Character Type: Dragonrider
Rank: Wingrider
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Sexual Preference: Heterosexual
Appearance
The benefits of hard, manual labor have done their part in building up Kellain’s frame. He’s slender, has enough muscle to flaunt, and is in good physical shape, not to mention how lucky he’s been to avoid marring his fair complexion in any way. He’s also sporting a light tan, the darkest his skin can get. If it can be helped his beard never gets past that awkward, scratchy stubble stage and his hair is kept short and loose. For the casual onlooker he’s precisely the way you would expect a boy of his particular personality to look: handsome, charming, and usually wearing a knowing smirk.
He prefers his clothes to have some toughness to them without sacrificing comfort, especially while running chores in the Weyr. His outfits can weather nearly anything thrown at them and give him the opportunity to move freely; fashion isn’t really something that is a priority for him. When he needs to he can clean up rather nicely.
There is a small blotchy birthmark on the inside of his right ankle, the one distinguishing mark he has on his body, and it doesn’t look like anything. It’s just a hideous blotch. Doesn’t seem to bother him.
Personality
In a word: roguish. Kellain is a charming young man with a strong, abundant personality. He endears himself well to people through his strong work ethic, his good moral compass, and the incredibly charismatic way he interacts with others.
Growing up in such a large Holding taught Kellain how to work for the greater good instead of for himself, and in addition to that his father certainly helped him by keeping him on the straight and narrow. What independence he keeps always runs parallel to the needs of his family and to his community: he doesn’t steal, bribe, or cheat his way through life. This nurtured in him a strong self-sacrificing personality that puts those around him as the top priority, though he knows well enough when to give and when to take. He is glad to be charitable and a team player but he’s not in the business of being manipulated; liars and manipulators are some of the very few people to whom Kellain feels any actual distaste. It’s harder for him to hate outright.
However, it’s hard to see Kellain as the well-intentioned lad that he is because he keeps up rather lackadaisical airs, and is prone to shrugging things off or dismissing them entirely with some witty comment — and one thing is for certain, Kellain is never short on wit. When the cards are down on the table and the tension is thick, he’s the one who steps in to lighten the mood. In some ways he makes an ideal leader: he compromises, he listens, and he’s the right combination of ambitious and passionate. He never intends on putting himself in such positions but it often ends up that way because he has the award-winning smile that makes him trustworthy and a stellar record to back it up.
His largest flaw is his pride. It remains the one thing that stands between him and true success; it’s the one thing that keeps him from being a really good figure of authority. He hates being wrong or having it made obvious that he’s incapable or imperfect, and he’s just stubborn enough to go out of his way to prove himself. The quickest way to manipulate Kellain into doing anything is to say he can’t do it because then most assuredly he will risk life and limb to prove that he can, ignoring all but fatal danger in the process.
In spite of the fact that she’s an older sister and a bit of a tomboy, he still feels a strong big brother mentality towards his sister Jahk. It stems strongly from the fact that they lost their mother so early in their life, and it was impressed upon him that he should look after her. He tries not to make this so obvious.
History
Birthdate: 8.433.6.9
Kellain is one of many children in his family, most of them all boys; there is only one sister, Jahk. His younger years were unremarkable and incredibly average for a child: his parents and his Holding both provided for him and saw that every need was met, so he never went without. Losing his mother at the age of six put an obvious dent in their family unit that was filled largely by the others of the Hold; Kellain began to look towards other older women as mother figures and in turn they looked after him as if he were one of theirs.
He was expected to start lending a hand around the house at an early age but he didn’t start seeing actual manual labor around he was around thirteen, the Turn he started lending his services as both messenger and a hand around the Stores. Primarily, he helped around with smaller, more menial tasks, such as helping to prepare for Gathers, unloading carts, or keeping watch over the runner pens. Some of his brothers had already gone off to the Weyr, and at fourteen he watched in amazement as his one and only sister boarded a dragon, leaving High Palisades for good. When word got to him that she had Impressed a dragon, the notion had settled into his mind that he should like to get one of his own, but Search had not been kind to him. He abandoned the notion for the time and concentrated more on where to take his own life.
He apprenticed not long after his sister’s departure and was taken under the tutelage of a sailor who promised to show him the world “as a man ought to see it.” Life for him aboard the schooner began as a cabin boy; in the span of two Turns he was bumped up to a full-fledged seaman. Entire weeks of his life would be spent sailing around Ista Island, or to and from the mainland, with days that ranged from complete calm to some of the most horrific storms.
