I am Elrond

"A stern yet benevolent organizer who often knows best, your wits are keenly fixed on aiding efforts you deem worthy."

"Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril to Mordor."

Hmm. I guess it's accurate.

Raylin

"Comedian, flutist, drummer, and probably pick pocket. He was born not long after a flood devastated the valley his people lived in. His father died in the flood and I suspect that several of his family members died in the famine and pestilence that followed. He's been on his own for a while, since he was a child, and Hedrix's entertainment troupe is now his family."

Yay! I drew an otter furry! I think the elongated torso and shortened legs worked out okay.

According to the "special" dictionary...

A very "special" dictionary. by lily22
Look up:
Definition:	One who doggedly pursues goals, no matter what the cost, in the hopes that somehow, in the end, an impossibility might be achieved; a masochist.
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

Unfortunately 'tephra' is a real word in real dictionaries (Merriam-Webster in this case):
Main Entry: teph·ra
Pronunciation: 'te-fr&
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek, ashes; akin to Sanskrit dahati it burns
: solid material ejected into the air during a volcanic eruption; especially : ASH

I must admit that both seem to fit me...

Now I'm going to go get all moody over not doing geology again. I always did like volcanology, even if I did focus more on structural geology and geomorphology.