Amani of Gold Amanisk }{ wherwoman, ♀, 25

[izzie]

u s e r n a m e → Izzie
c h a r a c t e r → 3rd

n a m e → Amani
a g e → 25 turns
g e n d e r → Female
s e x u a l i t y → Bisexual
r a n k → Senior Wherwoman, Goldhandler
w i n g → Blackest Night Wing
s t a t u s → Healthy
p l a y b y → Angel Coulby

a p p e a r a n c e →

Dark-skinned with curly brown hair, Amani was born in the heat of summer and looks the part. She has a broad smile and high cheekbones, with deep, brownish-black eyes that seem to house a smoldering inner fire. Though not "tall" by the average person's standards, she couldn't be accurately called petite either; she's around normal height, with a curvaceous build. She's in good shape from the hard work she's done throughout her life, and this combined with her steely willpower gives the impression that she's more of an oak than a willow.

With a full height of around 5'4", Amani is now and then mistaken for someone non-intimidating. This is far from the truth. Physically, she might not be the strongest woman in the world, and most men dwarf her, but Amani has spent her life around canines, herdbeasts, and whers, and she likes to think she could take on a human too. It's only a matter of time before her stubbornness and drive reveals itself to onlookers. The force of the personality in her body can often be a bit of a shock.

A girl with the attitude of a commoner, she sees no need for fancy clothes or delicate fabrics, preferring earth tones and sturdy things that she trusts not to fall apart under strain. Compared to a lot of other women in Pern, it's rare to see her in a dress -- after all, she always argues, she learned early on that it's not easy to wrangle herdbeasts wearing a full skirt. In general, she chooses simple outfits that won't restrict her movements or otherwise hinder her while she's working or fighting thread. She's seen and had way too many brushes with danger to risk losing a limb, or her life, because her foot got caught in the hem of her dress.

The years that she spent traveling with her family, and the years that she spent as a candidate and wherling here at Solace, have left their marks on Amani. (She wasn't the most cautious child in Pern, that's for sure.) Most notably, she has a scar across her back and left shoulder blade that is mostly but not entirely covered by her shirts, a souvenir from a wher hatching some years back. It still pains her sometimes, often during storms or other inclement weather, but all in all she's gotten used to the wound.

Oaks, you know, don't bend under the weight of one scar.

[/justify]
p e r s o n a l i t y →
passionate . strong-willed . just . loyal . outgoing . down-to-earth . grumpy

One of the first things one will notice about Amani is that she throws her entire self into her work. She's extremely dedicated and persistent, and it's difficult to change her mind once she's made it up. The wherwoman does not exactly have the patience of a saint, and one can easily annoy her by displaying incompetence. At the same time, she does have a strong sense of fairness, and she is generally willing to cut slack to people who don't know any better, like candidates fresh from their Hold or children in the creche. But while she understands that they can't help their ignorance, she won't be eager to, say, let them around one of Amanisk's clutches. And all of her compassion goes out the window when someone makes a mistake that could lead to serious damage.

Amani, it's easy to see, has no great concept of "fanciness." Born and raised a regular caravan girl, she's never learned how to dress stylishly or elegantly. She doesn't have the poise of a Lord Holder's daughter or the grace of weyrfolk. She's down-to-earth, strong but not haughty, and has a distaste for the nobility that rivals that of any other commoner. Furthermore, she's an extrovert, and gets easily bored when she's not around people; this has the added bonus of keeping her in the loop of what's going on throughout Solace Weyr.

Despite her outgoing nature, her day-to-day temperament is a decidedly cynical one. She's prone to snarky comments and half-joking, half-serious negativity. (Amani is not one to sugarcoat the truth; if she thinks your singing sounds like the desperate cries of an injured tunnelcat, she will duly notify you of it.) But don't let her grumpiness fool you, because another important component of the goldhandler's character is her loyalty. She'll grumble and groan about it, and berate you for getting yourself in trouble, but she can't bring herself to leave behind a comrade in danger, even if she's not especially fond of them.

Once they're out of danger, of course, she'll go right back to reminding them how stupid of them it was to get into the situation in the first place.

It stands to reason that the two things that spark Amani's wrath more than any other are injustice and betrayal. She despises cheaters, traitors, and those too lazy to do anything to stop them. Her ordinarily semi-forgiving attitude falls to pieces when she's confronted with one of these crimes, and one will find that a truly angry Amani is not something anyone wants to see. Due in part to her great belief in justice, she shows no mercy to people she thinks do not deserve it. When someone really earns the hatred of this passionate woman, he or she will not easily escape it.

[/justify]
h i s t o r y →

Amani was born the third child of four, and younger daughter, to Marel and Anniva, caravaners who bred and sold herdbeasts. Always looking to trade and make enough of a profit to keep their large family afloat, they traveled all over the Southern Continent, stopping at Holds, cotholds, and at the campgrounds of other caravan families. Relann, the eldest, developed his father's business sense; Livea was a perfect little lady with a lovely singing voice. Niar, then scarcely more than an infant, was perpetually ill, and would not live for very long.

