Lieutenant Serana Zhaan
Name Serana Zhaan
Position Chief Operations Officer
Rank Lieutenant
Stats
- 9 Mission Posts
Last Post
Sat May 7th, 2022 @ 11:03pm
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Rumari (Rumar IV) | |
| Birthplace | Home Ship - K'hav H'Lach | |
| Age | 30 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5'5" | |
| Weight | 110 lbs. | |
| Hair Color | Black | |
| Eye Color | Changeable | |
| Physical Description | Slender and delicately built, there seems to be a kindness to her and indeed, she's a gentle soul. Look beyond the surface and you'll see a wisdom that belies her years as though she's seen too much. Her physique is more that of a ballet dancer than a body builder, with an eclectic sense of style and a love of color. She has straight black hair, the kind of hair that defies curls and waves, and the cut is asymmetrical with one side hanging long and the other cut to tuck behind her ear. Her ears are pointed though in outline different than Vulcans or Romulans. She has a spray of freckles across her nose. Her eyes are expressive, alive with intelligence, but that's not what you first notice. No, its that they change color according to her emotions and, because emotions are often complex things, the colors can blend and shift, making it harder to read. While her people are no longer particularly welcoming of outsiders (what they call the Muzari), in this at least the Rumari are very open. What they feel, you know -- provided you have the wit to understand. Physiology - Eye color changes according to her emotions and, because emotions are complex, might be different colors combining, shifting. - Racial memory. manifesting in dreams. What her people call dream-walking. The Rumari are a very old people. Often small moments, sometimes larger events. It gives her a window into the past of her people. - Genetic evidence determined five distinct, founder lineages that account for roughly one-third of the Rumari people. She descends from one of the founder lineages. |
Family
| Spouse | None | |
| Children | None | |
| Father | Antyl: As captain of a home ship, he is a man with great responsibilities. And while he has a ready laugh and time for anyone in need, the weight of that responsibility is always with him. Like all of the Rumari, he has a long-held dream of finding a world on which to settle and has been a strong proponent of opening negotiations with the Federation. | |
| Mother | Zotarah: She is an artist who expresses herself through fashion. She teaches weaving and is often called upon to create clothes for special occasions. She is also a midwife who has helped deliver children throughout the fleet. | |
| Brother(s) | None | |
| Sister(s) | Medea: If ever there was a polar opposite to Zhaan, its Medea. One of the only children ever to refuse the wandering time, she has never wanted anything more than to remain on the home ship. She's a brilliant cook, at least in her own mind, and helps maintain the ship's herb garden. Not intellectually curious, she has no interest in life outside her people and is vocal in her opposition to the Federation. | |
| Other Family | Many. All of the Rumari consider themselves to be an extended family. There just aren't that many of them left. |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | She's a old soul; dream-walking makes you grow up fast. She's gentle and creative and she's learned that the universe isn't always a gentle place. Her people are scroungers by necessity and they learn early how to make do with less. She's a storyteller and a student of history. She's a dancer who once performed in the market places and knows how to keep an audience distracted, draw their attention when necessary. She knows how to bargain/haggle and doesn't give up easily. If at all. To her, giving up is really retreat, figure out another approach, and try again. Loyal to her friends and family, she's equally willing to put on a pot of T'Cha for a friend as she is to go find one when the dreams are bad. Good sense of humor and definitely an explorer at heart. Wants to know what's out there. Better yet, see for herself. | |
| Strengths & Weaknesses | Strengths + Racial memory (typical of the Rumari) that is also eidetic. What she sees, she remembers. Not always instantaneous but she doesn't forget. Ever. + Highly adaptable and independent, detail-oriented + She doesn't let fear control her and yes, she'd spend a night in the haunted house alone or try some daring stunt. She's a bit of an adrenaline junkie. A bit. + Loves people and community events. She's grown up in the middle of a crowd and being there is still where she feels most at ease. Doesn't need to be the center of attention but isn't afraid of it either. + Skilled at sleight of hand (not that its useful but hey, she can do it) and has a sense of the theatrical. Quite good at haggling/bargaining. Weaknesses - Not very approachable until she's had coffee. Also not very verbal before coffee. Those middle-of-the-night alerts are oh so difficult for her. Used to be T'Cha but that was on the home ship; the Federation doesn't have it yet but she's working on a recipe for the replicators. Almost has it. - Not particularly skilled in hand-to-hand. Rather than throw a punch, she'll try to talk her way out of it. She knows how to use a phaser (becaues they made her) but moving it off stun setting? Different story entirely. Likes + Bubble baths by candlelight. There are no words. + Late night chats over a cup of hot T'Cha. She misses those, especially when she can't sleep. When the dreams are bad. + Nature - especially large bodies of water. There's something so decadent, so amazing, about the vastness of it. Luxurious. + Chocolate. Earth's gift to the universe. Total fan. Dislikes - Pastels - especially pink. Not a color she'd ever want anywhere near her. Ever. Space everything pink. Now. - Dead ships. A ship that can no longer sustain life. Being dependent upon technology for survival, it became her greatest fear as a child. - Chatter before coffee. No that's not right. Its fine if you talk, just don't expect much in the way of responses. Coffee before everything, please. |
