"The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
BASICS
RETIRE INFO: Adopt/Adopt
NAME: K'osh
GENDER: male
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
ORIENTATION: Wary bisexual
BIRTHDATE: winter 2741
AGE: 25 as of late summer 2767
LOCATION: Fort Weyr
OCCUPATION: dragonrider
WING: Midnight Wing
APPEARANCE
EYES: green
HAIR: black
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 6' 2", slender
PLAY-BY: Milind Soman
FULL APPEARANCE: K'osh has green deepset eyes that stand out in his bronzecomplexioned face. His dark short hair is intentionally mussed in that "love me, I'm a ruffian" sort of way. He has a sharply defined jawline, usually accented by something longer than stubble but not quite becoming a beard, that surely takes daily upkeep to maintain. His high cheekbones give his face a refined look, while his straight nose, neither sharp nor protruding excessively, nicely balances the other facial features.
K'osh is slender but not wiry. He carries little extra fat on his frame. His long legs are built for speed, and K'osh's step is light and graceful even when not running. K'osh wears clothing in dark colors with little embellishment, except on rare occasions. His tunics and breeches are always finely tailored and out of the best fabric or leather available. K'osh disdains all jewelry; he views neck chains, rings and the like as unwanted baggage.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY: Traditionalist, inflexible, emotionally aloof and an intellectual snob, K'osh believes he understands how things ought to be done in the weyr better than most everyone else, and has little to no patience for anyone who has differing views. He knows deep in his heart that breaks with tradition are a sign of moral corruption, and he acts accordingly. He's fatalistic about his future and the future of Pern, but if something truly extraordinary happened, he might be willing to revise his outlook.
Kosh keeps a tight reign on his emotions, to the point of repression. He generally avoids intake of substances that might break down his inhibitions and make him more expressive. When he does consume e.g. alcohol, he is a total lightweight and will spout off his innermost secrets to the nearest sympathetic ear after not even two drinks.
HISTORY
FAMILY:
Father: Rider L'ir of Brown Regolath - deceased (Threadfall)
Mother: Natoo of Green Pranceth
Siblings: younger sister, journeyman vintner
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: N/A
BIRTHPLACE: Benden Weyr
HISTORY: Born a weyrbrat and raised in the chaotic environment that weyr fosterlings face, Kentosh always held himself aloof from the other children. He was not particularly interested in their rough-and-tumble games, though he never felt much of a pull towards his childhood lessons either. As soon as he was permitted to, he volunteered for chores that would bring him into contact with the weyr's dragons, whether it was chopping meat for new hatchlings-to-be, collecting missives from all over the weyr to pass off to dragon couriers, or helping an injured rider scrub down and oil their beast. The way he saw it, the more contact he had, the better off he'd be when his turn finally came to stand as a candidate. And he was determined to stand.
As time passed Kentosh became more and more sure of his future; he would grow up, become a candidate, impress bronze, and then go on to become Weyrleader. This would be best not only for him but for the weyr, which needed leaders with a strong moral compass and who embraced tradition. So many of the other weyrlings his age treated dragons as a form of entertainment, and when news came that mutant dragons of strange colors were hatching elsewhere, they saw nothing amiss. Kentosh knew better. He'd heard riders talking about it and he agreed silently with their verdict; something was rotten in the foundations of these other weyrs. Nothing like that could be permitted to happen to Benden. He would not allow it, if it ever came into his hands to do something about it.
At 16 he stood as a candidate for the first time, and as he expected, he impressed bronze Mordeth. At last the waiting was over! The future for which he seemed to have waited forever, was finally here. K'osh knew several bronze riders already and wasted no time making the acquaintances of the rest. At first he listened politely to their discussions about weyr management, storing away everything he heard, to be examined and, if appropriate, mentioned again later. Soon he came to the realization that they were no wiser than the children he'd avoided as playmates. Did adulthood not bring wisdom? Nor impression? If K'osh had not had his companion Mordeth, he would have fled in despair, perhaps to the Southern wilderness, indifferent whether to live or to die. But he was a bronze rider, with responsibilities to his dragon if to no one else, and so he remained.
Perhaps because K'osh's heart was no longer in it or perhaps for some other reason, his bronze never caught any of the golds who rose to mate. K'osh was never short of offers to cohabitate; he was attractive enough but found none of the askers interesting enough for more than a brief fling. Most of the time he didn't even bother with that. What was the point? Another evening spent in shallow passions, wasted. Better to read "Meeting Thread Head-On: Strategies of the Masters" one more time than that.
Time passed and K'osh's depression grew ever deeper. Then something happened to shake him out of the doldrums; Alayna was kidnapped. Hope leapt within K'osh's breast. Perhaps this was the trigger event that would bring the change he had so longed for! But Turns passed, and there was no follow-through. Were the other weyrs expected to fold in on themselves of their own inertia?
K'osh volunteered to go on the strike mission against the clutch of the mutant-bearer, Serapheth, but he was passed over. The riders selected failed utterly in their mission. Not one, not two, but THREE garnets hatched from that clutch, all thriving to contribute their degenerate genes to future clutches. K'osh seethed silently but bided his time.
Tuckal was kidnapped, again without his participation, and again that ended in failure. If you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself. K'osh resolved that he would put things to rights himself, instead of waiting on others to do it. There had been rumblings of other bronze riders transferring to Fort, with an eye to Nornth's next mating flight. Let them chatter away like old gossips. He would go and do the thing, no discussion was needed.
K'osh told no one but his wingleader of his request for transfer, explaining only that he felt there was no way forward for him at Benden. Let them make of it what they would. With the sealed documents in hand, he arrived on Mordeth's back, hovering above the weyr bowl in the bright morning air. His new resolve was picked up and amplified by his dragon and reflected back at him. Yes, things were about to change.
