Persona Name:X'arik
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: Bisexual
Persona Age: 28
Birthing date: M3, D14
Birthplace:Dusk Forest Hold
Occupation and Rank: Searchrider
Persona Location: Dusk Forest WeyrHold
Owned By: Jen
Rank Requirements: 1 Post per Pern Month

Physical Description: X'arik is a man who seems to be a study in contrasts. He only stands at about 5'9, but carries himself with an attitude that makes him appear taller. Many times he behaves more like a 20 turn old than his own age, but when you take a closer look at him it becomes obvious that this man has been through hard times in his lifetime. His grey eyes are dimmed by pain more often than not, his red-gold hair mussed from nervous fingers running through it, despite the constant smile on his face.

He has a stocky build, the muscle tone he earned as a miner not having faded with his turns as a rider. It draws attention to him, even more so when he moves, because what should be a nearly effortless motion with that sort of musculature is awkward and limping from X�arik�s old injury. He doesn�t have nearly as much trouble getting around now as he used to, but it�s still very obvious.

Personality: An optimist, though thankfully not one of those happy-go-lucky ones, X�arik takes a positive outlook whenever he can, while still keeping a realistic view of things. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst, as the motto goes. Unfortunately for him it seems that his attitude doesn�t seem to rub off on anyone else � although he truly wishes it would.

He has his share of fears, particularly one of enclosed spaces, thanks to the accident that cost him the full use of his leg and the lives of several of his students. X�arik had to make quite a few adjustments, particularly as a rider that cost him quite a bit of pride � like requesting a lower-level weyr to avoid most of the steps.

History: Originally born at Dusk Forest Hold, Xalyrik was the child of two miners, who taught him their craft as he grew. Living a fairly steady and normal childhood, he indulged in pranks on his siblings, sassing his parents and the other typical points of growing up.

At 13, he officially apprenticed to the Miner Hall, the only one of Lexal and Kiraly's four children to do so, despite their early encouragement. He rose through the ranks, walking the tables to journeyman just after his 18th birthday.

On one of his very first assignments, disaster struck. He was supposed to be taking a small group of apprentices on a tour of one of the mines, when the shoring in the tunnels gave way, collapsing on the group. Three of his young charges were killed, and his own leg was held trapped under the rock for several hours while the other miners worked to free them. Afterward, the young man found himself unable to walk properly, and under intense scrutiny from his betters in the Hall - blaming _him_ for the accident in the mines, echoing his own internal doubts.

After several months of debate, he requested a transfer and found himself sent to Forest Shade Hold. He was only there for barely a sevenday before being Searched to Dusk Forest. It took several Hatchings, but to everyone's surprise Xalyrik became X'arik, striding out of the hatching cavern with a little blue named Byndorith at his side.

Throughout his candidacy he'd been counting himself as a failure and harboring secret guilt for not double checking that mine shaft before taking the apprentices into it, but with Byndorith's help he slowly began to heal.

The pair eventually rose to a Wingthird position at Dusk Forest, as well as expanding on Byn�s talent for Searching out likely candidates. He developed close friendships with a few of those Candidates, as well as being somewhat of a mentor for them in their early days at the Weyrhold, and took it hard when many of them were never found after the earthquake demolished their home.

His time at Dawn Meadows was distressing, as many of his friends were gone, and nothing was ever settled as far as what anyone�s particular duties were to be. X�arik was one of the first supporters of J�syn and Sierrata�s plans to find a new location for a Weyrhold � although he had to keep very quiet about it. As a bluerider, he would have been subject to quite a bit of scrutiny had he made his opinions known � to everyone but _his_ weyrleaders, he was firmly focused on settling at Dawn Meadows.

When the summons came from J�syn that the new location had been found and construction was underway, he was shocked to find that in deference to his injury, they had ordered a special Weyr built for him � the usual weyrledge was there of course, with Byndorith�s wallow near it, but his room was off to one side, instead of further back into the mountain, and complete with a window so that he wouldn�t feel so closed in.

Dragon Name: Byndorith
Age: 9
Riders age at Impression: 19
Color: Blue

Dragon Description: Byndorith is a small blue, easily surpassed by some of the largest greens. He's a rich, bright sapphire across his body, fading slightly on his points. For a blue, he's quite graceful, with a slightly over-long neck, and wide wingspan. Of course this also means the ladies find him pretty, and he definitely knows it. He doesn't have _too_ much of an ego, but it's definitely there. Byn's rather stubborn, and refuses to accept excuses for his rider's doldrums, forcing him to accept reality. In recent turns, Byndorith has also developed into an excellent searchdragon, giving him another unnecessary ego boost.