you either believe in yourself, or you don't
BASICS
RETIRE INFO: Retire both
NAME: O'tlan (captain)
GENDER: male
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
ORIENTATION: biromantic polyamorous bisexual
BIRTHDATE: Spring 2726
AGE: forty-four Turns as of Winter 2770
LOCATION: Semaca Weyr
OCCUPATION: explorer, adventurer, voice of reason, dad!figure
SQUAD: Mazurka
APPEARANCE
EYES: an uncomfortable shade of bright blue
HAIR: brassy blond, starting to go gray
HEIGHT AND BUILD: six feet and two inches, muscle-bound
PLAY-BY: Chris Pine
FULL APPEARANCE:
You'd think that a man standing six feet and two inches in height might be intimidating. Add in the heavy muscles, the confidence, and to those who hadn't met him before, O'tlan would be a scary individual. But this green rider does not carry himself with much importance. He walks quietly, and dresses in colors not designed to catch the eye, browns and tans mostly. While he looks good in blue, and stunning in gold, he does not like to stand out.
Despite the brassy blond, gravity-defying hair, the stubbly beard coming in an early gray, and a plush mouth more inclined to grin than frown, his most prominent feature remains his eyes. They are intensely blue, both inviting and intimidating. He has an impenetrable grin, more shield than humor, that nevertheless serves the dual purpose of making him seem at ease and under the radar. No one questions a sunny disposition, particularly not when accompanied with light quips and teasing one-liners.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY: O'tlan is a quiet man with good ideas. He likes his privacy, but he also likes to spend time with other riders. He has always presented a bold, confident face to the rest of the world. Only a few, trusted individuals know more than the facade he presents. Given his well-known history, it's understandable that he would play things close to the vest.
He has a bit of experience under his belt, and that means that he is a little steadier than many people think a green rider should be. Of course, as soon as people start dismissing his rank, he dismisses them. There are reasons Ista's Pride remade himself at High Reaches, and colorism is one of them.
When it comes to lovers, other people are welcome in his bed up to the point where he has to make a choice between a lover, and his dragon. He has little patience for coloristic lovers, those who qualify his existence by the color his dragon happened to be shelled. They might earn his bed for the flight, but it's quite rare for someone to keep his attention.
HISTORY
FAMILY: Mother - Lady of Ista Hold
Father - W'kik of bronze Hriseth, Ista Weyr deceased
a plethora of half-siblings, including the heir to Ista Hold and a few riders
the remaining Colossi, and their dragons
Former weyrmate - Z'zae of blue Ryloth - Summer 2731, Semaca Weyr, Pavane Squad
Son - Zortane, 2758
SIGNIFICANT OTHER(S):
Weyrhealer Chalay of green Oshuth
Guard Captain Vella of green Vellask and magma Vesk
BIRTHPLACE: Ista Island
HISTORY:
2726 - Childhood
one to twelve
When the Lady of Ista Hold gave birth to her first son, no one truly expected the results. There were whispers and rumors during her pregnancy, but no one came right out to say that this was not the Lord's get. It wasn't until one of the bronze riders from Ista publicly claimed the child as his own that the truth came out. Ortilan was removed from the line of succession, and fostered between Hold and Weyr until he wasn't quite sure which was his actual home.
2736 - foster
nine
Eventually, little Ortilan would just say that he came from Ista Island. He spent his childhood traveling between weyr and hold, neither parent willing to relinquish their claim to the other. He spent a Turn, his ninth, fostered to Igen Weyr, but that quickly ended when the weyr's latest clutch yielded unexpected results. No one knew how to categorize one of the hatchlings, and neither the Lady of Ista Hold nor Bronzerider W'kik of Ista Weyr wanted their son anywhere near that chaos.
Without a fire lizard of his own, the friendships Ista's child had made in Igen faded away. Despite a few attempts, no one was willing to let such controversial child Impress a fire lizard. Ortilan came to understand that until managed to get away from Ista, he would never be his own person. Just the mistake his parents made.
2738 - Adolescence
twelve to fifteen
After the experiment with fostering, his parents argued over whether or not he should Stand as a candidate when the time came. His father was convinced that he would follow in the family tradition, and Impress at least as high as brown. His mother - constantly pregnant to her Lord, yet somehow able to keep tabs on even adventurous Ortilan - wanted him to foster out again, to another Hold.
