S'vad and Brown Ciroth

Name: S'vad

Played by: Kay

Pronounced: suh-VAD

Nickname: none

Sex: male

Rank: Wingrider/Candidatemaster

Age: 43

Birthplace: Harper Hall

Mother's Name, rank, location: Saevin, master harper, Harper Hall - deceased

Father's Name, rank, location: Filad, master harper, Harper Hall - deceased

Siblings: twin brother Filin, master harper, Fort Weyr - deceased; sister-in-law Elili, blue rider, Fort Weyr - deceased

Significant others: none

Children: none

Height: 5'8"

Build: Though not as slender as he was in his youth, S'vad is kept fit by his life as a dragonrider, and muscles still cling to his bones. He has broad shoulders suited to hard work and well-calloused hands. His back is only just starting to give him problems as age sets in, a newfound discomfort which infuriates S'vad.

Hair color/style: Straight, sandy-colored hair with long bangs, about shoulder length and rarely trimmed. Though he will forever deny it, streaks of grey have begun to appear in his hair. "How can you tell, anyway?" he is often heard saying. "You can never tell on a blonde."

Eyes: Deep blue, almost to the point of being black.

Complexion: Fair, though not overly pale, and prone to sunburn.

Anything you feel would help describe your persona better:

Habits: S'vad frequently whistles to himself, often without realizing it, a remnant of his time as a harper when he was younger. He is easily distracted and frowns to himself when he's not really paying attention to a conversation. S'vad has a bad habit of having a discussion with Ciroth when he is supposed to be listening to something someone else is saying.

Hobbies: A favorite pastime of S'vad's is dragonpoker, a game at which he excels. Though he is still able to pluck out a few chords on a guitar when he tries, S'vad has lost his once fervent interest in music, a craft that was replaced by dragonriding in his heart when he Impressed his Ciroth. S'vad still leaves the Weyr on occasion for exploration around the area, refusing to grow dotard despite the grey hair beginning to infiltrate the blonde.

Personality: Though kind and caring, S'vad has a slightly gruff outer personality that sometimes puts people off. He is easily irritated by incompetence and has developed a strain of dutiful perfectionism over the Turns that leads him to work hard to get things done the right way the first time around. S'vad would like to consider himself of a roguish personality; he was certainly so in his youth, but age (along with the stresses of his life) has mellowed him significantly. Nowadays, S'vad is a serene and genial individual, slow with a smile but quick with a laugh at a joke. Confident and easy to talk to on a professional level, Candidatemaster S'vad regards each of his wards as a future defender of Pern who depends on S'vad to lay the foundation for his or her upcoming career as a dragonrider. On a more personal level, S'vad is often closed and silent. However, he can be a good listener to other people's problems, especially with his candidates. He teaches by example and has little tolerance for laziness. He is always loyal in his friendships, although those friendships are few since the shakes. He looks on his age with a mixture of amusement and denial, though he enjoys the degree of seniority that his experience as a dragonrider gives him. Privately, S'vad is convinced that he will not live for very much longer. The chance of a dragonrider outlasting his career is, after all, very slim, and most riders he knew at High Reaches and Fort Weyr died during the disaster. This attitude has made S'vad somewhat morbid, and it ties in to his acute sense of guilt for having abandoned his brother Filin after the death of his dragon. S'vad is determined to spend his last Turns making amends for his cowardice by reassuming his place as F'inis' protective uncle and guardian.

Background: Filad and Saevin were both master harpers at the Harper Hall. One day, when their sons Saevad and Filin were twelve Turns old, they were attacked by bandits and killed while traveling to a small cothold some distance from Harper Hall. Saevad and Filin had been apprenticed as harpers for some time before their parents' deaths, and under the guidance of their foster mother Lwyn (a friend of Saevin's), they decided to continue training in their craft. They eventually gained the rank of journeymen after they passed their eighteenth Turn, and both brothers left for High Reaches Hold to study under the master harper there. While there, Saevad and Filin were Searched simultaneously for High Reaches Weyr at age nineteen. They both stood and Impressed at the next clutch, becoming S'vad of brown Ciroth and F'lin of blue Aeroth.
       Turns later, after graduating weyrling training, S'vad transferred with his brother to Fort Weyr when F'lin fell in love with a young blue rider there named Elili. Soon after the transfer, F'lin and Elili were weyrmated, and S'vad couldn't have been happier for them when Elili gave birth to a son, whom they named Felinis. S'vad was a very proud uncle and did as much as he could to help raise young Felinis, teaching him to play dragon poker as every self-respecting uncle should.
       The happiness of the family, however, was not to last. When Felinis was only fourteen Turns old, F'lin's blue Aeroth was killed in threadfall. S'vad mourned for his brother's loss and tried to help the now dragonless Filin, feeling the strain that the loss placed on Elili and Felinis. When Felinis Impressed shortly after, however, and became F'inis of bronze Kelvrieth, Filin experienced a relapse that drove S'vad to exhaustion and frustration. Too overwhelmed to continue caring for his brother in his rapidly deteriorating state, S'vad transferred to Ista Weyr where he could find time to recuperate from the immense amount of stress placed on his shoulders. Eventually he was promoted to Wingsecond, a rank which he enjoyed, and he became a very competent second to his wingleader.
        After several Turns, S'vad had settled down at Ista Weyr, but there was another shock yet to come. When the shakes struck Pern and Fort Weyr became an active volcano, S'vad believed that he had lost his entire family. Between duties and threadfall, now ever more pressing for Istan riders, S'vad searched through the small Fort holds that remained, looking desperately for Filin or any of his lost family. Although he failed in finding his brother or sister-in-law, S'vad finally encountered F'inis, now nineteen, at one of these minor holds. Reunited with his nephew, S'vad made the decision to transfer to Free Falling Weyr to live with the remnants of his family.
       It was only shortly after transferring to Free Falling Weyr that the current Candidatemaster was promoted to the position of Weyrsecond, leaving the post vacant. S'vad was asked to assume the rank of Candidatemaster, being an older rider with experience as a Wingsecond who would do well in preparing young potential riders for Impression on the sands. S'vad begrudgingly accepted the position.

Dragon Information

Name: Ciroth

Age: 24 Turns

Color: brown

Personality: Ciroth is a very down-to-Pern dragon, older than most of the dragons he knows, and he sleeps more often now than he used to. Still, this brown is dedicated to his duty as a dragon of Pern, and his staying power during threadfall as a larger dragon is still as long as ever. Ciroth has many friends among dragons, mostly the dragons of his rider's friends, and he has a wry humor that can always make S'vad laugh when he starts to feel down. S'vad and Ciroth are a tightly-knit team whose twenty-four Turns of experience together have bound them together tightly as rider and dragon.

Wing: Dark Thunder Wing

Weyr Impressed at: High Reaches Weyr