3rd Imperium Universal Personality Profile
- UPP: Afira Khii 9CC9A60 Im
- Homeworld UWP: Daramm 0812 A76AA76-E N Hi Ht Wa Cap Im G
- Race: Luriani (Anglic pronunciation: Lur-eye+a-nigh)
- Apparent Age: Mid-30s
- Sex: Female/D
- Height: 5'8"
- Final Career: Marine (Support)
- Final Rank: Gikorpail (Lance Sergeant)
- Player: NPC
Appearance
Afira considers herself to be "very average" in Luriani terms, although this would make her less so to the average human. She has long, flaming red hair and blue eyes - very common for Luriani - and is taller than the average human (but average height for Luriani female/D gender, which is taller than the female/d gender). She is in excellent shape, for any standard, but the additional fat layers of Luriani make her look "normal" to human standards (although athletic to Luriani standards). From a distance she looks like a normal human, but up close it is possible with inspection to make out her Luriani nerve marks on her forehead, neck, arms, legs and back, and if uncovered her hands and feet show the finger-webbing traditional to her species.
Afira tends to wear outfits with bold colours, and favours dresses or otherwise loose clothing, often with open backs or sleeveless. This is quite typical for her race, as it is known that tight clothing is abrasive to their sensitive nerve endings, and covering them interferes with their pressure sense. She favours her "business dress" - a scarlet one-piece outfit that accentuates her figure, whilst still looking appropriate for most occasions; made from TL12 armoured chameleon cloth cloth which is protective but does not look like armour (even moreso than a Protec Suit). As the dress is made from chameleon cloth it can be programmed (via an app on Afira's mobile comm) to a custom or pre-saved colour style or texture.
Afira generally wears relatively light make-up, with emphasis normally given to her (usually bold red) lipstick. It is customary for Luriani styles to use styles (for clothing, accessories and make-up) to accentuate key areas, and her eye-makeup, blush and lipstick serve to highlight her eyes and lips.
Biography
Adolescence
Afira was born in 1071 on the Luriani homeworld of Daramm, which is also the subsector capital of the Ley subsector of the Gateway domain. A high-technology, high-population water world, she was born to the Luriani equivalent of an upper-middle-class family with strong military roots. At the age of 8 she joined the Iadtlu, the Luriani military, as a cadet (full enrollment is disallowed until age 18).
Pre-Career Education: Military Academy
[1089-1092] When she was 18, Afira enrolled in the Iadtlu military academy on Daramm in the Marines program. She succesfully graduated, but admits that she took advantage of her youth and partied as much as she studied. Whilst this was not uncommon for Luriani, she admits this is very likely why she did not receive a commission on graduation, and entered the Marine service in the enlisted ranks.
Career
Term 1 - Career: Marine (Support)
[1092-1096] Afira joined the imperial marines service branch, becoming a battlefield medic. She spent the major part of the tour as security on the naval station on Terra (UWP: Terra 0207 A867A69-F NW Ga Hi Ht Mr Im G) in the Sol system, with occasional operations against the Solomani Confederation, or suppressing Confederacy rebels on Imperium-held worlds. It was here that she first met the Aslan Jacob Sutter, a naval gunner/engineer, who was one of the first non-Luriani friends she made. During this period she was promoted to Vebpail (Lance Corporal).
Term 2 - Career: Marine (Support)
[1097-1101] Trouble with rebels and the Solomani Confederation led to Afira being given advanced training in explosives and her unit carrying out specialist aquatic operations. A string of successful missions led to her being promoted to Korpail (Corporal).
Term 3 - Career: Marine (Support)
[1101-1105] Afira's unit was assigned to support Korben Stryker, an Imperium agent, on an important mission. For reasons that are still classified, the operation went horribly wrong and caused serious political and military repercussions for the Imperium. In the bloodbath, Afira managed to extract the Imperium agent, but was the only surviving member of her unit. Afira does not like to talk about the incident, citing it as too painful as Luriani units are formed during the Iadtlu and kept together as a tightly-bonded unit. She will say that she does not blame Agent Stryker for what occurred, although the Imperium Intelligence Agency placed the blame on him and discharged him, and the fact that they are friends to this day is testament to that fact. The pain of losing friends and comrades she had known for over a decade, and an awareness of the fact that she was not getting any younger, prompted her to resign despite having been promoted to Gikorpail (Lance Sergeant).
Current Activities
Afira has recently embarked on an adventurous endeavour with Korben Stryker and Jacob Sutter. Pooling their resources together they bought the Fast Trader, type A3 starship "Lone Lady" (Stryker holds the mortgage), re-christened her "Twylosian Dream" and are now Travellers together.
Personality
Afira is a very friendly and normally quite sweet person - but the perception of her depends on familiarity with her, and her people. Luriani brains are different from that of humans, and have a natural propensity to being extremely emotional, with little barriers in-between extremes. When Afira is happy, she will sing, dance, joke (usually sarcastically) with others and make it obvious. When attracted to someone, it will be obvious to even the most obtuse subject. When she gets angry (which humans would argue is too often) it is sudden and explosive, and extremely obvious and usually loud. There is no doubt when she is upset. There is an expression that says "when a Luriani is silent, be afraid" and this holds true with Afira. Luriani are quick to anger, but equally quick to forgive and forget honest mistakes. But when Afira is truly angry, her deameanour will turn frosty and she will normally just walk away. That's when one should be concerned, as this is deliberate Luriani habit of walking away to allow themselves time to "cool down" but the offense is not forgotten, or forgiven.
