Name/Nicknames: (Lawrence) Neil Ellison
Gender: m
Rank/Position: plumber
Age: 30
Birthplace: First Centauri

Physical Description: Normal enough looks have been enhanced by plastic surgery - unnaturally perfect capped teeth, small rhinoplasty-ideal nose, enhanced chin and so forth. Light brown hair and brown eyes, naturally rather bare-chinned though he deliberately grows fuzz in order to look more like a worthless bum. Mocking smirk a constant presence. Equally mocking, rather squinty eyes that are more observant than they seem. Not too tall, about 5’10, light to medium build beginning to put on weight from lazy, sedentary lifestyle.

Personality: Lazy rich playboy with a sadistic dedication to dashing his parents’ expectations of him. Goes by his middle name, Neil, rather than the family name that’s been passed down for generations, Lawrence. He named the firelizard Lawrence. Takes perverse pride in being an underachiever, not living up to his potential, and working in the *gasp* trades. Uses people without guilt, though does it subtly and with enough charm that he doesn't alienate them. Relishes wasting his brainpower and potential. Works as little as he can, putting things off as much as possible in favor of pursuing his own pleasures and entertainments.

Background: Neil is the son of one of the First Families, the Ellisons, who owned a centuries-old software empire and designed the first spaceship bridge computer interface. The family has always been run by ambitious, business-savvy tech geniuses. And then there’s Neil, younger son, not the heir to the family business, no interest in the family business in fact, despite the expectation that he would help his brother run it someday. Instead he made a name for himself as a playboy, slacker, boozer, womanizer, and designer of some quite good pornographic virtual reality games. Shareware ones. That last bit was the final nail in the coffin of his relationship with his family – “What do you mean, you don’t make any bloody money off of them?!” True to his lineage, he has a quick, keen mind capable of incisive thinking, canny insight, and shrewd business sense. These endowments go completely wasted, at least by upstanding-productive-citizen standards, on frivolous programming, tricking women into bed, and fooling about with fast sleds.

Though his trust funds made work largely unnecessary, Neil amused himself by training as a plumber after barely graduating from high school; and that, he gleefully avers, is his career. To business moguls like his dad and brother, such a low-respect tradesman’s job was abhorrent - which was exactly why Neil did it. No Ellison had ever gotten their hands dirty doing such grunt work since the first Lawrence J. Ellison founded the software company that expanded to become their empire! Another source of family pride was the fact that no Ellison had ever emigrated from First Centauri to another colony; they were a family to contend with on First, one of the ruling class such as it was, and had made the perfect life for themselves as one of the benevolent Mafioso-esque First Families. So of course, ditch Centauri was what Neil did next. A colonial mission to a backwater world with no business prospects whatsoever? Brilliant! His family threw their hands in the air and said good riddance. He got in as a charterer, having cashed in all his assets for credits (his father nearly had an aneurysm), and since arriving on Pern has had to do far more work than he likes, installing the plumbing for first Landing, and then New Landing.

Threadfall disturbed Neil, but as it’s an unpleasant thing to think about, he doesn’t. None of his family came to Pern, and while he knew people who have died in Fall, Neil’s personality rarely allows for more than shallow fair-weather friendships, the kind that are ideal as squash partners but not for confiding your deepest feelings to. Thus he was saved from suffering any real trauma. Since Thread he, like most people, has felt an increased urge to affiliate, but his own habits and patterns get in the way of establishing meaningful relationships. Oh well, Neil is willing and able to ignore this lack! Since, as a rich boy, he got a brand new shiny cherry-red airsled (Jaguar’s latest sports model) for his 16th birthday, Neil is quite a good pilot (he crashed plenty of vehicles back on First, but he’s more careful on Pern because of the irreplaceability of the machines) and so flying a sled in the squadrons is how he does his part in the fight against Thread. He’s fathered more than one child but either doesn’t know or doesn’t care. He smooth-talked his way past the Candidate Review Board and into the ranks of the candidates mostly because he thinks that a jumped-up lizard seems like a handy and amusing possession, once it gets big enough to be useful. Sentimental, Neil is not.

Family/Friends:
Father: Jason L. Ellison, Sr, 81, retired businessman turned consultant, FC
Mother: Charlize Ellison, 59, housewife, FC
Brother: Jason L. Ellison, Jr, 39, President of Ellison Enterprises, FC

Hobbies & Skills: Game programming, recreational sex, mixing cocktails, driving fast, making fun of people

If your persona were a song, the title: Get a Haircut and Get a Good Job (George Thoroughgood)

Pets: blue firelizard Lawrence

Dragon's Name: Qubwanth
Age: ~1 (hatched d12.m5.y11)
Color: Green
Physical Description:
Personality: