colonized the planet. Some time after, the Jenoine arrived and took over. The Jenoine, scientists that they were took humans and genetically engineered them into a race canon calls the Dragaerans, also known as elfs to some humans -- enhancing their lifespan and making them generally taller and less hairy than the original humans. In addition, the Jenoine created what would become the Dragaeran Empire's caste system, by genetically adding traits from native animals to the 'base' Dragaeran template. They created something like 30 or so variants, 16 of which survived until the present. The Jenoine left a control sample of humans (which canon refers to as Easterners), though they may have created/enhanced psychic ability in their 'control'.
The Jenoine were overthrown by a combination of internal conflict and the actions of some of their servants, which lead to their base on-planet exploding and being flooded by amorphia, a liquid that contains vast quantities of power but tends to convert normal matter around it to more amorphia. Their former servants stabilized what is now called the Great Sea of Chaos at a fixed size that was well below 'will eat the planet'. These former servants became the first Lords of Judgement, aka a group of gods acting to protect Dragaera from the Jenoine.
To that end, they assisted the various tribes/castes -- which would be renamed Houses -- of Dragaerans to come together to create the Dragaeran Empire. A shaman, Zerika the First of the Tribe of the Phoenix (and first Empress of Dragaera), used divine information and materials to create the Imperial Orb, an artifact that could act as a channel for amorphia. Those psychically connected to the Orb could draw on the power of amorphia for sorcery in a far safer way than using the Great Sea's power directly. The Orb also marked who held rulership as it orbited the head of the seated Empress/Emperor, and would even seek the next Emperor when the existing one died or abdicated.
Meanwhile, Kieron the Conqueror of the Tribe of the Dragon was carving out a section of the western half of the continent for Dragaerans only -- pushing the Easterners to the east and the Serioli to isolated mountains and jungles. Between them, Zerika I and Kieron united the sixteen remaining tribes, and accepted the 'Tribe of the Jhereg', a group of outcastes from other tribes, ironically lead by Kieron's brother. Not all Dragaerans fell under the Empire, as the western islands (Elde Island and Greenaere) remained independent.
The Empire itself is politically similar to a feudal system, though the rise of cities such as Adrilankha, Northport, and Dragaera City lead to a sort of hybrid, economically speaking, with mercantilism and capitalism. The intersection of the Empire's caste system also complicates things. But, roughly speaking, the Empire is made up of various duchies, counties, baronies, etc. ruled by nobles that belong to one of the sixteen noble houses. The Empire doesn't make a distinction by sex in inheritance -- no one would be surprised to find a daughter inheriting and ruling her father or mother's fief and there is even at least one case of an unmarried man designating as heir his daughter conceived out of wedlock with an unknown mother, since he acknowledged her and sorcery permitted genetic testing. (Or that could be an example of rank having its privileges.) There are also 'empty titles' -- noble ranks with no land attached. For instance, it's common practice within the Empire's navy (usually dominated by the House of the Orca) to swap around titles so that military rank and social rank always line up.
The position of Emperor or Empress however, is not inherited. Instead it passes House to House by a fixed pattern known as the Cycle. So, for instance, Zerika IV of the House of the Phoenix, the current ruler of the Empire, has as her heir, Norathar e'Lanya of the House of the Dragon (well, as of the chronologically-latest bit of canon). When Norathar dies or abdicates, a member of the House of the Lyorn will become Emperor or Empress. The one exception is the House of the Teckla, the caste that makes up the Empire's peasantry (and 90% of its population). When the Orb passes to the Teckla, the Empire is dissolved (or the other way around) and a republic is formed which lasts until the Orb passes to the House of Jhegaala, which reforms the Empire. Each noble (non-Teckla) House's designated candidate is called a Prince or Princess, and is chosen internally. The position exists even for Houses that will probably not rule during the current Prince/Princess’s lifetime, as well as for the current House with the Orb (with a current exception), but Houses likely to see the Orb in their Prince/Princess's lifetime put careful thought into their choice. The House of the Dragon went through four other candidates before settling on Princess Norathar, either because of scandal, the Prince/Princess doing everything short of scandal to to get out of it, or, in one case, the Prince blowing up Dragaera City (and himself) in a failed coup. Noble Houses also have other powers, such as being the collectors of tax revenue for lands ruled by their lords and their own projects, which often serves as a control on the seated Emperor/Empress.
The Houses were derived from tribes, which were derived from strains of Dragaerans created by the Jenoine. In addition to social ranks (the Teckla being serfs and general peasants, while members of some Houses are numerous enough that more of them make up the Empire's merchant, skilled labor and professional classes than landed nobility), each House has a set of virtues, behaviors and stereotypes associated with it that may well be genetic rather than socialized. We have one example of a character raised outside the Empire, and one example of a character raised within the Empire but with her house concealed from her during her childhood. On the other hand, it could be that some traits are stronger than others: Teckla are stereotyped as cowardly, but there are examples of ones who are not. One can be removed from one's House for various serious offenses. Generally it is hard to join a House (outside of being born in it), with the exception of the Teckla (swear fealty to a lord) and the Jhereg (they sell titles); some don't permit it at all, while others require near-superhuman feats representing their ideal (the House of the Dzur will let you in if you beat 17 of their best fighters in duels). Marriages between Houses are not legally recognized and living together as if you were married is scandalous (especially to older people), though taking a lover or visiting prostitutes is seen less so (aka people gossip, but only the real conservatives get fussy about it). Children of two or more Houses are outcaste from both, and ostracized even if they can join the Jhereg. (There are Jhereg that will look down on recent 'crossbreeds', even though House Jhereg is made of crossbreeds.) As many Houses have distinctive coloration and facial features often permitting identifying someone's House from that alone, crossbreeds often can't even hide their heritage from those on the street.
(On the positive side, there is very little sexism in the Empire, with only a few relics of ‘treating people differently by sex’ surviving, and usually seen as odd curiosities when people actually stop to think about them. But I digress...)
The order of the Houses and their associated traits is as followed:
Phoenix (decadence and rebirth), Dragon (war and conquest), Lyorn (tradition and duty), Tiassa (catalyst and inspiration), Hawk (observation and perception), Dzur (heroism and honor), Issola (courtliness and surprise), Tsalmoth (unpredictability and tenacity), Vallista (creation and destruction), Jhereg (greed and corruption), Iorich (justice and retribution), Chreotha (forethought and entrapment), Yendi (subtlety and misdirection), Orca (brutality, mercantilism), Teckla (cowardness and fertility), Jhegaala (metamorphosis and endurance), and Athyra (magic and philosophy).
