[/b] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td][cs=4]
Master Harper of Cepju
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Character Status:[/td][td]
Approved[/td]
[td][rs=8]
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Age:[/td][td]56[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Gender:[/td][td]Male[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Birthdate:[/td][td]I8 T394 – Mid-Spring[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Hair Color:[/td][td]Silver (due to age)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Eye Color:[/td][td]Amber-Brown[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Height:[/td][td]5’10”[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Weight:[/td][td]171 lbs[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][cs=4]
Character Description
[/b]
Despite his age, he looks quite a lot younger than he is, if you ignore his silver hair that is. His hair began to grey at quite a young age, in his late 20s, and had turned completely silver before his 40th turn, but all other signs of aging seem to be slow in coming for him. He is of middling height and also quite lanky, long-limbed, which can make him seem every slightly disproportionate at times and draw second looks. While he isn’t exactly frail, he is very skinny and appears somewhat frail to most, his seemingly stretched out limbs not at all helping to debunk the illusion. His eyes are a curious and quite attractive amber-brown that always seem to be laughing at some hidden joke.[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][cs=4]
Character Personality
[/b]
With an easygoing and highly laidback attitude, it’s a bit of a wonder Syrokus ever reached Master status, however he is highly skilled at his craft with a multitude of talents and being a harper is something he thoroughly enjoys, and is therefore driven to work hard at. He is a strange mixture of traditionalist and progressive. While he thoroughly believes in sticking closely with traditions that have allowed humans to thrive on Pern for turns upon turns, he is also surprisingly open minded. Logically, if a tradition can be improved upon, then by all means let’s improve it! New ideas are good so long as they are well thought out and applied with caution until proven to work and work better than the idea they are to replace.
His laidback attitude often translates into procrastination, especially if a task that must be done is a particularly undesirable one in his eyes. It is quite common for him to attempt to keep putting things off until everyone just forgets about it, though if he is seriously confronted before that happens he will finally turn to the matter at hand and get things done… though perhaps not in a swift manner. When it comes to things he enjoys he is as diligent as anyone, however. It is therefore very good to know that he enjoys being a Harper and (nearly) everything that goes with it immensely.
He is incredibly social and has made it a habit to attempt to be at every Gather possible since he walked the tables. They are his all time favorite events and he loves to simply mingle and chat with anyone who is willing to do the same. He is also quite a flirt, though he is always a gentleman about it and stays away from crude references when speaking to the ladies. He has a soft spot for children and the aspect of harpering which includes teaching has become one of his favorites. He has often taken on a fatherly role toward the children he’s taught, or been described as ‘like a second father’ by them when they grew older.
He has an insatiable curiosity and enjoys learning almost as much as he loves teaching. He is one who understands that throughout one’s life, you never stop learning even if you want to, and he embraces this fact. He likes knowing things, and when he doesn’t know something, the first thing he does is find out about it. He absolutely can’t stand being confused, out of the loop, things being kept from him. If he is lacking a certain snippet of knowledge he will do all within his power to fill the gap.
He also loves a good debate, backed up by facts and logic, though most people would just call him argumentative simply because they do not possess his debating skills. And debate he shall if it is about something he truly believes in, or thinks to be of great importance, regardless of the consequences it might bring down upon him. He always speaks his mind and can be quite blunt about things, especially if someone refuses to see sense or bases their arguments on opinions and hearsay rather than knowledge and facts.[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][cs=4]
Character History
[/b]
Syrokus was born to a mother and father who were both very set in their ways. His father was a Journeyman Harper when he was born and ascended to a Master Harper some turns later. His mother came from a harpering family as well and was quite the talented singer, though her family was very much traditionally minded and the thought of sending her to apprentice at the Harper Hall had never crossed their minds, as she was female. She never thought anything of going either, it just wasn’t right to her for a woman to practice a craft when she should be at home being a good wife and mother.
