Screw my chud Tajaran life --- Stradfarian's Taj app

[Stradfarian]

BYOND Ckey: stradfarian

Discord username: stradfarian

Character names: Graul Porlip

Applying for: Tajaran whitelist

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What colour is your character?: White, or at least very pale

Have you read the lore pages for the species you are applying for?: Yes

Why do you want to play as this species?

The unique condition of the Tajaran species as compared to the rest of the spur is a fascinating concept to explore and is in fact the reason I came to Aurora in the first place. The major cultural shock that being lifted from antiquity into the space-age has given Adhomai had me wanting to create a character which was a product of this great change ever since I first read through the wiki. Additionally, just the experience of roleplaying as an alien from a comparatively underdeveloped civilization in a sci-fi setting is quite a unique opportunity in of itself. While writing my character’s backstory, I have tried to make myself imagine what someone who was born in such a civilization, yet who wanted more than their own society could offer them would be like, and what they would do to achieve that in the setting of Aurora.

What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?

Tajara come from a civilization that is a lot different from any human’s own. This has given me a lot of interesting aspects of their culture and wider world to build upon in the backstory I have written for my character, that otherwise would have been impossible with a human character. Their unique speech traits also give them a lot of depth, although because of my character’s desire to integrate into human-dominated society they will not be using tajaran third-person grammar in RP, except while directly addressing other tajara, as is proper and polite in their culture.

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Character name: Larr Rurir’azu Ess’pigomir (In-game display name: Larr Ess’pigomir)

Backstory synopsis

A wealthy DPRA tajara, outcast for much of his life upon Adhomai due to his albinism, undergoes misguided attempts to seek community in human space. His rejection of society leads him to associating with extremist anti-establishment groups during his time at medical school, but he is brought back to reality when he sneaks his way to the site of the Quizosa nuclear bombing in a self-centred attempt to prove himself. The devastation he witnesses makes him realize that he does in fact sympathise with the plight of his species, but he rejects this revelation and makes his way off-world. After some years of surgical training and working on Eridani, he finds himself running out of money and unwilling to continue living on a planet that has done nothing but damage his created notions of Solarian superiority.

He is now finally coming to accept his origin and now longs for community with other tajara, but after a life spent rejecting such a thing, he finds himself without any meaningful connection with any tajara (save for his parents) or humans.

Backstory

Larr Rurir’azu Ess'pigomir was born albino to a S’rand’marr-worshipping, primarily hharar family during the year 2436 in the city of Shastar. His family was wealthy; his mother having come from money and his father being a savvy businessman and local politician. Suffice to say that even though his parents were not always there for him, his father in particular having a plethora of responsibilities to attend to during Adhomai's recent turbulent past, their wealth and high status still meant that he was given a very privileged and comfortable upbringing, modern and effective treatment for his eye conditions being readily available since early on in his life.

His albinism confined him indoors for much of his childhood. He would rarely interact with other children outside of school, not that he was disappointed with this state of affairs however as he generally preferred to immerse himself in a great many hobbies, the first and foremost of which was his fascination with aliens. Alien history, culture and sciences were all subjects that he would be content with spending hours of his time reading about. The species that captured his interest the most was the human, information about them being the most readily available to him out of every other species due to his father’s unusually large and comprehensive collection of human-made texts. He would even challenge himself to imitate the tradeband language from audio and video recordings within the collection, a skill that he would continue to practice later in his life and would demonstrate in a light-hearted manner to family friends and guests, earning him the affectionate nickname ‘little human.’ His parents would call him this in jest, but to young Larr it was a title of honour.

Larr’s father was always a man of strong national pride. He believed that the tajaran people should come before all, preserving their comparatively unspoilt planet and developing independently even in the face of rapid change brought on by external forces. So, it might come as little surprise that he had grown to dislike the Hadii’s corporation-collaborating government, even if he was still officially working for them. His full opinions were not entirely known to the public and would remain mostly secret until the ALA became more of a major power upon the isle of Das’nrra, to avoid drawing the ire of PSIS. Yet still he was not completely derelict in support of its rise to power, managing to covertly fund rebel cells and advocating for fellow politicians that also opposed corporate policies. In the little time he did spend with his son, he would make a point of attempting to instil his values into them, and as Larr grew up he did indeed begin to see the totalitarian PRA as a detriment to tajarakind. But even so, be it because of his own opinions formed from his research or the degree of respect he had for human organizations, he would not always see eye-to-eye with his father.

For Larr had not grown up in the same world his father did. He was certainly told of how it had been, at school and by his father, but sheltered and separated from many of the adverse effects of the fallout of human intervention upon Adhomai, in the present day Larr could not help but see only advancement. Not long before he was born, the average tajara did not even have access to electricity to light their homes. Now, at seven years of age, Larr was able to witness the first mission into space performed by his people. In his mind, it would without a doubt benefit Adhomai to keep cooperating with alien species. If this is how far they had come with their help already, how much further could they go, and what more could they do when they were finally technologically on-par with everyone else in the spur?

