Post by Briarwind on Oct 26, 2010 11:22:24 GMT -5
Harper, tell me of the road...
Username: Briarwind
Character Number: 1st
Name: D'skel (Daniskel)
Age: 32
Birth Season: Spring
Gender: male
Location: Bivium Weyr
Rank: Wingrider
That leads beyond this hold...
Appearance: Being lean and wiry, of a middling stature, there is very little in D'skel's appearance to inspire awe. Warm, lightly tanned skin and rich, honey-brown eyes lend a welcoming, comforting quality to his appearance. A thick spill of dark hair, an auburn so deep as to be nearly black, brushes his jawline, forming a frame around his sharply angular face. An aquiline nose arches sharply over a soft, generous mouth. His kind eyes and calm demeanor make him seem very approachable, and a low, velvety voice adds to the overall seeming of harmlessness that his appearance projects. Calloused hands and the light scars of training and labor mark him as bearing the experience of real work, and the knack he has for pitching his voice to carry without having to raise it combines with these things to grant him a distinctly authoritative quality to his otherwise quiet, reassuring presence. A keen eye might note the hard lines of wiry muscle to his figure or the intelligent, keen glint to his half-lidded eyes, but much of this is lost to the compassionate seeming of his mien.
That wends its way around the hill...
Personality: Most days, D'skel's most marked trait is his silence. It is rare that he speaks more than a few words at a time, keeping his mind to himself. A private man by nature, there are few things which stir D'skel to speeches, and even those few speeches he makes tend to be very abbreviated.
With a soft step and an easy, confident gait, D'skel manages an extraordinary amount of presence while still maintaining his familiar silence. Like a work of art, he commands the eyes of those around him without making a sound. Soft of step and soft of voice, he is unmistakably quiet. The day he raises his low, velvety voice is so scarce that few, if any, can ever remember it. Even when projecting his words to a full room, he isn't loud. He simply projects.
Reserved and level-headed, there is an air of calm about D'skel that nothing seems able to penetrate. He carries about him a cool stillness reminiscent of a still lakeside, of a quiet night. Unflappably polite, this calm lends him an unshakable steadiness.
The man gives off an easy trustworthiness, his polite attitude and generous seeming lending him a distinctly approachable demeanour. He speaks with consideration to the wellbeing of others, he acts gently and generously, and his loyalty is beyond reproach. There is no questioning his commitment or tirelessness in pursuing his goals. It seems often as though he will go to any ends to see those duties he is charged with fulfilled.
There is another side to this secretive man that few ever note.
Behind the calm reservation, behind the drive and commitment, is a distinctly ruthless streak. The reason D'skel's independent success rate is so extraordinarily high stems in no small part from just that. The phrase 'the ends justify the means' exemplifies D'skel's attitude on these matters, and though he'll never speak such a thing aloud, to him, it is a simple and accepted fact. This, coupled with a quick wit and keen intelligence, makes him a very, very dangerous man.
Perhaps the primary cause of his ruthless determination, under the guise of surety and confidence, D'skel evidences a very fragile ego. His confidence and surety are born of his commitments - and so is his entire sense of self-worth. Without the value imparted to him by his dragon, his Weyrleader, his duties, and his home, D'skel firmly believes he would have none at all. This, then, may very well be why he is willing to go to such ends to see his tasks done.
Otherwise, what good is he to anyone?
Does it go farther on until...
History: The eldest of fourteen and the child of very demanding parents, there was never any question that, whatever Daniskel would do with his life, it would not be inconsiderable. He would attend to helping his mother with his siblings, he would assist his father with every request and task, and he would make something of himself.
It was, of course, understood that that something would be something impressive. No simple holder's life for him, he was to be a craftmaster, a dragonman, the bride of the Lord Holder's daughter, anything of some considerable repute, or nothing at all. Truth told, his parents were setting themselves up for disappointment, laying such expectations on so many of their children, but Daniskel seemed off to a good start from the first. A quick learner, bright, respectful, and dutiful, he was everything they wanted in a child and more.
At age eight, talk began of apprenticing the boy out, but with so many younger siblings at home (seven, at that time), his mother couldn't afford to be without him, yet, and so it was decided that he would be apprenticed when he got closer to twelve turns.
Unanticipated by both parents was the search dragon who singled him out shortly before they went to apprentice him. This, however, was no complication for Daniskel's parents. It only meant that he would have to do well in another way.
When the first hatching came and went and he was still Daniskel, his parents were not pleased.
Two more hatchings passed with the same, and Daniskel's parents threatened to pull him from the Weyr and force him into a craft, but now the notion of dragonriding had wormed its way into his mind, and in his typical calm, quiet way, he informed his parents in no uncertain terms that he would not be apprenticing to anyone, thank you.
Unaccustomed to hearing their son talk back to them, Daniskel's parents swiftly backed away, leaving their son to his own devices. Two turns later, it paid off as a small, dark bronze coiled his way around the boy like an overgrown cat, and impression was made.
D'skel advanced swiftly, rising early, staying up late, and pushing himself to the breaking point to keep at the head of his Weyrling class, and though it exhausted him to do it, he managed to maintain. Nevertheless, for all his work, D'skel didn't have any great ambition for leadership, and so, once Weyrling training was done, he was content to fall into the roll of Wingsecond. Duty enough for him, he flourished under the hard tasking of one of the more demanding Wingleaders in Eastern Weyr, and, little by little, the duties began to bolster his confidence.
His transfer to Bivium nearly shattered it as he found himself wavering wildly between being certain he and Aeldanth were transferred out of respect for their abilities, and being unflinchingly positive that it was just a means of getting rid of them to replace them with someone more capable. Fortunately, there's enough at the Weyr that needs doing that he finds himself with little enough time to dwell on the matter, which is no small blessing to him.
It ends in sunset gold?
Pets: blue Noxyn
Pet Name: Noxyn
Pet Appearance: A deep, rich blue makes up this handsome firelizard's hide, the colour a vibrant twilight hue. Flecks and bursts of a richer, truer blue, almost a cerulean hue, flare across the surface of the firelizard's dark hide, catching the light where it hits him like the flickering of a thousand tiny stars. His striking colouration is so vibrant and vital that it makes the unusual length of his wings and the awkward, unbalanced quality of his gait when ground-bound almost unnoticeable.
Pet Personality: Something about D'skel seems to compel silence, for, like his owner, like Aeldanth, Noxyn is a quiet creature, rarely even trilling and almost never chirping, squawking, hissing, or screeching, as most firelizards seem wont to do. Then again, it may have nothing to do with D'skel at all. Noxyn betrays a very calm nature in numerous other ways, and though he isn't the most brilliant of creatures, his unflappable behaviour makes him easy to work with and easy to have around, and he may not be brilliant, but he's not untrainable, either, and he does grasp instructions, when he can be bothered to partake of them.
Sue-Score: 8
