Sagradong Yakal

Act 2 Character Design

> :angery:
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> The Gubat Banwa RPG Discord Server emote featuring Yakal, which is all you need to know about her character

Yakal is a kadungganan of the *You Will Hear Thunder* campaign and one of the ~~five~~ four Iron Pillars. She was the firstborn and binukot of Put'wanon datu, Datu Katutnga, before being disowned and taken in for Bladeweaver training after drawing swords against Iraya, her family's horohan.

She is the token girl of the warband and thus one of the main girlbosses of the campaign. She is also a Gamer Girl, as an avid and competitive player of "Yet Unnamed Game Bread's Designing but is Tentatively Called Gubat Banwarhammer".

Yakal fought with a kalis inscribed with the words *Sinumpaang Kidlat* as a Bladeweaver. She eventually switched to twin arquebuses named *Ligaya* and *Anak* made by the twins Amaya and Ilari, the creation of which led to her yawa blood activating (and her eyes changing to their current state) and her first real interaction with her biological father, the naga god Angahud-ngahud. She currently fights with living metal naga and buwaya gauntlets, also made by Amaya and Ilari. In combat, as a marksman/support build, she can deal ranged elemental damage and buff her allies with extra movement and damage.

## Appearance

Yakal has dark waist-length hair, lilac eyes with black sclera, and crimson teeth. She is covered in tattoos, notably up to her hands.

She usually wears a black top (a *backless* top since Act II, which is very important information), a golden sash, a patterned skirt, paruka sandals, and golden jewelry. During feasts and other social events, Yakal is typically one of the most elaborately-dressed people there. She is almost always armed, and only removes all her weapons when she's in the company of people she completely trusts.

She once wore folding spectacles on a cord, but since her eyes changed (and her eyesight had drastically improved), she wears smoky quartz sunglasses.

## Interesting Events

*You’ve been chased by yawa before, but someone saved you from them. Who was it? Do you still know them? How do you look at them now?*

As a child, Yakal was visited in her bukot by a yawa who smelled of sampaguita and sparked with black lightning. Her family believed that she was being attacked and thus drove the yawa away. Although she showed no external signs of change after this "attack" - excelling at her studies as usual - many of her family's servants as well as her own siblings began to feel unease at being alone with her for extended amounts of time.

Eventually, only Iraya - a horohan-in-training around the same age as her - would grow to not only tolerate Yakal's company but befriend her.

Yakal would learn much later, after the venture to fetch the Dark Star for the Iron Fleet, that the yawa was in fact her father, Angahud-ngahud, checking on his child.

*You were supposed to be wed but on your wedding day, a jealous suitor ~~killed~~ attempted to kill your spouse. What did you do? Do they still live? Do you still hunt them down?*

Yakal was betrothed to another binukot from the Pannai League, who had a growing reputation as a gifted tactician - such that settlements all over would follow him despite his youth. At this point, Iraya and Yakal had entered a point in their friendship where they both knew they had feelings for each other, but pretended to be nothing but best friends. Iraya had decided to kill Daguum, Yakal's betrothed, to protect her from the dangers of the revolts he was organizing (as well as from... marrying Daguum in general) and then run away with Yakal.

Just before Iraya could attack him, though, Yakal drew her own sword against her, protecting Daguum.

*War has led you at odds with a childhood friend. Who were they? Why are they against you now? Do you still know them?*

Yakal's (failed) wedding day would be the last time she and Iraya would see each other for many harvests. They would only encounter each other again at Alambihod - although Yakal did not know this until after the death of their datu and Iraya was sent after the warband.

## Relationships

### Warband

Somehow the Warband has decided that Yakal is their de facto leader, which is what is known in most regions of the Sword Isles as a Bad Idea.

She was betrothed to Daguum in their binukot days. Stopping his assassination was what began her training as a kadungganan. She generally thinks lowly of him, but has gained a begrudging respect for his strategic mind and unshakeable confidence in his own leadership (no matter how many dozens of lives are lost along the way). They share a sense of hubris and disregard for others' safety that would make them dangerous allies in a worse timeline. Or the current one, who knows.

