Post by Ace on Jul 6, 2012 15:54:06 GMT -4
Name: V'tarek
Pronunciation: vih-TAR-rek
Age: 25
Season Born In: Fall
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Mostly Heterosexual (and Aromantic)
Appearance:
V'tarek has a rather regal air around him, and he clearly likes it that way. He stands rather tall at about 6'2”, and is fit and toned but only as muscular as one might expect any dragonrider to be; he's more height than brawn. He has well-tanned skin that sports a fair share of cuts and scratches. His wavy black hair is rather long for a male; it brushes his shoulders gently, and completely covers his ears and the sides of his face.
He is handsome in an almost androgynous way, with a pointed chin and practically no facial hair to speak of. His almond-shaped eyes are a rich shade of brown, and he always makes a point to maintain easy eye contact with whomever he is speaking to. However, most of his emotion shows through his body language; he definitely speaks with his hands.
V'tarek is particularly fond of wearing long, flowing sorts of wardrobes; in fact, on numerous occasions he can be seen wearing a long, cape-like cloak of sorts. He spends the majority of his marks on the finest of clothes, although rarely will he draw attention to them; no, he'd rather the intricate patterns and fine cloth speak for themselves. It can seem pretty strange at times how much he, a member of the Rebellion, cares for his clothes, trying to keep them out of the mud and dirt that he happens to live in.
Personality:
You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
V'tarek is a bit of a tyrant, but in the most benevolent way possible. People simply can't be trusted to know what's best for them; that's why there are intelligent people like V'tarek to guide them. He's controlling, demanding, micromanaging, and perfectionist, but this is often well-hidden behind his calm voice and easy smile. He has the air of a young overachiever, the kind destined to lead a Weyr into the skies on the back of a bronze, brimming with authority -- or possibly with unbearable, stuck-up self-importance.
His authoritarian tendencies are primarily for the good of others, and here he is quite honest. V'tarek strives to make everybody happy, and is always the first to jump up in the middle of a conflict in order to calm everyone down, but he tends to have his own opinions on what should make people happy. He isn't completely above hearing other people's inputs, but he does not hide the fact that he considers certain people's opinions more worthy than others -- usually depending on how much V'tarek likes you. In addition, he can be somewhat disdainful of traditional values and elderly people, believing them to be hindrances to progress. He's so extreme in this progressivism that he holds a bit of disdain towards the traditional colors, as if they're not keeping up with the times.
A clever tactician, V'tarek is almost always calculating and recalculating how any particular event may go. He has a particular soft spot in his heart for politics: He's practically giddy when dealing with politically sensitive matters – the latest scandals, the rising stars, and so on. He is particularly concerned about his reputation; he tries to keep his demeanor calm and mellow, even though he really has a rather emotional and moody personality. He is a man of more words than action. The way he sees it, affecting the way that people think is much more effective than actually getting down to work. If everybody believes that everything is going accordingly, isn't that all that matters?
V'tarek hates to be seen as power-hungry, but that descriptor might not be completely inaccurate. As he sees it, he was gifted with the sort of mind that was made to lead; it would be a tragedy for him not to use it. He understands that sometimes sacrifices must be made, but sometimes he can seem rather heartless in how easily he makes those sacrifices. There are some well-earned rumors floating around him of blackmail and other seedy ways he gets what he wants. He is not particularly interested in power for power's sake, though -- rather, he wants to change Pern for the better. Still, it would be lying to say that he doesn't get a bit of a thrill every time he gets a number of people to do what he wants them to.
Outside of politics, V'tarek's main pastimes are klah and flirting. Sex is a rather amusing pastime to him, although he places very little emotional meaning in it. The idea of commitment and possibly a family leaves a rather sour taste in his mouth. He's a bit of a sexist, believing that women are more delicate and therefore should be 'protected'. While he doesn't outright disapprove of homosexuality, he doesn't quite see the point of it – he has always had the idea that sexuality is a choice, and homosexuals are making a very strange choice indeed.
Family:
Father: Te'lan of Brown Noveirath
Mother: Ruslia of Green Henaith
Location: From Trelis, now part of the Rebellion.
Rank: Rebel
Wing/Pack: Windfury
History:
Veltarek had always had his eyes on Impression. The son of a brownrider and a greenrider, there was nothing else that he wanted to be. With both parents as dragonriders, though, he was forced to be fairly autonomous. When he wasn't holed up in a comfortable corner reading whatever he could get his hands on, he was out leading the other children in made-up political scandals (often in order to bully other kids he didn't like).
