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Rider
Name: A'nos
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Hetero
Rank: Jr Weyrleader

History:

Pre-game history. Antigonos was a bit of a naughty boy when he was very little. He stole, he lied, he cheated, and he cared nothing for most other people. As he aged he seemed to be growing out of these traits, much to the relief of his mother and father a woodcrafter and a farmcrafter respectively, living in a small hold close to Benden Weyr. The truth, however, was quite different; Antigonos wasn't turning into a sweet charming young man, he was just learning to act like one. He stole discreetly, he told believable lies, he cheated well and he gave the appearance of caring about people. Why? He wasn't abused, he never witnessed any traumatic events, he was just a selfish boy with enough cunning and charm to get away with it. When he turned ten, having shown a little flare for music and of course a whole shipload of charm he was sent to Harper Hall to become an apprentice.

He had a decent voice, played a few instruments passably and played the lyre, his chosen speciality, rather well (he did enjoy his little joke with that one). Over the turns he made a lot of friends at the Hall, and secretly cheated and lied to every single on of them whenever it suited him to do so. He managed never to get caught out on a lie or to be seen stealing, however, and walked the tables aged nineteen. As a journeyman he specialized in arbitration, remaining at the Hall for some months to study and aid with the teaching of apprentices here and there. Just after he turned twenty an opportunity to transfer to Benden Weyr came up, and he couldn't apply soon enough. There were only a couple of spots and several journeymen interested in going, but silver-tongued serpent Antigonos managed to be one of the lucky ones.

Luckily for him as it was a Weyr he was heading to there was no long uncomfortable journey over land and over sea involved, just on quick jump between. The experience of that total nothing both rattled and fascinated Antigonos, and when he arrived at the Weyr he started asking around about when the next hatching might be. Dragons did Impress from the stands at times after all, and maybe if he managed to show himself to a dragon he would even be searched for the next clutch. The chance to Impress a dragon was hugely exciting to Antigonos; having a powerful creature to aid him in his schemes and take him anywhere in the world he fancied going was too great for him to ignore, he didn't really care about the rest of a rider's duties but he was willing to tolerate them in exchange for a dragon. If it didn't happen, however, he was still a journeyman in a good position; he wouldn't exactly be heartbroken over it. After all, he could always befriend riders and persuade them to take him where he wanted to go; having his own dragon would be nice, but was hardly necessary.

Within a couple of sevendays of arriving, Antigonos had managed to befriend a vintercraft journeywoman who just so happened to have a golden flitt with a clutch. Having become Friends with the handsome harper, she thought it was only right that he should have one of them. She had already given away or sold most of the eggs, but there were two small ones left and she gave Antigonos his pick. When her egg hatched into a little blue, which she impressed, Antigonos' showed no sign of movement, and so he cracked it unceremoniously against the edge of the table. A crimson flitt fell into his hand, and quickly impressed to him as it licked the blood away from a cut on his finger, given to him by a shard of shell. He named the little creature Symphony, and decided that she was a very fine pet indeed; not as good a status symbol as a dragon, but nice all the same.

When his little pet was only a few days old, Antigonos found himself sitting next to a Searchrider at dinner... okay, not really found; he carefully engineered it but still. The pair chattered a little over food, and once they had finished the rider offered to take Antigonos out to meet his lifemate. After inspecting him for a few moments the green decided that he had the potential to Impress, and her rider offered him the chance to stand as a candidate. Antigonos professed shock at being picked out, and claimed he had never seriously considered life as a rider, though like any boy he had dreamed... Seen as he was almost too old to Impress, he said, he could put his studies on hold for just a few months and stand at the next clutch. If his fate was to become a dragon man, he was sure that His would find him out there on the sands.

Candidacy and Impression. Antigonos found himself thrust into the world of a candidate where he was no more special than any other. He did he best to stand out from the crowd, but didn't manage to make much of an impression on the candidatemaster. He entered the Touching unperturbed, however, and for once in his life took (almost) innocent joy in the occasion. His personal preference lay with the Reef Triggerfish and the Emperor Angelfish eggs due to their size, but he felt as though the Eel egg was claiming him as its rider right there and then. Speaking to others afterwords, however, revealed that many of the others had felt the same, and so he dismissed the feeling as nothing.

