Lord Holder PelinorPersona Information: Name: Pelinor Age: 34 Gender: Male Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual Rank/Craft: Lord Holder Mother: Corene, 69, Widow Father: Lepren, deceased, Lord Holder Siblings: Elepae, deceased, Steward. Foster Parents: None Significant Other: None Children: One or two by-blows; none acknowledged. Persona Appearance: Pelinor is a good-looking man, with reddish brown hair and blue eyes, along with a boyish face. He looks ten turns younger than he is, to his annoyance; people consistently mistake him for a twenty-turn youth. He is fairly tall, at 5'11", and he is a fit, able-bodied man. Just because he's now confined to his desk for copious amounts of time doesn't forbid him from exercising; he still sails regularly, as a good Seaholder should. He dresses plainly, in white shirts and brown breeches, and works hard to maintain a rugged, windblown look, as if he's only just come back from a long fishing voyage out at sea. He does have finery that he will wear on occaison; at gathers, hatchings, or Council meetings, he tends to wear his hold colors of blue and silver; he prefers loose, breezy cottons to the heavier velvets of his Northern peers. Persona Personality: Pelinor wishes desperately that his older sister had been a male, or at least that she hadn't died. If Elepae, the firstborn, had been a male, he wouldn't have been forced to be Lord Holder, when all he ever wanted was to settle down with a nice girl and crew on a fishing vessel. Instead, he's stuck at a desk all day, managing records and tithes and settling cotholders' quarrels. He hates it. Pelinor knows he isn't cut out to be a Lord Holder - for one thing, he doesn't have the attention span to deal with the boring day-to-day affairs for more than five minutes; for another, he knows his talent lies in working with his hands, not his head. Still, he does his duty. Pelinor is a good man, and he knows he has to do the work for the sake of his holders; if he can only find a competent steward, he'll cede the matter of real holding to him, much as he did with his sister. He still grieves over her death, and was thoroughly depressed for several months. He knows that he isn't well-liked by his holders, but he can't do anything about it, and neither can they. They're stuck with each other. Persona History: Pelinor was born seven years after his sister, to his parents' great relief. Elepae bossed him from the beginning, treating him like one of the fosterlings she lorded over, and teaching him everything she knew. When she learned a new teaching song, she repeated it to her brother until he knew it too. When she learned how to multiply by fives, she drilled him until he, too, possesed that skill. He was devoted to her - Elepae had that effect on people - and did whatever she told him. This rather worried his parents. They didn't want a wishy-washy heir to take over at Daragon, who could be ruled by a woman, they wanted a strong man who would lay down the law. The also didn't want their daughter meddling in "men's affairs." So, Elepae was sent toa small minor hold to learn some manners, and Pelinor was given to the Master Seacrafter to turn into a hard-working, normal boy. It worked, as far as Pelinor went; he learned to love the sea, work hard on a boat, and understand the workings of a fishing ship. It would be useful knowledge for a Seaholder. When he was seventeen, and had roughly a journeyman seacrafter - or third mate's - experience on a boat, his father decided it was time to train him to be a Lord. Pelinor resisted, vainly, and hated the dull days of listening to the steward drone on and on about tithes and percentages and profits. He was an inept pupil, to his parents' distress, and he dispaired of ever learning anything. When Pelinor was eighteen, Elipae was brought home, angry at having been packed off and delighted to see her little brother again. She knew she'd been brought home to marry, probably up north, and she was angry about it, but what could she do? Then a very good thing happened for Elipae and a very bad thing happened for Pelinor: Lepren off and died of a heart attack. Pelinor was instated as Lord by the Council, and his mother retreated to the back caverns of the Hold, slightly unhinged by her husband's death. The nineteen-turn Lord began to realize how little he knew of management. Then Elepae came to the rescue. She instated herself as steward, and began managing the hold, deftly and with all the appearance that it was actually her brother doing most of it. It kept hte holders reasonably placated and the hold running smoothly. Pelinor was incredibly grateful - his sister, again, was bossing him, but she was the one who knew how to get things done; the girl had a natural talent for management. He learned a bit from her - enough to see how difficult being a Lord really was - but mostly enjoyed himself, sailing with the fleet and flirting with the womenfolk of the hold. So passed fourteen turns. Elepae, still his steward and the effective Lord, was deliriously happy with her work, raising fosterlings like her own children and running an increasingly prosperous hold. Pelinor, still acting the little boy, was happy to let her. Then disaster happened. Elipae, taking an unusual day off, had gone out on a sailing vessel with her brother. Unused to the mechanics of a boat, she failed to duck when the boom swung around as the wind shifted, and was hit hard, on the forehead. She fell out of the boat and swallowed too much water; when Pelinor managed to get her out, she had stopped breathing. There were no healers aboard, and by the time the distraught Lord had his sister back at the hold, she was too far gone to save. Pelinor mourned for quite some time, but has now set about looking for a decent steward. He knows he needs one, to do most of the work. Holder Information: Hold Name: Daragon Hold Hold Size: Major Position in Hold: Lord Holder Adoption Stipulations: As this is major rank, the adopter must write a 1,000 word writing summary, as well as give an explanation of why they want the rank and what they intend to do with Pelinor. This is not a contest, so first-come first-serve, but it will only go to a good writer with another persona in the club of much lesser rank. The adopter of this Persona must be aware that major responsibilities come with it; as holds are often ignored in new clubs, the adopter must be willing to work hard to get people to write up holder sheets, as well as organize and coordinate minor plots. A part in major plots will also probably be played at a later date. All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright© Anne McCaffrey 1967, 2001, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author. |
