D'ylen & Bronze Olwynth

Writer:  AJ 

Created: 29-Dec-02
Updated: 11-Jan-03

Player Information:

Writer's Name: AJ
E-mail: piyer@rockycrater.org 
AOL IM: AJKleipass

Persona Information:

Persona's Name: D'ylen (ex-Danylen)
Nicknames: Dany
Gender and Preference: Male / Heterosexual
Age of Persona: 38
Birthing Date: Turn's End, 3259
Place of Birth: Rocky Crater Weyrhold
Occupation: Senior Journeyman Farmer
Rank: Lord Weyrleader
Current Location: Rocky Crater Weyrhold

Physical Description:

Height: 5'11"
Weight: 180 +/- pounds
Hair: very short, medium brown
Eyes: dark brown

D'ylen stands just a hair under 6 feet tall and weighs around 180 pounds. Boyish good looks are about the only thing that's exceptional about him. He has a well-toned athletic physique from spending most of his life as a farmer and dragonrider. He's a light-skinned caucasian, though in the warmer months he's usually tanned to a light bronze from working in the fields. He's left-handed.

He usually keeps his hair -- which is a medium brown with some sun-bleached highlights -- cut very short, to about an inch or so in length. Since he's been old enough to grow it, D'ylen has sported a mustache and goatee. Dark brown eyes capped by thin, slightly arched brows; squared-off chin and angular jawline; and an upturned nose are the key features of his oblong face.

His voice is a rich mid-range baritone. Though he has no qualms about singing, most folks probably enjoy the music better when he doesn't. Alcohol, strangely enough, improves his singing -- the drunker you are, the better he sounds.

Personality:

Like a brilliant cut gemstone, there are hundreds of facets to D'ylen's personality. In brief, he is usually laid-back, slow to anger, highly competitive in sports and games, an unrepentant flirtatious rogue, a hard worker, a competent (if somewhat reluctant) leader, and a halfways decent role model for his sons.

However, the man is far from perfect. His competitive nature tends to make him push himself far beyond his limits to win. Drinking and gambling are two of his three most favorite late-night pastimes. The third is sex. Six months is about the longest that any of his relationships with women have lasted. D'ylen claims that this is because, as a rider, there just isn't room in his life for a human relationship. The close bonds that he has with his sons, and the envy in his eyes whenever he sees his father, V'len, and Iveron together belie that claim. It would be closer to the truth to say that D'ylen doesn't know how to make room in his life for a long-term relationship with someone, and he has yet to find anyone that he cares for enough to learn how to make that room.

Deep down, D'ylen doesn't want to grow up. As if it were a seedling, he diligently nurtures a spark of his youthful innocence that still burns within his breast. His greatest fear is that the spark will die and he'll be left as nothing but a mature adult, which is a fate worse than death in his eyes.

In some ways there is a coarse and unrefined air about his mannerisms which, depending on you point of view, either adds or subtracts from his charms. He'll eat with his hands, then lick his fingers clean rather than use a napkin; off-color jokes, double-entendres, and bad puns are common fare for him, as are colorful exclamations. Some might also cite his immodesty as a character flaw too.

He tries to be a role model and father-figure to his sons, but more times than not he ends up coming across as a big brother or friend to them. This is, in part, a reflection of the type of relationship that he'd like to have with them. He wants to be someone that they can turn to when they need a shoulder to cry on; someone to listen to their hopes, fears, or problems; or when they just need a hug. It's the kind of relationship that he has with his father's lover, Iveron.

Becoming Lord Weyrleader was a shock to D'ylen. Being a Wingsecond was as high in weyr-rank as he had ambition to climb. Given a choice, he'd rather be manhandling a plow behind a runner in the Weyrhold's fields than riding roughshod over the Weyrhold's dragonriders. He hopes that he'll do a respectable job of it, but in view of Rynth's habit (or maybe it's Imara's habit???) of changing mates every two to four Turns, D'ylen has serious doubts about his longevity in the job. He isn't sure yet how he feels about that as he's too busy getting use to it to think about what it'll be like to not be Weyrleader anymore.

Timeline:

3259/60.TE -- Danylen was born on Turn's End day
3272.01.18 -- begins farmcraft apprenticeship
3274.01.24 -- left Standing after Hatching (RQ-1)
3276.06.19 -- left Standing after Hatching (RN-2)
3277.03.14 -- son, Braydan, born to Aelbera
3278.02.01 -- walks the tables and becomes a journeyman
3278.04.11 -- Impressed Olwynth at RCWh (RN-3)
3281.10.07 -- son, Danner, born to Nerissa
3288.09.10 -- promoted to Wingsecond
3288.13.16 -- son, Jaedan, born to Jaella
3294.05.22 -- Olwynth catches Rynth making D'ylen Lord Weyrleader
3294.07.22 -- clutch RO-1 hatches, Braydan and Danner left Standing

Background:

All of Pern declared a two-day holiday to celebrate the day that Danylen was born. Or at least that's what he's told all three of his children when they were little. He was born at Rocky Crater Weyrhold on Turn's End Day, the first day of Turn Over 3259/3260. The product of a mating flight, Danylen ended up being raised by his blue-riding father, V'len, and his father's lover, journeyman farmer Iveron.

