Persona Profile: Talwynn

Writer: Avery (ONPC)

Name: Talwynn
Age: 27
Birthday: m11 d21
Rank: Wingrider, Skybroom Wing
Location: Barrier Lake Weyrhold
Craft: Starsmith
Craft Rank: Junior Journeyman

Awards
Crayon Awards: Most Intriguing Female Persona (August 2014)
Crayon Awards: Favorite Victim (November 2007)

Physical Description of Persona:
Talwynn stands at 5'9. Her body type is athletic. Her hair is either a dark blonde or a light brown. She has it raked back from her forehead and in a tapered cut, ending at the nape of her neck.

Her eyes are a smoky gray, and have pupils that are larger then normal and absorb more light then is usual. Talwynn can still go out freely in the day; when she does, she has a tendency to squint or narrow her eyes, which, coupled with her features, sometimes gives her a remote or forbidding expression. Sometimes she blinks her eyes frequently or rubs at them, and sometimes they also water as well. She prefers cloudy days and the night, but suffers no damage, pain, or impairment from sunny days.

Her features include an average sized nose, straight and slightly pointed, and a strong chin and cheekbones. Her skin is naturally tan. She neither ugly nor stunning.

Her body type is naturally thin and her chest small. She is in as good shape as she can maintain, though it took some time to regain her muscles after her scoring several Turns ago. Her left arm is heavily scarred and dangles by her side, and she still has a limp on the left leg.

Emotional Description of Persona:
Talwynn is a loner by nature, drawn to an occupation and a society which values teamwork. She is quite talented at communication, persuasion, leadership and getting concepts, facts, ideas, etc. across when she has a grasp of them.

Talwynn has her opinions and isn't afraid to voice them. While she tries to be amenable and to socialize with people, she tends to overreact to real or imagined slights. As such, she finds herself with as many enemies as friends. She is a creative individual that specializes in thinking outside of the box, her quick mind leaping to conclusions that often seem totally unrelated to the matter at hand. "Yes, it's been done this way, but what if we tried it THIS way...?" seems to be her motto.

A code of honor and a sense of duty are deeply instilled in her. She thrives in a hierarchical environment, especially as she can easily work with others on a professional level but less so on a personal level. She doesn't like the uninformed opinion, but a reasoned-out answer or piece of information she DIDN'T ask for is fine. Talwynn is not against group work, but if given a choice she would rather work alone. She tends to be a perfectionist and expects the same level of work from everyone else. Sometimes she takes on too much; she needs to learn to delegate.

For a few Turns, Talwynn was crippled by insecurites. She had often felt overshadowed by her accomplished parents and older siblings, and becoming a retired rider so early has made her more hesitant and less confidant than ever before. She hasn't lost her tendency to take on too many projects and tasks and work herself into states of near-exhaustion, and gets frustrated when her physical limitations get in the way.

Her weyrmating to D'kere and return to active duty has wrought a change in Talwynn's demeanor. She's confronted her insecurities and challenges and conquered them to do something the Healers thought she never could. She's returning to being a confident young woman.

History of Persona:
Talwynn was born at Dragonsfall Weyr to Talern and Wynerine. She was the third child, born seven Turns after her brother Talnerin and five Turns after her sister Talerine. Less than a Turn after her birth, they moved to Dolphin Cove Weyr, where younger brother Talerin was born.

Talwynn's family has always been accomplished. Talern is a Master Dolphineer, ranked at a young age. Her mother, while a greenrider, was a Wingthird until she sacrificed the position to transfer back to Dragonsfall. Her older brother was a successful Smith until his Impression of brown Blarieth, and he is always praised by his superiors. Her sister, Talerine, is a Journeywoman Weaver whose works are often in demand. Even her younger brother, Talerin, recieves glowing praise for his harper skills.

Talwynn's childhood was marked by competition. When she was just beginning Harper classes, her siblings were already thinking of their crafts. By the time she was seven Turns, they were apprenticed and already receiving glowing praise. Even before that, though, the family was always highly competitive, with the children competing to do tasks and things that would bring praise from their illustrious talents. Being younger, Talwynn was often at a disadvantage. Unlike her siblings, who were not averse to using their superior age over her, Talwynn was supportive and protective of younger brother Talerin, though this would slowly transmute to jealousy as both aged and Talerin found more favor. She always had to deal with her siblings and her mother-her father was at the Dolphin Hall, and came by infrequently.

