Ulli Targash/ Remusian/ Laundress

Name: Ulli Targash

Gender: Female

Age: 34

Race: Human

Tribe: Remusian

Occupation: Laundress

Title: The Forlorn

Overview: A life of hardship has created a strong woman in the form of a worn weary Remusian mother. Each line, every wrinkle is a testament to her inner strength and her enduring spirit. If one were to take a cursory impression of her, they would see a weak and timid woman. They would, however, be wrong. She is a survivor.

Appearance

Height: 1 ped 2 fores

Weight: 1 pygge 4 hebs

Hair Colour: Norsidian

Eye Colour: Pinnipeye

Physical Appearance: Sometimes mistaken for a man at first glance, Ulli is defined by her hard, dark, features. Her hawkish nose, thin lips and deep set eyes can set many people on edge if she stared at them for any length of time. Adding to the gender confusion is her close cropped hairstyle; barely two finger lengths long. Her face has two tattoos imprinted on it. On her left cheek is a blue star; while on her right cheek is a black representation of a wison. The star is for her birth clan, while the wison is newer, from her husband and his clan.

Ulli has a body that reflects the hard life she has lived. Weathered lines cover her face, while her body is husky and muscular. She walks with a limp, her knees stiff from years of kneeling carrying out women’s work. She cannot stand straight up as well, again, from kneeling and crouching for hours on end, skinning wison carcasses, or sewing and mending clothing.

Her hands are thin and boney; her knuckles large and gnarled. Still, she is quite adept with them, able to thread small bone needles with sinew and sew intricate patterns. Each pad on her fingers is thick with calloused skin, and many small scars can be seen across them. Her small finger and her ring finger on her left hand were cut off, as were three of her toes, having been frostbitten past the point of saving them. Neither seems to have adversely affected her in any large way.

Her ear lobes hang down, weighted as they are with heavy gold jewellery. Rings adorn her hands and bracelets her wrist, all of gold. One last gold ring pierces her nose through her right nostril.
A small thin scar can be seen just below her jaw line on her left side. Only a nailsbreadth in length, it came as a result of her second husband. It is an old scar and has faded so that it is hard to see unless you are up close to her.

Clothing: In addition to the stated jewellery, Ulli has a wardrobe that is very much traditional Ice Tribe. Her body is covered in a thin cancu wool shirt and trousers dyed a deep dhura blue. Over this, she wears a thick icemut pelt tunic, and wison hide outer trousers. A wison hide parka completes the ensemble. She wears traditional multilayer Remusian boots, which keep her feet warm in nearly every type of weather. Her hands are protected by thick mitts of pinnip skin, with an outer shell of wison hide.

Part of her wardrobe, though only worn in extreme weather, is a cayowl of icemut fur, and a boonaye suit made from the hide of a cloaked elk. Each of these items, as well as those worn by her, were all made by her own hand. Though far from fancy, their craftsmanship is excellent, and should last her for years.

She has resisted all attempts by others for her to wear more contemporary clothes by the women of the laundry where she works. As such, she is considered an outcast by them, not hated or ridiculed, but seperate from the others. A bit of a primitive.

Personality: Ulli is a withdrawn woman. Though cultural stereotypes can explain this to a large degree, it goes beyond that, and personal tragedies and hardships have shaped her into the person she is today.

Ulli is a quiet woman. She speaks rarely, and when she does, it is with downcast eyes and hushed tones. Though Remusians can be described as self aggrandizing as whole, she herself is very humble when it comes to her own self worth. She does not boast, and cannot or will not force her own opinions onto others. Only if pressed fully, will she voice an opinion that does not simply follow the consensus of those around her.

She keeps her past to herself. You will not hear her speak of the life she had before leaving Remusia. One can only guess at the circumstances that drove her to break from her clan. Still, one gets the impression that they must have been extreme, as she does not seem to be the radical type.

“Beaten dog”. This is term that has been used to describe Ulli by those who have not gotten to know her fully. They base this on her demeanour, especially around men. When spoken to in a harsh or simply loud tone, she can be seen to visibly shrink from it. Quick movements, again predominately with men, will cause her to flinch. Larger groups tend to bother her, and strangers bring out her reclusive quality.

