Bluerider Syra - Weyrlingmaster of Fort Weyr

:: OOC Information ::
Moniker: Suri
How did you hear about us?: Affiliation with Dragon's Rise.



:: Character Information ::
Name: Syra
Pronunciation: Sigh-ra
Title: Weyrlingmaster
Honourific:
Age/ Turn of Birth: 27 Turns, 4.14.475 AL
Gender: Female
Place of Birth: Benden Weyr, Lower Caverns
Place of Residence: Fort Weyr
Craft:
Occupation/ Role: Weyrlingmaster / Cook Extraordinare


Character Aspirations:
As a young woman, Syra secretly hoped to Impress a blue dragon when she stood on the Sand - this happened for her! One of her biggest dreams realized. Later, she realized her dragon had rather good empathic abilities and beseeched the Weyrlingmaster of her class to teach them to be a Search pair when Candidates were needed. She has since learned that she has a natural teaching ability with Weyrlings and after graduation, became a Weyrlingmaster's Assistant. When the previous Weyrlingmaster decided step down, she was tapped to take his place and now works to prove herself as possibly the youngest Weyrlingmaster at the age of 26 Turns.


Family:
(If known, give their name, turn of birth, rank and signify if they are deceased.)
✣Father: Unknown Bronzerider, B.xxx, D.xxx
✣Mother: Daiena. B.xxx, D.xxxx
✣Siblings: Unknown
✣Children:
Carin [F], B. 491 AL, Raised by the creche, Syra visits often.
Andasyri {D'syr} [M], B. 499 AL. Raised in part by Syra and the creche when she's busy with rider duties.
✣Other Significant:
Unknown, (b.xxx, d.xxx - Bronzerider) - Father of Carin. (adoptable)
N'kai, (b.479, d.xxx - Bluerider of Kaisoth) - Father of Andasyri

Appearance:


✣Face: Katerina Kopal (IMdB'able name)

✣Hair: Syra's hair is at very long, reaching the middle of her back. She prefers to leave it partially down, the parts that are considered 'up' are usually braided, and located where they wouldn't get in her way doing her daily routine. It is usually pulled back from the crown of her head, in an attempt to tame her wild hair out of her eyes. Frizz is generally not seen in her hair, as it is well cared for, and very straight when not braided. When braided portions are taken out, a wave can be seen in her hair, but it will go away at first washing.  

✣Eyes: Her almond shaped eyes are bright and distinct grey-tinged green, with well manicured eyebrows with a slight natural arch. The edges of the iris are dark in color, giving a compliment to her striking eye color.

✣Height: 5'6

✣Build: Syra is an olive skinned woman, with dark brown hair, striking grey-green eyes and a slender, but generally athletic body. She prefers to keep herself fit, often judging herself compared to women who are larger or smaller than she. Her nose is slightly more pointed than she would like, and often she makes comments about it - but knows that others find it endearing.

✣Other Notable Physical Traits:  Exploring the surrounding area to find edible foods, and later at the Weyr learning about herbs from a  Healer has left Syra with varying scratches and tiny scars on her arms, legs and hands. Always an athletic woman, she often earned these marks from climbing, swimming, or foraging for herbs and various ingredients for cooking and spicing, exploring the surrounding area to find edible foods. They are small, and often invisible as old injuries go, and many will disappear with time.

✣Style of Dress: Preferring the ability to move quickly and with dignity when needed, Syra prefers to wear pants and shirts over dresses. This doesn't mean she opposes dresses, but they are not her daily chosen gear. She will wear skirts, and dresses for no special reasons, but if she is trying to get something done, she often wears an outfit consisting of close fitting pants with a shirt. Over her shirt, she often wears a vest of soft, but sturdy leather that laces corset-style across the front. This acts both as a fashion item and as a protective cover for her shirts. For special occasions, or times when she needs to dress her outfit up a bit, a splash of color, in the form of a shawl-type shirt will cover the front of her, and give some formality to her chosen outfits. Instead of sandals or other types of shoe, Syra often wears boots that reach high up her legs, of soft leather with a thong she ties at her calf to keep them up.

Her preferred colors are light browns, greens and blues.

She is a very clean woman, having a cleansing bath at least every other day, or as she gets too dirty. Syra hates when her hair is greasy, and is often seen tucking it behind her ears, banding it with leather to keep it from her face, or braiding any portion of it that wont stay away from her ministrations.

