Mondrian Winsor

 image made with Portrait Workshop

STATS
Name: Mondrian Winsor
Age: 21
Gender: Male

Description: Mondrian is tall but rather thin. His bones are visible beneath his skin and he doesn't look all that strong. What meat he has on him are muscles and sinew though. He has dark brown curly hair that hangs to just above his shoulders, brown eyes, a wide nose and thin lips. He usually wears clothes in colours that help him blend into the forest.  
Personality: Mondrian is conscientious but getting pretty desperate. He would prefer to live his life in anonymity, just a single worker in the grand scheme of things. But with the Baskar region in turmoil and people hardly scraping by, there is little enjoyment to be found in living. He's been thinking of joining the resistance though it is risky just to think of that. But at least he might be able to get his family some extras.  
Origin: Kyvelian, Keeland Province
Short Bio: Mondrian was born to a family of butchers. From a young age he helped at the store and with the processing of meats. As he grew up he naturally drifted into catching game as the situation around Baskar worsened. Catching enough to supply his family and earn his own living is hard though.  
Hobbies: When he is not hunting, Mondrian usually rests or sleeps. He prefers sleeping outside when the temperature allows it. 

Pets: Ria (small female hunting dog)
Drak: Plant Terasar from Baskar Castle

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STORY
Mondrian listened. Ria hardly made a sound but he could hear something being dragged or scraped. He fixed his gaze on the hole she'd wormed herself into. A few seconds later he saw her tail and back end emerge. Then her shoulders and then her head, holding a small furry mammal in her jaws. The animal was on the smaller side but you never could tell from the size of their burrow. 
"Good job!" he rewarded Ria and tossed her a piece of dried meat which she happily snatched from the air.
Mondrian put the carcass in his pack and debated whether to try again or to return to his camp site. Light was fading and though it would only be sundown in an hour, the forest got darker that much quicker. He didn't fancy a stumble back in the dark, especially as he wanted to cure the meat so it would keep longer. 
Mondrian hoped he'd catch more game over the coming days. So far his hunting trip had not been very successful. But then he was hardly the only hunter working these woods and the people in the towns and villages had not been farming as before. Raidorian knights just took what they wanted and the more plentiful your larder, the more they took. Just hunting a small mammal or two a week was easier not to mention safer. Larger game like antiloct and nurks had almost vanished from the woods in the past years. 
The young hunter arrived at his camp. He had restarted his fire within minutes and half an hour later he was smoking meat. The smell was divine but he munched on dried roots and the same jerky he'd treated Ria with. If possible he would like to save this meat. He'd been eating as little as possible and it showed in his build. Starving himself wouldn't serve him in the end, but getting by on little was proving useful. No-one hardly looked at him and certainly not the Raidorians.
He'd been thinking about Baskar and Raidor a lot over the past weeks. Maybe it had all started when he'd seen a young girl being harassed in a pub. She'd been defended by another lass no less while just about everyone else had stood by. She'd gotten aid from a stranger. Afterwards rumours had spread that the stranger was in fact a Knight from Baskar and that the forces of the ruined castle were being rallied to revolt against the tyrants. 
Mondrian knew embellishments when he heard them, but the fact remained that staying quiet against the Raidorians wasn't working. Everyone was hiding and cowering in fear and as a result they were being driven closer and closer to starvation and despair. So if Baskar was quietly gathering people to fight for them again, then Mondrian wanted to be there too. He had no fighting skills but he was quiet and fast and he knew the forests of Keeland. Maybe he would move closer to Davingford on his next trip and try to find out whether the rumours were true. 
A plan made, Mondrian made his bed and wanted to retire for the night, but a sudden sound made him tense. Rustling leaves. After nights of absolutely no encounters with predators he wondered briefly if some hungry beast has found the courage to attack a lone human. He grabbed his dagger. Ria was already up, normally she would be growling but apparently whatever was in the bushes didn't warrant hostility.
"Who goes there?" he called.
A brief silence that felt very contemplative and then a woman's voice said:
"I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I saw your fire and wanted to investigate."
The woman walked into the clearing, a tall and muscular woman with tied back brown hair wearing leather and boots. Mondrian wondered briefly what she was doing here but forgot everything he wanted to ask her when a drak followed her. A golden body with silver fur that looked regal. Mondrian was so used to hiding when knights appeared that he felt his heart freeze and his breath stall. In a fight with a knight his puny dagger would no little harm. He would just have to hope that they would just take his rabbit and leave him.
"I'm just a lonely hunter." Mondrian said, "And an unlucky one at that."
"I'm Ginevra, and this is Pirenla of Ore." Ginevra introduced them. 
The mechanic had been returning to Baskar on leave from Dawn Castle where she served. They flew by night to stay under the radar of Raidor. But seeing a fire had prompted them to investigate whether or not some illegal things were being done. Stumbling upon a lone hunter or poacher wasn't worth their time. Although....
"Wouldn't you say he has potential, Pirenla?" Ginevra asked.
The ore drak looked closely at the young man, squirming a bit uncomfortably at the attention. He was no doubt worrying about whether or not draks ate humans by now. They didn't, but with the way knights had been behaving around these parts it wouldn't be a weird rumour to go around.
"I think he would be a welcome addition to the assspirantss."
Mondrian wondered whether or not he should get away. Being judged for Raidor felt like it would be a betrayal to everyone he knew. Could he even refuse?
"I don't think I'm good enough for Raidor..." he started.
"Raidor isn't where we're headed." Ginevra interrupted him, "We fight for Baskar. Or freelance more like."
Stunned Mondrian wondered for a moment if he had understood her. He'd gone from hearing rumours to having them confirmed. In his heart he'd been convinced that none of it could be real. Years of repression being difficult to cast aside.
"Should you be telling me that?" he asked.
"We've got an eye for people." Ginevra shrugged, "Besides I doubt you could best me in a fight."
"I'm very ssertain you'd win." Pirenla agreed.
Ria barked suddenly.
"Maybe she would be more dangerousss." Pirenla added. 

