Dorael, Lord Holder of Thomos Hold

[Lord Dorael of Thomos Hold]

name: Dorael, formerly D'ael, but he changed it once his dragon passed between

sex: male

age: 50s

faceclaim: Graham McTavish

hold: Thomos Hold

basic appearance:

• He's surly and he has a beard. 
• Tall, muscled, pale skin, greying hair
• Fair skinned, once upon a time, but years of hard living have given him ruddy tan
• Hair grows fast, so it's easier to maintain his facial hair, but shaves for special occasions

primary personality traits:

• Very aggressive, quick to act, quick to take offense, quick to escalate
• Not unintelligent, but perhaps single-minded in his goals
• Swore to stop drinking, but in moments of weakness he will imbibe and become blazingly drunk and violent
• Deeply wounded, carries emotional scars with him and refuses to let anyone in
• Militaristic, finds succor in the rhythms and structure of it all
• Trains every day with the assumption that he will be challenged to combat or beholden to answer the alarum bells of war.
• Tends to have little compassion for plights, dispenses justice dispassionately and often without nuance - not because he doesn't see it or isn't capable of it, but because he has bigger fish to fry
• Legitimately does wish to see the Weyr restored to its former glory, but is perhaps viewing it from rose-tinted eyes
• Holds to the Old Ways, is fairly traditional in a lot of ways, makes sure everything is bare of vegetation because it gives S'ris little reason to complain and it gives his holderfolk something to do that will never, ever, cease to be an issue.

relevant history:

• Born in Thomos Hold to the hereditary Lord Horlder, Alverin, and his Lady, Miyana. He was the first born son - though not the only - and it was his birth right to one day rule the hold. 
• Grew up under the watchful shadow of Thomos Weyr, fearing the riders and resenting their presence. The bleaching sickness had only begun to rear its head, and the Weyrs were still active.
• Was taught swordfighting and the beginnings of hold ruling wisdom. He grew tall, and strong, and bold. Arrogant, even. And to his great consternation, when nearly fourteen turns had passed, he was swept away on a search.
• It wasn't even from Thomos Weyr, as would have been expected, but from the distant Tazum Weyr, a smaller weyr with an impending Hatching. Cue his terror, and resentment.
• The Hatching that produced the bronze Urmath and golden Soforith also brought forth the blue Hephith, who Impressed with Donael after bowling him over. The terror, blood, and bruises were instantly forgiven in that moment.
• Newly minted as D'ael, he trained with the Weyr in seemingly futile preparation for the Threads, and watched with horror as the news of the bleaching continued to roll in, worse and worse. One after another, Weyrs began to fall. Even so, life attempted to go on as normal - whatever normal meant. Dorael probably has a handful of weyrbrats in Tazum still from this period of his life.
• Last of all the weyrs to descend, but not least, was the Thomos Weyr, the fate of which led to a power struggled between the Weyrleader-that-was and the Weyr-leader-that-would-be. Out of loyalty to his homeland and to S'los, D'ael and Hephith rose up against the coup by S'ris and his comrades.
• It's rare indeed when this happens, but during the coup, Hephith was injured badly, and even an attempt to sear the wounds with fire were ineffectual as bleeding had flushed inward.
• It was with tears that D'ael said goodbye to his beloved blue Hephith, who transferred between without his rider.
• D'ael attempted to follow Hephith into death, but was stopped by S'ris and his circle, who took him prisoner briefly before stripping him of his rider name and sentencing him to dragonless exile - a fate worse than death.
• Newly reminted as Dorael and fully crazed with grief, he wandered into the wilds with the intent to die in ignominy. Fate was not kind to him, alas, and he survived. Somehow he found his way back to his home, where his family rejected him and he was subject to live in the depths of the hold with the drudges. Which was a generous circumstance, in all honesty, as he essentially reduced himself to little more than a professional drunk.
• He developed a mean streak, lashing out and alienating any who might have felt compassion for him. And for several decades he remained there, resentful of his lot in life, resentful of how things played out at the weyr, and unwilling to deal with his problems. Despite himself, or perhaps in spite of who he was, he still managed to accrue allies among his station, who made sure he didn't die. He never asked why, and they never offered. (Mayhaps it was because he had been the future Lord, after all.) (Or perhaps his suffering was so great, and so poignant, that they were moved despite his awful nature.)
• The situation with the weyrs had become all the more dire. Thomos Weyr, which he had fought for, was empty. Tazum had become aggressive, and ruthless. Resentment had blossomed among the people, and in it Dorael found a common ground that gave him a spark of purpose.
• In a fit of rage, he decided to push past his years of drudgery and malaise and do something with himself. His brother, who had taken over after the death of their father, seemed weak against the dragonriders of Tazum, and by the handful, he was allowing their children to be seized, either never to be seen again or returned in poor condition. It was clear that the Hatchings had grown out of control, and you could practically smell the desperation of the Weyr if you had the nose for such things. The time was ripe for change.
• For Dorael, this purpose served to coalesce his thoughts. He shoved his sorrow to the back of his brain, steadfastedly determined to ignore it. He committed to eschewing the drink, and to training himself back into fitness. There wasn't an ounce of fat on his body, but he'd been coasting at the bare minimum for so long that he was a shadow of his former self. He trained for combat, first with sticks, and then with a stolen sword streaked with rust and likely to not be missed. 
• And when it was time, he walked into the great ruling hall of Thomos Hold and challenged his brother to the right to rule via trial by combat. It was an archaic rule, seldom upon in all the history of Thomos but legitimate in its use. It caused quite a stir, and the unprepared Delphim was no match for the hardened edge that was his older brother. Per right of combat, Donael could have disarmed and blooded Delphim and then assumed his birthright as Lord of Thomos Hold. But he refused to make the same mistake S'ris did, and - blood relations be damned - he slew his own brother.
  