In an attempt to settle the argument, W'kik had one of the weyr's Search dragons lay claim on his son. Only someone paying rather close attention would have noticed that the brown 'Searched' the solemn child a few days before he officially came of age to be Searched. Properly fifteen by the time the queen Flew, he didn't attach at his first two clutches. Ortilan held the secret hope that he would be allowed to transfer to another weyr, if he didn't Impress soon. By that time, he hated the island and everyone on it. It seemed like everyone knew him, or of him, and had opinions on everything from his parentage to his lack of Impression.
2742 -Impression
sixteen
The clutch that held his dragon was, itself, a controversial clutch. It was sired by a mutation, a great monstrosity of a male neither bronze nor brown, and black as night. In the chaos of the hatching, which included both a second mutation and a gold, O'tlan's Impression would be been completely unremarkable. His parents being who they were, that wasn't the case.
Because when he did Impress, finally, he disappointed both of his parents. Actually, his father completely disowned him on the spot, and was transferred to another weyr - Benden - for the duration of his son's weyrlinghood. Instead of a fine bronze, or a sturdy brown - or even a blue, which would at least be male - attaching Ista's Pride, a dainty green had claimed him. She knew him as soon as she hatched, and laid imperial claim on the gangly sixteen-Turn-old.
O'tlan? Kadiith would like you to feed her. Why are you conflicted? Don't you like your Kadiith?
2742-2745 Weyrlinghood
sixteen to nineteen
W'kik had told his son stories of his weyrling class. O'tlan had always assumed he was just trying to make weyr life more enticing, because neither weyr nor hold had much appeal. He was proven wrong as he grew very close to the other riders in his class. They were a controversial bunch, from the petite, hidebound Kallia who attached Pern's newest gold to androgynous, vulgar Taz, who had the apparent misfortune to Impress a mutation. They were called the Colossi, and they banded together against a world out for their blood.
And with a batch of weyrlings that included silent Erro and flirtatious, unstable Kl'yne, something like being the result of a mistake could be overlooked. It was the first time O'tlan was seen as his own person, and he rather liked the sensation. He made friends, the easiest he'd ever made friends, and that would turn out the be a life-long bond.
Kaddy was one of the first greens of the clutch to Rise. She led seven males on a merry chase that nearly ended in a fist fight. O'tlan had grown into a much more attractive version of himself during lessons, and one of the riders of the losing males took offense to Kadiith's choice. He was a bronze rider, and it was in that moment that solidified Kadiith's immense dislike of bronzes. It wasn't bad enough that Hriseth hissed death threats whenever he saw her, but now one ruined her first Flight?
2746 - Rider
twenty
From that day forward, Kadiith despised most bronzes on sight. She never picked one for any Flight, and took umbrage whenever one would give her orders, unless it was another Colossi. Despite the cards being stacked against them, Kadiith and O'tlan rose through the ranks. They eventually became wingleaders themselves, taking the wing over from the retiring blue rider.
2752 - Transfer to Telgar Weyr
twenty-nine
It took ten Turns for O'tlan and Kadiith to leave Ista Island. There was always some reason to delay a transfer, whether it was a new weyrmate or the distress of his fellow Collossi, but O'tlan hated Ista Island with a passion. They transferred to Telgar Weyr as a wingrider, giving up his rank in favor of leaving the island he hated so much.
The weyr welcomed him, a chromatic rider, in the wake of another clutch that yielded a mutation. No mutation had ever repeated itself, but many riders feared what these sport dragons might mean for Pern as a whole.
He made friends slowly, but many of those he met found him charming and trustworthy. It only took another two Turns before he became a wingsecond again, this time to a brown rider. There were always rumors that he had only been made a 'second because Kadiith chose the wingleader's brown in Flight more than once.
2755 - Armistice, Impression part two
thirty-two
The Interval War left no corner of Pern untouched. Telgar flooded with refugees, and the green pair were forced into battle. Both dragon and rider were reluctant to take lives, but their opponents seemed to have no such compunctions. Kadiith racked up an impressive kill rate, one that leaves her rider uncomfortable. His own kill rate is a little higher, and he was never severely wounded or maimed in the war.
W'kik of bronze Hriseth died in a High Reaches attack just before an armistice was reached.
