Rik'EEEE'k'chik Tukkatukka, Nezumi

"There is nothing more annoying, or more dangerous, than a bored Ratling."
    -- Kaiu Tzuste

Statistics

BODY 4 Deceit 8 CHI 7 Info/Shadowlands 11 MIND 6 Info/Tloo'cha'thrr (Nezumi improv funny-telling) 10 REFLEXES 11 Info/Tribal Lore 10 Info/Other Nezumi tribes 8 Martial Arts 13 Intrusion 10

Schticks

Fu schticks: Crane Stance, Wing of the Crane
Unique schticks: Distraction, Hard to Hit

Weapons

Kiseru
Cast iron rice pot

Wealth level: poor
 

Background

At least thats what he tells you if you ask.

In truth, he is seeking someone.  Recently, a group of soldiers came into the Shadowlands.  The Ratlings of Rik's tribe, the Forever Racing Tomorrow tribe, followed them at a discrete distance, watching them.  The soldiers wore blue armor, like the Crab humans whom the Ratlings had befriended, but of a lighter hue, and instead of a Crab they wore some sort of bird as their symbol.  The matriarch of Rik's tribe was at first uncertain of who these humans were, and what was their intent, so the tribe followed them for several days without revealing themselves.  Then the blue clad humans were attacked by goblins.  The matriarch decided to intervene, and the Ratlings attacked the goblins to help the blue clad humans.  But instead of being thankful for the aid, the leader of the blue clad humans turned on the Ratling matriarch, screaming about "honor" - a concept which confused the Ratlings no end.  Apparently this human felt that it was more important to have "honor" and be dead, even if it meant rising as an undead minion of the Fu Leng human, than to defeat their foes and live.

The Matriarch's last mistake was to laugh at this claim on the part of the blue clad human.

The blue clad human led his men in an attack on the Ratlings.  Most were slaughtered.  Only a few, Rik included, managed to escape the wrath of the blue clad humans.  Since that time Rik has dedicated himself to tracking down the blue clad human who led those who slaughtered his tribe, and killing him.  The Crab humans were too busy fighting the minions of Fu Leng to be much help, but they did point him in the direction of the Dragon Humans, who might be able to advise him.  They also told him that the blue clad humans were known as Crane, though they did not know the name of the Crane human who led the Cranes.

Rik isn't dumb - he plays the buffoon because he knows that humans are more likely to underestimate him if he plays the clown all the time.  In his heart, though, burns a flame of vengeance.  It is only a small flame at the moment - Rik must carefully harbor it, never letting it grow, never letting it die out.  When Rik finds the man who led the treacherous attack on his tribe, however, he has sworn that only one of them will survive the meeting.
 

Personality

He doesn't generally carry any sort of weapon except a big iron pipe.  When he knows he is going into combat he augments this with a cast iron rice pot.  In combat he tends to dodge and distract opponents.  Only rarely does he actually damage an opponent directly.

Rik'EEEE'k'chik's name means "Great friend of all hairless ones."  He has just reach Nezumi adulthood - meaning he is about 7 years old.  He is from the Forever Racing Tomorrow tribe, a very large Nezumi tribe living in what Rokugani consider to be Hiruma territory.

Way of the Nezumi
The Nezumi are described in The Way of the Ratling, an L5R supplement written by Rich Wulf, Shawn Carman, Seth Mason, and Rick Raven.  This is actually a very good, very "meaty" supplement, absolutely worth the money if you ever intend to have Ratlings play a significant role in an L5R campaign.  The only "Way of the Clans" supplement that approaches it is The Way of the Scorpion, but the Ratling book is far crunchier.  An excerpt is available in Acrobat PDF format from AEG's Web site.