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FEAST
Mondrian felt quite out of place at the mind pairing ceremony. The locals referred to it as a feast and though the grand Baskar Castle was currently reduced to a covert group of knights there were still big names attending. As a simple hunter Mondrian didn't know if he should bow to people. Although nobody else seemed to be doing that so he opted for a simple nod of acknowledgement every time someone came close. 
Luckily the draklings were introduced to the gathered humans and the event shifted to getting to know the draks with some betting about which one would pair which human. Humans were still humans and a quick gamble could liven up any event. But Mondrian wasn't betting, he did his best to mingle since he aspired to pair one of the children of Rain Jaydas and Sun Athar. 
He must have talked to each one of the draks but still wasn't the wiser until at the end of the evening, one of them proclaimed his name:
"I, Terasar shall take Mondrian as my knight."

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KNIGHT
Though a knight usually trained in the Castle of his drak's hatching, with the state of Baskar being so unstable, Mondrian and Terasar had instead been dispatched to Wilgen Castle up north. Mondrian didn't mind much. The forest was slightly different from what he was used to but not different enough to cause him trouble. 
He'd been trained High Knight Kraaje and his drak Mud Loerisph of the Maeron Armada and had just recently joined it's ranks as a proper knight. Not too long now and he would be flying reconnaissance, taking on guard duty and spar with the others to defend Icarus from the Nex Necium and whatever other threats might present themselves. 
"Don't forget we might be able to mate." Terasar added.
"Still green and already talking of ladies?" Mondrian teased.
"Haha, I'll always be green." Terasar retorted sarcasticcaly, "But at least I'm big and strong."
Hitting a sore spot for Mondrian, the young knight muttered: "Well it's a good thing then that you're on your own for flights."

Terasar and Mondrian were picked up by the Wilgen Knights
He was trained and later joined the Maeron Aramda at Wilgen Castle
Mate: --

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Lantessama Isle