"She reads plays. She embroiders. She is artless, unwed, and useless. Her sister is twice widowed and quite adequately prepared for the task of leading the king by his nose."
--Baron Erondites, The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Attolis: Do you know, I once heard someone describe you as artless?
Heiro: I don't know what you're talking about, Your Majesty.
Attolis: Neither did he.
--The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
BASICS
NAME: Heiro
GENDER: Cis woman
PRONOUNS: she/her/hers
ORIENTATION: Unsure, happy to explore that
BIRTHDATE: Early Fall 2755
AGE: 19 as of Summer 2775, almost 20
LOCATION: Fort Weyr
OCCUPATION: Candidate
WING: N/A
APPEARANCE
EYES: Light brown
HAIR: Brown, shoulder-length, wavy
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 6'0", narrow shoulders, naturally chubby
PLAY-BY:This Picrew maker
EXPY SOURCE: Heiro (very loosely) (King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner)
FULL APPEARANCE:
Heiro is chubby and always will be to an extent, no matter how fit she gets. She has light brown eyes, full lips, and dimples. She keeps her wavy hair in a simple style so she can cut it herself if need be, never letting it get too much longer than her shoulders.
She prefers to wear simple, sturdy clothes, but is adept at layering and picking patterns in a way that is flattering, elevating them beyond their simple nature. Her posture and state of cleanliness is that of a Holdborn woman who was expected to always carry herself with poise and grace and who was mostly successful in that endeavor.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY:
Heiro is a fairly unassuming young woman. Oh, she's sociable enough, but she doesn't have the natural charisma some people do that keep them in the center of the spotlight. She's content with that though, happy to move around the fringes of a social gathering, making sure the wallflowers don't feel quite as out of place. Despite having a calm and unobtrusive way about her, she is quick to jump between others and trouble. She's not much of a fighter, but she'd rather take a hit meant for someone else than see them suffer needlessly or else do nothing and watch someone else get hurt needlessly. She has an extremely strong sense of right and wrong and cannot stand bullies or underhanded tactics.
Heiro prefers quieter activities like reading and embroidery, but she isn't afraid of hard work and will always give it her all. While she can hold her own in physical endeavors, she will never be a standout among her peers, athletically speaking. She likes to keep up-to-date with the popular Harper songs; while she does enjoy them, she also feels that they serve the purpose of helping people see from others' perspectives and gives an insight into how the rest of Pern is thinking and feeling.
While she tries to maintain a positive and supportive attitude for others, Heiro can only ever seem to see everything wrong with the world and the systems in it. Part of why she tries to keep everyone else's spirits up is because she knows most people are more motivated to make the world better when they're happy and inspired rather than disillusioned. Personally, though, she feels more inspired to help change the world when she sees people suffering needlessly. She knows things have improved over the centuries, but change comes so slowly that sometimes it feels like she's the only one who is actually motivated to make other people's lives better. She feels like weight of that sits squarely on her shoulders, but she doesn't have the power to actually do anything about it. If a group she's in doesn't succeed, she feels that it mostly her fault. She struggles with asking for help, because to her mind she should be able to do everything herself if need be. Unfortunately, 'need be' seems to be more often than not to her mind.
HISTORY
FAMILY:
Father - Emis
Mother - Thiro
Sister - Themis
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: None
BIRTHPLACE: Hold in Fort territory
HISTORY:
TW: Emotional abuse/neglect
Heiro was born to the fairly traditional holders Emis and Thiro, their second child. They were fairly well-established, but Emis and Thiro were obsessed with their reputations and had very strict expectations of their daughters so as to preserve those reputations. Themis rose to these expectations magnificently, as the graceful, beautiful, charming socialite of the two girls. Heiro, by contrast, was...well, in truth she was a fairly average young lady, but when stood next to Themis, Heiro seemed too plain, too fat, not graceful enough, not perfect enough, and their parents were quick to point this out to Heiro at any opportunity. It didn't seem to matter to them that Heiro was the kinder of the two, that she treated everyone from drudges to members of the Blood with the same basic respect, that Themis was a petty and mean-spirited person in a lot of ways. Personality wasn't as important as the appearance of nobility as far as her parents were concerned, and Heiro was too honest about herself to appear noble.
When Themis was eighteen, popular and beautiful as she was, she was quickly married off to a young man who would make a powerful ally to her family. When Heiro turned eighteen some five turns later, there was no such match for her. Which personally suited her fine, she had no desire to marry someone she barely knew for the benefit of her parents, but it did mean she had to endure still more comments about what a 'useless, artless' daughter she was. At least she had some friends at the Hold that allowed her to avoid her parents most of the time, but Heiro did have to return home at some point every day. After another turn passed of absolutely no marriage prospects as far as her parents were concerned, they finally allowed her to be looked over by the Search dragon. Better a dragonrider in the family than a worthless spinster, as far as they were concerned.
Wonderfully, Heiro was immediately deemed suitable to be a candidate, and happy to be free of her parents' constant comments (and just a little sad to be leaving her friends) she was more than happy to relocate to Fort Weyr to begin her new life as a candidate.
