Rookie Brownbark/Llaoihrr Brownie/Messenger & Hunter

Name
Rookie (rroo’ee) Brownbark
Gender
Female
Age
21 yrs
Race
Brownie
Tribe
Llaoihrr Brownie, Skydiver Clan
Occupation
Messenger, hunter, sometimes thief for the right price and the right person. And the right thing. She wouldn’t, for example, sneak into an old lady’s home to steal the stash of coins she was saving for her son’s inheritance, but she might be persuaded to take something specific from a jewellery store, or a noble’s bedroom.
Title
Skydiver
Height
15 nailsbreaths
Weight
A little over a tenth of an od
Eye Colour
Dark Brown
Hair Colour
Dark, almost black chestnut hair

Physical Appearance
Rookie mainly travels riding on the back of her falcon. Swooping quickly from one perch to another, it is only when she reaches her destination and dismounts that you can take a good look at this tiny creature. Typically for a Brownie she is only around 15 nailsbreaths high, but otherwise looks very like a human. Flat, hard muscles cling to Rookie’s bony body. She has prominent cheekbones and tiny dark eyes which shoot around the room, watching out for possible dangers. The Brownie appears quite skinny from a human point of view, more from a dwarf’s, and is small even for a Brownie. Her size makes it possible for Ekre, her falcon, to carry both her and her luggage.

The contrast between her light sandy-brown skin and her almost black chestnut hair makes her a striking little thing, and probably very attractive if you were less than a fore tall yourself. Her fingers and limbs look so thin and delicate that you wonder how she manages to lift even a single Santharian coin.

If you managed to watch Rookie without her noticing you would get the impression of a small prey animal, wary of the predator lurking in the background. Her movements are rather like a mouse’s; quick and jerky when she is unsure or frightened, but smooth, light and gentle when she is more comfortable. The accent is even stranger; she speaks in a very high-pitched, bird-like tone which would sound musical if only she didn’t have trouble pronouncing most letters that aren’t a vowel.

Clothes
Mouseskin leather (often dyed or with a few beads or feathers for decoration) makes up most of Rookie’s normal clothes, though she also has a thicker, mid-thigh length ermine coat with the fur on the inside for warmth. The outside has been dyed a silver-grey to match the plumage of her falcon and make her less noticable when she rides. When not being used this is bundled up tightly, tied with rope made of three horsehairs plaited together and stowed in the bottom of her pack. She also wears supple leather boots - again mouseskin- and a thick belt. It can hold up to 6 tiny darts and one pouch of poison.

Personality
Despite her roguish air Rookie actually prefers to lead an honest life, charging high prices for a very fast messenger service. She mostly lives on these earnings which is possible for her because money goes further than for the Big Folk. The thrill and high rewards of less-than-honest missions can lure her in, but she draws the line at assassination – killing solely for money is not her style. Rookie would like to be free to make decisions on the spur of the moment, go where she likes and in short be her own master: a true rogue. In reality she mainly goes where the work is, but tries to hide this fact from others and come across as the uncaring, free-roaming roguish traveller type she idealises.

This Brownie appears pretty easy-going and confident in company, and although not the most talkative of people because she doesn’t speak the language fluently, she loves listening to people’s stories – any stories. Travelling and tales of other places or cultures have always fascinated her. But although she may appear relaxed there is always a small part of her on constant alert, like some sort of small squeaky animal instinct; ready to leap into action if needed. Only if she is completely safe and knows the people around her well, or is under the influence of too much liquor, is Rookie completely relaxed.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
• Rookie is extremely accurate with her favourite weapon – the blowpipe. Even if riding her falcon, Ekre, she has around a 50:50 chance of hitting a moving human hand from a distance of up to 12 peds. This makes it easy for her to hunt and kill animals for food, though only works in combat if her victim doesn’t know she is there.
• She also has a reasonable (though not spectacular) knowledge of how to make and use poisons and some drugs – mainly ones that cause sleep or death.
• Her tiny frame allows her to hide very easily, especially in towns not used to Brownies, so she can sneak around unnoticed or avoid paying for lodging.
• Her falcon, Ekre, is a fast method of transport and provides her with a steady income, although she can’t take very much weight. She is also very easy to keep as most of the year she can live off her own kills, and needs very little extra from Rookie except when they travel a long distance or in the depths of winter.