When Danylen was eight, Valeda, V'len's only other child, was born and came to join their little family in a cothold down by the Weyrhold's planting fields. His only other sibling is a half-brother, Narcil, on his mother's side. Danara, a greenrider, had him relatively late in life (for a dragonrider) and, as a result of complications during the pregnancy, Narcil was born mentally retarded.

Danylen's childhood was a fairly typical one, with most of his time spent helping his "parents". Being small and wiry he was able to crawl into V'len's small kiln to position pottery for firing, and then later retrieving the finished products once the kiln was cold. Iveron also found work for him by assigning Danylen a small square of garden to care for. Watching this little garden grow and produce food Turn after Turn had a bigger impact on Danylen than his (admittedly pathetic) attempts to make usable pottery.

Just after he turned 12 Danylen was accepted by the Weyrhold's master farmer for an apprenticeship. Six Turns later, in 3278, just two months before Impressing Olwynth, he walked the tables and became a journeyman farmer. The intervening Turns, however, weren't entirely uneventful. He stood twice during that time, in 3274 (RQ-1) and again in 3276 (RN-2). Danylen took those failures to Impress surprisingly, to him, hard as at that time he only half-heartedly wanted to be a dragonrider. He stood mostly because he felt that his fathers and mother were expecting him to so.

Not long after failing to Impress the second time Danylen learned that Aelbera, a cook he'd been seeing since just before that Hatching, was pregnant. Their son, Braydan, was born in early 3277. There was some talk about them marrying after he became a journeyman, but, as the Turn progressed, the talk grew less frequent, and his Impressing of Olwynth (RN-3) pretty much ended it. In the following Turns, D'ylen sired two more children, both sons, that he knows about. Danner was born to Nerissa in 3281, and Jaedan was born to Jaella in 3288.

About four months before Jaedan's birth D'ylen managed to achieve his one real ambition as a dragonrider, he was promoted to Wingsecond of Windspiral Wing. For next six Turns he was content to remain at that weyr-rank level -- not that there are all that many chances to advance to Wingleader in a small Weyrhold. Olwynth, however, had other plans for them, and in 3294 he beat out the competition to win Rynth's mating flight.

Being Weyrleader has been a mixed blessing for D'ylen, but the hardest thing that he's had to deal with to date was the Hatching of Rynth and Olwynth's clutch (RO-1). Two of his sons, Braydan and Danner, stood for Impression at that Hatching, and both were left Standing.

Family Members and Other Personal NPCs:

Danara, f, 54, rider of green Lhiath (CH-5) / jwm. technician, RCWh, mother
V'len, (Vallen), m, 61, rider of blue Zerreth (CH-3) / potter, RCWh, father

Iveron, m, 58, jm. farmer, RCWh, father's weyrmate

Valeda, f, 26, weaver, RCWh - half-sister by father
Stavero, m, 24, jm. farmer, RCWh - Valeda's husband
Stavale, m, 4, brat, RCWh
Vereda, f, 1, brat, RCWh

Narcil, m, 20, drudge, RCWh - half-brother by mother


Braydan, m, 17, app. farmer, RCWh - son by Aelbera
Danner, m, 13, potter, RCWh - son by Nerissa
Jaedan, m, 6, brat, RCWh - son by Jaella


Aelbera, f, 36, cook, RCWh - mother of D'ylen's first child
Nerissa, f, 33, seamstress, RCWh - mother of D'ylen's second child
Jaella, f, 25, weaver, RCWh - mother of D'ylen's third child

Dragonrider Information:

Dragon's Name: Olwynth
Age: 19
Color: Bronze
Size: L: 43' / WS: 71'
Weyr of Origin: Rocky Crater Weyrhold
Wing: Stormchaser Wing
Dam / Sire: Rynth / Nimanath
Hatching Date: 3278.04.11

Description:
Olwynth is THE most perfect specimen of bronze dragon ever hatched on Pern, or so D'ylen likes to boast. A long, and slender frame supports substantially bulging muscles, and hardly an ounce of fat. Covering these muscles, as if it were painted on them, is a shimmery gold-green metallic looking hide. The coloration of his hide is a polished bronze- almost golden- base with some mottled patches of a darker brown-bronze color.

Personality:
About as flirtatious as they come, Olwynth rarely misses a chance to shower almost every proddy green with flirtatious words in praise of their beauty in hopes of winning their favor. Olwynth has a somewhat odd take on the world around him, and it's quite in evidence whenever he starts to dispense advice or dragon-logic, or whenever he shares his observations with his rider.

Crafter Information:

Craft: Farmer
Speciality: vegetable
Rank: Senior Journeyman
Location: Rocky Crater Weyrhold