The Dragaeran Empire has a long history, and it’s covered about as well as the history of Europe would be in a modern British political thriller -- only when it comes up, and with a focus on current events. Canon covers a period of time starting at the beginning of Emperor Tortaalik I of the House of the Phoenix’s reign through over 300 years into his successor, Empress Zerika IV’s reign. (Tazendra, however, died several years into Zerika’s reign, so I’m not going into those events.) Tortaalik came to power at the completion of seventeen full cycles, a number that has cosmological significance. One of the earliest court scandals caused some conflict between the Emperor and the Dragon Prince (at the time, Adron e’Kieron) as well as nearly starting a war with the Easterners. Both were prevented by a group of the Emperor’s Phoenix Guards: Khaavren, Aerich, Tazendra and Pel, with the assistance of the Dragonlords Uttrik e'Lanya and Kathana e'Marish'Chala.
Tortaalik’s reign was not particularly eventful until the end where a series of famines, intrigues, assassinations of public officials, and scandals had made politics rather like a powder keg. The Captain of the Phoenix Guard, several civil servants, and the head of the Lavodes -- an order of warrior-wizards devoted to protecting the Empire -- were all killed in short succession, the last of which brought Sethra Lavode, the legendary (and near-immortal, since she dated back to the birth of the Empire and only recently became undead) founder of the Lavodes, out of retirement. However, the Emperor was distracted by the presence of Prince Adron, mostly because the traditional method of Dragon Princes taking the throne from Phoenix Emperors was a coup, and Adron had brought his army. This caused the Emperor to make some questionable decisions which ended up antagonising Adron enough to move forward with his coup and try to steal the Orb by using powerful sorcery to basically ‘Take the Orb from the Emperor and give it to me’. Unfortunately, an assassin managed to kill the Emperor as the spell went into effect, causing the spell to backfire by trying to take the Orb from Adron and give it to Adron. This turned the capital of Dragaera into what is now the Lesser Sea of Chaos, killing everyone in the general area, and, causing Sethra Lavode to teleport the Orb to the Lords of Judgement, on the general belief that she didn’t know how big the hole would be, but it probably wouldn’t reach the gods (and if it did, it wouldn’t matter).
Thus started the Interregnum, a period of several hundred years when the Empire did not exist, and, without the Orb, nor did most common forms of sorcery. Infrastructure failure (and things like ‘whoops, your floating castle is no longer floating’), plague, famine and civil unrest as ambitious nobles became warlords, killed a great deal of people. Sethra Lavode was eventually able to track down a suitable heir -- Zerika, daughter of the now-deceased Princess Loudin of the House of the Phoenix. Sethra gambled that while Tortaalik’s reign had ended, the Phoenix was still the rightful ruling House, so the gods would be willing to return the Orb to Zerika and no other. Sethra sent Zerika with the only Lavode she had left -- Tazendra, as it happened -- and a small party to the entrance to the Dragaeran afterlife (the way to reach the gods).
Zerika returned successfully with the Orb, but was challenged for it by Skinter e’Terics of the House of the Dragon. When a direct assault on Zerika and her forces failed, and with the unusual situation rendering normal sorcery impossible without reaffirming one’s citizenship, Skinter and his cousin, Habil, sought supernatural means to ensure the succession: they both bargained with a rebellious god to block witchcraft and invoked the Jenoine to attack at the same time as they invaded Zerika’s capital (figuring once Skinter had the Orb, he could fight off the Jenoine). This attempt failed, though it did lead to the death of Tazendra and Aerich (as the sorceress serving Skinter had made the deaths of Tazendra, Aerich, Khaavren and Pel her payment, as they had lead to the disgrace and death of her father by catching him at treason).
The Empire is the dominant political power in the western part of the continent. East of that are human kingdoms, among which is Fenario (notable as sharing a border with the Empire and having a peace treaty that for some time stabilized it). There is the occasional war or invasion, especially as the generation time between Dragaerans and Easterners are so different. (The legend has Fenario's founder negotiating with the elf lord Kav. As it happens, Lord Khaavren is still alive and well, and heading Her Majesty's Phoenix Guard, and could give his account of that day directly.) In the last several hundred years, populations of Easterners have moved within the Empire itself, creating their own communities. Between their status outside the Empire's Houses (and the magic and legal protection granted by citizenship) and generally being 'foreigners that we occasionally are at war with', Easterners are often looked down upon and scapegoated by Dragaerans.
Magic is a strong force in the life of the Empire, especially given that sorcery and rulership are tied together in the form of the Imperial Orb. Amorphia powers one form of magic, broadly known as sorcery. A few people (the family of Kieron the Conqueror, as well as reincarnations of family members, are the only ones known) can manipulate amorphia directly, and even create it. This ability is something you are born with (either by having the right genes or the right soul). Drawing off energy from amorphia directly to cast spells, called Elder/pre-Empire sorcery, is a learnable skill, but is dangerous due to the volatility of amorphia. It's also illegal, though the law is selectively enforced. More normal is the sorcery available by using a link to the Orb to draw energy: even those who don't make a serious study of magic might know a few spells, and it is available to every citizen of the Empire (though Teckla can't often find a way to learn it).
Other systems of magic exist as well. Witchcraft is primarily practiced by Easterners and uses the witch's own psychic power for effects. It is better at a lot of mental effects than sorcery, but its chief advantages are that it can be coordinated in groups, does not rely on amorphia/the Orb and that most Dragaerans look down on it so don't defend against it or know much at all about it. It is generally harder to do spells with lots of energy and is rather ceremonial and abstract, so can't be used quickly in combat (save for by an expert). If sorcery is a science, than witchcraft is closer to art. Other magical effects, such as the powers reserved to demons and gods, and the study of necromancy (which has as much to do with planar travel as it does with messing with the dead), are less specified by canon.
Personality: Tazendra is a straightforward woman, who loves studying magic, gambling, generally carousing and occasionally dueling when someone happens to seriously piss her off or she’s bored. And she's easily bored, so usually can be found out and about... or studying magic, or perhaps painting (a hobby she picked up in prison, as her cellmate was a noted artist).
