Name: K’ienn (formerly Kovalienn)
Age: 36
Sex: Male
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Weyr: High Reaches Weyr
Rider Rank: Wingrider
Previous Rank/Craft: N/A
Physical Description: K’ienn is the quintessential bronzerider: tall, well-built, generally thought handsome, and just oozing pure, smug self-satisfaction. He sports wide shoulders and a slender waist, long legs and well-toned arms which are often kept bare. He generally dresses rather ostentatiously in white, with various accessories. His favorite thing to wear on colder days is a huge white fur cloak that makes him look much bigger and more threatening than he is.
K’ienn’s skin is naturally quite dark for someone living in a cold area, and he boasts a full head of silky black hair. It is so soft and fine that it tends to flow when he walks, giving the impression of a slight breeze billowing past. He looks out through dark-lashed brown eyes that are wholly confident in meeting the gazes of others. He’s got nothing to be ashamed of. Have you?
His smiles aren’t exactly rare, but they’re never really nice. They’re most commonly tinged with just enough insolence to make them seem outright provocative – especially when combined with that direct stare and those slight cheek dimples. The only thing noticeably out of place on his visage is a small crook in the bridge of his otherwise nice-looking nose. He does not talk about its origins.
Personality: Colorbigot jerkwad.
See that tall fellow over there, swaggering along like a feline with his chin jutting and flanked by his cronies? That’s K’ienn. If you’re not looking to be scrutinized and possibly have to answer for something that you’ve probably already been told before, you might want to avoid him. Sure, he’s easy on the eyes, but really, it’s not worth the risk of initiating conversation. Unless you ride a metallic, or you’re not a rider at all. Then you’re okay. Unless you’re from a hold. Or too outspoken about your opinions. Or… you know what? Never mind. Just don’t talk to him.
K’ienn is a traditionalist through and through. He’s from a long line of bronzeriders and was born and raised at High Reaches. As a bronzerider for the last twenty turns, he sees himself as an authority in many things, including enforcement of what he sees as the correct way to do things at High Reaches. He’s not the most gentle at it, either. He’s been known to harass, coerce, and occasionally use force in his drive to serve the interests of High Reaches, though he’s smart enough that it isn’t something he does openly. He will also resort to bullying if something is annoying to him but can’t really be corrected, especially if it involves certain color-rider combinations that he finds to be unacceptable.
On the subject of color, K’ienn does not think of chromatics as worthless like his father did, but he does believe they have their natural roles and should not stray from them by trying to be leaders or by Impressing the wrong sort of rider – women on blues and browns? Tacky. And whites… well, they shouldn’t even be hatched, if they can’t do it themselves. They barely have any stamina and are all but useless in a fall… really, they shouldn’t even be hatched.
And all those unaffiliated riders and their dragons out there, living however they like while Thread falls? Now those are the worthless ones. Every dragon should be united in the fight, preferably under the authority of High Reaches. Tithes? They’re not as hard to get as they were before Thread, but from those last few holders with closed hands… they are to be extracted by whatever means necessary.
If K’ienn sounds a little too focused on these things, well... he kind of is. What started as a childhood hero worship of his ambitious father K’voran matured into a competition for superiority once K’ienn had Impressed a bronze of his own. It was exciting and all sorts of fun to be an equal with his once-untouchable father, but when Yisketh flew his first gold, K’ienn lost control over his ego. He sincerely believed that as a bronzer, he had to have rank in order to be of real use – and he was well on his way to getting there. Since then, he’s been on a reckless drive to reach the top, not really caring who gets trampled underfoot on the way, or who thinks poorly of him, unless it’s someone in charge.
He can be deliriously charming, but it’s not something he does often these days unless he’s got ulterior motives. He doesn’t show much positive emotion in general, to be honest. He’s been driving forward toward that singular goal for so long that the only pure moments he really has are those that come in the quiet times, when he’s alone with Yisketh, or half-asleep in the aftermath of a flight.
K’ienn genuinely loves his home and wants the best for it, but unfortunately, somewhere along the way, he hit a few snags that pulled him down into something ugly, and hasn’t been able to resurface.
