Persona Profile: A'radess

Writer: Iluva

Name: A'radess
Pronunciation: Ah- RAD-is
Age: 21
Birthday: m5 d24
Birthplace: Vista Point Weyr
Rank: Wingrider, Ash Wing
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Craft: Harper
Craft Rank: Senior Apprentice

Physical Description of Persona:
At first glance A'radess is easily overlooked. It might have something to do with how unassuming and self-contained his default settings are. Not shyness, but the deep quiet of his presence in the storm of strong personalities and exuberant behaviours is a rarity. He’s present, he observes. He is confidently and comfortably controlled.

Put an instrument in his hands, however, and his person immediately coordinates into a savvy aliveness of sights and sounds, strokes and touches. Smooth waves down long arms, soft flexes in big calloused hands, he’s a man who likes to move _with_ something, feel the flow, create with intense and prolonged contact with all the parts of the world. His hands are among the busiest parts of him, and tactile experience tends to be the easiest for him to let go with, to trust without the intrusion of thought.

At second glance A'radess does cut a pleasant profile - expressive dark green eyes always tell the truth and constantly seek it out. He’s quite tall, lean, with a swimmer’s physique that longs to be languid more than it is afforded the opportunity. His oval face wants to be pale despite the promise of a quick burn in the sun and has thinned his past few Turns to reflect the sculpted lines of the man he’s become. Short-ish wavy-ish brown hair can sometimes be tamed, but it also takes the brunt of busy hands.

Emotional Description of Persona:
A'radess is a cool and uncomplicated version of how he really feels. And how he feels is fed up, desperate, ready. More often than not he’s got a firm but gentle grip, an easy smile. There’s an understated quality to his confidence as well as his regard. Easy company, a steady presence, that’s A'radess. He has little inclination towards conflict for conflict's sake and his sense of justice and slightly over-grown empathy make it difficult to muster casual apathy or summon random bloodlust. But there’s real fire in him, a hot core that ensures he will not flinch, back down, cower. He wants his actions to mean something and make a difference, however small. Beneath his calm demeanour is a man burning with desires, lusting with ambition, a man who needs more than what’s in front of him and is willing to work for it.

He does, however, struggle to act on some feelings and be vulnerable in certain contexts, especially one on one. It’s not exactly old hat, and he’s a little embarrassed about it. A'radess prefers not do something unless there are clear reasons why, or at least _some_ apparent purpose. He feels deeply, yet instinctively reaches for logic to inform and guide. It might be a little bit of a coping mechanism that he can’t quite shake, where difficult feelings get intellectualized and he later wonders why he doesn’t feel quite satisfied with his decisions. A little more self-trust and exploration beyond set goals might be all he needs to open the parts of himself he’s confused about, that he thinks he’s missing. Y’know experience for experience's sake. There's an artist’s soul behind the lines drawn and the values and ideals held close to his heart.

There is also a tendency to hold grudges, to hold on to a lot more than he should, period but when A'radess really lets loose he’s often amazed at whatever insignificant thing was holding him back. There is a subtle irony to it all. To ache. To hold back. To long to never feel held back, or that he’s settled, that he could have done or had more.

Though he is confident and charming. he wouldn’t mind having some more security in his future - in having reasons for staying that confident. A boot rests on his neck to achieve _something_ big, from his parents but mostly himself at this point, and like clockwork it builds until he’s about to burst in anger or out into rather irresponsible outlets of entertainment.

History of Persona:
Avradess descends from two exceptionally long lines of Vista Point dragonriders that hopped, skipped, and jumped right over his parents. Unceremoniously inducted into the scattered and unlucky few who ever failed to Impress in their respective families, the two became veritable black sheep in the midst of what ranged from mild disappointment to all-out devastation.

Despite the upset, Kadesvan and Avridal bonded over their shared fates and settled down together, never a thought of living anywhere but the Weyr. By the time their children were born, starting with Avradess, the lack of dragon made no true impact on the bounty of love between the two. His father resumed his Harper training in earnest, where the ever-energetic Kadesvan never shied away from his work, rarely complained, always woke up and went to bed with a tune on his lips. The man lived his life within the beating essence of his craft, not quite a poet, never quite a troubadour, but a potent blend of artistic abilities, planted too late, pruned too early. Perhaps the ballads simply could not handle a man with such commanding stage presence on the back of a Pern-saving dragon, but their home certainly did. It thrived.