Tazendra comes across as confident to the point of arrogant in her abilities, especially her abilities in a fight; she's been known to ask people to bring friends if she doesn't think fighting them on their own will be interesting. She also brags a lot about her exploits, and stretches the truth, usually unintentionally. On the other hand, she isn't too arrogant to admit what she doesn't know; she's been known to ask some damn stupid questions and tell her friends she doesn't understand something without any shame. She is comfortable with the image of being the 'dumb bruiser', even if she's far from stupid.
Instead of being stupid, Tazendra is a selective sort of impatient. She is a skilled sorceress which occasionally means focusing on one thing for quite some time, but she has no patience for court politics and leaves tactical plans beyond ‘let’s change them!’ to her friends. This also covers her observation skills. If it’s not magical or combat related, she generally leaves the deductive skills to others, and ignores things like ‘hey, those two nobles are acting funny’. Her introduction with Sethra Lavode included Sethra calling her out on her bullshit of 'I'm not smart or observant', since no one stupid, careless or unobservant can learn that much sorcery and live through it. It's more that Tazendra won't expend the effort unless she has to, and has little patience for subtlety (except in magic, combat and art). Having friends who are interested in such things means she'll trust them to cover her own weaknesses and lack of interest.
Tazendra doesn’t hold grudges, but she is quick to challenge others when slighted, and has a strong bloodlust. Most people would describe her as affable, but most people where she's from take care to not insult a member of the House of the Dzur, as it's considered a form of self-injury (if not suicide) in the Empire. She tends to be blunt, and is widely known for her complete inability to keep a secret when you bring up a subject. She is moderately embarrassed about this.
Tazendra considers herself honorable, but her honor is somewhat flexible. She took bribes as a Phoenix Guard, but only because many gambling places would rather bribe officers than pay taxes, since what they were doing was illegal solely because they didn't pay for licenses. She didn't see anything wrong with eating stolen food given to her by a friend, but wouldn't steal herself (taking enemy goods during war being different from stealing). Basically, she tends to go with 'will this actually hurt anyone who can't afford to be hurt?'.
Growing up in the Dragaeran Empire -- where reincarnation is a fact, and one can journey to entrance of the the afterlife by horse -- means that Tazendra really doesn't rank physical harm or even killing as high on the moral wrong scale provided it's done in a duel or self-defense or at least in a semi-honorable fashion against someone who should know how to defend oneself. Granted, if you try to kill her or her friends or anyone who can't defend themselves, she'll try to kill you, but... well, if it's for a good reason, she's not likely to take it personally.
Conversely, Tazendra ranks survival as a lower priority than things like her personal honor and reputation, and her personal entertainment. In short, she's an adrenaline junkie, especially when it comes to fighting. She is, perhaps, the only one disappointed that her and her friends didn't get to make a glorious last stand against an army when they were young, as she knew she would never get that kind of chance again. In general, the worse the odds, the happier Tazendra is, since it means she's being challenged and there will be ample opportunity for honor and glory. Tazendrqa is quite willing to take umbrage to bullies and punch them to the curb to rescue others; in fact, others have used this to provoke Tazendra into a fight or to hurt her, since it's far more painful to her to watch others suffer and die without being able to help than it is for her to die herself. In general, mind games and such are a far better way to hurt Tazendra than physical torture.
Her background renders her rather racist and classist: she knows that peasants and tradesmen are necessary to the Empire's operation, but are certainly not her equals (for all that she considers her personal servant, Mica, her friend, she also still expects him to serve her meals, take care of her stuff, and so on -- in return, she protects him, provides for his food and board, and at least pays him a small bonus if not a wage). Tazendra is somewhat informal for a noble, in that her class groupings appear to be 'outcastes', 'criminals', 'peasants', 'tradesmen', and 'nobility' -- she has been known to be unintentionally rude to Emperors and use princes' first names, despite the fact they outrank her socially. Never the less, they are distinctions and she'd be annoyed at a peasant or a merchant not showing her her due deference. Tazendra annoyed tends to lead to violence.
The racism deserves its own mention. Tazendra hasn't been shown interacting with Dragaera's native intelligent non-humans (cat-centaurs, Serioli, and jhereg, though the last cannot easily communicate with others anyway), but her opinion of Easterners (aka baseline humans, or as close as the world comes) is highly negative, as she thinks of them as uncultured hairy barbarians, hindered by a short lifespan and lack of citizenship with the Empire (which they can only get by becoming serfs). She doesn't seem to have an issue working with the Warlock or Arra, two Eastern witches, so it's certainly possible that she can make exceptions, especially in the case of skill at magic (the Warlock was also awarded a title by the Empress for his service, so he may have short-circuited this by appealing to Tazendra's sense of class). Tazendra does seem to look down a bit on Eastern witchcraft, but mostly because it's a lot more an art than a science (unlike sorcery), and less useful for blowing things up. This will be a serious weakness when Tazendra is taken out of the context of the Empire, where Easterners are a new minority, and she is the only of her species present.
I’m taking Tazendra from the moment of her death. She’s not going to be surprised by having an afterlife -- as mentioned, Dragaerans in general feel pretty solid about the existence of an afterlife, and Tazendra knows (at least) two people who have been there. (Zerika traveled through it to retrieve the Orb and Sethra passed through it (and back) between her death and becoming undead.) On the other hand, Tazendra is going to be a bit annoyed at this not being the afterlife she expects, since she was looking forward to fighting her way to the Hall of Judgement, and being called by some barbarian Emperor to do things sounds far less interesting. It’s probably for the best that she’ll be unarmed, disoriented, sans magic, and generally weak from the summoning, because when Tazendra gets pissed off, she wants to pick a fight (more than usual).
However, Tazendra is good at taking one day at a time, and she is familiar with planar travel. She’ll figure that eventually someone will notice, or she can challenge the Emperor to a duel or something. And, in the meantime, she’ll try to enjoy herself and generally run full-tilt into culture clashes and rationing (and probably annoy a great number of people in the process).
Appearance: As Tazendra is a book character who doesn't even get cover art, let alone a movie/comic, we only have text descriptions of her. I typically use Aishwarya Rai as a PB.
