1.) Name: Seth

2.) Gender and orientation: male, heterosexual

3.) Species: human

4.) Age: 17

5.) Rank: Herald-trainee

6.) Physical appearance: hazel eyes, light brown hair, 5’11”, square jaw, high cheekbones, permanent worry-line between his brows

7.) Personality: overly pensive, worries about everyone and everything, serious, never knows when someone is joking around with him, can’t make a good joke

8.) Brief history: see below

9.) Mother: Kalia, 42, housewife, kitchen at the Wandering Woman, very bubbly, a real social butterfly, cannot stand how “stuffy” her third child is, but loves him anyway.

10.) Father: Tadley, 43, owns the Wandering Woman, a small tavern and inn outside of Haven by about 10 miles, he is almost as social as his wife (a good quality in a barkeep) and adores knowing EVERYTHING, making Kalia seem to be a big respecter of privacy in his extreme nosiness, he cares about his son to some degree, but does not love him the way his mother does, he finds the boy’s worrying irritating

11.) Siblings: two elder, a brother Davin and a sister Elia, aged 25 and 23 respectively, and one younger sister, Trisha.
Davin works for his father at the Wandering Woman and is as outgoing as his father, if not so subtle or eloquent, and loves the interaction he gets working at the bar. He is utterly bewildered by his brother, and they have bickered often.
Elia is a housewife with four young children of her own already and is the sort of kindly woman that immediately makes one think of their kindergarten teacher or their mother. Elia loves everyone. Literally. So what if you just met two minutes ago? She loves you, too.
Trisha is 4, happy-go-lucky, gleefully bubbly, and kind to everyone. She adores her older brother fiercely.

12.) Other significant relatives: Elia’s four children, Mikael (4), Dessi and Tanth (2), and Elora (not quite one yet). Mikael, Dessi, and Tanth all like their uncle Seth, but none of them knows him extraordinarily well

13.) Romantic interests: none

14. Friends: Herald-trainee Swif, Kador, his Companion (see below) Swif thinks that Seth needs to stop worrying so much, but likes him anyway, in spite of herself. Kador is his Companion. Need I say more about him?

14.) Pets: none

15.) NPC's: n/a

Heraldic-Trainee

1.) Gifts and strengths of Gifts: mindspeech—his primary gift, several times the strength of Swif’s, he could reach a Herald in Forst Reach from Haven, if he stretched himself. Further, with Kador’s help; fetching—very small scale, capable of very little save moving small objects weighing less than one pound

2.) Reasons why you deserve to be a Herald: I have read every Valdemar book in print to date with the sole exception of “The Valdemar Companion”, and will likely read them all again several times more

3.) Can your character be spared from their family to become a Herald? The third child of four, and one not well equipped to work the Wandering Woman, Seth is far from essential and can easily be spared

Companion 1.) Name: Kador

2.) Gender: male

3.) Age (generic; young adult, adult, older adult, or older): adult

4.) Personality: Kador makes entirely certain that Seth doesn’t let his seriousness go to his head. He pops up every so often to crack a joke. While he’s not extraordinarily social, he does tell a good joke, and makes Seth try to bear in mind that people are kidding as often as not.

5.) Siblings: a twin brother, Rathe



Seth shuffled yet again thru the Wandering Woman’s massive doors, toting the day’s firewood with him. He didn’t know why he stayed, really, except that he didn’t have anywhere else to go. So he stayed at his father’s little tavern, working day in and day out at a job he hated, in a place that didn’t like him. He sighed as he walked into the kitchen. His father was there, and he didn’t have his apron on, which meant one of two things: either he was going to be spending the day making his sons “learn the business”—which meant essentially that he was going to let Davin run the bar and Seth do everything else while he sat around barking orders at them—or that he was going into Haven for foodstuffs from the market there, and he and Davin would spend the ride talking and joking while Seth got stuck in the back of the wagon, bouncing around like a sack of old apples. Neither idea appealed to the worrisome boy, but he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

“Ah, Seth!” Tadley exclaimed when he noticed his son. “Good to see you’re up and about! We’ve got to pick up some stuff from Haven today…” he began, confirming his son’s sinking suspicion.

“I’ll go wake Davin,” Seth cut in.

“Davin’s up,” Tadley replied. “Could you saddle Nell, instead?”

Seth sighed and nodded, dropping the wood and shuffling back outside to retrieve the cart. He went as slowly as possible about it, trying to postpone the moment when he’d have to start fighting with his father’s unruly stallion. The beast should have been gelded ages ago, as far as he was concerned! It obeyed his father’s rule, but not his. He was lucky to get the beast to refrain from kicking him whenever he drew near. Stalling or not, though, he was still forced to struggle Nell into the harness before his father and brother finally came outside. “You got that horse hitched up, yet?” Tadley called across the field as he walked over.

“Yes,” Seth replied, retying his light brown hair in its horsetail. It had been orderly when he’d come out, but Nell had bit him, and he’d pulled it loose.

“Good! In the back with you, then!” Tadley exclaimed, hauling his considerable bulk into the front of the cart. Davin climbed up beside him, nearly as large in girth as his father, as Seth swung lightly into the back. He always swung lightly into the back, and, as always, the same bewildered thought crossed his mind: ‘I’m related to them? But they’re so much…larger than I am.’ It was true. Davin and Tadley each capped six feet by several inches, and were much larger in bone and appetite than Seth. The younger boy didn’t even reach six feet, and, while not scrawny, was nowhere near so large as either of them.

No sooner had Seth settled himself into the back than the cart took off, Nell charging down the road at full speed for several minutes before Tadley managed to force him to obey the reins. Seth clung to the cart for dear life as he was tossed about and nearly thrown three times on the uneven road. From that moment until they reached Haven, the boy spent his time preoccupied with staying in the cart.

When they entered the city, Seth hopped from the cart with a practiced grace. “I’ll be back to help load at nightfall!” he called to Tadley, who waved some vague half-acknowledgement that Seth didn’t really notice. He was in Haven, and free for the day. He did not intend to waste one second of it.

Within moments, he was padding thru the streets and alleys, looking for anything that seemed entertaining. It was then, near the western edge of the city, that he spotted a crowd gathered. Curious, he wandered over and stretched up to his full—if meager—height in a vain attempt to see. There was a sudden startled rustling from further ahead in the crowd, and people were backing up quickly, though he could not see why. As he stretched, something appeared before him, a head thrust between the two people he’d been attempting to see over. Startled, he fell backwards and looked up…

Into the purest blue pools he’d ever seen. :There you are!: a voice exclaimed in his head. :I knew you were around here somewhere! Finally! Come, Chosen, let’s get you back to the Collegium. Oh…I’m Kador, by the way.:

“Ch-ch-chosen? Me?” Seth exclaimed. “Really?”

:Really,: Kador replied.

“Wow! …Oh, cor… Da’s not going to be happy about this…” he muttered to himself.

:He’ll get over it,: the masculine voice replied. Seth smiled. He supposed that was right. Well! Even if it wasn’t, he was old enough to go running off on some wild adventure if he wanted to…or just to go become a Herald.