Weaknesses
• Not having a full command of the Tharian language. Although she does speak it and can understand most people when they are speaking directly to her, she must concentrate hard on the conversation and has trouble with strange accents. Others may not understand her high-pitched little voice either, especially with the strange sayings she picks up from various different dialects on her travels. Reading and writing the language are also a problem – she learnt some during her studies in the Vale, but a lot of that is now forgotten.
• Her biggest disadvantage is her size; melee combat is likely to get her squished, she is slower over distances longer than the length of a room, and she needs poisoned weapons to do any damage to most creatures. Damage done to her is likely to be more severe and all this can make her rather jumpy when meeting new people who might be hostile or even walking down the street.
• Due to her vulnerability Rookie is often seen as a coward. If threatened she will inevitably run, simply because there is very little hope of her winning any fight without the element of surprise. Not only does this make her seem disloyal to her friends, it doesn’t do much for her rogue street cred either.

History
Rookie was born 5 years after her twin brothers, making her by far the youngest of the 6 siblings. Her mother and father were both members of the Bartering Clan – the section of Brownies trained to deal with the strange languages and currency needed for trading. Unfortunately her mum died whilst giving birth to Rookie – something beyond the Brownies skill to heal was ruptured and she bled to death internally shortly after the birth. Rookie obviously didn’t know her and by the time she was old enough to understand, her family had finished grieving over the death. It can sometimes feel to Rookie as if she missed out on some huge part of the family’s life together. Rookie was her mother’s name too, passed on to the newborn by her father.

The tiny Brownie was mostly content with the attentions of one parent and her other older siblings who often enjoyed playing with and looking after their baby sister. She always felt a little different though, separated from the other children by her age as well as the fact she never knew their mother. In some place deep down inside her Rookie felt responsible for the death. If she wasn’t born then her mother would be alive – so wasn’t she responsible? For a small child the logic seemed worryingly undeniable. Of course as she grew up she realised it was in no way her fault, but by then the feeling of guilt was too deeply set in to be got rid of by logic.

Whenever her father returned from a trading trip he always brought back strange beads or other small decorations as presents and had the most amazing stories to tell her of the Big Folk. Although she missed him while he was away, Rookie’s siblings looked after her until he came back and she would never have changed her exciting adventurer of a father for anyone else’s boring everyday one. In fact, perhaps because she had her mother’s name and was the only young child still left in the family, Rookie was a little spoilt by him.

Like the other Brownie children Rookie spent most of her earlier years learning the basics from the clan of “Imparters”. This included hunting the more easily-caught prey – mainly small mammals - with bows and arrows or blowpipes and poisoned darts. Making simple poisons to use on these was also taught, along with reading, writing, and a little of the Tharian trading language. Although she was obsessed with travelling and stories from outside the Vale, Rookie was never very good at learning languages or maths, or anything needed to become a member of her father’s clan. This was probably because she couldn’t be bothered to work hard enough - she was far too much of a dreamer and used to getting her own way. Fortunately she was good at her other lessons – mostly making poisons and hunting. She was particularly good at the blowpipe, able able to creep up close enough to be in range as well as having an amazing aim even when her target was a rabbit dashing across a field.

She also joined her father on some of his longer trading trips once her brothers and sisters had turned 15 and joined there own clans, so weren’t around to baby-sit her for long periods. He took her to several places in the Sanguia Province, mainly the larger towns or the ports to the south of the Zeiphyrian Forest. She saw all kinds of different people and even elves as well as an amazing range of goods from all over the continent. The choice of weapons especially fascinated her as the Brownies didn’t use much metal. On one of the trips Rookie bought a small steel Brownie knife made by a smith in Milkengrad and better than anything the skill of the Brownies could make. The range of goods and people made her realise how many different places there were waiting to be discovered and how little she really knew about them, or would find out in her enclosed lifestyle.

As the day came closer when she would have to choose a clan to join, and with it a skill to focus on, Rookie was undecided between specialising in hunting the bigger, more dangerous creatures or joining part of the Brownie army. Therefore she went to the Skydiver clan to get a taste of what the clan did. The first time she rode one of the docile wood owls was very strange and slightly scary. It was hard to make it clear to the bird exactly what she wanted, but the sense of achievement and power when she managed to was amazing. Plus the rollercoaster-like feel of the flight itself, and the freedom of it: Rookie immediately decided what she wanted to do. The feeling soon turned into another small obsession so she spent the rest of her time before the Choosing specialising in poisons, weapons and whatever bird lore anyone could tell her.

