IMOGEN
...NAME...Imogen
...TITLE...Wingrider
...AGE...64
...PLAYED BY...Emmylou Harris
...FAMILY...Imogen has ten children and untold number of grandchildren - most came forward with the Weyr, not all survived.
...HEIGHT...5'5
...BUILD...Wiry
...HAIR COLOR...Silver
...EYE COLOR...Hazel
...STRENGTHS...Grace Under Pressure
Survivor
Wisdom Comes With Age
Individualist
Passion
...WEAKNESSES...Slowing Down
Combat Survivor
Old Injuries
Authority Issues
Sloth
...LOVES...Mating Flights
Bourbon
Guitar
Gather Dances
The Sea
Stormy Weather
...HATES...Weyrlings
Threadfall
Being Confined
...PERSONALITY...Imogen was a sea captain's daughter: assertive and aggressive, but also an introverted suvivor who is capable of hard work and long periods of isolation. Her rugged ability to survive life's ups-and-downs has been offset by her life: she's the mother to ten, and the grandmother to unknown numbers of weyrbrats. She has a soft spot for the very young. Although entering her mid-60s, Imogen is single and willing to wax nostalgic about past lovers but is not yet willing to conceed that she'll never take another weyrmate. Knolth is a similarly steady mind: dependable and cautious where greens are often not, they are well-matched - or perhaps well accustomed to one another after fifty turns.
However, fifty turns of Threadfighting leave a mark on a person. Imogen has the classic PTSD signs of a long term combat vet with cycles of sleeplessness followed by irritability, and an inability to form new attachments. She is especially bitter and weary towards Weyrlings and new pairs until she deems them likely to survive 'long enough for me to learn their faces'. After a good fall, she is more likely to play her guitar in the caverns, but a bad fall will have her in her cups with her favorite hard liquor, bourbon.
Imogen was the eldest daughter at Fort Seahold to a wealthy merchant sea captain and his shore-based wife. Her early childhood was marked by turns of her father's absence, caring for the younger children and serving as her mother's proxy. Recognizing a good, pretty head on his daughter's shoulders that was marred by the girl's inability to know her place, her father had her sent to Harper Hall's finishing school for young women. At Harper, Imogen learned the guitar but did not make friends easily: her lower class birth, strong independent streak and easy ability to attract the male apprentices made her a social outcast. The girl likely would have been drummed out of Harper for a fist fight she got into with another girl on a gather day over a boy, had she not been found on Search for Fort before suitable transport could be arranged. What doesn't make for a fine, marriageable young woman on Pern is exactly the temperment looked for in a dragonrider.
On Fort Sands, Imogen impressed at the age of fourteen to green Knolth. She is the only surviving member of the clutch she Impressed into, with the last of her fellows having not made the jump. The pair were tapped into the fighting wings at the age of sixteen, just two years into the Pass and have had a long career flaming Thread under dozens of bronzeriders. Over the years, Imogen has had dozens of lovers and ten live children. The greenrider claims that she's never been able to lose a pregnancy between, and were she any other greenrider a charge of slacking by serving in the Queens' wing might not go unfounded... except...
During Turn 33, the always steady Knolth was blown into a tangle of Thread. The green survived through the incredible force of will of the pair, but her left forelimb was a loss and was field amputated to save her life. After thirty years of service, it would have been time for the pair to serve in the Weyrling Wing, were it not for Imogen's noted and growing dislike for the young riders. Likewise, the pair wasn't considered a good choice for watchduty, with the Weyrleader fearing the consequences of loosing a strong mind and loving body amongst the holdfolk. Imogen chose for the pair to put their noses to the grindstone on a grueling recovery that eventually saw the green returning to combat wings. Thread wasn't finished with them: Turn 45 saw Imogen take a shoulder strike. Thread ate away at the muscle mass of her right shoulder before the two of them could between back to the Weyr. A long recovery again saw the pair return to the wings, although Imogen has lost use of most of that arm for anything other than fine motor detail.
Imogen was surprised to have made it to the end of the Pass alive after so many turns of fallen compatriots and was beginning to settle into the idea of some kind of retirement when Lessa made her fateful jump back in time. Never one to shirk duty, Imogen privately assumed she and Knolth wouldn't make it to the Ninth Pass and the older rider was somewhat disappointed to be proven wrong. Aware that she and Knolth don't have too many more turns of service left in them, Imogen continues to fight Thread while looking for a way out of active duty combat.
/* Please remove this section if you are not applying as a dragonrider. */
...DRAGON NAME...Knolth
...DRAGON COLOR...Green
...DRAGON AGE...50
...DRAGON INFORMATION...Knolth is the color of pine needles in winter, fading to a wilted asparagus on her muzzle where the beast shows her age. She has a masculine build to the shoulders which is more attractive in the blues and browns than in a green, but gives her a strikingly asexual appearance amongst others of her color and which is completely opposite to that of her behavior. The most striking feature of this green, however, is the missing limb. Her left forepaw from the elbow down has been amputated. It's an old wound, the scar tissue of the stump having keloided over into a darker green shade.
Knolth is a steady presence, and although the two of them have so many years behind them it can be hard to seperate where rider and dragon begin and end, the green is more placid, and happier in her station. In combat, Knolth is overcautious and protective of her rider to a fault: stray Threads falling through? Best leave them to the Queens' wing to mop up. Getting tired? It's time to request a shift change. The two of them have always greatly enjoyed mating flights for the togetherness it brings as well as the chance to freely sample the Weyr's offerings, such that Knolth is rare to pick the same dragon twice. Her mating flights are marked by length, and by an almost scenic pace. Knolth won't abide by trickery from the males, preferring to select her own choice. Although of an age that her urge to rise is beginning to slow down, the pair enjoy them too much to give them up entirely.
On the ground, Knolth is slower than most dragons due to the missing leg - although gifted with dragon memory, Knolth often forgets she ever had a left foreleg. Her left wing is often left half-open to help balance her walking. Knolth's hunts are marked by the need to kill from a stoop, as she can't grasp her prey to hold it still for a killing blow. Takeoffs have been unhindered by the missing limb, although at her age, she prefers to start from a drop rather than a leap. Landings are a bit more tricky and require a delicate backwinging to prevent from unbalancing her rider. Because of this, the pair rarely take passengers or heavy loads and didn't have either on the long trip between.
Topic: Imogen - Rider of green Knolth (Read 349 times)