The decision to travel away to Ista Weyr, to potentially spend the rest of his days there, was not a decision that was taken lightly. News of the Thread’s return and the Falls that claimed so many lives both horrified and relieved him: horrified to hear of such loss, yet relieved to know that his family survived. The talk all but scared him straight off of the idea, but in addition to that he had already invested quite a few years in both the Hold and among the crew of his captain’s ship. His father made clear to him what an honor and a privilege it was to be considered for Impression, no matter how many of their family had already been “adopted” by the Weyr. Once learning that his brother was to also be Searched and taken to stand, Kellain wholeheartedly accepted his fate and allowed himself to be taken off.
Though adapting to life at the Weyr proved difficult for Kellain at first, a few friendly faces served to helping him rise to the challenge. He felt like he was already part of the Weyr when it came time to face his first hatching, and just as well, for it seemed destiny had that life chosen for him after all. Young blue Fancharth Impressed to him, forever cementing Kellain's role as a dragonrider in the Weyr. Now it remains to be seen what awaits this new weyrling pair as they go through their long, arduous months of training.
Relationships
Kartohk, father; High Palisades Hold
Jallia, mother (deceased)
Jahk, rider of blue Riddyth, sister; Ista Weyr
Kostya, brother; Candidate at Ista Weyr
(5 other unnamed brothers)
J'tar, rider of green Igribith; An old seafaring pal with whom he's had a few drinking contests. Bit of a friendly competition going on between them.
K’lain’s Dragon: Blue Fancharth
Dragon Name: Fancharth
Colour: Blue
Age: 2
Weyr of Origin: Ista
Appearance
Though large for a blue, Fancharth's size is almost all length. He's a lean blue, sleekly-muscled, with long legs, neck, and tail, but while his body may give the impression of awkwardness, it's actually anything but. He's incredibly agile even on the ground, surefooted almost as soon as he hatches, but in the air his true abilities will become apparent as he twists and turns and dodges so smoothly and naturally that his long body seems almost to flow like water. His neckridges are short and rounded, his fingers longer and more dextrous than most dragons, and he'll use them frequently in his manipulation of objects that interest him. His hide is a bright sky blue, with a paler, powdery blue stripe that starts just behind each eye and goes down either side of his neck, ending at the front of his shoulder joint.
Personality
From the moment he hatches, Fancharth will be fascinated by the world around him. First the Hatching Sands, then his clutchmates, then the people… on and on his curiosity will expand, the wonder of it only increasing as he begins to realize just how very big the world actually is. For every step he takes, there are a thousand more beyond it, and while some might be frightened by this realization, Fancharth is absolutely invigorated by it. Nothing is too small to escape his notice, no question too stupid to ask. “Why?” and “How?” will be questions his rider (and the Weyrlingmasters) may get thoroughly sick of hearing after the first sevenday, but all the annoyance in the world won't deter Fancharth. He's interested in anything his rider, or anyone else, has to offer him, but in the end words alone aren't enough to give him answers. It will finally occur to him, at some point in his development, that his rider doesn't know everything – that no one does, in fact – and that opinions can be colored by perceptions and vice-versa. No, the truest way to find anything out is to just step right in and find out on his own.
And it's almost alarming how fearless he actually is in his endless pursuit of knowledge. How does flight actually work? Let's jump off this cliff and find out. The Weyrlingmaster says think of your second stomach and chew your firestone? Well, he'll wonder, what happens if I think of my first stomach instead? It doesn't always occur to him that things are done a specific way for a reason – and he tends to be very single-minded when he gets an idea in his head, ignoring everything else until he's able to answer the burning question in his skull.
The problem is, it never ends. Every question only brings more questions. This doesn't daunt Fancharth at all, but it may very well exhaust his poor brain-battered rider. The blue just never stops. It's always something, and Fancharth has trouble keeping his thoughts quiet because he's just so intensely focused all the time. You can tell him a million times that it's impossible to answer ALL the questions, but Fancharth merely wonders if anyone has ever actually tried? He's childlike in his enthusiasm and wonder of the world around him, endlessly good-natured and helpful to anyone who may need him, absolutely brilliant in dragon terms, and has an incredible memory for a dragon… but he can be unintentionally thoughtless sometimes, asking questions that others have the tact not to ask, and taking as little care with the health of others as he does with himself.
His rider will have to be careful, though. If sorrow or pain ever manage to find their way into Fancharth's wondrous little snowglobe of a world (and they may not – he's incredibly oblivious to such things in the face of all the beauty around him), he may shift his attentions from asking ALL the questions to fixing ALL the problems… with potentially disastrous results.