When the hatching finally came around, Antigonos was almost bursting with excitement. As green after green hatched, he began to think that it might be a good idea to feel more open towards all of the hatchlings rather than trying to shut them out, hoping for a bigger dragon. As it turned out he needn't have worried; bronze Acriculeth finally burst out of the Emperor Angelfish egg and chose him without much fuss towards the end of the hatching.

The revolution and the last 10 turns.

- Joined the revolution quickly, because he wanted a chance to get right up to the top without relying on sheer dumb luck.
- He became an Assistant Candidatemaster, aiming to influence the young to look up to him and to identify potential to nurture.
- However when Keller started to become unstable he was quick to change tack again; he became one of the first members of the coup and was an adept spy, playing the part of a loyal minion to Keller well but not attracting enough attention to make himself a target for paranoia. The intelligence reports he slipped out to Trine, and later other Weyrs, were signed off with a stylised sketch of a lyre.
- When the time came to strike at Keller for the final battle A'nos and Acriculeth joined in the fighting.
- Afterwards they moved to Trine. He soon enough became an assistant candidatemaster again.
- A'nos spoke up for colour equality, sensing a new regime he could use well, he didn't want to go back to the 'sheer luck' for high leadership roles
- With the advent of the new regime the pair sought higher office and in the first elections they campaigned for - and were voted into - the rank of Jr. Weyrleader.
- Since then he has settled into his role and pushed for greater equality among the colours, as well as championing the expansion of trade and the improvement of education.

Description: A'nos is hot stuff. He has a classically handsome face; defined cheekbones, a strong jaw, and a straight nose. There are a few lines on it now but they are quite fine and give him a distinguished air. He keeps his black, slightly silver-streaked hair fairly long and ties it back with pretty ribbons a lot of the time; it is straight, soft, shiny, and full of body. He stands a fairly impressive six foot, and his body is well muscled and broad shouldered; he's no bodybuilder but there is definite power there. His brown-black eyes excel at giving smouldering glances, and stand out well from his fairly pale skintone. Whenever he's not in uniform he is dressed with flare in flattering cuts, and often wears Harper blue.

Personality: A handsome, charming, clever man; a good fellow man with a taste for the finest things in life, and a great passion for his art! His voice is a wonderful tenor, not exceptional by harper standards but easily good enough to make the grade, same with his playing of the lyre. It's his skill with crafting words that make him stand out though; he is a great teacher and a great orator, why A'nos could talk a feline into handing over its teeth and going vegetarian!...

Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't.

Macbeth: Act 1, Scene 5

...Or then again he could talk it into dispatching somebody who's getting in his way. A'nos is a ruthless, selfish, hedonist with a silver tongue. He knows what he wants, and he knows how to get it. A lot of the time it's all charm, using his wit and looks to their best advantage. Many a lady has been smoothly talked into bed and then felt quite unable to accuse this serpent of any wrongdoing when he moves along. After all, how could someone like him be captivated by such a dull little creature for very long? He'll never call anyone dull or stupid, he'll just make offers to help them out with this, that, and the other ever so kindly because they seem to be struggling. Picking up women with low self-esteem to begin with helps too, of course, they're much easier to twist around your finger.

If it's not just charm he's using to get what he's after, then it's lies and theft. A'nos has been lying almost since he learned to speak, and started pilfering small items not long after he learned to walk; he wanted it, so why should he have it? He almost never keeps anything he takes for more than a day or two, usually he wants to take something far more than he wanted to actually have it. Once he tires of an item he'll either throw it away, or slip it into somebody else's possessions; he doesn't want to alarm you but he thinks he saw your favourite brooch in that shifty lad's bag. If he's caught actually holding a stolen item he'll insist he found it lying around, or in somebody else's things and was just coming to give it back to you, and the story has worked just fine to date. He doesn't do it very often anymore but when he spots an opportunity he still occasionally enjoys the thrill.

