Characters:
 | Liesana |
| Rilna |
| Wyn |
| Morallen |
Projects:
| The Harper Biographies |
| Tips for Stablehands: |
| Physical Therapy: An Introductory Guide: |
Other Stuff:
| Character Sketch Gallery: |
Like what you see? Don't like it? Just enjoy writing emails? Regardless, send me a message at
I'll probably write back, if it's not spam or random flames.
Caramak's Story:
Caramak was born fourth of six children (two female, four male) to a couple running a small cothold in the Ruathan foothills. His early ambitions varied between the Smithcraft and the Harpercraft. While two brothers and a sister have joined the Smiths, he was the only Harper in his immediate family, following in the path of his late grandfather. He went to the Harperhall at Fort at the age of 15 where he apprenticed and fell into a mold closely resembling the usual for an Apprentice. By most accounts, his time as an apprentice can be considered unremarkable.
While he was an earnest and talented student, he became a relatively relaxed Journeyman, which suited his posting to South Boll Hold (along with the also recently promoted Journeyman Carik) quite well. After a few Turns there, he was recalled for duty in the main Hall as both teacher and performer. At this point, Caramak's life began to pick up in pace. At the age of 20, Caramak was present at the infamous firelizard hatching in the dining hall of the Harper Hall at which Malkan first presented himself to the Craft.
The situation: Malkan's father had been Lord of Crom. He died and Malkan's uncle usurped the position of Lord. Malkan then fled to Fort for sanctuary and had been stalking the grounds with his cadre of guards for some time. The Masterharper allowed the eggs of her gold firelizard, Amber Lightshine, to be Impressed freely as they hatched, allowing all present an equal and fair chance at a valuable stroke of luck. When the first bronze broke shell, Malkan pointed: "That one." The guards then proceeded to push the crowds aside and allow the not-yet-Lord to shove meat down the firelizard's throat, securing the impression. In the scuffle, Masterharper Oriana was pushed to the floor by some of the guards. Caramak, meanwhile, as one of the physically larger harpers present was contending with guards.
Once the impression was made, the guards drew back and Oriana made clear that Malkan was no longer welcome in the Hall. Interpreting his Master's instructions perhaps a shade too liberally, Caramak physically manhandled Malkan out of the Hall as the guards were caught by surprise, thinking the altercation over. After the incident, Malkan retook Crom with a carefully planned strategic assault and the Harpercraft withdrew its support and its members from Crom until relatively recently. Caramak composed a song about the incident which, combined with the personal physical contact early, gave the Lord a vitriolic dislike of the then Journeyman. Their personal animosity cropped up a few times since, usually to the discomfiture of both.
At this time, as well, the Lord-to-be of Lemos, Fletcher, was at the Harperhall. Caramak maintained a long association as he varied between the status of Student, Apprentice and eventually Journeyman with the Hall. Through an unusual chance, this connection brought Caramak into the tail end of what turned into an armed confrontation over an abduction. A holder made the mistake of borrowing money from the wrong traders. When repayment proved difficult, she was threatened and eventually went missing. It was Fletcher who discovered information pointing to her location at South Boll Hold, where Caramak had until not long previously been posted.
Accordingly, the two quickly traveled south to speak with Lady Aurora, another acquaintance of Caramak's from his days in the Hold. When they arrived, they found the dockside crawling with unsavory workers who took exception to the Lady with her guards nosing at their goods. They started an assault on the spread out group. Caramak, whose encounter with Malkan had left him just a bit paranoid, carried a particularly combat-worthy belt knife and managed to keep clear of his opponents in a corner. In pulling free a plank from a large crate, he inadvertently discovered the missing holder, still threadily alive at the time, although she died not long after. In the fighting, Caramak caused the death of one of the combatants, preparing to drop a large, heavy bale on the main group of the Lady and her guard. A rather desperate thrown knife brought the man to his knees, where the bale then fell upon him rather than the guards, and killed him. No accusations of any sort of wrongful death were filed against him by any party.
After this came the Istan hurricane which devastated the island. In its wake, Caramak was one of the first Harpers from outside the Istan Hall to visit and attempt to assess the colossal damage. In the wake of the rebuilding effort, he remained at the Istan Hall. Eventually, he transferred to Ista Weyr. In and around this change of venue, he met a girl, Katryna, who was briefly an Apprentice but ran off, resurfacing at the Weyr. The two of them spent several Turns together, and a daughter Caryna resulted, although there was no handfasting. Around this time, he was promoted to Master in performance and instruments. (Stories still occasionally resurface about the newly promoted Master dancing with a particularly masculine bronzerider who had been blackmailed into attending the day's Gather in drag, and the subsequent reversal of the roles at a subsequent Gather to be fair.) Eventually, distance grew between Caramak and Katryna, however. Caramak returned to Ista's Hall with his daughter.
As Turns passed, he slipped gradually into the role of an administrator, eventually taking on the mantle of crafthead for an increasingly large outpost of the Harpercraft. Eventually, he started a new relationship, this time with a Journeyman who had joined the craft relatively late in life, Teraille. It was some Turns before they handfasted, but they are so joined now, with a young son, Terik. Caryna has moved to the HarperHall at Fort long since and has been promoted to Journeyman with a specialization in the dramatic arts: theatre, voice, public speaking and so on.
In the intervening time, there have been other incidents of interest, such as Malkan's appearance on the island, twice. Once, he was searching for his missing, run-away daughter who had sought refuge at Ista and a second time when the Lady Efette was for a time confined by the mind Healers in the wake of a difficult pregnancy and Lord Tave ran the Hold with utter irresponsibility. The second time, Malkan actually took command of the Hold for some days. There followed a particularly vicious, personal and cutting exchange in the Istan Hall between Lord Malkan and Master Caramak, ending with Malkan's withdrawl from the Harperhall's lands but careful orders issued to the Harpers about precautions should they leave the Hall proper. Eventually, Efette's return allowed for a brief but nasty coup in which Lady Efette's power was returned and Malkan barely managed to escape with a handful of his guards.
Time has settled Caramak, as events prove less frequently alarming, into a conscientious leader. His mild manner, no longer accentuated with occasional forays into the surprising or forbidden as marked his youth, made him a strong candidate to run the Harpercraft's newly upgraded secondary outpost when it was determined such was required by the Hall's size. His elevation to Craftsecond caused a few mutterings about the non-traditional nature of his role, but they have generally subsided over time. While he is still in demand as a particularly capable, versatile, knowledgeable and well known performer, the administration of the Istan Hall tends to occupy the majority of his time.