I have a loooot of favorite characters, but I think this time I'll go with Qiqun! I might comment again later and introduce another one of my favorites, but I can only handle rambling about one at a time.
Bare with me this is going to be long! Talking about Qiqun always gets me going and I'll be going into his back-story in details, because, yay!, back story.
- - - -
Meet Qiqun! He's one of my only medieval fantasy characters, and he's a Kwiwek-- which is my one and only truly original species.
Kwiweks are a semi-androgynous mammalian humanoid species. They've got four long, rabbit-like ears capable of independent movement, rectangular pupils, four fingers, long whip-like tails tipped with quills capable of secreting three different kinds of poison, strong digitigrade legs with four-toed bird-like feet, and have small bone-like plates on their faces, legs, tails, and covering their genitalia. There are also three different types of Kwiwek: short-haired, long-haired, and scaled. There's a whole lot more I could say about Kwiweks, but I'll stop there because this isn't the "Show Off Your Favorite Original Species" thread!
Back to Qiqun. My lovely scaled kwiwek boy. I love him.
Qiqun was originally from a tribe of kwiwek that live in the rainforest in a small, remote country in a part of the world that has little to no contact with the outside world. An island roughly 350 miles from east to west at its widest point, and 289 miles from north to south. Aside from his tribe, there was also a population of jungle elves and a small village of relatively peaceful orcs. It was peaceful, and quiet, and Qiqun's tribe travelled all around the island, making a living hunting, crafting, and trading with their fellow natives.
Qiqun, who was only 19 at the time and had yet to even complete his Rite of Adulthood, had made a name for himself as one of his tribe's most talented hunters and an almost equally talented craftsmen. He'd also made a name for himself as a bit of a troublemaker. His curious and exploratory nature meant he'd often wander off and get himself (and others) into trouble.
It was during one of these little adventures that he royally fucked up. He, and five of his friends-- Qe-ten, Kulu, Tituk, Titun, and Takki--, were out exploring a part of the island's coast the tribe rarely went to, as it was very close to elven territory, when they came across something they'd never seen before. A ship. And not just a ship. Strange elves with short nubby ears, and even stranger, short elves with filthy beards. All armed to the teeth and discussing something, in a language none of them could understand, around a campfire.
The twins, Tituk and Titun, wanted to leave immediately. The elves needed to be notified. The TRIBE had to be notified. Qe-ten agreed, but Kulu, Takki, and Qiqun were curious and wanted to stay and observe. They wouldn't get too close, they didn't need to, they reasoned. After all, their eyes were almost as good as the elves' were and their hearing was even better than that. They'd hide in the trees and watch for awhile, scout things out, and then they'd all split up and tell the others. Reluctanly, the twins relented and they went back to watching the strange people on the beach. Only half of them were gone. The six of them had been so busy arguing, and so confident that none but another of their tribe could possibly find them, that they'd forgotten to watch the strange elves.
They all froze from their hiding places in the trees and looked down. Right into the eyes of three of the strange short elves and down at the loaded cross-bows raised in their direction. Naturally, all hell broke loose. A fight ensued, that the group eventually lost. Within minutes Qiqun, Tituk, Kulu, and Qe-ten were on the ground, tied up and knocked out. Only Titun and Takki managed to escape. They'd never see the other four again as their captors, deciding their cover had been blown, took their four captives and departed from the island before help could arrive.
And that's how Qiqun ended up a slave! He was branded with a slave-mark, which is a very ingenious thing, really. It was burned into the scales of one of his hips using a strongly enchanted branding tool. These brands are almost impossible to remove or disfigure. Trying to cut the brand out will have no effect, the wound will heal within minutes and the brand will remain unaffected. Only someone with a great understanding of magic and medicine would even have a chance of removing it.
Eventually he was sold to a very, very wealthy merchant in a country thousands of miles away from his homeland. It was absolutely the worst five years of his life. His Master treated Qiqun as no more than an exotic, beautiful trophy. When the merchant was home, Qiqun was put on display like some sort of animal. When the merchant left, Qiqun was forced to come along and stay by his side. Whenever Qiqun did something his Master deemed unacceptable, he was beaten, sometimes within an inch of his life.
Fortunately for Qiqun, during one such trip, his master's caravan was attacked by bandits. It was chaos. Qiqun saw his chance... and took it. He knocked one of caravan guards out, took his weapons, his coin purse, and his cloak, and escaped into the night.
He's lived on the run ever since. Over the years he's managed to learn quite a bit of the common tongue, elvish, orcish, and dwarvish in addition to his native kwiwek tongue. He's gone back to making a living as a hunter and a craftsman, and is almost always travelling. He never stays in one place for more than a month or two, and he avoids guards, soldiers, and slavers like the plague.
Qiqun doesn't have any dreams of returning to his homeland, but he does think of his tribe often. He's found that he likes the outside world and all he wants to do right now is find someone capable of removing his slave-mark so he can finally travel without having to constantly look over his shoulder.