Vashi-Ko

Early Life

Vashi was born under the sign of the Ritual, on the nineteenth of Morning Star, in the five-hundredth-and-sixty-seventh year of the Second Era in Lainalten, Western Skyrim, on the border of the Reach.Vashi's parents moved to Skyrim to escape the Knahaten Flu which ravaged Elsweyr and killed many in its wake. Vashi's mother fell ill from travel fatigue and the cold climate of Skyrim and never fully recovered. She died in childbirth two years later with Vashi, her only child. Vashi's father was left to raise Vashi alone, racked with grief from losing his wife, partially blaming Vashi for her death and neglecting her needs. Vashi's father became an alcoholic, and was emotionally absent from her life.Vashi scarce was given three meals a day, and what food she did get was low quality, stunting her growth. Vashi was never taken proper care of by her father. Vashi was also gender dysphoric, and wanted to live her life as a girl, something her father also resented her for. Being a khajiit in the realm of nords, she was able to somewhat seamlessly socially transition as a child, and hardly anyone knew how to tell the difference between a girl khajiit and a boy khajiit. Vashi was content with herself and her identity, for nowDue the abuse she faced at home, Vashi found ways to keep herself busy and away from home, rather than be stuck in the same house as her father. However, the other nord kids were distrustful of her as a khajiit, and she had few friends to spend time with. Consequently, Vashi escaped into the realm of literature and study to keep her mind away from her life situation, and learned to read and write with help from Mages Guild tutors who allowed her to stay within their hall for much of the day so that she didn't have to be at home or on the streets unsupervised.The guild mages became aware and concerned about Vashi's malnourishment and mistreatment when she began spending time in the hall, and asked if she was getting proper care from her father. Vashi didn't want to answer truthfully, so she lied and said she was a Dagi Khajiit which are smaller by nature. The guild mages knew why she couldn't answer truthfully and began giving her food and water and offered her shelter whenever she wanted. Vashi loved this arrangement and she began to listen in on lectures and observed mages practicing their spells.

Up-and-coming

Vashi, at a remarkably young age, proved her ability in understanding the basics of magic, and was allowed to become a full member of the guild at only age nine. She took advantage of this membership to engross herself in lore and magic, and began practicing novice destruction, restoration, and alteration spells. Vashi made friends in the guild and liked to show off the new spells she was learning, much to the enthusiasm of her mentors and the other associates of the guild. Vashi gained her "Ko" Honorific around this time, being well known within the community for her aptitude for magic and propensity for reading and learning.Three years later, the Soulburst occurred, which affected all of the mages in Lainalten and all across Tamriel. Vashi's progress in learning magic, much like her early physical development, was stunted for a time, and it took her and the other mages many months to recover from this catastrophe. Despite the issues with practicing magic, she continued to read and learn lore. The guild steward allowed her access to more advanced books, some of which taught more about the Daedra in a mostly unbiased way. Vashi became obsessed with the "Demon of knowledge", Hermaeus Mora, and wanted to learn more. The Mages there frowned on her interest in Mora, warning her of the dangers of the Woodland Man. She of course obliged and agreed to put it to rest, but when she was alone, she continued her study of the elusive Prince.Three more years passed and Molag Bal's Planemeld began. This event didn't much effect Lainalten itself, but it did severely effect the Mages Guild, and the now-fifteen year old Vashi. Access to new books, new materials, and new spells dwindled over the next two years. After two nearly back-to-back stalls of her learning and growth as a mage, Vashi became very frustrated with life, and unable to distract herself in her studies, her male puberty changing her body became a forefront issue in her life. Her frustration with life only worsened.

