Oear

Protagonist

Nio (re-educators)
Kitty (The Winston's)
Crispin (The DeModese's)
Silias (The Rosens)
Ak'ar (The Vatish Clan' Name)
Oear (chosen name)

Male

At the beginning of the series, he is 21, and 27 at the end. There are also flashbacks to him younger.

Due to malnutrition as a child, Oear doesn't grow much, and has never reached over 150 pounds. On average he weighs 130 pounds.

5 foot 3 inches
160 cm

Black

During his time as a companion slave, Oear had his hair cut just below his shoulders, and then when he became a pleasure slave, he had his hair grow all the way down his back to his hips, and would have it styled in slave styles with gems and pendants. After escaping, Fear cut his hair again, this time very short, after many other slaves that cut their hair after joining the tribe to symbolize their re-birth. Once he cut it, he didn't cut it again. When Teo and the group found him, his hair was hidden under the shawl and once revealed was about the length of his shoulders.

None

Black

Vatish

When younger he was kept inside most of the time, and when outside was shielded from the sun. Later after escaping from slavery, his skin is much tanner. His skin tone changes tone depending on seasons and sun exposure, so it's hard to have one skin tone.

Small-shouldered and thin, his body type comes from both being castrated at a young age and the malnutrition growing up.

Oear's slave face tattoos, which are two solid lines on each cheek bone, with the upper one being slightly longer and the upper right line having a dot on the end. The two lines on his left cheek are the standard slave tattoo, that all Cullense slaves have that mark them as slaves, and the lines and dot on the right cheek the slave mark of the Rosen noble household. In between his eyebrows on his forehead there is a smallish three looped flower tattoo, which marks him as a pleasure slave.

Despite being free from slavery since 19, and trying everything to break away from that life, he still subconsciously has mannerisms from his slavery. He, at least for the beginning, tends to follow behind the rest, keep his head down, and not talk unless spoken too. While the story progresses though Oear becomes more confident, especially after joining and later leading the slave rebellion.

Oear's motives change through out his life, from when he's a young child to him being older, as most people do. When he's young, before becoming a pleasure slave, he had been a very obedient child who only wanted to please the masters of the house. He now hates that part of himself that wanted that. Later the drive to escape lead him to kill, and do anything to get to the north.

Oear's main flaws come from himself, with his sometimes overbearing fear of his past and hatred of himself. Fear is what drives him, but also what stops him. He fears what he was, and blames himself for what happened to him. His main flaws comes from not being able to forgive people or give people a second chance, which includes himself. When he has a hard time forgiving Katherine for hating him as a child, he also can't forgive himself for what happened. He was raised with the knowledge that he already had his path carved out for him and that it was expected to have sexual abuse to happen, but also the guilt that it was wrong for him to be "un-clean" while a child's companion. The system the re-educators, the nobles, and his fellow slaves thought through placed all the blame onto Oear, and pleasure slaves like him.
Another flaw of his is his inability to open up and trust others. This was not always so, but after the abuse he faced as a companion in the DeModse house, he closed up to nearly everyone, with Lord Rosen being the one exception.

Oear's prejudices mostly come from his early years. He has a dislike for most nobles, finding them spoiled and untruthful. Many people he suffered under as a child he has a dislike for. He also, like other Vatish slaves, glorified the northern Vatish clans, which lead him to support them blindly even after they were unwelcoming and prejudice themselves.

Oear has a talent of languages and strategy, which allowed him to learn Vatish just by listening to those around him. He also speaks Cullen and High Cullen, High Cullen being a separate dialect spoken only by the noble class.

Oear never had time for many hobbies as a child, or at least nothing he really enjoyed. When he got older he found himself enjoying things such as horse riding and hunting, but as a slave rarely got to do this things.

Oear is a INTJ-A, if going by the Myer Brig test. However, his personality has changed over the years. When younger, Oear lived in a sort of innocent state, where he blindly excepted his life, unaware of what was in store. He enjoyed playing games and making friends, made fun of his companion, Henry Winston, with his friend Toby (a gardeners son), enjoyed sweet things and was overall a very free childlike person. However, he changed, becoming closed off and quiet during his time in the DeModse house. When he was bought by the Rosen family, he expected the same abuse there, but when Richard Rosen protected him from his father, he fell somewhat in love.
After escaping and moving in with the clan, Oear closed off personality returned, and accepted the clan's harsh treatment without complaint.
During the time throughout the book, Oear begins to return somewhat to that more open and playful personality he had as a child, but never fully returns to it.

Oear was castrated at a young age, which lead him to grow less and his voice unbroken. This also lead him to have less of a sex drive than most. This condition has been held against him, and has sometimes has lead to him feel less than other people. He was also malnourished as a child, which made him shorter and skinnier than others. For more notes on why he was castrated at a young age and was still made a pleasure slave, look in the notes.

While a slave, Oear was taught to pray and worship the religion of The One. Later when he was with the the Vatish, he participated in their traditions and religion, even though he never really believed in it.

Because of being a ex-slave and an advocate for the liberation of slavery, he is quite anti-big government. He has a bitter hatred for the old fashion caste system in place in Cullen, specially the noble caste.

Light Blue. Growing up he was often dressed to the opposite color of his companion, meaning black silk and white lace. Light blue was the color of clothes Lord Rosen gave to him when they first meet, which was different than all the other clothes he had had before that. While he does try to hide and forget about his past, light blue still is his favorite color.

Oear's favorite food, though he won't admit it, is the fancy sweets he would get as a small child in the Winston house.

Spring (if in our would it would be May 13th)

Oear's education is very limited due to him being a slave. However he had more education than most slaves, as he did get to sit on some of the lessons his first companion, Henry Winston, had. However after he got older and his companions went to school, he was kept from learning. He was not allowed to read how to read or write, but due to having those lessons as a kid, he knew the basics of reading.