Ulli seems most content, for one can hardly use the term happy when describing the Remusian, when left to her own devices, either cooking or sewing. She will keep herself busy with these tasks, sometimes humming a strange little tune to herself. She does not seem to need breaks in the monotony, and can do something as tedious as sewing or spinning wool from sun up to past sun down.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths:
Cooking: Ulli can create a meal out of nearly any amount of edible material. She could not be considered a great chef but, rather, extremely resourceful.

Sewing: This skill can be considered a notch above the skills of most. Not only can she mend clothes for herself, she can earn a living by mending clothes for others. In truth, it does not mean that she can create clothes other than the most rudimentary clothes of her people. She could not create a dress for a southern lady.

Knife: Ulli can handle her knife with enough skill to defend herself, whether that be inflicting injury or even killing. Against a similarly armed trained opponent, however, she could be easily outmatched.

Weaknesses:
Timid: Growing up a Remusian woman, Ulli has low self worth. She can be intimidated fairly easily by men. Though she has defended herself before, and has the potential to do so again, it would be a last resort, in a situation where she felt as though her life were in danger.

Language: Ullli speaks several Ice Tribe dialects, including Remusian. She has learned a few words and phrases of Tharian from Johan and the other women in the laundry, but is at a deep disadvantage with most people.

Lost: Though she came south willingly to escape her past, she knows not where she is in the world. She rarely leaves her small apartment, except to go to her work downstairs. With the exception of the small market on the next street from her, her entire world has been reduced to the laundry and her apartment above it.

History:
Ulli was born in 1635, though she would not know that, in the Frozen Wastes. The location has been lost to time, as her family had been a small clan of nomadic Remusian Wison hunters. Her entire life had been centered along the Remusia-Tokarian border, and into the Remusian province of Kordos.

Each season would see her clan follow the Wison herds from near the Gathorn Mountains in the south to the channels that separate Remusia from Faerons in the north. She grew up in a typical home, with two brothers, who became hunters and warriors, while she was trained by her mother to cook and sew. Her people were always on the move, following the wison herds, living in ruhmir, the frozen homes of the nomadic clans, living in each for only a few weeks at a time before moving again.

At age 14, Ulli was given her clans tattoo, a star, on her cheek to show that she was old enough for marriage. Six months later, her father gave her to a man named Tzareff for the price of one Kor’och fey Mologh. In truth, it cost her father not only her, but two of his best icemut sled dogs and an iron bladed knife.

As is custom, Ulli became not only Tzareff’s wife, but also the wife of his father Jayn, and Tzareff’s two brothers, Hadfer and Nuro. Jayn and Hadfer each had wives themselves, while Nuro was only 15, and yet to take one of his own.

Over the next year, Ulli grew accustomed to her new clan and her new family. Tzareff was a good hunter, and the family did not lack for food, but he was a distant man and rarely took too much notice of her. She got along well with Nuro, who was the closest in age to her, and did not mind Hadfer. Of all her new husbands, Jayn was the one that bothered her most. He was a mean spirited man who no longer had a wife of his own and eyed her far too often for her liking, and found his pleasure in her far more than she would have liked. According to Hadfer’s wife, it was rumoured that Jayn had killed his wife for having the audacity of raising her voice to him.

A mere 6 months after being married, she was pregnant. Of course the child was Tzareff’s child according to custom, but she secretly feared that the seed was provided by Jayn. It should not have made a difference to her, but somehow it did. When the child was born, it only lived for a few hours and then died. Part of her was grateful.

This event did change how she was looked upon, however. The baby had been a boy; therefore she was viewed as having failed at giving the clan a son. Tzareff shared his bed with her even more infrequently, while Jayn’s advances became more rough and humiliating. He forced her then to take on the second tattoo on her face, marking her as a member of his clan.

A year later, she gave birth to another son. This time she was sure it was Jayn’s seed that had created the baby. The child lived, but she found that she could not find joy in her baby. It was not hers; it was his. But, she was a Remusian and had no choices open to her.

