Full Name: Tea-Fur

Species: Bat

Gender: Male

Age and Place of Birth: 50, Knife-Rock Town ( A bat village located to the southwest of Sulfur-Peak, northwest of Black-Rock, so named for the large quantities of obsidian in the town’s nearest quarry.)

Appearance: Like nearly all bats, save for a few subspecies, Tea-Fur is relatively small, standing at under five feet in height, and in old age, is inching closer to four and a half feet. His fur is speckled with grey, now, but has always carried a rich, bright caramel color which earned him his name. Bat clothing is light, to complement their general body structure, and generally practical in deign- Tea-Fur wears a something of a poncho and pants, designed to allow wing mobility. His eyes are brown, and his snout is short with a slightly upturned nose, with ridged ears, giving him a deceptively fierce visage despite his kind demeanor. He carries a few scars on his face and left ear, from jaw to eartip, from a nezumi that robbed him when he was younger.

Tea-Fur’s left wing membrane is torn, too- an injury from the rebellion sustained after being ambushed while waiting out a storm.

Family: Tea-Fur’s wife is deceased, and he has one son, who will inherit his name.

Friends: A few old veterans from the war, and some passing travelers.

Enemies: Anyone who would put his land and business at risk.

Love Life: Non-existent. Tea-Fur is old and is quite content to live out the rest of his life as it is.

Likes: Tea, music, ceremony, and good manners.

Hates: Brash youths, uneducated persons, and violent persons.

Fears: That he will die before he can steer his son off of a path he sees as morally wrong.

Strengths: Wisdom, knowledge of history, knowledge of tradition, charisma, and an even temper.

Weaknesses: Can be trusting to a fault, has caused problems by arguing with upstart nezumi.

Weaponry and Gear:
Walking Crutch.: Many bats will often move around on the knuckles of their wings in addition to their legs when trying to move quickly, but Tea-Fur’s damaged wing necessitates the use of a crutch when walking. It is well-worn, indicating that the old bat still moves around plenty.

Foot-Claws: Made of iron, these are often worn by bat males that had military service during the revolution, and were originally replaced by steel ones. Many bat tribes, and indeed some more isolated nezumi communities, view iron as something of a sacred metal. Not worth revering, but because of its usefulness. These claws are articulated to cover the bat’s feet, and sharpened to allow a kick to inflict serious lacerations. Tea-Fur’s are simple fare, and are from early in the war when weapons were scarcer. Like many veterans, he wears them as usual footwear- wearing this type of weapon is a sign of status in the community. Tea-Fur’s injury makes him incapable of flight, but most bat fighting styles focus on the use of the feet, so they are still usable, but his old age makes it hard for him to be limber enough to do much fighting.

Training:
Scout and Survival Training: As one of the oldest bat veterans from the rebellion, and a member of the military in his youth, Tea-Fur was instrumental in the formation of the training regimen for bat soldiers. Due to physical limitation, it was decided well before the gunpowder revolution that bats in military service were relegated purely to scout duties because of their comparatively frail bodies. During the revolution, however, their role was expanded to include a division of bombardiers- carrying explosives over enemies and dropping them while concealed in a smoke-cloud produced by the rebels. Their echolocation allowed them to operate in otherwise total blindness. Tea-Fur’s training is in long term scouting. He understands the importance of living off the land, is knowledgeable in herbalism and field-medicine, and is proficient in coded communications as was required of all scouts. As one of the higher-ranking scouts in the rebellion, he was one of a small group of bats allowed to suggest tactical advice to nezumi commanders based on what they observed in the field.

Formal Education: Bats are capable of writing with their foremost wing-claw, and Tea-Fur has practiced his calligraphy extensively. He availed himself of as many sources of instructional literature as he could over his lifetime, and is well versed in myth, legend, and history. As he grew in age, he took after his father’s love of tradition, and has run the family’s small, but growing, tea-shop and plantation since before the rebellion. He is widely considered, even by begrudging nezumi, to be one of the foremost curators of traditional mirelands tea ceremony.

History:
Character Biography
Tea-Fur was born as Wheat-Fur, son of Tea-Fur, into the same circumstances as nearly every bat since the dawn of the first nezumi empire: peace, but costly peace. Though bats have mostly adopted nezumi naming convention, some old aspects of their culture remain- prominent bat names are often passed down from elder to child, presuming the same gender, upon death. With the integration into the nezumi empire, a new idea was added to this convention: the name also had to be earned. Tea-fur earned his by serving his country and elevating his family’s status in his own community through it, and the name was passed to him when he inherited the plantation upon his father’s death. Only the most traditional families maintain this naming convention.

Tea-Fur was married shortly after his father’s death. His wife still-born five children over the course of their marriage. Tea-Fur bitterly resented this, but his duties in the military and with the plantation distracted him. When he was away, his wife would run the shop and plantation, hiring some younger bats to help in the fields.

Shortly before the revolution, his son was born. He grew up during the tumultuous times that would come to shape his worldview. Tea-Fur served honorably, and was relegated to a training position after his wing was irreparably damaged when he was ambushed during a scouting run, torn knuckle-to-knuckle by a nezumi knife.

Tea-Fur came home a hero, and learned of his wife’s passing to the last stretches of the plague. The disease was especially fatal to bats, and his community was in shambles. He spent most of his profits and time building it back up again, and maintained that it was the duty of a bat to further the goals of the community- a value he’d actually learned from the nezumi mindset.

Since then, he has dedicated the vast majority of his time to the maintenance of his tea shop, now known as the Ragged Wing, and the raising of his son. His son was possessed by a strong anger and hatred for the nezumi, seeing the plague as something of their doing, and that the poverty of his community was a result of their ignorance. Tea-Fur understood his anger- but he would not tolerate his son’s talk of treason and rebellion. He was young and did not understand the nuances of the bats’ place in the Mirelands- and he certainly was too young to remember how bad things had been.

For now, Tea-Fur works for the betterment of the bats in a way he hopes his son comes to understand- through talk, and word of mouth- all while trying to keep his son from making a terrible mistake.