"I have done things according to the design of my heart.
I have restored that which was in ruins, I have raised up that which was unfinished,
I came as a dragon flaming against my enemies." --Pharaoh Hatshepsut
BASICS
NAME: Vellaren
GENDER: Genderqueer
PRONOUNS: She/her/hers
ORIENTATION: Aroace
BIRTHDATE: Late Winter 2739
AGE: 25 as of Early Spring 2765
LOCATION: Fort Hold
OCCUPATION: Lord Holder
APPEARANCE
EYES: Pale grey
HAIR: Heavily-grayed black, heading towards silver
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 5'9", athletic
PLAY-BY: Hannah Waites
FULL APPEARANCE: Vellaren is a striking woman. Tall and well-muscled, she moves with a dancer's grace and athletic strength, with the casual movement and positioning of someone who understands her body and its abilities intimately. Though relatively buxom, with the dainty feet and elegant legs of a deer, her shape is offset by her masculine garb. Vellaren dresses the part of a lord, in breeches, hard-heeled riding boots, cuffed shirts, and fitted jackets. Most of her clothing could only be maintained by a lord - bleached-white leather, high-gloss shined boots, fresh-pressed shirts. She wears her status so that there will be no mistaking who she is.
Her face might be called soft on another woman: full lips, an uplifted fine-boned nose, doelike eyes under finely arched brows. On Vellaren, this same face is cold, her pale grey eyes sharp and disdainful, her mouth more likely to to be parted by a raised lip than a smile. She went grey early; her first gray hair came in when she was twelve, and by now, her black hair has given way to iron, steel, and silver. She makes no attempt to dye or disguise it, wearing her graying hair pulled back into a loose bun or braid, often held back by long iron nails repurposed as hair sticks.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY: Self-styled as Lord, rather than Lady, Holder, Vellaren is an ambitious, driven, and intense person. It's hard to call this intensity passion; rather, Vellaren is like a hunting hound or goshawk, with the taut-focus of a predator. She is competitive to a fault, with no interest in being second-best. Instead, Vellaren will do everything in her power to garner success - not for the sake of any accolade, but because accomplishment itself is a goal. To that end, she is lucky to be both intelligent and a natural leader, with a tendency to usurp power when she's not given it. Historical attempts to put her in her place have ended... poorly, and not for her. She will use whatever tools will give the greatest success, whether that is creation or destruction, and sees little moral distinction between the two.
With this approach to her life, it's no wonder that Vellaren is often considered an ice maiden. She is uninterested in both romantic and sexual relationships, and her approach to marriage is very much that of political gain. She is capable and clever, with a tendency for dictatorship; there are few people she finds interesting enough to make an effort of friendship towards. Rather, she tends to view people (and whers, and dragons) as pieces on a great game-board, or perhaps tools to be used, and passed over. That said, Vellaren does have affection for those few who interest or challenge her - though on occasion, her determination to defeat a challenger can send her into single-minded obsession, leading either to their capitulation, or, perhaps, even unto death.
HISTORY
FAMILY: See the Fort family tree.
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Corleon of Blue Corleosk
BIRTHPLACE: Fort Hold
HISTORY: TW: attempted rape, implied murder
Born out of wedlock to the Fort Lord Holder and the sister of his first wife, Vellaren was fostered out as soon as she was weaned, to a wealthy Ruathan family. She remained unaware of her heritage until she was 12, when her foster-mother told her that her father had acknowledged her six turns past, and it was high time that she go home and learn the art of being a true lady. The revelation led to a rift between her and her foster-sister Evara, and Vellaren was taken on her first ride between, a frigid and frightening journey that cemented dragons and their riders in her mind as powerful yet dangerous tools. After all, if they would come to a Lord Holder's beck and call...
For the next several turns, Vellaren was tutored under her lady mother in the feminine arts. To Vellaren, they were as useful a skillset as any other, and by the time she turned sixteen, she had earned herself a betrothal to one of the cousins of the Benden Holder. Eager to build ties to the powerful Hold, Lord Vellat sent Vellaren between again, leaving her to the care of her future mother-in-law and to the introduction of her husband-to-be. The young man found his fiancee cold and distant - himself being something of a rake, no doubt why marriage to an acknowledged bastard had been considered for him. Vellaren disliked him for his roving, but she took no offense from it, save for the sting of her pride. When he broke into her room, blind drunk, and tried to take her like he took his light-of-loves, Vellaren's dislike turned to icy hatred. That he didn't remember it the next morning made little difference to her.
His tragic death, near a full turn later and scant months before his wedding day, of a slow consumption, came with little shock to the family, though a show of great sorrow. But he had always been a sickly boy (it had been his bloodline, not his virility, that had won him the beds of so many ladies of ill repute), and Vellaren's dedicated care to her unfaithful fiance was seen as proof of her good breeding and her lady's nature.
It was to many's surprise when, instead of taking the trip a-dragonback home, Vellaren went with the rider to Benden Weyr. She had not been Searched, and had little intention of Standing for dragons. Her only Impression was to a fire-lizard, and she intended to keep it that way. Instead, Vellaren trained under the Headwoman of the Weyr, taking on the mantle of leadership she had so keenly felt the lack of. Before long, she was the official Quartermaster for the Weyr, in charge of documenting and issuing the military supplies for dragonriders and whers - straps, riding leathers, goggles, knots, flamethrowers, and other gear, as needed. It was there that the Fort Hold envoys found her - the heir to Fort Hold, their new iron Lord Holder.
UPDATES
- Summer 2767- Vellaren arranges a political match with Corleon, a handler of the blood of Ruatha.