Positive Trait List Focused, ambitious, charming (when it’s useful)
Negative Trait List Obsessive, insolent, bigoted
History: Kovalienn was weyrbred, born at High Reaches to goldrider Dalienne and bronzerider K’voran. Though his progenitors weren’t closely involved in their son’s early upbringing (his mother was unaffiliated with the Weyr and left when he was only a few turns old), Kovalienn idolized his sire and hung onto his every word. The man was big and strong, dark-skinned with a steely gaze and hair black as coal. He rode the powerful bronze Axantath, a proud, muscular beast that to the innocent eyes of a child seemed legendary. The boy would often sit unnoticed under the table or behind a counter, just listening to the man and his cronies talk, all of them strong bronzeriders.
They spoke of dragon colors and weyr leadership – wouldn’t it be grand if all of Pern were united under the Weyrleaders of High Reaches? But all of those other colors, those worthless greens and blues… even some browns and metallics, for shame! They were fighting against the natural order and weakening the weyrs from the inside out. And the holdfolk… it was foolish of those ground-bound vermin to dismiss dragons as worthless wastes of resources. Thread would return someday. Then the bronzes would show their might, and those naysayers would regret. They would pay for their disbelief when Thread fell and the dragons rose to glory.
K’voran participated in numerous gold flights over the turns, vying for his desired place among the leadership. He was a wingleader for as long as Kovalienn could remember, but his bronze always seemed to fail when it came to the flights that would determine the next Weyrleader. He was too young then to understand the sort of pressure being put on the dragon in those critical moments, but he would learn soon enough.
By age fifteen, Kovalienn had already become a miniature version of his father, a handsome but prideful little prince who repeated much of the same things he’d heard his elder say. He knew that when he Impressed, it would be to a bronze. Nothing else was worth so much as a disdainful glance. He stood for Eveleth’s maiden clutch and did Impress that bronze, and the only metallic in the clutch, to boot… but not before Yisketh was terribly humiliated by a blue clutchmate who seemed to think that somehow he was better than a bronze!
If Kovalienn had any doubts as to the inferiority of chromatics, blue Krahsujunth deftly amputated them with his intolerable behavior – first aggressively knocking Yisketh down for no discernible reason, and then going on to Impress a girl. And that girl, Vilirind? She actually presumed to take an honorific! That was just altogether tasteless. K’ienn will be hesitant to admit to it, but he did come to fisticuffs with “V’rind” a few short months after the hatch. Such an encounter was inevitable, though, for their bronze and blue feuded regularly since day one.
For the safety of his Yisketh, he might have tried to mitigate the hostility between the two dragons – had his father not interfered. With K’ienn’s Impression of a bronze, suddenly K’voran became acutely aware of his son as if he were lit up with beacons. The boy was welcomed into the company of his childhood heroes, and at his tender fifteen turns he still saw them through rosy-colored lenses. He was taught that no chromatic should ever be permitted to so much as lift its head in defiance against a metallic. Blue Krahsujunth was to be thoroughly trounced.
But the trouncing did not happen. Inch for inch, Krahsujunth kept up in size with his bronze brother as they grew. Even a full turn later, nearing the end of their growth, they were barely a few armspans apart in length. It was clear that K’ienn and Yisketh would have to employ other methods of recompense.
Krahsujunth had a rather hopeless tendency to be attracted to gold dragons, which gave Yisketh several opportunities to flaunt his superiority in ways which were difficult to refute. In their third turn, a gold dragonet named Fianth was hatched. Inconceivably, Krahsujunth chose this particular gold to fall head over heels for… so Yisketh took her when she rose for her maiden flight. He liked her well enough, but ultimately, she was a means to an end, for his rider at least. Fianth’s rider, Olliah, could be the Weyrwoman of High Reaches someday, after all.
K’ienn’s relationship with Olliah was… well, not what it could have been, had his priorities been in a better place. She was certainly a beautiful woman, but so much more than that. She was a rare jewel – innocent, gentle and nurturing – well worth the time and the effort to pursue for reasons beyond the golden dragon she rode. The young man had an inkling of this in the early days of their union, and he was very happy with her… perhaps even loved her. But, sadly, happiness would not be enough to satisfy him at that point in his life.
