 Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 5:17 pm
Name:
Valad
Age:
20
Sex:
Male
Sexual Orientation:
Straight
Craft:
N/A
Rank:
N/A
Physical Description:
Though he towers above many people, at 6'3” Valad is far from the tallest person he knows. But, compared to many, he is much more intimidating, with leathery and windburned skin from his life of travel, and his broad, well muscled build, courtesy of years of running, carrying, packing and moving constantly. His face is sharp and angular, with high cheekbones and cracked, chapped lips, all drawing attention to his eyes, which are strangely angled and an unusually dark shade of blue that almost seems to bleed into the white around it, forming an unfocused halo effect. In an attempt to soften his aggressive features, he has grown his dark hair out until it nearly reaches his hips. Unfortunately, the net effect just makes him look unsympathetic and slightly careless.
Personality:
If you asked Valad about his purpose in life, he would reply that he likes nothing more than to make those around him happy, no matter how fleeting that joy might be. His main attack on depression and annoyance involves badly told jokes that often fall short of their marks, though his earnest eagerness and trader's charisma often lead to good natured hilarity anyway. The debate is open as to whether he is truly so playful, or if he is simply the best actor, a useful trait for a trader, one is likely to meet in their lifetime. However, you may rest assured that, if he comes upon you, he will not leave until you are smiling.
His mindset often seems strangely innocent, and along with a childish willingness to trust and befriend, he has an amazing ability to hold a grudge. And considering his sheer strength, physically and among his fellows in the trade caravan, truly betraying him can prove a fantastic pain.
History:
Valad was the third child of ten, and the first son of three, to his parents. However, the birth of their first son was quickly shadowed by his mother's return to pregnancy, and barely a full turn later, twin sons joined Pern with him. The priviledge of being first born was tempered with the celebration of being born twinned in the caravan, which was considered a sort of blessing, and Valad never found himself the favorite because of his age, instead taking second seat to his brothers.
However, he was never bitter towards them, and took nearly as much pride in their learning as in his own. Indeed, when he realized that he would not learn to read or write unless he found himself being a records keeper for the camp, he spent turns picking up what he could from harpers he met in holds, and teaching his brothers along with himself.
Valad had always shown a natural talent for picking up people's trust, though, and even his brother's could not compete with it. Just after his fourteenth turn, he was granted the privilege of performing minor trades unsupervised. True, he could only trade items that were worth under five marks, but in his younger brother's eyes, that was a wonderful thing.
And that wonderment convinced the twins that they would only be respected like their brother when they had proven themselves adults. Another trader youth convinced them that proving themselves would mean going out on a hunt and staying out until they had captured something worth bringing back. Without warning or explanation, the two disappeared for almost four days, and returned half-dragging the body of a badly beaten wherry, along with a plethora of minor injuries. The youngest of the two eventually lost an ear to an infected cut, and Valad has always blamed himself for his brothers' reckless behavior.
The twins' stunt was immediately responsible for a change in the education of the three sons, and they received crash courses in various survival skills, so that if they were ever separated from the caravan, they could manage themselves until they reached a hold and contacted their family. So, Valad has the most basic skills in stitching and a working knowledge of what herbs and plants will repair general fevers and infections, as well as how to capture fish in streams, how to safely hunt down larger game with a minimum of arms, and how to tell that a cave is not likely to collapse on him if he chooses to stay the night in it. Of course, these skills are untested, and relatively unpracticed.
A only a sevenday after the beginning of his twentieth turn, as the caravan approached Nerat, a search rider extended an invitation of candidacy to Valad. For the three remaining days of the caravan's journey to Nerat, he used every ounce of persuasive skill he had learned to convince his parents that having a dragonrider in the family would outweigh any sense of abandonment they might suffer. After all, the most he could be away was a single turn. After that, he would be too old to stand, and would return to his camp.
So, when his family packed with the rest of the traders to leave Nerat a sevenday after their arrival, they fed Valad a veritable farewell feast, and he stayed behind, to await a rider to take him to the weyr.
Pets:
The trader lifestyle does not lend itself well to keeping pets.
Other/Talents:
Among the traders, he is well known for his bizarre style of fighting. Along with the staff he carries everywhere, a lot of apparently random flailing is involved. Between his strenth, his unpredictability in a scuffle, and his connections among traders- who will happily refuse marks if one of their own has been sufficiently insulted- causing him undue trouble can prove a very large pain.
Since arriving in the Weyr, he has begun to notice how dependent nontravellers are on drums for communication, and he is determined to learn the language of them.
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