Tazendra is noted as being a beauty by Drageran standards (and given the opinions of Easterner narrator of Taltos on Dragaeran standards of beauty, would probably rank as good looking to most humans). She has straight, black hair with a noticeable widow's peak, dark skin and black (or nearly so) eyes. Her face has high cheekbones, slanted eyes, a long nose and a strong chin as well as pointed ears. Anyone from the Empire could recognize her House from her face: she has characteristic Dzurlord features.
Tazendra is noted as being the same height as (the average-for-a-Dragaeran) Khaavren, so she's probably somewhere between seven and seven and a half feet tall -- enough to get past 'tall woman' into 'Guinness Book of World Records'. She is well-proportioned and athletically built, and easily strong enough to wield a sword that's nearly as big as she is -- though, as her skill at sorcery increased, she downgraded to blades she can manage one-handed.
She's normally wearing a lot of black -- her heraldic color -- and is something of a fashion plate, though the fashions of the Empire are somewhat dated (aka tend to be Renaissance or slightly later) relative to modern Earth. She’ll probably stubbornly refuse to adapt to the local fashion trends unless cash reserves force her to.
Abilities: Tazendra has the baseline abilities of a Dragaeran of the House of the Dzur: she’s a thousand years old and can be expected to live for another two thousand years, even if she doesn’t use magic to extend her lifespan. And, like many Dzurlords, she may not feel fear at all (certainly not in a way that most people do, even other Dragaerans), and can be roused to a berserker rage if you threaten her friends. It’s said that a berserking Dzurlord is a danger to anything living around her until whatever causes the rage is dealt with, though the one time we see Tazendra in such a state, she remains focused on her target (and everyone else has the sense to not get in her way).
Canonically, Tazendra is a noted sorceress who has obtained the status of wizard. The latter poses a problem as, like all sorcerers, Tazendra draws power from amorphia, which is not a natural substance and one she cannot generate. It’s also dangerous, though small amounts can be stabilized. Should she find either amorphia or something she can otherwise channel for spell power, she has a varied number of spells. She favors flashy spells that make things explode and is famous for developing teleportation, though she can do things like counter-spells, illusions, and general magic stuff. The fact she can develop spells (and on the fly) indicates she has a good grounding in theory, and the fact she has yet to kill herself with magic indicates she has some common sense about it. She also once lifted a castle into the air (though she passed off ‘holding it there’ to a coven of witches), and was able to magically overpower a Jenoine’s protection. Notably she has no knowledge of healing.
Other than that, Tazendra is very skilled with a sword, and a good rider (including being able to fight from horseback). She is noted as being none too skilled at gambling (at least that she regularly loses money at it, but not enough to be in serious peril), but that could just be that she has no skill for lying (including bluffing), and she knows the rules of plenty of games. She can drink like a fish without getting hung over. She took up art while in prison, and it’s mentioned that her home has plenty of her own paintings.
Inventory: Tazendra is arriving after her death. Notably she had been captured, so anything useful has been removed from her person, so she’s arriving with the clothes on her back and nothing else.
Suite: Fire, 3 floors. While Tazendra has shared a house with three of her friends and a housekeeper, and regularly camps out on the road, she does like her space. Especially since she is larger than average on the turtle, and would like rooms where she doesn’t have the risk of bumping her head or feeling like she is living in a closet.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
The guards -- who may as well be her jailers -- were ignoring her protests. Which made Tazendra wonder if, by some act of the gods she had survived the death-blow and was under the influence of dreamgrass oil as a physicker repaired her body. If such was the case, she would like to advise that worthy individual that his remedies had become tainted, for surely this was a nightmare.
She should be at the base of Deathsgate Falls, starting her journey on the Paths of the Dead. The locals pretended that her soul had been interrupted on its trip to Deathsgate, bringing it here. Tazendra had her doubts that the local witches could steal a soul from the gods, but... well, perhaps the gods had been busy sealing the hole Grita, or whatever she was calling herself now, had torn to the Jenoine, or perhaps her soul had slipped through on its own.
But surely her soul would have conceived of a sword as naturally as it had replicated her clothing down to the smallest button, since Tazendra felt as naked without a blade as she would have without her clothing. And, if she had a sword, the guards could not ignore her provocations to fight her honorably instead of ignoring her. Aerich would remind her that they had a duty to their own Empress as surely as her duty to Her Majesty Zerika, and she should no more expect them to indulge her than she herself would have been permitted to duel on-duty when she served as a Phoenix Guard.
On the other hand, if their mistress had brought her here deliberately, then they and their entire small Empire was her enemy. And the matters of honor for enemy soldiers were different than those of guards. Tazendra had heard something of this place and its people when she had first awoken, but she could not recall if there had been intent to kidnap her.
Tazendra had always wanted to fight an army against overwhelming odds. It was a shame her friends were not present, but, well, they were not Dzurlords and would not enjoy it as much, though she would miss their company. Nor would they begrudge her for not tendering an invitation, especially as she may well be dead or dreaming and, with the exception of poor Mica, they were still alive as far as she knew.
Network:
[Tazendra has brought in a bag of groceries, one that makes her ‘slightly larger scale than most humans’ status rather clear. It is sitting in view of the console’s camera.]
This cannot be a week’s worth of provisions. It is hardly worth a day or two. Perhaps an Easterner could live on this, but they are small, so clearly must eat less. Bah, everything here is undersized and cramped.
[Also, someone should really break it to her that a local week is seven days, not the five Tazendra is used to. Before the shopkeepers do.]
[She eyes the bag flour as if she’s never actually seen flour before. Which... isn’t totally true. It’s just normally it is someone else’s job to turn it into bread for her to eat. Which... is that a necessary step?]
[After a curious taste, she decides, yes, yes this is.]
One would think that these kedan would spend less time providing us with these sorcerous message devices and more in arranging proper food supplies and their preparation. Cracks in the Orb, it cannot be that difficult to prepare bread. I have seen Srahi or Mica perform the task a thousand times.
Only, I haven't the faintest idea what is the first step. Ah, but I have been sending a message, so perhaps someone will offer their services?
Name: Stareyes
Age: 29
Contact: beccastareyes @ gmail or plurk
Game Cast: Zelgadis Graywords (Slayers)
Character Information:
Name: Tazendra
Canon: Dragaera series
Canon Point: At her death in Sethra Lavode
Age: Around 1000 years. This corresponds roughly to 1/3 of a normal Dragaeran lifespan.
