Name: Cedeny
Age: Fifty (ish)
Gender: Female
Rank: Senior Investigator/Masterharper
Appearance:
Standing at about 5”5, Cedeny definitely runs towards plump. With large brown eyes set in a round face, she looks a little younger then her fifty turns, though the crows feet at her eyes give her away. She keeps her hair long and often braids it back out of her way before confining it under a veil or wimple - and those who look to her often use her braids as a way of keeping track of her emotions. The more elaborate they are, the worse her mood when she last dressed her hair.
She usually dresses fairly simply - though the fabrics are expensive and her clothes well-made, the cut is always conservative and she prefers to keep her jewellery to a minimum.
Personality:
Pros: Loyal, dependable, strong and silent, compassionate, reasonably intelligent, does Not Give In, honourable
Cons: Stubborn to the point of tears, sensitive, does not cope well with change
Cedeny is a loyal and dependable woman, always ready to stick her neck out for a friend or one of her subordinates. If she says she’s going to get something done, she will get it done. She is as tenacious as a wher on the hunt, and has a keen sense of honour: she has what amounts to almost a physical need to find out the truth, and is extremely hard on riders who break their vows. In her eyes, a rider committing a crime is worse then almost anyone else: the shame they bring on their wingmates and their Weyr is almost tangible. This does, however, also translate to stubbornness in her day-to-day life: getting her to change her mind once she’s made it up is nigh-on impossible.
She’s an intelligent woman, with a keen mind for detail and an excellent memory - both of which are extremely important in her position. This is, of course, helped by an excellent legal library… and assistants to help her where her memory fails.
She has a tendency not to confess to problems she is having, be they physical or emotional: as much trouble as she has dressing and dealing with many other day-to-day things, she refuses to accept help or even admit that she might need it. Any attempt to force it on her is met with an aggressive response, though slightly smarter people may frame it more as a favour to them. She is deeply sensitive, and finds it humiliating that people might think of her as being anything less. It’s easy to get her hackles up this way, though most people will never realise that they’ve done it.
She is a woman of few words, and it’s unusual for her to break out more then are strictly necessary at any point: as far as she’s concerned, deeds speak louder, and she’s always thoughtful about people’s emotions and needs. However, Cedeny doesn’t cope well with change: she has a deep dislike for things shifting around, and feels that the way things are… well, it might not be perfect, but it’s not broken either. Why fix things when they’re not broken? She does like bringing new Investigators in to the fold, but that’s slightly different from letting her closest assistants being changed around. This tendency towards conservatism has grown stronger as she has grown older.
History:
Cedeny was born in 153 (she’s fairly sure) in Igen, in the midst of the civil war that ripped the Hold apart. She doesn’t remember much of her early childhood, and has less memory of her parents beyond a few snatches: she spent most of it in various rider-run refugee camps, raised by a woman who found ‘auntie’ easier to explain then that she had simply found the baby abandoned by the side of the road. Even after the war finished, it took a long time for them to be resettled, and it wasn’t until 163 that they were found a permanent home. Cedeny only stayed there a few turns, before being offered a scholarship to the harper hall. She was seen as having talent and potential by one of the harpers who taught refugee children, and sponsored through.
She belonged to Erato college, and though she spent time at the others - especially Polyhymnia and Clio - the law was always her love. Being a scholarship pupil was not always easy, especially when mixing with the children of the most wealthy and powerful people on Pern. Some of them chose to exploit that, and Cedeny fought back in the way that she knew best (and would get her into the least trouble): righteous exploitation of the Harper Hall’s rules and ordinances.
She gained her journeywomanship at the age of twenty, but chose to remain at the college for some time, helping train younger apprentices. It was not until she was twenty five, towards the end of the great famine, that she took a posting in High Reaches Hold. She spent five turns there, progressing to senior journeywoman and acting as an advocate for those held on serious charges. Cedeny found the work exciting, and often met with riders to go over their evidence and statements. She ended up moving to High Reaches Weyr for love, having gotten involved with a brown rider named O’an. She found an assignment working with the Senior Investigator, doing much the same work. Her relationship with O’an lasted about three turns and one surviving child before they split mutually.
Over her first decade in the Weyr, she involved herself deeply in the Investigator’s work and had two more sons, though her relationships were never especially permanent. She gained a reputation for vigour and honesty, and made a good number of friendships and connections - as well as enemies. She gained her mastery at the age of thirty five, presenting as her masterwork an exploratory treatise on the legal ramifications of blood-feuds as pertaining to inheritance. She has always kept about her a few apprentices since then, as well as assisting in training riders and candidates on their rights... and obligations.
During the chaos of 193, she stepped up as a temporary Senior Investigator after the death of the previous incumbent, something that was made permanent when Venk very definitely refused the role. Over the past decade, she has proved her commitment to justice time and again - not least when she lost her left arm four turns ago after being assaulted by a rider accused of using their position to extort cash from holders, who was then attempting to cut and run from the Weyr.
