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Name: Keysi

Age: 19
Sex: Female
Sexual Orientation: Straight
Current Position: HRW Candidate
Previous Craft: SeaCraft
Rank: Senior apprentice
Other: Informal beastcraft, healercraft

Physical Description: While her body seems slender and lithe, runner's leg muscles and a sparrer's arms add a little 'something' to her contour which would otherwise seem all too feminine for one so stern. The palms of her hands and the soles of her feet are rough and calloused, and bruises can be spotted here and there upon rather pale skin that has seen far more snow and mountains than sun-lit beach. Light scars trek down her forearms and a couple longer ones on her back- though none appear to be disabling.

Reaching an average height of about 5'7”, her poise is really not what brings the domineering personality to life considering it isn't uncommon for her to slouch. Her well-sculpted albeit pale face is almost always rigid in the same exact non-expression. A light smile may pass on a particularly good day, or fury may light her brow with a flash of red, but her amount of emotions are limited. Eyes so light blue they appear silver-grey stare out of heavily lashed lids. Dark brown hair that varies between looking almost black in dim light to shinning golden-brown in bright light, is held tightly back into a ponytail. The slightest hint of feminism goes unintentional as her hair falls into loose heavy ringlets at her shoulders.

A tan tunic is modified into a heavy wrap-around top with a thick black boarder, combined at the waist with a wide belly-wrap. The white half-sleeves at the shoulders and central wrap are lined by the typical fur found on flying gear. Her pants are a white, tough material with heavier patches at the knees. Arms from elbow to mid-fingers are wrapped with 1" strips of cloth beneath heavy leather forearm guards that are long enough to cover the back of her hands.

When not restricted by candidacy or other formal measures, she will arrive as overly adorned with weapons. Two light, single-edged swords are tied to her back using the wrap around her waist. Two escrimas, or 26" sticks, are attached to her back. 4" knife blades are bound to her right arm with a black wrap, and a belt knife can be found at her left boot.

A simple knot of High Reaches Weyr colours interlaced with a strand of white is pinned to her shoulder.

Personality:
She claims silvery grey eyes that glare straight through to the soul, a nearly flawless poker face and a tone of voice that rarely amounts to any emotional inflexion. In truth, there is a part of this 18 turn old that does reflect a battle-axe persona. She is intense, driven, and focused and expects everyone else to be that way too. Everything she does is done at 150% or better, and she believes there to be no excuse to do any less. It can certainly be difficult for those around her to live up to her expectations, but those that work with her will find that she's not the perfectionist that many accuse her to be. It is key in understanding that her disapproval is only received at its harshest when she knows for a fact that you can do better, even if you don't believe it yourself. Perhaps it will make her a good leader someday, with this young lady’s flexibility to work with all levels of ability- as long as they are willing to work... and work hard. She never has and never will think of others as incapable of achieving excellent skill, though she has yet to ever agree that anyone has reached anything near it. Tough love is absolutely the essence of her being.

As a serious personality that takes great pride in her achievements, it wouldn't be far-fetched to throw adjectives such as self-absorbed or even cocky her way. Her intensity and confidence is unfaltering and obvious in both stride and statement. It can be simply tiring to watch her.

Such all-consuming concentration manifests most fully in her loyalty to Weyr and Weyr family, and ultimately can become her most dramatic character flawThose in-the-know understand that there isn't anything she wouldn't do for those she includes in that family. There isn't any situation she wouldn't stand behind them, lest it be a situation that harms them or the Weyr itself. Just as she expects 150% effort at all times, she expects others to show the loyalty she does, and can be blind-sided when they don’t. She tends to reserve her judgments of friend or foe for as long as possible in order to prevent that repercussion, and is typically quite apt at reading others’ intent, for as soon as she decides about how she feels on a situation or person, there's no going back.

The stone-faced, cold, and calculating reputation that precedes her has one rather significant caveat; her fiery, explosive temper. It takes all of a count down of two seconds for the usually always-collected older teen who demands respect simply by her unwavering presence, to erupt into a dangerous, terrifying rage. With skills honed turns of tireless practice, though with still much practice needed to perfect, the danger itself can often amount into a physical one, and not just one that can be chalked up to a master of SeaCraft vocabulary. Fortunately, it dissolves as quickly as it arises.

Strengths: (Overly) loyal, Combat-skilled, Supportive, Driven, Efficient
Weaknesses: Biased, Militant, Quick (but short) temper, Arrogant, Competitive, Very hard on self and others
Likes: Sparring, short-ranged weapons, handy skills such as knot tying and first aid, klah
Dislikes: Deep water, sweets, wasting time, heavy or ranged weapons

History
Keysi's parents were what anyone could expect of those who could create a person of such work-obsession. They came together despite feuding- and relatively wealthy- families whom had long-standing histories in the Southern Continent near Monaco Hold. They discouraged the union with so much fervor that when her father, Silat, and mother, Khela, finally admitted their undying feelings for one another, their family bonds were severed. They left their family cotholds to build one of their own, eventually settling down in a small miner stead since that was the craft of Silat's roots. Their life was a difficult one, built on little else but an inability to quit whatever they started. Famine and illness were as common in their miner camps as it was in the trader routes. In consequence, they were both rough, they were brutal. They both had terrible tempers. Once Keysi was of an age to understand words and action, they expected only the best out of her and her siblings in every waking moment. Her mother wanted her to be a lady of a hold with a strong man to care for her and impeccable skills when it came to cooking, cleaning and proper manners. And she drilled her daughter on those aspects every minute she was indoors. Her father wanted her to follow in his footsteps and enter the mines, working hard like he and all of his family before him had done. And it would follow that her father drilled her on physical crafting aspects every time she was outdoors.