Reference: http://dragaera.wikia.com/wiki/Tazendra
Setting: Steven Brust's Dragaera series takes place on the planet Dragaera, which is Earthlike and developed its own native intelligences (the Serioli and the cat-centaurs). Several hundred thousand years pre-canon, humans from Earth colonized the planet. Some time after, the Jenoine arrived and took over. The Jenoine, scientists that they were took humans and genetically engineered them into a race canon calls the Dragaerans, also known as elfs to some humans -- enhancing their lifespan and making them generally taller and less hairy than the original humans. In addition, the Jenoine created what would become the Dragaeran Empire's caste system, by genetically adding traits from native animals to the 'base' Dragaeran template. They created something like 30 or so variants, 16 of which survived until the present. The Jenoine left a control sample of humans (which canon refers to as Easterners), though they may have created/enhanced psychic ability in their 'control'.
The Jenoine were overthrown by a combination of internal conflict and the actions of some of their servants, which lead to their base on-planet exploding and being flooded by amorphia, a liquid that contains vast quantities of power but tends to convert normal matter around it to more amorphia. Their former servants stabilized what is now called the Great Sea of Chaos at a fixed size that was well below 'will eat the planet'. These former servants became the first Lords of Judgement, aka a group of gods acting to protect Dragaera from the Jenoine.
To that end, they assisted the various tribes/castes -- which would be renamed Houses -- of Dragaerans to come together to create the Dragaeran Empire. A shaman, Zerika the First of the Tribe of the Phoenix (and first Empress of Dragaera), used divine information and materials to create the Imperial Orb, an artifact that could act as a channel for amorphia. Those psychically connected to the Orb could draw on the power of amorphia for sorcery in a far safer way than using the Great Sea's power directly. The Orb also marked who held rulership as it orbited the head of the seated Empress/Emperor, and would even seek the next Emperor when the existing one died or abdicated.
Meanwhile, Kieron the Conqueror of the Tribe of the Dragon was carving out a section of the western half of the continent for Dragaerans only -- pushing the Easterners to the east and the Serioli to isolated mountains and jungles. Between them, Zerika I and Kieron united the sixteen remaining tribes, and accepted the 'Tribe of the Jhereg', a group of outcastes from other tribes, ironically lead by Kieron's brother. Not all Dragaerans fell under the Empire, as the western islands (Elde Island and Greenaere) remained independent.
The Empire itself is politically similar to a feudal system, though the rise of cities such as Adrilankha, Northport, and Dragaera City lead to a sort of hybrid, economically speaking, with mercantilism and capitalism. The intersection of the Empire's caste system also complicates things. But, roughly speaking, the Empire is made up of various duchies, counties, baronies, etc. ruled by nobles that belong to one of the sixteen noble houses. The Empire doesn't make a distinction by sex in inheritance -- no one would be surprised to find a daughter inheriting and ruling her father or mother's fief and there is even at least one case of an unmarried man designating as heir his daughter conceived out of wedlock with an unknown mother, since he acknowledged her and sorcery permitted genetic testing. (Or that could be an example of rank having its privileges.) There are also 'empty titles' -- noble ranks with no land attached. For instance, it's common practice within the Empire's navy (usually dominated by the House of the Orca) to swap around titles so that military rank and social rank always line up.
The position of Emperor or Empress however, is not inherited. Instead it passes House to House by a fixed pattern known as the Cycle. So, for instance, Zerika IV of the House of the Phoenix, the current ruler of the Empire, has as her heir, Norathar e'Lanya of the House of the Dragon (well, as of the chronologically-latest bit of canon). When Norathar dies or abdicates, a member of the House of the Lyorn will become Emperor or Empress. The one exception is the House of the Teckla, the caste that makes up the Empire's peasantry (and 90% of its population). When the Orb passes to the Teckla, the Empire is dissolved (or the other way around) and a republic is formed which lasts until the Orb passes to the House of Jhegaala, which reforms the Empire. Each noble (non-Teckla) House's designated candidate is called a Prince or Princess, and is chosen internally. The position exists even for Houses that will probably not rule during the current Prince/Princess’s lifetime, as well as for the current House with the Orb (with a current exception), but Houses likely to see the Orb in their Prince/Princess's lifetime put careful thought into their choice. The House of the Dragon went through four other candidates before settling on Princess Norathar, either because of scandal, the Prince/Princess doing everything short of scandal to to get out of it, or, in one case, the Prince blowing up Dragaera City (and himself) in a failed coup. Noble Houses also have other powers, such as being the collectors of tax revenue for lands ruled by their lords and their own projects, which often serves as a control on the seated Emperor/Empress.
The Houses were derived from tribes, which were derived from strains of Dragaerans created by the Jenoine. In addition to social ranks (the Teckla being serfs and general peasants, while members of some Houses are numerous enough that more of them make up the Empire's merchant, skilled labor and professional classes than landed nobility), each House has a set of virtues, behaviors and stereotypes associated with it that may well be genetic rather than socialized. We have one example of a character raised outside the Empire, and one example of a character raised within the Empire but with her house concealed from her during her childhood. On the other hand, it could be that some traits are stronger than others: Teckla are stereotyped as cowardly, but there are examples of ones who are not. One can be removed from one's House for various serious offenses. Generally it is hard to join a House (outside of being born in it), with the exception of the Teckla (swear fealty to a lord) and the Jhereg (they sell titles); some don't permit it at all, while others require near-superhuman feats representing their ideal (the House of the Dzur will let you in if you beat 17 of their best fighters in duels). Marriages between Houses are not legally recognized and living together as if you were married is scandalous (especially to older people), though taking a lover or visiting prostitutes is seen less so (aka people gossip, but only the real conservatives get fussy about it). Children of two or more Houses are outcaste from both, and ostracized even if they can join the Jhereg. (There are Jhereg that will look down on recent 'crossbreeds', even though House Jhereg is made of crossbreeds.) As many Houses have distinctive coloration and facial features often permitting identifying someone's House from that alone, crossbreeds often can't even hide their heritage from those on the street.
(On the positive side, there is very little sexism in the Empire, with only a few relics of ‘treating people differently by sex’ surviving, and usually seen as odd curiosities when people actually stop to think about them. But I digress...)
