Tantan the Inventor is a well-known and well-respected artisan of the Bekebel clan. She is known for her finely crafted mechanical tools, and her abilities far surpassed those of other artisans in the clan when she still operated her own shop. Now retired, she only works occasionally with other craftspeople to advise and appraise.

Tantan is also known for her relationship with Babanak the Great, the leader of the Bekebel clan. Though they rarely interact in public, rumor has it that the two of them have been seeing each other since before Babanak became the ruler of the clan. Indeed, since then, neither of them has ever married.

Personality

Tantan is soft-spoken and gentle, and she presents a warm smile. However, she also appears to carry a great weight with her, and she is rarely truly happy. Her depression is partly the result of her long and strained relationship with Babanak, and also partly due to her feeling of inferiority to her sister, Janjan the Uncowed. Aside from that, she loves talking about her latest hobby: modeling the entire Bekebel Citadel in miniature inside her workshop.

Motives

Since her retirement, Tantan has succeeded in detaching herself from her work. For the most part, she is no longer invested in the clan or its activities and cares only in a personal way for its people, especially her friends and students. She also loves learning new things, and is always exploring topics she never had a chance to study during her career.

Background

Tantan’s parents sent her away at a very young age to work as a live-in apprentice to a carpenter, Benden the Inventor. Benden mostly ignored his apprentices, of which there were five, leaving them to their own devices in the citadel. During this time, Tantan became close friends with the other apprentices and spent most of her time exploring the citadel with them. She also met Babanak, at that time the son of the clan’s ruler Gava the Supreme. Tantan and Babanak became very close, and were considering marriage when Gava became unable to rule the clan due to a debilitating injury. Babanak took her place, with both him and Tantan imagining that his mother would soon recover and that he would only rule the clan temporarily as a steward. However, Gava never recovered and eventually passed away, leaving Babanak the ruler of the clan.

As Babanak became increasingly engaged with his work, Tantan felt more and more distant from him. She asked that they marry so that she could join him in his work, but Babanak refused, insisting that his seers foresaw doom. Tantan became frustrated and her relationship with Babanak became strained, but they continued to see each other when they could.

In the meantime, Tantan began to take her studies more seriously and worked with Benden to develop carpentry tools and techniques which bolstered his business. After only a few more years, Benden retired early and left his shop and his remaining apprentices to Tantan. Tantan flourished without Benden’s restrictions, and her expertise grew more quickly than ever. Her creations pushed the state-of-the-art again and again, making a name for herself in the citadel.

In her later years, Tantan opened a school to pass on her craft. She taught up to eight students at once, many of whom became distinguished craftspeople in their own right. Indeed, many consider Tantan’s school to be her greatest contribution to the Bekebel clan. She continued to teach carpentry at the school for many years, even as she hired other teachers to run classes on other subjects. By the time she finally retired, the school had a strong reputation and continued to attract new students. It is now one of the best schools in the citadel, and every parent dreams of their children being admitted. Tantan occasionally visits the school during special events, but mostly remains in her own personal workshop constructing her miniature model of Bekebel Citadel.