Typical for Luriani, Afira is very respectful and polite, and free with terms of endearment for those she likes. It is common to hear her refer to those she approves of as "my honey" or "my sweetie" and rank titles are commonly used, as much as nobility titles regularly ignored (unless in sarcasm or disdain).
Like most Luriani, Afira is keen on the arts, especially music and dance. She's no ballerina, but that won't stop her dancing on a table, in a club or singing karaoke or with groups when happy. Like most Luriani, Afira dislikes combat and violence.
All of this belies the fact that when she has to be, Afira is actually a very dangerous person. Years of marine combat operations has made her very deadly with or without weapons. Whilst not quick to violence, when that step is taken, those who are on the receiving end find themselves regretting their actions in the little time they have left in this Galaxy.
Other Notes
Proper Name
Afira Khii is the Imperium version of her name, used in Imperium space to conform to social norms. On a Luriani world(and for those wanting to address her properly) her proper full name is Afira Veraa Mraiko Khii Khii Shymmedt. By Luriani convention, Afira is her personal name; Veraa and Mraiko are her mother and father's names (male Luriani reverse the order); Khii Khii are her family names (the repitition of one indicates she is unmatched, otherwise her match partner's name would follow the first Khii); Shymmedt is her occupation (the Luriani word for "Ship's Medic").
Hobbies and Interests
- Music and Dancing: Afira loves music and dancing, and like all Luriani is competent in the arts, though she has never really delved into this - prefering to enjoy and appreciate what has already been made, to making it. Now that she is no longer in the military, she is interested in the posibility of exploring this further. Regardless, there is little she enjoys more than going to an easy-going social event, being taken out dancing, or going to the opera or other music hall.
- Eeniag: Eeniag is a traditional Luriani martial art that combines various unarmed combat styles along with training with the traditional Lysh blade. It is taught to military recruits in the Iadtlu, but some (like Afira) take the study further, much like a Terran may study Karate, Kung Fu or other form of martial style. The fighting style is graceful, and Luriani consider it an art form.
Luriani Physiology
Lurianis are classified as a near-human species. The Ancients made substantial changes to the Luriani's genome, sufficient to move them to being a new species. These changes were for the most part to adapt them to an aquatic environment. They show little difference from most humans on casual inspection. Their specialised layers of fat cells give them a heavy rounded appearance and their webbed hands and feet are noticeable, but otherwise they appear unremarkable. Their height is well within the human norm (though Luriani females are significantly taller than the human average of 165cm) but their additional fat layer and higher quantity of blood do contribute to a slightly heavier than average weight (approximately 10% heavier than a Human of the same height).
Closer inspection will reveal a nictating membrane to protect their eyes, as well as specialised muscles that can seal ears, nostrils and collapse their lungs. These modifications allow them to reach depths of up to 500m at normal atmospheric pressures without assistance. More subtle are the specialised fat cells that store oxygen and increased levels of haemoglobin in their blood. Their body also contains a much higher amount of blood itself, averaging around 8.3 litres for a healthy adult male.
Also, like some Terran marine mammals, they can dramatically slow their metabolism and starve non-essential organs of blood. These modifications provide the ability to survive in an environment lacking oxygen for up to an hour. In addition, they have lines of modified nerve endings that allow them to detect minute changes in pressure in their surroundings. This allows them to detect the direction and distance of movement underwater. These nerve endings also function in air, but with much less definition. Finally, their skin excretes several natural oils that protect them from irritants. It is worth noting the same modifications that allow the Luriani to function underwater also allow them to survive limited exposure to the vacuum of space. Here things such as heat loss and radiation are more important, but a Luriani can survive 20 to 30 minutes in space unprotected.
The most remarkable changes to the Luriani are those in their biochemistry and brain structure which are only apparent on the biochemical level. The Luriani brain diverges significantly from the human norm. Areas usually given over to speech and language are dedicated to processing additional spatial information and the speech centres themselves are located in areas more normally associated with music and singing. The Luriani are thus naturally at home thinking in three dimensions and strongly drawn towards music. The Luriani voice is deep but melodic. They are also overwhelmingly right brain dominant and thus left-handed.
Twylosian Dream
The Twylosian Dream (formerly the Lone Lady) is a 46-year old Fast Trader, type A3 starship. Built around a streamlined 200 dTons hull configuration, it sports a Class-B drive capable of Jump-2 and Class D M-Drive capable of 4Gs acceleration. The ship has been modified somewhat by previous owners, and currently has an improved Model 3 (Rating 15) Computer instead of the standard Model 2 (Rating 10), placed to handle the additional requirements of the Fire Control computer and single Beam Laser turret. Like most ships of her type, she has 10 staterooms (4 crew, 6 passenger), 6 low berths and retains around 55 dTons of cargo space capacity. She is equipped with an Air/Raft, Fuel scoops and Fuel processors.