✣Possessions usually found on persona: Syra is never without a good knife, a belt pouch with her marks and a jar of numbweed, a roll of bandage material and other small items she may need during the course of her day. Around her neck she wears a specially made necklace that she had created from her dragon's egg shell. It is in the shape of a sun, to remind her that no matter what trials and bad days she has - the sun will always bring the light and a better day.


History:
Syra was born to a woman in the Lower Caverns Benden Weyr. Her early childhood was spent with her mother and the other kitchen workers and was cared for by the women. When some of the kitchen workers moved to Fort Weyr, the girl and her mother went with them. It wasn't long before her mother took ill to firehead and passed away. A woman named Nana took pity on her and raised her as her own. She spent most of her childhood being raised by this woman and she becomes the only mother Syra remembers.

Nana's greenrider friend K'rir and his dragon Bayeth helped provide for Syra and her adopted mother in the new Weyr, and he became like an adopted father to her. Over the next few years she soon forgot much of her early life and considered herself Benden born regardless. Something about the new Weyr never quite made her feel like it was always her home. The girl often fell ill to fever or reactions to strange plants she ate to test for Healing properties, and almost died to one particular poisonous plant, but eventually pulled through when the fever broke.

Syra is fascinated by the green dragon, and is often found helping his rider care for her. Being a small child, she often only got to scrub one single foot before the greenrider finished the rest of the job but she felt honored enough to be allowed to help. Early on, she decides to make it her life goal to be a dragonrider.

The girl, now 11 turns old, Syra watches the Hatchings with rapt attention, attempting to figure out what it is about those who Impress blue dragons that attracts the dragonettes to them. Over and over blues Impress to men and envy strikes Syra with ferocity.

When the gold clutches and she watches the Hatching, Syra becomes more fascinated by the blue dragons in particular and begins to fantasize about being a female blue Dragonrider. She keeps these thoughts to herself, a secret she is afraid of being judged for, telling only Nana of her desire. The woman, who believes women shouldn't be riders unless it's a Gold, lashes her in an attempt to put her off the idea. Syra takes the lashings, vowing to tell no one else of her dream, and decides to step forward as a Candidate; as is her right as a Weyrbrat.

At 12 Turns, in 487AL, Syra gets her chance on the Sands and is Impressed by the blue dragon Rasenth. He is the largest of his blue brothers, and grows quickly. He shows promise early on as a potential Search dragon, and Syra approaches her Weyrlingmaster and requests to be trained as one. She explained to him that she wanted to be a Searcher because she felt she had a unique understanding of who could be the best riders for Pern, and when Rasenth was young and showed promise with empathic ability, she thought it would be a good use of his skill. Syra told him that she wanted not only to bring new riders to the Weyr, but to help them  once they did Impress so that she could keep helping them afterward. Spending extra time training for this particular skill as Searcher gave the young woman and her bonded dragon much time with the Weyrlingmaster and they were able to glean information about training Weyrlings, and some more in-depth information on what tactics worked best - that upon graduation, the woman is tapped as a Weyrlingmaster's Assistant when she is not acting as her primary Searchrider role. The Weyrlingmaster remembered her reasoning for being interested in both - to bring them to the Weyr and make sure they live to stay there.

It was during her weyrling training when the Weyrling Barracks caught fire and killed off some of her clutchmates, and the others succumbed to the training. In the end, it was Syra and one other of her clutchmates that survived, a blue and a green of the whole clutch. Her daredevil side, with her dangerous flight stunts and tendency to put herself in situations that scared the Weyrlingmaster, helped her to figure out if her ideas for certain formations were feasible. It also often ended with her getting grounded for endangering herself - which was more important after the fire when it was just her and the greenrider from the clutch left.

Not long after graduation Syra finally understands more about Flightlust when she becomes ensnared in its grip for the first time. A handsome dragonrider, whom she had been flirting with for some time, came to her after the flight affected deeply by his dragon's lust. She, herself feeling amorous as Rasenth had failed to catch, invites the man to her bed and loses her virginity to him in a fit of passion.

