Name: Shiammi
Age: 18
Sex: Female
Sexual Orientation: Who knows? Not Shiammi!
Weyr: High Reaches Weyr
Rider Rank: Weyrling
Previous Rank/Craft: Healer; Apprentice
Physical Description: A slender, tall, waif of a girl with bright blue eyes and pale blonde hair, made brighter by the dark umber of her skin. Ribbons and bright beads are often twinned through the thick braids she keeps her hair in during chores and lessons. Her wardrobe shifts based on her activities and the only constant is a scarf from her father.
Personality: Sweetfaced Shiammi with her mother's soft eyes and her father's bright hair. Sunshine condensed into mortal form is a most accurate assessment of Shiammi. If her voice is raised it's in excitement, in frustration often with those around her that are more willing to fight than talk but never in anger. Anger causes more problems than solutions, mountains out of things that shouldn't be mountains. Anger hurts when a tongue should soothe. And so too Shiammi's tongue is always wagging with both balm and questions. 'Why why why' an endless cascade of innocent curiosity and genuine wonder. The questions are never intentionally malicious, accidentally no doubt as she always speaks before thinking but never intentionally made to hurt. Her mouth simply moves faster than her brain at times and it leaves her scrambling to make apologies. It just doesn’t do to hurt someone, especially not if that someone can turn that hurt on her.
And why should she hurt people intentionally? Why break people apart when it's much more satisfying to build them up. Building them up with kind words and laughter is much easier than trying to stop the big hurts that she can't control or worse to cause more hurts to those around her. Too many siblings, adopted or otherwise and cousins have taught Shiammi the value of rolling with the punches, of maintaining her kindness even in the face of savagery. If she has to roll over for someone to maintain the peace then she will. She just doesn’t have it in her to fight or so she has convinced herself through the years. The world hurts enough without her adding to it and she can't do anything about that pain but she can offer a softer place for others to turn to. If she wants for anything, no one is likely to know. Shiammi demands nothing from life beyond the ability to help others. Wanting things is, after all, what causes most disagreements in the first place.
This desire to not ask for things, even things so desperately wanted - a ride on her parents' dragons as a child, a new toy, not to be sent to the creche etc - is perhaps Shiammi’s greatest failing despite her attempts to survive the world with a smile. Words of a request are often started before she swallows it back, barely hiding the disappointment and oftentimes the tears that follow. No, no she clearly didn’t want anything. Of course those aren’t tears, dirt blew into her eyes that’s all. She wouldn’t dare to desire something clearly outside of her perceived station. She can live without whatever it is, even if not asking makes her an even easier target for those around her in the long run.
Positive Trait List Cheerful, Curious, Soft
Negative Trait List Subservient, Blabbermouth, Sappy
History: A weyrbrat through and through, Shiammi’s parents were riders at Western. A green and blue pair that fell together and apart so easily and constantly that Shiammi learned to count the early turns of her life by the presence and absence of her parents. There were no disagreements that Shiammi saw, simply Civosse and Taseya’s attentions turning to different things until they swung back to each other. A perfectly reasonable order to Shiammi’s little world. That was until she was finally sent among the crèche when her demands on their time grew to be too much. The loneliness in the shift was not a loneliness of being alone but rather of being one of so many running underfoot. Thus began Shiammi’s quest to ease whatever little heartaches she could in an effort to soothe her own.
Life among the other weyrbrats passed as normal, siblings born from Civosse and Taseya’s joint and separate flings popping in among Shiammi’s friends as the turns tumbled on. Familiar but not quite but no less beloved by Shiammi all the same as she passed from weyrbrat to apprentice healer as soon as she was allowed to leave the weyr for the Healer Hall. It seemed a natural enough calling. Helping others was all that she was good at, so being a healer would have to do. Or so Shiammi believed, not daring to hope or ask for more. Others were suited to be candidates and she would help them as a healer. A perfect illusion shattered by her father’s very own Akoketh as the blue came through on search. Western had a clutch hardening on the sands and they’d been sent to sniff out potential candidates.
Akoketh seemed to think her capable and Taseya’s smug pride dared to spur Shiammi to think that maybe she could Impress and if not there was no harm in becoming a candidate all the same. That resolve saw her back at the weyr and through the clutches that passed without her Impressing. Not everyone impressed after all but she was young and being close enough to the dragonets as they sought Theirs was fulfillment enough.
Then came her father’s transfer to High Reaches and Shiammi’s own request to be transferred as well. She was still a candidate and High Reaches did have a clutch on the sands. And even this change in Weyr seemed to continue Shiammi’s ill-at-impression luck. Until a little green nosed through the candidates while her siblings fought and squabbled.
*They are being terribly silly aren’t they Shiammi Mine? Squabbling over who belongs where! So utterly silly of them! Color means nothing if you know nothing! Don’t you agree?* One heartbeat to the next, amusement and disdain tinging the voice in equal measure. *Your Aveligenth would never be that silly!*
Other: Shiammi has a number of siblings through both parents and they're spread between Western and High Reaches.
DRAGON
Name: Aveligenth
Origin of Name: Aveligenth from Avelignese, the other name for Haflingers.