So, naturally, upon the age of 14 turns when most children succeeded from their parents to join a craft, she picked Seacraft.

It was not something she came to enjoy as she thought she might and the fishercraft had all but been taken over by a pirate-like atmosphere that was unnerving to the young girl who already had a strong sense of loyalty and do-right. It required difficult physical labor, which was one reason she chose the craft to begin with, and it had an air about it that spoke of freedom being out on the sea, away from the manners drills and the dreary dark of the mines. However, weaving nets, shelling shellfish, and cleaning barnacles off the bottoms of the larger vessels left a lot to be desired. While she favored and valued hard work even at the youngest age of an apprenticeship, it was quite clear to her and to her mentors that this wasn't quite the place for her. One should be passionate in all that they do. However, as could be expected of one brought up in such a manner, she wasn't one to quit despite wayward feelings. There were moments- gathering so many tactile skills, learning to fight with the best of ‘em, and standing on the bow of a boat and looking out over the horizon all brought her rushes of delight, and faint thoughts would linger that perhaps she could do this afterall.

At somewhere right around 15 turns, her hard work was paid off by her first trip out to sea and a relatively early promotion to senior apprentice. It was a celebratory day, one with much pirate-like singing and jolly escapades out on the high sea, swaying to the rolling waves beneath them. Eventually, taking care of the fish nets became priority as the daylight started to sink beneath the horizon leaving the evening stars to guide them. But, that night, the evening stars vanished abruptly as a storm front pushed over the sky with rolling fury. The winds shifted angrily and the sea swelled, tossing their ship from crest to trough. Abrupt waves crashed into the vessel. It was a small boat, not one meant to withstand much trauma, and the force of giant waves wreaking havoc upon its decks simply counted down the seconds before they gave way.

The vessel splintered and shattered, tossing the crew into the white waters. Keysi grabbed onto a floating board and held on for her life. The storm felt as though it went on for turns, but in only an hour had it subsided. She, and other survivors floating on drift wood were scattered over the seascape, and everyone of them seemed suspended in a chillingly stunned silence.

It was almost evening of the next day by the time the dolphineer's dolphins arrived, vanished, and arrived a second time with rescue boats behind them, and all but one of the crew was rescued.

Keysi lost interest in fishercraft after that incident. Not that she'd had much interest in it before, but despite the skill of the dolphineers, she developed an acute fear of the deep sea which she, of course, never spoke of past that day. She refused to continue on with her apprenticeship and left on paid dragonback to join her uncle who was a masterherder briefly stationed at Fort Hold. He specialized in canine breeding and his passion for it was intense. And with him, she spent the next few turns traveling with her uncle on the Northern continent roads from hold to hold to monitor their canine breeding programs since her uncle's primary role was to ensure that each animal stock was remaining pure. However, Keysi herself lacked desire to pursue a second apprenticeship in another craft for which she felt no tie to. She was lost in what she wanted to study and for someone as driven as she, with a work ethic few apprentices had, it was difficult for her to feel unsettled and unspoken for. She did deviate strongly towards wanting to learn more of fighting skills and weaponry, and practiced the former whenever the pair weren’t moving during their travels. Indeed, she picked up quite a few things from different regions’ guards and merchants. And she was good at it too, learning quickly and adapting even faster. However, her uncle frowned upon her unbookly interests and pressed herder and healer scrolls into her palms to read each day, hoping she would catch on to something he perceived as useful.

One frigid evening when winter was hitting the North particularly hard, Keysi's uncle requested a ride adragonback to return home to Fort from High Reaches Weyr for a few marks to not only avoid the cold but respond to an urgent message sent via firelizard. Yet it would seem that Keysi would never make it back to Fort Hold. The brown dragon, instead of settling down and outstretching a leg to allow them to mount, shoved his particularly large head into her face and snorted. Her Search, like any other, was unexpected but she was not one to decline a new challenge.

In some eyes Searched late, she became part of the intertwined Weyr community around 17 turns. The Weyr life was one she had a difficult time swallowing as well, with its moral standards certainly deviated from the pristine Hold-like manners her mother brought her up with. What becoming a dragonrider truly meant set in after a course of time in the lower caverns, the utter prospect of braving a war of the skies being that unseen trade her passions were hunting for.
...

(( Semi-transfer request: Keysi had a gold firelizard in Sands. Would I be able to transfer that over? I know they are super rare and special up here, of course, and I wouldn’t mind bumping it down a notch to a bronze as well, if I could bring it with her. ))