The union resulted in her first, and so far only, pregnancy and the birth of her daughter Carin at the age of 16. She raised her daughter to the weaning age and met a woman whom she found was interested in a child, and was barren herself. Syra gave her daughter to her, dedicating herself to the Weyrling classes currently undergoing training. She often visits her daughter, and the woman who raises Carin, but does not call herself the child's mother to the little girl -- yet. Even though she doesn't raise her daughter herself, she considers herself a lover of the young people of the Weyr. They have their whole lives ahead of them... she absolutely loves having the opportunity to help the youths as they grow through the most volatile stages of life into strong, healthy, well adjusted adults and riders - but not without fun in the process. She remembers her own Weyrlingmaster training her... remembering that he was often a stick in the mud, keeping herself and the other people in the class from any fun hjinx that allowed them to relax and break through some of the stress that training caused.

It's because of her own very strict training under the Weyrlingmaster that Syra often allows weyrlings more freedom to explore themselves and grow up than she was. She knows when they need to be reigned in however, and stops them from causing too much trouble while still allowing them to make their own judgement calls and discernment on which adventures they choose to get involved with. She often looks for the signs of maturity in weyrlings when they decide that the antics of their clutchmates are too dangerous to be allowed and one or more report them to herself or the Weyrlingmaster.

Syra befriends a Healer and gleans some information from him about Healing. After asking him to take her as his apprentice, she is flatly refused, but the Healer taught her about herbs that have a dual purpose of being good for cooking and seasoning, what is good where and when, and how to make some medicinal teas that would help her with monthly cramps and small pains and ailments. Often Syra was sent for herbs and plants that would aid in Healing and told to crush them while he told her what properties they held. The man teaching her refused to allow her to make any healing brews or poultices... often preferring to tell her to leave and chasing her out if she didn't.

Her cooking and basic knowledge of healing gave the woman a unique opportunity to meet some of the more interesting people in the Weyr - from all sorts of different backgrounds. If she thinks the Weyrlings could learn something valuable from someone, Syra will ask that some of these people come and speak to the Weyrlings or give presentations. The riders learn about different uses for Crafts, new ways to do things and sometimes pick up new interests from these special classes, and she is often proud when they gain a better understanding of why every person from Hold, Hall and Weyr have their places and uses for all of Pern. Syra finds these classes to be the most educational and often times most entertaining part of teaching Weyrlings as they are made to try new things or think new ways. than they are used to.

The young woman further developed her love of cooking, using her knowledge of cooking herbs, and spends much of her time in the Kitchens helping to cook for the people of the Weyr. Any compliments from the inhabitants of their Weyr she takes to heart, knowing she had something to do with the spicing of the food that was cooked. When she wasn't in the Kitchen, she spent her other free time learning to fight with her long knife, carefully guarding the blade with a slit, wafer thin piece of wood that is custom fitted to her knife so that her practice sessions and sparring with other members of the Weyr would not result in injury. She refuses to fight with naked blades unless it's self defence, as she is is well aware (as is the rest of the Weyr), that a dead rider means a dead dragon - and blades are dangerous already. Above the basic knife training that the Weyr can provide, she sometimes trained with visiting guardsmen who were willing to teach her some more advanced techniques that gave her a passion for the knife.

By the age of 23, the woman is well-versed in cooking and herbs, has learned to fight with her knife and hunt, and has become a well loved Weyrlingmaster's Assistant. She is tapped to be his replacement as the man is growing older and wishes to retire. It's around this time that Syra and another bluerider, N'kai, become better friends. They spend a decent amount of time together when they have free time building trust and companionship, and eventually become close enough that when the woman becomes pregnant, she keeps the baby, a son.

Around the age of 25 turns, Syra proved herself competent enough that she was tapped as the Weyrlingmaster's replacement after retirement, which prompted her into deeper, more extreme training for taking over the position, and much of her free time was spent learning everything she could from the man.

Current:
On the eve of her Turning day, to 26 tuns, Syra is raised to the Weyrlingmaster position.

Personality:
Syra is a slightly headstrong woman with a streak of fearlessness that drives her to learn skills others might find dangerous. Among these are testing the limits of her dragon's abilities in the sky, her own limits and the limits of those who put their lives on the line to fight thread. She is very kind, and passionate about her life in the Weyr. She is very friendly and outgoing to strangers, hoping to make them feel welcomed at the Weyr. Her nature also allows her to be more empathic to the people who would become good riders.

Being a weyrbrat, and raised by a woman with no modesty, Syra has no qualms about sex, nakedness, or doffing her shirt in the heat. This habit often scandalizes some of the more modest Weyrfolk, but Syra is careful to keep this quirk unseen by Holders. When it comes to arousal, Syra doesn't have much of a preference. She finds both men and women attractive, and does not find this to be strange. Though not very obvious as some girls, Syra enjoys flirting with men, and is certainly no prude. If she finds a man attractive if he approaches her, she will make herself available to him -- and thoroughly enjoy herself doing so. That being said, she has more experience with men than women, but she can appreciate the beauty of a women as much as the handsomeness of a man.