Color: Green
Inspiration: The Haflinger, also known as the Avelignese, is a breed of horse developed in Austria and northern Italy (namely Hafling in South Tyrol region) during the late 19th century. Haflinger horses are relatively small, are always chestnut with flaxen mane and tail, have distinctive gaits described as energetic but smooth, and are well-muscled yet elegant. The breed traces its ancestry to the Middle Ages; several theories for its origin exist. Haflingers, developed for use in mountainous terrain, are known for their hardiness. Their current conformation and appearance are the result of infusions of bloodlines from Arabian and various European breeds into the original native Tyrolean ponies. The foundation sire, 249 Folie, was born in 1874; by 1904, the first breeders' cooperative was formed. All Haflingers can trace their lineage back to Folie through one of seven bloodlines. World Wars I and II, as well as the Great Depression, had a detrimental effect on the breed, and lower-quality animals were used at times to save the breed from extinction. During World War II, breeders focused on horses that were shorter and more draft-like, favored by the military for use as packhorses. The emphasis after the war shifted toward animals of increased refinement and height.
In the postwar era, the Haflinger was indiscriminately crossed with other breeds and some observers feared the breed was in renewed danger of extinction. However, starting in 1946, breeders focused on producing purebred Haflingers and a closed stud book was created. Interest in the breed increased in other countries, and between 1950 and 1974, the population grew, even while the overall European horse population decreased. Population numbers continued to increase steadily, and as of 2005, almost 250,000 Haflingers existed worldwide. Breeding farms are in several countries, although most of the breeding stock still comes from Austria. In 2003, a Haflinger became the first horse to be cloned, resulting in a filly named Prometea.
Haflingers have many uses, including light draft, harness work, and various under-saddle disciplines such as endurance riding, dressage, equestrian vaulting, and therapeutic riding. They are also still used by the Austrian and German armies for work in rough terrain. The World Haflinger Federation, the international governing body that controls breed standards for the Haflinger, is made up of a confederation of 22 national registries, and helps set breeding objectives, guidelines, and rules for its member organizations.
Personality Steady Aveligenth. Confident Aveligenth. Intelligent Aveligenth. The patient calm to her siblings warring and snapping and strife. She is a green yes, she’s aware of her station, yes. Why would she be angry with that? That is simply the way of the world and that’s that. The fanfare is for her siblings, Aveligenth is much more interested in devouring new knowledge. New skills, new techniques for flight, drills, anything. Quick as a whip, Aveligenth’s greatest pleasure is in learning. At least one new skill or nugget of knowledge a day is absolutely necessary to keep her happy.
Aveligenth’s confidence often leads her to giving advice freely even if she isn’t quite sure how something goes. Hers likely knows and if even Shiammi doesn’t then they’ll find out together! No one should be left bereft of knowledge when it’s available. Knowledge that isn’t available or something she shouldn’t be privy to? Nonsense. Absolute nonsense. If she’s told no, then there better be a good reason for why she shouldn’t know something. ‘Because I said so’s are the easiest way to get Aveligenth’s sharp tongue and mind going at the new target of her ire. Why? Because that’s no answer at all! In fact that’s avoiding the question altogether!
And there lies a Aveligenth’s greatest flaw. Her confidence in her intelligence and desire to be given a laundry list of reasons why she should not be privy to new or sensitive information. She is happy to accept her station and even happier to avoid stepping out of line if it’s for reasons that have been explained to her satisfaction. She will accept nothing else, it would be disrespectful to her intelligence to. She can understand! She can understand very well if only someone would explain to her and not brush her aside or worse insult her very impressive (per her own standards) brain. As quickly as Aveligenth’s anger bubbles up as steam bubbles does when her intelligence is insulted, so too does it disappear into the air when she’s been appeased. It would be unreasonable to hold tiny misunderstandings against those around her after all.
Positive Traits: Intelligent, Analytical, Confident
Negative Traits: Arrogant, Judgmental, Nosy
Size: 22’
Physical Attributes: Long legs on a solid body, Aveligenth is a small green just under the average size for her color. Her elegance lies in the strength of her body, muscles well defined and proportionate for her size. Aveligenth’s tail makes up the majority of her length and her wings are just big enough to appear comical.
Additional Notes: Aveligenth’s skill in flight will never be in speed but rather in adapting to new situations as they arise and correcting herself on the fly. Aveligenth’s only consideration for chasers is if they can capture her attention beyond catching her body. Are they simply chasing because they have nothing better to do or do they have something to offer in conversation or daring to Aveligenth? That ideal of wanting something beyond a singular flight also informs her nonchalance at both male and female dragons chasing her. If they’re capable and meet her criteria then whyever would she deny them?
Why Me: Aveligenth saw a kindred soul in Shiammi, a fellow seeker of knowledge though Shiammi’s methods do need refining if you ask Aveligenth. She also needs someone to teach her that it’s okay to want things beyond being a doormat for others. Aveligenth has the confidence for them both in that regard. No one insults either of them and gets away with it, Aveligenth’s rebuke will be swift and merciless. For Shiammi’s part, her natural tendency to avoid conflict and arguments is something Aveligenth sorely needs to temper her especially when she feels she’s been insulted even if that’s hardly the case. Not everything is a slight against them and Shiammi will have to learn to stand up for herself when things are an insult to her and Aveligenth.