Life was uneventful for her over the next several years. Nuro grew older and took a wife of his own, which saddened her, as it meant that her time with him greatly diminished. Her son, Zeyger, grew up and took after Tzareff, becoming a hunter and spending long periods away from the clan in search of prey.

Two years ago, things changed drastically for the tribe. A wison stampede took the lives of 7 hunters, including both Tzareff and her son Zeyger. As well, Nuro had both his legs crushed. Though she cared for him, along with Nuro’s wife, it was decided by the clan that they could not take him with them on their next move. Jayn announced that they would leave him to die on the wastes. For the first time in her life, Ulli objected, promising that she would personally care for him and he would not be a burden on the clan.

This behaviour caused a scandal within the clan, and seemed to outrage Jayn. He beat Ulli terribly that night, threatening to kill her if she ever spoke out again. The other wife/sisters turned their backs on her, except for Nuro’s wife, who openly disdained her for causing dishonour to her husband. The clan left a few days later, leaving Nuro alone on the wastes, unable to walk. She herself was shaved bald by the other wife/sisters, in a show of mourning for Tzareff. A feeling that she did not truly feel.

Life became a nightmare for Ulli at that point. Jayn seemed to take particular pleasure in tormenting her. He would beat her often, and on many occasions forced her to sleep outside the ruhmir with the icemut sled dogs. During one of those beatings, she recieved the scar on her jawline.

Last spring was a bad one for the tribe. With the loss of so many hunters for the clan to the wison stampede, it had gotten harder to feed everyone. Many were sick, and more than one newborn child had died. The weather had been worse than it had been in many years, with winter holding on far longer than it normally did. These factors added to Jayn’s mistreatment of her.

One night, while a blizzard roared outside, as it had done for three consecutive days, he came to her in order to satisfy himself. His mood was foul and he began to slap her about the head. To this day, Ulli could not tell you why, and in truth she remembers it more like a dream, but as he beat her, she grabbed hold of the first thing she could find and used it to defend herself. It was the bone handled stone knife she carries. She slashed at him, cutting him across the chest. Jayn fell to the floor of the ruhmir, bleeding but alive.

Ulli knew that if she stayed, Jayn would kill her. If he died, the clan would kill her. She had no choice. Offering a prayer to the gods, she packed a few items and set off into the blizzard. She would die there, on her own; free for the first time in her life.

But Ulli did not die. The gods were watching over for her, and she survived the blizzard. Weak, and with frostbite to her hands and feet, she was discovered by a Remusian cavalry unit on patrol. They took care of her, including the amputation of a few of her fingers and toes, and took her with them to Rhemir, where she recovered. She had never before been to Rhemir, but had heard of it. She knew that sometimes, granted rarely, her clan would come here to trade for goods. She could not take the chance that they would find her. She managed to convince the army officer who had rescued her to send her to Remusiat with a merchant train on its way to the capital.

In Remusiat, Ulli was offered a job as a cook at an inn, something that was completely foreign to her; a job and money. But she learned quickly and saved the coins she was given each month. Using them, and a friendship she made with a merchant, named Johan Tidwerr, from Milkengrad (though she had no idea where or what Milkengrad was), she bought passage on his ship and left the north forever.

The merchant used his influence in Milkengrad to get her a job at a laundry, repairing clothes, using her skills at sewing. He would occasionally call on her, giving Ulli the impression that he might be interested in taking her as a wife. Ulli herself could not ever imagine being the wife of another man again, though she had not the strength to tell him. Fate has not forced her to, yet, as Johan set sail on another trip to the north, and is not expected back for months. With any luck, when he returns, he will find that she has gone. Until then, she will save her coins.

Weapons:
The only weapon Ulli carries is a simple bone handled flint knife. Long past its prime, it is only really useful as a rudimentary cutlery device. She would replace it, but she had never learned the art of flint knapping.

Belongings:
Other than her clothes and knife, the only thing Ulli owns is a small pouch for her collection of coins.