His mother was thoroughly heartbroken for many a Turn longer than her husband, and always carrying some shadow of that deep and persistent yearning for a lifemate. The women in her family proudly rode green for generations, the men spanned across all colors and ranks for decades. Determined not to descend into embitterment, Avridal eventually took the place of creche worker, and later foster mother, where she kept close and doting eyes on the Weyr’s children. She wanted big things for everyone under her care, believing and hoping they would all grow to be the riders in their own rights.

Avradess could of course recite his family line on command. While never pressured to choose one path over another, life has been lived at the intersection of the great ballads as they’re being performed live and their winged subjects gathered in the audience en masse. It’s no easy sell on anything else but dragonriding. Having industrious, proud parents who were every inch the Weyrfolk as any rider made it hard to fully own how much he wanted to be the immortalized, not the immortalizer. Who doesn’t want to be the painted? The sung about? The fantastic, the legendary?

Music was its own magic, of course. He did well in his studies and there was always the possibility of coasting along into some specialty until he truly buckled down. His smooth handling of instruments, especially gitar and drum, showed the promise of performances, and a natural (if neglected) gift at illustration stirred talk of him doing well at the Printer Hall if he so chose.

But somewhere along the way it slithered into Avradess’ head that _he_ would be the one to break the curse and restore the family lines to their former glory. Everyone had value, but it was another thing to live your purpose -- and their true purposes were always dragonriders. It’s a birthright he’s been denied, one his parents were forever denied, and that drive hasn’t made it easy to fully commit to his craft, or thoughts of anything else. He never really started to worry, not openly or persistently, until he was approaching twenty and still walking off the Hatching Sands alone.

It was no secret that life in Vista Point hadn’t handed Kadesvan and Avridal the preferred flavours of luck for sometime now, but the move to the new Weyrhold was under far sadder terms than any of them would have liked. Firehead swept in a few Turns before the move, and now Avradess has got a Harper father who cannot hear. Kadesvan will no longer sing with his former gusto and his son senses how he longs to have his son finish what he cannot and perhaps start composing where he left off. And then there is his hopeful mother, who cannot bear the idea of her children never Impressing, never getting what they deserved, despite any assurance otherwise.

It made the move to Barrier Lake bittersweet. There is the stress of starting over and trying to adjust to yet another new - and unwanted - normal for the family. And there is the secret - and guilty - hope that a change of scenery and dragon bloodlines might be just the thing that cements Avradess on his metaphorical throne.

By some otherwordly intervention beyond understanding, bronze Tarvanneth tackled him on the Hatching Sands of Barrier Lake where -- at long last -- he became A'radess. Their legacy redeemed, the lines reignited, his family remains in a state of shock and awe, grand hopes growing by the day. In a daze and riding a high like no other, he can still barely grasp his new reality, or what might lay ahead for them.

Family and Friends
Kadesvan, 45, Master Harper (father)
Avridal, 46, Creche Worker (mother)
Kalavra, 18, Wingrider (sister)
Iridas, 16, Candidate (brother)
Avrisa, 14, Candidate (sister)

Dragon's Name: Tarvanneth
Dragon's Age: 1
Dragon's Hatching Date: m13 d1
Dragon's Hatching Place: Barrier Lake Weyr
Dragon's Colour: Bronze
Description of Dragon:
Look upon him and despair, for in Tarvanneth's mind he is what the Pass has been waiting for. Like the rest of him, his wings are massive, huge sails of gold-green bronze darkening into the deep, burnished, almost black bronze of his hide. While plenty of awkward stages await, already a prowling grace follows him into every decision he makes. He glints even in the shadows, like something forged in fire from precious metals, and that fire burns just as hot inside him.

This guy has an iron will. Warm and enthusiastic, but when his mind is made up he is near-impossible to sway. And where many dragons are known for their calm dignity and sound logic, Tarvanneth is a distinctly primal being, attuned to his needs, his rider’s, even the beat of the world around him, and he’ll never be known for hesitation. Quite the opposite. He has plenty of potential, plenty of ambition, but a little too headstrong for his own good-- a rough stone in need of some polishing. He’ll probably always require a bit of reigning in by his rider. Right now Tarvanneth’s got drive and dreams to chase, and everyone else can catch up with him when he’s done.

Approved: May 25th 2024
Last updated: March 30th 2026

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Persona Profile: A'radess