NPC

Name: A'der
Age: 29 Turns
Gender: male
Sexuality: heterosexual

Location: Sylvan weyr
Rank: Weyrleader
Dragon: Bronze Arreleth
Fighting Wing: Balefire

Appearance: A'der is tall and slender, his body honed by many turns of being a dragonrider, tanned from spending the majority of his life outside under the sun. His black hair is cut short to fit easily under a riding helmet but somehow always in a mess, making him look as if he were either not getting enough sleep or ruffling his hair much too often. Maybe it is just a mixture of both. The gaze of his grey-green eyes is hard to describe for they reveal much more of his personality than A'der knows. His eyes are knowing, a little too stern sometimes, yet they seem to belong to someone who does not act without reason. There are only a few wrinkles around his eyes, though as if he had not been laughing much for a long time, hardly ever smiling. A'der might seem lax and easygoing upon first sight, calm during heated discussions but he also looks a little isolated. Always properly dressed, his clothing worn but of good quality, not bothering with trumpery and wearing nothing but his knots as a sign of his rank.
Personality: A'der is devoted to his job, spending hours and hours every day to keep the Weyr running. Sometimes it seems as if he stubbornly shoulders the weight of the whole world, refusing help on ocassion and ranting about his duties from time to time. He is very fair - or at least tries to be within his limitations - judging easily but being able to reconsider his early judgement, admiting mistakes where they happen. He is very stern when it comes to Threadfighting and general organizion of the Weyr, allowing no mistake but being a good example himself, never asking anything he would not do himself if he had the time to do so.
During a normal Pass, A'der would be a perfect example of a Weyrleader, well known and respected because he tries to stay in touch with his Weyr and its inhabitants, friendly but with the strictness a military force needs to survive.
Sadly enough, Sylvan does not live through a normal Pass at this point, A'der being overworked more often than not, suffering under headaches and doubts of his own position. He will always try to be friendly but due to the lack of free time he might snap more often than usual, sometimes even include people in is silent worries he would otherwisely keep consealed. So far he has done a good job keeping the Weyr together but everyone can see that one alone can not run a Weyr that is meant to be led by two. A'der has always been respected while G'ram was still Weyrleader, seen as his young son who would one day probably follow in his footsteps, being guided by the elderly rider for many more Turns... but loosing his mentor much too early and the growing pressure is slowly ripping him apart.
A'der has not laughed or even truely smiled ever since the former Weyrleader died, not allowing himself to spend time with the few friends he has left but instead getting consumed by work entirely. He does not actively try to push his friends away but ignoring them and focusing on the Weyr as a whole instead has done its part on isolating him. Trying to stay in contact with the other Dragonriders does work somehow but it is not a replacement for the friends he has lost.
Deep down in his heart A'der is a nice young man, friendly and helpful, wishing for the good to succeed, the bad to fail. Under his leadership, he will never accept brutality. Rape as a result from flights, anything that does not go well with his feeling for honor. He does not allow injustice and while he knows that some of his riders are not viewing the world as he does, he is doing his best to keep everything fair and nice as well as he can.
He does, however, have a slight problem with everything that is non-traditional, trying to make all the riders happy that are older than he is by strictly following all the useless traditions a Weyr has. Hoping to please them and not to be seen as a youngling by doing so. Sometimes it makes him seem older than he truely is, increasing the growing distance between him and his own age-group.
A'der is not a true traditionalist, not truely iron in his view of the Weyr and Pern, he is just bound by his own worries too much to adapt quickly to something new. He will take longer than usual to accept something new as good for the Weyr, slowly starting to work with what he cannot keep from happening anyway.
During the current time, it could be much worse than having A'der as Weyrleader for he somehow manages to keep the traditional riders (usually the older ones) from throwing every non-traditional out of the Weyr and all the non-traditional riders from revolting. It could be much, much worse and currently everyone seems to be okay with having A'der doing the balancing act.