When she finally became an official part of the clan, just before her 15th birthday, the new members learnt to ride the birds already caught and trained by the older members of the clan – mainly the majestic wood owls that were pretty common in the forest. Their fairly large wingspan of up to 4 fores and relatively docile temperament makes them one of the best choices for Brownies. Also, being able to fly quietly enough to sneak up on a mouse, and having amazing night vision, they are perfect for a sneak attack. Although a lot of the Brownies would know the basic commands to ride an already-trained bird, only the Skydiver clan members were taught to perform the more complicated military manoeuvres and how to control the less well-behaved birds.

Rookie enjoyed the challenge of keeping a difficult bird in hand, the more exciting the better. The exhilaration of being able to handle a particular bird better than anyone else or of soaring through the air not quite knowing what her unreliable mount would do next was almost addictive. After almost two years of training she was thought ready to find and train her own bird. Rookie was asked to go and see the Brownie who dealt with breeding and capturing young chicks. As she was known for enjoying the more challenging birds, and for being good enough, he asked if she would like to join them on a trip to try and capture some Myrddinn Falcon chicks whose parents were known to be nesting in the thick forest somewhere between the two of the mountains of the Rimmershins Ring. If they were able to find the nest and could get to the chicks Rookie would be to keep one for herself. This was an unusual opportunity as the Myrddinn Falcons were not at all common in the area and cannot be bred in captivity. Also, any male chicks would be too small for her to ride and would be left in the nest or trained for sale to human falconers, where they were prized for their beautiful plumage. Rookie, seeing another chance to shine, agreed at once and waited the next few weeks in her unusual impatient anticipation.

As well as Rookie there were 13 other Brownies; 6 from her clan and 7 from the Prowler Clan coming along to practice tracking in an unfamiliar terrain. They were all heavily loaded up with supplies and the cages for transporting the live chicks back with them so they travelled pretty slowly, very frustrating for the impatient Rookie. They didn’t even know exactly where the falcons were nesting, and the undergrowth was so thick that they had to climb trees to see where they were which took up even more time. Fortunately small creatures like Brownies learn to avoid birds of prey from birth, so when they did get close enough to the breeding pair they soon spotted them flying back and forth. A little more bird watching and they knew where the nest was – a tall tree had been hit by lightning at some point in the past so that the top half was dead and hollow whilst the bottom still flourished providing camouflage for the nest.

Waiting until one parent had left to hunt for a meal, three of the Skydiver Brownies (not including Rookie as she was still to young and inexperienced) began to climb, armed only with blowpipes and darts smeared with a powerful tranquiliser (they didn’t want to harm the bird permanently.) They also carried a piece of mouseskin, covered in feathers, which when thrown would open up like a parachute and draw the bird from the nest, making the flacon an easier target for the Brownies as well. They covered this in the drug as well so that if they missed with the blowpipes then the falcon might sink its beak in and take some of the drug that way instead. In fact the most likely thing to go wrong, and the most dangerous, was the falcon spotting the Brownies before they got to the nest. To prevent this, the Brownies climbed very close to the trunk itself, trying to keep under the nest itself and avoid any movement that might rustle the branches.

For the entire slow process, Rookie and the other Brownies stayed at their base, about half an hour away on Brownie feet because anything that might make the falcon more alert to the danger needed to be kept away. She waited, impatiently of course, preparing the cages and a little fresh meat and wishing they would hurry up and return already. The trip had been exciting for her at first, but all the trekking around, constantly having to climb over rocks and tree-roots that were almost as big as her had made her wish, more than once, that the trip was over. She much preferred the cities, with decent roads and plenty of food just waiting to be bought. The beauty of the forest was also in her opinion over-rated; it seemed very like her valley but with taller trees. The city was far more exciting, different, and whenever she went she saw so many new things. Once you’ve seen a hundred trees she thought, you’ve seen them all. Very un-brownie-like thoughts.

