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 Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:40 pm
Name: Cannan
Age: 22
Sex: Female
Sexual Orientation: Asexual
Craft: Beastcraft; Watchwher Handling
Rank: Journeyman
History: Cannan always knew she was going to be a beastcrafter and started her apprenticeship unofficially at a very young age. This was due to her family's long history of beastcrafter and her mother's tutelage. By the time she was eleven turns, the youth was well ahead of many apprentices her age and had, by her early teens, been allowed to focus on the specialization of her choice and interest; wher-handling. A generally grumpy and stubborn girl, she found an easy companionship with the occasionally brutal creatures.
Over the course of the next seven turns, Cannan was bonded to, and lost, her first wher due to a mining accident that resulted in the partial collapse of a newer tunnel. His death is something she only discusses with other wher-handlers, and the occasional formerly-bonded dragon rider, and if it sits heavily on her conscious, that it unknown to the public.
It was probably due to the nocturnal nature of whers, and therefore her craft, that Cannan was nineteen before she was searched by a bluerider visiting the hold. This took place just after the loss of her wher, and the freshly-made journeyman refused to Stand, instead going back to her craft and comfort-zone.
Two turns later Cannan's mother urged the girl to take her last opportunity to stand at at least one of the Weyrs, Cannan, never the type to deny her mother, despite her gruff nature, agreed and stood, failing to Impress, and returned home. She seems to only show her usual displeasure at the mention of her younger sister now also attempting Candidacy.
Now that her baby sister has relocated to the Weyr, and she is without a bond, Cannan spends a surprising amount of time visiting for someone that doesn't seem to like anyone.
Appearance: Like most of the women on her mother's side of the family, Cannan has high-cheekbones, full lips, and delicate features, something that would be considered quite pretty if not paired with a deeply furrowed brow and hard jawline. Pale of skin, due to a combination of nocturnal career and heritage, her eyes are a green that matches her mother's and sister's, the main difference being her exceptionally small pupils, which are said to widen substantially in the dark. Her shoulder-length hair is just as dark as her sibling's and is generally worn in a simple bun, tight and low on the base of her skull.
Fit and average in height, Cannan is deceptively strong, despite her lack of bulky muscles due to naturally feminine bodyshape. The young woman has simply developed those she needs and is quite capable of wrangling both young whers and fellow humans. With curves accentuated by hard muscles, the brunette has quite the body to look at, though the chances of anyone seeing it are slim and far between. Her clothing is practical, and mainly consists of wherhide, which some might find ironic, resulting in various colors that she would never purchase in actual linen.
Personality: Serious, abrasive, strong-willed, and generally displeased about something, Cannan is generally assumed around the Hold to be one of those damned homo-sexuals and quite the unpleasant one, at that. In truth, the pessimistic young woman doesn't like anybody, let alone sexually. Intelligent and hardworking, she clearly has a knack with animals of all sorts [a trait that seems to run in her beastcrafting family], but unequivocally prefers the underestimated, stigmatized whers. The strong, nocturnal creatures resonate with something in her core and rather than being bitter about a lack of Impression, she seems happy, if one could ever consider Cannan 'happy', about being allowed to return to Wherhandling without pressures to 'do something more' with her life.
She has no problem pointing out not only flaws in other people's character, but also in their work. Short of being hostile, Cannan is not a liar or malicious and rarely says anything that's not true. Generally, it's cast in the most negative of lights, but nonetheless, there is truth in all her harsh words. This makes her, if not the most well-liked 'teacher', an effective one. Rarely does an apprentice beastcrafter make the same mistake twice under her disapproving eyes, and many a youngling has saved themselves a bite or break in exchange for bruised ego.
Of course, Cannan is not a complete a**, and those used to her brassy language and lack of social diplomacy find her a dependable 'friend', hard worker, and full of astute, if negative, observations. Close family and the occasional co-worker can even find rare humor or affection hidden in her words, and while her tone may be harsh, her hand rarely is.
Other: Cannan takes on one of the nastier aspects of Wher-Handling; culling domestic whers.
She also has a more traditionalist view of wher-bonding, in which the candidate is blooded.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:18 pm
Everything is fine with her except bits of her history. XD
As a wherhandler, she would not be expected to go out and hunt wild whers, especially not at the risk of losing her blood bonded whers. Having lost two whers in such a short period of time (and in the way you've described), it's also doubtful she would have risen to journeywoman rank or be offered another wher in the future.
