ValentineUnderscore - Tajara application

[Valentine]

BYOND Key: ValentineUnderscore
Character Names: Vicente De Raya, Rayan Riphea, Ashoke Dhalam, Levi Akers, Ryker Rand, Oleg Sokolov, I have a few more but they're really just to try out a few roles and never went anywhere.
Species you are applying to play: Tajara
What color do you plan on making your first alien character: bluish-black tabby stripes (Zhan-Khazan)
Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, I did.

Please provide well-articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format—one paragraph minimum per question.

Why do you wish to play this specific race:
I've always been interested in the theatrical and complicated lore surrounding the Tajara following their first contact and both Revolutions. I see some of them around the ship and find them interesting, but I also think the roleplaying potential between the three factions, and their ingrained ideology concerning the old caste system and colorism in their society is really high. Tajara offers a rich lore to grow stories off of. I'd love to make a character who is part of that story.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:
A lot. Unlike humans, who had their supermassive society-shaking conflict almost 200 years ago, the First and Second Revolutions are still fresh wounds on Adhomai and for every Tajara. They have this interesting linguistic situation going on between Siik'maas and Siik'tajr, with the latter being a recent creation for the purpose of rebel communication, it shows the geopolitical strife on Adhomai runs so deep for Tajara that it has completely influenced the way they speak. The inflection they have and how they refer to themselves and others in the Third Person is really interesting. The implication of using Second Person and First Person pronouns is something none of the other species have like the Tajara, because it denotes a more personal relationship. What I've really noticed is that Tajara, in general, seem stubbornly conservative overall. Even the DPRA, who claims to be radical inheritors of the First Revolution, still have laws against non-heteronormative individuals because of traditionalism. The Tajara as a race are sitting on a very interesting precipice: their global education is going up, reforms loom on the horizon, and there is this constant back-and-forth between traditionalists and progressives, all fighting for the ideals of the First Revolution, in some form or another. It's the source of the Cold War, and it may be the source of the future salvation—or annihilation—of Adhomai.

Character Name: Tajrrhraz Sha'relrr
Please provide a short backstory for this character:
Tajrrhraz Sha'relrr, a Zhan-Khazan, was born when the People's Republic of Adhomai was still in its infancy: the year 2437 CE. Tajrrhraz's father, a veteran of the First Revolution and humble farmer in the Ras'nrr Heartlands, raised his son to follow his trade. Tajrrhraz found he had a knack for working on the farming machines that aided him and his family, aunts, uncles, and numerous cousins in working the land. 

When Sha'relrr was at the age of fourteen, in the year 2451 CE, President Al'mari Hadii was assassinated. This drastically changed his life: the medieval laws passed by President Malik Hadii led to the execution of a number of Sha'relrr's cousins, who fancied their own revenge against the PRA for the discrimination levied against Zhan-Khazan, and the impending seizure of his family farm amidst lurid talk his father, too, was a reactionary. To this end, the young Tajrrhraz was taken away by his mother and father to Shastar City, effectively defecting to the newly-fomented Adhomai Liberation Army sphere of control, and abandoning their home. Later, the young Sha'relrr's father died of sickness between 2453 and 2454, when the boy was 17.

By 2457, Tajrrhraz was a Kazarrhaldiye Tajara combat engineer in the ALA and served between 2457 to 2460. During his tenure, Sha'relrr was involved in the capture of Tampiska on the 3rd of March and the Winter Offensive to recapture Ron'Tul on the 16th of August, 2458 CE. Two years later, in 2460, the battle-hardened Sha'relrr was wounded during an offensive on Das'nrra when an errant grenade detonated 3 meters away from him, killing two members of his sword unit and peppering him with molten shrapnel, which nearly killed him, effectively ending his military career. He retired as a veteran in Shastar City with his mother, his only surviving family member, and waited, like millions of others, for the thundering of artillery and the constant death to finally end. 

After the Armistice of Shastar came a year later in 2461, Tajrrhraz settled into life in the newly officiated Democratic People's Republic of Adhomai and began working to support his mother and himself. He studied at the Shastar Technical University to become a civilian engineer, and after graduating with his Bachelor's degree in 2465, he, following President Harrlala's support of DPRA outsourcing, managed to land a contract with Hephaestus Industries, ostensibly because of his skill (and because he liked the idea of their Hephaestus Family) and pursued a job aboard the SCCV Horizon.

What do you like about this character?
I like how he's fresh out of the meat grinder that was Adhomai less than 10 years ago. He's a Zhan, he loves his people, he loves his home, and he had to fight for all of it against his brothers. All he has is his mother left, and she's the only reason he still has the drive to go on after the terrible things he's lived through. He can't let his mother down. Although he is still young, Sha'relrr, like so many young Tajara, has been subjected to the horrors of the Second Revolution. It permeates who he has turned into: a scarred war veteran who cannot stomach Tajaran self-destruction anymore. A man who can barely stomach violence anymore. He was young and a firebrand once, but now he feels only guilt and fear when he recalls his former service in the ALA, having taken lives, seeing lives taken, and almost having his life taken. It's not something he's proud of. He wants to leave it behind him.

He wants a better life, and he believes in the Al’mariist rhetoric of self-determination as the best way to get a better life and considers himself a Moderate Al'mariist. However, he isn't a fanatic xenophobe, otherwise, why would he be on the Horizon? He has a mistrust of Nanotrasen, given their history with the PRA, but it is not zealous enough to disqualify him from employment. And he came to truly believe in individualism: how can he blame the soldier for fighting for their home, the same as him? He doesn't care for the militant junta aspect of the DPRA, he believes in the ideals of the civilian governments. Adhomai should have self-determination. Every Tajara should have self-determination. Above all, he dislikes the PRA and the NKA because he believes any return to the old ways of the Nobility is undoing the last 40ish years of mass death and destruction, and he cannot find it in his heart to forgive President Malik Hadii and the PRA for their continuous discrimination against the Zhan, for killing his cousins, and for forcing him to abandon his home as a child. There's this internal struggle for him: he doesn't want to be servile to a human megacorporation, but he needs to support himself and his mother, so he signed on with Hephaestus, maybe anxiously, hoping he can keep his identity intact while away from home. He chose financial security over certain ideals, and it plays into who he is.

As far as religious views go, he is a follower of Mata'ke. He prayed for the strength to live another day during the Second Revolution, he prayed for the strength to farm the fields as a boy, and he prayed for the strength to go on after the dust settled. 

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I'm always looking for opportunities to grow as a roleplayer. I find my ability is above average, and I really thrive when I am given the chance to roleplay with other individuals who have equal or greater roleplaying skills than me. 

Notes:

N/A

Edited November 17, 2023 by Valentine

[Alberyk]

Application accepted.