change the stars
BASICS
RETIRE INFO: adopt
NAME: Ranalan
GENDER: male
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
ORIENTATION: panromantic demisexual
BIRTHDATE: Summer 2741
AGE: twenty-six as of Early Fall 2767
LOCATION: High Reaches Weyr
OCCUPATION: wher handler, Journeyman Baker
Squad: Sunburst
APPEARANCE
EYES: black
HAIR: black, tightly curled stubble
HEIGHT AND BUILD: six foot three, well-built and muscled
PLAY-BY: Sinqua Walls
FULL APPEARANCE:
Ranalan has a strangely expressive face -'strangely' only because he has perfect bearing. When working, his expressions give nothing away - not his stress, not his feelings about his situation, not anything. It's enough of a difference between his persona around strangers and his normal expression that he doesn't always look like the same person.
He is tall and solidly built. Every inch of his six feet and three inches of height is dedicated to strength. His wher claims that there isn't anything her human cannot do, and, really? She's not wrong. He's strong, relatively flexible, and quite willing to pitch in when needed. While his muscles were developed kneading dough and slinging kitchen supplies, they serve him well in his new life as a wher handler.
PERSONALITY PERSONALITY: He's not just physically strong. Ranalan has a heart of gold, and enough strength to help others stay upright until they can stand on their own. He'll lend an ear to anyone, and his shoulder for any tears. He'd make a wonderful father.
Ranalan is a giver, and like any giver, is prone to getting taken advantage of. He combats this tendency by being rather secretive. It's not that he has secrets. It's more that everyone is entitled to something of their own, aren't they? His idealism says that people can be trusted. Experience says that people will take anything they can. He tries to straddle a middle ground, where he can still have his trust and yet not be completely overwhelmed. Success varies.
HISTORY
FAMILY:
Mother: Ralena, early sixties, Ruatha Hold
Father - Lanan, late fifties, Ruatha Hold
Sister - [blank], early twenties, Fort Weyr
And a bevy of shirt-tail relatives
SIGNIFICANT OTHER:
BIRTHPLACE: Ruatha Hold
HISTORY:
Trigger Warnings:
Emotional Neglect
Disease (canon)
Death
Ranalan was not a particularly noteworthy child. He was the kind of kid that people walked all over, the one with few boundaries. He was never abused, no, but neither was he particularly nurtured. Over time, he grew to be a compassionate man, more likely to hug out an issue than solve it with his fists. His philosophy became 'Be what you needed as a child', and he has stood by that.
At the age of nine, Ranalan became informally apprenticed to the Hold's kitchens, and at ten, the apprenticeship was made formal. His teachers were pleased with his progress. They were even more pleased when their young student began helping those who were having trouble learning. Ranalan wasn't rewarded by walking the tables early, but he was well thought of in the tight network of people that fed one of Pern's largest Holds. And he did get his promotion, at seventeen.
So how did a well liked Journeyman Baker, favored to make Master early, end up as a wher handler? It's kind of a funny story.
Well, see, Ranalan was not at High Reaches when Ranask was born. Ranalan didn't come into her life until a chance invitation to see extended family that lived there. He was meant to stay for two months.
Ranask was first bonded to someone else, someone who passed all the requirements to be a wherhandler and was present at the time. Krenemel was an established handler in the weyr, with bronze Nemelsk. Green Krenesk had a mentor, a human, and a stable family unit, between Krenemel's extensive wherhandler family. That only lasted a few months, until a plague swept Pern. Ranalan happened to be in the right place at the right time to bond the very young green. When asked if she wanted to retain her old name or meld her new name into her old one, Ranask said, Was Krenesk when had Krenemel. Had Nemelsk. Now have Ranalan. Now Ranask.
And she has gone by her new name ever since. Ranalan's two month visit to the weyr has turned into a residency as he first caught up with, and then continued, wherling lessons with other members of Ranask's clutch. Being bonded to a wher suits him, and Ranask in particular fits his personality quite well. These two don't want to make it to the top, but they will be at the right hand of someone who does.
