G'len of Black Alianph

[Lan]

Name:
G'len (Gellen)
Age:
28 (winter; year 30)
Gender:
male
Sexuality:
heterosexual
Rank:
Sr. Commander, Blackrider, Northern Sweep Captain, Searchrider
Location:
Eyrie


Personality:
G'len throughout his youth was mainly pinned to be the brainy type. Sharp as a tack, once he's been taught something on matters mental he is bound to always remember it, and he has a keen memory for faces and conversations. Having worked under a man who studied the creatures of Pohono and being the son of a botanist, he's got a lot of book smarts in particular on the natural life and fauna. And he's a scientist through and through. A true believer in the scientific method, he loves to make lots of observations about the world he lives in so that he may discover as much as he can. A medium-small sketchbook and some sort of writing utensil is never far from his side so that he may record what he sees for future reference. And he's not greedy. He's more than happy to share his observations and what he knows with anyone who asks, so long as it is not sensitive information and of a purely scientific basis.

He's also a big family man. His family is one of the most important factors in his life and one of the hardest things about being on the hunting expedition was the fact that he couldn't see them. Yet this idea of family also has recently been extended to those that were in the hunting party and, more recently still, those that are in his squad. Like his Alianph, he likes to have things running smoothly and for people to get along. Of course he knows that this isn't always the case, but small squabbles don't phase him as long as they are resolved quickly. And if they aren't, he can't help but find himself intervening. He's very intent on taking care of those under his charge and extensive fighting disheartens him. That said, he tries to treat everyone fairly and not play favorites. Being a man of science, such an endeavor isn't particularly hard for him. He plans sweeps very methodically and no one man is forced to do any more work than the others, unless his job description warrants it.

Socializing is not something that comes naturally to G'len, but it's something he's come to have at least some grasp of since impressing a black simourv. His station demands he have at least some socialization between his fellow members, and he's at least learned to make small talk and introduce himself and communicate what he needs to without his speech wavering too much. Still, he's never quite been able to shake his old fears of speaking in front of large groups of people, and he still gets nervous when having to do so. But he's come up with little ways to keep his mind off of it. Fiddling with a small stone while speaking is his favorites, but when that isn't pertinent he tries to focus on something that's just beyond the head of the person he's trying to speak to. This makes him look like he has a lazy eye at times, but it keeps him from fumbling his sentences.

While killing for the survival of others is part of G'len's job description, he hates killing unnecessarily. He's not one to be described as a violent person and before the first xymokoxi attack on the Eyrie he had never killed a living thing in his life. At first it startled him, but he's slowly gotten around to accepting it as a way of life. Kill or be killed or watch your comrades be killed. He'd rather take the first option that the latter two. This isn't to say that he doesn't take his responsibility to protect seriously... he takes it so much to heart he would freely die for those under his care. But he does wish to find some other resolution to the problem. He has endeavored on a self-sworn, lifelong mission to find a more peaceful resolution to the menace of the xymokoxi through his studies and observations --a mission he prefers to keep a secret as it would probably not be accepted widely.

Since impressing Alianph, G'len confidence in himself and in his ability to take on responsibility has grown exponentially. While more laid-back during the hunting expedition, as a blackrider of the Eyrie and a sweep captain he actively seeks to do all that he can and more for the good of those living on Pohono. He willingly accepts challenges and takes on the role of a guide or guardian, especially when no one else will. But, being he was not always this way, he knows and accepts his limits. He knows when to let others take on responsibilities he cannot handle, but he also embraces the chance to explore his own abilities as well.

G'len is a rather laid-back captain, more logical than emotional, and he's never really been seen angry. More a calming presence, he likes to make sure those in his squad aren't too riled-up or on edge all the time. Insults seem to zing past him and with his scientific eye he isn't one to easily find fault in others. Not that he's overtrusting, he's just not the type to write someone off as worthless because of some personality quirks they may have. As such, he tends to get along with a wide range of people, as his personality is tending toward the end of the spectrum that is the very least abrasive. He tries to see each person for their good points and contributions and doesn't like to talk bad about others, or hear others talking bad about others.

Yet G'len, for all his logic, often cannot see the trees for the forest. As a scientist constantly struggling with the bigger picture, his own needs and social life tend to get thrown onto the backburner. The here and now sometimes eludes him, and he's so focused on his plan to help save humanity one step at a time that he doesn't really live his own life. Secluding himself from others is a common thing, as he gets sucked into some intent train of thought or some interesting hypothesis in analyzing his observations. He couldn't see affection for him if it hit him in the face, nor does he really ever take the time to stop and smell the flowers. Sure, he'll catalog the flowers and muse endlessly over how they came to be the way they are, but never would he manage to actually enjoy their scent. So he works constantly. Day after day. He's always doing something and actually likes to keep busy. Even when sitting still or sleeping, his mind is always hard at work. It's as if he never stops thinking... and such an observation is probably true.


