Obligate sketches
Ugūqāru Áxa, Vēttēsa — “Mirmacj,” “The Seven Fingers,” “The Butcher of Thaénog,” “The Acting Viceroy Ugūqāru Áxa, known to most as Vēttēsa, is a trusted Hushamite Thunder-General within Cjeltekær’s cadre, commanding the 2nd Army of the Cjeltekærssi. They maintain six lieutenants under their authority. Prior to their current position, Vēttēsa was an Ugūqāru—a eunuch caste subservient to tribal patriarchs known as Yaqama. Ugūqāru are afforded limited social mobility and the right to literacy in exchange for administering the estates of their Yaqama, at the cost of being gelded at a young age. Little is known of Vēttēsa’s youth or parentage before they were sold to their Yaqama, though Vēttēsa believes that, like many Ugūqāru, they were offered to settle familial debt obligations. At an early age, they were granted board at the famed Garden of Qrao, where they were trained in the twin arts of Administration and Tactics. Indeed, the “name” Vēttēsa is itself a title meaning Overseer, referring to their mastery of these disciplines. Vēttēsa ultimately managed to emancipate themselves from their Yaqama by entangling them in a legal dispute with a Khondla over rightful ownership—though the precise circumstances of this conflict remain unclear. With their newfound freedom, Vēttēsa pursued higher learning throughout Hasbahar, moving from lecture auditorium to word-house, from trade hall to roaming city. They even trained briefly at one of the Ballad schools in Qolhaalat. It was during a tenure at the Qunkhāl obba Zorshtelm, in the city-slum of Oshqil-az-Zanēn, that they encountered a young Btarean then known as Ēminola. The two engaged in a prolonged philosophical exchange, grew to deeply admire one another, and embarked on a crawl of academic institutions across the Gulf of Avarice, before ultimately setting out for the castle-compound of the Ikaríen conglomerate, where they would work together on its restructuring.
Some ideations of Eminola
