Sitari

Sitari has 3 heads; 2 on top of their torso, and 1 at the crotch. they have 4 arms, along with 4 pecs. Both their hands and feet are polydactyl (6 fingers on each hand, 4 toes on each foot). Their irises are black and thin.

Their upper heads have most of their hair tied in buns, while their lower head has its tied in breads.

They generally wear yellow sleeves and large blue pants, both patterned with plumes of smokes, as well as sturdy leather sandals. They practically never wear anything on their torso.

Sitari was born in a modest family of farmers, and raised to become one as well. They had a lonely childhood as an only child in a small community, but were happy nonetheless. Their life changed when they were offered a book of epic fiction by a distant relative, around 9.

They felt close to the book's protagonists; common folk who would leave their boring lives behind and go on extraordinary adventures. Among them, Sitari idolised a great Human warrior named Esolir, whose humble origins closely mirrored theirs.

Sitari found their dream: becoming a monster hunter. Their parents initially thought this was just a phase, but grew worried as they neglected the family business, spending more and more time practicing with the village's weapon master, Jakobin, often training to the point of exhaustion.

No amount of talking or scolding had any effect. Sitari wouldn't accept any compromise. Disputes became more frequent. Tension peaked when they shared their intention to move to a bigger city before undergoing Somatem. They left home with few belongings, after a long dispute they'd remember all of their life.

When they arrived at the city, they joined the Public Safety Hunters; a small unit meant to repel dangerous creatures. They were excited; but roads and natural areas were by large much safer than in adventure books, and there was pretty much nothing to do. Most citizens thought the Hunters were a waste of money.

Rather than selfless warriors, Sitari's colleagues were either incompetent, or too old to fight. They quickly understood officials couldn't disband the unit without the government's approval; and so they reduced its impact on the city's finances, letting its members laze about as long as the cost was minimal.

Despite the blow their morale took, Sitari kept honing their skills as a swordsman. They often tried to get their colleagues to patrol with them, to no avail. After Somatem, they refined their techniques even further, to make the most out of their new body. But half a year flew by without anything special happening.

One day, Sitari's captain reluctantly agreed to "go on a fucking field trip" for once. Sitari immediately suggested a route, and soon enough a dozen disgruntled Hunters led by a happy Asralim would be wandering the local woods.

They soon arrived at the cabin of a carpenter Sitari often talked to when they went patrolling. But today, the man was nowhere to be found. Ignoring their colleagues begging them to carry on, Sitari looked inside and noticed a large puddle of blood. They drew their sword, yelled, and the other Hunters stopped. The captain approached.

Then a big shape jumped on her from the top of a tree; a shape that felt wrong to look at. Something like a mantis, or an upside-down man, or a flock of birds making love. It was red, black and fleshy; all bare muscles, spikes and bones. It opened the captain like candy paper, and slurped her insides before they could spill out. Sitari froze.

The thing then grabbed two Hunters, and put them whole into a pseudo-mouth. Its flesh rippled intensely for a couple seconds before it spit out clean, white bones. Sitari charged, along with half of the Hunters that were left. The others raised their shields.

The thing massacred the Hunters. Some were quickly digested. Others were beaten to a pulp by muscles of terrifying strength. Some were burned horribly as they wounded parts of the thing, causing it to spray abnormally hot blood at high pressure.

When but 2 or 3 Hunters were left with Sitari, they tried to run away; but the thing quickly caught up to them. Sitari hid behind the cabin. More screams, more movement, more digestion. Then nothing. Sitari waited for seconds that felt minutes.

The thing found Sitari. Their reflexes kicked in. They deflected a blow that would have ripped their upper heads off, but their sword was flung a good 20 meters away. They stepped back. The thing approached slowly. Sitari's lower right hand touched something. They didn't even think; their body just acted on its own.

Their upper left head spotted a dark blue, ball-shaped organ deep in the thing, and locked in on it. Their upper right head calculated an angle, a force, a movement. Their lower head got the rest of their body to grab what they were touching, feel its weight, and position. Just before the thing's non-mouth reached Sitari, the carpenter's axe reached its heart. It fell, convulsed, and finally died.

After this incident, both Sitari and their unit were acclaimed as heroes, and the Hunters' reputation was largely restored. The city hired new, more qualified people for the job, and Sitari trained them for about a year, rebuilding the unit from the ground up.

Regardless, they still felt guilty about the death of their colleagues, and couldn't stay in the city much longer. And so, once the new Public Safety Hunters were finally ready, Sitari resigned from the position, and left to become a travelling hunter.

Sitari makes it a point to do monster hunting jobs alone; they're afraid of indirectly leading people to a gruesome death once more, and have trouble forgiving themself for what happened with the Public Safety Hunters.

They now visit their parents once or twice a year, and send them letters regularly. They've patched things up somewhat with them, even though they still don't approve the path they took, and are afraid they might die any day to wild creatures.

One of Sitari's defining traits is their bad luck. Too often, they find themself in deeply awkward or dangerous situations, and barely make it through only because of their resourcefulness.

Sitari obtained their dardalium sword from a behemoth, who had several weapons firmly embedded in its back. Their employer couldn't give them much money, so Sitari was instead offered some of the equipment left behind by the beast's victims. Had this employer known what material the sword was made of, they certainly wouldn't have let Sitari take it.

Sitari often chews on a stem of palewheat. They sometimes fidget with it, only to put it back into another of their mouths after a while.