Yakal had a crush on Melag ever since they met. After shattering him with the cold hard truth that they don't serve ham in Akai, she did not act on her festering feelings until the feast where - after both their relationships ended, Yakal's through Hiraya's death and Melag's after leaving Xiaoli in Alambihod - they both rebounded off of each other lol. They promised to remain friends, after which they hooked up again in the next feast but with Junhao involved. She confessed to loving Melag, which sent a number of the Iron Fleet's crew in a frenzy, since there was a betting pool for who Yakal would confess to first.

Yakal initially disliked Sakuna, viewing him as idealistic and naive, and the sentiment was somewhat mutual. This worsened when he chastised her for disrespecting the Returned (by giving them a sloppy burial) and *especially* when she began dating Hiraya. However, after Hiraya's death, she admitted while cutting his hair that she respects his ambition and commitment to his ideals. She continues to seek his advice, though often as a last resort.

Despite both being yawa-blooded, Yakal and Abyang have not interacted significantly throughout their entire time together. However, they maintain an amicable acquaintanceship, with Yakal giving orders and trusting that Abyang would carry them out without a hitch.

### Iraya

Iraya was Yakal's best friend - sole friend, really - in her childhood. She regularly visited Yakal in her bukot and sparred with her. Their relationship soon became romantic, however when Yakal insisted on pushing through with her marriage to Daguum, Iraya decided to assassinate him. When Yakal stopped her, Iraya was exiled.

Iraya was soon sent after the warband after Datu Hiraya's death, revealing that she was the datu's Swordmaster the entire time. After the warband escaped, she allied with Subang and fought them again. However, after being abandoned by Subang, Yakal took her into the Iron Fleet. They have since reconciled, and are currently in a relationship.

They compete with each other regularly, with Iraya being one of the few people who can reliably fluster Yakal. They have yet to confront the emotional baggage of Yakal's betrayals and their at least three mutual attempts to murder the other.

### Amaya and Ilari

Yakal views the twins as her daughters and prioritizes their wellbeing over everything and everyone else. Initially treating them as smiths useful to the warband, she began growing fond of the two, which eventually culminated into accepting them as her children after they were revealed to be half-Issohappan. They are the main reason her conviction changed to Family, as she fights for a world where the twins can grow up safe and happy.

### Zhuang Junhao

well they banged once

Yakal and Junhao are good friends, bonding through their shared experience of being sheltered, firstborn disappointments of royal families used to getting whatever they want.

### Datu Hiraya

Yakal and Hiraya were in a relationship during the warband's six-ish moons in Alumbihod, after hooking up at their first feast there. Yakal remained emotionally distant until they switched allegiances to the Iron Fleet and had to kill Hiraya during their raid. Some truly fuckboy lines escaped Yakal's mouth that day. Her guilt over Hiraya's death persists, to the extent that she sleeps with the balaraw containing Hiraya's soul.

## Trivia

* Yakal's speech alternates between Golden Web Tapestry and coarse, compshop gremlin language. No in-betweens.
* Yakal cannot cook. She has the book knowledge of culinary traditions, but in practice she will usually fuck up preparations and then burn the whole thing due to impatience. Due to her pride, she will also never admit that her cooking is bad.
* The kasuratan inscription on Yakal's kris was due to R- designing the weapon and neither he or Togi could figure out what to write on it until the term *Sinumpaang Kidlat* - initially thought to mean "Cursed Lightning" - ended up in the channel. Chingkaw would then reveal some time later that the Swordmaster's (and therefore Iraya's) monicker was *Gintunglong Kilat ,* which *also* means Cursed Lightning, completely by coincidence. They would soon discover that Cursed Lightning in Tagalog is actually **Sinumpang** Kidlat, and **Sinumpaang** Kidlat means "Promised Lightning".
* On account of how horny the campaign accidentally became, it's canon that Yakal is a top ~~except with Iraya lmao lmao~~. Also, nangangagat siya.
* Yakal's name means Sacred Yakal. She and all her siblings are named after different types of trees. In real life, Togi named her after the street their senior high school was at, and all of Yakal's siblings after the surrounding streets.