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Ivedrin is a Symenestra struggling to live justly in a culture facing extinction. Eschewing his race's practice of using abducted surrogates for reproduction, he instead seeks to better his people through teaching and scholarship. However, the Symenestra predicament has no easy answers, and Ivedrin's beliefs must compete with both societal and familial expectation.
He currently resides in his home city of Kalinor, where he works to educate its youth and expand the Cribellum library.
. . . . .
Ivedrin's Theme
.
Among the surface-dwelling peoples of Mizahar, few stories invoke more terror than those about the "Widows." Whispered over campfires, tavern hearths, and the beds of naughty children, the rumors warn of fearsome creatures that prowl the night, drinking blood and abducting women in order to breed poisonous spawn. However the tales may vary across the continent, they never fail to dramatize the Widows' form: willowy with gangling limbs, ashen skin, claws, and fangs - outward proof of inner abomination.
Ivedrin himself looks little different from the Widows described in the stories. As a full-blooded Symenestra, he shares his race's gracile and spiderlike shape, as well as their ability to scale surfaces and travel on all fours. Dark nails crown his fingertips and toes; though filed down for convenience, they could easily serve as claws. Even more menacingly, long fangs lurk behind cinereous lips, ready to dispense a venom that paralyzes and liquifies. Pallid skin completes the ghastly image, translucent enough to reveal the lacework of submerged veins. His hair is as colorless as his complexion; slate-gray strands fall just past his shoulders, lightening to silver around his face.
However, despite these signs of predatory heritage, Ivedrin hardly seems as monstrous as surface-dwellers believe Symenestra to be. His own bearing is that of a scholar, not a hunter. Instead of aggression, his posture radiates thoughtfulness and equanimity, inviting those nearby to share in his composure. Gentle and subdued, his expressions rarely exhibit violent passions; however, his countenance is quick to warm with smiles of welcome or encouragement. Bright amethyst eyes suggest a lucid and agile mind, and ink-stained fingers confirm a lifetime spent with quill in hand. His modest, understated clothing and the firmness of his fine-boned features speak to a young man's maturation into middle age.
Like most Symenestra, Ivedrin is the product of a surrogate - a woman stolen from the surface world and spirited away to Kalinor to bear her captors' deadly children. Ivedrin never knew this human who gave him life; both her body and her name succumbed to the poisons of Symenestra childbirth. Instead, the doctors at the Place of Purging passed him into the waiting arms of a Symenestra woman. Nestled into the embrace of his new mother Silane, with his father Vederon hovering eagerly nearby, Ivedrin was welcomed into the Hesperis Web.
The grisly circumstances of his birth were quickly and deliberately forgotten. His addition to the family was a joyous event, all the more bright for occuring in the shadow of a death. Three years prior, Vederon's first wife, Nissemin, had passed away while giving birth to their child. As an Esterian, she had rejected the use of surrogates, opting to brave the poisons of childbirth herself. While Nissemin's son, Izedor - Ivedrin's older half-brother - had survived, her loss had carved deep channels of grief into the family. For the first time in three years, Vederon and his new wife looked to the future with celebration and renewed hope. Drunk on new fatherhood, Vederon could not help but dream of who his sons would become, and the unbreakable love and unity he hoped they would all share.
Ivedrin's childhood was as idyllic as his father had dreamed. He grew into a sweet-tempered and soft child, gangly and in love with books. His brother Izedor was laconic and stubborn, but always ready for adventure. As first-born, Izedor adopted the role of protector, and took great pride in leading and standing up for his younger sibling. Encouraged to stick together, they played climbing games, went on forest and bug-hunting expeditions with relatives, and raised pet moths; they were inseparable.
In time, however, their interests began to diverge - both from each other and from their father's expectations. Izedor discovered a talent for archery and tracking, and pursued the ways of a hunter. Ivedrin excelled at writing and scholarship, eventually apprenticing as a scribe at the Cribellum library. Vederon felt hurt that neither of his sons wanted to share his profession in moth-keeping, nor their mothers' weaving. He had wanted both of them - particularly Ivedrin, who shared his role as a second son - to become his apprentices. To him, the boys' choices seemed a rejection, a second coming of the disinterest and dislike he had experienced from his own father.
