K'tor		Albanth
	History		Logs
	Flight Records		Ista Weyr

Stormy grey eyes look out from a lean face with a strong, squared off jaw. His thin lips are often stretched in a smile to match the carefree way in which he handles himself. His lanky form has broadened across the chest and shoulders, muscles showing proof of hard hours as a rider. The pale skin of a northerner has given way to a combination of burn and brown. And, to his dismay, some freckles. He has a slightly crooked nose - perhaps the trophy of some brawl or another. Shaggy bright red hair has been shaved close on the sides and cropped up top, though it is beginning to grow out a little from the militaristic cut. He has a new addition to his apparel: a silver hoop is set into his left ear, a small thing that is held closed with a jade green chip of a stone.
K'tor is dressed in the warm wherhide and wool clothing that riders don to protect themselves from the cold of *between*. The flight jacket and pants have been dyed a deep forest green, contrasting wonderfully with his hair. An interesting design of intertwined dragons has been tooled on the back of the jacket and painted a smoky blue-grey, so that it only stands out up close, fading into the background when viewed at a distance. Gloves and boots, both in a blue-grey to match the tooling of the jacket, complete his attire. The weavercraft stamp can be seen on the wherhide, craftmaster Sharia's own stamp. The knot on his shoulder identifies him as Weyrleader for Honshu Weyr. The knot is a twisted affair, of black twined with red, white and silver, and a single strand of bronze running through it to signify his lifemate.

Over a strange and lurid landscape, almost as if the ground had succumbed to a new form of red vegetation, the sun rises to start a new day. The brilliant cast of radiance illuminates this dragon's flanks in gleaming fiery-bronzes. Barely visible through the reddish hues that creep across his hide, is a stream of pale sapphire running deep within the bronze. Scarlet feelers even infiltrate this sanctuary of colour, seeming to grow with frightening voraciousness as the claw-like fronds obstruct the watery flow of cobalt. Bright emerald flares from the finely crafted pinions of his wings, drawing behind it a delicate jade mist before continuing out over the translucent sails of his wings, reminiscent of a comet streaming across the face of the red star at night. A ray of dazzling garnet beams over the curve of his belly, the narrow shaft of light like a streak of pure sunshine that eventually concludes in an inferno of flickering red-gold, which consumes the metallic hues and leaves behind a light dusting of charcoal over rapacious talons. Albanth has two long, rather wickedthreadscore scars along his neck and chest area.

Ruddy Rock Ravine Egg
Strange, ruddy faces -- knobby, nebulous shapes - patterns, but no designs, of rust and scarlet bleed over the dusty, mottled egg. Sunlight baked into statuesque silt, the red-black hollows of deep and shadowed crevices curve into a finely crafted, unembellished and yet intricate cast that lends a third dimension to the shell canvas. Odd, intriguing, and overwhelming at once, this scarlet shadowed ovoid nestles down into the warming Sands as if it enjoyed the searing, hardening heat baking its fiery-orange base. Craggy, stone-like monuments stretch up over the wide middle and narrower peak that constitute this impressive sphere.

Ruddy Rock Ravine Egg Inspiration
Declared a California State Park in 1968, Red Rock Canyon is located at the western edge of the El Paso Mountain Range near Mojave, California. The Canyon was once a point on the Native American trade route, as well as a prospecting site and part of the path for relocating sheep farmers in the mid 1800s.

Ruddy Rock Ravine Egg Hatching Message
Shadowed faces bulge eerily as definite movement shakes the Ruddy Rock Ravine Egg, the creature inside scrambling to release itself from the fiery confines. What were once painted crevices now become deeper canyons, as cracks run their fingers over the canyon walls. With a final heave, the gorge collapses, the egg surrendering in defeat to its inhabitant, as it breaks into nothing more than reddish shards, quickly lost in the blistering sands of the hatching grounds.