With such an environment, it was no wonder Talwynn chose to seek out alternatives. Her attempts at making friends tended to fail, largely because she had inherited the family's strong competitive nature, which she could not suppress even if she tried and tended to put her peers off of her. Rather then attempt to beat her family at a game she saw them as already having won, she chose to change the rules of the game somewhat. She had often recieved teasing from her siblings about her habit of blinking in the bright light, a habit that had subtly discouraged her from keeping the work-all-day habits of her siblings. Instead, she began to become a night person.

She had always found comfort in the night sky- in fact, when she was a mere child, one or another of her family had to prevent her falling off of the weyrledge in her childish desire to see more. As the Turns passed, going out and watching the stars move in the sky became her way to escape the constant competitive atmosphere. Her fascination with the stars was considered unusual by her family as well as impractical, and was frowned upon. She continued to do so, in secret, enjoying both her pastime and the sense of rebellion against her family.

While admiring the stars, Talwynn also admired the sleeping dragons on the weyrledges or by the lake or wherever she saw them. She loved dragons, yet believed she would never get one, largely because of the way her mother talked about them (and later, her brother, after his Impression.) She was content to admire them from afar and occasionally speak to those riders who were out and about while she was.

Her habit of taking night walks around the Weyr was noted by bluerider C'rel of blue Fisurth, who was a Master Starsmith. Over the nights he noticed her habits, so one night he approached her and asked. Upon finding out about her interest in the stars, he told her he was a Starsmith and spent the night teaching her different stars. She returned home that night weary but exhilarated.

A Turn later he approached her family about taking her on as an apprentice. They consented, her older brother T'rin (three Turns into dragonriding) commented snidely that it was a good occupation for someone who couldn't go out in the day a general sentiment echoed by all of the family but Talerin. Talwynn chose to ignore it and throw herself into her studies, devoting all of herself to her craft and becoming a Senior Apprentice as soon as she was of age.

C'rel taught her all about the Starsmith craft, but he also acted as friend and counselor when she had problems she felt uncomfortable taking to her parents. As a way to teach her some form of patience as well as lend a grace to the gangly, sometimes awkward teen, he taught her how to perform exercises with a wooden staff (twirling, poses, katas). His brother Erlar was a Hold guard who was an expert in staffs and he used what he had learned form him as a way to teach discipline to Talwynn. In short, he was her surrogate father.

When Talwynn was barely 18 Turns old, her family finished its slow drifting apart. Her mother, desiring to move back to Dragonsfall, agreed to take anyone who wished to go with her. Her father remained at the Dolphin Hall. Her brother chose to remain at Dophin Cove. Talerine chose to stay at Dolphin Cove with T'rin, as her husband was there. Talerin and Talwynn went to Dragonsfall with Wynerine.

When she found that they were to leave soon, she spoke with C'rel. He promoted her to Junior Journeywoman Starsmith, saying that she had been ready and he had only been holding it back to present it on her birthingday, now made impossible. C'rel left her with her new rank, and the suggestion to take some time off of the starsmith craft to attempt to be a dragonrider- if she didn't Impress, she had a craft to fall back on.

Upon arrival at Dragonsfall Weyr, she took C'rel's advice and requested permission from the Weyrwoman to Stand as a candidate, being as she was originally from Dragonsfall. She continued watching the stars and practicing astronomical predictions and problems, but focused herself completely on candidacy. She Impressed green Riveth in Turn 3.

In the middle of Turn 4, Talwynn and Riveth were badly Threadscored. The injury was sufficient to permanently ground the pair from flying Fall. Talwynn spent over a Turn working hard to be able to take care of herself and learn how to use her right hand for tasks. Since Riveth can still fly, the pair are capable of watch duty, sweep rides, and carrying messages, but it took a substantial amount of recovery to get that far.

In Turn 8, Talwynn began efforts to return to being an active dragonrider. She stepped up volunteering with the weyrlings and participated actively in their flight drills. At the end of the Turn, she delivered firestone in a successful second Blooding. She then began to drill in the Queen's Wing with the Weyrwoman's permission, and in month 2 of the turn has returned to being an active wingrider. In addition after dating bronzerider D'kere for over a Turn, the pair have recently weyrmated.

