Islands of Pern

Journeyman Smith Baylor

Name: Baylor
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Rank/Craft: Journeyman Smith
Residence: Ithaca Hold

Description: Baylor is 6' tall. He has brown eyes and brown hair, which he keeps cut relatively short so that it doesn't get in the way while he is working at the forge. He is of a slender but solid build. Turns at his Craft and a love of physical exercise have toned his body; there isn't an ounce of fat on him. A perpetual light brown scruff covers his face, and his chest, arms, and legs are hairy. He has a sensual mouth and a bright smile.

Personality: Baylor is a friendly, outgoing, and generally positive individual. This is not due to any naivete on his part -- he is perfecty aware that life is full of obstacles, losses, and even tragedies -- but rather a firmly-rooted belief that life is what one makes of it, and that day-to-day existence is a lot happier when faced with a good attitude. He enjoys a good physical challenge, and has a great fondness for the outdoors: hiking, rockclimbing, and runnerback riding are all activities he enjoys.

Background: Born on a small farmhold near Hold Balan in the Telgar plains, Baylor was sent as an apprentice to the Smithcrafthall when he was ten Turns old. His father, Baelric, and mother, Orinna, discovered at an early age that their only child displayed a peculiar affinity for the other boys and men of the neighboring farmholds. In an effort to avoid shame being brought on the family name, and in the hopes that the Smithcrafthall would "make a man of him," they decided to send Baylor away, and let his uncle Ballian, Baelric's brother and a journeyman smith at the Hall, keep an eye on him.

Although he missed his life and family on the plains, Baylor took to the Smithcraft like a fish to water. It did not, however, make a man of him in the way that his parents had hoped. On the contrary, being in the presence of so many well-muscled and hardy men (not to mention being in close proximity to Telgar Weyr) only confirmed in Baylor's mind where his sexual interests lay -- a fact which did not go unnoticed by his uncle, who, fortunately, didn't care. In this way, though he grew up mostly away from home, Baylor was not without family and emotional support.

Life went well for the young smith until shortly after he walked the tables and attained the rank of journeyman at age seventeen. It was at this time that his parents died in what was most likely a flu epidemic in the Balen Hold area. Despite the time and distance that had separated him from his family, Baylor was greatly saddened by their deaths. His loss was compounded shortly thereafter by the death of a young dragonman with whom he had begun to build a relationship.

To his credit, Baylor took the losses in stride. Rather than wallow in his grief, he chose instead to focus on the fact that life was fleeting, and that no one was guaranteed a set amount of time on the planet. Far better to live in the moment than dwell in the past or worry too much about the future. Baylor therefore took the post of a route-riding farrier for the upper Telgar region. He accepted the position not as a means of running away from sad memories, but rather as a way of getting a chance to see as much of Pern as he could. He enjoyed the lonely treks to the small, smith-less holds in the hills and mountains, and communed with the natural world as he hiked through the upland pine forests and rocky vales of Telgar. He spent eleven Turns at this sort of labor, periodically visiting the Smithcrafthall to further his expertise in his field.

During this time, he acquired the reputation of a competent and innovative smith, especially when it came to the farrier aspects of the Craft; from his childhood on, Baylor always maintained a good rapport with runner- and herdbeasts. Because of his skills in traversing rough terrain and often making due with few resources in some of the poorer mountain holds, his superiors felt that he would be the ideal person to accompany Lord Casonis to Ithaca Hold on the Western Continent. Needless to say, this excited Baylor's sense of adventure and he willingly accepted the assignment.

Last Updated: 06/28/2005