H'dwain

Character Type: Dragonrider
Rank: Wingrider
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Sexual Preference: Heterosexual

Appearance

H'dwain is a fairly short man at 5'6”, with a spry, wiry build packed only leanly, but visibly, with muscle. He's slightly bowlegged, with narrow hips and no butt to speak of; belts are a must for him, but even so all but the most well-tailored pants (which he has never actually owned) will sag a bit in the seat on him. Many dragonriders don't really show their age, but H'dwain isn't so lucky – he looks like a man who's spent his life working out in a field somewhere even though he hasn't actually done that in many turns now, with weathered skin, bony knuckles, a lined face, deep-set blue-grey eyes, and short brown hair that's already starting to recede a little in the front and gray a tiny bit around the edges. He tans nicely in the sun, though even at Ista it's likely to stay a farmer's tan – once when he was younger he had a lover who was turned off by his thick chest and lower body hair, and even though he knows most people don't have a problem with it he has remained nervous about taking his shirt off in front of people ever since.

Personality

H'dwain is a humble, unassuming man, often to his own detriment. There's still a lot of farmboy in him despite his many turns as a dragonrider – he's friendly, honest, immensely hard-working, and still deeply grateful to the Weyr for the bounty it has given him. He's proud to protect the Holds of Pern, to give back to the civilian life from whence he came, and he doesn't expect any special honor or glory for it. It's his job, and he can't understand why anyone would expect anything special for just doing their fair share.

Unfortunately, that belief is part of what prevents him from understanding his own deeper needs. For the most part, he's a happy, self-satisfied man, but his ego is fragile, easily wounded, and it's easy for him to get down on himself when he makes a mistake (which he frequently does – H'dwain is just one of those people for whom nothing ever goes right). He needs the occasional praise for his efforts, but doesn't realize he does, and if he did realize it he'd only be ashamed of himself for being so high-maintenance and would never come out and ask for it. A kind word means the world to him, and making other people happy gives him a lot of satisfaction, even if they don't ever thank him. He'll give someone the proverbial shirt off his own back, and will never ask for it back even if he really needs it, even if it was his most favorite shirt and he's terribly sad for its loss. He always gives other people the benefit of the doubt, always assumes the fault for an error is his own, and it means he gets taken advantage of a lot — sometimes on purpose by unscrupulous people, but more often unintentionally by people who just don't realize they're crossing boundaries because he won't actually tell them. He's very non-confrontational, and will put up with all sorts of bullshit just to keep from potentially upsetting someone.

He honestly wants to help Ista, but he's also terribly homesick, and ashamed of himself. He knows he was sent because he's not the best rider despite his good intentions and hard work, and that he's failed Lilivith by being unable to compensate for her own difficulties the way a good rider should. He's determined to do his best, though. They need him, right?

History

Birthdate: 411.05.21

Hadwain grew up on a farm in rural Telgar, one of many children – nice enough but unremarkable, destined to work the farm his whole life but never inherit, to marry and have children and do his best by them. He never had any other ambitions, and that was fine, because what did he need them for?

Then the Searchdragon came and turned his life upside-down. He was nervous about the prospect of leaving the home he had never journeyed more than a day's ride from before, to do something incredibly unfamiliar among a bunch of strangers – shells, he was even a little scared of the Searchdragon – but his father pretty much pushed him into accepting, as he had pushed him into every single other decision in his life thus far. His family didn't think much of the dragonriding parasites that had been living off their work for over 400 turns, but they already had enough mouths to feed already, and if this particular mouth were to Impress, the farm could reap the benefits of dragon transport and wealth, right?

So away Hadwain went, unhappy with the upheaval in his life and unsure of what to expect. He was homesick at first, too shy to talk to the weyrboys who all seemed to know what was going on and too flustered by the boldness of the weyrgirls to take advantage of their bounties (until one took advantage of him and he had to admit to liking it.). When Hatching Day came, he was torn between wanting a dragon and wanting to run away. But then there she was – the tiniest green, hanging back from the rest as her siblings pushed past her, head hidden behind her wing. When all the rest had Impressed and the Weyrlingmaster ordered the candidates to circle around closer, she panicked and threw herself at Hadwain's legs, and is short order, Impression was made.

Lilivith and H'dwain struggled through Weyrling Training. Neither of them was great at keeping maneuvers straight in their heads or managing sudden changes, and they spent a lot of time drilling in rote practice to get moves down to an instinctive level. H'dwain, for his part, benefitted from Impression. It didn't magically cure his natural hesitance, but it boosted his confidence, and he no longer found it so difficult to talk to other people. He had to be strong for Lilivith, and that was the greatest motivation of all.

Since then, he has led a fairly uneventful life as a dragonrider. He has two sons and a daughter from various liaisons, and has had a steady lover twice, but neither relationship lasted. In Telgar's first two 'Falls he and Lilivith did not perform well. No one was hurt, but they made enough fumbling mistakes that he ended up being among those shipped off in a second wave of riders to Ista.

Relationships

Family

Father: Unnamed farm cotholder, Telgar Hold territory
Mother: Cotholder's wife
Siblings: Many

Children: 2 sons, 1 daughter, all back at Telgar

Lovers… maybe

Kadra, rider of blue Sorrenth

H'DWAIN'S DRAGON: GREEN LILIVITH

Dragon Name: Lilivith
Color: Green
Age: 27
Weyr of Origin: Telgar
Wing: Stormriders

Appearance:

Lilivith's long, slender body and graceful, arching neck often give the false impression that she's larger than she actually is, but standing next to other dragons in general and other greens in particular makes it apparent just how small she actually is. She's a tiny green, all the more so because so much of her is length without real substance, and she suffers for it in high winds. There's no doubt that she's healthy, but she's built delicately, with fine bones, and while life as a fighting dragon has kept her sleekly muscled, it's obvious from her slender torso that she's just not made to hold strength as some dragons are. People tend to assume that being so small and sleek means that she'll be blazing fast in the air, but that's not entirely true – she is fast, but not so much as some of her sisters who have more muscle in their chests and backs for stronger wingbeats. She's accurate with her flame but it's a rather weak flame, and she's generally one of the first dragons who has to rest during 'Fall. The one thing she does have going for her is maneuverability – she can twist and dodge and drop out of the air and turn on a dime, and has been known to practically double back on herself when her life depends on it.

Her hide is a soft, pastel shade of green, with toes, tailtip, and muzzle tip of darker green. Splotches of color spread lighter and lighter, as if painted in fading watercolors, as you go up and inward, fading into the solid rest of the hide by the time it reaches her knees, mid-tail, and eyes.

Personality

Lilivith isn't afraid of others the way she was as an overwhelmed hatchling; she's just desperately shy. She's a happy dragon, she means well, but she doesn't know what to do when she's put on the spot – when eyes are on her, when someone is waiting for her input. She's happy to help when someone asks her, and she tries very hard, but she isn't incredibly bright, and she's so quiet that other dragons often forget that she's there. Despite her tendency to get down on herself, she can't stand it when H'dwain does it to himself, and she is forever encouraging him even as he encourages her.

Even with her rider, though, she tends to communicate more through feeling than actual words. Even her mating flights are rather quiet affairs, her proddiness often unnoticed by most until she takes to the sky suddenly, and she tends to favor smaller dragons who intimidate her a little less. At Telgar she stuck to the same small group of males she felt comfortable with whenever she could manage it, and all the strangers at Ista are a little overwhelming for her.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License