Day 2: Mercy

Those of you who have followed me for many years will probably remember the Lightsiders. But for those who are new, an explanation:

Dr. Nildro-Djunn (above, left) was an esteemed scientist on his home planet. Unfortunately, his passion for study led him to go against the laws of his society and resulted in his being banished through a wormhole to a distant and unknown planet with no hope of return. Adjustment was difficult as he was not only physically very different to the citizens of the new planet, but he knew nothing of their language. As such he was considered to be most likely some kind of oddity; a cryptid or maybe even a monster. He was held in a laboratory for many years before they finally realized he was capable of intelligent thought and even speech.

Nadia (above, right) was the daughter of two ambassadors from the planet Earth. Unfortunately, she was accidentally left behind during an emergency station evacuation and has henceforth been unable to be retrieved by the other humans. As the sole remaining human on the planet, she was placed in the same laboratory as Djunn for care and study. But Djunn intervened on her behalf. He knew by then what it felt like to be treated as an anomaly and an outcast and would not have Nadia shut away. Instead he offered to care for her.

It was a small mercy, perhaps, on Djunn's part, but because of it, Nadia has lived a life free to explore and learn about the strange planet on which she lives.

DJUNN!

Djunn is a Schiann, which is a race of aliens not from the solar system the story takes place in. They have control over wormholes because they embody Space Magic (yes, really) and can basically open rifts to different parts of the universe.

Which you’d THINK would mean they’re really good explorers and such but no, they’re typically very cowardly. So what happens is when a Schiann gets exiled, they are sent through a wormhole to an unknown planet and never allowed back (they can’t get back. Because it takes about 50 Schianns to open a wormhole and if ONE goes through, well, they’re stuck. Forever.)

Djunn got exiled.

His species have things called ‘heart songs’ which is basically just a really loud scream but every individual’s is unique (like whale songs!) and they communicate deep levels of attachment, like the soul of a Schiann. When they all sing at once it’s very loud and terrifying to outsiders. But to them, it’s the closest form of intimacy. On Thren Djunn is no longer allowed to sing because it’s too loud and too grating and no one can sense the music in the way Schianns can.

He is deeply attached to Nadia. After exile he presumed he would be detached and miserable for the rest of his life. He was kept in a Thwaren secret base for extraterrestrial study. Eventually, so was Nadia, and Djunn, as one of the more trusted specimens in the facility, was allowed to care for her. She was only two years old then and a baby, so he’s more or less raised her. 

He’s a scientist (specifically, a physiologist, although he knows some medical techniques as well) and has even been granted the title of ‘doctor’ on Thren, although not legally of course.

Schianns are honored by rings. The higher the honor of a Schiann, the more rings they are permitted to wear around their necks. They earn these rings by noble and selfless deeds. Djunn has three rings, which he earned by study and the dedication to the protection of life as a healer on his planet. 

He’s very peaceable. Schiann society does not allow for harm or fighting, unless under the very direst of circumstances. Djunn is one with his culture.

His physiology requires him to be submerged in water for at least three hours daily. He has gills to breathe through as well as lungs. If his gills dry out, his lungs soon follow and he will suffocate. He often sleeps in a water basin on the Solar Day.

For Pika:

1. What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything?

Julpikana Cataran. Julpikana is just a fancier form of Julpika, which is a very common Thwaren name. Julpikana (the fancy version) is a little bit obsolete, a little pretentious. This is why she goes by Pika almost exclusively. Her mother named her, as her mother was a stickler for the old ways in terms of fashion. 

The fact that she took her father’s family name, though, is telling. In Thwaren society it’s more common to take one’s mother’s name, however, children get a choice of which family name to choose once they reach an age where they’re old enough to decide. She chose to follow the path and Mark of her father, Bez Cataran, which was a considerably darker and more warlike path than she would have followed had she gone with the path and Mark of her mother, Selphana Almaran.

3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory?

Pika’s childhood was relatively fine. Her family was well-off, with a high standing amongst their respective groups. She and her older brother, Karu, were both best friends and bitter rivals. Unfortunately, her parents were often at odds, having differing interests, and they both tried vainly to turn the children to their side. Bez was the more successful, as both Karu and Pika ended up following his path and Mark and taking his family name when they got old enough. It ended up being rather violent, but that has to do with societal things and I won’t go into that here.

Some of her fonder memories are beating Karu in combat training. There was also a time when she and several other children were being accompanied by Bez up to the top of a nearby summit to basically be left in the wilderness for survival training, and Pika lagged behind, much to Karu’s bemusement (they weren’t friends when their father was present. They cared too much about impressing him to fend for each other) so they left her behind. Later they would set up their camp partway and rest a while. When they awoke they found that not only had Pika caught up while they were resting but she’d also set up the entirety of their camp by herself, which was no simple task with her condition. It was the first time in several years that Bez showed any pride in her, or referred to her as his daughter. 

