Praxidera |:| Dou Eriseth |:|

Name: Praxidera

Age: 18

Season of Birth: Winter

Birth Hold/Weyr: Ruatha Hold

Time at Hold/Weyr(s): First ten turns spent at Ruatha and its holdings beholden to it, her tenth to fifteenth turn spent at Bitra, from fifteen turns on spent with a trading caravan trekking through Pernese wilderness and visiting holds.

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Bisexual

Rank: Weyrling

Dragon: Dou Eriseth

Pets: N/A







Play-By: Natalie Dormer

Eye Color: Hazel

Hair Color: Light Red/Brown

Height: 5’9”

Build:Slender

Overall Description: As a child Praxidera could be described as what the Pernese would code as extremely feminine with a well shaped face and button nose and eyes shaped in a way reminiscent of felines. She was kept well dressed in bows, laces, in frills to the delight of mothers and aunties she was fostered under. With a keenness and mischievous light in her eye and an easy if somewhat wry smile she was well received by her peers. As she bloomed into womanhood and her circumstances changed she rejected the trappings of ways that seemed to her both confining and too restrictive. She shaved off part of her hair, adopted a thinner brow to give her face more severity and expressiveness, forgot how to smile and cut with her words and cheekbones alike. Hiding behind a tough exterior was her solution and her rebellion, but as she matured in ways more mental and physical she stopped flirting with alternative style and embraced it. She kept the haircut, she changes clothes to fit the circumstance, and she crafted a Cheshire smile that means danger and to ward off those who she finds not worth her time.







Likes: Richness (whether in wine, food, or clothing), Decadence (or the illusion of), Winter, Snowflakes, Nature’s Monuments (Mountains, Waterfalls, the Ocean), Intelligence, Challenges, Fights, Her Mind Running Hot, Games.

Dislikes: Fools, Foolishness, Buffoonery, Idleness, Carelessness, Wastefulness, Enuii, Summer, Sickness, Appearing Foolish, Being Made A Fool Of, Appearing Unknowledgeable, Owing Others, Being Owed, Favors.

Strengths: Back Bone of Steel, Hardworking, Diligent, A Capacity for Loyalty and Love, Tough as Nails, Sly, Crafty, Resourceful, A Sense of Fairness

Weaknesses: Arrogance, Lies or Tells Half-Truths without Compunction, Cold-Hearted (though she views this as a strength), Capable of Cruelty (generally to drive others away, not for amusement), Impulsive (jumps at chances to put herself ahead), Her Own Worst Critic If Failure Occurs or Is Imminent.

Overall Description: Praxidera has a love for decadence and the idea of security that comes with it. She longs for the days when her life was easy and her days enchanted and full of stories and innocence of the cruelties of the world; for while she was coddled and no doubt would have grown up arrogant regardless, the cruel twist of fate that pushed her from prestige to pauper hardened her resolve to put herself first. She knows she is intelligent and capable, and hides from emotion and attachments. She surprisingly appreciates the simple pleasures in life such as mountains, rivers, and flowers; however, it is perhaps she that she knows the enjoyment of snowflakes in the air and seeing her breath in the cold air can never be wrested from her unless in death. However, she secretly longs for the comforts and coziness of a place she can call her own with fine things around her. Praxidera’s cold and calculated exterior is off-putting, but at least that is the most honest side of herself to be shown. Lavish gifts cause her to be most impulsive, anything for a drop of the life she once enjoyed. She is not so old or so learned in the world as to never be able to change, but Praxidera has learned to be prideful and put herself first to steel herself against the world and that is not a wall easily broken down. The longings for security and comfort gives her the tiniest hope for love and loyalty, but without those she will never be able to relax her personal guard. Praxidera has trouble trusting men, and while her life has not given her the luxury of emotional attachments in her fantasies she does not discriminate. She likes to look at men or women, sometimes she’ll initiate casual relationships but she does her best to lie her way all through the encounters so when she is gone the next day no one will know who she was, where she is going, or where she was from. Like a hat she’ll play a role one time and discard it for another role as easily the next day. It was a pity she never was selected for Harper Hall.






Mother:Eleondara (Deceased)

Father:Praxis

Siblings:Deceased younger brother Draxis.

Children:N/A

Background: The tragedy of Praxidera’s life was determined long before she was born. Eleondara had the distinction of being a granddaughter of old Ruathan blood, not related to ‘the’ Lord Holder but the lesser daughter of a lesser hold beholden to Ruatha. Of course, lesser Ruathans from the Lord Holder’s line would have mingled down into those lines. The family trees were long and complicated affairs, but the point and goal of Eleondara’s life was a good match with connections. She was considered to have done well to gain the attentions and affections of Praxis. He was the eldest son of a well landed Holder that produced a fine Ruathan line of runners and had smaller holdfasts and families under it. Marks were exchanged, agreements were made, fathers were made wealthier, and between the young couple the honeymooning period lasted several turns. Getting down to babies was the first stumbling block in the road to ruin. Whether the unkind rumors about Eleondara being illmade for bringing babes into the world were true or whether the ones regarding the state of Praxis’ fertility were true or some combination of both caused them both ill luck they seem destined to be without an heir. Finally, with much trouble Eleondara gave birth to Praxidera one night into the early morning as bright fresh snow fell. Eleondara was delighted and doted on her incessantly while Praxis was unmoved and impatient to try for a male heir (an unfortunate education that suggested girls were lesser or weaker in Praxis’ mind and he only thought of her as a future bargaining chip, sad to say). Praxis sent Praxidera to be fostered at the earliest opportunity which caused much strife between the very close mother and daughter, and while Praxidera was taciturn at first she soon began to play the situation to her advantage. Her mother came to visit often and the children would spend springs and the minor beholden holds and every summer at a major Hold as part of their relations education. Her father visited rarely with her mother and all she received from him was cold paternal responsibility.

