Bartal
Sr. Apprentice Harper (Voice)

[Thumbnail picture of Bartal]
Click for 101k GIF image. Face from sketch by Humberto Ramos, rest by Steve Mohundro
Somewhat shy for a Harper, somewhat quiet for a voice-subcraft Harper, Bartal is not your average apprentice at Harper Hall. A native of the southern continent and a farmholder by birth, this young man is reserved and patient, yet harbors a wit he usually reserves for the occasional silly song.
    In his early 20s, Bartal took leave of Harper Hall a little time ago and is now trying to catch back up on his studies. A tenor, Bartal is of medium height but a bit thin—but not gawky. He's grown into the body and carries himself more as an adult than when he arrived at Harper Hall many turns ago.

How Bartal got here:
Bartal grew up like most farmhold lads - helped out on the farm with his father and mother when he was old enough, things like that. In short, Bartal had a pretty normal life up until the point when he got to know Machs.
    Machs was an aging senior journeyman harper who passed through the Hold when Bartal was about four turns old and decided to stick around. Small Hold was seated in the middle of a beautiful valley - a setting that "lent itself for inspiration" as Machs put it. Machs made a deal with Bart's father Kent: Food and lodging in exchange for education for the children of the Hold.
    In teaching the children, Machs soon saw that Bartal had a skill in writing, and quite an ear for music. Bartal wasn't gifted with the greatest voice in the world, but he made up for it with his other musical skill.
    Machs befriended Bartal and fostered these interests in the young man. Over the turns, Machs became a mentor, and Bartal became his scribe - learning how to translate Machs' compositions to hide, as well as take tunes he heard others hum and put them into notes on hide as well.
    When Bartal turned 12, Machs told Kent he thought his son had a future in the Harper Hall. By this time Kent had quite a bit of confidence in the old harper and accepted the recommendation.
    Soon after his father's turnday celebration, Machs took a travel wagon to the sea, where he boarded a Seacraft ship bound for Fort Seahold. About a sevenday later he arrived, and travelled by a couple different trader wagons to the northern Harper Hall. He was interviewed by Composition Master Natalia and joined the Harpers.

Life as a Harper:
As an apprentice, Bart first had to make the adjustment to cooler winters (and he had missed an entire summer season to go north), but he quickly found a small group of friends among the apprentices, journeyrank Harpers and Masters at the Hall.
    In between the numerous classes, rehearsals, practices of the first turn, Bartal explored the various different subcrafts. At first he took a liking to Archives, feeling a sort of bond with the quiet, antisocial-acting manner of Master Kurion.
    After being promoted to senior apprentice, Bartal realized he should solicit advice, and with the help of a journeyman and Master Caolfionn, he found that singing, voicecraft was his true talent. This, a Harper who had an average, if sub-average, voice as a child.
    Just as his voice and other Harper skills were developing an accelerated pace, traged struck. A sickness had hit his home hold in the South, infecting his mother Barla and mentor Machs. With permission from his Masters, Bartal returned home to help out at the family farmhold.
    After almost a turn, the sickness eased. Machs recovered, but Barla wasn't so lucky. But while at the Hold, Bartal filled in for Machs in teaching the nearby children. And Machs imparted some of the wisdom of his many turns of instrument crafting.
    With mixed emotions, Bartal finally left home and returned to the Hall. When asked about his mother, all he offers is, "It had to happen." But her death doesn't seem to have sulled his usual cheery nature, and Bartal returns a more introspective, but grateful young man welcomed back by his friends.

Bartal's family:
Bartal is the son of Kent and Barla, who have managed a farmhold since Kent and his twin brother Cl'rek (formerly Clark)'s parents died in a plague.
    Clark went north and eventually Impressed at Benden Weyr. Meanwhile, Kent married and had a son, Bartal. Cl'rek weyrmated with Nich and fathered a son, Nirek. Nirek is Bartal's cousin. More recently, Cl'rek and Nich had a second child, this time a girl. Her name is Carah.
   
    
               Parents (deceased)
                         /  \
                        /    \
             Nich - Cl'rek    Kent - [unnamed]
                 /\                \
                /  \                \
             Nirek Carah         Bartal
Also:Some of Bartal's compositions
Harper Hall's unofficial home page
PernMUSH's unofficial home page
[Bart Allen] Art credit: Bartal portrait art by Steve Mohundro includes portions of a sketch by Humberto Ramos done at the 1997 San Diego Comic-Con. Character of Bartal's general appearance and some of his personality, and the character of "Machs" based on DC Comics' Bart Allen (the super-hero Impulse) and Max Mercury (Quicksilver, et al).
    The use of their likenesses is without permission, but the attempt has been made to be true to the characters in a reasonable way. No profit is being made by the use of these characters.
    Bart Allen created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo 1994. All characters and the accompanying artwork is Copyright (c) 1997 DC Comics, Inc.
Text by Steve Mohundro. Dragonriders of Pern theme and setting used with fond reverence. Pern is Copyright (c) 1997 Anne McCaffrey
   

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