Lieutenant Commander Karim

Name Karim

Position First Contact Specialist

Rank Lieutenant Commander

Stats

6 Mission Posts

Last Post

Fri Apr 15th, 2022 @ 1:13am

Basic Info
Personality
History

Character Information

Gender		Male
Species		¾ Vulcan, ¼ Bajoran
Age		28

Physical Appearance

Height		5'11'
Weight		11st 6lb
Hair Color		Black
Eye Color		Blue
Physical Description		Karim is of an average height with a slight build. Although he has the pointed ears typical of his Vulcan forebears, they are obscured by an unruly mop of thick dark hair. Bajoran ridges crease the bridge of his nose quite starkly, whilst his jaw is lined by a neatly-trimmed dark beard, which reaches around his gaunt features. Off-duty, Karim will wear typical Vulcan clothing, if he has even elected to not wear his Starfleet uniform.

Family

Father		Savek
Mother		Assistant Director T'Vel, Delta Exploration Initiative (Delta-Bravo)
Other Family		Vel Karim (Maternal Grandfather) - deceased Kyi'i - pet cat (gifted by his mother upon departure from the Alpha Quadrant)

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Upon first meeting Karim, most people have found his Vulcan visage to thinly conceal a callous, analytical, blunt and often arrogant character, that seems to show little regard for how his commentaries and actions implicate upon others' feelings, going far beyond the cool and collected logic of most Vulcans. This in itself has led many to actively avoid his company or shun him, but those that have spent more time with him, or endured situations with him, soon discover a logic to his unorthodox manner, and that he genuinely has a compassionate character hidden beneath his brooding, Vulcan veneer. He purposely seeks to learn the hardest truths about individuals so that he can break them down and reveal them, which forms part of his psychiatric - and, indeed, diplomatic - process, in an effort to expose to people that which ails or stalls them. Although this can be unpopular and is not always successful, Karim puts this down to the inherent weakness and lack of enthusiasm in the individuals themselves to improve their lot. When more time is spent with him, they realise that he is an inspired and talented individual, if scathing and unforgiving, and that he wants them to achieve their best. Those that finally grow close to him learn of a brilliant mind and good and leal friend, that is both dependable and honest.
Strengths & Weaknesses		+ Unorthodox + Passionate + Integrity + Independent - Blunt - Cruelly Analytical - Arrogant (even by Vulcan standards) - Unapproachable
Ambitions		Karim enjoys pursuing the truth, and he knows we all see the world through our own lenses. He is constantly trying to strip himself and others of those biases, to get a clean, objective view of things. Ultimately, he is seeking to achieve this with himself and those he comes into contact with, although his fascination with other cultures leads his scientist's heart.
Hobbies & Interests		Although Karim typically prefers the company of himself and his own books, he has been known to seek out others as part of his ploy to analyse and critique them. On a more personal level, he is particularly fond of kal-toh and is a talented Ka'athyra musician.

Personal History		Karim was born on Bajor and named for his maternal Bajoran grandfather, a freedom fighter that had been killed warring against the tyranny of militant regimes. Nevertheless, Karim spent the vast amount of his life amongst Vulcans, on Vulcan, learning the Vulcan way of being, becoming a studious adherent to the teachings of Surak. His mother, a half-blooded Vulcan, had turned away from her mother’s culture by the time she gave birth to Karim, and was in the infancy of her Starfleet career, shortly before the outbreak of the Dominion War. Whilst T’Vel made great efforts to be a present and supportive mother to her son, having long-struggled with her identity as a Vulcan on the homeworld, her career and the war (which prompted a move from Bajor to Vulcan at a young age) obstructed this, and Karim was subjected almost exclusively to his father and grandmother’s parenting. Although this would cause some strains between the mother and son, they shared a great deal of common interests and character traits, having a scientific fascination as well as a direct manner with people. As Karim reached his adolescence, he would often quietly enjoy (although never expressed) his time spent aboard the vast space explorers his mother served aboard or commanded, and began undertaking distance Starfleet Academy preparatory courses. When he was of an age, Karim entered Starfleet Academy, undertaking preliminary foundation medical courses, before specialising in psychiatric and diplomatic fields. This led to an additional year’s tutelage as an intern at Starfleet Medical, prior to achieving a commission at the junior lieutenant grade, and a posting to the deep-space scientific vessel, the USS Rhea, where he served as a counsellor. Due to his stern and critical manner, as well as direct and arguably callous or arrogant approach to his patients and general interactions, Karim won himself few friends at either the Academy or aboard the Rhea, although he rapidly established himself as a competent and honest officer, with an aptitude for efficiency, and a surprising degree of concealed compassion, as his reports and latter-day interactions with colleagues revealed. Nearly every senior officer that served with Karim, despite initial reservations, provided beaming reports regarding his unorthodox but capable approaches to both diplomacy and counselling. From these recommendations and being spotted by members of the admiralty that Karim was assigned to the Diplomatic Corps. Whilst he operated without a portfolio officially, Karim regularly travelled within, without, and to the furthest reaches of Federation space, interacting with over two dozen separate species on a formal diplomatic basis. During this time, as had occurred on the Rhea, Karim was involved with, or even responsible for certain elements of, several first contact events – a career development that mirrored his mother’s, with the pair even having certain interactions with another on a professional basis. By 2399, Karim, having spent some time working directly for certain members of the admiralty to review the suitability of command candidates, was requested to assist in the assessment of Commander John Harrison and the proposed crew of the USS Adelphi, a potential exploratory vessel for the Delta Exploration Initiative with an untested crew. It was ultimately agreed that this review would be an ongoing endeavour, with Karim assigned to the Adelphi formally, as both the ship’s counsellor and first contact specialist. Unexpectedly, this placed Karim indirectly under the command of his mother, Deputy Director of the Initiative.
Service Record		2389 to 2390 - Student Officer (Foundation Medical Sciences) - Freshman - Starfleet Academy 2390 to 2391 - Student Officer (Interspecies Protocol & Dplomacy) - Sophomore - Starfleet Academy 2391 to 2392 - Student Officer (Psychiatry) - Junior - Starfleet Academy 2392 to 2393 - Student Officer (Psychiatry) - Senior - Starfleet Academy 2395 to 2396 - Behavioural Psychiatry Intern - Ensign - Starfleet Medical, Earth 2396 to 2397 - Counsellor - Lieutenant Junior Grade - USS Rhea (Luna-class) 2397 to 2398 - Diplomatic Officer (Diplomatic Corps Detachment) - Lieutenant - Without Portfolio, Starfleet Headquarters, Earth 2398 to 2398 - Diplomatic Officer (Diplomatic Corps Detachment) - Lieutenant Commander - Without Portfolio, Starfleet Headquarters, Earth 2399 to 2399 - Psychiatric Assessor - Lieutenant Commander - Starfleet Medical 2399 to 2399 - Chief Counsellor / First Contact Specialist - Lieutenant Commander - USS Adelphi (Ambassador-class) 2399 to Present - Chiefl Counsellor / First Contact Specialist - Lieutenant Commander - USS Sojourner (Rhode Island-class)