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Description
Name: Tayu
Age: 14
Nation: Earth
Bender: No
Features: Brown hair, green eyes. When she tells stories with her masks she wears dark eye makeup to create the illusion of a seemless transition between mask and eyes.
Status/Occupation: Traveling masked storyteller. A master storyteller like her father can use up to 30 masks in one performance, without the audience being aware of the transitions; Tayu has made it up to 7 so far.
Family: Two siblings, both younger. Parents both wanderers, as are her grandparents and her aunt, uncle, and cousins. They travel together as a group. Father inherited the position of Story Master from his father, mother is in charge of the costumes. Grandmother is the only one allowed to take care of the priceless old and very rare ‘story masks;’ the ones Tayu carries with her on her solo trip are carved for her by her uncle, and not of the same quality, though they serve the same purpose. One single antique ‘story mask’ can be worth what a single performer can make in a year, and they are closely guarded heirlooms.
History: Tayu has grown up on the road, and has been part of the family’s performances for longer than she can remember. Completely enthralled by the magic her parents could command by the light of the fire, young Tayu would curl up next to them and listen, wide eyed. Her involuntary gasps and cheers provided an inadvertant chorus for their stories, and her parents were quick to recognize that the audience responded very positively to their ingenious daughter’s input.
By the time Tayu was 7, she was already helping out with small parts, and being trusted with some of the lesser storymasks. She and her cousin Raki (age 8) would parade around the makeshift stage, carrying out their parts with childish enthusiam and only a bit of prompting. As the two children grew older, though, Raki became more shy and retiring, and removed himself from masked storytelling, prefering instead to follow in his father’s footsteps and becoming a master puppeteer. Tayu tried her hand at her cousin’s new profession, but proved hopeless at it: her puppets were more apt to look like frenetic wooden grasshoppers than the amazingly lifelike portrayals her uncle and cousin could accomplish.
When Tayu turned thirteen, she began her first step towards becoming a master storyteller; her first solo journey. Raki, who had just returned from his own year-long trip, mischieviously gave his cousin two well-used puppets (one of the vanished Avatar and one of Fire Lord Ozai) and advised her to get used to using them, as that particular Story was in high demand. He warned her, though, not to perform it in any public place under control of the Fire Nation…in fact, he advised her to destroy both puppets if she even suspected that the Fire Nation soldiers had caught sight of them.
So far Tayu has not had to destroy the puppets, and her skill at manipulating them, though minimal at first, has grown with practice.
Personality: Tayu comes across as easy and outgoing, with a great enthusiasm for her stories, but she has an innate distrust of letting people see anything of her personality beyond the staged performance. She has a tendancy to assume a role when meeting new people, rather than being herself.
Tayu has no love for the Fire Nation as a whole, but she has no objection to the people themselves. When she is traveling in Fire-Nation occupied territory she will happily put on performances for any who offer shelter or a few coins, but she is always careful to edit out certain parts. She has a strong instinct for survival that she tries to balance against her distaste for censorship.
From growing up on the road, Tayu has an innate sense of direction, and has travelled all of the major (and most of the minor) routes across the Earth Kingdom. She has a very quick ear and a didadic memory, and can pick up new stories…and new information…quickly.

Description
Name: Tayu
Age: 14
Nation: Earth
Bender: No
Features: Brown hair, green eyes. When she tells stories with her masks she wears dark eye makeup to create the illusion of a seemless transition between mask and eyes.
Status/Occupation: Traveling masked storyteller. A master storyteller like her father can use up to 30 masks in one performance, without the audience being aware of the transitions; Tayu has made it up to 7 so far.
Family: Two siblings, both younger. Parents both wanderers, as are her grandparents and her aunt, uncle, and cousins. They travel together as a group. Father inherited the position of Story Master from his father, mother is in charge of the costumes. Grandmother is the only one allowed to take care of the priceless old and very rare ‘story masks;’ the ones Tayu carries with her on her solo trip are carved for her by her uncle, and not of the same quality, though they serve the same purpose. One single antique ‘story mask’ can be worth what a single performer can make in a year, and they are closely guarded heirlooms.
History: Tayu has grown up on the road, and has been part of the family’s performances for longer than she can remember. Completely enthralled by the magic her parents could command by the light of the fire, young Tayu would curl up next to them and listen, wide eyed. Her involuntary gasps and cheers provided an inadvertant chorus for their stories, and her parents were quick to recognize that the audience responded very positively to their ingenious daughter’s input.
By the time Tayu was 7, she was already helping out with small parts, and being trusted with some of the lesser storymasks. She and her cousin Raki (age 8) would parade around the makeshift stage, carrying out their parts with childish enthusiam and only a bit of prompting. As the two children grew older, though, Raki became more shy and retiring, and removed himself from masked storytelling, prefering instead to follow in his father’s footsteps and becoming a master puppeteer. Tayu tried her hand at her cousin’s new profession, but proved hopeless at it: her puppets were more apt to look like frenetic wooden grasshoppers than the amazingly lifelike portrayals her uncle and cousin could accomplish.
When Tayu turned thirteen, she began her first step towards becoming a master storyteller; her first solo journey. Raki, who had just returned from his own year-long trip, mischieviously gave his cousin two well-used puppets (one of the vanished Avatar and one of Fire Lord Ozai) and advised her to get used to using them, as that particular Story was in high demand. He warned her, though, not to perform it in any public place under control of the Fire Nation…in fact, he advised her to destroy both puppets if she even suspected that the Fire Nation soldiers had caught sight of them.
So far Tayu has not had to destroy the puppets, and her skill at manipulating them, though minimal at first, has grown with practice.
Personality: Tayu comes across as easy and outgoing, with a great enthusiasm for her stories, but she has an innate distrust of letting people see anything of her personality beyond the staged performance. She has a tendancy to assume a role when meeting new people, rather than being herself.
Tayu has no love for the Fire Nation as a whole, but she has no objection to the people themselves. When she is traveling in Fire-Nation occupied territory she will happily put on performances for any who offer shelter or a few coins, but she is always careful to edit out certain parts. She has a strong instinct for survival that she tries to balance against her distaste for censorship.
From growing up on the road, Tayu has an innate sense of direction, and has travelled all of the major (and most of the minor) routes across the Earth Kingdom. She has a very quick ear and a didadic memory, and can pick up new stories…and new information…quickly.