A bad memory: the fourth year in a row she found herself dressed in the same outfit to go to their Mark’s festival of the Moon. Her mother had made her a new one, one that she was supposed to grow into. Later they would find that Pika had a rare condition that caused her to basically never fully mature. (I don’t know if there’s a human equivalent but just picture if someone stopped aging at the age of around 9 and you’d have a pretty good idea.) The fourth year was the year they started to realize something was wrong with her. She should have grown taller, started to age into an adult by this point. She never did, physically. 

4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents?

She resents the heck out of her mother, Selphana. Selphana is a difficult woman to get along with; she’s demanding, vain, dramatic, temperamental, stubborn, single-minded, and overly controlling. Bez is, honestly, not much better, but Bez’s aloofness and sense of quiet (if arrogant) pride in his children made them both turn to him rather than their mother. 

Eventually, Bez gets arrested for some stuff I don’t feel the need to go into and instead of taking their mother’s claim, Karu and Pika set off to basically make good on their father’s name. Until Karu died. And then Pika got arrested herself. When she was let loose, she had decided to break with her family and their spiteful and selfish ways, and she basically disowned herself and left. Selphana was pissed and only too happy to strike her daughter off the family record for good. 

However, even separated from her family and with a career on a space station as a peace keeper and security officer, she remains loyal to her father and still follows his example of cold justice and adherance to protocol. 

5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?

Karu (Nikaru Cataran): Pika’s older brother. He was the most important person in Pika’s life, barring her father, for a long time. Even when they fought (and they could fight like the bitterest of rivals, when it came to Bez’s approval) his presence shaped who Pika was, made her stronger and more resilient and loath to back down. 

When Bez was taken, she and her brother went from sometime-rivals to allies of the closest sort, although they occasionally still disagreed and would fight each other, it was always brief. His death was one of the things that caused Pika’s break from her family. It didn’t seem worth it without Karu. 

Fala (Faladine Almaran): Pika’s much younger half-sister. She was born of an affair her mother got into during Bez’s custody. Because Pika was nearly grown up and separated from her mother at the time of Fala’s birth, she hasn’t really had much to do with Fala and doesn’t care for her at all. They’ve met only a few times. 

6. What were they like at school? Did they enjoy it? Did they finish? What level of higher education did they reach? What subjects did they enjoy? Which did they hate?

Pika is (was?) a Thwaren Outlander, which means she and her family still live by the “old ways” basically, they live as they did before the arrival of the Braccans on Thren, their home planet. Their schooling isn’t done the way it is on Bracca, with levels and higher education, but is rather done as mix of mentoring, collective group efforts, self-education, and homeschooling. 

Her favorite subjects were history (Outlander history, they never studied the Braccan chronicles. According to Bez, Braccan books were useful only as tinder for their homing flares), law, and, surprisingly, space travel. She was also a very strong lover of combat training and learned to fight hand to hand at the age of six, eventually developing her own methods of combat that would give her aid despite her lack of height and muscle. 

8. Did they have pets as a child? Do they have pets as an adult? Do they like animals?

(For Keeva)

Thranians from Keeva’s district don’t typically keep pets, aside from sand-mokes (small, timid things that look a little like a cross between a monkey and an armadillo) and scuttlers (crab-esque creatures). Keeva and her siblings had a few scuttlers they kept, but they never really named them or kept them long-term. As an adult, she’d love to get a pet mooncreep or a fur-moke. But, she travels too much, and the Solar Day doesn’t have a lot of space.

She likes animals all right. They aren’t much fun to talk to, but they do make good companions in a pinch. 

10. Do they like children? Do children like them? Do they have or want any children? What would they be like as a parent? Or as a godparent/babysitter/ect?

(For Prilana)

She adores children. Children also adore her. She never had any of her own, but her wards (for lack of a better term) have a clutch of their own. (The children’s names are Kukuru, Ni’eldra, and Diamora.)

Had she children of her own, she would probably be as tender to them as she is to the children of her wards, however, she does not. She has created several Servux droids, who she treats as her creations, but she is not nearly as gentle towards them as they are machines and not flesh and blood. 

She claimed guardianship of Arukis after his mother’s death and had him and his Servux guardian sent to a distant space station for safekeeping, however, she is not attached to the boy and sees him only as a political tool for her own gain. She has asked 14 to have him killed a few times, when she thought it would be better for her pursuits. In general, she’s kind and loving only to the children she sees as her own, and if she does not, she can be alarmingly cold and even cruel. 

15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking?

(For ELE)

Although she rejects most aspects of servant life offhand, ELE takes great pride in her culinary abilities. She also tends to get extremely angry when anyone insults or critiques her work. Her main goal (short of showing off and stroking her own ego) is to impress Keeva. Anything else is irrelevant. 

40. Do they like energy drinks? Coffee? Sugary food? Or can they naturally stay awake and alert?

(For Nadia)

She loves them. Unfortunately, Braccans can’t taste sweets and Thwarens like very bland food. Thranians enjoy the taste of sweetness, but they use it sparingly. 

As for staying awake, Nadia’s better at it then Djunn (who requires as many sleeping hours as waking ones) or ELE (who needs to cooldown/recharge frequently lest she overheat and explode, or shut down from lack of energy). However, Thranians like Keeva don’t really sleep at all. As such, Nadia is the second most alert person on the ship.