The previous owner died after an encounter with pirates, the reason for the ship's sale as the family chose to discontinue ship operations. Some of that damage is residual - the standard Basic Civilian electronics array is repaired but faulty, and does not operate as well as it should. This is offset by the fact that the ship has been lovingly maintained by most of its previous owners, and a lot of custom work and parts have been installed to improve maintenance. As such she operates on approximately half the normal running costs as comparable Fast Traders, although she is still only capable of one Jump-2 and 2 weeks of operation as normal.
Combat Style
Afira is versatile. When violence breaks out she immediately kicks into gear and prioritises the safety/protection of herself and her friends/charge first, seeking cover whilst applying suppressing fire. Once in (or if already in) a more secure position, she relies on her good gun combat experience to shoot highest-priority targets first (usually meaning those that endanger her allies the most, or highest-value enemy targets) when possible.
If things get up close and personal, or in areas where gunfire would carry some form of risk, Afira will switch to her secondary weapon - her Lysh blade (a traditional Luriani leaf-bladed sword). If combat hasn't escalated to lethal levels, or she feels the risk is low enough, she will rely on her unarmed combat experience.
Social Style
Some people (ie humans) may describe Afira as difficult and temperamental - and this is an easy to mistake if one forgets that Luriani are hard-wired for emotion over logic, are very honourable and respectful. Things that may be easilly dismissed by humans, can cause offence to a Luriani. They don't take well to traditional discipline or structures, and this is the reason why the Imperial Navy has Luriani forces in their own units instead of mixed with normal units. For Luriani, intent (or the expression of) matters a great deal.
Honesty works well with Afira - a trait Luriani value. Lies, obfuscation or holding things from her are likely to get her annoyed, and not engender trust ("if you lie about little things, then of course you'll lie about big things - how can you be trusted?"). Being open and trusting with her will be reciprocated. Making the effort to be polite and friendly to her, reaps dividends. Afira doesn't make "friends" - you're either "someone she knows" or almost family. It may not be easy, but she bonds with those she trusts and becomes fiercely loyal. Luriani place great value on physical contact and have small personal place, and are not prudish. They frequently touch, hold, embrace and kiss one another, and have a famously dry, subtly ribald sense of humour. These traits reciprocated will endear her to others (but can be misinterpreted by humans, who often see many such actions as indication of romantic interest). As previously stated, Luriani with romantic interest are rarely subtle, so there is rarely any hidden agenda in their physical interactions.
Luriani social norms can be tricky at first, and are emotion/intent based. For example if she was to ask "were you satisfied?" and got a response "yes" - she would actually react as if being told "no." The curt response, to a Luriani, indicated dissatisfaction. A response of "the meal was filling, thank you" would, however, receive a favourable response. If something is said to take offence, Luriani would respond with an invitation to backtrack. For example if someone was to make an unflattering comment about Afira's dress, she may respond with "sorry, I didn't quite catch what you said about my dress?" or similar response (although it was clearly heard). It may even seem natural and not show any expression of anger, but this is actually an invitation (and expectation) to apologise. A common response might be "sorry I mumbled, I meant you look very lovely" and the Luriani would consider the issue over. Indeed whilst some humans find this a little annoying, those who spend time with Luriani state that in fact is actually makes dealing with Luriani easier, as things are resolved and forgotten quickly, not kept, building up grudges until they explode disasterously. For particularly serious disagreements, Luriani challenge others to "the duel" - this is not actually a combat challenge, but a challenge of skills, set at a later date (which allows tempers to cool). There is no loss in losing the challenge, and an exchange of apologies is expected at the end (the offender for causing the offence, and the other for losing their temper). Refusing to apologise at this point is a good way to gain a Luriani enemy.
Their social norms may seem to make things constricting, but in fact their adherence to etiquette gives them certainty. A Luriani knows what to expect in most situations, so there is no need to fret or worry about such things. As such Luriani events, even formal ones, tends to be relaxed and easy-going. The opposite of this, however, is that Luriani in situations they are unaccustomed to quickly become nervous and will seek to aggressively engage with others who are comfortable in order to learn - in these situations, being observant and thoughtful to Afira will also endear her to you.
Augments
- All-Temperature Epidermal Symbiote: Afira does not feel the effects of cold or heat in a variance from -30 to 50 degrees Celcius, and reduces her liquid consumption requirements
- Breather Mask Lung Implant: Strips out harmful elements from the air inhaled, and allows breathing on worlds with thin atmospheres
- Enhanced Mobility: Augmentations on her ambulatory system make Afira faster than normally possible and have better sense of balance.
Signature Equipment
- Gauss Pistol (with laser sight)
- Lysh (a traditional Luriani leaf-bladed sword made of abusodt tree wood, which has the properties of high-carbon steel)
- Mobile Comm & Commdot
- Medkit (TL12)
- Portable Mediscanner
- Chameleon Cloth (Armoured) Business Dress
Signature Quotes
- "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that... Could you say that again, yes?"
- "Hello my sweetie"
- "You wish to dance with me, no?"