While Silane would convince Vederon to come to terms with their children's professions, the following years would see a further unravelling between the three Hesperis men. With his mother Nissemin's fate in mind, Izedor became staunchly pro-Harvest and pro-surrogacy like his father. Ivedrin instead flirted with Esterian ideas, attempting to investigate his human birth mother. In the course of doing so, he became interested in the life stories of surrogates, and began taking notes and dictation from Kalinor's captive women, eventually deciding they deserved a more venerated place in Symenestra society. This prompted argument in the family and intense efforts at dissuasion on the part of Vederon, but the resistance only backfired; the more adamant Vederon and Izedor became, the more Ivedrin - curious and academic - felt compelled to understand opposing stances.
The issue came to a head when Ivedrin insisted on traveling to Lhavit, his birth mother's original home, in order to obtain new books for the Cribellum and to better understand the relationship between the Symenestra and the surface world. When he could not be talked out of it, Vederon appealed to Izedor to accompany his naive younger brother, who he feared would stumble into trouble among the surfacers. Out of familial duty, Izedor agreed. However, as a newly-married man, he took the opportunity to conduct a "Harvest;" in Lhavit, he seduced a surrogate to bring home for his bride. A blow-out argument between the brothers ensued: Ivedrin was outraged at his father and brother's deception and sick of being treated like a child, while Izedor, missing his wife, was frustrated to play babysitter for someone sympathetic to surfacer "meat." Izedor soon departed for Kalinor without his younger brother. Ivedrin did not return for a season afterward. Their relationship would never entirely recover from the incident.
Only with the birth of Izedor's first child did the rift between the brothers smooth over for a time. Ivedrin shared the joy of his niece's arrival and finally understood, first-hand, why so many Symenestra webs chose to harvest surrogates. He also began to comprehend his own complicity in the Harvest. As a scribe, the knowledge he found, recorded, or generated would be weaponized in order to capture and rape surface women. While he grappled with this, and while Izedor focused on expanding his nascent family, Ivedrin began to tutor students in addition to scribing at the Cribellum. Their energy and abilities impressed and inspired him, and he soon realized that investing in their growth was the only way for Kalinor to have a future. Having discovered his talent for amicably navigating the surface - a skill that many other Symenestra did not have - and wishing to better teach his pupils about the world, Ivedrin departed Kalinor for Zeltiva, where he began studying anthropology at the city's university.
During his studies, he became enamored of Zeltiva's Wright Memorial Library, and copied books there with the hope of expanding the Cribellum and making it just as large. He also befriended Jan Mariness, a Zeltivan scholar who became determined to visit Kalinor. Suddenly, Ivedrin's scholarly trip was transformed into a gleaning - the Symenestra custom of inviting foreign experts into their home.
When Ivedrin graduated from his courses and returned to Kalinor with Mariness (and many books) in tow, it again stirred up the qualms he'd felt after his trip to Lhavit. His activities - though academic rather than martial - made him complicit in the Harvest he despised. After a great deal of thought, he decided that his work was worth it, no matter how the knowledge would be used. It would be up to him to educate young people to use the information reponsibly, and to make choices about the future that would be right for them. Only with the best education possible could Symenestra children survive and change their people's destiny. With this conviction in mind, Ivedrin began to lecture alongside Rowina Arctium at Mene Madras, Kalinor's school.
Meanwhile, Izedor had harvested again, prompting the birth of his second child. His familial bliss spurred questions about Ivedrin's own future. Would he marry, and did he want children? Ivedrin alternately wrangled with or evaded the question for years, a practice his family tolerated until he broached thirty. At this point, his indecision had become an impediment to Izedor's life; Izedor's duty as first-born demanded that he harvest for his brother before trying for a third child for himself. Wishing to help his brother and repair their relationship - and sick of waiting for the time to be right - Izedor approached his sibling and asked him to make a decision. Ivedrin turned down the offer of a surrogate on the spot, and explained to Izedor that he would probably never wed. He dismissed Izedor from ever harvesting for him.
Izedor was unprepared for this answer. Feeling shocked and rejected, he demanded an explanation. Another argument about their values came to boil, underpinned with old hurts and the pain of their lost connection. Ivedrin laid out his views completely: his dislike of the Harvest, how he thought it could never fully restore the Symenestra, his interpretation of Viratas' commandment to respect all those who bore blood, his wish to acknowledge surrogates in web bloodlines, and his desire to incorporate half-breed Symenestra into the culture more fully. Stunned at the extent of his brother's radical ideas, Izedor left before they could approach reconciliation, and departed Kalinor to attend to the Harvest at the end of that winter.
