CottonMouth

CottonMouth of The House of Serpents

* + Copperhead and ManyHorned are the closest she has to family

## Backstory

CottonMouth is a Namer from Karthesi. It is known that Karthesi has a long and proud tradition of the White Arts, and they are particularly well known for producing the most creative Namers in the world. Unfortunately, there are very few of them as the process is long and strenuous and seldom leaves one with both their life and sanity. Those interested in Naming go to the city of Imre to get an apprenticeship, as it is home to the only Academy of the Naming arts. The Academy is split in three competing houses: The House of Candles, The House of Stone (or Keys? Not sure yet) and The House of Serpents. The House of Serpents has a reputation for back-stabbing and for shaping especially sly students.

CottonMouth did not enter The House of Serpents as a prospective student. She was given to The House as payment for services rendered. She was five. She was assigned as one of the servants of The House and was tasked with simple jobs such as sweeping, helping the cook and lighting fires in the different rooms. Once, one of the Masters caught her naming fire to help her boil a kettle of water. From there, they realized she had a natural ability for Naming, and the school enrolled her.

She studied under Master FlyingTree along with two other students: CopperHead and ManyHorned. The three students grew close and as thick as thieves. Master FlyingTree was a good teacher, but not one to get attached to her students (or anyone for that matter) and prone to dangerous experimentation. On one particularly spectacular occasion that would ruin and change the lives of ManyHorned, CopperHead and CottonMouth forever, she sold their True Names to a very old entity from another plane in exchange for the True Name of the Void. This Name had been theorized to be the molecular Name of all things, and therefore, extremely powerful. It's said that Master FlyingTree found was given what she bargained for, but paid dearly for her new found knowledge: the Name was so powerful that it burned her mind and left her hollow. Others say that the entity was the Void itself, that its insatiable hunger was not satisfied with the mere Names of three young white artists and that it took FlyingTree's soul as well.

At first, the three students studied the impact that losing their True Names had, as this was a very rare opportunity. They first noticed that they had all lost their shadow, and as the years past, that they would not age. They took full advantage of this to see the world and advance their field in ways no one had expected. But, the years slowly started taking their toll: living a whole human life without ever aging prevents one of experimenting it in its fullness. It's only after they should have died that the three of them panicked and started researching ways to get their Names back.

Having spent quite a while on the face of the earth, CottonMouth has grown tired of mortal games and now seeks to regain her True Name so that she may finally find her final peace.

## Characteristics

CottonMouth appears to be approximately 12 years of age. She is a bit small for her age and maybe a little slim, which gives her an air of fragility and delicateness that is not proper to people of her age. She has wispy white hair and her skin is so pale that you could see right through it. She rarely take off her fine coat, but when she does, one can spot long blue tattoos of a snake that curl around her arms from her shoulders all the way down to her hands. While her body tells a story of youth, her eyes give away something ancient and bitter. They are also heterochromic, which always gives people pause. Her left eye is brown like freshly turned earth and the right is green like a pit of snakes. Another thing that shows her true age is the lifetime worth of scars that scatter her skin.

On her left hand are a few rings demonstrating the Names she has mastered and on her right, a single simple band. Anyone who is versed in the traditions of Namers know that, they tend to wear rings representing small Names on their left hand - wood, wind, fire, stone, etc. - and that the right hand is reserved for Names of true power, although those are extremely difficult to acquire and demand a great understanding of the particular thing the Name represents.

## Quotes

- "It's tiresome being spoken to as if you are a child, even if you happen to be one.”

- "I have spent the last 100 years roaming the earth and unveiling it's secrets. I know things that have never even occurred to your tiny mind. I know that there are seven words to make anyone fall in love. I know that there are ten words to break the strongest of wills. Do not test me."

- "From what I have seen, there are three things all wise people should fear: the depths of ignorance, a night without a moon, and the anger of a gentle soul."

(These quotes were inspired by Rothfuss' The Name of The Wind)