And then there was Amani. She was a determined, passionate girl, stubborn as a bull and more than a little bossy. Most of the time she spent "exploring" with the family dogs, which led to a lot of discoveries and even more trouble. She endlessly frustrated her mother, who wanted her to be more like her sister -- kind, elegant, easy to handle. None of that was in the cards for Amani. Rather than learning weaving or singing or childcare, she took up a hobby of hanging around her brother and father while they dealt with the herdbeasts. If, every once in a while, she got kicked by a herdbeast, well, that was just par for the course.

Amani and her family visited Hold after Hold, selling, buying, trading. When she was nine turns old, they arrived in a mining area, where one of the men had a wher. The young girl was fascinated where other people may have been repulsed (to her mother's displeasure). There was nothing majestic or even cute about whers, not even to her, but in Amani's mind they were new and different, a stark contrast to the herdbeasts with which she had become so familiar. That was enough to interest her until the caravan moved on again.

As she grew older, reaching her preteen years, Relann was preparing to become a real partner in the family business, and Livea was preparing to be married in the next several turns. This in itself didn't bother Amani, since she had never really gotten along with her sister, and didn't see it as a great tragedy if Livea disappeared into the arena of married life. It did, however, pose a problem, and that problem was that Amani would be next.

To her independent twelve-turn-old mind, the idea of getting married was very distasteful. She was barely beginning to see other people as potential mates, and she certainly was not looking forward to tagging along with some trader husband and having children for the rest of her life. She couldn't explain it, but Amani just wanted something more.

When she was thirteen turns, the family stopped at Solace Weyr.

It was the first time she'd seen dragons, really, and they were very interesting, of course. But Amani found herself drawn to the whers, like the one she had seen as a younger child. The wild greens, mischievous blues, patient browns, and the regal, arrogant bronzes and golds... all of them intrigued her. The wherhandlers she passed in the evenings were a promise of another life, one without the constraints she hated, one freer and more exciting than the one she would lead in the caravans.

When her family left the Weyr, moving on to the nearby Cliff Hold, Amani stayed behind. It was a decision she never regretted.

Naturally, the girl became a wher candidate. Over the next two and a half turns, she attended several hatchings and learned how to properly care for whers. She didn't Impress at any of the hatchings, but that was fine; she could stand for wher hatchings into her thirties. (Dragons were too picky for Amani's liking.) When Amani was fifteen, the Wherwoman's gold laid an enormous clutch of twelve eggs, and the wherhandler community was soon abuzz with excitement.

Several weeks later, they were on the Sands, watching as ten of the twelve eggs began, one by one, to shake. And one by one, the queen and her handler handed them off to candidates. There were a few minor injuries, as typical of wher hatchings, but nothing particularly unusual. A beautiful little green hatched for another girl, and Amani could only watch in envy as the other candidates found their bondeds. And then the last egg, an orange one with cream-colored swirls, burst open of its own volition. The hatchling inside emerged and stalked toward the candidates, pushing people out of the way and finally stopping in front of a fifteen-turn-old girl with curly black hair falling into her eyes.

Mama take too long, the gold said. Amanisk tired of waiting. Stupid green not good for Amanisk's, Amanisk much better. She sniffed at Amani for a moment before chomping down on her arm, and looked rather pleased with her choice of handler. Go now, yes? Nothing left to see. And so they went.

Wherling lessons were interesting, to say the least -- Amanisk had a strong will and a very stubborn mind of her own, and was not always thrilled to be taking directions. (She also tended to assume that she already knew how to do all of the things she was being taught.) In spite of these occasional bumps in the road, Amani managed to get through her time as a wherling. At the age of seventeen turns or so, she became the Junior Wherwoman of Solace.

It was more a matter of default than pure merit; there were no other golds to fill the position, and that couldn't be helped. Thus, for a while, Solace was obligated to deal with an inexperienced teenager as one of the leaders of the whers of their home. To Amani's credit, she learned as quickly as she could, and by age twenty she had blossomed into a quite competent Junior Wherwoman. Amanisk was pleased indeed.

At some point during all of this, though, something happened. That something was that Amani fell in love with the Senior Wherwoman.

Ordinarily, maybe this wouldn't have been a problem. The Weyrs had always been more accepting than the rest of Pern, and whers chose their handlers in complete defiance of gender and orientation. So while the two Wherwomen being in a relationship would probably be unusual, it could be something the rest of Solace could grow used to. But there was another small detail; Seren, the Senior Wherwoman, was already in a relationship with a bronzehandler, and Amani couldn't bring herself to interfere with that.

She stayed completely silent about the topic for the next two turns, observing from afar the rocky dynamic between Seren and her Weyrmate, giving no hint to her full feelings on the matter. When Amani was twenty two, the relationship fell apart entirely, an end most had been expecting for some time. Amani's first instinct was to approach her as soon as possible, but out of respect for the woman who was, first and foremost, her friend, she hesitated. She didn't want to overwhelm Seren too quickly.

