C'tis
Name: C'tisAge: 44
Gender: Male
Craft/Rank: Harper / Journeyman | Secondary Warden / Murderer's Row
Appearance: C'tis stands about six feet tall; he possesses a powerful build, and a hard scarred face set with hard dark brown eyes. This man has presence, and it's not a nice presence; he tends to prowl around like a large feline, and if he isn't sneering disdainfully he's probably glowering dangerously. He has an air of power and command about him, mostly due to complete and utter self assurance that is so very obvious in that prowl and those 'I will crush you like the trundle-bug you are' glares. His clothes look as tough as he does; all dark colours, leather jerkins with hardwearing britches and knee boots that look made for kicking things is his usual attire out of riding leathers. C'tis' hair matches his personality really quite well; it's short, spiky, and disorderly. Almost incidentally compared to its style (or lack thereof) it happens to be a very dark shade of brown, with a few grey flecks creeping in at the temples. Should he grin (unlikely) or snarl (quite likely) a gold tooth becomes visible, the left incisor.
Personality: Sharp, prickly, short-tempered and volatile; C’tis is not a man to trifle with. He is a malcontent, and a born cynic; when social grace was being handed out, he was definitely in another room. Why should charm be everything, he would like to know? He’s an intelligent man (not brilliant but definitely bright, and possessed of a healthy dose of practicality too), and yet he struggles to form and maintain friendships. Deep under his spikes and acerbic temperament is a man who would love to have a large group of friends, but can’t seem to get them. They say a dragon completes a rider and while Malcarreth has indeed eased his loneliness a huge amount the blue's presence in his life hasn’t stopped him longing for human friends too. Because of this failing in himself a long time before he even Impressed C'tis decided that if he couldn’t be liked then he’d at least be respected, or failing that feared.
To be respected or feared a man must be tougher than nails, and so that’s what C’tis has made himself; his rough, tough, remorseless image is all important to him. Unfortunately, it is this determination to stick to his ‘next best thing to being liked’ that is actually part of the reason he struggles to make friends. C’tis has a temper. A real temper. Call him volatile, and you’d be right; call him that to his face, and you’d certainly find yourself on the receiving end of his considerable ire. So, he’s prone to fits of anger and saying unpleasant things in the heat of the moment... But he wants to be liked. He regrets his outbursts, but he can’t be liked, so he has to be tough, so he never shows his remorse, so people dislike him more, so he gets angrier, so he becomes more vicious, so he regrets that too, but he can’t apologize... It’s a real vicious circle, one that he might well never break free of. Even with the few friends he has C'tis tends to be gruff, argumentative, sarcastic and acidic; it's driven people away over the turns but no amount of effort on his part can seem to keep him playing the nice guy for long periods of time.
Power and rank are things C’tis has always desired because rank equals respect and nice things, and also because being higher up the food chain can get you some false friends and hangers on, though of course he’d never admit this to himself or to anyone else that this is part of the reason he's drawn to high positions. In any case, whatever his reasons for desiring a leadership role, C'tis can handle said role so long as it's action you're looking for; he has the brain, the skill, the brawn and the confidence to go and get things done and to draw or haul people along with him. He acts well in the heat of the moment, and though he demands a lot from his subordinates he demands the same amount of effort and perfection from himself.
Despite his rough attitude with them he is also very protective of those in his charge and anyone or anything messing with them messes with him as well; even if he thinks one of them is a shaffing idiot they're his shaffing idiot. Loyalty in general in fact is one of his major redeeming features; when he actually does manage to form a solid relationship with somebody he will stick by them through thick, thin, forest fires, being dragged out of bed at stupid o' clock to help with something and so on and so forth. Betrayal is something C'tis deals poorly with, and at first tries not to deal with at all through denial. If there is not a shadow of a doubt that somebody he trusted and cared about had shaffed him over however the burning fiery passion of a thousand suns would be a candle next to the amount of hate he would have for that particular individual. Unfortunately for him however he tends to have trouble letting go of the affection he had for them, leading to extremely uncomfortable like/hate conflict that he tries to suppress with extra hate.
If C'tis had a middle name (well, two middle names, because Acerbic-Wherson would certainly be one too) it would be Stubborn. Quitting just isn't something he seems to be capable of once he's set his mind to a task, and while this is positive in that he'll keep trying no matter what it also means that he has a tendency to drive himself into the ground and or attempt things it's really unwise to attempt. Added to his short temper it can be a recipe for disaster but fortunately his more restrained dragon can generally persuade him to see sense like get some sharding sleep or run away very fast from the wild wher. Malcarreth claims full credit for his rider having lived as long as he has, a fact that C'tis disagrees with strenuously, but then what else is new?