Born to two slaves from the noble house Dalwin, a smaller noble house from in the hills outside of Agathan, Oear was sold to the re-educators as a toddler. He was the ninth baby of the year, and therefore named Nine, or his nickname Nio. He was kept there until he was 6, when he began his first companionship with the young son of the Lord Winston. He was rented by the house for vacations and some other occasions before being bought at the age of 8. He stayed with the family until he was 10, when he was bought by the House DeModse for the Lord Moris DeModse and his young children, Katherine and William DeModse. He suffered much abuse in the house, from verbal, physical, and sexual, with most of it coming from his master, Lord Moris DeModse. His experience in the house changed his personality significantly from a child who trusted those put in place above him, to a person who was scared of most people and fearful of those around him. After all the abuse he faced, he began to understand his place in the world according to those around him, and truly got the future laid out for him.
When he is 14, he is given as a gift to the powerful Rosen family as a companion for the 16 year old heir, Richard Rosen. He falls in love with Richard Rosen after he protects Oear from his father, who, similarly to Lord Moris DeModse, wants to use Oear for himself and as a pawn in a political game. Richard Rosen then returns Oear's feelings, and when Oear is 18, Richard makes him his pleasure slave, promising to make his only pleasure slave and to love him. However, as Oear gets older, Richard gets two other pleasure slaves. Oear feels betrayed and tries to convince Richard to give away the other slaves, which makes Richard angry. He precedes to beat and then rape Oear for the first time. He later apologizes to Oear, who says he forgives him. When Oear turns 19, and Richard is 22, Richards father Lord Francis Rosen dies, making Richard take the mantel of head of the family. After this, Richard is pressured to get more pleasure slaves, and to give up Oear as he is seen as old and more of his father's slave than Richards. Oear fears for his own life, as many pleasure slaves are killed once they reach their mid-20's. Richard however doesn't want to kill or get rid of Oear, but pressured to at least get him out of sight, he takes and locks him up in one of the families hunting lodges in the countryside. The separation of the two allows Oear to begin to see the situation a bit clearer, and comes to the conclusion that Richard will be forced at one point or another to have him killed, and with the separation, it will become a matter of time before Richard forgets his promises and gets bored of Oear. Oear then plans his escape from his prison, both killing a guard and tying up a servant in the process to escape. He flees north to the River Cancen, where he has to get a ferry ride in order to get across and into the northern marsh lands. He tells about the fact he had no money made him make his body an offering, which the ferryman took, and he suddenly having a panic attack after realizing what was going on and the weight of nearly 20 years of abuse coming down at once. He convinced the man to give him a ride, and once he landed into the desolate, cold, and mud filled lands of the north, he recounts that "it felt as if the sky was going to swallow me whole. I wondered if I was dead, and the ferryman had been some kind of bringer of death, taking me to the underworld. The mountains in the horizon seemed more like Judges here to pass judgment on my life, and the never ending sky the hand of The One here to pluck my soul from my body." He tried to make his way up to the mountains, but collapsed at some point in the marshes, and is found by a a group of hunter from the Sa' mar Clan, and is brought back to the camp were he is taken care of by one of the clan's healers, an old woman named Mag'da who takes care of him and teaches him the basics of clan life, as well as teaching him Vatish. He is able to have a "rebirth" ceremony take place, but when the clan's leader offers to take away his slave tattoo's with a technique called "skin shaving", he refuses. He is then shamed for his "vanity", as while skin shaving does get rid of the tattoo's, it deforms your face. Refusing the ceremony of re-birth and the skin shaving, he wears a hood that covers his face as punishment for his vanity. The refusal also sets him back even farther with other ex-slaves, as it seems to insult him and those who had gone through the skin shaving. He is only allowed to stay with the clan after Mag'da vouches he can still be of use. While the treatment from the other clan members is harsh, once Mag'da dies, Oear is treated even harsher, especially by other ex-slaves. Oear doesn't tend to fight these attacks and taunts, as deep down he believes he deserves it in a way.
When Teo first meets him, he is a low member of the clan unable to hunt or fight due to his small stature, weaving, sewing, or crafting due to his alienation from the rest of the clan, and instead does smaller tasks like cleaning and gathering for the healers. He is the first one to see the pair of foreigners, and leads them back to the clan only to claim they were attacking him. Once Too and Gilda drop all their weapons to show they mean no harm, Oear is pushed aside. He is however called to be a translator for the chiefs when Teo and Gilda come, and is sent as a translator for them by the clans chiefs. Oear sees this as a sign they want to get rid of him, and therefore doesn't like either Teo or Gilda for taking him away from the place he wants to belong.

So I am writing these notes in order to clear up some stuff about why certain things are done in order to make things make sense. That sentence works, right? Whatever.
These very good questions were raised by a critique done by Caboose https://www.notebook.ai/users/199252
Thank you!
On the matter of castration and why pleasure slaves in Cullen and this world are castrated at a young age. Castration is done as a way of controlling the slaves, and are done on both female and male pleasure slaves. For males, the testicles are taken out, but the penis kept, and for females the clitoris is mutilated. Female pleasure slaves are given a medicine (like a made up birth control) that make them infertile when taken. The reason given to people for castration was that if a female slave were given to a male, or a male to a female, pregnancy couldn't happen. The societal reason for castration is as a form of control over the slaves in order to make them less human, and to take away their ability to procreate, and in theory, to take away any pleasure the person might have during sex. The final reason for castration, for males at least, is to keep them smaller and less of "a threat". These are my thoughts. I have done research on castration and historical uses of castration and related things, so I have some backing for it. However, if you have more idea's on this or questions, feel free to ask.