O'tlan did not so much as shed a tear for the bronze rider's death. His mother sent him a message when she heard. He did not send a reply, being far too busy with his own affairs. Sixteen Turns after leaving his parents' influence, Ista's child had finally procured a fire lizard egg. (He noted privately it was ridiculous that, for a native of an area with an abnormally high population of fire lizards, he Impressed his own in a land-locked region.)
While many others had chosen their egg for size, hoping for a bronze or a gold, O'tlan aimed for cleverness. The egg he decided on had been passed over many times. It was relatively small, compared to others in its clutch, and had a flat, dull grey color that nearly promised a dud. The only variation was two dots of red on one side, and a slightly larger dot of blue on the other. Where it showed great promise is in its aura. When O'tlan touched it, as he bribed the mother gold to be allowed to do, it promised to never let him down.
A brown hatched from his egg, a damp little brown who creeled most piteously when food did not immediately appear. O'tlan rectified his mistake quickly, and stuffed his new friend round. He went without a name for nearly a month, until a chance conversation with one of Colossi brought him the perfect one - Triumvirate. Being a weighty name for a little lizard, it was promptly shortened to 'Tri'.
2757 - Transfer to Fort Weyr
thirty-four
Many riders transferred weyrs in search of more opportunities, or to follow a new weyrmate. O'tlan left Telgar to get away from his weyrmate.
It started well enough; a brown caught Kadiith. The riders got along, and kept seeing each other. All was well, until the next time Kadiith Flew, and was caught by a blue. Weyrs were supposed to be less strict abut weyrmates, because dragons were often so finicky. Not so this rider, who had come from a Hold. The resulting fights led O'tlan to flee Telgar, straight to Fort.
He couldn't know, at that time, that he was only the first of his clutch to transfer to the oldest weyr.
2758 - Tenth Pass begins
thirty-five
Time trudges on, even when humans would wish otherwise. The cosmos cares little for the squabbles of humans, even when those squabbles lead to death, chaos, and the unease of a plant. The Red Star began its deadly campaign on Pern, and O'tlan and Kadiith rose to meet the threat. They flew with Daylight Wing.
2760 - Chaos
thirty-seven
For a Turn that held so many good things, it held things the world would always hold in contempt. A new mutation began in the fire lizards, the first to repeat itself, and spread. Whers caught the new mutation, garnet, a few months later. O'tlan, who rode a daughter of Pern's first mutation and was rather fascinated with them, was delighted with this self-replicating new color. Kadiith was less impressed, even when one of Imorith's clutches proved that dragons had the color, too.
Pern's dragons had another new trick to teach their humans, one that shook many hide-bound traditionalists to their bones. A bronze Impressed to a woman. O'tlan was in the stands, his forearm stuffed into his mouth to stifle his laughter. He was no stranger to flouting the rules, but this was even better than anything he'd done!
But best of all was when the Colossi came to join him in his new home. The circumstances leading to their arrival were tragic, certainly, but with Kallia and Imorith - send to help Fort get back on its feet - came Hecate and Cabadath, and most of the Colossi.
Fort filled up quite a bit, that Turn. Beside the clutches, and the Colossi, refugees fled High Reaches. Fled the Mad Golds, for all that Golre had declared her weyr 'peacekeepers'. One of these refugees was a tall, charming, and very cute brown rider. O'tlan made friends, and Kadiith got herself acquainted with the brown. During their time together - Kadiith chose him for her Flight twice in a row - O'tlan learned all about the knottiest weyr on Pern. Even compared to Ista, the High Reaches were a piece of work.
Spring 2762 - Transfer to High Reaches Weyr
thirty-eight
By this point, O'tlan was no stranger to death. He'd caused it, he'd seen it, he'd escaped it several times. Death was a part of life, and he'd come to grips with it. Or so he'd thought.
Then Kallia was poisoned. Of his clutch siblings, she was the one he got along with the least. Her hidebound ways declared men unfit to ride female dragons, and they clashed over that view. He claimed that it was the dragon's choice, but both weyrwoman and queen were disdainful of greens in general. It was the nastiest way one of his clutch had died.
The Colossi scattered in the wake of her death. Many returned to Ista, while some stayed at Fort. O'tlan transferred, for the third time.
After the war lead by High Reaches, and the death of the Mad Golds, Fort sent chromatic riders to High Reaches to lead. O'tlan was one of the greenriders who went. He was uneasy about the location, but welcomed a brand new chance to remake himself. At High Reaches, he could be both respected and a greenrider. Not the mistake of Ista Island.
