Trainer-Of-Slaves a.k.a. Mellow Yellow and formerly known as Short-Son of Chiir-Nig & Eater-Of-Grass was a Kzin from Hssin. As a young Kzintosh he was bullied and ostracized by his peers, resulting in his being labeled as a coward, given the derogatory name Eater-Of-Grass, and narrowly escaped death. Despite the limitations of his birth and the status granted him, Eater-Of-Grass was able to discover an affinity for training Jotoki slaves for the Patriarch's use, and eventually was able to regain a fair bit of honor and a partial name for himself, Trainer-of-Slaves. Although he made many enemies throughout his career, and was disgraced and incarcerated at one point for insisting that a captured UNSN hyperdrive scout-ship be returned to Kzin for study, he would go on to cement his reputation by single-handedly stealing the Kzin ship Nesting Slashtooth Bitch and delivering the UNSN Shark the Kzin homeworld himself.[1] [2]
Early Life[]
Trainer-of-Slaves began his life on the planet Hssin. His birthdate is unknown but he was an adolescent in the year 2391 C.E. He was the son of a local Kzin noble named Chiig-Nir, and considered to be the runt of all the litters born by his father's numerous concubines. As such he was known as Short-Son of Chiir-Nig throughout his childhood. His early training in the ways of Heroes went poorly and he was subject to an emotion that few Kzin admitted familiarity with: Fear.[1]
Because of his cowardly nature, Short-Son was the constant target of abuse from other young Kzintosh on Hssin. He was hounded by a group of his peers to the point of almost losing his life on several occasions. On one of these, he was allowed to live only after stooping down and eating grass off of the ground, earning him the nickname, "Eater-Of-Grass" and banishment from the Chiir-Nig household. It was also during an escape from his tormentors that he stumbled into Hssin's Jotoki run and encountered its resident Jotoki Tender. It may have been this event that sparked his later interest in the study of the various species the Kzin had enslaved.[1]
Jotoki Training[]
On Aarku beginning in 2392 CE, he learned how to raise and train Jotoki under the tutelage of the resident Jotok-Tender. The Jotok-Tender taught him how to raise, imprint and train Jotoki, and bestowed him with the nickname Trainer-of-Slaves, replacing the derogatory title "Eater-of-grass." It was during this time that the young kzintosh befriended and imprinted a Jotoki he affectionately referred to as Long-Reach. Long-reach would be Trainer-of-slaves first Jotok and their friendship would serve him well even after he left Aarku to join the Third Black Pride.
Human Study[]
Capture of Lt. Nora Argamentine[]
Nesting Slashtooth Bitch/UNSN Shark Incident[]
Theft and delivery of Shark[]
After stealing the Nesting Slashtooth Bitch to take the Shark to Kzin by way of W'kkai, he renamed himself Grraf-Nig. He was also called Mellow Yellow by Monkeyshines and Long-Reach. He was later stripped of his name by Si-Kish and improsoned by the Conundrum Priests, thus the name Conundrum-Prisoner.
References:[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Survivor - Donald Kingsbury (Man-Kzin Wars IV)
- ↑ The Heroic Myth of Lt. Nora Argamentine - Donald Kingsbury (Man-Kzin Wars VI)