As early as he could, Veltarek entered Candidacy and imagined what it would be like to rise through the Weyr hierarchy. Once he'd graduated through Weyrlinghood, he probably wouldn't need that much more experience before they would let him be Wingthird or something, and from there it would be a straight shot to Wingleader, right? And at any time, his bronze (and it was clearly going to be a bronze) could catch the queen, and then he would be Weyrleader.
He didn't Impress the first time, or the second, third, fourth... There were still turns left before he would age out, but after so many disappointments, wasn't it a good idea to have a back-up plan? Veltarek told himself that he'd come up with something if it came to that, but sometimes he worried. Maybe he'd find some way to be close to the important people in the Weyr -- a messenger of some sort or something. But that felt like giving up, so Veltarek hardly thought about it.
Veltarek was 17 when he Impressed -- old enough that he was beginning to worry, so when he first looked upon Lazurith, his main emotion was relief that he wasn't useless, that he really deserved a dragon after all. However, those feelings only lasted so long: Lazurith wasn't the bronze he dreamed of. He would never admit it to anyone now, but for a long time after Impression, V'tarek was embarrassed by the blue. As if his blue color wasn't bad enough, the dragon was awkward and slow and -- and there had to have been a mistake somewhere, right?
Weyrlinghood was much rougher than V'tarek had imagined. He didn't do well at obeying authority for authority's sake, and he was often faced with punishment. By the end, he had gotten better at hiding his discontent, but his dreams had turned towards a future where a bluerider could be Weyrleader, where leadership wasn't based on such silly things as color hierarchy.
It should come as no surprise, then, that as soon as the new colors appeared, V'tarek was overjoyed. This was a chance in a lifetime: There would no doubt be controversy about where these colors fit into the traditional hierarchy; maybe the entire idea could be done away with. When their existence was met with violence, he was mortified. V'tarek joined the Rebellion as soon as he found someone to talk to, and while he has more than enough complaints about how the Rebellion is run and its goals, his allegiance is firmly against the traditional Weyr.
Dragon
Name: Lazurith
Pronunciation: LAH-zoo-rith
Age: 8
Type: Dragon
Rank: Blue
Size: 28 ft
Color Codes: #7272FF
Appearance:
Lazurith bearss an uncanny resemblance to a clear night sky sprinkled with far too many shining stars and dust. His base is toned a very deep midnight blue and the "stars" range in shade from pale cream blue and periwinkle blue to a bright nearly-white shade. A particularly large cluster of them sit around his eyes. The very tip of his neckridges as well as his wing membranes are nearly purple, and are much thinner than typical. While these areas will rip and tear easier, and in fact the wing membrane bears thick scars from the day of the hatching he doesn't seem particularly concerned.
Despite his dazzling colors, Lazurith isn't that gorgeous of a dragon overall, primarily due to his awkward proportions. He's stocky, short in appearance with legs a bit bowed, tail a bit too long. His feet are angled inwards and, perhaps as a result of this, his natural gait tends to cause him to veer a bit too far to the left at times -- as a hatchling, Lazurith had the unfortunate habit of walking into walls, and to this day he still has problems with knocking into the edges of things. His vision doesn't help, either: he has issues with gauging distances and how far away something is from where he is.
Personality:
Between his awkward gait and tendency to speak slowly and hesitantly, Lazurith comes off as a bit slow; in fact to those who don't know him extremely well, he'll be marked as dull, simple. What seems apparent to most people is that he's friendly, engaging, and easy-going, even to those calling him such names as slow or daft. He's always laughing, eyes whirling with smiles even through rough times or situations. While he's not one to go striking up conversations with anybody other than V'tarek, he'll respond to anybody (after some time's hesitation), and probably does not come off as shy.
The truth is, though, he uses this light-hearted persona to try and distance himself from others. He is friendly, but doesn't involve himself, preferring to stay back and let his rider do all the talking. He is afraid to be hurt almost as much as he is afraid that others will be hurt by being near him, and often goes through periods of thinking that everyone around him will be cursed and hurt by his mere presence. Lazurith would rather run from his problems than face them. He knows he can't run and hide from everything forever but it's so much more preferable to put things off as long as he can. Although he hardly brings it up, he dislikes the fact that he and V'tarek belong to something as nontraditional as the Rebellion, and wishes that everyone could just get along.
Though he is slow to act and speak in conversations, he is smart, studious, and has an excellent memory for a dragon. He is quite logical, and enjoys mind games and puzzles more than flying around or splashing in water. He won't even begin to answer someone until he has properly thought of his answer, which can take anywhere from a few seconds to long minutes.
Mind-Voice:
Hello, my name is Lazurith. ... ... ... Is there anything you want from me...?
Deep and slow, but very clearly enunciated -- Lazurith hardly ever stammers or misspeaks. Still, he speaks slow enough that one may start mentally pushing him on, urging him to just say it already.
