Lord Holder ZarikName: Zarik Age: 54 Gender: Male Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual Rank/Craft: Lord Holder, Jinani Hold Mother: Nemria, deceased, Lady Holder (Jinani Hold) Father: Zekere, deceased, Lord Holder (Jinani Hold) Siblings: Dolwin, 47, Minor Holder's Wife. Foster Parents: None Significant Other: None Children: Liek, 27, Lord Holder's Heir. Persona Appearance: Zarik is an imposing man, fully adorned in his rich clothes and mounted on a fine runner. Otherwise, the powerful Lord looks a bit lackluster. His dark hair, once cromcoal black, is now an iron grey shade; his face is lined and wrinkled, with pouchy skin. His nose is constantly red, due to the southern sun and his fondness for wines. His neck is thick and short, and seems to melt into a barrel chest that widens at an expansive belly. Zarik has lived well, and it is showing. His legs are dwarfed by his overhanging stomach, but he hides it by wearing baggy trousers and large boots. He stands at an average 5'10". He was once a powerfully built man, but he has gone rather badly to seed. Persona Personality: Zarik is ambitious, and has been ever since he was twelve, and learned that as the only son, he would become Holder of a prosperous holding. He works and has worked tirelessly to achieve his desires, and what he desires he invariably gets. He can be ruthless in compitition, and will never, ever admit that he is wrong, that he has made a mistake, that he should give up. Some admire these qualities in him, as they have made his hold prosperous, but some hate it, as he rules with an iron thumb. He is not kind to people, and only expects the best from them; he is fierce to those who disappoint or fail to deliver. He is harshest to those whom he sees as having promise but do not "make something of themselves" - like his son. Zarik is also a disbeliever in threadfall. The southern continent, unlike the north, has no lasting scars from thread, as it is well-grubbed - though the holders kill them on sight - and so Zarik has never seen the proof with his own eyes. He has seen the red star growing closer, but as he is always quick to point out, the dawn sisters are close to Pern, or so it seems, and they do not rain thread. It is partly because of his determination for success and belief that nothing is beyond a person who tries hard that he cannot believe in a disaster on the scale of threadfall. He honestly believes that the Weyrleaders wiped it out during the last pass, as it is what he would have tried to do; he simply cannot comprehend that it is beyond the Pernese to destroy thread. Because of this, he has been a nightmare for Atora Weyr to deal with. Always with his mind on profits, he has been tithing grudgingly, late, and the worst produce; he is surly to dragonriders and openly slanders them when none are present. He knows he is secure in his position; as he has done nothing against the charter to his holders, and the Council of Lords is always slow to act, he will never be impeached. Persona History: Zarik was the firstborn of the first Holder of Jinani. When he was born, the Council of Lords had not yet affirmed his father as a Lord Holder, since Jinani territory had only been colonized twenty turns previously. The holdings grew, however, and Zarik's father, a clever politician, made ties with smaller cotholds in the area and built his own holding on the proportions of a Major Hold. He attracted crafters with offers of lucrative fees and large workshops; he promised the sons of crowded holds in the north land of their own, as well as protection and aid should they ever need it, if they would tithe to him. By Zarik's fifth birthingday, he was living and acting the part of a Lord Holder, and the Council was forced to give him the title of Lord. Lord Zekere was worried, though - as a youth, Zarik was a sickly boy, and he was the only son that Nemria had brought to term, though not the only one conceived. He could not take another woman for his heirs, as Nemria's father had been an influential backer for his Lordship, and was a major trading partner; it was to his great relief when she became pregnant again, during one of Zarik's bouts of sickness. To his great disappointment, it was a girl child - a healthy, happy, beautiful girl, but not a safety should his firstborn succumb to illness. Zarik did not die, though. He was sent out to foster at Daragon Hold, with the young Lord Rainell, and during his five turns there grew into a happy, healthy twelve-year-old. He worked on some of the ships, sailing out on the big fishing boats and helping bring in the catches of packtail. He returned to his home holding as healthy an heir as Zekere could have wished. Zekere was delighted in the change, and began to school his son to take over as holder when he died. Zekere had married late, and was already fifty-one turns of age when Zarik returned. Zarik proved an able learner, and by the age of seventeen was an assistant to the hold steward, administrating the daily life in the main Hold. He