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Name: Wirretu Fennettle
Sex: Male
Age: 59
Hair Color/Style: He has very dark, charcoal grey hair, intensely curly and still very thick. He cuts it fairly short, maintaining it between two to four inches. He keeps his sideburns a bit shorter, but they widen out into a pair of thick, almost luxurious thick mutton chops that sprout in broad curls from his cheeks and jaw.
Eye Color: Green.
Skin Tone/Pattern: His skin is a dark liver brown with a greyish undertone. It's unmarked, aside from a few old, minor scars, most of them faded and none of them prominent.
Other Physical Details: He's on the short end, just under 5'10", and stockily and broadly built, but not muscular. His face is round, particularly in the cheeks, and he has a rather bulbuous nose. He's starting to become arthritic.
Occupation: Herbalist and healer.
Skills: He has a lot of skill and experience at herbalism, alchemy, and medicine, particularly when it comes to illnesses and internal imbalances and other things that can be resolved by dosing, though he is, logically, much better at dealing with known conditions than exotic new diseases. He's also an old hand at bone-setting, stitching, and other forms of simple trauma treatment, but he doesn't have much education or equipment for dealing with internal damage or other forms of complex trauma and can only provide pain relief and supportive care.
Personality: Gruff and old-fashioned, Wirretu is an exemplar of the 'tried-and-true' Serra attitude. He trusts that what's worked for those who came before him will work for him; he can't be so sure about new innovations and unknown substances, so he's loathe to lose time, and potentially even patients, by experimenting when he already has a known response at hand. What might work better might also work worse, after all. Even when presented with entirely new afflictions, he prefers to find their similarities to known conditions and try the appropriate cures (though he's willing to try moderate variations on those time-tested recipes if they fail to answer for a new problem). This attitude carries over into his day-to-day life, and in fact it's hard to tell from which direction his staid, hidebound tendencies actually spring. He's a definite creature of routine: keeping his schedule as regular as his occupation allows, frequenting the same establishments for years on end, sticking to a rigid diet, even gathering his herbs from particular well-known areas of the basin. Spontaneous, impulsive people irritate him, as do most young folk (the two categories often overlapping), and he can become quite crabby when he feels pestered by them. He's not cranky all the time, though his increasingly achy bones have made him grumpier (a state which he treats in part with a growing tobacco habit), but even in his best moods he's distant and not particularly effusive. He grumbles often, but he doesn't harangue, being more short-spoken than not, and he warns, rather than forbids. And while he might criticize someone's actions and ideas, he is meticulously careful not to carry that through into criticizing the actual person--'that's stupid' rather than 'you're stupid'--which he sees as a very clear distinction between advice and abuse. He believes that everyone has to go through life in their own way, even if that way is a stupid, dangerous way, and that others' behavior cannot and should not be forced.
Brief History: An only child, Wirretu had a quite usual childhood for his generation (which differed little from the childhoods of successive generations, but not to hear him tell it). He was interested in the plants and insects of the Kala Ree basin from a young age, and it was herbalism that led him to the town's physician, curious about certain plants that his father gathered and traded to the woman. She cleverly drew him in until she could seize him as an apprentice, and Wirretu never looked back. Even once he grew learned and experienced enough to do the work all on his own, and she lost her eyesight and retired, he still looked upon her as a sort of vaguely god-like repository and dispenser of all the medical knowledge the Serra had gathered over the years, as well as a beloved mentor, and was devastated at her passing. Though Wirretu's work was sometimes overwhelming, it was always satisfying, a fulfilling enough life that he never fussed about adding a family to it. He instead became a bit of an honorary uncle to some of his friends' and cousins' children, and like most Serra in the village he stepped in whenever any child needed it, taking a particular interest in a few whose parents, in his opinion, should never have had children at all. Eventually, as he left his prime behind, he started making an active effort to attract apprentices. The first was quite talented and skilled, but had far more interest in animals than Serra, and eventually went her own way. The second was a genius at alchemy--perhaps too much of a genius, since Wirretu saw in him a worrying tendency to seek new ingredients and experiment with his potions, but if he could only rein that in, Wirretu had high hopes for him. It was with mixed pride and disappointment that he saw that student bond with a Kyrka and be whisked away into that life. After that he kept a keen eye out for another, especially as he started to feel the effects of age on his joints and bones.
Niisu: A female Alkaw, 3 feet 10 inches tall at the shoulder. She's a middling grey shade, and her white knobs are still fairly few, reflecting her youth, and rise mostly from her whithers, with a few further down her spine. Very anti-social, she doesn't tolerate attention or gestures of affection from anyone but Wirretu, and even he is greeted with impatience if he goes too far. However, certain of Wirretu's close associates may have learned the one trick that will make her acknowledge their existence: feeding her tidbits of her favorite treat (Nuru liver). She has been very firmly trained not to consider Serra either enemies or prey, which means that she usually deals with them by ignoring them or walking away, but she can be prodded into threat displays if pushed too far. Her actual role is to protect Wirretu when he goes out to gather herbs and other ingredients, and she is intensely devoted to the task, viewing any animal that gets too close as a threat. This unfortunately means that she is not safe around other pets--she might tolerate an acceptably behaved fellow Alkaw if it stayed well clear of Wirretu, but anything else is in danger around her.
