The nephew of Lord Sterling, Essiach was raised at Ista Hold along with his sister Lisyana and a few other siblings. His parents, Yalanda and Aleister, fostered him off to Tillek's Master Sea Hold when he was about ten Turns old (funny how they didn't foster Lisyana off. Can you say favoritism?), and like a true Istan he took to the Craft and became an able-bodied apprentice not long after. Tillek became his second home, and the ocean his first love.
When he was promoted to Senior Apprentice, he was posted back to Ista Hold. After seven Turns he was finally reunited with his home Hold but it was to be a short-lived stay. Even still, he managed to run into an old flame, Ona - or rather Iona, goldrider up at Fort. But as always, their time together was spent one half arguing and the other half making up.
Not long after settling back into Ista Hold, Lilyth rose and was caught by Q'luin's Zhoreth, and among those searched from the Hold were little sister Lisyana and her friend Jorlen, who Essiach believed to have less than noble intentions with his sister (and still does). Thankfully, good ol' cousin Q'luin provided a solution to the problem of poor, little innocent Lisyana being at the Weyr unsupervised, and dubbed Essiach a co-Candidate alongside her and Jorlen.
On Hatching Day, Essiach Impressed Desert Labyrinth Brown Shaarth, becoming E'siac. Where E'siac was young and energetic, Shaarth was an old soul who preferred to sunbathe and contemplate life and existence than join his rowdy clutchsiblings. While Shaarth didn't tend to see eye to eye with his peers he quickly made a place for himself amongst the old, aging, gossip-mongering dragons - and it was that elderly, sensible (*snort*) influence that slowly began to chip away at E'siac's wild streak (and possibly his sanity). And if Shaarth wasn't enough to drive Ess to insanity, the sporatic visits from Iona were certainly something wearing down his sensibility.
Shortly before graduating from Weyrlinghood, E'siac's father was lost at sea. Remnants of his ship washed up on Southern's shores but the body of Lord Sterling's brother was never found. A search for him was called not long after the shipwreck was spotted but to no avail. To add salt to a gaping wound in his family life, it came out that Lisyana was actually Sterling's daughter resulting from an affair with E'siac's mother.
Less and less time was spent with family after that, avoiding the associated feelings and discomfort surrounding his relatives. A few short Turns passed, Shaarth grew, marks were blown on countless bets, many marks more were made on Shaarth's well-informed investments, and eventually a romantic relationship developed between the brownrider and Assistant Weyrleader Tia. The two make an interesting couple, having so many bad habits in common (drinking, gambling, bickering), but E'siac survived the unpredictable moods of the greenrider long enough to have a baby boy, Esrail.
