Name: Y'sef (formerly Yosef)
Age: 29
Nameday: 3548.02.04
Sex: Male
Sexual Orientation: who cares (mostly straight)
Weyr: Other (Zanoma Camp)
Rider Rank: ...rank?
Previous Rank/Craft: Beastherder (not formally trained)
Physical Description: about 6' tall, lean, lanky and hard. Handsome, square-jawed, steel eyed, tanned from living outdoors. Sandy dark blond hair is collar length and parted on one side, nose looks like it's been broken and reset (it was, he was kicked in the face by a herdbeast as a kid). He moves as laconically as he speaks, wasting no motion; he walks as if he'd rather be on dragonback (which he would most of the time).
Dresses plainly, pullover shirts tucked into sturdy belted trousers with worn Keroon riding boots and a wherhide jacket when needed, an oilcloth duster and a broad-brimmed leather hat when the weather's inclement. He's not much for fancy clothes, at most putting a leather vest over his shirt when the occasion calls for it.
Personality: Y'sef is the kind of man who, given half the chance, would live on dragonback. He pretty much does anyway, monitoring the herds of wild herdbeasts and other critters that roam the plains of Zanoma Camp's range. A fiercely independent man, he rides with Zanoma because it's a mutually beneficial arrangement: he drives and rustles the herdbeasts they need for survival, they provide food and shelter and the company of like-minded individuals when he desires it.
Which is surprisingly often -- he's not a complete loner. His nomadic, technically holdless family growing up were very tight-knit and insular, so he really never had a whole lot of exposure to people in general, except when they stopped at Holds and Weyrs to sell or tithe herdbeasts. Consequently, Y'sef is a born loner. He will allow himself to get reasonably close to people these days, and allow them to get reasonably close to him -- but not too close, or the temptation to hare off away from people in general might rear its head, as it has in the past.
He's actually pretty good-humored, with a bone-dry, deadpan sense of humor, and will drink and laugh with the rest of the Camp when he's not out working the herdbeasts with his beloved Samielth. Y'sef really doesn't have much of a temper to speak of, though he's more than capable of holding his own in a fight. Distrustful by nature, he has no love for what passes for civilization on Pern. He hates the hustle and bustle of the Holds, hates the militarism of the Weyrs. But despite his laconic ways, he enjoys the company of the rest of the Zanoma Camp members about as much as he enjoys being alone driving herdbeasts; they are his kind of people, they understand where he's coming from and won't attempt to tame or control him. And he doesn't attempt to thwart them in any way, either.
Y'sef never thought he'd end up a dragonman, but he did -- and he wouldn't change a thing about it. He and Samielth are happiest when they are flying free, driving herdbeasts and assisting in raids for supplies for Zanoma Camp.
Positive Trait List independent, hard working, good humored
Negative Trait List laconic, distrusts authority, loner
History:
Yosef was born to the saddle in Keroon -- he could ride runners practically before he could walk. He was brought up as a nomadic beastherder, travelling the grassy prairies of Keroon with his family. He was never formally trained because mom held no truck with Hold or Hall; he learned the ways of critters through hands on experience.
As a boy, Yosef participated in herdbeast drives to tithe the Weyrs and feed the major Holds -- basically how his family stayed alive. It was on one such drive when he was 19 Turns old that he was Searched for High Reaches Weyr. Reluctantly, out of some sense of curiosity, he went. He hated the Weyr immediately; it was so confining and so full of rules. Yosef survived Candidate training, but just; it was all he could do to keep from punching the Candidatemaster out.
He never thought he'd impress until little white Samielth waddled up to him with rainbow swirling eyes and honked fiercely, and he was smitten. Y'sef and Samielth lasted a Turn at the Weyr, just long enough to get the training they'd need to work together as a team. They left immediately after training was over, not even waiting around for the graduation feast.
Y'sef and Samielth did odd jobs here and there as a herder/drover team, relearning as they went how to manage herds from dragonback. The pair sometimes raided travelling caravans for supplies, and even travelled with a caravan or two as drovers or security. It was from one of the caravans that he heard about Zanoma Camp on the wild Western Continent, and it sounded so intriguing he and Samielth decided to check it out.
They haven't left yet; got no place better to be...
Other:
DRAGON
Name: Samielth
Age: 10
Color: White
Size: 26'
Physical Description: small, but compact and muscular; broad shortish wings that allow them to rapidly change direction in the air. They have a faint swirl pattern on their wingsails.
Personality: This dragon may be tiny, as tiny as they come in fact, but they are fierce. Fierce in riding herd on the wild herdbeasts and such on the plains of Zanoma territory, as fiercely independent as their rider, whom they adore unconditionally, Samielth is at their best when they are flying free, just them and Y'sef. Despite their fierce nature, they get along with most other dragons, simply avoiding the ones they don't get along with. They're not interested in romance and have no inclination toward that sort of relationship with other dragons, but they're not above the occasional snuggle with a select few -- very few -- of the Zanoma dragons.
Samielth and Theirs have worked out how to drive herdbeasts and other herd critters from the air, which gives them great enjoyment; with their nimble flying ability and intelligence, they can anticipate what a herdbeast is going to do before it does it. They act as a combination cowboy, cutting horse and herding dog, nipping at the heels of the herdbeasts and steering them with their wings and tail to get them to go where they want them to. It's great fun, almost more fun than catching the ones they want to harvest (or eat).
This little dragon still has the instinct to fight Thread, and there have been times they and Theirs have acquired (read: stolen) firestone and flown against it (often in support of Whitecliff Weyrhold -- Western Weyr can take care of itself), but most of the time they follow the rest of the Camp as they Between it to safety elsewhere or take refuge in the caves that dot the mountains near the coast. It sort of galls Samielth to hide from Thread like that, but they understand the limitations the Camp operates under -- specifically, you can't always steal firestone on the Western Continent.
In Y'sef Samielth found someone who is as fiercely independent as they are. Y'sef's laconic calmness helps to keep Samielth's sharpness in check, and they in turn reinforce in him that he did/is doing the right thing. As if there was ever any doubt.
Dragon Art or Proof of Obtainment: Taste the Rainbow giveaway!