One of her deepest hidden desires is for someone who loves her enough to be her protector since she never grew up with a fatherly figure in her life. She accepted this as part of her life, and still grew up slightly resentful at that fact. Growing up knowing her place as a woman, Syra does not chafe at how she lives her life, and in fact, this makes her appreciate everything she has - no matter how little.
✣



Shortcomings:
✣      Lack of Modesty:
Syra is the type of woman who is likely to doff her shirt in the heat, heedless of the social stigma. She does, however, make a point to keep it on when Holders are around. It is not uncommon to see this woman bare-chested, or wearing very little clothing when working on difficult tasks. Take care not to stare though! This woman's temper is well known, and inconsiderate riders have often found the rough side of her tongue.

✣ Curiosity:
She is a naturally curious person, and finds any sort of mystery irresistible. In many circumstances, her curiosity overrides her common sense. She loves to go out and explore remote areas of Pern, around the Weyr and any of the old areas that she thinks may have been untouched since Ancient times. Any interesting findings she shows the Weyrleader's first, and then presents them to the Harper Hall for study.

✣ Grudge-keeper:
Syra has trouble letting go of a wrong, or perceived wrong, done to her, but does her best to keep it to herself. Amusingly she doesn't hold grudges when her lovers take other lovers - this isn't something she considers to be a wrong done her, or her dragon, as she is very much equal opportunity in her beliefs on love.  


Mannerisms/ Habits:
When agitated, irritated, angry or annoyed, she will often take the thick braid hanging over her shoulder in hand and tug on it.  In her face, which she tries to school into a serene looking calm, the fire can be seen in her eyes if any were to pay attention, but the tug gives her away.

Syra's nervousness is often given away as well, as she can usually be seen tucking hairs behind her ears and biting her lips. Her habit of looking over the shoulder of the person speaking to her, and causing such nerves, is often her trying to hide them or keep herself from feeling foolish.

No matter how hard she tries, she cannot perform a graceful curtsy when greeting or acknowledging a person of higher rank than herself. Often, she will bow instead - having perfected that.


Skills/ Likes:
Likes:
✣ Swimming:
Always enjoying physical activity, Syra finds swimming to be relaxing, and a good way to catch herself fish for an outdoor meal. She uses swimming to keep in shape as well, often simply doffing her clothing and diving in.

✣Cooking:
Believing cooking to be one of the great joys of life, she can often be found in the kitchens helping prepare meals for the Weyr when not needed elsewhere. She has spent much of her young childhood learning herbs and spices, how to hunt and how to butcher or gather the ingredients she needs for her meals.

✣Healing:
Using what she gleaned from the Healer, Syra helps where she can but her heart wishes to learn more. She is good at helping with minor injuries, nothing more than a few stitches at the worst, and can get people or dragons patched enough to survive until they can meet with someone of the Healer calling.


Strengths:
✣      Mathematics and Tactics:
Syra found that she was an excellent student, once she got over the unpleasant fact that she was slow to learn to write. Records she has to keep are very organized and well-written, kept at the end of the day and frequently updated. None of her equations come back incorrect. This sense of organization often helps her when she needs to delegate a task to her assistants, or oversee the teaching of classes. It also helps her to create a schedule that makes sense, so that classes that are most important have priority, and the fun classes are sensibly held between them to cut down on stress and discouragement in the newly bonded riders.

Her calculating mind makes her rather adept at flight strategies to teach the weyrlings about survival in the skies and the best methods of flaming thread down while working as a team with each other in wings, flights and with groundcrews. When the Weyrleader or Wingleaders need a bit of fresh insight, they bounce ideas around with her in order to come up with new tactics for fighting thread. While it may not be as often as she woman would like, no one can deny that her experience training the future riders of their Wings and seeing what goes on during the real training exercise gives her a unique view of how certain tactics would work in a stressful situation.

✣ Dauntless:
She will not run in fear of the unknown, or a fight that needs fought. This woman is not one you want to cross; she has learned to bow hunt and is extremely good with her long knife.