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| Hobbies & Interests | + Dancing. She loves to dance. + Sleight of Hand. Something she learned for market days. + Reading - Classics from all the Federation worlds. Murder mysteries. Thrillers. Stories about culture and history. + New experiences. She doesn't let fear control her and yes, she'd spend a night in the haunted house alone or try some daring stunt. She's a bit of an adrenaline junkie. A bit. + Journals - she's been writing one for most of her life. Dream experiences, drawings, and the like. + Pen and ink drawing. Usually confined to her journals. + Swimming. When you grow up on ships where there are limits on everything, the idea of that much water just for swimming, well, it boggles the mind. |
History
| Personal History | The People It's there in our memories and in our dreams, the home world, Rumar. Lost to us in ages past. The elders, the tale spinners, tell us that once we lived in vast cities with the Lo'Dam who stole our world from us. We are the people, sometimes called the Travelers. We have tried to settle on other worlds, as the Lo'Dam once settled on ours, but we were always 'strangers'. 'Others'. Welcome but only to a point. Subject to blame when something went wrong. Is that how the Lo'Dam felt? Perhaps. This is not known. What is known is that we were driven from those worlds and when you are treated in such a way, over and over, you lose the ability to trust outsiders, what we call the Muzari. So, we are no longer known, and we like it that way. We travel from place to place, living aboard our ships. We are scroungers and technicians and scientists, artists, and tale spinners, who know what it takes to create and maintain a home ship. We trade with others for things we cannot produce ourselves and we will come, for a time, to a world that's willing with our markets and artisans and dancers. And for a time, there will be laughter and song. And then when the trading is done, before eyes can turn suspicious and hostile, we go. This is our way. We are protective of our culture and our children but in the way of all children, there comes a time when a child asks questions and feels a certain restlessness. When that time comes, there is a ceremony, a night of feasting, and in the morning, they leave their home ship to spend time wandering. Some things you must learn through absence and experience. Then, when they are ready, when they have learned what they needed to learn, they are welcomed back into the arms of the people. Some will stay away longer than others but, in the end, the Rumari return. This is also our way. Childhood Born in 2369. She grew up on a home ship, one of many in their fleet, and knew every corridor and tunnel before she turned ten. The people are tolerant, even indulgent, of their children and in a very real sense, every adult in the fleet believed themselves to be an uncle or aunt. With advice to offer, opinions to share, and reports to send back to her parents. She was clever and quick, made connections faster than some adults, and was, from her first breath, rebellious, strong-willed, and driven by her need to understand. For her, racial memories come in the form of dreams (called dream-walking) in which she experiences the moment as though she's lived it. And while that holds a fascination, it can also be difficult emotionally because in a sense, she's lived many more lifetimes than her own. This is something that all the people understand, have experienced in one form or another, and why the kitchen is the heart of every ship. There's always someone there and awake to make a hot cup of T'Cha, to listen, to share stories or even just offer a shoulder to cry on. She’s been dream-walking since she was seven and she’s come to enjoy the experiences. Found a way to handle the emotional resonance especially with T'Cha and conversation. She’s always been active and curious. ‘No’ or ‘because I said so’ were not phrases that she accepted easily, if at all. She was good at finding the secret spots to turn into hideouts. Terrible at cooking (still is) and worse at classes where she didn't see the need. Market days, when the people stopped on a world to sell what they made and buy what they couldn't produce themselves, were some of her favorites. New and different hold a fascination for her. The people find ways to contribute. Finding her way proved a bit illusive. She was good at sleight of hand and could entertain in that way. She was a good dancer though not as gifted as her cousin Adria. She was good at haggling for a better price but her mother was better. Finding a way to serve was something they all went through and when the answer came, it was almost by accident. She had a talent for organization and logistics that no one on the home ship could match. For her it was a minor skill but to the people, a useful one. Still, the idea of spending her life finding what the people needed did not appeal and the restlessness that overcame most in their teens began to set in. They were in Federation space by then and she found herself drawn to the stories of other cultures. Their struggles and triumphs. She began to read and developed an interest in learning about the culture and history of other worlds. Before she knew it, they were holding a feast in her honor and at the age of seventeen, Zhaan applied to and was accepted into Starfleet Academy. She would join a different fleet and visit the worlds she'd been reading about and maybe, a few she hadn't. |
Service Record
| Service Record | 2386 to 2390: Starfleet Academy. Operations Major; Maintenance Minor 2390 to 2390: Six Month Cadet Cruise aboard the USS Dayan 2391 to 2392: Operations Officer, USS Anaximander 2392 to 2395: Assistant Chief of Operations, USS Anaximander 2395 to 2399: Chief of Operations, USS Anaximander 2399 to Now: Assigned as Chief of Operations, USS Sojourner |