Mr. First
MinorMr. First's pale, grubby face peers from the shadows, deep-set eyes burning with desperate cunning. His thin frame wrapped in tattered rags carries the stench of prolonged hardship, and that hidden pistol hints at sudden violence. There's a feral wariness in him that sets your nerves on edge.
Mr. First, also known as Nishtur Shursht, appears briefly in the inaugural Culture novel 'Consider Phlebas' as a grubby, opportunistic thief preying on Vavatch's war refugees. Marked by his pale face and deep-set eyes, he confronts protagonist Horza with a pistol, only to meet a gruesome end when Horza's venomous spittle burns his eyes and Fwi-Song's collapsing body crushes him. Absent from subsequent books, he remains a vivid emblem of the predatory scavengers thriving in the Idiran-Culture war's chaos, with no further evolution in the series.
Physical Description
Thin and haggard, with a pale grubby face and deep-set eyes shadowed in sockets. He wears slightly less tattered rags or a grimy whole tunic, later thin cloth vestments. A projectile pistol hides in a string holster under his tunic. His presence is furtive and predatory, rags clinging to his gaunt form.
Evolution
Consider Phlebas
Mr. First, also Nishtur Shursht, emerges as a thieving antagonist among Vavatch's refugees, his pale grubby face and deep-set eyes marking him as he pulls a pistol on Horza. In the orbital skirmishes, his eyes are burned by Horza's venomous spittle, and he's crushed under Fwi-Song's falling body, legs spasming in death. He embodies the opportunistic predators scavenging the war's aftermath.
- Emerges among Vavatch refugees as a thieving antagonist with pale grubby face and deep-set eyes.
- Pulls a pistol on Horza during a confrontation.
- Eyes burned by Horza's venomous spittle in orbital skirmishes.
- Crushed under Fwi-Song's falling body, legs spasming in death.
Book Appearances
Consider Phlebas
First appears Ch 6