Tehlu - Rosales App

omg this took me forever //falls over. Fun fact, Tehlu is named after the primary deity in my favorite book, The Name of the Wind! In their mythology, Tehlu is a wrathful god who birthed himself among mortals to judge and punish them - by literally, not figuratively, bashing their heads in with a forge hammer. Like, even if you repented, he still hit you with the hammer. But afterwards he would make it hurt less, at least. (the more you know! <3) Also I hope it's ok that I stretched the app layout a little bit. T <T
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Tehlu
Male

Judge
Oracle (see also; jury, and executioner!)

History
Tehlu is the first child of an arranged marriage. His family had been trying for many years to produce offspring with blue flowers, through very selective arranged marriages and breedings. Tehlu was the first success amongst many central heterochromatic green and purple roses. However (possibly due to the nature of the breeding selection) he was born very weak, and blind. Because of this, Tehlu was quickly brushed to the side in favor of trying to produce another, healthier blue-rose. Tehlu was never mistreated, and was still plenty well taken care of. But as he grew older it became very apparent to him that he was a disappointment. Even as an infant, he had an uncanny knack for being able to tell when people were 'honest' or not (he would cry when handed off to a member of his family who spoke poorly of him or his health in other company, etc.). As an older child, he could quickly see through his parents when they told him there was nothing wrong with him (a statement which, while true, they themselves did not believe). As a result, Tehlu grew to become very jaded and bitter, and his interactions with other rosales as he grew older only served to further his distaste for his own species. Every day he saw the lies other rosales told, the secrets they kept and the selfishness they harbored in their hearts. By the time he was a young adult, Tehlu held disgust for other rosales, and felt no guilt in mistreating them. When his younger brother was born (a perfectly healthy, able-eyed, blue-flowered rosales) Tehlu fled his home in a rage, vowing never to return now that they had their 'prefect child.' Life became difficult for him on his own. He moved to one of the larger coastside cities, and began his life as a thief. He did whatever he deemed necessary to get by - picking pockets, pulling cons, burglary, you name it. He was known as a cruel and deceitful rosales who cared only for himself - what was worse, it was the truth. 

One day, Tehlu robbed the wrong house. On the coast, he broke into the luxurious manse of a wealthy noblewomans family. However the lady of the house was quickly alerted, and caught a glimpse of his face and distinctive white hair and blue flowers. By the next morning, wanted posters with his face were plastered all over the city - Lady Keldra was not a forgiving sort. Being unable to see the posters for himself, he found out the hard way that there was a heavy bounty on his head. He narrowly escaped capture and fled the city, greedy bounty hunters hot on his heels. Soon, no settlement was safe for him. Desperate to escape the ever-encroaching hunters, Tehlu sought refuge in the mountains. However, he had never had to fend for himself. While he was able to navigate easily in ordered, paved towns and homes, his blindness served as a severe hindrance out in the wilderness. He stumbled and staggered, got his hair caught and pulled in brambles, and was unable to find food or water for himself. Finally, having climbed as high into the mountains as he could, he collapsed, and waited to die.

When Tehlu came to, he was no longer in a sprawled mess outside. He was on a cot, somewhere indoors, and warm. His hair had been cut free of the brambles, he was bathed and his wounds were doctored. There were two rosales living there. They explained to Tehlu how they'd found him, starving and alone in the wilderness, and taken him in. Tehlu was immediately suspicious. He searched their hearts and minds for any hint of deceit or malice, some intention to take from him and leave him - but there was none. Although the truth was staring him in the face, he refused to believe it, and continued to act hostile to his saviors. In spite of this, the monks (as he would later find out they were, holy folk living in the mountains) continued to care for his wounds, feeding him spiced soup and soft bread. After a week of this, Tehlu could stand no more. He fled the house to a nearby river, where he fell to his knees and wept. When the sun was beginning to set, one of the monks came and found him, sat next to him, and asked him why he was crying. Tehlu finally confided in the monk everything - his sadness and feeling unwanted by his family, the loneliness and isolation in being surrounded by people who lied and cheated and took advantage of others, and his own feeling lost in the world. But what he wept for, he said, was all of the good rosales whom he had ignored. He had been so preoccupied with the evil in people that he had trampled the good around him, pretending that honest rosales did not exist, and in turn stealing from them and hurting them just like any other evil person would. He wept because he felt he was evil. 

