Post by perncowboy on Nov 16, 2005 8:43:04 GMT -5
Name: Debbie
Contact Info: FlyingHedgehog@qmail.com, YahooIM: SiameseCatsVictim, MSN IM: DebofAmber
How you heard of LW: Pern roleplayers ring
Character Information
Name: Cranderill
Gender: Male
Age/Birthday: 62 midwinter
Orientation: Heterosexual with a distinct preference for petite blonds
Rank: Lord Holder Bitra
Location: Bitra Hall
Affiliation: Cranderill keeps the peace with other Holds, he knows he does not have the assets or abilities to conquer and mostly wants to be left alone to live the good life of a Lord Holder. His goal is to look like a threat to none, and not worth the effort to conquer. Various traveling gamblers keep him informed as to which way the wind blows in each Hold and Craft.
Standing: neutral. Trying to keep his hold and his pleasant life until it is time to pass it on to his oldest son.
Family:6 sons, 2 daughters and a wife, 2 older and one younger sister.
Wife: Felliera 52 years old with the carefully kept looks of an aged blond beauty. Her joy is in keeping the important parts of the Hall beautiful and indulging her beautiful children. A sharp tongue when crossed keeps her children mostly in line and her husband completely in line.. She is content with her life.
Son and heir: Cranfell 32 years old, medium height and dark blond, he has learned well that the path to being Lord is in imitating his Fathers actions and agreeing with him always. He does see how his Fathers methods work, and sees no harm in having the small holders have to work hard and suffer slightly. He, of course, would never suffer their lot.
Jefrin 30 years old, tall and thin with brown hair and hazel eyes, believes in the traditions that say a Lord should look after his people. He is good with records and accounts and has so far helped to insure no one has actually starved in the Hold Lands. He does not directly cross his Father or older Brother, preferring to slowly gather support from the people of the Hold.
Lintor 27 loves to fight and gamble and wench. He keeps himself useful to his Father by reporting on the gambling activities and gamblers of the Hold. Lintor has the second largest allowance of the sons, since he must support his gambling. He is largely responsible for keeping his Father informed about what goes on outside the Hold. He claims to have no ambition to be Lord Holder, he just wants to continue as he is doing now. Cranfell is not sure he believes this.
Matlie 26 strongly resembles her Mother and is married to ask the moderators about this ---
Santill 23 is working to become head of the guard. He spars and trains regularly, keeping himself in top form. He is careful to stay on the good side of his Father and older brothers but wastes no time on those younger. He is already hard and tough looking. He trusts no-one and the favor is returned. He inherited very little of the family good looks or charisma and resents it.
Callienta 21 was a homely child who gratefully accepted a place in the Healercraft. She is happily out of the family life and hold. She is a Journeyman and well thought of.
Blain: 20 showed early talent with the Beasts and was apprenticed with the BeastCrafters. He is currently in Ruatha. Wisely Blain has made it clear he wants no part in running the Hold.
Nikoden: 13 Downs syndrome baby. Sent away and never spoken of
Meros : 11 a good looking charismatic kid who is a favorite of drudges and teachers.
Carlanna 9 showing a talent for music that is being strongly encouraged and trained. One less daughter to marry off!
Older Sister Heliopa, deceased
Older sister Janfrill, 65, frail and usually holding court in the Main Hall, near the fire
Younger Sister Dillanis 59, married to small Holder Hantre at the East end of the Valley.
Pets: I have a stable full of fine runners for myself and my family. I have a pack of hunting Canines.
Appearance: Hair that is thin and gray, slightly bloodshot hazel eyes, bony features and a thin neck Ceranderill is 62 and feels every day. He has wine lightly laced with fellis at breakfast to calm the aches of arthritis and allow him to move without pain, his eyes have become too week to read all the records that are so important to a Hall. His near 6ft frame is stooped to 5ft9in.