He was the first born and only son, three sisters followed after him. They were born and raised at Fort and when it seemed quite clear Syrokus had inherited both his father and mother’s talents he was apprenticed to the Harper Hall. At first he agreed to it because he loved to sing, and was sharding good at it too. He thought there could be no better occupation than one that involved singing. Of course he didn’t seem to have much choice in the matter as his father was quite adamant he would be a harper, but he liked the idea so he certainly didn’t need to put up a fight over the matter.
Growing up though, he and his father, and mother, had much to fight about. He was quite the typical protective older brother when it came to sisters, and that included protecting them from their parents. Their parents were not abusive in any way, they were great parents most of the time, but their traditional, set ways and refusal to consider anything else didn’t sit well with Syrokus. He watched his oldest sister develop an amazing talent for weaving, but when he brought it up to his parents how they might send her to apprentice at the Weaver Hall a massive argument ensued. In the end his sister ended it telling them that she didn’t mind not going so they would stop arguing, but he could see through that façade as easy as anything. Her desire to go was written clearly on her face… but their parents ignored it and told him that was that.
His youngest sister also had quite a talent for singing, and he’d seen her play the gitar as well. Without any formal training with the instrument she was pretty good. Think how great she could be if she apprenticed to the Harper Hall! He couldn’t stand it… and with the help of some more progressive thinking harper friends he got his sister off to the Weaver Hall behind his parents’ back, even as they had been trying to push marriage propositions on her that she clearly had no interest in. That had been the final straw for her as well… being kept from her heart’s desire was one thing but being forced into something like that… she agreed to her brother’s plan and left without a backward glance.
Their parents were furious and disowned them both. They were no longer welcome in their household and would get no help from them in future. His sister had been expecting that and was quite ready for it, but Syrokus had hoped to do the same for his youngest sister, Nellasy. Unfortunately, with the Harper Hall in Fort and his father having influence there, it seemed there was too little hope there even if he hadn’t been banned from ever visiting his sisters whilst they lived under his parents’ roof. He promised himself that he would reestablish a connection with them after they’d moved on with their lives and moved away from their parents. In the mean time he threw himself fully into his apprentice training.
Singing was always his strongest skill, but he developed a talent with instruments as well, the gitar in particular… it reminded him of his little sister. He struggled with composition for turns and it seemed to be his weakest field. When he was able to help with teaching children, he came to love his craft for an entirely different reason. He absolutely loved working with children, they were so open and accepting, with none, or very little at least, of an adult’s bias. It was while he was discovering his love for teaching that he met his future wife, Dasha. She was a fellow harper apprentice, though a few turns younger. She shared with him, as she seemed to share with everyone, that being a harper and teaching children was her greatest dream. She was a strong woman, fiercely independent and determined to succeed in a craft that women struggled to advance in.
They quickly became good friends and though he was attracted to her nearly from the start she refused all of his advances completely and utterly. There was a thrill in chasing her though, in the challenge of her will and her fight against his affections. She seemed more amused by his advances than anything but shot him down without fail every time. Teaching was her passion, but composition was where her true skills shone through. She helped him many a time with his own compositions, but she never lorded it over him that she was better at it, despite being a woman. The fact that her desire was to prove herself just as good as men at what she did while still helping them, without putting them down or making them seem lesser for it, was a trait he really admired in her.
He once told her that if he was her, he would rub everyone’s noses in his greater skill, show them that women could be better than men and should not be denied the chance to prove it. She told him that would defeat the purpose. She just wanted to be treated as an equal, not a better. He fell more in love with her with every conversation they had. When he finally walked the tables, he was somewhat disappointed about it. Dasha was still an apprentice and their different duties kept them apart quite a lot after he became a Journeyman. Whenever he had time, he would help her study any way he could, hoping to help her reach Journeywoman as soon as possible. Only a turn later she joined him in rank, and shortly after that finally accepted his affections, telling him he was the first man to truly give her what she wanted… to treat her as an equal.
