Otake Emi, Rat Wizard

[RelentlessImp]

Name: Otake Emi
Race: Ratfolk
Class: Conjurer//Occultist Arcanist
Age: 28
Gender: Femme, AFAB
Sexuality: Panromantic, Pansexual, Polyamorous
Current Level: 1
Traits: Best Friend (Ameiko), Bauble Fascination, Resilient
Height: 3'4"
Weight: 50 lbs

The Otake clan of ratfolk have lived in Xianxing for nearly as long as there's been a city here. Their clan warrens are quite extensive and run quite deep beneath the city, and are intermingled with the warrens of dozens of other ratfolk clans that they've intermarried with. Despite this, they're not a very prominent clan, just a prolific one. Emi is the middle child amidst the fifteen other ratfolk children her parents had, often overlooked and frequently forgotten about, especially as she got old enough to 'take care of herself'. This fact hit her at an early age, and thus she was frequently out of the warrens to be her own person. This is how she met Ameiko when they both were children, emerging from the warrens just outside the Kaijitsu home just as Ameiko was storming out of the house after another argument with her father. 'Met' might be a strong word; Ameiko tripped over Emi's head as she started to emerge for the first time, giving the young ratfolk a solid kicking from her rapid stride and nearly sending Emi plummeting down the makeshift ladders used to crawl to the surface. A thousand apologies later, the two were walking together and sharing stories of their home lives, traumabonding and becoming fast friends through shared misery.

Ameiko was not Emi's only friend up on the surface. Her rangings through Xianxing had her falling in with a group of street urchins who ran wild through Xianxing, pilfering small trinkets or food and cackling madly as they fled from guards who didn't try very hard to catch them. All was well and fine, until the urchin gang took it into their heads to break into the residence of the wu ren of Xianxiang, Zhang Changming. Stories of the ancient mage went back centuries, so he must have all sorts of things hidden in his home! And ratfolk warrens ran all over the city - surely Emi knew a secret way into his basement, right? Emi did, in fact, know where the closest warren to the man's home was, and knew it was only about five feet of upward digging before they were in his basement.

In the dead of night, they stole into the warrens and did the necessary digging, emerging up into the wu ren's basement, bypassing who knows how many deadly wards around his home. Truthfully, Changming didn't ward his home from intruders, and only warded some few discrete rooms, relying instead on illusions to obscure the entrance of the most valuable rooms. Unfortunately, as the children crept quietly through the home looking for trinkets to pilfer, Emi ran across one of those illusions - or rather, through one, right into the wu ren's library.

Fascination came over her at the sight of scrolls and books, and she found she couldn't help herself. She began to read. And read. And read. Thirty books later, the children had been discovered by Changming and ejected from his home by his magic - gently, of course, he wasn't a monster, though he had shook them down for anything they might have pilfered - and Emi was still reading. She was consumed by the texts of ancient history and wild stories, and the treatises of magic that she didn't understand but just reading the words filled her with glee. It was mid-afternoon when she finally passed out atop one of the books, half-hidden by the stacks and stacks of books around her, and when Changming discovered he had one more intruder.

Emi awoke later that night, and she had been transferred back into her own warren. A small note had been pinned to her ear, replacing one of the dangly earrings she wore that read 'If you want your earring back, return. You show promise. - Zhang Changming'

And thus it was a very timid ratfolk who approached Zhang Changming's home and requested entry - this time, at the entryway, rather than skulking back in. Changming welcomed her, took her in, and had her show him how she and her urchins had gained entry; there was a concrete floor in his basement the next day. Changming offered her access to his library, but on one condition; she would have to become his apprentice. She leapt at the chance, and soon enough, her days were divided between being educated by Changming, reading through his library, and spending time with Ameiko, who was very happy for her friend's education.

Changming only had one disappointment in Emi - that her skills with magic ran more towards the physical than the metaphysical, like his own specializations. Still, he delighted in seeing the young ratfolk master her early conjurations and summonings, even if he would have preferred an apprentice that could divine. Her status as Zhang Changming's apprentice spread through Xianxing, and suddenly she was afforded respect that even her own family would never show her; it was a heady feeling, seeing people bow to her and refer to her as Little Wu Ren. But she found even more joy in her blossoming arcane talents, and her communing with other planes to draw creatures into the physical.

Time passed, as it did. She grew into her talents and lost her best friend when Ameiko fled into the wilderness to adventure; she had approached Emi to go along, but the girl's retiring nature had caused her to stay behind and pray for her best friend's success. When Ameiko returned, she got the full story of the cannibalistic adventure that had ended Ameiko's career and consoled her friend as best she could.

Now she spends her days seeking out new arcane lore to add to Zhang Changming's library, content in her position and her slow accumulation of power, even as she approaches the mid-point of her life, content in her life and even with a decent relationship with her family that so often overlooked her, who were so proud of her now that she had carved herself out a space in the world.

Edited March 27, 2023 by RelentlessImp (see edit history)