Spymistress. Entertainer. Exile.
Name: Tsubaki Tachikake
Alias: Many and varied
Age: 27 and a bit (she claims, born 16th Sun of 5th Astral Moon)
Gender: Female
Race: Au Ra
Clan: Raen
Orientation: Pansexual
Marital: Single
Deities: The Kami
Nationality: Doman
Occupation: Entertainer, information broker, ship's cook.
Alignment: Neutral.
Tsubaki is a Raen woman marked with all the signs of the classical Doman beauty — a crown of thick black hair, dark depthless eyes, a fair complexion, and crimson lips. That hair is now frosted with heavy strands of iron-gray, belying her claims about her age.Her eyes are perhaps her most striking feature — dark gray, ringed with crimson. The scales on her face and body are well-kept, as are her curving horns, and they gleam like polished ivory in lamplight.She stands at a delicate five fulms two, and weighs scarcely enough to bother her chocobo Hayabusa whilst she is in the saddle. Her short-legged, long-waisted figure is said to be most becoming in traditional Doman and Hingan robes, but she has cast those figured silks aside for plainer garb.Scars & Markings: She bears a brand upon her left shoulder in the shape of a tsuba, the guard of a Doman katana. The scar is figured in the image of two cranes circling each other eternally.Voice: Tsubaki has a soft voice that she employs at low volumes — she does not believe in raising her voice unless absolutely necessary. She is a trained singer and if convinced or bribed, can regale listeners with traditional Doman kouta, ballads heard largely in tea-houses and parties.Clothing: Since her departure from Kugane Tsubaki has garbed herself in raiment most plain — sturdy wool and linen hakama and haori suffice for her daily tasks, while her feet are clad in rough tabi and zori. She retains her old habit of wearing elaborate ornaments in her hair, however.Sharp-nosed observers will notice that Tsubaki's garments, as simple and durable as they are, have been fumigated with incense — a practice of personal perfumery brought from Doman shores.It is a known fact that Tsubaki's favorite color is red, and she never feels dressed without a touch (or more) of deep crimson in her outfit. Tailors, mercers, and jewelers seeking her custom would do well to keep that in mind.
Personality: Tsubaki is a practical woman for the most part, with a seemingly transactional mindset. Favors for her are things to be tracked like debts in a ledger. She is capable of great charm, and often employs it to disarm and soften the opinions of others.Beneath her seeming cynicism and superficiality is a deep concern for the wellbeing of others, however, especially exiles such as herself. Deeply bound by an unconventional sense of honor, she is currently on a quest to succor the kinsfolk of those who were kind to her during Doma's occupation.Those who know her most intimately know that she holds secret sorrows that have cut her to the very quick. She will not speak of them, however. Only a fleeting glance or a sigh uttered under the cover of noise give voice to her wordless sadness.Likes: Hot Doman tea and sweets on a cold rainy day. A thimbleful of rice wine before bed. Jewels that can be pawned or sold in emergencies.Dislikes: Ingratitude. Cruelty. Inflexibility and insecurity masquerading as honor.Fears: She will not speak of serious fears, but particularly dislikes vilekin. The immense slugs, massive mosquitoes, and giant flies of Gridania's woodlands terrify her.
The woman known as Tsubaki Tachikake was born in Doma seven years prior to its conquest and annexation, the second daughter of a vassal clan of samurai. She was reared not to take up arms in the field, but instead to bear children and run a household, in order to attract a noble husband.Following her coming-of-age ceremony at her sixteenth summer, she was provisionally betrothed to the heir of a more powerful clan, a Raen man named Tachikake no Tsuru. They were smitten with each other at their first meeting, and both families agreed that they would wed five years hence, after Tsuru had proven himself somewhat.Meanwhile, Garlean rule grew steadily more oppressive as Doma's colonial overlords began bypassing the children of samurai families for civil government posts — rightfully guessing that warriors tied to the Rijin dynasty by honor would prove intractable.Eventually, the warriors of the Tachikake left their holdings in Monzen and retreated into the mountains near Yanxia, arming themselves in secret. Tsubaki and Tsuru's wedding was postponed — for none could afford a lavish ceremony under the levies demanded by the Garleans.As they prepared to part, Tsubaki revealed her plan to Tsuru — that she would impersonate the impoverished daughter of a merchant clan and immerse herself in the flower-houses, beguiling intelligence and information out of collaborators and oppressors alike. She bade him brand her shoulder with the guard of his blade so he would be able to recognize her no matter what happened in the future.For how was she to call herself a woman of a samurai family if she was not going to make her own sacrifices to support her future lord?Tsuru agreed, and thus Tsubaki entered a gilded prison of her own accord, embracing a life of vice to serve a virtuous purpose. She soon became one of the highest-ranked courtesans of the land, her services reserved only for those who could afford it — largely Garlean officers and officials — and she funneled tid-bits of importance back to the Tachikake family.The rebellion failed. Tsubaki's father was slain and Tsuru was forced to flee into exile. Tsubaki remained, swearing to serve the Resistance in lieu of her lost lord and husband-to-be. She remained in Doma until the Garleans were expelled, her freedom of movement curtailed by her keepers.Tsubaki's reunion with Tsuru was a bitter one, however. He thanked her for her many services to his clan, but told her his honor could not bear the shame of marrying a woman from the pleasure quarters, not especially one who had known the caresses of their Garlean oppressors.With nothing left for her in Doma, Tsubaki used her savings to buy her freedom from the flower-house and left instead for Kugane where she worked as a geiko. She proved popular with Eorzean merchants seeking an intermediary to teach them the ways of Eastern trade, and would eventually ply her abilities as an information broker again — this time for the lure of lucre.The recent fall of Garlemald has Tsubaki bidding a gracious farewell to Kugane, however, as she heads towards Ilsabard on a curious mission of mercy.Tsubaki's departure from Garlemald was facilitated by a pirate airship crew, and Tsubaki has volunteered to hire on as their cook and maid-of-all-work.
Trivia:
Tsubaki is said to have left at least one heartbroken swain behind in Kugane. If gil is exchanged for rumor, the whispers grow more distinct — that she has won the heart of a wealthy merchant with the East Aldenard Trading Company, who has offered to bring her to Eorzea and make her his legal wife.While Tsubaki was never trained for warfare, samurai women were trained in the arts of self-defense and the defense of their own households, and she is rumored to be not entirely helpless on her own.Tsubaki's chocobo Hayabusa was apparently sold to her by a Hannish merchant in a great hurry to rid himself of his chocobo stock. He seems a healthy bird, if unusual for his ruddy-tinted feathers. She has noticed nothing strange about him thus far.In her days as a courtesan Tsubaki was associated most with one specific protector-customer, a Garlean officer named Terentius rem Domitianus, who was said to be a man of great refinement and discipline.It might seem unusual to those who know her history that Tsubaki uses the clan name of her faithless former betrothed, but she considers herself to have bought it with her own flesh, and uses it largely to shame him.Despite her self-imposed exile from Doma, Tsubaki appears to receive steady correspondence from someone in Doma. Those letters are almost always immediately opened and replied to within a sennight.