Klyd Farris

Appears in --- House of Zeor, Zelerod's Doom
Mentioned in: Mahogany Trinrose
Sime – channel – male
Name is often pronounced:  Clyde
Sectuib of Householding Zeor. (Head of the Householding) Agrees to take Hugh Valleroy into Sime Territory to find Aisha under the guise of being a victim of transfer shock. Klyd tells Hugh and Stacy that it will have to be genuine!  (From: House of Zeor, Ch 1)   Klyd's knack with individuals was, indeed, what made Zeor great among the Householdings.'  (Source: House of Zeor, Ch 3)
Description:
Hugh's first impression of Klyd was that he looked like a gaunt-winged vampire.
(Source: House of Zeor, Ch 2) 'Klyd's distinctive features,aquiline nose, sensitive lips, concerned brow, intense chin and jaw line...'
Hugh, seeing Klyd through his fear and then admiration, and eventually adamant disagreement, never really sees Klyd in any objective way.  All Farrises tend to affect people like that.  What a Farris seems is hardly ever what that Farris truly is. 
(Source:  Index card file, HOUSE OF ZEOR, Physical description of Klyd) Has a coaxing, penetrating professional voice.  Delicately boned face, dark eyes, wiry, dark hair.  A tall man, but sparsely built; not as heavy as he looked.  Apparently taller than Hugh (peers DOWN at him). Hugh is nearly 6 feet tall.
Unconscious mannerism:  running his fingers along forearms reveling in the pure sensation.
Seems to have a zlinning range of five (5) miles --- at least when approaching Need.  Sensitivity high, even for a channel.
(Source:  Index card file, HOUSE OF ZEOR -- Klyd Farris Background) --- Part of his job to turn Pen Gens into real people.  Has executed many dangerous assignments for Stacy. 
Klyd works dispensary every day so that each member of the House gets a turn with him every few months (in many other Houses, lesser channels do much of the routine work.)  Has been running Zeor, for 4 years, but still consults Grandfather and calls him "Sectuib."  Evahnee says, "It is because of his touch that we are...what we are."
Gen psychology is one of his specialties.  Says he has studied Gens intensely (so he can read emotions of Gens accurately.)  Knows the recognition signals of the Way of the Starred Cross.
Wants the Tecton to set up a Householding that is nothing but a school for channels supported by contributions (farm) from the other Houses.  Objection seemed to be the vulnerability of such a setup and its supply lines... (Speech at Imil).
Such a school is eventually set up and becomes the famous First Year camp Rialite.
Serves in role of physician/healer with Raul.  With Hugh recovering from burning when Aisha faints at the end of HOUSE OF ZEOR. 
Does many things in Zeor himself:  visited the aged, supervised, administrated, settled quarrels.  His main duty of selyn collection and dispensing.
(Source: Index card file,  HOUSE OF ZEOR, Description of Moral Character)  "dependable as sunrise."  Always manages to convey the illusion of unhurried concentration on each person he dealt with -- knack with individuals.  Skill at delegating authority.  A personage capable, efficient and busy "Yet there was something in his eyes, in his voice, in the way he walked, that said he was one of the most important men alive; he knew it, didn't particularly like it, but he accepted it."
Possesses a sort of "iron-clad self control."
"pride was only the armored shell Klyd had grown around himself to protect... what?"
His view of his place in history --- knows that somebody must provide a bridge between Sime and Gen --- Klyd is only one in a position to do this, so he MUST.
Quick, confident, powerful man.  Calm, strong, self assured, dedicated.  Could be arrogant and insufferably authoritarian, but never grasping, greedy or thoughtlessly callous.  Stubborn (which runs in the family), poetic type with words.  Is a visionary, sees where mankind can go when united -- go to the stars... and beyond.  "There is no limit to what we can do when we stop Killing each other and learn to use each other's strengths and weaknesses."  
(Source:  Index card file, UNTO ZEOR, FOREVER)  Digen's great-great grandfather.  Klyd "engineered a coup in which the Tecton had taken over the Sime government and signed a treaty with the Gen government, accepting for the channels the responsibility of preventing renSimes from Killing in transfer."  Considered the founder of the Modern Tecton.
Quote in answer to "What is the House of Zeor?" --- "Zeor is not a place or a person.  Zeor is the striving for perfection, the dedication to excellence, the realization of mankind's fullest potential --- Sime and Gen united."
(Source:  Index card file, labeled HOUSE OF ZEOR, Klyd Farris  -- Information Network)  Klyd knows a lot more than is at first apparent -- he seems to operate an information network of veritable spies, is well versed on the political situation, and is in touch with one of the secret organizations (perhaps Rathor?)  He has "twenty operatives" out checking leads on Aisha's location.  Klyd has executed many dangerous assignments for Stacy.  He sent Feleho into Andle's organization.  Knows that the "salesman" of the Halfway House was one of Andle's chief rabble-rowsers.
Knows the Way of the Starrred-Cross password and signal;  knows the Shrines are insulated; knows that these stations are watched.
Spends much of the 4 days at Imil "screening their recently purchased Gens, gathering rumors, and discreetly probing for information."  Klyd knows something about the way electricity works -- quantum theory.  Familiar with karate type of fighting (kills messenger with a hand chop to the neck.)
Familiar with Runzi tactics and methods.  He regards himself as a General directing a war.  Uses psychology terms (fixation, phobia) with ease.
(Source:  Index Card file, HOUSE OF ZEOR, Klyd Farris Character Development from Hugh's viewpoint)  Inflicting the injury on Hugh has been a tremendous traumatic experience.  Hugh sees Klyd as a man whose responsibilities were larger than his abilities, whose primary asset was an invincible self-confidence.  A man whose self-confidence has been shattered.  As Hugh recovered, so did Klyd, convincing himself that Hugh had Companion's ability. 
Category:Characters