Appearance:
G'len is an average-height man, standing at a 5'10", and his build is not one that is particularly bulky or burly. He's not soft, but he's not overbearing, and while he keeps himself in decent enough shape he's not vain enough to do much more. He doesn't carry himself very proudly, although he doesn't slouch over either. His presence is always somewhat unassuming and he could walk silently into a room and not be noticed for several hours. But he likes it this way. If he wanted to make himself known, he could, but he prefers not to. His gestures are not very expressive or vast, nor are his facial expression over the top. In his manner he is rather mediocre, with a few awkward tendencies such as switching his weight from one foot to the other when talking to someone or wringing his hands incessantly or messing with some stone or something with his hands when talking in front of large groups. No one except his brother, who wasn't surprised at G'len's new station in life, could have picked him out by his appearance as the type to lead.

The blackrider is not overly pleasant to look at. His dull blue eyes seem too large and too far apart and his nose and jaw are chiseled at awkward angles. Although he keeps himself moderately clean-shaven, his dark brown hair is always a mess and seems to have been cut at different lengths. His nose curves down in a deep hook and his eyebrows are thick and set more often than not slightly to the sides of his eyes, giving him a somewhat puppy-dog appearance. He has large ears, leans toward the pale side of the spectrum, has permanent dark circles under his eyes, and basically looks like a shut-in no matter how much sun he gets (unless it's too much, then he's a burned shut-in).

But he's got a pleasant smile that creases his face all the way up to his eyes with a slight dimple on his right cheek. When happy or amused with something his whole face lightens up like a spotlight on an otherwise lonely grave. He has large, gentle hands that are eager to help in however they can and anyone under the care of them will never be disappointed. His arms, while not muscular, are smoothly contoured and nicely proportional to his torso, as well as solid legs that can hold his ground firmly and resolutely. And he has a nice set of broad shoulders as well, with a strong back from carrying far too many supplies into the wilderness and back for his former boss.


Family:
father- Garret, botanist at Sayaie (deceased)
mother- Linda, historian at Sayaie (58; year 0)
brother- Rhett, guard lieutenant at Sayaie (30; year 28)
Pets:
none

Simourv Name:
Alianph
Simourv Color:
black (1A1A1A)
Simourv Age:
5 years (spring; year 54)


Personality:
Alianph is a regal king, through and through. He has a great sense of honor and dignity, and his actions carry over as such. Never temperamental or rude, he often plays the part of a gentleman. He takes great pride in offering help to any who may be struggling, and he is actually a very social creature. The black simourv knows how to treat a lady with great respect, and he willingly backs down to the temperaments of the women he is surrounded with. He is delicate in his compliments and pleasant in mood, not much making him angry or bitter. There are no grudges on his side, he does not seek revenge, and he knows how to handle a situation with great delicacy. The finer points of politics may be lost on him, but he knows how to spot a bad decision when he sees one and steers clear of unneeded conflict.

Yet Alianph is also a proud king. He knows his status as the largest black on Pohono and as captain of the squad and he does not take kindly to insubordination or unnecessary chaos. He is very confident in his opinions and decisions. Mainly protective of his clutchsiblings and G'len, if anyone is causing problems for those under his care he comes to the scene without a second thought. He takes his responsibilities seriously. He is driven to make sure that everything in his squad runs smoothly and that there are no egregious errors that are made. Nothing escapes his steady eye. He notices everything that goes on in his squad and he notes all that is in his surroundings. Much like his G'len, he can be an observer, and does not let anything gets past his notice.

There is also a gentle, soft side of Alianph. He is as caring as he is protective, and he is not above helping anyone that is less fortunate. He is also particularly good with children, and seems to have an eye for picking out and sensing within the youth what sort of potential they have for the future. His soft spot extends greatly to G'len, his dearest friend and love, and he does his best to make sure the G'len is never in discomfort or in fear.

This leads to Alianph's less exposed side: his wrath. Anyone who hurts those he cares about or those under his charge feel the full force of his cold ire. Mainly directed at the xymokoxi, in combat he attacks without mercy or explanation and he proves in his prowess his worth at being a black king. Yet, in combat he does not always see what is behind him or flanking him, which is where G'len comes in. Through the tunnelvision of battle, Alianph relies heavily on G'len's circumspect presence to fight at his full potential, although there is no doubt he can keep himself alive well enough on his own.