Three hours after they left, the Brownies returned with one sedated little grey fluffball, a female, and a few beautiful silver feathers taken from the unconscious father. They named the tiny bird Ekre after the sound she kept making whenever she wanted food, a cute little bird-whiny noise. Rookie was allowed to feed her most of the time to try and get the falcon to except her as some kind of substitute parent. Later on she would try to take the place of its mate instead, but it was too young yet.

She spent the next two years teaching and looking after the young falcon, encouraging Ekre to start flying when she was old enough, teaching her her name and the basic commands she would need later on. Only when the bird was fully mature, about 1 ½ years old, could Rookie start to train her to be ridden. This was easier than it sounded, as there was already such a strong bond between them. Flight was an important part of the training process, not only because it was the reason for capturing them in the first place, but also because the birds would normally only fly with their mate and it helped to transfer the bond between Brownie and falcon from parent and child to life-long partners.

Although Rookie loved her training and the new challenges it brought, she didn’t think the excitement was really going to last once her training was over, or even in a couple more years. The thought of 13 yrs or more preparation, slowing getting more and more involved in the military side, was not appealing. She wanted to travel and to discover more about the world than just what happened inside the Vale. Her choice of the falcon had made her feel different from the rest, an outsider. In some ways she felt special, but when she was the only one of her age who always stood out it didn’t help her to want to stay. The decision took a long time to make; in fact it took a long time to even know what she wanted, but once she had the thought she couldn’t get rid of it. She wanted to leave the Vale, at least for a few years.

Rookie spoke to her father about the decision. He urged her to finish her training with the Skydiver’s first, but he didn’t really expect her too, he knew his contrary daughter and knew she wasn’t happy. Instead he gave her an idea – she could use Ekre to carry messages from one town to another. He knew the speed of her flight would make her much quicker than even the fastest horse messengers and that meant she could charge pretty much what she wanted.

The young Brownie made her plans, collecting together the things she might need and trading anything she didn’t for food or more portable items. She also spoke to her not-too-happy teachers, but in the end they couldn’t stop her from going. Ekre was only just over two years old when they left to start a new, more exciting life.

Weapons
• Two blowpipes of different lengths. The first is about as long as she is tall, though one part can be unscrewed from the other to be packed for travelling. This bamboo weapon was given to her on her 15th birthday by her father, who traded for it. It is very fine workmanship, strong, light, and deadly accurate. It was originally decorated with two large white owl feathers tied to one end, but Rookie took these off as soon as she actually had to travel with it. The other one she made herself and it is thicker and shorter with one solid piece instead of two. She uses it for hunting as it doesn’t matter as much if this one gets broken.
• Small, light darts with whatever feathers she can get hold of attached for accuracy. These are often smeared with one of the drugs or poisons she carries (in powder form) in little mouseskin pouches on her belt.
• A small steel hunting knife bought from a trader from Milkengrad and usually wedged into her right boot. Despite its lack of decoration the knife is good quality with a strong, balanced blade and ribbed handle for better grip. It has a shallow groove running from the tip right down the middle of the blade to the handle, designed to hold a smear of sticky poison. Rookie only does this when she is doing something especially dangerous, normally it is just a plain knife for hunting, skinning or generally cutting things up.

Belongings
Apart from clothes and weapons Rookie often has a few small gems tucked into her pack as she can’t carry many of the heavy coins the Big Folk use. She also carries several small mouseskin pouches filled with powdered poisons for use on her darts or blade. The pack itself is made of otterskin – a little more waterproof than mouse - and has adjustable straps so that she can either wear it herself or strap it to Ekre’s back.

Familiars
A 3 yr old female Myrddinn Falcon called Ekre (eh’rr) she tamed as part of her training in the Skydiver clan, and took with her when she left. The falcon is quite small for a bird of prey, around three palmspans in length with a wingspan of two fores. Her plumage is rather drab - a sort of matt silver with a pure white underbelly. Bright golden eyes sparkle with different shades of gold, glaring at everyone as if she were looking down her beak at them. She is quite intelligent in a focussed, predator way and is fiercely loyal to Rookie like she would be to her mate, but has a definite will of her own so is not always obedient. In the air she is faster and more agile than most bigger birds, and an excellent hunter. The falcon carries Rookie and her belongings as long as long as Rookie keeps their weight to a minimum.