Character type: Dragonrider
Rank: General manservant to the Weyr/Errand boy/Diplomat
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Sexual Preference: All of the above.
Appearance
N’khara is a beautiful piece of young man. He’s just at that stage where he still has a sweet and innocent look to him, a boyish charm that usually puts people as ease and earns him a couple of extra sweets from the cooks. At the same time, he’s settled into his manhood and has an innate sexuality that hides just under the surface. There’s a raw sensuality to him that fuels his very movement and makes itself very known when he rests his big doe-y brown eyes on someone he likes. There’s a hint of femininity to him, though its very subtle. Its the sort of energy that makes it easy to connect with men who are into guys as well as very at ease with women, but isn’t so much that its off-putting to the very manly men of the Weyr. Its a nice balance that moves him easily through social circles, to travel from partner to partner.
While he’s a lean guy, N’khara is more muscle than anything else and in only continuing to fill out as he gets older. After all, he spent much of his life a bit under-nourished a over-worked which actually created a good foundation for a strong body once he had bit of a different life. He’s a respectable six feet that he does his best to dress as nicely as possible to make every inch look as perfect as possible. It took him a solid six months to correct his posture so that he didn’t walk with a round-shouldered slouch, but now he carries himself with the poise of any fancy holder.
Personality
N’khara has a true childlike wonder at the world. Information and understanding are like a drug to him and he can never seem to get enough of, often to the point where he will go out of his way to create a situation simpley so he can see what happens in the end. How will people react to this? What does it *feel* like for them? He really and truly wants to get inside people’s heads to see what *they* think of what’s happening and how they experience it. This makes him incredibly perceptive. The more he comes to understand people then the better he can relate to them and he’s an excellent listener because he’s truly interested in what you have to say and *why*.
There is a sense of detachment with this connection however. He understands people but it doesn’t really mean that he loves them. If anything he doesn’t really seem to put a value on them as more than pieces in his social experiments, or something to study because really, people are *fascinating*. There may be a bit of morbidity because he’s just as interested in seeing the darker and ugly sides of everything as well. Maybe not quite to the point of taking small animals home and cutting them up, but he has no problem spending time with the healers for hours just to *see* and he’s pushed more than his fair share of people away by poking and prodding them when they’re at the worst or struggling the most.
That’s not to say that he won’t bond with people, but its clear he struggles to become attached and this is quite obviously from nearly loosing Radakath. Having his dragon on the edge of death was understandably a level of trauma that very few go through and it very much altered his perception. It potentially also explains just why he’s so distant from the value of human life. Their time in the world is likely fleeting and everyone’s going to die anyway, so what’s the fuss? There is a very deep-rooted fear of losing anything he cares about, so he doesn’t generally form attachments; even if it seems like he’s become very close to someone, he likely can disassociate from them in a blink.
N’khara has a very strong need for safety though, for himself and his dragon and it fuels him ambition as much as his great love of social experiments, and in the end one fulfills the other. With power there is safety and with power comes freedom to play his little games. And being the endlessly creative soul he is, there are so many ideas in his head that he thinks could actually better the Weyrs. Better the world. Maybe better life for a handful of people. These really aren’t his main focus though… mostly he just really wants to see what *would* happen if he was able to put these into action. If there’s some benefit from this well then great, that would only solidify his position of power, wouldn’t it? (But at the same time he wouldn’t really blink at a great sacrifice to further a goal.) He does feel Pern in general tends to get stuck in all kinds of boxes that are a) boring and b) silly. For example, he really thinks mating flights are seriously the dumbest idea anyone could have gone along with. Does everyone not see how very fickle dragons could be? And everyone thinks that’s the most effective way to decide who’s in charge? Really? (This may or may not have nothing to do with the fact that Radakath will likely never win even a greenflight in his condition.)
N’khara is really, *really* good at his role in life now. There’s a part of him that loves serving others in the sense that it gives him power in his own way. He knows how to be the kind of person that is relied on and does it well. He will be there, doing what is needed quietly in the background and makes himself such a part of the furniture that he goes pretty much unnoticed until he’s *not* there. Knowing that people come to depend on him so makes him quite smug and every so often he’ll just not show up where he’s supposed to be just to hammer home the value he’s created for himself. He’ll use this to move in with the leadership and start pushing little buttons here and there. Ista is a fascinating playground because of the various tensions around and he’s almost giddy with excitement to test it all out.
And. He’s pretty awesome in bed and he’ll shamelessly use this. Or not use it, is often the case. He creates desire in himself by showing one or two people with the biggest mouths an incredible night and then withholding from everyone else until he can most use this. Its fun and sex can create an amazing amount of power if used correctly.