• He took it to the next level, and claimed his brother's wife as his own, and set on making his own heirs as a measure of solidifying every claim he could possibly have to the Lordship. It was with a fury that he reorganized Thomos Hold's soldiery - intensifying their training, putting out calls to increase the ranks, and even conscripting when he found numbers lacking.
• Thomos had held an uneasy alliance with Tazum Weyr under Delphim, who had been unwilling to risk drawing the full ire of the dragonriders. Dorael had a much better understanding of where things stood with the Weyr, and how conflicted things were. The official stance of Thomos Hold shifted from uneasy to downright hostile, thought Dorael is unwilling to outright declare war with the Weyr. Soldiers are great and all, but to go to war with firebreathing dragons? An act of the foolish it would be, and Dorael was no fool.
• Nor did he suffer fools gladly. S'ris had mostly forgotten about Dorael, and was likewise unprepared for the man's violent rise to relevance. Unlike Delphim, however, he adapted.
• The one and only time S'ris visited Thomos under Dorael's rule, they clashed in a battle of wits and will, where neither stood the victor. It was understood that the Hold could not hope to subjugate the Weyr (dragons are mighty), but it was also understood that without the Holds, the Weyr could not survive.
• The solution S'ris appeared to have was to kill two birds with one stone, and exile his son S'hyd to Thomos Weyr as a measure of coercion against Dorael's rule: a measure that Dorael deeply resents. It wounds him to see dragons and no longer know the voice of his own; it is painful to see a visual likeness of the son of the man that he above all holds responsible for the death of his beloved Hephith; and it infuriates him that the man seeks to place so heavy-handed a means of reminding Dorael where they stand.
• I imagine that, as time has passed and Dorael has been forced to accommodate the blind Uisbeth and his rider S'hyd, the two men have discussed events, discussed theory, and forged an alliance that, while not total, is at least not actively antagonistic.

relevant views on current events:

• Vehemently anti-S'ris, anti current practices, things the Weyr's moral integrity has declined and clamors for a return to the days of old

ambitions:

• Would like to live to see the downfall of the mighty S'ris
• Secretly would like to try and Impress again, hoping to ease the hole in his existence
• Strives to maintain a control of his Hold that is resolute in its totality

other:
I see Thomos Hold as having a lot of issues with militant ravagers and the like, who have defected both because of the increased pressure placed upon the populace by Tazum Weyr and by the blood-soaked iron sword that has cleaved its way through Thomos. Potentially a group has set up in the remains of Thomos Weyr, making it a hotly contested struggle for dominance over the region.

[DMITRI]

-slams down hammer- ACCEPTED. I put his name on the Hold's board, feel free to go furnish it with descriptions and subboards and what-have-you aand we needs to have him rp with s'hyd asap