Description:
Turns of dragonriding have filled out R'hyn's average-sized frame, giving him broad shoulders and firm muscles. His long, reasonably handsome face is more delicate, in contrast, with slender, chiselled features, and high cheekbones that make him almost gaunt in appearance. Tanned by many hours spent outdoors, his skin is an olive-brown shade that suits his pale green eyes, set well back into his face, and his burnished copper curls, which are cut close to his head and chin. R'hyn appears to be his early thirties, though his somewhat nervous, retiring body language occasionally makes him seem younger.

Background:
Ryahen was born in the dying days of turn 184 of the 10th Interval (15/13/184, to be precise), to Laerya, a bluerider, and her then-boyfriend, brownrider D'hen. D'hen broke up with Laerya that Turnover Eve; although he did not die - a threadfall casualty - until after his son had Impressed, a decade and a half later, he played no further role in Ryahen's life. Laerya, on the other hand, was enraptured by her son, as was her daughter, Saera, some four turns older. Being naturally shy, Ryahen was easily turned to hiding behind his mother's metaphorical skirts, and hanging back from his peers.

Though it had never been his desire, Ryahen stood out, however: as a child, he possessed a truly beautiful soprano, and was pushed towards music from an early age. His mother, musical in her own right though not gifted as he was, immediately envisioned a Harper's career for her son, and blindly - determined to please his mother above all things - Ryahen prepared for this eventuality. Even so, it was not until Saera went on to Impress blue Hyareth that Laerya found herself able to let go of her son enough to let him go; it was not her choice that he be posted elsewhere, but the Harpers insisted that it was best.

So Ryahen, now thirteen, was removed from his mother's grasp, and sent to Southern Weyr, where he trained under Journeyman Marshan who had been a child soprano himself. Ryahen loved the music, but hated performance, being utterly terrified of having to sing in front of other people. Perhaps Marshan would have broken through these problems, had a Southern green not picked Ryahen out as a candidate, and the boy, seeking a release from the terrors of Harperdom, accepted. His voice broke, during his candidacy, and though he was left with a decent tenor, it was nowhere near as outstanding as his boy's voice - to his own secret satisfaction.

With every member of his extended family, excepting his father, Impressing blue, or not Impressing at all, Ryahen expected no different from the hatching. This didn't stop him from being nervous: he threw up, before entering the sands, and visibly shook throughout most of the hatching. To his surprise - and delight - bronze Arisvath picked him out of the candidates, and unhappy Harper Ryahen became terrified weyrling R'hyn, whose devotion to his lifemate did not outweigh the sudden realisation that instead of Masterharper, his mother would expect Weyrleadership of her beloved boy.

Though not particularly outstanding as a weyrling, R'hyn must have done something right, because within a few turns of his graduation, he had been promoted to Wingleader. He struggled with the responsibility, being too embarrassed to discipline his riders, and too shy to tell them what he really wanted. It was a secret relief, in some ways, when tragedy struck back home: Laerya had lost a leg to thread. He handed in his knot without ceremony, and requested an immediate transfer back to Ista.

In immediate proximity to a very needy Laerya, R'hyn returned to his childhood habit of being an absolute mamma's boy. In the first months of her incapacitation, as she struggled to heal, he was with her in his every spare moment, and got to know few of his fellow riders. This began to change when Arisvath, never very good with the greens, caught Serriena's gold Niaryth in her maiden flight. Laerya was delighted. And R'hyn, finding a friend in Serriena, found the urge to live his own life - kind of.

R'hyn was only twenty-two when another flight of Niaryth's - her first leadership flight - landed him as Weyrleader of Ista in one of the more troubled times of its history, relations with Fort having reached breaking point. He struggled with the position, leaning desperately upon Serriena, and his Weyrsecond, Shiae. In the end, he leaned too much: Shiae stepped down, and without her to support him, his handle on the position began to crumble. The only good thing about this period of his life was his friendship with Serriena - and the daughter, Rhyena, they had together.

After only four turns in the position, R'hyn was ousted by a transfer from Fort, E'van, and returned to the wings greatly relieved. Unfortunately, given the political relationship between Fort and Ista, and E'van's particular temperament, R'hyn found himself in the difficult position of being considered still the best bet to replace E'van again -- and that made life with E'van, now R'hyn's Wingleader, difficult.