Starting the following morning, Tehlu spent a year and a day studying under the monks. They taught him not only how to survive in the wilderness, but also how to survive himself - how to see both the good and the evil in the hearts of every rosales he met, and find the balance within himself as well. The monks told him that his ability to see peoples hearts was a blessing, and taught him the habit of meditating every evening to become closer to the goddess. At the end of his tutelage there, Tehlu began a pilgrimage. He traveled the countryside, performing good deeds wherever he went to atone for the crimes he had committed. He allowed himself to be arrested and brought before Lady Keldra, the noblewoman who had placed the bounty on him, and knelt before her court, apologizing for his actions with full sincerity. He had no money, but he offered to work for her as compensation for the damage he had done. Lady Keldra was very surprised by the turnaround from the thief. So surprised, in fact, that she dropped her charges against him. He spent a week with her and her family (whereupon she introduced him to her husband and her toddler, a pale little lad by the name of Luc .) When he left, the family considered him their friend. Finally, he made his way back to his hometown, where he visited his parents and brother. His mother, who had feared for her childs safety all this time, threw her arms around him and cried. Although he wouldn't stay there, Tehlu would never lose contact with his family again, and when his brother grew older, the two became very close friends. With his pilgrimage done, Tehlu returned to the mountains, and traveled to the very top of the mountain, where he disappeared into the mist.

No one knows what happened there - Tehlu does not speak of it. But when he returned to his teachers, he was different. His hair, once all white and dotted with blue roses, was now split down the middle, white and blue, and roses of blue, white, purple, thistle, and every shade in between grew. Ever since, Tehlu has lived in the mountains, offering his aid to those who seek his ability to see the truth. He occasionally journeys down, especially for festivals and gatherings.

Personality
Tehlu began life as a very angry child. Although he has grown out of the mentality, old habits die hard. While he is not truly cruel, Tehlu is a very harsh person. His words are sharp, and he does not hesitate to tell people exactly what he thinks. He does not put things lightly, or sugarcoat what he means. He dislikes riddles and vagueness, and so speaks directly and to-the-point. There is a running joke amongst those who know him to do or say ridiculously goofy things at random times to try and get a reaction out of him, as Tehlu is infamously stone-faced. It has never worked. Tehlu does not laugh at jokes. He does not make jokes. He does not find anything funny. Ever. People unfamiliar with him may think that he finds no joy in anything! But, fortunately for everyone involved, this isn't the case. He just isn't very good at expressing it. It's rumored that, if he thinks no one is watching, he can be seen smiling while drinking his tea.
Tehlu has an obsessive love of white rose tea. It has led to a bad habit of using his own white roses to make it when other supplies run short. This isn't a real health problem, but he dislikes it when his roses become lopsided (ex. he will have ten blue roses on one side, but only four white roses on the other, because he has used the rest for tea), and it's a self-induced source of agitation for him. So one of the best ways to get on his good side is to bring him fine white-rose tea, so that he doesnt have to make his own (although he insists that his tea is the best). 

It is advisable, however, to never, ever, try to bribe Tehlu. With anything. Even white rose tea. Nothing irks him more than people assuming he is a corrupt judge whose verdict can be bought. While he is no longer a criminal, Tehlu does still have some violent tendencies when he is roused to anger (which is surprisingly rare, in spite of his grumpy attitude) and so he is not against literally tossing someone out of a window. While he was sickly as a child, he had strengthened his constitution a great deal, and an adulthood of living in the mountains and sustaining himself there has made him very physically powerful - so you really don't want to get him truly angry. He can and will toss you out of a window.

Tehlu can be a little bit difficult to read, which can be frustrating, since he is a master at reading others, to the point that people swear he can read minds (untrue).  He is a little prideful, and so even if something does delight him, he will usually try to hide it and act aloof. All in all, he's actually a somewhat simple guy. He's embarrassed by the fact that he's a terrible dancer, and a voracious eater, and very proud of his tea. He loves recieving gifts given in good spirit, and tends to have an instant fondness for honest people. Typically, he makes a judgement on whether or not he likes someone as soon as he meets them and sees their hearts. And once he has an opinion on you, it's very difficult to change it - for better or for worse.

Relationships
None yet. T vT He has his two monk teachers, but no one plays them as of now.
If anyone has a blue-rose rosales that they don't have a backstory for yet, I'd love having someone to be Tehlu's brother. * v*


Rosales are a closed species by sweep-stakes
Tehlu was designed by sweep-stakes
but he belongs to me, LavvytheJackalope ~ <3 - v-

Made for rosales-garden.deviantart.com/