The Talking Whisker
by Lost Woodrake from Threshold Magazine issue 27In honor of the Vaults’ anniversary, I decided to conduct an experiment of sorts. Without knowing what I’ll find, I revisited my very first article published at the Vaults to see if I can reconsider it, given the massive amount of knowledge and creativity gathered since, in the Vaults and elsewhere.
My debut at the Vaults (from 2004! Yikes) turned out to be a very short blurb about a tavern:
My favourite tavern is from long long ago. Its name was “The Talking Whisker”. It was located in Thyatis City, and managed by Qenju and Jaalaeia - two Rakasta ex-slaves. They were held captive by some Thyatian Senator, but eventually managed to buy their freedom.
Since they were the only Rakastas in Thyatis, they were somewhat of a celebrity. Their tavern was ultra-trendy, serving exotic Rakasta food (IMC at the time, Rakasta culture had a strong Persian flavour - and so was their food). You needed to book places there in advance etc. etc. The whole upper class of Thyatis went there.
I ran that campaign years ago, when I still did not have DotE - and my only source about Rakasta was the Creature Catalogue, so I guess some info here needs to be modified...
As I’d already predicted then, this is not really compatible with much of the canon and fanon materials out there about Thyatis or the Rakasta in Mystara (not to mention that Qenju, albeit in a different spelling, is accidentally the name of a prominent Rakasta from the Princess Ark articles). Since then, I've been able to read more material, especially community content published in the Vaults. I therefore (rather substantially) rewrote my original article, and what follows is based on the astounding richness offered by the Vaults (especially Agathokles’ “Gazetteer of Myoshima”; Simone Neri’s “History of Evolution of Rakastas”; and Giampaolo Agosta’s “History and Origins of the Rakasta”).
This revision is therefore first and foremost an homage to the treasure troves of the Vaults. It is written in gratitude to all the members that developed such wonderful material and especially to Shawn for his incredible work, which enables so much depth, detail and complexity in the depictions of Mystara.
So, here we go:
The Talking Whisker Revisited
The Talking Whisker is a popular tavern located in the infamous Club Row, at the Heart of Thyatis City, and is owned by a duo of female domestic Rakasta, Qande and Jaalaeia. They live there along with their cute pet tanuki (raccoon-dog), Nagu – who is very popular with the tavern’s patrons. Both Qande and Jaalaeia have intense green eyes. Qande’s fur is dark grey, almost black, with bluish circles that surround her eyes. Jaalaeia has reddish fur, ranging from darker burgundy to a lighter saffron hue.
The tavern serves exotic food that cannot be found anywhere else in the Empire’s capital, and has therefore become quite a hit amongst the elite of Thyatis City. When asked, the Rakasta say they are from faraway lands in Davania. They were brought to Thyatis to serve as cooks at an old Senator’s mansion, but by the time they arrived at port, the Senator had already died and they were left for themselves at the shore.
The truth, however, is quite different. Qande’s real name is Uchamota Amahuru, whilst Jaalaeia is actually Shunratsu Amahuru. They are sisters (non-identical twins), and were born in the faraway lunar empire of Myoshima. The Amahuru sisters lived in the countryside of Myoshima in the province of Senmori. Their mother, Hino’eka, served as a Shrine Maiden (or Miko) in a shrine dedicated to a Great Heron Spirit, Niyalani. Their father allegedly died before they were born, and their mother refused to speak of him.
During the years 961-964 AC, Heldannic Knights arrived in Myoshima and fighting quickly ensued. The Knights raided the lands and defiled the shrines across their path, including Niyalani’s. Hino'eka was slain during these events, and the twins – merely cubs at the time – were adopted and taken care of by the nearby clan. Even though the Knights were finally banished from the moon and the shrine of Niyalani was restored, Uchamota and Shunratsu were raised with the traumatic memory embedded in them, and craved vengeance. Uchamota dedicated herself to Niyalani, striving to become a Miko like her mother. Eventually, she started to serve at the shrine. Her more combative sister, Shunratsu, became a Kunoichi (a female Shinobi, or Ninja), and joined a local secret network of female and male ninjas, “The Harbingers of Dusk”.
A few years past, Uchamota started to receive dreamlike visions in her sleep: Vanya, the Immortal worshipped by the Knights of Heldann, roams disguised on the planet of Mystara, in a city called Thyatis. As these visions persisted, she confided in her sister and together they decided to make their way to Thyatis City, track Vanya down, and extract their revenge on her. It is unclear who sent these visions to Uchamota, although the sisters suspect that the Four Fairy Brothers might have been involved, as a Pooka named Nagu, in the form of a humanoid tanuki, later appeared at their doorstep to offer his assistance in getting them to the planet of Mystara and to Thyatis City. He joined them there even after their arrival on the planet, and proved surprisingly (and helpfully) knowledgeable about Thyatian culture and society.
The sisters opened their establishment to great success and their foreign cuisine became an overnight sensation (if you wish, you can imagine it as Thyatis City’s first sushi place). Senators and their lovers, famous gladiators and courtesans, ambassadors and cunning rakes, all frequent the Talking Whisker and the Rakasta siblings slowly ingratiate themselves with the high society of Thyatis. They often dress according to contemporary Thyatian fashion, with only hints at their home-culture – to keep the “exotic” mystique and further lure the Thyatian elite in. Uchamota has a small shrine for Niyalani in the tavern’s basement, and there she dresses in the traditional garbs of a Shrine Maiden. Shunratsu, on rare occasions, may roam the alleys of Thyatis wearing her ninja outfit, sometimes alongside a dandily dressed humanoid tanuki... The sisters have not yet encountered Anya, lover and advisor to Emperor Thincol, but they are getting close.
The sisters maintain contact with the Harbingers of Dusk in Senmori. If Myoshima ever has plans of conquering areas in the Known World, or continuing their battles with Heldann, the Talking Whisker may very well become an underground center for an espionage network devoted to such efforts.