After Fort's bad fall in turn 14, many of R'hyn's friends chose to transfer over and assist the weyr - but not R'hyn. Home was Ista, and that was where, he believed it should stay. Unfortunately, sent to Fort on an errand by Weyrwoman Ainsley, R'hyn arrived just in time for Siramyth to go up in her leadership flight -- and for the second time in his life, R'hyn woke up to a weyrleadership, and this time, of a weyr that resented his very presence. Things have just started to get complicated.

Stats:

ATTRIBUTES		SKILLS:
Agility	2	Artisan		2
Appearance	3		Musical Performance	2
Brawn	2		Scribing	2
Charisma	2		Musical Knowledge	2
Intellect	3	Dragonriding		3
Wits	2		Formations	2
			Threadfighting	2
		Empathy		2
			Leadership	2
			Diplomacy	2
			Childcare	1
			Counsel	2
			Delegation	2
			Perception	1
		Scholar		3

 

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ISMAYE - HEADWOMAN OF ISTA WEYR (OFF CAMERA)

Description:
Hers is a complexion that lacks depth-- blank, pale, unblemished; it is easily indicative of the fact that she rarely sees the sun, and makes her all the more fragile, working with her waif-like build and petite height. Jet black hair waves gently against her bony shoulders, pulled away from her face by a single band of scarlet ribbon, a dark waterfall that shines bright, colour matching the depths of her deep, dark eyes, which lie sunken against the high cheekbones of her face. Contrasts play upon her form, caught between the fragility of her build, and the determined force of her stance; when she walks, it is as if upon the balls of her feet, a grace permanently present to her movement, a confidence radiated that is more than her turns might offer, for she is only in, perhaps, her early thirties.

Background:
The flight-child of two riders, Ismaye was born at High Reaches Weyr, but almost immediately fostered away to Icy Ridge Hold, a small, mostly subterranean place further north. She had a happy, fairly affluent childhood, as the oldest child of her family (she was joined by several blood-children of her foster-parents, though none of the family differentiated between blood and foster), preferring chores that involved domestic tasks and book-work, on the whole. She was a quiet child, for a forceful will, and an unbreakable worth ethic. At seventeen, showing no inclination towards marriage, though she'd had several offers, Ismaye conferred with her foster-parents, and after a time, it was decided that she might spend some time away from the isolated Hold, and perhaps find a real place in the world.

Ismaye elected to go to Ista Weyr, given that it was about as different from her home Hold as anywhere else, and her foster-parents paid her passage so that she arrived just before her eighteenth turnday. Immediately, she was tossed in at the deep end: the weyr was recovering after a dramatic storm, and Nejilia, Headwoman for some turns, announced without warning that she'd had enough of the mess and muck, and handed her knot off to the first person she ran into, which just so happened to be Ismaye. Call it fate, good luck, or anything else, Ismaye proved to be a competent Headwoman who, as the turn passed, became a truly exceptional one.

The turns have proven Ismaye to be not only hardworking and efficient, but also sharp-witted, dedicated, obsessive compulsive, and the bearer of high expectations for everyone around her. Half of the weyr is frightened of her; the other half know her secrets. Though outwardly prim and proper to a fault, Ismaye has a weakness for alcohol, and rumours even tell of a long-running relationship with brownrider G'nar, though if this was ever the case, it is no longer. She's now in her early thirties, single as far as anyone can possibly tell, and all but married to her job, her life's work. A neat-freak, and embroidery expert, Ismaye considers small things to be big pleasures in life.

ATTRIBUTES		SKILLS:
Agility	3	Adminstration		3
Appearance	2		Weyr Management	4
Brawn	2	Empathy		2
Charisma	3		Intimidation	2
Intellect	2		Leadership	2
Wits	2	Hearthcraft		2
		Scholar		2
			Traditions	2
			Hidework	2
		Weaving		2
			Embroidery	2
			Mending	2

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TALYSEN - MASTER STARSMITH AT ISTA HOLD (OFF CAMERA)

Description:
Talysen is one of those lucky women who has kept her voluptuous figure, though she's already well into her forties. It is only in her hair that her age is hinted at - the textured, blue-black locks, cut short, have begun to be highlighted in dignified silver. Willowy, though only average height, she's a dark-skinned woman with a kind of lazy poise and unconscious sensuality aided by her salacious smile made through full lips, and the deep brown of her almond-shaped eyes.