Ivedrin has not seen his brother since, and nervously awaits his return at the festival of Notok. In the meantime, he has dedicated himself completely to teaching and mentoring his students, niece, and nephew. Despite the pressures from his web to sire, the weight of his father's grief, and the rift with his brother, he strives to look to the future with hope, always believing in the next generation's power to change the future. It is his mission to bring that future to bear, no matter the juggling he must do between his beliefs and his society's expectations.
Languages
Symenos (Fluent) Common (Basic) Shiber (Poor)
Skills
Teaching
20/100
Novice
[20 SP]
Writing
15/100
Novice
[15 SP]
Anthropology
15/100
Novice
[15 SP]
Acrobatics
10/100
Novice
[10 RB]
Lore
History of the Symenestra [SP] Lore of Religion: Viratas [SP]
Racial
Night Vision Corrosive Venom Wall Walking
Gnosis
None
Starting Items
Heirloom: The Hesperis web's copy of the Viratassa. The family's genealogy is recorded on the inside of the front cover.
Small Kalinor home: Kalinor's permanent homes are made from stalactites or stones that hang from the cavern's ceiling. There are no windows, and rooms inside are separated by hanging cloth. The home is roughly 20x20 in size, pear shaped, and includes a hearth, bunk, chest, chair, and small table.
Ledger
Entry
Amount
Total
Starting mizas
98 gm 10 sm 100 cm
2 Journals
-6 gm
92 gm 10 sm 100 cm
3 Ink vials
-6 gm
86 gm 10 sm 100 cm
5 Quills
-25 cm
86 gm 10 sm 75 cm
10 Sheets of paper
-4 gm
82 gm 10 sm 75 cm
Scrollcase (leather)
-1 gm
81 gm 10 sm 75 cm
Hourglass
-25 gm
56 gm 10 sm 75 cm
Holy symbol (wooden)
-1 gm
55 gm 10 sm 75 cm
Tea leaves (1 lb)
-2 sm
55 gm 8 sm 75 cm
3 Mugs (clay)
-6 cm
55 gm 8 sm 69 cm
Knife
-5 sm
55 gm 3 sm 69 cm
Current Mizas: 55 gm 3 sm 69 cm
Flashbacks
---
Fall 513 AV
---
[Stationary NPCs]
Vederon Hesperis Male Symenestra, age 59 Relation to PC: Father Location: Kalinor Skills: Animal husbandry (Ranekissra moth) 40, Leadership 10
As the patriarch of the Hesperis web, Vederon is responsible for leading the oft-squabbling branches of his family. A mothkeeper of 45 years, he presents a respectable and hard-working face to Kalinor's society. Privately, however, he is a sensitive and emotionally volatile man, saddled with lingering grief over his first wife Nissemin's death and frustration about the growing rift between his sons. Stubborn and easily suggestible at turns, his current wife Silane tempers his judgments as patriarch, proving her to be the true power behind the web. In contrast to his first wife's Esterian philosophies, Vederon has become a staunch supporter of the Harvest due to her loss, and his family decisions are heavily weighted towards Symenestra tradition.
Silane Hesperis Female Symenestra, age 53 Relation to PC: Adoptive mother Location: Kalinor Skills: Weaving 30, Persuasion 20
Vederon's second wife. A middle child sandwiched between two extremely charismatic and glamorous siblings, Silane quickly developed a shrewd, practical, and unostentatious mindset that carried into every other area of her life: her work as a weaver, her parenting as a mother, and her advisory role within the Hesperis web. Unlike her husband, she is extremely rational and even-keeled, and frequently uses her powers of persuasion to influence matters within the family. Though she has mostly retired from weaving due to arthritic pain, she remains a power within the web, and occupies a position as a respected older woman and inveterate gossip in Kalinor's society.