At every gold flight, Yisketh would be pitted against K’voran’s bronze Axantath for superiority, and often Krahsujunth as well. The determined Yisketh sired a second clutch by Fianth with a particularly spectacular mating flight, resulting in a staggering twenty-four eggs. It was the largest High Reaches clutch in the last twenty turns and tied with the previous record in recent history. The clutch included a golden egg and three bronzes.
Those bronzer cronies of his father’s, most of whom were already wavering in their loyalties by then, began to gravitate toward K’ienn, and soon he found himself their leader in place of K’voran. He made it their mission to take more action instead of sitting around chatting about their opinions, as they’d done under his father. Through less than gentle avenues, K’ienn set to conforming as many deviants as possible to fall in line with the traditions of High Reaches. He was not above threats, whistleblowing, or outright force. He was also more than happy to visit holds and “persuade” those snobby civilians to hand over the tithes rightfully due to the Weyr.
Yisketh sired a third clutch by Fianth the same turn that her Olliah became Weyrwoman Second. It felt like fate was on K’ienn’s side. This was about a turn before the next weyrleadership flight, and though neither K’ienn nor his father were so fortunate as to win that flight, the young man and his bronze were pleased to discover that somewhere along the line they had managed to get themselves noticed by the Weyrwoman Zheria. K’ienn wasted no time in cultivating her favor, confidently carrying out any task she put to him without question or hesitance. He dared not think of himself as anything approaching her equal, but if he worked hard enough… maybe someday.
It is unknown exactly when K’ienn got it into his head that he needed to become a Weyrleader, but somewhere along the line it became the only thing that really mattered to him. It was his obsession, driving him ever further from that chance at happiness he might have shared with Olliah. His private words to her went from sweet nothings, to excitedly sharing his ambitions and progress... to complaining, questioning, blaming himself, his mother, his father, the lesser riders... anyone who he felt was in his way at achieving his dreams. He never blamed Olliah, but later wondered if perhaps he hadn’t made her feel like he did. It had seemed to K'ienn, at the time she ended their relationship of eight turns, that she’d been the one to grow distant and uninterested.
Yisketh, for his part, was all but distraught at losing Fianth. When she rose for her fourth flight, the desperate bronze and blue Krahsujunth clashed in the air. With the focus on gold Fianth, no one really saw which of the males initiated the fight, or if it had somehow been instigated by one of their riders. In any case, it was a short and bloody collision, followed by a reckless sprint to catch Fianth. But neither caught her – she chose bronze Rintath instead. Her next flight was even worse. K’ienn and K’voran both demanded what was arguably too much of their bronzes, who gave every ounce of effort they could muster. The two bronzes seemed to be unstoppable, gaining on Fianth with such precise determination that most of the onlookers couldn’t begin to predict who’d be the one to catch her.
Without warning, Axantath shattered. Somehow, he’d flown with what seemed like bottomless reserves of vigor until he reached his absolute limit... and plummeted. Thankfully, he was saved by some dragons who’d been spectating. It seemed like Yisketh would be the victor in that flight, but in the last moments bronze Ruvath, who had been conserving his stamina, surged ahead and caught his prize. K’voran’s bronze lived, but was permanently grounded, and K’voran disgraced. Instead of seeing the incident as a cautionary tale to be heeded, though, K’ienn was inordinately pleased that his father was out of the race. That was one less opponent to deal with. Not that it got him any closer to reconciliation with Olliah, or to any sort of relationship with another goldrider. Even when Yisketh managed to catch one of those glittering golds, it never led to anything more than a night or a few, no lingering connection that K’ienn could feel on the inside, or could use on the outside.
For hundreds of turns, High Reaches had been in its own little world, operating with the assumption that Thread would return to Pern. That was part of the tradition that K’ienn and Yisketh served, and when the silver rain did come, they took it as confirmation for everything they stood for… and every fall was a chance to further prove their quality.