Biography: A'der is a weyr-bred rider, growing up among other Weyrbrats and sucking in the Weyrs climate with the first breath he took. He was a troublemaker while being younger - something he would never admit today - sneaking into the hatching sands while the queen was sleeping or stealing Meatrolls from the kitchen to eat them with his friends on the highest point of the cliffs. He was part of a rather large group of young children in the Weyr, causing a lot of trouble without ever doing something really bad. Or at least he was never caught doing so. Girls were funny while they all were younger but turned stupid when he reached the age of twelve. Sometimes he was rude, even mean to girls, especially female Candidates from the Hold, but it never got out of hands.
Everything changed a few days after his thirteenth birthday when he impressed bronze Arreleth.
From that day on, he suddenly stopped playing pranks, stopped being the troublemaker he had been before impression. Instead he seemed to grow into an adult much too quickly, leaving his childhood behind the moment he impressed. Maybe it was because of his father who expected too much of his now bronze-riding son, maybe it was because he tried to impress their stern Weyrlingmaster... ...or maybe it had been the moment of Impression which changed A'der forever. He never was the best of his class - something which tended to frustrate him a lot - but he worked hard, did more than he had to when learning how to be a proper dragonrider. Only a few still remembered the young boy he had been and he did his best to make them forget, trying to remove the troublemakers image from everyone's memory.
At the young age of 18 Turns he suceeded, being promoted to lead a wing of his own, pushing everyone hard in preperation for the upcoming Threadfight and himself even harder. His wing won the majority of the friendly battles they flew against fake-Thread, some older riders calling him a young upstart but usually smiling when they did. At the age of 25 Turns he was then promoted to be Weyrsecond, sticking to his mentor G'rams side whenever it was possible during the following Turns. A'der was well liked in the Weyr during that time, a young bronzerider who was likely to be the next Weyrleader when G'ram retired, accepted by the older riders as such because they knew he still had many turns of learning under G'ram ahead of him, even when the elderly rider retired. They were like father and son, the older riders thought, knowing that the young upstart would always listen to G'ram, his healthy bronze having a good chance at catching the next Queen of Sylvan Weyr once Morath clutched a golden daughter.

But then... everything went wrong...
Even before Thread fell for the first time, Sylvan Weyr lost its Queen. A'der was shocked by the sudden loss of a woman he had always liked and looked up to but even more shocked by the state his mentor entered. G'ram seemed like a machine, his eyes lifeless, working for the Weyr that was now without a Queen. A'der did his best assisting G'ram during this hard time, trying to keep the old man upright but somehow he did not truely suceed, being pushed away by the older man in his grief. A'der watched from the sidelines while G'rams strength begun to fade, slowly loosing control over the Weyr that was luckily still in shock. It was one of A'ders closest friends who went to the North to seek assistance, following an old advice A'der had dug out from the archives in one of the countless nights he had been searching for a solution.

But Sylvans downfall had only just begun, during their first Threadfall - the day A'ders friend had promised to return at - G'ram and his dragon went between, leaving the Weyr without a leader. A'der was forced to step up, taking over the lead by just being there when the old leader died instead of earning it by winning the Senior Queen but at least he did a good job by holding the Weyr together. And he still does so until today. Somehow, something died in A'der, somehow his believe in the good faltered when he saw the Crimson arrive during that first Threadfall. Seeing her flame... broke something inside him.
Ever since his first heated discussion with Theresa, he keeps leaning towards the traditional side of the Weyr. His world has changed since G'rams death, changed in a way he never expected it to and sometimes it seems as if he simply wishes the past to come back. His Weyr to turn normal. The Crimson to turn gold.
His aversion towards the Crimson and even her clutch now that it has been lain might one day cost him his position, make his life harder than it needs to be. At least his attitude is pleasing the riders who are likewise frowning at the Crimson and her rider but their number greatly decreased when she laid the first 14 eggs of her life.

A'ders position is only a temporary one and nobody truely knows how long he can hold it without having won the Senior Queen. The first voices are calling for the Brown who has flown the Crimson to be the Weyrleader but the majority does not accept a red dragon of the size of a bronze as a queen. A'der is still doing what he thinks is best for the Weyr but not everyone agrees with the bronzerider anymore...

Pets: None, A'der does not have time to waste on something so useless.