Izedor Hesperis Male Symenestra, age 35 Relation to PC: Elder half-brother Location: Kalinor Skills: Hunting 25, Archery 15, Seduction 10
Izedor is Patriarch Vederon's oldest child, borne by Vederon's first wife, Nissemin. Nissemin died in childbirth, and Izedor experiences a lingering sense of guilt as a result - it was his poison that was responsible for her death. Though grateful for his life and his mother's sacrifice, Izedor nonetheless considers her loss a sad waste. As a result, he is a vocal proponent of the Harvest, which he carries out in accordance with his duties as firstborn. Quite competent at hunting, he has completed several successful Harvests and sired two children through surrogates, which has earned him the esteem of the community. Duty and familial protection are everything to him, and his values are reflected in his unfailingly serious and uptight mien.
Jasniya is a weaver by trade. She was born from a Benshira surrogate, and loved her Symenestra mother intensely. Growing up, she always wanted to share a bond with her own children as well, so she wholeheartedly agreed with the use of surrogates in her marriage. In the face of Symenestran extinction, she knows full well that her children are blessings, and she remains fiercely proud of them, despite the fact that she did not bear them herself. She applies that fierceness to all she does, approaching her life with an indomitable inner will and resolution. Both her weavings and her speech are bold. By nature, she is more outspoken and aggressive than her husband, choosing to face her problems directly rather than keep them inside.
Erenya Hesperis Female Symenestra, age 12 Relation to PC: Niece (Izedor and Jasniya's daughter) Location: Kalinor Skills: Hunting 10, Archery 5, Trapping 5, Climbing 10
Erenya is Izedor and Jasniya's first child, born from a surrogate. She shares both her mother's determination and her father's stoicism. Confident and bossy, her parents encourage her strong attitude, hoping to shape her into a proper firstborn. She is learning hunting from her father, and will take up Harvesting duty when she comes of age.
Vetya Hesperis Male Symenestra, age 8 Relation to PC: Nephew (Izedor and Jasniya's son) Location: Kalinor Skills: Weaving 5, Copying 5, Climbing 10
Izedor and Jasniya's second child, born from a surrogate. He is much more soft-spoken than his sister Erenya, and seems to take after his uncle Ivedrin rather than his father. He has just entered school at Mene Madras. His mother hopes to eventually apprentice him as a weaver, so he can take up her trade.
Isma Female Benshira human, age 19 Relation to PC: Brother's captured surrogate Location: Kalinor Skills: Play Musical Instrument (Lute) 20, Music Composition 15, Busking 15
Recently seduced by Izedor and persuaded to enter Kalinor, unwittingly becoming a surrogate imprisoned in the Nest.
[Traveling NPC]
Jan Mariness Male human, age 38 Relation to PC: Teacher and research partner Skills: Anthropology (10), Writing (10), Teaching (10)
In 502 AV, Realizing that he had a talent for amicably navigating the surface world that other Symenestra did not have, and wishing to better teach his pupils about the world and various academic topics, Ivedrin departed Kalinor for Zeltiva, where he began studying at the city's university. He quickly became enamored of the huge Wright Memorial Library, and copied books there with the intent of expanding the selection at Kalinor's library and making it just as large.
In the course of his work, Ivedrin befriended Jan Mariness, an associate professor at Zeltiva's university. Mariness was an anthropologist greatly interested in the Symenestra, and being similarly curious and pedantic in character, the two hit it off instantly. However, Mariness' questions eventually became too invasive for Ivedrin to answer - despite his great dislike of the Harvest, he was not willing to sabotage his own race's efforts at survival by spilling the beans - and in a moment of exasperation, he responded "why not see it for yourself?" Mariness cheerily agreed, and Ivedrin's scholarly trip was suddenly and accidentally transformed into a gleaning - the Symenestra custom of inviting foreign experts into their home.
The trip home and the ensuing year of work in Kalinor with Mariness brought Ivedrin's qualms about his society to the fore of his mind. His activities - though academic rather than martial - made him complicit in the Harvest he despised. The knowledge he gained from Mariness on Kalinor's behalf would be weaponized in order to capture and rape surface women, and the knowledge he revealed to Mariness risked exposing the Symenestra's deeds if he could not convince the man to return to the surface with a positive view of his race.
![[Verified by Kraken]](./images/checkmark.png "[Verified by Kraken]")
Ivedrin Hesperis 
by Ivedrin Hesperis on April 16th, 2012, 2:24 am 