The order of the Houses and their associated traits is as followed:
Phoenix (decadence and rebirth), Dragon (war and conquest), Lyorn (tradition and duty), Tiassa (catalyst and inspiration), Hawk (observation and perception), Dzur (heroism and honor), Issola (courtliness and surprise), Tsalmoth (unpredictability and tenacity), Vallista (creation and destruction), Jhereg (greed and corruption), Iorich (justice and retribution), Chreotha (forethought and entrapment), Yendi (subtlety and misdirection), Orca (brutality, mercantilism), Teckla (cowardness and fertility), Jhegaala (metamorphosis and endurance), and Athyra (magic and philosophy).
The Dragaeran Empire has a long history, and it’s covered about as well as the history of Europe would be in a modern British political thriller -- only when it comes up, and with a focus on current events. Canon covers a period of time starting at the beginning of Emperor Tortaalik I of the House of the Phoenix’s reign through over 300 years into his successor, Empress Zerika IV’s reign. (Tazendra, however, died several years into Zerika’s reign, so I’m not going into those events.) Tortaalik came to power at the completion of seventeen full cycles, a number that has cosmological significance. One of the earliest court scandals caused some conflict between the Emperor and the Dragon Prince (at the time, Adron e’Kieron) as well as nearly starting a war with the Easterners. Both were prevented by a group of the Emperor’s Phoenix Guards: Khaavren, Aerich, Tazendra and Pel, with the assistance of the Dragonlords Uttrik e'Lanya and Kathana e'Marish'Chala.
Tortaalik’s reign was not particularly eventful until the end where a series of famines, intrigues, assassinations of public officials, and scandals had made politics rather like a powder keg. The Captain of the Phoenix Guard, several civil servants, and the head of the Lavodes -- an order of warrior-wizards devoted to protecting the Empire -- were all killed in short succession, the last of which brought Sethra Lavode, the legendary (and near-immortal, since she dated back to the birth of the Empire and only recently became undead) founder of the Lavodes, out of retirement. However, the Emperor was distracted by the presence of Prince Adron, mostly because the traditional method of Dragon Princes taking the throne from Phoenix Emperors was a coup, and Adron had brought his army. This caused the Emperor to make some questionable decisions which ended up antagonising Adron enough to move forward with his coup and try to steal the Orb by using powerful sorcery to basically ‘Take the Orb from the Emperor and give it to me’. Unfortunately, an assassin managed to kill the Emperor as the spell went into effect, causing the spell to backfire by trying to take the Orb from Adron and give it to Adron. This turned the capital of Dragaera into what is now the Lesser Sea of Chaos, killing everyone in the general area, and, causing Sethra Lavode to teleport the Orb to the Lords of Judgement, on the general belief that she didn’t know how big the hole would be, but it probably wouldn’t reach the gods (and if it did, it wouldn’t matter).
Thus started the Interregnum, a period of several hundred years when the Empire did not exist, and, without the Orb, nor did most common forms of sorcery. Infrastructure failure (and things like ‘whoops, your floating castle is no longer floating’), plague, famine and civil unrest as ambitious nobles became warlords, killed a great deal of people. Sethra Lavode was eventually able to track down a suitable heir -- Zerika, daughter of the now-deceased Princess Loudin of the House of the Phoenix. Sethra gambled that while Tortaalik’s reign had ended, the Phoenix was still the rightful ruling House, so the gods would be willing to return the Orb to Zerika and no other. Sethra sent Zerika with the only Lavode she had left -- Tazendra, as it happened -- and a small party to the entrance to the Dragaeran afterlife (the way to reach the gods).
Zerika returned successfully with the Orb, but was challenged for it by Skinter e’Terics of the House of the Dragon. When a direct assault on Zerika and her forces failed, and with the unusual situation rendering normal sorcery impossible without reaffirming one’s citizenship, Skinter and his cousin, Habil, sought supernatural means to ensure the succession: they both bargained with a rebellious god to block witchcraft and invoked the Jenoine to attack at the same time as they invaded Zerika’s capital (figuring once Skinter had the Orb, he could fight off the Jenoine). This attempt failed, though it did lead to the death of Tazendra and Aerich (as the sorceress serving Skinter had made the deaths of Tazendra, Aerich, Khaavren and Pel her payment, as they had lead to the disgrace and death of her father by catching him at treason).
The Empire is the dominant political power in the western part of the continent. East of that are human kingdoms, among which is Fenario (notable as sharing a border with the Empire and having a peace treaty that for some time stabilized it). There is the occasional war or invasion, especially as the generation time between Dragaerans and Easterners are so different. (The legend has Fenario's founder negotiating with the elf lord Kav. As it happens, Lord Khaavren is still alive and well, and heading Her Majesty's Phoenix Guard, and could give his account of that day directly.) In the last several hundred years, populations of Easterners have moved within the Empire itself, creating their own communities. Between their status outside the Empire's Houses (and the magic and legal protection granted by citizenship) and generally being 'foreigners that we occasionally are at war with', Easterners are often looked down upon and scapegoated by Dragaerans.
Magic is a strong force in the life of the Empire, especially given that sorcery and rulership are tied together in the form of the Imperial Orb. Amorphia powers one form of magic, broadly known as sorcery. A few people (the family of Kieron the Conqueror, as well as reincarnations of family members, are the only ones known) can manipulate amorphia directly, and even create it. This ability is something you are born with (either by having the right genes or the right soul). Drawing off energy from amorphia directly to cast spells, called Elder/pre-Empire sorcery, is a learnable skill, but is dangerous due to the volatility of amorphia. It's also illegal, though the law is selectively enforced. More normal is the sorcery available by using a link to the Orb to draw energy: even those who don't make a serious study of magic might know a few spells, and it is available to every citizen of the Empire (though Teckla can't often find a way to learn it).
Other systems of magic exist as well. Witchcraft is primarily practiced by Easterners and uses the witch's own psychic power for effects. It is better at a lot of mental effects than sorcery, but its chief advantages are that it can be coordinated in groups, does not rely on amorphia/the Orb and that most Dragaerans look down on it so don't defend against it or know much at all about it. It is generally harder to do spells with lots of energy and is rather ceremonial and abstract, so can't be used quickly in combat (save for by an expert). If sorcery is a science, than witchcraft is closer to art. Other magical effects, such as the powers reserved to demons and gods, and the study of necromancy (which has as much to do with planar travel as it does with messing with the dead), are less specified by canon.