With the latest hatch at High Reaches came several new weyrling pairs, including a gold and bronze, with great potential to be molded to the traditions, and perhaps even to serve as stepping stones in K’ienn’s and Yisketh’s objective to climb the ranks. Unfortunately, there were also an alarming number that might be... difficult. Those had been noted, and would not escape their watchful eyes.
Other: Think of him as a spoiled rich kid with daddy issues, prowling a schoolyard with his friends and bullying all the smaller kids, and you won’t be too far off. There’s also a strong stench of family history preparing to repeat itself.
DRAGON
Name: Yisketh
Age: 21
Color: Bronze
Size: 40’
Physical Description: He may be 40’ in length, but Yisketh is far from being even a medium-sized bronze. A disproportionate amount of his length is taken up by his tail and neck, while his body, though fighting fit, is actually a bit closer in size to that of an average brown. His legs are also longer than average, adding to his attractive, graceful shape and giving him a clear height advantage over many of the dragons who outweigh him. He tends to carry himself with lofty hauteur, his neck arched in a majestic curve, taking collected strides with the same ease and insolence as a runnerbeast sire. His hide is a rich shade of bronze, with much darker wingsails and neck ridges, underbelly, feet and tail tips. There is lighter mottling along the top of his back, neck and cheeks.
His body, which would normally be considered beautiful by most, is marred with some rather unpretty scars. The most prominent scars pepper his rump, hind legs and parts of his tail – trophies earned by staying ahead of other males while flying after a beautiful lady. He also has several more blemishes on his chest, and a particularly grisly flaw across one cheek where his face had literally been torn open.
Personality: Yisketh was the only metallic born in his clutch, and as such, felt strongly that he was both above and responsible for all of his siblings. Unfortunately, with the influence of his upwardly-mobile rider and a constant battle with a nonconforming sibling from right out of the shell, these feelings metamorphosed into a full-blown complex. Yisketh wants to be nice, he really does, but he has a responsibility to make sure that the rules are being followed. Any personal sentiments he has for an individual must be set aside so that order can be restored. He will enforce the traditions of High Reaches with very little mercy once you’ve had your first and second chances to do things nicely. In light of this, he harbors varying degrees of dislike for any siblings and offspring who don’t follow tradition, ranging from distaste to outright shunning.
His major rival is his clutchmate blue Krahsujunth. They just seemed to hate each other straight out of their shells. Not only did Krahsujunth choose poorly, picking a woman for his rider, he also holds deep affection for gold Fianth. In response to that foolish sentiment, Yisketh claimed Fianth as his own and managed to make three clutches with her. He’s always happy to rub that fact in the blue’s face. After three flights together, he believes that Fianth rightfully belongs to him, and was outraged when other bronzes outflew him on her fourth and fifth flights.
He won’t admit to such a weakness, but he did develop some strong feelings for her during their time together. He found Fianth to be a genuinely attractive dragon, admiring her sweet and nurturing ways. Who wouldn’t appreciate an affectionate partner when everyone else important to you wants more than you have to give?
Yisketh will never speak poorly of his rider, but there are days when he just wants to crawl into a hole and hide from K’ienn. Just a little break from all the posturing and self-asserting. Just for a little while, he’d like to go back to being a hatchling, when all these rules didn’t matter so much. Sure, he believes in them… but when did it become his responsibility to police everyone else? He would be hard-pressed to recall a time when he could not count all of his friends on one paw. And yet, his loyalty to K’ienn and duty to those beneath who need his example, his help, his protection – Yisketh can’t seem to find a good reason to forsake them. So he perseveres for the greater good.
Flying is one of his great escapes. In the air, Yisketh’s size make him fast and agile for a bronze, and he can put many of the larger ones to shame. If allowed to fly at will, he instinctively seems to know when to save his strength and when to go all out. He loves the chase, to let loose all of the anxiety and pressures of daily life, clear his mind, and just go. Fighting during a fall is a similar experience, even though he must focus more on the task at hand. When Thread is falling around him, there’s no room to think of anything else. Even after fighting through an entire wave, Yisketh comes through feeling somehow refreshed.
Dragon Art or Proof of Obtainment:
