Post by anhydrous on Jun 30, 2008 23:56:37 GMT -8
General
Name: Althesia
Gender: Female
Age: 18 Turns
Rank: Journeywoman Harper
Physical Description
As a child, Althesia’s silent gaze was her most defined feature. She has a way of looking past a person, as if her clear blue eyes aren’t quite focused on the face, but something deeper. It’s almost a calculating stare, her bright eyes searching past words and smiles for something more important. Althesia’s own smile is never elusive for long, breaking out across her round face quite spontaneously. Her hair gathers in waves around her face, the dark brown tresses twisted back into an impatient pile when she’s working.
She has a light complexion, undoubtedly from spending so much time indoors behind a canvas. When she does find time to get outside, a smattering of freckles crop up across the bridge of her nose which is upturned very slightly at the tip. She is not beautiful, cute, perhaps to some. Her hands are a disgrace, nails chewed to the quick and cuticles irreversibly damaged by such bad habits. It seems surprising that anything beautiful can be made from them, considering their ugliness.
Althesia’s life is not physically taxing. This fact is never more confirmed than in her figure, which could not be described as muscled or defined. She stands at little more than five feet, her body curvy and softened like those found in Renaissance paintings. Although her figure is not overly dramatic, it is quite enough to fill a dress. Her wardrobe is varied, although she won’t be caught in anything cut above the knee in length. She wears long skirts more often than not, paired with shirts that have completely inappropriate necklines. This last addition, however, is only when on assignment. At the Harper hall she is always dressed tastefully.Personality
Althesia is a person of extremes. She can remain composed if she is on a job or the situation absolutely requires it, but in her free time is not easily contained or stifled, and has no trouble asserting her views. Sometimes she is wholly apathetic, indifferent to everything around her with a sharp tongue and callousness to match. Other times she is unnecessarily boisterous, lighthearted and genuine and making good of bad situations. It’s a pole shift, usually brought on by the environment and the people in it.
When in a poor mood, Althesia’s personality is downright abrasive. She becomes easily agitated and difficult to soothe, one to hold grudges and act purely out of spite long after she has been wronged. She has tendencies to be possessive and envious, with a habit of taking out her anger in unhealthy fashions. When personally insulted Althesia holds nothing back and can spit some of the most poisonous words imaginable. She is intelligent and has no qualms with using her sizeable vocabulary to publicly humiliate someone who has hurt her or someone she loves.
With those unsavory characteristics aside, Althesia can be a good companion. She is loyal and genuine, finding nothing more disgraceful than a liar. Her humor is never in short supply, and she can make light of even the direst circumstances. Her career is a social one, and she is not without a generous amount of tact. When confronted, Althesia has a way of speaking her mind that is not only brutally honest, but also carefully considerate. Under the right circumstances, Althesia is a very amiable and incredibly easy to get along with.Background
Althesia’s birth was the first of many for her young parents. Her father held the unfortunate position as one of the Lord Holder’s younger brothers, always consistently out of reach when it came time to hand down the power. He wouldn’t have been of much use as a Lord anyway, his introverted nature not quite suited for it. He found himself married before he reached seventeen, but then again, impregnating a girl can do that to you. Fortunately, the woman he had inadvertently chosen wasn’t too adverse to the idea of living with him and carrying his child to term, because nine months later Althesia was born.
As a child she was timid, taking after her father. She spent the first few years of her youth buried in the center of Telgar Hold, hiding quietly and demurely behind her mother’s skirts. Her only sources of pride were the little scribbles that she would show off to anyone who bothered to ask, her tiny hands gripping the scraps of elusive parchment that she had managed to secure for her masterpieces. The Harper stationed at the Hold took note of her artistic talents, watching as the meek little girl grew and her ability to sketch progressed along with it. When she had reached the right age, he approached the family to suggest an apprenticeship at the Hall. She didn’t have the temperament of a Harper, but she certainly had the talent.
This never would have happened during a Pass. Women were too valuable; they were needed for other more important things. Luckily the Interval had opened the minds and ranks of the Harpers, and she was moved to the Hall the summer before her tenth turn.
It was quickly realized that Althesia did not have the capacity for music. She enjoyed it, but even the simplest tunes were beyond her. Hand her something that could make a mark and she’d master it, but give her an instrument and those remarkable hands would turn clumsy and awkward. The only thing that kept her at the Hall was the fact that her natural skill in most forms of visual art dominated that of her fellow apprentices.
One Master by the name of Salvarn was similarly skilled, his paintings gracing the walls of nearly every Hold from Tillek to Benden. In his old age his hands had become gnarled with arthritis, and he wanted to pass his knowledge of art on now that he could no longer create it himself. Salvarn had many apprentices, but took a special liking to Althesia. Her quiet nature hid her intelligence; the occasional droll quips offered pleasantly surprising the old man. By sixteen she had walked the tables and become a journeywoman, regardless of her musical aptitude.
As her skill grew, so did her self-esteem. The meek little girl from Telgar Hold was now fiery and opinionated, but not without tact. As a journeywoman she was sent out to do the portrait-work that her Master could no longer complete. Althesia’s style could not match the intricacies of Salvarn’s work, but it was modern and generally well-liked. Her stays at the various Holds taught her a fair amount of common sense, and she did her job well, if not a little unconventionally. When a commission came through from Telgar Weyr, Salvarn decided that it was time for Althesia to try her hand with the dragonmen. She was sent off with little clue of what to expect from the weyrfolk, and instructions to ‘be good,’ -whatever that meant.
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