Appearance:
Alianph is the largest of his clutch siblings, excepting of course the grey Eceph, with a full length of sixty-two feet and a height to the shoulder of thirty-one feet. His presence is never mistaken, and while as a youngster he was awkward and stumbling as an adult he moves with a dignity and grace that befits his rank. He is built tough, plenty strong to sustain in long fights, but he isn't as bulky so as to make him overbearing. As far as muscle mass, he ranges somewhere in the middle, not lithe and lean by not a batch of muscle. While not necessarily agile, he is very precise, and can accurately judge distances and spaces that can fit his large frame. His wingspan is also somewhat large for even his great size, which was of a problem to him when he was first learning to fly. Now it gives him an incredibly control of his placement in the sky.

This black simourv is a bit of an off-color to pitch black, but he's plenty dark enough not to mistake his masculinity. Most of his body is covered in these dark feathers in a solid mass of color, with a few exceptions in his markings. Beneath his stomach starting from below his jaw and going all the way down the underside of his tail there is a greyer coloration to his feathers and these grey variations also occur on the feathers that tip his wings. Around nose is a peaceful white color and his eyes are a calm, medium amber.


Parentage:
Wild Gray X Wild Black




History:
Gellen's parents were born and grew up in a time before the threat of the xymokoxi. Garret a botanist and Linda a historian both born shortly before the first landing, lived in Sayaie where when they helped society from behind the scenes by categorizing and helping in the classification and study of the wonderful and different species of fauna and other life that surrounded the very first colony of Pohono while Linda lived to the extra responsibility of keeping the knowledge of Earth alive. Linda and Garret worked together frequently and were married when Linda was twenty-eight. She gave birth to her first son, Rhett, when she was thirty and Gellen followed two years after. Both lads were very feisty in their youth. While Garret and Linda tried to educate both boys to their greatest potential, the two boys seemed more keen on playfighting, adventuring, and overall getting into trouble. Rhett was the main instigator of this, but Gellen was just as guilty with his love of going along for the ride. The two were also always in competition with one another. Be it chores, a footrace, or seeing how many cats they could scare with one slingshot, Gellen and Rhett were always keeping track of who was better at such and such and who could do more of this or that. Rhett was always coming out on top, it seemed, but Gellen didn't mind. It was the spirit of competition that thrilled him and he loved to try his hand at anything and everything.

Yet, while Rhett was stronger than Gellen, Gellen had a natural gift for matters of the mind when he would apply himself to his lessons. He had an incredible capacity for learning and it seemed as soon as he was taught something he remembered it always. He was also incredibly resourceful. The young lad was great at fixing things that were broken that happened to be lying around. Rhett, however, took no pleasures in such tinkering and toddling. He much preferred anything active, anything that got his muscles moving and got his heart pounding was considered wonderful in his eyes. As a result, he hardly ever sat still, and Gellen was often in tow during all his adventures. Yet he also had much more street-smarts than Gellen. As his common sense developed he kept them both out of too much trouble. Meanwhile, Gellen became a dreamer, coming up with escapades that Rhett wouldn't have originally thought of.

So went most of their childhood. Rhett, the strong sensible one, and Gellen the clever kid with his head in the clouds. But their world was one which was ever darkening. Bloodbaths, instigated by the monsters now known as the xymokoxi, began in Chydyn and were slowly spreading to other towns.

The only thing that helped save the settlements were the appearance of griffin-like creatures, now known as the simourv. Gellen and Rhett were born in the dark shadow that had followed the initial attacks. People were frightened. Everyone seemed anxious about possible attacks on their own city. Rhett, however, took this information from the time he learned it as a battle cry. At the age of fourteen short years, he was determined to help battle these evil beings that had wreaked havoc on his fellow man. Gellen, on the other hand, took the mental path where he would have rather studied the creatures and find a peaceful solution to the conflict. This was when the boys began to draw apart in their interests. Rhett worked more on building his strength, while Gellen worked on building his mind (not that Rhett would wholly let him forget his physical appearance).

When Rhett was sixteen he was granted permission to travel to Chydyn to train to be a guard. It was a hard separation for the boys, who despite their differing interests still were very close. Gellen would stay in Sayaie, where he would continue his studies to follow in his father's scientific footsteps, concentrating on the animal life of Pohono. He wanted to help study both the simourv and the xymokoxi species with the scientists that came before him. The two kept in touch with letters, Rhett telling Gellen about the great trees of the north and the beauty of Chydyn city while Gellen relayed the information he was learning and told of the status of their parents. Every one of Rhett's letters were also signed with "don't forget-pushups!"... his way of making sure Gellen wasn't being a total shut-in. Indeed, he took his older brother's advice. Between expeditions to study the creatures and fauna of the planet, he managed to keep himself in decent enough shape. Well enough for expeditions and defending himself, anyway.