Personality: Tazendra is a straightforward woman, who loves studying magic, gambling, generally carousing and occasionally dueling when someone happens to seriously piss her off or she’s bored. And she's easily bored, so usually can be found out and about... or studying magic, or perhaps painting (a hobby she picked up in prison, as her cellmate was a noted artist).
Tazendra comes across as confident to the point of arrogant in her abilities, especially her abilities in a fight; she's been known to ask people to bring friends if she doesn't think fighting them on their own will be interesting. She also brags a lot about her exploits, and stretches the truth, usually unintentionally. On the other hand, she isn't too arrogant to admit what she doesn't know; she's been known to ask some damn stupid questions and tell her friends she doesn't understand something without any shame. She is comfortable with the image of being the 'dumb bruiser', even if she's far from stupid.
Instead of being stupid, Tazendra is a selective sort of impatient. She is a skilled sorceress which occasionally means focusing on one thing for quite some time, but she has no patience for court politics and leaves tactical plans beyond ‘let’s change them!’ to her friends. This also covers her observation skills. If it’s not magical or combat related, she generally leaves the deductive skills to others, and ignores things like ‘hey, those two nobles are acting funny’. Her introduction with Sethra Lavode included Sethra calling her out on her bullshit of 'I'm not smart or observant', since no one stupid, careless or unobservant can learn that much sorcery and live through it. It's more that Tazendra won't expend the effort unless she has to, and has little patience for subtlety (except in magic, combat and art). Having friends who are interested in such things means she'll trust them to cover her own weaknesses and lack of interest.
Tazendra doesn’t hold grudges, but she is quick to challenge others when slighted, and has a strong bloodlust. Most people would describe her as affable, but most people where she's from take care to not insult a member of the House of the Dzur, as it's considered a form of self-injury (if not suicide) in the Empire. She tends to be blunt, and is widely known for her complete inability to keep a secret when you bring up a subject. She is moderately embarrassed about this.
Tazendra considers herself honorable, but her honor is somewhat flexible. She took bribes as a Phoenix Guard, but only because many gambling places would rather bribe officers than pay taxes, since what they were doing was illegal solely because they didn't pay for licenses. She didn't see anything wrong with eating stolen food given to her by a friend, but wouldn't steal herself (taking enemy goods during war being different from stealing). Basically, she tends to go with 'will this actually hurt anyone who can't afford to be hurt?'.
Growing up in the Dragaeran Empire -- where reincarnation is a fact, and one can journey to entrance of the the afterlife by horse -- means that Tazendra really doesn't rank physical harm or even killing as high on the moral wrong scale provided it's done in a duel or self-defense or at least in a semi-honorable fashion against someone who should know how to defend oneself. Granted, if you try to kill her or her friends or anyone who can't defend themselves, she'll try to kill you, but... well, if it's for a good reason, she's not likely to take it personally.
Conversely, Tazendra ranks survival as a lower priority than things like her personal honor and reputation, and her personal entertainment. In short, she's an adrenaline junkie, especially when it comes to fighting. She is, perhaps, the only one disappointed that her and her friends didn't get to make a glorious last stand against an army when they were young, as she knew she would never get that kind of chance again. In general, the worse the odds, the happier Tazendra is, since it means she's being challenged and there will be ample opportunity for honor and glory. Tazendrqa is quite willing to take umbrage to bullies and punch them to the curb to rescue others; in fact, others have used this to provoke Tazendra into a fight or to hurt her, since it's far more painful to her to watch others suffer and die without being able to help than it is for her to die herself. In general, mind games and such are a far better way to hurt Tazendra than physical torture.
Her background renders her rather racist and classist: she knows that peasants and tradesmen are necessary to the Empire's operation, but are certainly not her equals (for all that she considers her personal servant, Mica, her friend, she also still expects him to serve her meals, take care of her stuff, and so on -- in return, she protects him, provides for his food and board, and at least pays him a small bonus if not a wage). Tazendra is somewhat informal for a noble, in that her class groupings appear to be 'outcastes', 'criminals', 'peasants', 'tradesmen', and 'nobility' -- she has been known to be unintentionally rude to Emperors and use princes' first names, despite the fact they outrank her socially. Never the less, they are distinctions and she'd be annoyed at a peasant or a merchant not showing her her due deference. Tazendra annoyed tends to lead to violence.
The racism deserves its own mention. Tazendra hasn't been shown interacting with Dragaera's native intelligent non-humans (cat-centaurs, Serioli, and jhereg, though the last cannot easily communicate with others anyway), but her opinion of Easterners (aka baseline humans, or as close as the world comes) is highly negative, as she thinks of them as uncultured hairy barbarians, hindered by a short lifespan and lack of citizenship with the Empire (which they can only get by becoming serfs). She doesn't seem to have an issue working with the Warlock or Arra, two Eastern witches, so it's certainly possible that she can make exceptions, especially in the case of skill at magic (the Warlock was also awarded a title by the Empress for his service, so he may have short-circuited this by appealing to Tazendra's sense of class). Tazendra does seem to look down a bit on Eastern witchcraft, but mostly because it's a lot more an art than a science (unlike sorcery), and less useful for blowing things up. This will be a serious weakness when Tazendra is taken out of the context of the Empire, where Easterners are a new minority, and she is the only of her species present.
I’m taking Tazendra from the moment of her death. She’s not going to be surprised by having an afterlife -- as mentioned, Dragaerans in general feel pretty solid about the existence of an afterlife, and Tazendra knows (at least) two people who have been there. (Zerika traveled through it to retrieve the Orb and Sethra passed through it (and back) between her death and becoming undead.) On the other hand, Tazendra is going to be a bit annoyed at this not being the afterlife she expects, since she was looking forward to fighting her way to the Hall of Judgement, and being called by some barbarian Emperor to do things sounds far less interesting. It’s probably for the best that she’ll be unarmed, disoriented, sans magic, and generally weak from the summoning, because when Tazendra gets pissed off, she wants to pick a fight (more than usual).
However, Tazendra is good at taking one day at a time, and she is familiar with planar travel. She’ll figure that eventually someone will notice, or she can challenge the Emperor to a duel or something. And, in the meantime, she’ll try to enjoy herself and generally run full-tilt into culture clashes and rationing (and probably annoy a great number of people in the process).