Different assignments as Journeyman and Journeywoman respectively kept them a part quite often, but Dasha’s family had saved up and purchased her a firelizard as a gift for reaching Journeywoman status, so they often sent notes back and forth to each other, using her little Brown. Finally, when he was 28 and she 25, he asked her to marry him and she accepted, asking him what on Pern had taken him so long? With both of their loves for children, they were soon trying to have one. Not wanting child-raising to keep her from practicing the craft that she so loved, he promised to help as much as he could, after the child was weaned. It took such a long time before she finally became pregnant they began to worry they would never have their own children. It wasn’t until 5 turns after their marriage that it finally happened.
Everything seemed to be going fine… but then the baby came too early and something went wrong…. The healers were unable to save either of them. He immersed himself in his craft to try and keep thoughts of Dasha’s death, and the death of their unborn child, out of his mind. He became incredibly driven to reach Master rank. Before her death he would have been content to remain a Journeyman the rest of his life, but now he needed something to fill that hole the death of his little family ripped open within him.
He also reconnected with his sisters, at long last. As a highly social person, he needed the connection of people close to him. He found they had both married, his youngest sister of course had never apprenticed to the Harper Hall as he had hoped; he would have seen her there. Rokussya had married a smith of a similar mindset to her. Both of them traditional in their thinking, reminding him greatly of their own parents. Nellasy, however, seemed much more open minded, and her husband as well. Synelle, his oldest sister, often visited them.
When he wasn’t studying further, he was often visiting his sisters, playing with their children and teaching them things, trying to gauge their skills and talents. Rokussya and her husband seemed quite adamant all their boys would be smiths, after their father, though when young Syandon showed singing talent he convinced them to allow him to apprentice at the Harper Hall instead. No amount of persuasion would get them to send their young daughter to the Hall, however, despite the fact that she seemed to have more talent than her older brother. When Rokussya’s husband threatened to bar him from visiting their home if he kept up this nonsense of apprenticing his daughter, he finally gave in, much to his dismay. Nellasy and her husband were quite happy to entertain any suggestions he had for their children, sons and daughters both.
After his 42nd turn, he finally became a master, having been somewhat distracted by his sister’s children and taking longer than originally planned. Nellasy and her family bought him a firelizard egg as a celebration gift, which shortly hatched out a Gold who he named Glitter, much to the amusement of his younger nieces and nephews (Glitter the Flitter). He began studying some of the older ballads, the ones that sung of Thread caught his interest as the Red Star drew closer and became visible in the night sky. When he brought the subject of another Pass drawing near up with some of the other masters, he was mostly laughed down. However, as he studied Thread and the Red Star further and became convinced a Pass was indeed soon to be upon them, he became more vocal about his concerns. They should be preparing!
His debates with the other masters grew more heated, including those with the Master Harper of Pern. The man was too set in the ways that had come of the long interval. Thread was gone, or it would have fallen on schedule some 200 or so turns ago. Syrokus’s reasoning could be quite persuasive, however, and a surprising amount of journeymen and apprentices took up his doomsaying themselves. This seemed to be the final straw for the Master Harper of Pern, who warned him that if the doomsaying didn’t stop, those who continued could expect a permanent reassignment to Cepju. While this stopped MOST of the journeymen and apprentices, it had no affect on Syrokus and he soon found himself shipped off to the Far Western Continent. He was told he would be taking over for the current Master Harper of Cepju, who was growing old and ailing. His niece Ellendri, who had had recommended to the Hall and who he had been rather close to was sent with him, for she supported his claims, his ‘doomsaying’, despite the warning of being reassigned.
