Name/Nicknames: Kura Watts
Gender: female
Rank/Position: cartographer
Age: 28
Birthplace: Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, Earth

Physical Description: Kura is a tall, well-built girl of mixed Maori and Pakeha ancestry. Almost 5'10" in height, she has broad shoulders and hips, and a figure kept trim by her active lifestyle. Thick wavy black hair reaches just past her shoulders, framing a broad face with an olive complexion and strong features -- she's a handsome woman rather than a classically beautiful one. Her eyes are large and dark brown beneath expressive brows and she has a wide, ready smile for those she likes... and a rather sarcastic one for those she is less fond of.

Kura can usually be found in hardwearing clothing that can cope with her explorations. When she's not working, she has a fondness for long skirts in light, brightly patterned fabrics, usually worn with a sleeveless blouse, or a shirt for when she's in the caverns. She has several pieces of jewellery that she habitually wears: a gold wedding band, two pairs of stud earrings -- one pair of polished obsidian from Earth, one pair of small mounted Pernese shells -- and a small scrimshaw carving of a Maori canoe that she wears as a pendant. Her hair is usually held back from her face with a clip made from wood and embossed leather with a leaping fish design.

Personality: Kura is a headstrong young woman who doesn't believe in backing down from a challenge. She puts her love of exploration down to her ancestry and isn't about to let a little thing like Thread stop her from investigating her new home and building a life for her growing family. She likes being the first in new things and can be rather competitive -- she's definitely one who believes in leading from the front.

Kura is a generally friendly sort and a loving wife and mother... although there are days when leaving the children at school or nursery is a positive relief for both herself and Cerdwin! She has little time for those she sees as fools and can be easily exasperated, though explosions of temper are thankfully rare. Her sense of humour can be rather bawdy at times and sarcastic at others, and her laugh is loud and sometimes startling. In her work, she is very precise and methodical, preferring to get things done *right* than get them done quickly.

Bisexual, Kura has always tended more towards female partners than male, although she does enjoy going with men occasionally. Her marriage to Cerdwin is fairly open in that respect -- they may love one another but both want more children and that requires a certain degree of flexibility. Each of their children has a different father, a deliberate decision made so as to give the colony greater genetic diversity in the next generation.

Background: Kura was born on Earth, in the capital of New Zealand, the youngest of four children. She grew up hearing the tales of her adventurous forebears, both Maori and European, who crossed the oceans to find their new home and always felt the urge to follow in their footsteps and find somewhere new to claim for herself. She was sixteen when her eldest brother and his family announced that they were joining a colonisation expedition and Kura promptly persuaded them to allow her to go with them. She would miss Earth... but the unknown sounded so much more enticing.

Arriving on Pern at the age of seventeen, Kura started training to become a cartographer -- the new world needed exploring and although the orbiting ships and satellites could send images to Landing, the terrain would need more thorough investigation if it were to be mapped for use. Throwing herself into her work, Kura swiftly fell in love with Pern, delighting in being the first to see what lay beyond each hill and headland. She impressed a bronze firelizard from one of the first clutches found, naming him Bodie, and felt extremely content with her life.

Kura developed several close friendships with the sled pilots who were assigned to help the cartographers and took several lovers, although none of the relationships were serious until she met Cerdwin Turner, one of the catering staff at Landing. The two young women married when Kura was twenty-two and settled down to raise a family... with the occasional contribution from various male friends. Four more children joined Cerdwin's eldest son in the next few years, the youngest, Cerdwin's daughter Amaris, being born during the first Threadfall over Landing.

With the arrival of Thread, things changed for Kura -- the sled pilots were needed for Threadfighting rather than mapping excursions and so her work began to involve more time in the imaging labs, poring over orbital photos, than out in the field. She worked with the groundcrews where she could and helped in the effort to move the settlement to New Landing, but she wanted to do something *more*, something that would get her back outside and doing something practical. She volunteered for the Dragon Project as soon as it became clear that it was actually happening and was somewhat startled to Impress gold Silth from the first batch of engineered eggs. She had been expecting a creature not unlike Bodie, and the reality of being bonded to Silth may yet have serious repercussions for her relationships with her family.

Family/Friends:
Wife: Cerdwin Turner / 28 / baker / New Landing
Son: Tegan Turner / 7 / child / New Landing
Son: Huatare Watts / 5 / child / New Landing
Daughter: Seanna Turner / 5 / child / New Landing
Son: Kane Watts / 3 / child / New Landing
Daughter: Amaris Turner / 2 / child / New Landing

Hobbies & Skills: Kura has an impeccable sense of direction and is extremely good at estimating distances, although whether this is a natural ability or the result of years as a cartographer is uncertain. She is very practical and likes working with her hands, whether it be fixing a piece of machinery or sewing clothes or toys for the children. She enjoys telling her children the adventure stories she was told as a youngster, adding to them new stories about the homeworld they will probably never see.

Pets: a single bronze firelizard, Bodie. He's a big wild-type 'lizard with a dark hide the colour of tarnished brass that fades to near-gold on the trailing edges of his wings. Bodie is a scrapper, forever tangling with tunnelsnakes and cats and requiring Kura to patch him up. He's as curious as his owner is and likes accompanying her on her explorations, flying alongside the sled and trying to keep up.

Dragon's Name: Silth
Age: infant (hatched 08.01.11)
Color: gold

Physical Description: Silth is a pale, creamy yellow in colour, with dapples of a slightly darker shade across her upper surfaces. She is broad across the shoulders, even at this young age, and shows the promise of being a strong flier.

Personality: "Does not play well with others" just about sums Silth up. Straight from the egg she was utterly convinced of her own worth, strong-willed and fiercely possessive. That she picked the equally strong-willed Kura was fortunate, but she is jealous of Cerdwin and the children... and cannot stand being treated as a plaything by the youngsters.