History
Birthplace: Unknown Hold, High Reaches Protectorate, 8.431.11.11
Nikhara came from very humble beginnings in a small community of less fortunate holders. Life wasn’t awful, but it was often meagre and for a boy as bright as he was, the lack of mental stimulation was stifling. He became one of the few around who could read and he ate up anything he could, often stealing from any harper that happened their way through. Most of his many siblings were comfortable enough in their world, but he wanted *out*. He wanted to do better than shovelling pig shit and he *knew* he could.
It took eighteen turns, but he got his wish when searchriders actually came to find candidates and he went to High Reaches Weyr with a surprising number of other relatives and friends. There was a fair amount of hazing for the hillbillies that were coming into the barracks, but they showed off their backwoods potential when seven of them impressed, his own sister taking the gold of the clutch. Nikhara became N’khara of brown Radakath and they possibly had the brightest future of the bunch (because well… Vausse was Vausse so someone had to hold up the family name with pride.)
But because fate is funny like that it was Radakath that suffered the worst of injuries of the class and because fate is *extra* funny, it was actually Vausse that may have been the catalyst of this though no one really knew for sure. In the end it was a giant cluster fuck during flaming drills where Vausse and her gold were not where they were supposed to be and the weyrling wing came out with several injuries, though Radakath suffered the worst for it. It may have been a collision or maybe a sudden start of panic that had him sucking in breath when he desperately should not have been and the internal burns from it nearly killed him.
The brown survived, but his throat and lungs were never the same again. The healers couldn’t even be optimistic about sustaining a decent lung capacity let alone being able to flame properly, if at all. N’khara wasn’t content with just being a useless rider, of course. He found his own little niche as an assistant to some of the leadership around the Weyr, or really whoever needed it. He started with running errands and eventually became trusted enough to do diplomatic work within the High Reaches protectorate. It might not have been a dragonrider’s first choice, but he loved the comfort and security he was cementing for himself.
It was a difficult decision to leave High Reaches with Vausse, but it was just as hard to turn down the opportunity at Ista Weyr, especially as the warmer weather might be easier on his dragon. Besides, someone needed to look after his sister, no?
Relationships
Family
Sister: Vausse, gold Varaswith (25)
N'khara's Dragon: Brown Radakath
Dragon Name: Radakath
Colour: Brown
Age: 2
Weyr of Origin: High Reaches
Appearance
Most people recognize this brown more by the distinct wheeze in his breath that by his colouration. Some days are better than others, but the cold of High Reaches irritated his damaged lungs and throat so he can often be heard coughing from wherever he’s resting. Extended flight is a struggle for him, though hopefully the climate at Ista will ease this a little.
Radakath is a handsome brown with a hide like polished mahogany, right down to lighter rippled throughout that could easily be mistaken for the grain in wood. He’s on the smaller side for his colour, compact and sturdy with just slightly squatter proportions that usual. There’s a sweetness to his face that makes his sad breathing a little heartbreaking sometimes, the kind that just makes everyone want to run over and hug the crap out of him.
Personality
You couldn’t ask for a more gentle and sweet creature than Radakath. There was once he was a hyper, bouncing enthusiasm to him that he never quite regained after his accident, especially as getting to excited sets him off in fits of coughing, but being hurt didn’t create the sort of problems in him that it did with N’khara. He was always super easy-going and willing to please, much like his golden sister, and the two are just loving and barf-worthy in the way they interact.
And there’s plenty of love for everyone, which is good because Radakath is the compassion to N’khara’s ambition. He can be the voice of reason where its needed, the one to see the humanity where maybe his rider overlooks it. Not that he’ll get overly involved in his rider’s schemes or games, generally he’s a bit too busy making new friends or enjoying a lovely sunset, but he will step in when he feels N’khara might be pushing too far.
Its good that he’s so docile and happy; some dragons might be made a little crazy not being able to fight thread with their fellows, and once in a while it gets to Radakath and he’ll be horribly depressed with shame of not doing his job. What good is a dragon that can’t kill the enemy? But N’khara always manages to talk him out of feeling so low and will assure him of his worth. They *are* important and they’re doing something very unique, so he should feel very proud indeed! Radakath will make sure to go out of his way to help out where he can though and he’s regularly doing excercises to try and make himself stronger. Occasionally he’ll give his rider a heart-attack by taking off to explore on his own, but he has this whole new island to see! Its not unheard of him to make friends while N’khara is busy and take them for a little adventure.