Master Harper
Atticus
Name:
Atticus
Played by: Kay
Pronounced: A-tih-kuss
Nickname: none
Sex: male
Rank: Master Harper
Age: 53
Birthplace: Ista Hold
Mother's Name, rank, location: Ticia, green rider and Weyrsinger, Ista
Weyr
Father's Name, rank, location: Andronicus, steward's assistant, Ista
Hold
Siblings: brother Andic, Steward, 44, Ista Hold; brother Tiron, Master
Healer, 36, Crom Hold
Significant others: Rowyn, Lord Holder's daughter, Ista Hold - deceased
Children: daughter Aryn, Journeywoman Harper, 25, Kaylour Hold
Height: 5'6"
Build: Atticus is fairly handsome for his age, regardless of his
protruding potbelly and vanishing muscles. He is very stoutly built,
short and stocky, and more than a little rotund about the middle.
Hair color/style: Long and grey, kept loose about his shoulders or up in
a frazzled ponytail. A bald spot has begun to form at the back of his
scalp. Atticus keeps a short beard, sparse and hardly ever tidy.
Eyes: Dark grey and passive. Atticus has begun to lose his eyesight with
old age, though he still insists that he can see perfectly fine.
Complexion: Tanned, but not too darkly.
Anything you feel would help describe your persona better: Very
dedicated to his craft, Atticus will never be found without a dash of
harper blue. Usually he wears a long, royal blue tunic or a sleeveless
robe tucked into a blue-dyed leather belt. He proudly displays his
Master's pin wherever he goes. He wears a bronze signet ring bearing an
engraved dragon on his right hand, a gift from the Weyrleader of Fort
Weyr when he departed after spending four Turns there as the Weyr
Harper.
Habits: Stupid, ignorant, selfish, and stubborn individuals irk Atticus
to a degree with which he is most uncomfortable, though he still acts as
civilly as any harper must learn to be and would never express his
distaste. If they insist upon continuing their infuriating behavior,
however, Atticus' llama Curu may tend to spit on them--accidentally, of
course. The loss of his wife has given Atticus' personality a bit of
severity regarding companions and children, and one can occasionally
find him brooding over the subject by himself if one chances upon him in
the privacy of his thought.
Hobbies: Aside from his harpering, about which he is most profusely
passionate, Atticus revels in word games and is always ready with a
clever pun or a sarcastically witty quip. Atticus has also developed a
talent for calligraphy in his time as an assistant steward and as a
harper, and he enjoys writing unnecessarily long letters to friends and
family as an excuse to practice it.
Personality: Atticus has a cunning mind and a sharp wit, not to mention
a sharp tongue. Civil, level-headed, and formal, he knows when to keep
his silence and when to speak his mind, and he is talented at finding
the right words to say at the right moment. Atticus' skill as a diplomat
outmatches even his ability as an instrumentalist. Hard work and
constant practice have made Atticus a lovely player, but his musical
talent has always come with much less ease for him than diplomacy has.
Despite his skill as an instrumentalist, his true enjoyment in harpering
is as a choral director, regardless of the fact that he loathes the
sound of his own singing voice. When in a personal rather than a
professional setting, Atticus comes across to many as frustratingly
temperamental, and his sudden mood-swings can sometimes span the entire
spectrum from simple-minded and playful to harsh and disciplined to
irascible and waspish. Atticus is easily overwhelmed by stress and has
had to force himself to learn techniques of relieving the physical and
mental strain that he suffers from overworking himself as a result of
his trying youth. When matters get serious this harper is the last
person you want to put in a bad mood. Atticus has a flaming temper when
he is angered, and though his fuse is longer than most, it is not
limitless.
Background: Andronicus always expected his eldest son to be superior to
everyone at everything, his eyes ever on the goal of Atticus succeeding
the heirless steward of Ista Hold. When Atticus was only three Turns
old, his father had him copying hides for the steward. By the time he
was twelve, Atticus had been put in charge of the stables of the Hold as
well as the organization and inventory of the stock rooms, and he was
expected to write the steward's dictated reports to be handed to the
Lord Holder at the end of each sevenday. When Atticus reached the age of
sixteen, he was acting co-assistant to the steward of Ista Hold and was
even expected on occasion to go to Gathers and other such events to
represent the Lord Holder himself. The unbelievable strain that
Andronicus had placed on his young son reached the breaking point when
Atticus was scarcely twenty Turns old, and he suffered a severe nervous
breakdown. Disappointed and frustrated with his son's apparent inability
to cope with stress, Andronicus sent Atticus to Ista Weyr to live with
his mother for a time. It was there that Atticus picked up his mother's
trade and what was to become the focus of his life--harpering.
As Weyrsinger of Ista Weyr, Ticia taught her son everything that
she knew about harpering. Atticus picked up the craft slowly and with
difficulty, but steadily. Music became for him a way to relax and to
undo the damage that the stress of his childhood had done to him. So
accustomed to constant responsibility, Atticus had to force himself not
to obsess over his new craft to the same degree that he had over his
duty at the Hold. Shortly, Andronicus sent for his son to return to Ista
Hold and take up his position as the steward's co-assistant again,
assuming that Atticus had had long enough to recover from his temporary
psychological collapse. Atticus, however, had other plans by now, and
they did not include yielding to his father's unreasonable demands. With
his mother's support, Atticus (now twenty-two Turns old) traveled to the
Harper Hall to begin his official training as an apprentice. Though his
father was furious, Atticus paid him no heed.