At the age of twenty he traveled to Chydyn to join his brother and work with a scientist who was studying the simourv population there. There Rhett welcomed him with open arms and they shared a small place and caught up on old times. Meanwhile, he got to see the beauty of the great tree city with his own eyes, and study under an older scientist that had made the first observations of the simourv species. It was a wonderful time in his life, being with the brother he loved and studying what he had been longing to study in the environment where they seemed to live. For two years he worked hard, but enjoyed himself, and Rhett whipped him into fighting shape, worried that his brother would not be able to defend himself. He learned basic combat skills, although he hoped in vain he would never have to use them.

When he was twenty-two, Rhett caught wind of a hunting expedition going up into the mountains. He quickly signed his brother up for the search, only telling Gellen after he had already been approved for the team. 'It'd be good for you,' Rhett encouraged his younger brother with a rough clap on the back, 'So don't be mad at me... isn't this what you've always wanted to do?' So Gellen joined the expedition as an acting scientist of the group. It all went as according to plan as they climbed into the mountains. There was a sighting of one blue simourv, but nothing interesting to report for a long time. He and the rest of the group lost contact with the outside world. And then they stumbled upon something they hadn't expected... a nest of eggs being guarded by a dying large grey simourv. Gellen took post to guard a medium-sized egg after the death of its mother. He knew he wasn't the best fighter, more sought of by the team for his brain than for his survival skills, and so guarding one egg would be as much as he felt he could handle. Little did he know after a year and those eggs hatched the black Alianph would be produced from the one dappled egg he had chosen to guard.

Alianph was born smaller than his fellow black-colored siblings, but he grew more rapidly than all his siblings beside the grey Eceph. He had a confidence and regal quality that helped Gellen (now G'len) get over his initial fears of being considered the weak or brainy part of the group. As the group of hunters now trained to be a group of riders, naturally far from civilization, G'len tried to relay what information he knew about the creatures from his studies. Meanwhile, Alianph was encouraging of his clutchsiblings, helping those who were not as brave. G'len tried to do the same for others, encouraging them with what information he could spare while at the same time accepting instructor to better his fighting skills. However, when their simourvs fledged and began to learn to fly, G'len and Alianph struggled greatly. They eventually caught up, but at first they lingered far behind their peers in learning how to flight together correctly. This may have been partially due to Alianph's great size. He had shown himself to be the second largest of his clutch, and the largest male, and had long surpassed his siblings in growth.

When the Eyrie was found, G'len was not so sure of moving there. He missed his brother, and although Alianph's presence was a calming and loving one he wished to see his family again. But Alianph convinced him otherwise. It would probably be best they move, he finally decided after giving it much thought. The world of Pohono may not yet be ready for them. So he moved with the others, helping in the organization with the now very strong and regal Alianph at his side. The black simourv had now become accustomed to being somewhat in charge of his smaller siblings, taking a high road of making sure squabbles were resolved quickly. All was peaceful for a while in the Eyrie until the xymokoxi attacked. G'len, never having encountered the vicious creatures so close face-to-face before, was certainly frightened, although he kept a calm demeanor. Alianph helped give him strength. Together the two fought against the demons that sought to harm them and those they protected, with Alianph supplying the great strength and stamina and G'len supplying supporting blows here and there and acting as the strategist and eyes. They worked well together, and there were minimal casualties. Alianph saw it as a great victory, but G'len saw it as a great loss. While he knew these evil creatures were cold-blooded killers, he was sad to be the cause of death to anything. After that he vowed he would kill only when necessary, and that somehow with his newfound status he would find a way to find a peaceful resolution to the chronic conflict.

When finally the riders came back to civilization, the first place G'len went was his hometown of Sayaie. There he was surprised to find his brother, Rhett, a lieutenant of the guards that kept watch there. He had expected him to still be in Chydyn. It was then that he received some terrible news. Garret, their father, had passed away last winter of illness. Rhett had transferred to Sayaie to be with their mother, not wanting her to be alone. He stayed there for a while, and for a week their family, now only three, was reunited again. But it couldn't last. With Rhett and Alianph's encouragement, he and the black simourv returned to the Eyrie where, now under the rule of the grey queen Eceph and the Phoenix Ro'za, they were made captains of the northern sweepriders.

Since then G'len has continued his studies of the simourvs and the xymokoxi menace, although the latter is mainly in secret. While some of the green simourvs flew, Alianph showed little interest in flying them, which G'len considered a blessing as it allowed him to focus more on getting used to his newfound job as being a Captain.

However, late that spring when Alianph was three, Eceph rose and he finally saw in interest in giving Chase. When she chose him, G'len and Ro'za were thrust together as well by their simourvs' desires. While Ro'za seemed not wholly pleased with the match, nonetheless Alianph's victory in Eceph's flight made G'len the first Senior Commander of the Eyrie.

[Bre]

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