Family and Friends
D'kere, 37, Wingsecond, Willow Wing, Barrier Lake Weyrhold (weyrmate)
T'leri, 22, Wingrider, Cobalt Wing, Dragonsfall Weyr (brother)
Talern, 50, Master Dolphineer (Father)
Wynerine, 54, Rider of green Nierleth (Mother)
T'rin, 35, Jr. Journeyman Smith/rider of brown Blarieth (Brother)
Talerine, 32, Jr. Journeyman Weaver (Sister)
C'rel, 45, Rider of blue Fisurth (Master Starsmith)

Dragon's Name: Riveth
Dragon's Age: 8
Dragon's Colour: Green
Next Mating Flight: m1 d16 of turn 12
Description of Dragon:
Riveth is not the speediest green to ever soar the skies of Pern, though she is one of the largest. Her form is long and slim, reminiscent in size of a blue's, with a surprising amount of elegance hinted at in her conformation. Though neither the fastest nor the most agile of her color, Riveth radiates such a visible calm and self-assurance that people are tempted to wonder if there's not an impossibly small gold hidden underneath a coating of consistent jungle dye.

Riveth is often considered nervous or twitchy because of motion both real and percieved. When awake yet stilled, the subtle, dancing reflections of varying light sources on her hide trick the eye into seeing motion, as if there were somethings moving subtly in the forest of her hide. In motion, Riveth moves with surety and elegance, born to follow her path without expending too much of her energy in aerial trickery.

The touch of an artist characterizes all her features. The elegantly formed headknobs rise like bright new treegrowth above the darker head. The neck blends into the jungle-colored torso, streaks of pine running elegantly down the fore- and hindlimbs, while the long elegant tail takes on an almost black tinge in its darkness. Vividly dark wingstruts support the dappled forest wingsails that fall from them. In flight she presents a large and lithe profile. She is physically imposing examples of her color. The Threadscoring in Turn 4 has left a greyish-green web of scarring on her left side where her sail meets her body.

Riveth is what might be called an old soul. Born with the typical hatchling curiosity, she's initially going to want to know everything about everything, and her rider had better be willing to answer her. Blessed with a greater memory then most of her color, Riveth will remember much of what she's taught, and will become adept at plucking out of her rider's mind what she needs to know in order to recall what she doesn't know. She would like to consider herself a draconic sage, full of wisdom and knowledge, and never hesitates to share what she knows, whether it's asked for or not. She is extremely responsible and will not allow her rider to shirk any duties; in fact she may volunteer her for more.

Riveth is not the most active of dragons, preferring to laze in the sun on the heights or in sand or water and turning her energy to mental pursuits. She is likely to try to see through her riders eyes on a regular basis and be very closely involved in her mind, much more so then a dragon who prefers to keep their rider as just a presence in the back of their mind. She can be quite passive and easily led at times, and is likely to be agreeable to nearly anything her rider suggests. She has a healthy respect for older dragons and an intense worship of the golden queens and to a lesser extent their bronze mates.

Riveth's normal calm and tractability only change in two situations: fighting and flights. At those times she becomes a completely different dragon, and her rider may have difficulties until she adjusts to the dichotomy. This Riveth is wild and spirited, eager to flame and fight the Thread, and must be restrained by her rider and reminded of her responsibilities so that she doesn't expend all of her energy in darting around and stays focused. The wild uncontrollable fighting urge is also aroused to a certain extent in flights. Riveth will be an extremely proddy dragon, and a sevenday or two before rising she will become more aggressive, spirited, flighty, and almost hostile. During the flight itself she will taunt, tease, and flaunt herself, her normal reserve and sagacity falling away to reveal an untameable passionate creature. After the flight's conclusion, though, she will return to normal. This unpredictable nature will sometimes randomly occur, giving a bit of panic to her rider the first few times when she tries to figure out why a normally docile dragonet is suddenly an uncontrollable spirited monster, but with time and practice she will learn her dragon's ways.

Approved: February 5th 2007
Last updated: February 2nd 2024

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Persona Profile: Talwynn