Gentle Breeze of Air Mirage Hatchling
Heat wavers brightly over the sands, carpeting them in heavy light, even concealing the grainy surface from the eye. But there, a gentle whirlwind stirs the sand, tracing a shallow path in its wake. The breeze casually dances between the suggestion of a solid form, and ephemeral entity, neither one nor the other. But wind of any kind, no matter how gentle a breeze, would be welcome relief from the torrid heat of the hatching grounds.

Impression Message
The Gentle Breeze of Air Mirage Hatchling finds some purpose, windblown waverings adopting an air of certainty as the breezy creature comes to a halt before Katolnar. The bright, gauzy overlay is gently blown aside to reveal the crimson-kissed bronze, the bluntness of his muzzle nudging against Katolnar's middrift until he gains the boy's attention.

Lurid Red Landscape Bronze Hatchling
Over a strange and lurid landscape -- almost as if the ground had succumbed to a new form of red vegetation -- the sun rises to start a new day, the brilliant cast of radiance illuminating this hatchling's flanks in gleaming fiery-bronzes. Barely visible, through the reddish hues that creep across his hide, is a stream of sapphire running deep within the bronze -- the scarlet feelers even infiltrating this sanctuary of colour, seeming to grow with frightening voraciousness as the claw-like fronds obstruct the flow of water. Bright emerald flares from the finely crafted pinions of his wings, drawing behind it a delicate jade mist before continuing out over the translucent sails of his wings, reminiscent of a comet streaming across the face of the red star at night. A ray of dazzling-garnet beams over the curve of his belly, the narrow shaft of light like a streak of pure sunshine that eventually concludes in an inferno of flickering red-gold, which consumes the metallic hues leaving behind a light dusting of charcoal over rapacious talons.

Lurid Red Landscape Bronze Hatchling Inspiration
'The War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells, first published in 1898, was the inspiration behind Albanth's description. The novel begins as the narrator of the story tells us that "No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's..." The story then progresses with a series of seemingly mundane reports about odd atmospheric disturbances taking place on Mars to the arrival of Martians just outside of London. At first the Martians seem ridiculous, hardly able to move in Earth's comparatively heavy gravity even enough to raise themselves out of the pit created when their spaceship landed. But soon the Martians reveal their true nature as death machines 100-feet tall rise up from the pit and begin laying waste to the surrounding land. London is evacuated and hope is lost as England's military suffers defeat after defeat. However, the Martians suck the blood from living humans for sustenance, and with that comes bacteria, mans last chance of survival.

Albanth's Impression Message
Heat, not emanating from the sands so blatantly underfoot, but from all around, encompasses your being, a gentle invasion unwilling to be overlooked. A ray of heat sears through your mind, flickering flames caressing the edges of your senses, as it burns away all signs of oneness. A comet flares, healing where before it burnt -- two minds, two hearts, two beings -- but the two are not separate entities, but one, now totally fused. Intense, controlled passion sears through your being, joined by a voice, clear and strong, creating partnership, until you feel it was always this way. << Yours. Albanth is yours. Know this now and always K'tor. >>

Albanth's Name
The Druids used a calendar system revolving around a series of seasonal holidays or festivals in the Wheel of the Year. Formed around the idea that time is not linear but circular, these holidays mark the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth evident in the change of the seasons as well as the span of a human life. Eight festivals are central to the Druidic calendar and mark important periodic celestial events like solstice and equinox, as well as harvests. The Druids used a calendar system revolving around a series of seasonal holidays or festivals in the Wheel of the Year. Formed around the idea that time is not linear but circular, these holidays mark the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth evident in the change of the seasons as well as the span of a human life. Eight festivals are central to the Druidic calendar and mark important periodic celestial events like solstice and equinox, as well as harvests. Albanth (pronounced Al-ban-th) comes from the festivals of Alban Arthan and Alban Hefin, or Winter and Summer Solstice. The Solstice marks the longest night of the season, and also the turning point of the year. The Winter Solstice is a time for celebrating the waning of winter and the dawning of spring, whereas the Summer Solstice celebrates the last fullness of the sun's strength before the onset of the winter months. Fire and oak are central to the rituals of both the solstice holidays; the Yule log (made of oak) burned during Alban Arthan, symbolizing the newborn sun, whereas rubbing fir and oak together forms Alban Arthan's fires.