was not an easy taskmaster, but he got the job done and had a talent for finding the right man for a job. Those who worked under him spoke of him as hard but fair - Zarik never praised when none was deserving, and never administered punishment unless there was cause. He played no favorites, and made no friends. The young man didn't only work, though - he had his share of female company among eager and hopeful girls whose fathers hoped that Zarik's dalliances would become more concrete. They never did; Zarik would only marry for power, wealth, or stability, as his father had. When Zarik was nineteen turns of age, Nemria passed away, and he realized that he had loved his mother. He had never been affectionate with her, and he felt great guilt at never having been close to her. The young lordling was not himself for some time as he wallowed in remorse; it took his sister Dolwin to bring him back to his usual self. Dolwin was the image of her mother, with a wide, friendly face, wavy brown hair and hazel eyes, and a small, neat, plumpish form. She visited him often after their mother's death, and for a while they grew close. Zekere was beginning to ail by then; he had a bad hacking cough that wouldn't go away, and severe hip pains that sometimes restricted him to his bed; Zarik became the effective Lord Holder as far as day-to-day matters went, and he enjoyed the power. Zarik didn't love his father; the man had never shown him much affection, and the young man knew quite well that if another heir had been produced, the elderly holder wouldn't have given a tinker's cuss (to use a terran colloquialism) had he died as a boy. Still, they had a decent, if formal, working relationship. When Dolwin was fifteen, marriage began to loom on the horizon for the girl. Zarik argued with his father that fifteen was much too young, but Zekere wanted to bring a wealthy holding under his thumb, and so Dolwin became the young wife of a man twelve years her senior. She cried, but when she met her betrothed she liked him, for he was a good man and promised to treat her well. Zarik resented his father for some time, but Dolwin seemed happy in the marriage, so he managed to move on. By Zarik's twenty-fifth birthday, his father was very ill, and Zarik had started attending all conclave meetings as well as running the day-to-day affairs. Zekere would not step down, however, insisting he would improve, though he never did. Zarik made sure there were plenty of healers to ease the passing, and then ignored his father. He had more important things to do. Zarik proved to be an excellent holder, as far as making a profit and expanding his hold went; he never managed, however, to keep a steward for more than a turn. They all resigned after having to work fifteen-hour days with a taciturn, moody taskmaster who insisted on double-checking all of their work and didn't trust them to do anythign on their own. However, one steward did manage to be of use to Zarik - namely, in finding him a suitable wife. Jielle was the daughter of a minor holder in Daragon territory, near some of Jinani's own holds; the marriage would bring the land into dispute, and might enable Zarik to add it to his ever-expanding lands. She was a pretty girl, too, eight years his junior and apparently an accomplished seamstress. He married her, got her pregnant, and then proceeded to ignore her - much as Zekere had ignored Nemria. A son was born, whom they named Liek, and he left the rearing of the boy to his mother. Zarik tended to his hold, which grew rapidly and became increasingly more profitable. Soon he was living on a level equal to most Northern Lords, and he ate richly and often, while working. He became fat, and ugly. Zarik's troubles with Atora Weyr began fifteen turns ago, when Santara began asking for increased tithes due to growing clutch sizes and the coming Pass. He refused, stating that he did not believe the Red Star would rain thread again, and that he did not have any more he could afford to tithe. This was not strictly true; he had been tithing more than he needed, for trading purposes, but he could not pressure his holders or the FarmerCraft for more grain production. Negotiations were long and bitter, and nothing came of it - Zarik was a clever politician. Then, seven turns ago, the Weyr began to inform him that he needed to erect stone buildings for all living quarters and major buildings, now. Again, he balked, but he eventually aquiesced, and began the laborious process of constructing more stone buildings. He will not be even halfway finished when the Pass begins. After Santara's death, Xianine pressured him for some of the luxury items his hold produces, mostly tropical fruits and other delicacies; he refused to tithe, and his belief that the Weyr is a parasite was reaffirmed. He is a wily negotiater, and few like dealing with him. His son included. Hold Information: Hold Name: Jinani Hold Hold Size: Major Position in Hold: Lord Holder's Heir 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. |