History: They say the dragon makes the man.
In this case it's quite probable that if nothing else Malcarreth made C'tis this side of the bars rather than the other.
Carltis was born at Ista Weyr; his father was possibly a rider, his mother probably a lower caverns worker, but he was raised by the crèche and has no knowledge of them. He never got on especially well with the other children; he was short on temper and sharp tongued, and as he continued failing to make friends the temper only got worse and the tongue sharper. While he liked to pretend he didn’t like anyone, Carltis really rather liked a boy of around his own age; Jerrican was clever, funny, personable, and close with his bronze rider father who was a respected wingleader. Jerrican - an extremely popular lad - paid little attention to Carltis, and the rather less popular lad tried to make the blond notice him by showing off and attempting to get one over on him at every opportunity. This annoyed Jerrican, who started putting Carltis down in far more subtle ways, spreading rumours, and ostracizing him and so on.
Once he was old enough Jerrican decided he wished to learn a craft before standing as a candidate; his father had been a smith and felt his son should learn a skill rather than pinning his hopes on a dragon. Jerrican, smart charismatic boy that he was, decided he would be Harper. Carltis decided that anything his rival/crush could do he could do better and opted to do the same. Sadly for him it soon became apparently that Jerrican was annoyingly talented as well as annoyingly popular; he bested Carltis in every possible way, save that the increasingly spiky youth had a hand for art that Jerrican did not possess. While he wasn’t as good as Jerrican, Carltis was still good at his chosen craft; both boys walked the tables aged eighteen and then returned home to Ista to practice their craft, and seek dragon companions. Who wouldn't want a perfect partner, and the freedom to travel the world? Carltis also rather liked the idea of the newly formed dragonwatch, because who wouldn't like to have power like that? He would Impress a bronze, join them, rise through their ranks and show once and for all that he was better than his rival, and also he would stop fantasizing about him shaffit!
When Carltis and Jerrican were both twenty a clutch was laid, and Carltis made sure that everyone knew that he would Impress the bronze that would no doubt come out of one massive egg. When the shells cracked that bronze was first out, and it approached Carltis... and gave a derisive snort before moving over to Impress to Jerrican.
Furious and humiliated Carltis almost stormed off the sands, but before he could depart in a fit of pique he felt an anger answering his own. Turning around he saw a skinny blue dragonet making its way purposefully towards him.
The whole ‘defeating’ plan didn’t go too well; in weyrling lessons J’ca shone once again but – oddly – after a few months he started being much nicer to C’tis. When the blue rider finally cornered his rival and demanded to know what the shaff he was playing at, J’ca admitted that he had feelings for him but had been too afraid to admit them until encouraged by his Acriculeth. C’tis was understandably stunned, but tentatively admitted he might feel something too. As weyrlings everything had to remain platonic of course but the pair started courting as much as was allowed. As soon as their dragons were old enough their relationship became decidedly official... but was decidedly brief; after a single night J’ca ended things – publically – with a laugh and collected on a very large bet indeed. Betrayed and humiliated C’tis swore he wouldn’t make the mistake of letting himself be so vulnerable ever again, and threw himself into besting J’ca as a rider.
C'tis joined the dragonwatch and shards if he wasn't angrier than ever. He rode a blue, did the bronze riders think that made him less than them? Their mistake! He threw himself into his work, took on extra duties where ever he could and did indeed prove to be a fine rider. Malcarreth's influence even kept him from getting into any (major) fights and thus getting kicked out. He was, however, still disagreeable and belligerent. He did not advance far, and was not happy about this. J'ca on the other hand was doing very well for himself as a rider (not part of the Watch) and as a Harper as well. C'tis hated him more than ever. Things came to a head during the flight of a young gold; Malcarreth and Acriculeth both gave chase, and got rather too close to one another. Acriculeth lashed out at the smaller dragon, tearing open his shoulder and flank and sending him tumbling out of control, but as he fell the blue latched onto the bronze and the two fell together, tearing at one another. On the ground, in a flight-induced haze, the two riders flung themselves at one another. The fighting dragons separated at the last possible moment they could striking the ground, and only an enterprising group of riders not involved in the flight managed to haul J’ca and C’tis apart. No disciplinary action was taken, but C'tis did find himself moved far away from Ista as soon as Malcarreth's wounds healed. This was fine by him.
Not long after this C'tis acquired a firelizard egg in a game of cards. It hatched into Fang, who turned out to have all the temper of a really angry wher squashed into his tiny body. C'tis trained him as an attack flitt, naturally.