Appearance: As Tazendra is a book character who doesn't even get cover art, let alone a movie/comic, we only have text descriptions of her. I typically use Aishwarya Rai as a PB.
Tazendra is noted as being a beauty by Drageran standards (and given the opinions of Easterner narrator of Taltos on Dragaeran standards of beauty, would probably rank as good looking to most humans). She has straight, black hair with a noticeable widow's peak, dark skin and black (or nearly so) eyes. Her face has high cheekbones, slanted eyes, a long nose and a strong chin as well as pointed ears. Anyone from the Empire could recognize her House from her face: she has characteristic Dzurlord features.
Tazendra is noted as being the same height as (the average-for-a-Dragaeran) Khaavren, so she's probably somewhere between seven and seven and a half feet tall -- enough to get past 'tall woman' into 'Guinness Book of World Records'. She is well-proportioned and athletically built, and easily strong enough to wield a sword that's nearly as big as she is -- though, as her skill at sorcery increased, she downgraded to blades she can manage one-handed.
She's normally wearing a lot of black -- her heraldic color -- and is something of a fashion plate, though the fashions of the Empire are somewhat dated (aka tend to be Renaissance or slightly later) relative to modern Earth. She’ll probably stubbornly refuse to adapt to the local fashion trends unless cash reserves force her to.
Abilities: Tazendra has the baseline abilities of a Dragaeran of the House of the Dzur: she’s a thousand years old and can be expected to live for another two thousand years, even if she doesn’t use magic to extend her lifespan. And, like many Dzurlords, she may not feel fear at all (certainly not in a way that most people do, even other Dragaerans), and can be roused to a berserker rage if you threaten her friends. It’s said that a berserking Dzurlord is a danger to anything living around her until whatever causes the rage is dealt with, though the one time we see Tazendra in such a state, she remains focused on her target (and everyone else has the sense to not get in her way).
Canonically, Tazendra is a noted sorceress who has obtained the status of wizard. The latter poses a problem as, like all sorcerers, Tazendra draws power from amorphia, which is not a natural substance and one she cannot generate. It’s also dangerous, though small amounts can be stabilized. Should she find either amorphia or something she can otherwise channel for spell power, she has a varied number of spells. She favors flashy spells that make things explode and is famous for developing teleportation, though she can do things like counter-spells, illusions, and general magic stuff. The fact she can develop spells (and on the fly) indicates she has a good grounding in theory, and the fact she has yet to kill herself with magic indicates she has some common sense about it. She also once lifted a castle into the air (though she passed off ‘holding it there’ to a coven of witches), and was able to magically overpower a Jenoine’s protection. Notably she has no knowledge of healing.
Other than that, Tazendra is very skilled with a sword, and a good rider (including being able to fight from horseback). She is noted as being none too skilled at gambling (at least that she regularly loses money at it, but not enough to be in serious peril), but that could just be that she has no skill for lying (including bluffing), and she knows the rules of plenty of games. She can drink like a fish without getting hung over. She took up art while in prison, and it’s mentioned that her home has plenty of her own paintings.
Inventory: Tazendra is arriving after her death. Notably she had been captured, so anything useful has been removed from her person, so she’s arriving with the clothes on her back and nothing else.
Suite: Fire, 3 floors. While Tazendra has shared a house with three of her friends and a housekeeper, and regularly camps out on the road, she does like her space. Especially since she is larger than average on the turtle, and would like rooms where she doesn’t have the risk of bumping her head or feeling like she is living in a closet.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
The guards -- who may as well be her jailers -- were ignoring her protests. Which made Tazendra wonder if, by some act of the gods she had survived the death-blow and was under the influence of dreamgrass oil as a physicker repaired her body. If such was the case, she would like to advise that worthy individual that his remedies had become tainted, for surely this was a nightmare.
She should be at the base of Deathsgate Falls, starting her journey on the Paths of the Dead. The locals pretended that her soul had been interrupted on its trip to Deathsgate, bringing it here. Tazendra had her doubts that the local witches could steal a soul from the gods, but... well, perhaps the gods had been busy sealing the hole Grita, or whatever she was calling herself now, had torn to the Jenoine, or perhaps her soul had slipped through on its own.
But surely her soul would have conceived of a sword as naturally as it had replicated her clothing down to the smallest button, since Tazendra felt as naked without a blade as she would have without her clothing. And, if she had a sword, the guards could not ignore her provocations to fight her honorably instead of ignoring her. Aerich would remind her that they had a duty to their own Empress as surely as her duty to Her Majesty Zerika, and she should no more expect them to indulge her than she herself would have been permitted to duel on-duty when she served as a Phoenix Guard.
On the other hand, if their mistress had brought her here deliberately, then they and their entire small Empire was her enemy. And the matters of honor for enemy soldiers were different than those of guards. Tazendra had heard something of this place and its people when she had first awoken, but she could not recall if there had been intent to kidnap her.
Tazendra had always wanted to fight an army against overwhelming odds. It was a shame her friends were not present, but, well, they were not Dzurlords and would not enjoy it as much, though she would miss their company. Nor would they begrudge her for not tendering an invitation, especially as she may well be dead or dreaming and, with the exception of poor Mica, they were still alive as far as she knew.
Network:
[Tazendra has brought in a bag of groceries, one that makes her ‘slightly larger scale than most humans’ status rather clear. It is sitting in view of the console’s camera.]
This cannot be a week’s worth of provisions. It is hardly worth a day or two. Perhaps an Easterner could live on this, but they are small, so clearly must eat less. Bah, everything here is undersized and cramped.
[Also, someone should really break it to her that a local week is seven days, not the five Tazendra is used to. Before the shopkeepers do.]
[She eyes the bag flour as if she’s never actually seen flour before. Which... isn’t totally true. It’s just normally it is someone else’s job to turn it into bread for her to eat. Which... is that a necessary step?]
[After a curious taste, she decides, yes, yes this is.]
One would think that these kedan would spend less time providing us with these sorcerous message devices and more in arranging proper food supplies and their preparation. Cracks in the Orb, it cannot be that difficult to prepare bread. I have seen Srahi or Mica perform the task a thousand times.
Only, I haven't the faintest idea what is the first step. Ah, but I have been sending a message, so perhaps someone will offer their services?