You can have her lose the two whers, but I'm going to need more plausible reasons for their deaths. Killing them off at the hands of wild whers makes her look irresponsible, to me, and to be given a third chance as well as an increased rank despite this doesn't seem very likely to me.
Also, if she hates firelizards, why does she risk the harshness of outside the Hold (we're in the Northern continent in the mountains, remember) just to get their eggs?
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:47 pm
Those are all interesting points, ones that will, of course, be heeded. xD I was under the impression that it was indeed wher handler's jobs to cull whers, wild or otherwise. Since that's not the case, it's not applicable and I'll remove it. Other than that, she needs not lose two whers. I also had the image of her taking particularly strong or aggressive ones, those that need an extra bit of control to handle.
I was a bit unsure of all that wherhandling entails [there's not much on it, after all], but I'm completely willing to comply with whatever shop canon is; I did read the 'Watchwhers and You' thread, of course.
I'll edit her history and information accordingly! What would be an appropriate death? A fight between whers in which hers was injured and betweened? I feel like it's important to her development, however, I could rework that portion of the history entirely if it wasn't feasible.
Also, she doesn't hate firelizards. I should make the language less in-character, so that it's clear, since she also refers to her sister as a 'dratted annoying' thing. I'm sure she rather likes them, as she does most animals. xD However, I'm going to remove that note entirely, as, if she doesn't need to leave the Hold for wild whers, she probably wouldn't do much firelizard searching, since the breed plenty at the Weyrs.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:45 pm
Whers are primarily used in any craft that is in the dark or in caves, so they're pretty much mining aids. They're also watchwhers for the Holds and such, but the real work they do is in the mines. Thus, a mine collapse could kill them or a pocket of gas that explodes/any kind of mine disaster. Sickness as well (not the plague, but other illnesses), and whers could potentially die from infection of a wound if it wasn't treated properly or the proper healer wasn't around. That sort of thing.
"Taking on" whers would be hard to accomplish, since they wouldn't know what kind of wher you'd be getting since they're given out as eggs to prospective handlers. To take on another person's wher after it had bonded would be possibility, but it would have to have lost its bonded and was a good enough worker that people would want to rebond it.
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:50 pm
Ah, I see what you mean. I HAD originally intended Cannan as a Minecrafter, but then realized Wher-handling is a fulltime job itself, falling under Beastcraft [which fit in her family background I had planned], so I put her there.
All that makes sense and clears thing up for me, I'll be editing accordingly. Thank you!
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:43 pm
There's still some issues I have with the words "culling domestic whers".
If you mean that she selects which ones are appropriate, whers are given out as eggs as Chibi has mentioned so there wouldn't be any way to tell or select what is inside them.
If you were referring to selecting which whers were good and bad, or those that were troublesome, that sort of work is done very early on. If a watchwher does not show good working habits and is particularly volatile or troublesome, they will be killed. In addition, if she were to try and "help" out a wher of another handler, she'd be more than likely to scrutinized heavily or even threatened based on the person.
Many wher handlers are very protective of their watchwhers and would be upset over someone else meddling in their business. Most would look at it as someone else raising a hand to their child. Our whers are more Todd's version than Anne's in the way they're slightly more like firelizards and dragons as opposed to just big brute-ish beasts only there to work.
Other than that, everything looks okay.
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:22 am
I used that term simply because it's specifically used to describe one of the duties of a Wher-Handler in the "Crafting and You" thread of the guild. If there's another that you'd prefer, I have no problem changing it. The direct wording was: "They are in charge of culling the population if need be."
I'm not applying that she's some sort of wher-exterminator, picking and choosing and such, but rather that if the task needs to be done, she'd do it, in the instances that you mentioned; volatile or troublesome whers.
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:36 am
Key words are "need be". As it stands, there is no need for it, so what they're saying is they misinterpreted the wording and took it as if she was a dog trainer and people were bringing their own whers to get smacked around.
Our whers follow Todd's canon and not Anne's, and they're more like having a dragon than a dog in the version we use. What they're saying is people would not bring their domestic whers (which can speak and have more mental capacity than the other canon version) to be trained by someone else. If someone isn't capable of doing so themselves, they wouldn't be given a wher to begin with.
"Culling the population" refers to killing baby whers without a handler or killing wild whers in the unlikely event they rush the Hold, which will probably never happen. (They're trained for it the same way dragons would be trained for Thread, though, as a "just in case" safeguard.)
But since you mean it by that definition, everything is fine. :3 Approved.
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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 10:48 am
I did, indeed. Thank you!
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