He is thin, his life long vanity having kept him trim through all the years of fine foods and wines. He wears fine rich clothing and jewelry, at least a gold necklace with the Hall emblem and several gold jammed rings. His hair, beard and nails are tended daily by his valet, he is clean and smells faintly of the herbs his clothes are kept packed in.
His hands are soft, they have done no work since he gave up riding after a fall in his 54th year. He looks like a tired old man, and is. There is still enjoyment to be had in fine clothing, jewelry, wines and art though. He sits straighter and his eyes show life when the subject of a conversation turns to those things.
When the subject is politics or his sons, his eyes droop to half-mast and he slumps slightly conveying the feeling of an old man whose brain is starting to go. Politics and dealing with all his sons are the toughest part of his old age. Unfortunately it would be foolish to delegate these problems. Both have to ability to cause discomfort.
Personality: A self-indulgent lover of fine foods, wines and clothing, Cranderill keeps his wife and children well dressed and his family rooms in the Hall sumptuous. He is not a stupid man, however he rates himself and his needs first, his familys needs second, and his Holds needs third. His Warder keeps the Hold people from actually starving, that is good enough for Cranderill.
He is manipulative and does not consider truthfulness to be a virtue. It is however a useful flaw in underlings. His second son and Warder have a bad case of truthfulness, making them useful underlings to do the actual running of the Hold. Cranderill has a good head for numbers and odds and sees politics as a high stakes game where he will win if he has good things and a good life and passes the Hall on to his son when he dies. Since he has 6 sons and two daughters he is looking into spreading them around to insure his blood will continue even if he looses this game.
One of the easier ways of dealing with his fellow Lords is to have each consider Bitra to be both on their side and not worth their while to conquer. Since this works very well with keeping himself and his family living well, he happily agrees with everyones opinions and spends money on pleasure instead of improvements. His son may have a rough time when he inherits, but then so did he. Why should his son have it easier? He is training his sons, what happens when he dies is not his problem.
History:
Cranderill was the only son born after 2 daughters. He was given the best training and lessons that could be found. His Mother doted on him, dressing him fully as well as her daughters and making sure he knew his manners and all the finer things in life. To her, the finer things were good clothes, nice jewelry and beautiful surroundings with art and tapestry on the walls and soft wool rugs underfoot.
Except for his love of Riding, Cranderill is very much her son, learning from her the fine arts of manipulation and giving ground until you stand where you get your way. His Father was not nearly as good at manipulations and frequently used his wifes council. It took an observant person to realize the beautiful wife sewing by her husbands side was as devious and cunning as they came.
When his Father dies, Cranderill was easily chosen to replace him, Mother at one side and beautiful woman at the other. His wife is a clever woman, but confines her attentions to the Hold itself, leaving the Lands and politics to her Husband and Mother-in-Law. This has gotten her a pampered life, with all the beautiful clothes and jewelry she could want and a fairly free hand with her children.
GrandMama died at the old age of 82, mind still sharp, and attended to by her favorite Grandson, Santill. Why she favored him was a mystery, he seems to mostly focus on his arms work and training to lead the Guards when he is judged ready. Santill and his Father mourned her for quite a long time, with the rest of the family mostly relieved they could approach the fire without having to satisfy her curiosity about their doings.
Cranderill’s grip on the political situation soon began to falter, he had leaned a bit too much on her council and replaced her with his oldest son, a man unwilling to argue with his Father lest he loose his favored son and heir status. That his son would think this has not occurred to Cranderill, only son as he was. His eldest has his Mothers eyes and his riding skills. They even think similarly. Why would he look elsewhere?
His grip on his Small Holders is quite strong. He has devoted time and money to learn the weaknesses of each, his combination of threats, blackmail and gifts chosen to increase their…dependencies awe his first son and sicken his second.
His third son Lintor both by inclination and his Father’s encouragement is working to become a Master of all the Vices that are considered Bitran. The hold is cash poor, having very little to export or trade, making it difficult to adequately bribe underlings –after properly maintaining the Hall and his family. Lintor, almost as clever as he thinks himself, sees quite a future in this. Perhaps, even, a Lordship?