Adulthood

Vashi spent the next year studiously learning alchemy, believing she could craft potions which would stop her puberty, or force her to have the puberty belonging to the opposite sex. She hardly spoke to anyone at all about anything other than her work, and she was able to go out into the world to harvest ingredients to practice and learn from. She poured over tomes detailing the medicinal properties of herbs and other reagents, and was not far from figuring out how to brew such a potion.
_{(author's note: this is basically the fantasy version of Hormone Replacement Therapy, which is synthesized in much the same way in real life)}While out gathering reagents for her transition related purposes, she made a point to ask locals about legends regarding the Woodland Man. Vashi cross-referenced these legends together, which overwhelmingly pointed her towards the Pine Forest of Falkreath to be where Mora cultists once had a presence, and decided to track down where a shrine to the Prince of Knowledge may be. She set out to the town of Oakwood to begin her search, hoping she may discover more clues and stories that may pinpoint any notable locations, and upon arriving in Oakwood, she found exactly what she'd betted on; a town of menial workers, superstitious Nord folk scared to death of the daemons of the Pine Forest. Resting for a few nights in Oakwood, she continued to pry the locals for legends before setting out to track down these leads herself.Vashi soon discovered, though, that Hermaeus Mora will not be found unless He wants to be found, and Vashi ended up empty handed for the first three weeks of her search. Just as she was about to give up, the Woodland Man Himself appeared before her, a grotesque assemblage of almost fungal-looking growths writhing from the trunk of a tree. It spoke to her and identified himself as Hermamora, The Golden Eye, the Gardener of men, Hermaeus Mora, and stated He knew she was looking for Him. Hermaeus Mora could use a prodigious and ambitious servant like herself and promised her a reward in exchange for the first snowfall to land on Oakwood in the fall. Vashi asked Him why He would want something such as that, and Mora replied simply "Memory"Vashi waited in Oakwood, taking up a small job to earn her keep in the inn, tending the bar and serving drinks, in exchange for a room and food. It was only the month of Sun's Height when this arrangement was made, so Vashi would have to live and work in oakwood for many months before snowfall began in Frostfall. This was the first job she had ever worked, and the money she made vastly increased the possibilities of her alchemical research. She began to buy reagents, rather than manually find them, which quickened her work greatly. It did not take her long to figure out the formula for her potion, and she began testing them on herself, perfecting them and streamlining the process to brew them, and she finally began her medical transition.When the snow began to fall on oakwood, dutifully, she gathered as much snow as she could in a few glass bottles and promptly returned to the forest where Mora was patiently awaiting her gift to him. In exchange, Vashi's reward would be becoming Hermaeus Mora's willing servant in southern Skyrim, and their shenanigans began.

Adulthood cont.

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Fun facts

Vashi has her own special brew of lemon-lime mead that tastes a suspicious amount like SpriteAccurate World Map is an addon I initially developed for ESO that overhauls the world map to make it more geographically lore accurate. In the bottom left-hand corner of the map, there's a watermark that mentions Vashi-Ko and Grelar Maloren as the authors of the map in order to make the map a competing in-universe map published by real people, rather than a replacement of the map commonly used by adventurers, since that map has its own lore for existing.

Design Notes

Vashi's physical design is most apparently based on snow leopards, one of my favorite animals. She also has bobcat-like ear tufts because I can do whatever I want.I decided to make Vashi, and most of my OCs, trans, because I am trans and I find it easier to relate to them and express myself through them than if they were cis. It adds a greater depth to my understanding of them and my ability to roleplay as them if their life experiences and thought processes are similar to mine.

Character Inspiration

I first created Vashi in 2019 as a follower mod in TES V Skyrim, and she eventually spiraled out of control into a full-fledged OC of mine during covid when I first created her in ESO. Further iterations of Vashi had her as a colovian, an anequine, and eventually full-circle back to being from Skyrim. Each iteration built on her character until she became one of my most fleshed-out OCs.Vashi's name is a feminine version of Vasha, that one khajiit you can possibly kill when inducted into the Dark Brotherhood in TES V Skyrim. Loosely, Vasha is also Vashi's deadname, though I really don't care what her deadname is to be quite frank. They are not intended to be the same character (obviously lol).