Alexandrite 'Xander' Harth; District 1

Xander stands at 5'6'' inches tall. He has a strong upper body from weightlifting and a narrow trunk from sprinting and racing his siblings. His nose has been broken at least twice; giving him an angular appearance. Xander is not an attractive child; his life has been spent in constant compeitition. Xander has been well fed and has a strong core and a full face; but is lean and not flabby.

His blue eyes are always scanning for the next blow, squinting in concentration. His black hair is cropped close to provide least resistance in the swimming races. He has several superficial scars on his hands and arms. The most prominant scar is about the length of an apple on his left forearm, recieved the day that Jasper mastered the throwing knives. His skin is tanned from the sun; and he has no tan line on his torso suggesting that he often competes shirtless.

Xander couldn't care less about being a victor. What he cares about is making it through his adolescence without being permanetly disabled by one of his siblings. On his nineteenth birthday he plans on attempting to become a crafter of spears. He enjoys the exercises with them and feels that he could supply the games and those unofficially training for the games. He is always scanning for weapons; testing thier weight and giving an experimental throw with them. His prefered weapon is a spear; followed by a sword.

For now; he accepts his lot in life with some agitation. Nearly every nieghbor wants to be a victor; and you don't talk to those who don't. Occasionally he wishes he would be reaped; if just to get his father off his back. No, he really wishes one of his older siblings would be. Its not that he hates them or wishes that they would die, but he needs some relief from the constant training. They are vicious people, any how, perhaps they would even become a victor and give his father his heart's wish.

His father's training has saddled him with some vicious characteristics. He is quick to throw the first blow. He is always glancing to side to side; not liking the gaps in his peripheral vision. He tends to walk into the room and stand beside a larger person; someone who might strike his elder brother as a rival. Xander tends to size up people upon meeting them; guessing thier strength and if he can out run them. He has a fight - fight instinct over flight or fight instinct.

Xander prefers his friends to call him Xander; as his parents prefer his full name. His siblings Jasper and Diamond tend to call him Alexander - light; as an insult. If seen in their company; he seldom looks at them and keeps them in front of him.

Alexandrite 'Xander' Harth is the third child of Xerxes and Cobalt Harth. Xander's young life is domineered by his father's quest to be a victor in the Games; which became his father's quest to sire the victor of the Games. His grandfather had trained Xerxes from the age of four; domineering his life with 'chores' to make him quicker, stronger and resilent. His father was the eldest of three children and quickly became a bully and a brute under his father's cruel and relentless training.

Each Reaping Xerxes and his younger brothers recieved a heartfelt and meaningful conversation on the values of becoming a victor in the games. This largely hinged on being ruthless, vicious and cruel. Each year the Reaping chose another for the honor and Xander's grandfather became more zealous to make his children 'better than that embaressment'.Xerxes whole life is arranged about being 'the father of the victor', now. He courted Xander's mother, Cobalt, because her sister was Reaped in one of the Games and put up 'the best fight of the Game'. Even the children's names are selected from hardy minerals and gemstones.

Xander has an elder sister, Diamond (18) and an elder brother, Jasper (16) and two younger sisters, Amythest (12) and Garnett (10). Each child competes against one another in foot races and swimming races every morning. The lucky winner recieves an especially difficult 'chore' from thier father, such as carrying one hundred heavy rocks or making 100 bulls eye with a spear.The others are forced to compete with one another in additional races and contests.
Diamond and Jasper have become equally vicious; but Xander forces himself to win occasionally. Winning earns him his fathers praise, if a vicous blow from a sibling. Losing too often earns him stern rebukes from his father.

Xander cares more for his younger sisters, Garnett and Amythest, who see the compitition more as a game than actual rivalry. He worries that thier demeanors will change as they age and attract his father's attention. He had an easier time with his father before he was of reaping age; after all. The odds increase with each year; as his father intones into each one of them. One day; his father will have to shut up; he reasons. Maybe one day; he'll be the one to shut him up when he does become the victor. Finally; the better of his vicious elder siblings.