Whether it was the right plan or not, Amani can't say. Not long afterward, the Senior Wherwoman died in threadfall.

Amani was left to take her place, never getting the chance to confess her feelings. She bottled her emotion away; Solace deserved better than a grief-stricken Wherwoman. Instead she channeled her energy into her new duties. The new gold wherling, Voja, graduated and became the Junior Wherwoman. She was a nice girl, but no Seren (no one could be Seren). Amanisk has run twice since becoming the wherqueen, and she's approaching the time for a third.

Life goes on. That's something that Amani knows quite well.

[/justify]
f a m i l y →
Marel; NPC, father,
Anniva; NPC, mother
Relann; NPC, brother, 30
Livea; NPC, sister, 27
Niar; brother, deceased

n a m e → Amanisk
a g e → 10 turns
g e n d e r → Female
r a n k → Gold
c o d e → FCF86E, FFAA00, FFBCC0
s t a t u s → Fighting fit

a p p e a r a n c e →

Let's get right to it: Amanisk is beautiful, especially for a wher. The primary color of her hide is a buttery daffodil yellow, more like the first blossoms of spring than true gold. This easy on the eyes base is then painted with intricate, scrolling swirls of rose pink and golden orange, whirling over every inch from her head to her tail to her two-toed feet. Around each of her eyes is a circle of dots, which can make her look vaguely like she's been in a fight. The markings are unusually detailed for a wher, but that seems fitting for a queen of the Weyr. While there will, of course, still be some who are put off by her wizened wher features, Amanisk is one of the more lovely of her kind.

Somewhat contrasting with her delicately pretty coloring, Amanisk is no dainty flower. She's big and broad, with wide hips and a curvaceous build, all the classic signs of an egg-bearer. If the floral pattern of her hide evokes a nonthreatening impression, think again. Just looking at her size (that being one of the largest whers of Solace) should be enough to convince doubters that she's capable of doing serious damage if the need were to arise.

Amanisk doesn't weave prettily around, and she doesn't really walk, either. It is fair to say that she strides, her legs making long gains in ground and simultaneously exuding confidence. Hers are not the movements of any run-of-the-mill shrinking violet. Amanisk is a queen, and she knows it.

[/justify]
p e r s o n a l i t y →
proud . vain . unusually sweet-tempered . protective . intuitive . commanding

As a gold, Amanisk is essentially queen of the whers of Solace, and she has a personality to match. Regal and elegant, she has a knack for giving orders and a soft spot for anyone who flatters her. She's extremely vain, why bother to deny it? But she thinks she has good reason to be. She doesn't take kindly to any disrespect, which to her encompasses any insinuation that she isn't Pern's greatest creation of all time. Formidable in size and build, she wouldn't hesitate to attack if she thought even for a moment that there was a real threat to her eggs or her handler.

Still, for a wher, and especially for a gold, Amanisk is surprisingly... well, nice. Even to those she distrusts, she is deceptively friendly, though inside her somewhat simple mind, negative thoughts are boiling over into her handler's. She might not grasp every detail and nuance of Solace, but she knows that it's important to Amani, and that's all she needs to know to defend it with her life. And one only needs to look at Amanisk's enormous form to realize that she can defend things quite successfully. This unexpectedly (for her, that is) vicious quality shines through around the time of her runs, and while she's on the Sands with a clutch -- out emerges a wild, unpredictable anger that can and will be indiscriminately directed at anyone who makes a wrong move.

She has a special knack for reading humans and other whers (and even dragons, to a much lesser degree). It's not uncommon for Amanisk to distrust someone with whom Amani sees no obvious problem, but it should be said that Amanisk's reasons for disliking someone aren't always reliable, and could be anything from suspecting they're a spy to being offended because they looked at her for too long. Furthermore, she won't always explain her logic, forcing Amani to make judgments on the accuracy of her wher's judgments.

But hey, queens don't need to explain themselves.

[/justify]
m i n d v o i c e →

Amanisk may be a pretty wher, but she has a dangerous mindvoice at odds with her more or less agreeable nature. Soft, slithery, and hissing, like twisting vines, her voice has a very serpentine quality that many find a little sinister, especially given her only partial mastery of human grammar. (Among whers, Amanisk is considered quite eloquent, but that isn't saying too much.) Generally, there will always be some kind of sibilant noise in her speech, whether it's trailed at the end, in the middle of a word, or tacked onto the beginning of the sentence. A curious habit, and one that might be more expected in a dragon than in a wher, but nevertheless one that is an integral part of her manner of expression. When she is irritated, her speech crescendos and booms, but when she's truly enraged, Amanisk's voice becomes quiet, ominous. And then she strikes.

e g g → The Rose Trellis Egg
p a r e n t a g e → Unknown NPC Gold x Unknown NPC Bronze

ART


by Manda <3