In a group, A'nos slots himself in wherever it suits him to be. He can be a shining leader, a witty genial follower, or a sly power behind a leader who lacks direction of their own, or who's just dim enough to be steered into thinking his ideas were theirs all along. His personal preference is for either the former or the latter; just remaining a follower isn't going to help him make powerful friends, get nice things, get invited to fancy parties... Having Impressed a bronze certainly improves his chances at social climbing, but if he is stuck in a position without power, he'll manipulate his way into getting things he wants all the same one way or another.

As can probably be deuced from all of this A'nos is an extremely intelligent man, and while he's quite happy to let everyone know he's smart he doesn't let most know quite how smart he is. It's useful to be underestimated by your enemies and your rivals. It's a delicate balance to strike, to be seen as clever enough to be chosen for high office while keeping a little back in reserve just in case, but A'nos is very good at this by now; mostly it's a case of seeming very smart and a little cunning while in fact being very smart and very very cunning.

A'nos is far from incapable of caring about others, it's just very seldom that he meets anyone he finds worth his while. When he does, well, he probably won't let them know his true nature - he's worn his façade for so long he's not certain he could drop it around others even if he tried - but he will try to get them whatever it is they want in life, and for once all his kind and pretty words will be meant. Well, most of them will be anyway.

Other:

Dragon
Name: Acriculeth
Age: 19
Colour: Bronze
Description: Assistant Candidatemaster, Wingrider, Sr. Weyrling, Hatchling
Personality: Acriculeth is an unashamed magnificent b*****d. He's ambitious, he's tough, he's smart and quick with clever cutting retorts. The idea that other people really matter in the end is laughable to him, all he cares about is himself, and His. Though he makes this quite clear, he also makes it clear that he plans to rise into power and to manage that power well. Not one to charge into any situation rashly, Acriculeth always has a plan, a back up plan or two, and when push comes to shove he can come up with something passable on the fly as well. His lack of concern for people, however, will ensure that if he does rise to power he will never be a popular leader. This doesn't bother him, however, as he really doesn't think their opinions count. Besides, he has His to be charming for him, it's not like he has to have every skill needed in life himself.

His willingness to rely on Antigonos is fortunate, as his memory is poor even for a dragon. He will remember physical skills well, but he'll never recall that rider's name let alone how they could be useful. A nudge from His will remind him but he will always have to ask how awful he can be to somebody, or whether a particular kind of awfulness would help Antigonos' plans for them. Yes, while he might not care for anyone himself, if there is somebody His is grooming for some purpose or other he is willing to focus his ire elsewhere, at least until whoever it is has outlived their usefulness; as a smart dragon he is aware that there are some things that can be achieved better with a stoke to the cheek than a slash to the face, just don't expect him to do the stroking.

While he might be nasty, Acriculeth is seldom actually angry. He's smooth, and very hard to ruffle, perhaps mostly because he doesn't care if people thing he's the son of a wherry and that the Thread should take him. Every word, every action, every expression is smooth, cool, and calculated. He manages to seem as if he expects everything that happens; it isn't true but it's his natural tendency to think calmly before he speaks anyway, and as he can come up with a plan or a reply pretty quickly it would take an observant person to notice the difference between him reacting to something he was aware of, and something that threw him for a loop a little.

Happy at the bottom of the heap Acriculeth will never be; he knows he's got the strength and the skills to lead, and he doesn't see why some idiots he cares nothing for should get the spot instead of him. As such, he will always strive to stand out in lessons, and later on in drills. He believes that it is his right to lead some day, and will do whatever he must to rise as high in the ranks of the Weyr as he possibly can.

Other: On the outside, Acriculeth chose a nice charming man to balance out his nastiness, with whom he shared intelligence and wit. On the inside, he chose a man just like himself who just chooses to hide his true nature rather than flaunting it to the world. The pair of them desire power, and will do pretty much anything to get it. They are loyal to themselves, and themselves only. Everyone else is either a tool or a rival, and this doesn't look like it will change any time soon.

Approved!