Background:
Master Talysen has been a fixture at Ista Hold for a decade and a half, now - the loud-mouthed, corridor inhabiting troublemaker who is nonetheless known in her own craft to have a brilliant mind. A hopeless teacher, and often a very poor representative of her Craft, she tends to scare most of the apprentices -- and even some of the Journeymen. Rumour says she's been carrying on an affair with Corinal for turns, and she makes no attempt to deny it, though she's many turns his senior.

Talysen as born at Ista Weyr, just a stone's throw from her current residence. Her mother is a brownrider, now well advanced in turns, by the name of Liseni; her father may or may not still live - he was, or is, a trader who spent a brief time at the Weyr, many turns ago. The tryst between Liseni and Talysad was a one-off, the trader never again returning to the weyr. Liseni took the resulting pregnancy in her stride, and had an easy time of it up to and including the birth of her only child, Talysen - promptly fostered off to Headwoman Nejilia.

Nejilia quickly regretted agreeing to this proposal, for Talysen was a difficult child, prone, at first, to tantrums, and later to monumental sharp-tongued battles. Partly, perhaps, this was due to the lack of discipline imposed upon her; just as likely, it was part of her nature, inherited from her long-departed father. Regardless, one of Talysen's real saving graces was that she was brilliant. The Harpers said so, Nejilia said so, and even Liseni, not all that bright a woman, couldn't help but see it. Talysen, it was declared, was destined for great things... if only she could care enough.

It was laziness, at least in part, that prompted Talysen's refusal of search, when picked out of the Living Cavern at age fourteen. She'd floated aimlessly for a few turns, since finishing her Harper lessons (not top of her class, but very near - and she could have done it, had she even tried), disinclined to stick to anything. When a frustrated Nejilia shouted, "But what ARE you going to do with yourself, Tally-love?" the girl shrugged, and announced an intention to apprentice.

Talysen spent six turns apprenticed under Master Jasyn of the Starcrafts, and he became another who bemoaned her lack of ambition, and apparent inability to apply herself. Oh, she did well enough, of course, but she lacked, it seemed, passion, and remained as lazy as ever. She chose a subcraft in Mathematics, which suited her logical mind, while professing an honest dislike for stars themselves - most unusual.

Jasyn transferred to Igen at the end of those six turns, and somewhat reluctantly gave Talysen her Journeyman's knot; she was academically capable, already producing new and interesting work in her field, yet only at great pressing, which was hardly a good sign, but he didn't see what else he could do. He refused, however, to recommend she be posted elsewhere to the Craft, and this was what Talysen wanted most. She sulked, but Jasyn had gone, and she was left at the Weyr to journey in her own home.

Thus, in order to relieve the boredom, Talysen turned to intrigue. She seduced her way through the weyr, spread rumours - both made-up and true - and caused as much trouble as could, all the while producing more genuinely brilliant research. The Craft attempted to put her in a teaching position, but it proved useless, Talysen having neither the patience nor the desire to make any real effort. So passed the next ten turns, during which the Craft honestly had little idea what to do with this errant Journeywoman, though one thing was for sure: they didn't want her at the Crafthall, either.

Thirty-turn-old Talysen was no less troublesome, nor any less brilliant, than the younger version. It took a lot of discussion by the Starcraft leadership, but they finally agreed that, given her contributions to the Craft, Talysen deserved her mastery. It made little difference to her, and changed nothing in terms of the effort she put into her work - but it did mean that, finally, they offered her a new posting: Ista Hold. It was a start, and she accepted it with glee.

ATTRIBUTES		SKILLS:
Agility	2	Adminstration		1
Appearance	3		Personnel Management	1
Brawn	2	Empathy		2
Charisma	3		Persuasion	2
Intellect	4		Intimidation	2
Wits	2	Mischief		2
			Seduction	2
			Gossip	2
			Evesdropping	2
			Trouble Sowing	2
		Scholar		3
			Mathematics	4
			Starcraft	3
			Teaching	1
			Logic	2

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