After a few Turns of training, Atticus walked the tables to
become a journeyman and accepted an assignment to Ista Hold. Atticus was
glad to be home again, even though his father still held a grudge
against him and refused to speak with him. Andronicus had quickly
replaced Atticus with his younger brother, Andic, who took easier to the
role of assistant steward than Atticus had. It was during his time as
the journeyman harper of Ista Hold that Atticus fell in love with Rowyn,
the youngest daughter of the Lord Holder. Though they'd grown up
together, Atticus had never had time in his youth for the opposite sex.
Now, however, awareness of Rowyn as a young woman came upon him very
suddenly, and within the Turn they were happily handfasted. Andronicus
strongly approved of the marriage, and Atticus found himself once again
in his father's good graces. Rowyn bore Atticus (now twenty-eight) a
daughter whom they named Aryn. Shortly thereafter, Atticus returned to
the Harper Hall to complete his training for Mastery, this time with a
wife and a daughter.
Atticus was thirty-one when he achieved the rank of master, and
he had become a close personal friend of the MasterHarper's. Content to
settle down and raise Aryn together with Rowyn, Atticus remained at the
Harper Hall as a choral instructor at the MasterHarper's request.
However, when Atticus was forty-five, he was offered a position as Weyr
Harper of the nearby Fort Weyr. He gratefully accepted, making the move
with Rowyn and a seventeen-Turn-old Aryn. Atticus was reunited at this
time with F'lin and S'vad, a blue rider and a brown rider at Fort now
who had been journeymen with Atticus in his first Turn at the Harper
Hall. Though Aryn herself was Searched, she stood many times and never
Impressed, and eventually she turned to her father's craft instead.
Not long into the new Pass, F'lin lost his dragon to threadfall.
It was Atticus who spoke on F'lin's behalf to the MasterHarper and
secured a place for the now dragonless man as the journeyman harper he
had once been. Filin served as Atticus' journeyman at Fort Weyr until he
earned his own rank as a Master. In the same Turn, Atticus' wife Rowyn
died young. Deeply grieved, Atticus passed the Weyr Harpership to Filin
and requested a transfer to Ista where he could recover from his loss.
Out of respect for his friend, the MasterHarper assented, and
forty-nine-Turn-old Atticus was made the Master-in-Chief of the Ista
Harper Hall. Aryn, by now a journeywoman harper herself, remained in the
north at Kaylour Hold where she was now stationed.
On Ista's island, Atticus was hardly affected by the shakes.
Harper Hall, however--along with the MasterHarper of Pern--was gone
forever. After the main shock of the disaster, the masters who survived
gathered at the Ista Harper Hall to decide what was to be done. There
would be no possible way to elect a new MasterHarper until the turmoil
from the shakes had settled and all the harpers could be summoned to
Ista Harper Hall for the Turn's End Harper Gather. The late MasterHarper
had left no indication of whom he wished to succeed him. In his place,
Atticus and the other masters decided to share the responsibility of the
MasterHarper of Pern, dispersing themselves among the major surviving
Weyrs and Holds across Pern to act as diplomats and aids wherever they
could until the time could come for the selection of the new
MasterHarper. Fifty-two Turns old at the time of the meeting, Atticus
chose Free Falling Weyr, which had recently received the new
Weyrleadership of a former Fort bronze rider with whom Atticus was
acquainted and for whom Atticus has great respect. There he plans to
serve the Weyrleader and the Weyrwoman to the best of his ability, as a
harper ought.
PET information:
Name: Curu
Age: 14 Turns
Color: black
Species: llama
Personality: Curu follows Atticus around wherever he goes to the point
that the Harper likes to joke that the llama is his new apprentice. They
have been together for almost three Turns now, since Atticus took a
liking to Curu and bought him off of a trader at Ista Hold. Though Curu
can be ornery, he is a gentle creature and has been well-trained by
Atticus. He acts as a beast of burden, a steed, and a companion for
Atticus, and it is not uncommon to find the Master Harper talking to his
pet llama as though he were a close friend.
PET information:
Name: Jyhin
Age: 0.5 Turns
Color: blue
Species: flit
Personality: Clever and sly, especially for a mere blue, Jyhin is the
perfect companion for a master harper. He is well-behaved and dignified,
although he does have his fair share of reckless outbursts of
spontaneity, as can only be expected in a young firelizard. Through
training, Atticus has been able to teach him to carry messages, fetch
objects, even whistle simple tunes and carry out reconnaissance missions
in large crowds. Jyhin is shrewd and intelligent and comprehends human
emotions and actions far better than his sister does. When Atticus asks
for him to obtain a particular image, he is usually able to do as he is
asked almost to the letter. He is also very fast on the wing and can
avoid being seen if he so chooses. Jyhin follows Atticus almost
everywhere and is always eager to do his master's bidding.
PET information:
Name: Wyn
Age: 0.5 Turns
Color: green
Species: flit
Personality: Wyn is the more mischievous of the two firelizards,
although she is also by far the less intelligent. By nature she is
snappy, rude, selfish, chattery, and jealous, and it is only thanks to
Atticus' extensive training that she has moderate self-control in
public. Her mental capacity extends no farther than the ability to
retain and obey simple commands. She is feisty, and if she takes a
liking to a shiny piece of jewelry she has no qualms against taking it
for her own. Despite his poor behavior and frequent tantrums, she is
very precious to Atticus because of her namesake--Rowyn, Atticus' late
wife--and Atticus spoils her horribly.
HOLD or CRAFT Information:
Hold or Hall name: Harper Hall, Ista Harper Hall
Craft: Harper
Time spent in Craft: 33 Turns
Rank
achieved: Master
