JOURNEYWOMAN GLASS-SMITH TIRMIA

Persona : Tirmia
Writing Status : PC/Active
Age : 29
Gender : Female
Rank/Craft : Journeywoman Glass Smith (Pottery)
Residence : Sonnette's Dawn Hold

Physical Description : Tall and fit, Tirmia has the sort of aquiline facial structure and upper body strength that would be unremarkably good-looking on one of her male peers. She compensates by wearing her brunette hair braided with jeweled barrettes in the workshop. On market days, she pulls her hair back into a bun and wears her finery in feminine colors. When she speaks, the hint of husk in voice makes her stand out in a group.

Personality : She enjoys irony and has a wicked streak. She's always laughing appreciatively at something, especially if it's uniquely embarrassing, and she'll laugh at herself as often as at her peers. She is very attentive to and very disciplined within her craft, and has adapted well to her male-dominated profession in part because she grew up surrounded by brothers. She has a reputation in her craft for being responsible and somewhat aloof, a diligent worker but careful never to discuss women with her male peers. She refuses to play along in the apprentices' games. She works very hard to master pottery, both because of a love for the craft and an underlying fear that someday she'll not be good enough, finally giving the men who don't want her there a reason to send her away. She can't help but feel defensive around Master Taldor.

Life Story : Born at a cothold in Telgar Hold's territory, Tirmia had only one sister, and so was raised by their mother to learn enough about running a hold that she understands many details of Sonnette's Dawn that her colleagues often ignore. As she neared apprenticing age, her home cothold required of extensive stonework renovation. As she watched the visiting journeymen and masters at work, Tirmia realized she'd discovered her calling.

In part because her parents expected favorable prices in the future, they considered the crafts to be an excellent idea. Though they expressed some trepidation at the rough and practical nature of the smiths, they acknowledged that she'd always been able to keep up with her brothers and encouraged her application to the hall. Tirmia now exchanges the very occasional letter but has not visited them in several Turns.

Tirmia trained at the master smithcrafthall at Telgar and declared her intention to become a glass smith. Her final senior apprentice project was in ceramics, specifically pottery. As a journeyman, she conducted research under a master at Southern Boll Hold. Three Turns ago, at age twenty-six, she talked her way into a posting to Sonnette's Dawn because of the quality of clay and possibility for developing new styles more suited to the tropical environment. She assumes that being posted to the south was a favor to get her away from the more hidebound attitudes of the northern holds.

At the Hold, she experiments with both structure and aesthetics in her pottery, ceramics, and porcelain, gauging the effects of firing temperatures and training holders to recognize quality work. Her wares are available in a stall at Market Day. She took an interested holder girl, the thirteen-turn old Korley, as first an unofficial assistant and then as a glass-smith apprentice.

Master Taldor coordinated Tirmia's temporary move to Green Ridge Hold to get her away from distractions while she finished her major four-Turn project in temperature research. She plans to spend her thirtieth turn revising her work under Master Whitrit before submitting the report with Whitrit's sponsorship to the northern archives for posterity. She assumes she will make her mastery on it; she has brought Korley with her and turned the girl over to the stone and metal smiths for training.

Last updated on 05-Dec-10.