This fearlessness and enjoyment of her flying stunts that most consider to be on the dangerous side, allow her to recognize where Weyrlings might be pushing the enevelope too much (or where they can be allowed to continue in certain stunts). It also allows her to see where flight tactics, or stunts, begin to get too risky for the comfort of the Weyr. She knows all the tricks in the book, because she has helped write the book on daredevil flying in her late teens and early twenties, so there is no weyrling that tries to step out of line before she knows it and has decided whether to allow it or not. But, many weyrlings have learned to respect her for that, and recognize her skill in flight for this reason.

✣ Stamina:
Syra has an abnormal ability to need less sleep than most people. Her night time endurance lets her get things done late into the night. On a general night, she can get 4 hours of sleep and still function perfectly well as someone who had had a full 8-9 hours.

This is also useful for when young dragonets wake in the night and their young, newly Impressed riders need help caring for them in the dark of night. She is always happy to wake and help them, no matter the hour. Often times offering her own weyr if the pair are too tired to make it back to their own barracks.


Unskilled at/ Dislikes:
 ✣     Sweets:
Anything overly sweet will turn this woman's stomach. Pastries, desserts, etc are avoided like the Plague. She does, however, love fruit juices and sweet wines - those aren't something that she will pass up. Especially not a good Benden White wine or a Benden Pink.

✣ "Girly-girls":
Disgust shows on the face of Syra when she comes around the type of women who want nothing more than to talk about being pretty, clothes and men. She prefers the company of men who treat her as both a woman, and someone they can relate to. Having a good drink or gambling with a couple of male friends is one of her best favoured activities.

✣ Dirt:
Syra hates being dirty. She keeps her room in perfect order, preferring to keep it tidy and dust-free. Growing up, her foster mother was a stickler for a clean living place, and so Syra spent many hours learning how to make it 'right.' Not only is her weyr kept clean - but so is Rasenth, as she spends a good amount of time pampering her blue dragon and oiling him to a beautiful sheen.



Fighting Style/ Weapon of Choice:
Long-knife.
Fighting is like a dance for this woman, and the blade becomes an extension of her body and arms. Her slight frame makes her quick with her movements, and the blade extends her range considerably. The long-knife goes from the start of her wrist to the center of her bicep.

:: Dragon Information ::

Dragon Name: Rasenth

Turn of Impression: 487 AL (Gold Galadrieth by Bronze Remegath )

Clutch Name:

Weyr of Impression: Fort Weyr

Wing Name: Empyrean Wing

Colouring: Blue
Text Color: #143046  

Size:
✣Length: 29 meters
✣Height:  34.5 meters


Other Physical Characteristics:
A high average size dragon. He was always slightly oversized compared to his blue brethren, and it made him mildly cocky in regards to them. His slight advantage is size makes him a great contender for green flights. Rasenth is a gradient of blues, the darker parts of him close to being a deep navy-black, and his wings kept the mottling of his weyrlinghood coloring. At night he easily blends into the darkness of the skies, his whirling colorful eyes giving him away like floodlamps.

Personality Traits:
Rasenth has a rather sarcastic sense of humor, but is generally a good humoured dragon. He is fiercely protective of his rider, and doesn't refuse to issue a challenge if he feels she is being threatened. His size makes Syra feel diminutive, and the pair are often judged on this. From a young age, Rasenth was very empathic to the other weyrling riders and dragonriders - even on the occasional visitor to the Weyr. This made his rider ask to be trained as a Search dragon, and he finds much joy in meeting people and doing his duty to the Weyr. The blue dragon finds that he rather enjoys young dragonettes and has a sense of protectorship to them as they grow up.

When the pair are alone together, Rasenth is really a goofy dragon - making jabs, playing around and often squirting or splashing his rider with water when she is bathing him. Her own love of swimming encouraged him to dive into the water with her, and sometimes she will ride him beneath the surface, coming up for air when her much smaller lungs scream for it. Rasenth is proud of his Searchdragon role, and when he and Syra are sent on Search, his usually rather intimidating demeanour and tendency to stare at people he doesn't know are stronger as he examines potential riders.

His loyalty isn't only to his rider or their wing - but most assuredly to the Queen dragon and the Weyrleader. Those who stand outside of his inner circle or not interacted with regularly, are often subject to stares and silence until he warms up to them. Generally outgoing - he isn't fond of strangers from outside the Weyr. When it is his turn to be Watchdragon he challenges any incoming dragon and rider with a loud roar.


Voice: Hugh Jackman's voice. Slightly deep, with a clear accent that is easy to understand.