MASTER SMITH KRONEL

Persona : Kronel
Writing Status : PC/Active
Gender : Male
Age : 46
Rank/Craft : Master Smith
Residence : Ierne Island Weyr

Physical Description : The Weyrsmith is a large man, both tall and well muscled, perfectly suited and well trained for the hard physical work at the anvil. In a crowd, he can easily be distinguished from the shorthaired riders by his long mane of blonde-streaked hazel hair. At work, he usually restrains it in a ponytail to keep it out of the way, but as soon as he leaves the smithy, his headband wanders into one of the numerous pockets in his overalls. His hazel eyes seem to be dancing around constantly, taking in every detail of his surroundings with intense analytical interest, and contrasting his otherwise rather stoical stance.

Personality : Kronel prefers to be the calm and observing presence in the background... as much as a man of his bulk can possibly fade into the background. He doesn't talk much and doesn't like to be pushed into the front row, but if the need arises to coordinate a project, he'll be a talented and well-respected leader. His life's love is his work with his family a close second after that. Many turns of passionate study have made him a competent crafter, firm in all aspects of smithing, and he is still eager to learn every new method that crosses his way. If family life gets too tumultuous for his liking, he seeks refuge in his workshop, spending whole nights on his newest projects with never abating enthusiasm.

In his free time, he enjoys a good glass of wine, especially if it's a Benden, and he is known to unerringly identify his favorite vintages by tasting. After several glasses of wine, he might even be persuaded to engage in arm-wrestling matches, much to the delight of the gambling Weyr population. Only a few have ever been able to beat him. Despite his physical strength, it is not easy to provoke the stoical smith into an argument or even a fight unless he is forced into protecting his family. He shows a lot of patience, and sometimes his nerves seem to be made out of the steel he's working with. The only things he truly fears in life are his wife's wrath and having to change the diapers on his crying younglings. His kids, though, love the good-natured smith and enjoy every moment they can manage to get their father's or fosterfather's undivided attention.

Life Story : Kronel was born to dragonrider parents and grew up as a Weyr brat. He showed an intense interest and talent in everything technical very early on and was soon known to craft useful gadgets for his friends and the Lower Caverns workers. In contrast to the other boys around him, he never dreamed of becoming a dragonrider. He always pictured himself doing craftwork so he was completely taken by surprise when he was asked to stand on the sands. He plainly refused, much to his parents' dismay, and begged again and again until they let him follow his dream of getting apprenticed to the SmithCraft. The CraftHall gladly accepted the talented boy, and he walked the tables to Journeyman rank just a few turns after joining.

Shortly after acquiring his Journeyman knot, Kronel met his wife-to-be, Alionette, at Telgar. Soon after that first meeting, the girl started showing the first telltale signs of a pregnancy. Pressured by her father, the two young people got handfasted. While Kronel journeyed from one assignment to the next, visiting his young wife as often as possible, it seemed that every single one of his visits left her pregnant. Soon, two sons followed the firstborn daughter into the world of Pern. The pair's forth child and second daughter was born with a defect that left her simple-minded and slow in her development, causing some trouble and sorrow for the young mother. Nevertheless, Alionette always refused to give any of her children away for fostering. She even took on foster children in addition to her own, finding solace in the sheer number of kids and toddlers around her while her husband was gone. By the time Kronel finally settled down with his family at Telgar, his wife had accumulated six children. A twin set of girls followed in the two turns he needed to walk the tables and attain his mastery at the age of 34.

After his promotion to Master's rank, Kronel moved his already quite large family to Crom where he planned on working closely together with the Minecrafthall. It was a chaotic event that came close to traumatizing him. The following turns added three more kids to his ever-growing family, his eldest daughter was Searched for a clutch at High Reaches where she Impressed, and the two oldest sons apprenticed to the SmithCraft to follow their father's footsteps. When the new Weyr on Ierne Island was established and crafters were searched to fill the open positions, a whimpering Master Smith at Crom found himself reluctantly agreeing to his wife's enthusiastic approval of moving south and into a Weyr. Defeated and unable to deny her wish, Kronel packed his belongings together and, with a lot of whining and logistical effort, got his huge family onto a boat and headed south, swearing by the time they had arrived safely that he'd never ever do another move again!

The family settled into one of the weyrs because the cavern complexes put aside as crafter quarters weren't big enough to accommodate all of them, but things still became crowded. Although the two oldest boys Alkron and Alionel were moving into apprentice quarters as well as the twin girls Vrena and Sena, who apprenticed to the healercraft upon their arrival at the Weyr, Alionette's passion for children caused her to eagerly take on several fosterlings born to dragonriders and filled the small space they had gained. She kept insisting on feeding her family herself instead of letting them take the common meals at the dining cavern, and her good cooking soon attracted the newfound friends of the kids, crowding her kitchen at mealtimes with -- much to her delight -- childish laughter and chatter. Kronel good-naturedly put up with his wife's tendency to accumulate a pack of children, although he soon made it a frequent habit to get home too late to take the meals with his family and to sneak off to his workshop as much as possible.

Last updated on 10-Aug-03