Ma'Shassa

Description

• Appearance

  Ma’Shassa is small for a Cathay Khajiit, standing only five feet and nine inches tall. He has the trim physique of a dilettante, lacking either the developed muscle mass of a dedicated warrior or the reedy disposition of a committed scholar. Years of foundational martial training have left him with toned limbs and a sleek build, but his posture is that of a shy bookworm rather than a confident swordsman.
  
  Ma’Shassa’s late grandfather Siddhar-Jo had often avowed that his own father was a High Elf. Shassa himself has always been dubious about this tenuous claim to elvish heritage in the family, but it does account for the tone of his fur; a rich Altmeri gold, with golden-brown patternings reminiscent of an Alinori lynx. Men and Mer tend to dismiss all cats as looking pretty much the same, but a fellow Khajiit might describe Shassa as a fairly handsome specimen. Albeit somewhat effete.
  
  Ma’Shassa’s facial features are fairly triangular, with a weak chin, a sharp snout, broad sloping cheeks and scruffy jowls. His round eyes are a rainy blue-green colour, framed by markings that mirror frown-lines and tear-streaks, all of which lends him a look of perpetual anxiety. Foregoing with the traditional Khajiiti braids or dreadlocks, he wears his mane-hair in loose bangs, sometimes roughly trimmed in the long bowl-cut style popular among Nibenese academics. He can, however, be rather neglectful in his grooming habits.
  
  Ma’Shassa’s profession as a mercenary belies his studious bearing. His body language often comes across as guarded and a little awkward, especially for a Khajiit. He walks with a shuffling gait, keeping his tail close to his body. His footfalls are light and graceful in spite of all that, owing something to natural feline felicity. His voice is light and raspy, with a subdued Elsweyri accent. He speaks fluently in both his native Ta’agra and common Cyrodiilic, adopting the familiar Khajiiti dialect of the latter. He has also studied the ancient Aldmeri tongue. When he wants to seem more sophisticated, he will make awkward attempts at conforming to Imperial speech patterns.

• Personality

  Ma’Shassa is driven by three things in life; a thirst for knowledge, a hunger for respect, and a deep-seated desire to prove himself to his family - regardless of their unconditional love for him. Ma’Shassa wants to become a renowned Spellsword in order to live up to the legacy of the father he never really knew. In many ways he is the spitting image of Ra’Shaddha, who became a Spellsword in the hopes of repairing the tarnished image of Siddhar-Jo, his own failure of a father. Moreover, Siddhar-Jo himself lost his life trying to win the approval of his supposed father, the Altmer Mage Uriendil. Paternal issues seem to run in the family.
  
  Ma’Shassa is an aspiring intellectual with a shy and approachable character. He has a friendly manner about him, and demonstrates a wry, witty sense of humour. However, Shassa is still quite young, and young people can behave rather foolishly. A more conventional Khajiit might see him as a little too urbane; a complacent city-cat with little in the way of proper life experience. Though he has been trained in swordsmanship and combat, he has never been in a real life-or-death battle. He is also quite fond of animals, especially cats and dogs, which some people find amusing in the former case and strange in the latter. Or vice-versa.
  
  Ma’Shassa’s defining trait is his boundless curiosity - not uncommon for a cat. Although he can be shy and cautious, his curiosity usually wins out in the end, compelling him to take risks he normally wouldn't dream of in the pursuit of that precious knowledge he so esteems. Shassa's cerebral nature can make him come across as a little awkward or stuffy - at least to those who live in the real world rather than their own heads. But in saying that, he’s still a far cry from the ponderous preeners and arrogant snobs usually encountered in his particular field of study. Shassa has no pretensions to grandiloquence, and is often in awe of other academics for the breadth and depth of their knowledge.
  
  Ma’Shassa strives to speak kindly and politely, prefers to avoid confrontation if he can, and tries to see the best in people. To his fault he can be petty and condescending, and his clever tongue can sting when he’s in a spiteful mood. He also has an annoying habit of using needlessly complicated words in casual conversation. He gets nervous around large crowds, and flounders hopelessly when made to speak in public. Whilst reading, pondering or otherwise occupying his mind, he tends to shut out the rest of the world. He is surprisingly self-conscious around other Khajiit, worried that since he was raised in Cyrodiil he might behave strangely and come across as an outsider amongst his own people.
  
  Those who know Ma’Shassa have noticed an excitable side to the usually taciturn fellow. He will become gregarious to a disarming degree if someone should happen to broach the subject of Tamrielic history, magical theory, philosophy, theology, linguistics - or any of the amateur scholar’s various arcane obsessions. His rheumy eyes will light up like festive ghost-lanterns and he will proceed to prattle on and on, his speech contorting with the kind of obscure erudition that baffles anyone without an academic background. In particular, he will obsess over the most minute details of ancient landmarks, antiques and artifacts. He exasperates his friends when he gets like this.

• Principles

  On Race: His upbringing in the cultural melting-pot of Leyawiin has fostered a fairly cosmopolitan attitude in Ma’Shassa. A student of history, the young Khajiit finds the exotic cultures of Men and Mer quite fascinating. He firmly adheres to scholarly standards of thinking, and so makes an earnest effort to avoid prejudiced opinions where the other races of Tamriel are concerned. He himself has been a victim of racist discrimination, and he absolutely detests the common stereotype of Khajiits as an unscrupulous pack of criminals, degenerates and drug addicts. In spite of this, Shassa harbours a distrustful attitude towards the Dunmer people due to their practice of slavery, especially considering his ancestors were refugees from Morrowind's slave trade. As a child he was also somewhat wary of Argonians - the two beast races have a history of animosity - but his adolescent friendship with the Argonian Am-Sa largely dispelled any lingering unease.
  
  On Vice: Ma’Shassa has seen the destructive effects of the drug Skooma for himself. After witnessing his mother’s addiction to it, as well as reports of what his brother Amon has been doing in Corinthe, he has determined never to touch the stuff. But the same cannot be said for unrefined Moonsugar, as all Khajiit are born already addicted to the saccharine substance. Like every traditionally raised cat, Ma’Shassa attributes a certain spiritual significance to the consumption of Moonsugar. As a result he has the characteristic sweet-tooth of his race, living on a diet of sugared meats, sweetbreads, honeyed milks and beverages; especially sweet chamomile tea, his regular evening repast. It bears mentioning that he is also a teetotaler, finding alcohol distasteful, and he likewise considers the habit of smoking pipe-weed to be obnoxious, repulsive and unhealthy.
  
  On Faith: Religiously speaking, Ma'Shassa is something of a reluctant skeptic, although he would prefer to describe himself as an agnostic or a euhemerist, rather than an atheist. He has studied and compared the various pantheons of Tamriel, arriving at conclusions similar to those outlined in the theories of the Monomyth; particularly in regards to the syncretic fabrications of the Alessian Doctrines. In spite of his scepticism, a sense of cultural integrity compels him to maintain the observance of his own Khajiiti pantheon. He offers his perfunctory prayers chiefly to Alkosh, the Dragon King of Cats; Magrus, the Cat's Eye; Azurah, the Dawn and Dusk; and the deified Twin Moons of Jone and Jode, the ja-Kha'jay. Shassa is aware of his own hypocrisy in worshipping gods he deduces to be little more than thinly-veiled cultural appropriations of Meric and Cyro-Nordic deities, but he can't help feeling that his mother and grandmother would somehow find out if he ever neglected to give his due respects to the heavens.