Albanth's Personality
Albanth, trouble. Trouble, Albanth. Funny how they go so easily together in one sentence. You've definitely got trouble on your hands here, young man, so you'd better be ready to reign him in, quickly! There's not a touch of cruelty to this lively bronze, though, only a general love of merriment and revelry. The playful hedonistic, handsome Albanth is a creature devoted first to you, second to merriment, and third to leisure.

There's a deviant streak beneath that gallant veneer -- he can smooth-talk the queens and yank their tails all at once. His is not malicious fun, though; he knows where to draw the line, but he does relish a good joke to amuse that highly developed sense of humor. Yes, he'll splash Breidith while she's sleeping on the beach, but he would NEVER dream of hurting his darling clutchsiblings -- he needs them to help with his master plan! And he'll get them to agree, boy will he ever. If it takes two days straight wheedling, he'll employ that velvety voice in convincing his fellows -- and you, his number one sidekick -- to help with whatever he's got in the works, be it burying Tiarnath with sand while she sleeps or rearranging the Weyrling barracks while Ceruth isn't looking. << No, the oilbins were never at that end of the barracks, Ceruth! >>

This insatiable love of trouble can easily be tempered by even the slightest hint of honest dismay from you -- and he'll know when it's honest. From the moment of first Impression, when that strong, certain mentality melds with your own, Albanth will be involved in every facet of your thoughts, even brushing into your dreams now and then just because he can.

Albanth loves the turning of the seasons, finding the leaves dropping as fascinating as the buds burgeoning on the trees. Often you'll find him, in those rarer, quieter moments, lying under a tree gazing upwards through the branches at the sky -- whether it be bright sunlight, dappling his hide through the leaves, or starlight twinkling through the boughs in the ebony sky. It is in these times, when the peace of the day or night is upon him, that he hatches his grand plans. << Oh, but there's so many fun things to do! >>

He delights in the closeness of your psyches, loves sharing his strong self with you, and loves that he can get into your head whenever he wants to. He'll thread his dreams through yours, share his smells with your nose, lend to your ego from his own -- not that his is terribly inflated as most bronzes are too often wont to be. Yes, he understands he's special and is certainly proud of that handsome hide and impressive size, but he's not the smug, gloating, self-centered type. There are too many more interesting things to think about than Albanth, as far as Albanth is concerned.

In the air, Albanth's sense of gaiety will also reign supreme, though thank Faranth not whilst you are training. << If we do this right the first time, then we'll have more time to play! >> he'll think, tell you, and encourage you to make sure you both get it right. Though this does not always happen first time, you'll find that Weyrling training will progress fairly rapidly. However, all humour is quick to fade when facing Fall. When Thread threatens all that he loves, Albanth becomes the serious fighter -- nimble, agile even, for a bronze that is, he will become a valuable asset to his wing.

Albanth's Voice
Albanth's voice, both physical and mental, is often full of the humour that exudes from his very being. His vocal tones are a fiery baritone, full of searing heat, his warbles and croons fervent and ardent with the passion of a roaring fire. His mental voice is like the metallic tones of a comet, a touch of crisp succinctness to the edges from the heart of the ice core itself.

From Crom Hold to Southern Weyr to Honshu Weyr to Ista Weyr

Born to Kalan and Noria of Crom Hold, Katolnar has the unfortunate luck of being stuck with a family name. Originally the middle name of his great-grandsire, it is Tradition that each first son bear the name. As Noria's siblings were all female, it fell to him to assume the task. Noria is a nanny at Crom, and Kalan a journeyman miner. They have several other children as well, one of them a nanny at Southern Weyr, Niala (NPC). Niala stood several turns ago at the weyr's hatching and was left on the sands without a lifemate. She decided to stay on rather than return to dreary Crom in the north.

