Persona Name: Alianza
Gender: Female
Persona Age: 53
Persona Birthingdate: M5, D19
Persona Birthplace: High Reaches Hold
Persona Rank: Headwoman
Persona Location: Sunset Valley Hold
Owned By: Cara

Physical Description: Alianza, or Lia as she prefers to be called, looks older than her actual age. Her family was "blessed" with a gene that causes hair to gray at a younger age than normal. Because of this, Lia's ordinarily brown hair started to show signs of silver at the beginning of her third decade, and continued to whiten until it reached the stage it's at today - complete grayness. Her eyes are a blue and green hazel color, with a circle of brown near the pupil if seen in good lighting.

Children who meet her for the first time often exclaim "that's not the headwoman!" for she doesn't match the sterotype. Alianza stands a few inches short of six feet, making her very hard to miss in a crowd. She is a the "thin" side of average, weighing a hundred and thirty pounds, and doesn't look to have an ounce of fat on her. It's strange, for she is constantly testing what her cook's produce, but she has had a high metabolism since childhood and it didn't wane with puberty.

When in work mode, which is most of the time, Alianza prefers comfortable clothing normally consisting of a brown pair of pants or skirt, with a green or blue tunic. Her hair is wrapped up in a style similar to a bun to keep it out of her way. She owns a few good Gather outfits, and is a deft hand at sewing.

She has burn marks and scars from slicing herself running along both hands. The index finger on her left hand has a mass of scar tissue around the first joint, where healers were pressed hard to stitch it after an accident caused a knife to slice through to the bone.

Personality: Alianza works best in chaos and under pressure. Something in her really seems to thrive under hectic conditions such as feasts and organizing Gathers. She is a quick thinker, and for some odd reason it takes her longer to come to an answer in calm situations that when forced to think on her feet.

She rules over "her" kitchen with a stern look and firm orders. She despises idleness or laziness, and will often order people passing by the kitchens to work if they have nothing else to do. Despite this, she adores children, and usually has a good half dozen fosterlings at any one time. She is the first to smile and the last to get upset over children's pranks, and any punishment duty is normally given with a smile.

Lia is a good person to come for advice, and she will always listen to any problem, as long as the person with the problem is busying themselves with some task, be it kitchen and cooking related or some other needed work.

Background: Born at High Reaches Weyr, Alianza found herself raised by everyone when her mother died while birthing her. Her father, brownrider Z'nar, is unusally and overly paternal, and spent most of his free time with her while she was a child. When she became of age, she stood on the Hatching Grounds as a Candidate, but met with no sucess. One by one, her friends Impressed and started their lives as a dragonrider, leaving her both embarrassed and envious.

At the age of fifteen, the current Headwoman, an older woman by the name of Neri, started to show the effects of a joint-illness, which often caused her pain while working. Alianza, having nothing else to do, became "apprenticed" to her. The next five years were spent memorizing every recipe that Neri knew, learning the how tos of the storeroom, and brewing not a small amount of medicines.

Finally, when Lia turned twenty, and Neri was in even more pain than ever before, Neri agreed to retire and live out the rest of her life in the small hold where she grew up. Alianza was acknowledged and accepted as the new Headwoman, even though she was turns younger than many of the older staff liked in their boss.

On her twenty-fifth birthingday, Z'nar gave his daughter a firelizard egg as a present. Since they lived inland, Alianza suspected that he had traded something for it, especially when nobody else in the Weyrs received an egg. A sevenday later, a small bronze head appeared from a crack, pitiously creeling with hunger. Impression was quickly made, and Trill has followed Lia everywhere since.

Shortly after her fortieth birthingday, a message reached High Reaches Weyr that Neri had passed away peacefully in her sleep. The woman had been much loved by all of High Reaches Weyr and Hold, and Alianza received permission from the Weyrleaders to plan a feast in her honor. The event went off without a hitch, and caused many of the older staff who had doubted her judgement to change their minds.

When goldrider Sierrata and bronzerider J'syn came to stay with them around her fifty-fifth birthingday, Alianza had nearly finished training a successor, for her plans were to retire and spend the rest of her life in a quiet setting. They somehow managed to convince her to move south with them and help in setting up a Hold.

Since she had already begun having joint-pains that plagued her in the winter, Alianza figured that moving to a sub-tropical location would be better than remaining in the area. She and her current fosterlings (at least the ones who had no family and wanted to move) packed up and moved south, to help build the Hold. Now, with work almost finished, she waits to see which of the Holder's sons will win out and take over Sunset Valley.

Attached NPCs:
Mother - Aleratta, deceased, kitchen worker, High Reaches Weyr
Father - Z'nar, 76, rider of brown Kuerth, High Reaches Weyr
Fosterlings:
Ronemal (M), 13, Sunset Valley Hold
Meralle (F), 11, Sunset Valley Hold
Tuena (F), 5, Sunset Valley Hold


Pet Name: Trill
Pet Age: 28
Pet Species: Bronze Firelizard
Pet Function: Companion
Pet Description: Trill is an average sized and shaped bronze firelizard, and has a burn mark on his front left leg from where he got too close to a cook fire. The skin is slightly rougher at the burn, and can only be noticed by actually feeling for it. Close association to Alianza has given him the habit of wanting to taste each dish (whether or not something has been offered to him), including those that contain vegetables. He has also developed a wide range of vocalizations, to scold, berate, or compliment a person.