Sex: Male
Age: 59
Hair Color/Style: He has very dark, charcoal grey hair, intensely curly and still very thick. He cuts it fairly short, maintaining it between two to four inches. He keeps his sideburns a bit shorter, but they widen out into a pair of thick, almost luxurious thick mutton chops that sprout in broad curls from his cheeks and jaw.
Eye Color: Green.
Skin Tone/Pattern: His skin is a dark liver brown with a greyish undertone. It's unmarked, aside from a few old, minor scars, most of them faded and none of them prominent.
Other Physical Details: He's on the short end, just under 5'10", and stockily and broadly built, but not muscular. His face is round, particularly in the cheeks, and he has a rather bulbuous nose. He's starting to become arthritic.
Occupation: Herbalist and healer.
Skills: He has a lot of skill and experience at herbalism, alchemy, and medicine, particularly when it comes to illnesses and internal imbalances and other things that can be resolved by dosing, though he is, logically, much better at dealing with known conditions than exotic new diseases. He's also an old hand at bone-setting, stitching, and other forms of simple trauma treatment, but he doesn't have much education or equipment for dealing with internal damage or other forms of complex trauma and can only provide pain relief and supportive care.
Personality: Gruff and old-fashioned, Wirretu is an exemplar of the 'tried-and-true' Serra attitude. He trusts that what's worked for those who came before him will work for him; he can't be so sure about new innovations and unknown substances, so he's loathe to lose time, and potentially even patients, by experimenting when he already has a known response at hand. What might work better might also work worse, after all. Even when presented with entirely new afflictions, he prefers to find their similarities to known conditions and try the appropriate cures (though he's willing to try moderate variations on those time-tested recipes if they fail to answer for a new problem). This attitude carries over into his day-to-day life, and in fact it's hard to tell from which direction his staid, hidebound tendencies actually spring. He's a definite creature of routine: keeping his schedule as regular as his occupation allows, frequenting the same establishments for years on end, sticking to a rigid diet, even gathering his herbs from particular well-known areas of the basin. Spontaneous, impulsive people irritate him, as do most young folk (the two categories often overlapping), and he can become quite crabby when he feels pestered by them. He's not cranky all the time, though his increasingly achy bones have made him grumpier (a state which he treats in part with a growing tobacco habit), but even in his best moods he's distant and not particularly effusive. He grumbles often, but he doesn't harangue, being more short-spoken than not, and he warns, rather than forbids. And while he might criticize someone's actions and ideas, he is meticulously careful not to carry that through into criticizing the actual person--'that's stupid' rather than 'you're stupid'--which he sees as a very clear distinction between advice and abuse. He believes that everyone has to go through life in their own way, even if that way is a stupid, dangerous way, and that others' behavior cannot and should not be forced.
Brief History: An only child, Wirretu had a quite usual childhood for his generation (which differed little from the childhoods of successive generations, but not to hear him tell it). He was interested in the plants and insects of the Kala Ree basin from a young age, and it was herbalism that led him to the town's physician, curious about certain plants that his father gathered and traded to the woman. She cleverly drew him in until she could seize him as an apprentice, and Wirretu never looked back. Even once he grew learned and experienced enough to do the work all on his own, and she lost her eyesight and retired, he still looked upon her as a sort of vaguely god-like repository and dispenser of all the medical knowledge the Serra had gathered over the years, as well as a beloved mentor, and was devastated at her passing. Though Wirretu's work was sometimes overwhelming, it was always satisfying, a fulfilling enough life that he never fussed about adding a family to it. He instead became a bit of an honorary uncle to some of his friends' and cousins' children, and like most Serra in the village he stepped in whenever any child needed it, taking a particular interest in a few whose parents, in his opinion, should never have had children at all. Eventually, as he left his prime behind, he started making an active effort to attract apprentices. The first was quite talented and skilled, but had far more interest in animals than Serra, and eventually went her own way. The second was a genius at alchemy--perhaps too much of a genius, since Wirretu saw in him a worrying tendency to seek new ingredients and experiment with his potions, but if he could only rein that in, Wirretu had high hopes for him. It was with mixed pride and disappointment that he saw that student bond with a Kyrka and be whisked away into that life. After that he kept a keen eye out for another, especially as he started to feel the effects of age on his joints and bones.
Niisu: A female Alkaw, 3 feet 10 inches tall at the shoulder. She's a middling grey shade, and her white knobs are still fairly few, reflecting her youth, and rise mostly from her whithers, with a few further down her spine. Very anti-social, she doesn't tolerate attention or gestures of affection from anyone but Wirretu, and even he is greeted with impatience if he goes too far. However, certain of Wirretu's close associates may have learned the one trick that will make her acknowledge their existence: feeding her tidbits of her favorite treat (Nuru liver). She has been very firmly trained not to consider Serra either enemies or prey, which means that she usually deals with them by ignoring them or walking away, but she can be prodded into threat displays if pushed too far. Her actual role is to protect Wirretu when he goes out to gather herbs and other ingredients, and she is intensely devoted to the task, viewing any animal that gets too close as a threat. This unfortunately means that she is not safe around other pets--she might tolerate an acceptably behaved fellow Alkaw if it stayed well clear of Wirretu, but anything else is in danger around her.
Moderators: Redbeard