At 19 Turns, Katolnar was the youngest of the assistant stewards at Crom hold. Always more interested in the goings on in the living cavern and the minecraft, his abilities have not been thought of terribly highly of by either the masterminer or the Lord and Lady of Crom. He does have an excellent head for figures, when he can be persuaded to use it. Unfortunately, that is not often enough to please his mother. After an unfortunate incident involving the youngest Holder's daughter, Katolnar was sent packing to visit his sister at Southern Weyr.

There for perhaps two sevendays, it became apparent that the Crom lad was a bit wary of dragons. Rumor has it that when brown Muinyth, Shasta's lifemate, searched him to stand for Tiernath and Rnayth's clutch, the boy nearly fainted. Yet he went on to impress a blue 'lizard, and then stand on the sands for the clutch. Those nearest him (Marila and Nareisa) could attest that he nearly bolted when he saw Marila's green Breideth coming towards them. However, he was prevented by Lurid Red Landscape bronze Albanth. The two are now paired for life and after a trying weyrling period, in which Albanth proved he was also precocious by catching Linia's green Chelierith when he was just over a turn old, N'all promoted the pair to Stormfall Wingleader. However, Kat and Albanth were among the last pair to be tapped into a fighting wing: Moonsweep.

After many flights, half a turn in Moonsweep, and the birth of his son Tolinar at Honshu from Linia's flight, he was promoted to Stormfall Wingleader. He named Nareisa his Wingsecond. After nearly a turn there, and events that resulted in pregnancies for both Llewellan (resulting in a son, Linar) and Nareisa (resulting in a son, Arenar), as well as Kinoa swearing off men and trouble between the Weyrleaders, K'laarn decided to promote Kat to Weyrsecond, to keep a closer eye on the troublemaking redhead.

Kat did not take the promotion well. And as the estranged Weyrleaders grew futher apart, he settled down, and tried to do his duties to the best o his abilities. In the process, one of his lovers, Marila, decided to settle down with N'all, the weyrlingmaster. Overjoyed for his friend and lover, Kat wished him well. Then, one fateful day, he lost his other lover Nareisa, and had to step up as Acting Weyrleader, after Telinda accidentally stabbed K'laarn, injuring him as the result of an argument. Furious, he, Joslyn and N'all went after Telinda to bring her back to the weyr. One look at the Weyrwoman's misery was enough to give her his heart. Always having a soft spot for distressed women, Kat began spending more time with Telinda, even going so far as to go one on one with K'laarn over her. They became closer, and the relationship was finally comsummated the night Honshu's Weyrlings from Celynth and Tizonth graduated. Little was he to suspect that he would surprise both of them, and ask her to be his weyrmate - a concept he had found foreign until now.

As joked about the weyr, Kat's fertility again reared its head. Telinda was determined not to fuel rumors further, and until Tiarnath clutched, had been popping between nearly constantly to avoid getting pregnant. But, once Tiarnath was grounded, the inevitable happened. Far from being dismayed, Kat was thrilled, even more so because he had just lost a flight-child with Shadara, green Saith's rider. After Telinda gave him the happy news, and again claimed she wanted nothing from him, Kat realized that she would never ask him to weyrmate. And so, he asked her. Sometimes, you just have to take matters into your own hands to get what you want.

After their daughter Katelin was born, Telinda's Tiarnath began to show signs of proddiness, though it had only been a few months since she was last on the sands. Fearing that Albanth might chase and Kat end up thrust into the role of Weyrleader, Telinda (in conjunction with K'laarn) manufactured a reason to transfer K'tor to Telgar Weyr (NCPern). Unhappy with the transfer, which was ostensibly to learn new thread fighting techniques, Kat and Albanth nearly captured the wings of Nimiriel's Daelyth, the now senior queen. As a result of the flight, Kat ended up spending the night and next morning in the company of J'lyn, green Lorieth's rider, and Telgar's Weyrsecond. But Albanth had been in contact with Tiarnath, and knew the gold was ready to rise. He threatened to go to Southern with or without his rider, and the pair got there just as Tiarnath began blooding.