Many compared her to her mother, idolizing both the beauty and accomplishment she had acquired and set Praxidera on a similar path. She excelled in her studies whether those meant to idealize her femininity in the eyes of others or more practical arts and craftworks. Her deftness did not go unnoticed by crafters who desired to wrest her from the path of marriage, but most negotiation attempts fell flat on the ears of Praxis. At home things were not going so well. He and Eleondara fought constantly about Praxidera’s welfare, and Eleondara miscarried thrice over the ten turns Praxidera had spent at Ruatha. A disease had begun to strike down his most prized runner stock and they were bleeding marks, falling through on deals, turning in favors or finding they no longer had them. Praxis turned to gambling and then he was caught rustling runners. He was turned out of Ruatha and overnight Praxidera was an outcast, a stain on the world that could not be scrubbed out; mostly because Eleondara cheated her out of a life by deciding to abscond with Praxis and take the child Praxidera with them. Finding holdings in Bitra was a blessing and a curse. After several months living holdless the terror of being robbed and killed was over, but living in Bitra was a hard life. They all scraped and scrambled to make ends meet. Praxidera could have easily been unable to adapt and perished, but she dug in her nails and the older she grew the more daring she grew. She ran card games to cheat people out of marks, she used her arrogance to bluster her way through and make fake deals, and run scams. She did it for her mother who after falling pregnant was confined to her bed. The fall had turned cold earlier than normal, food was scarce, Praxis took all of their income to try and gamble and drink his way back into wealth, and just before the winter of her fifteenth naming day Eleondara died giving birth to Draxis.

Praxidera hated everyone. She hated Eleondara for ruining her life and then abandoning her in death, she hated Draxis’ squalling mouth and uselessness, and most of all she hated her father for ruining every aspect of life she had ever held dear. She was old enough to have connived the truth of their condition from those who loved old gossip and new and never grew tired repeating it. Despite her hate she poured her energy into Draxis for her mother’s sake, but in the end a wasting sickness took him six months after he was born. Sick with grief and fueled by hatred she never returned from the healer she took her little brother too. ‘Let Praxis rot on wine and poverty’ she thought, she struck out on her own. Praxidera had learned how to do everything she could to make a mark, play cards, sing, make wagers, make promising bets, cook, clean, and so she indentured herself to a travelling caravan. It wasn't pretty. It was mucking after herdbeasts, cooking meals, performing days and nights, roughing it, but with clean air and a small bunk to her own she tended her injured heart in silence and no longer with despair. She came to pity Eleondara and Draxis, but she swore if she ever saw her father again she would put poison in his food or a dagger through her heart. She worked hard, scrimping and saving, learning whatever anyone would teach her with the caravan. Praxidera used put her marks were her arrogance was and made herself invaluable whether it was monetary, in secrets, or in skills. She would never sink so low as her days in Bitra.

However, while she entertained dreams of luxury and of at least a wagon to herself those plans were not meant to be. It could have been anywhere the caravan had traveled really considering the plans of Sabishi, but her unlucky moment came at Nerat. Praxidera was deftly executing her duty as information gatherer which could be more invaluable than the fish and while Praxidera realized the person she was speaking to was playing the same game as her (though far more poorly) she did not take it as a serious threat. Information was information and she knew how to give a little (especially false details) to get a little. What she was not aware of was that she was being judged on the likelihood to impress a dragon, and that this good likelihood would rip her from the heart of the difficult but comfortable life she had carved out for herself. When she was overpowered and whisked away to the weyr she was furious, but she has not immediately tried her hand at escape. Praxidera is confident that with time she will find her way out, but rebels under the weyr structure though she has begun cooperation to lull them into complacency. She knows that getting out and taking a wealth of knowledge with her would make her invaluable to any hold, and so she bides her time. Only time will tell what the future holds. After impressing and mingling with those at the weyr she desires less her personal freedom though she still covets it and desires more to make an impact that will never be forgetting, especially regarding the kidnap of candidates. She intends to not back down, but she isn't laying her whole hand on the table yet either. Praxidera knows how to bide time and make connections and that is exactly what she will do.

Impression was a surprise, but it hasn't softened her heart to the weyr. She isn't one to forgive slights easily and with an equally zealous partner at her side in Eriseth she is imagining new ways to have her cake and eat it too. There is, for example, the mysterious High Reaches Weyr which she considers information that is prized and worth the taking if she can swing it before someone else with a more mature dragon beats her to the punch. While she is realistic in her chances for upward mobility considering the size of her dragon she also doesn't discount any possible prizes other abandoned weyrs might hold as well. Nor is she wary of cultivating the emotional attachments of others that could afford her such wiggle room. She is extremely grateful to have Eriseth as a partner, but she feels wronged by the lack of choice the weyr gave her and that she won't forget. No doubt the caustic attitude will be noted and applauded by some and create detractors elsewhere, but she isn't worried. Praxidera will be the spider in the center of the web one way or another, and while she waits for Eriseth to grow she has very definite ideas of what she will do in the interim. If her life had gone a different route she might have been grateful and at peace, but too many times she had no say in which way her life would go and this was perhaps the cherry on top of that very bitter pill she has had to swallow time and again. One should be careful not to mistake the natural adoration and love of a dragon pairing for cooperation and compliance. Praxidera isn't the type to give up until she has exhausted every possible avenue, and she still has quite the list to exhaust as she has barely even gotten started.