He and Ellendri arrived at Cepju only a few short days before that first terrifying Threadfall. Now he only wishes he had been wrong and that his ‘doomsaying’ had been only that. He had read about the devastating effects of Thread, but he had never dreamed it would come to the horror that ensued.[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][cs=4]
Relatives
[/b]
Wife – Journeywoman Harper Dasha – I8 T397 (deceased)
Sister – Master Weaver Synella – I8 T400
Sister – Rokussya (wife and mother) – I8 T402
Sister – Nellasy (wife and mother) – I8 T409
Brother (in-law) – Master Smith Torrendon – I8 T399
Brother (in-law) – Journeyman Tanner Hendris (wed to Nellasy)– I8 T411
Nephew – Journeyman Smith Torrenkus (son of Rokussya) – I8 T419
Great Nephew – Apprentice Smith Dalorren (son of Torrenkus) – I8 T439
Great Niece – Tordala (daughter of Torrenkus) – I8 T444
Great Niece – Renkula (daughter of Torrenkus) – I8 T447
Nephew – Journeyman Smith Rokudon (son of Rokussya) – I8 T422
Great Nephew – Donoris (son of Rokudon) – I8 T443
Great Nephew – Rokislar (son of Rokudon) – I8 T449
Nephew – Journeyman Harper Syandon (son of Rokussya) – I8 T427
Great Niece – Resyana (daughter of Syandon) – I8 T450
Nephew – Journeyman Smith Torkuss (son of Rokussya) – I8 T429
Niece – Kurenya (daughter of Rokussya) – I8 T437
Niece – Nehena (wife and mother, daughter of Nellasy) – I8 T428
Great Nephew – Forhen (son of Nehena) – I8 T447
Niece – Apprentice Harper Ellendri (daughter of Nellasy) – I8 T431
Niece – Apprentice Weaver Risella (daughter of Nellasy) – I8 T436
Nephew – Apprentice Tanner Hendell (son of Nellasy) – I8 T440
Niece – Drisally (daughter of Nellasy) – I8 T442[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][cs=4]
Harper
[/b][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Rank:[/td][td]Master[/td]
[td][rs=6]
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Specialty:[/td][td]Singing[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Weakness:[/td][td]Non-Harper Skills
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Apprentice Date:[/td][td]I8 T404 – Late Spring[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Journeyman Date:[/td][td]I8 T415 – Early Autumn[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Master Date:[/td][td]I8 T436 – Early Winter[/td][/tr][/table]
[/center]
[/b] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td][cs=4]
Gold Firelizard
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Age:[/td][td]14[/td]
[td][rs=3]
[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Gender:[/td][td]Female[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]
Birthdate:[/td][td]I8 T436 – Mid-Winter[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][cs=4]
Pet Description
[/b]
Glitter quite lives up to her name. She is mainly a pretty yellow Gold with all the shimmer and shine that goes with being a Gold. In the right light she seems to have pale rose gold undertones. On the tops of her wings, each of her feet, headnobs, and the end of her tail are dark burnished gold ‘point’ markings, fading into her normal gold coloration. This coppery, burnished gold color is also found along her spine starting just above her nose and stoping a short ways down her tail. She’s rather small and skinny for a Gold at only 18 inches in length.[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][cs=4]
Pet Personality
[/b]
Glitter is quite the affectionate Gold, at least with Hers. She could care less for every other human, but Hers is wonderful. She is incredibly maternal, with her eggs, and with Hers, much to his amusement. She will often try to mother him in strange, flitter-like ways… like bringing him a live fish when she senses his hunger or trying to tug him toward his sleeping place when she senses his fatigue. She absolutely adores being pampered and shown off. Being the object of everyone’s attention is her favorite pastime and anything that takes the spotlight away from her becomes an instant enemy and shall be shunned for life. When Hers performs, she performs with him, flying around him in fun little maneuvers. She loves it when Hers makes music and is friendliest toward others when he is performing, even allowing others to touch her without snapping at them. While she will obey Hers absolutely, she’ll only do so reluctantly when it comes to having others handle her in any way, shape, or form.[/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/center]
[/td][/tr]