When construction began on Warden's C'tis as 'trouble' was transferred right away. Although less than thrilled at what he knew was a punishment posting C'tis resolved to show the bastards (please let him show the bastards!) and once again set out to prove what he and Malcarreth were worth. This time is worked. In the first turn of Warden's existence he was made a squadsecond, and in the third he became squadleader when the previous occupant of the post retired by way of accidentally getting killed by a prisoner. That's probably the level he would have stayed at had Malcarreth not befriended the elderly bronze of the elderly Secondary Warden of Murderer's Row. C'tis bridled at this and would have totally ruined things had the blue allowed him, but Malcarreth decided that they had come too far for C'tis' idiocy to sabotage them.
Patience was rewarded. Early in the forth turn of Warden's existence the elderly secondary retired (not by dying, luckily for him) and recommended Malcarreth as his replacement. C'tis' name entered the equation as something of an afterthought on the old man's part. For reasons of his own, reasons that C'tis and Malcarreth do not pretend to understand, M'onk did not oppose his wishes.
Secondary Warden C'tis was very pleased indeed, and has spent the last turn or so giving happy happy smiles to the bronze riders he was promoted over.
Other stuff:
Favoured weapon: Shortsword / Fang
Favoured instrument: Lap harp
Malcarreth
Name: Malcarreth
Color: Blue
Age: 24
Appearance: Malcarreth is a pool of ink given wings and a dry wit. He's of around average size for a blue, maybe a little on the small side but hardly tiny. He has a tough wiry build rather than a sleek elegant one, and the scars that criss-cross his hide indicate that its more than just his build that is rugged. The most notable of his scars run from his left shoulder right down to the middle of his flank; it is quite obvious that they were made by the talons of a dragon far larger than he.
Personality: Malcarreth shares many key similarities with his rider, but the differences they do have compliment one another and make them a pair to be reckoned with... On a good day.
He is nearly as quick to anger as his rider when it comes to work and will not tolerate being treated as inferior to any other dragon, but unlike said rider he can keep a lid on his rage. Where C'tis boils over, Malcarreth simmers quietly and holds back. If somebody crosses him he'll get them back in the end, but if it doesn't make sense to exact his revenge on the spot, he'll wait until it does. Not all of his holding off and waiting is due to good sense; perhaps half could be attributed to that, and the other half to fits of brooding pessimism. If he's having a day where he feels life is especially pointless it takes a very firm kick up the tailfork get him to move and even then he makes sure his rider knew exactly how pointless he feels everything they were doing is.
His hesitance does have its advantages however, namely diffusing C'tis. His rider is about to do something incredibly hot headed and foolish? He'll temper that response. On a good day he can persuade his rider to resist the urge be an idiot. On a reasonable day he can at least get a few second thoughts out of him before he launches into action. On a bad day he'll be utterly ignored, and on a really bad day he'll manage to rub C'tis the wrong way and make matters worse.
C'tis furious fires of passion can be used to affect Malcarreth too, but in the opposite direction, spurring on rather than holding back. If both of them are having a bad day at their extremes they manage to make one another worse nearly without fail and usually end up arguing with one another to boot, each thinking the other is an unreasonable idiot for a few hours before vague mutual apologies.
Despite his sometimes grumpy nature Malcarreth is at least better at making friends than his rider is; he can be very amiable and even witty, albeit in a dark and dry way, and tries (without success) to help C'tis make a few more friends too. There's no doubt that the blue can be a real trial to be around; he has a fairly large ego, and then there are those depressive and or grumpy fits to put up with, but he can probably count at least a good few dragons as friends, and a few dragons as good friends.
Also much like his rider he is a proud, dominant sort of fellow. He will not tolerate being treated as less than any other dragon for any reason, and doesn't hesitate to sharply dress down or just plain snarl at dragons that dwarf him if he thinks they're out of line. When he gives and order he expects it to be followed and followed now, though as a more restrained sort than his rider he is willing to listen to a well reasoned 'yes sir but-'. If the 'but' does not turn out to be well reasoned he will either reprimand the dragon in question himself, or if he's in a bad mood he'll leave his rider to give their rider a Right Royal Bollocking about wasting time with shaffing dimglowed ideas.
One final thing Malcarreth shares with his rider is a capacity for great, almost fanatical loyalty. Malcarreth is a romantic, he'll even admit that (grudgingly) if pressed. He'd love to find another dragon who would want him to catch them every time they rose/chased, a dragon he would want to just go flying with for the sake of sharing the free sky, a dragon he would want to bring gifts to, share a kill with... It would also be nice if they had a rider who could love and be loved by his rider; he is aware of C'tis' loneliness and would love nothing better than to resolve it. Oh, also, that hypothetical dragon had better stay loyal to him in return or they'll find themselves on his hit list. Still, given he's so good at procrastinating, it might take him a while to get around to doing anything about them.
