Name: Shio (adopted name, formerly Sasanoyō Aosagi)
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Age: 14
Appearance:
Black-brown hair, silver eyes, willowy like a bamboo stick. Despite working as a
kamuro in the Nagekomi's red light district, she obviously doesn't have the features that would make a successful courtesan, and she's only a nondescript serving maid who isn't meant to catch anyone's attention. Having grown up on an impoverished island, her background of poverty shows -- her chafed hands are rough and her coarse skin is tanned from a childhood of working in the rice fields. Most customers would pass by and not give a second glance to the maid who is cleaning the laundry from the guest rooms.
Personality:
Shio (塩), like salt. This name was given to her after she was acquired by the Jade Moon Tea House, a minor brothel among the dozens of illustrious establishments in Nagekomi. The Madam simply couldn't think of any good qualities for her, so her flower name became "salt", which was fitting in the sense that Shio's personality is rock hard and obtuse like salt. As a relatively withdrawn individual, she tends not to talk very much when she's uncomfortable, which is understandably quite often since her parents sold her to a brothel. However, she is very observant and detail-oriented. Even if she says nothing, she is always watching.
Backstory:
Shio was born with memories of a past life, although it is hardly a subject that she talks about much because she doesn't think it's very important. Part of the reason is that her former memories are very distant, and she lived until her old age as a widow for many decades before passing away and reincarnating. In some ways, she has the attitude of an old woman, except she is very present-minded and untalkative.
In her second life, Shio was born on the islands of Nagekomi, which is one of the poorest regions in Sky Archipelago. The islands of Nagekomi are very dangerous and frequently experience earthquakes (entire islands crumble apart on a regular basis) and the islands are very barren and ill-suited for farming. Due to hundreds of hidden coves and tiny islands, it has been a breeding ground for pirates and other marauders who make a living on thievery and other illicit activity. It is almost impossible to survive in the region doing honest work, and nearly everyone partakes in something illegal or bad in one form or another. Shio's parents, for instance, were opium farmers (masquerading as rice farmers), so her family planted drugs for the local pirate lords. Even still, Shio and her siblings rarely had enough to eat and they would often go to bed hungry.
Around a year ago, blight struck the region, so Shio's family was unable to produce drugs and feed themselves. Unfortunately (although this was very common practice in Nagekomi), Shio's parents decided to sell their least useful daughter to the brothels. Shio (age 13 at the time) wasn't very helpful for the family because she as weak (not a very good farmer) and she tended to run off to learn reading/writing in the local harbor even though those skills were useless for a family of opium farmers. Since Shio wasn't very attractive, it was very difficult to find a brothel that was willing to sign a contract. In the end, the Jade Moon Tea House purchased her nominally as a "kamuro" (courtesan-in-training), mainly because Shio could read and write.
The reason for this is a rather complex. Traditionally, high-class courtesans (called "Oiran") in Nagekomi are expected to be highly educated, literate, familiar with musical instruments, and very talented. Many of the most famous oiran in Nagekomi claim to be former nobility, princesses of exotic countries, etc. However, Nagekomi is a territory of pirates, poverty, and fraud, and many oiran don't have the aristocratic lineage that they claim, and many are "fakes".
Shio was assigned to Lady Koi, a debuting oiran who is allegedly a "descendent of an extinct noble family". However, Lady Koi is in fact nothing of the sort, and she is actually an illiterate (yet very beautiful) peasant who must masquerade as an educated noblewoman prostitute. Hence, Shio's primary role is to help cover for the fact that Lady Koi can't read. Meanwhile Lady Koi has a debt of nearly a half million silver talents that she must recover, lest her family suffer from a disastrous fate at the hands of the pirate lords.
Ultimately, this is a story about fraud, piracy, the red light district, and a slight glimpse of the high culture of the most prestigious courtesans -- including the board game of igo. Meanwhile, we have a foreign minister of Vasilea who becomes a frequent customer of this minor tea house in Nagekomi's red light district...