The winds were high and the chase hard. But it was Albanth who ended up capturing Tiarnath. Not Rnayth.And much to Telinda's surprise the next morning. The pair were rather cautious around each other, as Kat settled into his new, and unexpected, role. However, it was not to be. The stress became too much for both him and Albanth. Finally, after answering a signal flag and being confined to a plague-ridden cothold, his health broke. As did his relationship with Telinda. As a result, it was not Albanth but Brielth that caught the gold when she next rose. K'tor has taken the parting quietly, retiring back to wingrider and attempting not to get in the new Weyrleader's way. Instead, he has become closer to his children, even moving Arenar and Linar in with him from the nursery. The transition has been difficult for him, for now he finds himself as a wingrider in Stormfall, the wing he started out leading, and with K'laarn as his wingleader.

To make matters more complicated, his younger sister Steila is now rider to green Trinath at Honshu. In an attempt to repair their relationship, he was often seen now in Honshu's Weyrhall - for the moment, it had less ghosts than Southern's.When Steila's weyrmate G'arik ended up catching in Honshu's next leadership flight, the first flight Albanth had risen for since Tiarnath's, Kat's baby sister found herself pregnant. Very little remaining for him at Southern, Kat has now transferred to Honshu to be with his son Tolinar, sister and new niece Silaura. Perhaps here he can start over, and regain the life he and Albanth shared, surrounded by his family.

Several turns passed at Honshu, the bronzerider settling comfortably back into the life of a wingrider under Sioneva and her green Tarilyth. His boys, Tolinar, Linar and Arenar are the center of his world, and he was often seen in the nursery, speaking with the nannies about 'the Hoarde', as they've come to be nicknamed. Despite his sister teasing him about his rather staid existence, Kat seemed to have left his hoyden behavior behind him at Southern. Some say that Telinda still was the keeper of his heart. Then, one afternoon, he found himself enjoying the sunset with another goldrider: Syliath's Jelisa. After that, he was seen more and more about the weyrhall, slowly coming out of the shell that had claimed him for the last three turns. Rumor has it the two are having a discreet relationship, and this is what has brought the flamboyant bronzer back into the open. Whatever the reason Albanth rose again, for only the second time since Kat left Southern. It must have been the long rest that gave him the strength to win Gold Auranath's flight.

However, it seems that K'tor has terrible luck with goldriders. Pleasantly surprised with the burgeoning relationship with Jelisa, it was cut short when the Senior Weyrwoman and her queen were badly scored in fall. Phennah, with Auranath due to clutch, was named acting Weyrwoman until the next gold rose. As if matters weren't bad enough, G'arik, the current Weyrleader, was pronounced unfit for duty by the healers. Phennah came to K'tor, and it was with great reluctance that he once again took up the position of Weyrleader, though he is quick to point out that was only until the next gold rises. That turned out to be Uileath, and Riva, her rider, was made Senior, though a northern dragon, Br'mar, bronze Silventh's rider from High Reaches Weyr, was the one to catch the gold. Kat retired quietly to assistant Weyrlingmaster, content to stay in the background of things.

All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are copyright © Anne McCaffrey 1967,2000, all rights reserved, and used by permission of the author. The Dragonriders of Pern(r) is registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, by Anne McCaffrey, used here with permission. Use or reproduction without a license is strictly prohibited. For more information, visit the Worlds of Anne McCaffrey. Many thanks to Alec Johnson for his assistance with this information!
This is not a fanfic page, but a page for a character on SouCon MUSH.
The dragon art is © Michael Whelan,
Honshu Weyr Emblem is © Anne McCaffrey and drawn by K. Vance.
PST