Approved Tuatha'an NSW - Mahdi Naeva (No CC Needed)

[Mystica]

Name:  Naeva  (I’m not sure but I don’t think tinkers have surnames? At least not ones we hear in the book and the Aiel don’t and since they’re linked it’s likely tinkers don’t…)

 

Age: 51

 

Rank: Mahdi

 

Physical appearance: Naeva is a small man in stature and height, with a kind face and twinkling dark green eyes. His hair was once dark brown but is now more white than anything else, a wild mess around his head. His skin is tan from working in the sun and he clothes himself in the usual clashingly bright colours of the tinkers, but he does have a particular fondness for the blue colour of the sky and always works it into his clothes somewhere.   

 

Personality: A very kind man, Naeva is like an uncle and a grandfather rolled into one. He leads his band with a kind exuberance and energy, believing strongly in leading by example. He has a rich, deep laugh and a strong baritone which is heard often in speech or song, though sometimes you can’t tell the difference between the two. As with all tinkers, he seems always on the edge of dancing, but his age and responsibility seem to have leant him a mature, grandfatherly nature that makes him a fantastic listener. He loves to tell stories, and particularly enjoys looking after the children in his wagons, teaching them songs and dances and stories. He has never been seen angry. The closest he has ever gotten was one of the few times members of his band have broken from the Way of the Leaf, of which he has the utmost respect.

Naeva loves strangers and is always welcoming them to his wagons. He is famed for always taking every side of an argument into account before making a decision and being a strong advocate for the Way of the Leaf.

 

History:  Naeva has travelled in the same group from the moment he was born and plans to continue there, leading it, until his death. His energy and charisma were obvious from an early age and his pacifistic nature leant itself to the Way of the Leaf, to which he took with great zeal. His first test with the Way of the Leaf came when a bunch of bandits came and attacked his band when he was 8. Rather than attempt to fight them off when they came to ransack his wagon, he helped them find the things they wanted, saying to them that they must need the supplies rather badly. The bandits had left most of his things untouched.

 

Through the years, he became known in the group for his storytelling skill. At the age of 15, his best friend Taron began to have misgivings about the Way of the Leaf. Naeva advised him against it, attempted to bring him back to the Way, but before a year had passed, the band was attacked and Taron knocked one of the attackers unconscious with a stick. Naeva, then 16, was called as witness to the crime and disowned his friend, who left the wagons and went to seek a life in the city. After that, Naeva’s devotion to the Way of the Leaf and to seeking the song became unshakable.

 

At age 21, he married a woman, Aelys, who was his wife for seven years and gave birth to four of his children before their wagons were raided and Aelys was killed in the struggle. When he was 32, Naeva’s band was accused of the theft of several of a village’s horses and very nearly set upon by all the town’s men. Naeva managed to calm the situation down, find the missing horses (which they had not stolen) and offer that the tinkers would repair any supplies the villagers had for free to pay for the disturbance to the village, considered one of his greatest diplomatic moments, particularly because the tinkers came away from that village with three new converts to the Way of the Leaf, people Naeva welcomed as though they had always lived there, adopting them as his own sons and daughter. He re-married at age 34 to Oya, who has been his wife ever since, and given birth to his next three children.

Throughout his leadership, only two people have left the wagons, a relatively small number for so many years. There have been many attacks and many deaths, but also much joy and much music, and many, many stories.

 

[Winterwinds]

This has my stamp of approval, though I do not think it needs it.