Arolos Weyr

Callamere Beast Hold

(Minor)

Holders: Riv and Revai
Specialty: Callamere White runners and Callamere Whers, respectively

Name: Riv

Sex: Male, hetero

Age: 38

Physical: Think Viking warrior. Riv is 6'5", with golden-blond hair to his shoulders-- slightly receding now in front. He is broad-shouldered, with a trim waist and thick thighs developed during a lifetime of riding.

His skin was fair as a child, but is now constantly a deep golden shade, and is also beginning to show the effects of it, crinkling at the corners of his eyes, and deepening the lines from nose to mouth. He has the blue eyes to go with his coloring, rather deep-set under heavy, jutting brows.

He has a deep, ringing voice, and a merry laugh.

Personality: Riv is easy-going, with the patience and intuitiveness demanded by working with runners, and a basically sunny, optimistic outlook on life. He's a family man, adores his wife and children and fosterlings, and wouldn't trade his lot on the planet for any one else's.

He's a bit physically effusive, which can be intimidating due to his size. He talks with his hands, sometimes shakes hands almost painfully, or knocks slighter folk off balance with a hearty clap to the back. Of course, he's then abjectly apologetic.

History: The middle son of a large family of runner breeders from Keroon in the North, at his father's death Riv chose to take his inheritance in stock, and try his hand in the Southern Continent, rather than settle for a tiny bit of hardscrabble land, fit barely for raising Minecraft pit ponies.

Revai

Sex: Female, hetero

Age: 30

Physical: Revai is L'tul's double first cousin, and that close genetic tie shows. She looks like a female version of him. She's 6'2, as he is, with the same medium brown coloring. Revai is powerfully built, with shoulders broader than her hips.

Not very feminine, but very much a woman. She carries just a bit of extra weight around her thighs and lower belly, the result of several pregnancies. She's not overly concerned with it, as she's never been fashion conscious, and Riv thinks it simply makes her more female and desirable. In fact, she's just discovered she's pregnant once more, which thrills both of them. After a disastrous birth accident, miscarriage and an infertile year, they had thought their genetic family complete, and decided to begin taking in fosterlings.

Personality: Revai is forceful, and a bit volatile. More opinionated and changeable than her husband, or even L'tul. She's basically good-natured, though. Callamere is full of laughter and love, and that's largely due to her nature. She watches over her brood with a bit of benign neglect. Her children can get away with most anything but cruelty or disrespect. Sassing Revai is a dangerous thing to do.

Her driving love in life are her whers. L'tul chose to Impress, Revai chose to carry on their grandfather's work with improving whers. It was a good choice for both of them.

Children:

Sythy: Female, 17

Tarana: female, 15, ragingly hormonal.

Dennel: Male, 13, also ragingly hormonal

Katha: Female, 10 (mentally handicapped-- cord around the neck at birth. Mental age of about 2 or 3, speech impediment. A bit palsied.)

Tenna: Female, 8 artistic, and dreamy to the point of seeming abnormally distracted at times.

Billen: Male, 6

Gisselle: female, 4 (fosterling)

Hold Product:

Callamere Whers and Callamere White runners

Callamere Whers:

Revai has made great advances in breeding, and the current Callameres (Chance, Durla) are more refined physically, and have better eyesight, than Boo-- who was L'tul and Revai's grandfather's finest achievement.

While Boo is still regarded as a fine sire, his sons and grandsons will soon usurp him as desirable breeding studs.

The Callamere cot is usually wall-to-wall whers in the evening, as the animals have the run of the house. Every one has Impressed at least one, and Revai holds the rather unscientific belief that socialization can be passed on to the offspring.

Blues and greens are neutered. Blues are neutered by vasectomy-- a process developed by Revai, as she loathed depriving them of their masculinity, and it also removes the necessity of following up each sale with a gelding at maturity. Blues are now neutered at hatching.

Greens were subjected to a crude form of ligation, a process that had a high mortality rate. Lately, though, a better process has been adopted-- one which brought to light a new ability that Revai intends to capitalize upon.

Dennel had secretly snitched a few chunks of firestone on a visit to Arolos. On arriving home, he fed them to his brown wher Bub, just to see what would happen. The resulting gout of flame when Bub belched set a haystack on fire and nearly the fodder barn, too.

After the fire was put out, and Dennel was properly chastised, Riv and Revai discussed this unexpected ability, and decided it was the perfect solution to the problem of fertile greens, and that firestone-chewing whers would also be of great use to ground crews as intelligent flame throwers. They are currently perfecting the techniques of training flaming whers, and will soon begin selling them with this ability emphasized.

All Callamere whers are tattooed on the inside of their left thigh, and a wher bearing this insignia is worth twice what a regular wher will bring, either as egg, adult, or stud.

Callamere White runners:

Riv came to Southern with a small band of mares and three stallions, the best of the herd he'd been working with since his early teens. White coats predominated, coincidentally, and he struck on the idea of capitalizing on that trait, along with the band's exceptional night vision.

The resulting breed is now known as Callamere Whites. The animals have white coats, with "china" or dark eyes (not true albinos) and remarkable endurance and a smooth way of moving. They have a natural tendency to fall into a running walk, rather than a trot, which is an exceptionally comfortable gait for long travel.

The animals also have acute night vision, and a temperament that makes them less prone to shy. Because of this, they are preferred by traveling folk, messengers, hunters, and any one else with a need to be out and about in the night.

Obviously, Callamere is a prosperous Hold, although the family lives simply, and mostly out of doors. L'tul is very close with them, as they are his last remaining family, and visits to and from Arolos are frequent.

Riv and Revai have the highest regard for dragonriders, and always gives any rider a warm and courteous welcome to their hold. They are also kind and fair to their cot-holders, preferring to let the folk work unhindered, as long as the stock is thriving and the cot is well-maintained.

The Dragonriders of Pern® is registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, by Anne McCaffrey, used here with permission. Use or reproduction without a license is strictly prohibited.