He would frequently find himself at odds with his father through his teens, the responsibility of allowing reconciliation typically falling to his mother, a neutral party in their household. To Larr, having been fed politics from all angles for all his life now, it was all exceptionally frustrating. Two-thirds of his planet’s governments looked to be dead set on affixing themselves firmly in the past, and all of them were still squabbling amongst themselves while the rest of the galaxy looked on in thinly veiled (and in some cases loudly outspoken) contempt. His father would urge him to pursue politics in his studies if he was wanting such change, but in truth, he was in no rush to get involved in something he had come to believe to be such an ongoing catastrophe. Besides, his frequent studies had given him a different interest: medicine.

Having previously spent not a small amount of time reading into his own genetic condition (stemming from a desire to assert himself in the fact that he was the child of both his parents and not, as the kids at school would claim, a half-bred bastard) as well as the biology of alien species, it might have come as no surprise that medical science would prove to fascinate him. More than that, he became obsessed with it, delving into studies with such fixation as to become nigh-reclusive within his family home. He had always used his studies as a comforting distraction from the world around him, and now that disillusionment was beginning to set in, he was hurting for an escape. However, this did not stop his father’s attempts at pushing his son into politics. Even though by now Larr’s political stance was a far cry from what his father had hoped to instil into him, they were still set on preserving at least a shred of their own legacy in their son, much to his son’s indignation.

But at last, Larr’s work would pay off, and he was accepted into a very prestigious medical academy, much to his joy. All was not well for him however, as his father would make an unreasonable demand: Larr was to take a course related to politics in an adjacent university alongside his medical degree, most probably in the hopes that Larr would drop medical studies altogether, under threat of having to pay his own tuition fees if he declined[A1] . (God forbid) Very little argument was actually had, as Larr was quick to realise that the alternative to higher education would be enlistment, as the ALA beginning to ramp up its activity at the time. Though if his father had hoped that the studious environment of university life would have caused him to mellow out, he would have been sorely mistaken. In fact, now separated by distance from any consequence his father might have provided in return for his actions, Larr moved from simple silent defiance to much louder, more active defiance. Generally, he tried to keep this attitude outside of his medical-related education, but his political science professor and classmates were spared no quarter.

This meant that he led almost a sort of double life during his time as a student. At medical school, he was calm, polite, and invested in his work, a model student, if a little reserved. But during his political lectures he was, quite frankly, an insolent, rude and disinterested upstart. Perhaps the sole reason he was not expelled from this adjacent university was thanks to his high-born classmates, their own dreadful collection of arrogant attitudes and unpleasant qualities meant that Larr was less of an outlier in comparison. This state of affairs would continue for quite some time, but it would all come to a head as after a particularly raucous night of drunkenness he would find himself slumped against a wall in the street, bloodied and beaten after being too up-front with a very patriotic former ALA soldier. It was here, spitting blood and barely conscious, where he would be approached by a Njarir'Akhran by the name of Makmra Sam'Mrr. Having observed his ranting and subsequent attempt at fighting, Makmra would offer him a chance to vent his frustration at the world, to oppose the establishment to which he had grown to despise. Had it been a better day Larr might have walked away, deeming the prospect of potentially being removed from his studies for associating with such a group too big of a risk to take. But right then, full of supressed anger, and mind clouded with inebriated pain, he accepted the offer on the spot.

In a shocking display of reckless abandon, Larr would follow through on his promise to tag along with Makmra’s gang, though the already existing members would not be happy about it, quickly noticing his ‘posh’ demeanour and deeming him untrustworthy as a result. Yet finally given an outlet for his rage, Larr would prove himself to be a particularly enthusiastic member of the gang, skipping lectures with increasing frequency in favour of terrorising locals and attending illicit events. He even began to dip into his sizable allowance to fund them, an idea inspired by his father’s own covert ALA funding. Now well accommodated within the group, he would soon discover that his gangmates stood not just for the downfall of the DPRA, but complete anarchy, like in Crevus. Not only that, they also openly claimed to be members of the cult of Raskara. But at this point, he did not care. The sense of liberty that he felt now was much more important than anything else, to him. His decent looked to be accelerating exponentially, and it may have indeed continued to do so, if it were not for certain events transpiring all the way upon the other side of the world.

The 2458 atomic bombing of Quizosa military base served as a snap back to reality for Larr, though not immediately, nor for the reasons one may first think of. The incident sent shockwaves all around the world, but especially at medical institutions. His academy was abuzz as doctors and professors were summoned to help with the wounded, and people were in hysterics, fearing if and when the PRA may strike next. But Larr, in his infinite pretentious confidence, saw an opportunity to prove himself. His grades had been dropping as of late thanks to his class-skipping, in his mind, unfairly so. He deserved recognition. His professors refused to let him join them, but Larr remained undeterred. A phone call to his father and a couple of manipulating lies later, and he was on his way to Quizosa. Though nothing could have prepared him for the devastation he saw there.

The rubble, the corroding wounds inflicted by inscrutable energies. The living, breathing dead. Now his responsibility because he had asked for it. Shaken to his core, he only now began to realise how out of his depth he truly was. Still, he tried to assist when he could bear to, though it would hardly be the career-making event he had hoped it would be. When he at last went back to finish his studies, he did so in silent rumination. His former gang now forgotten, allegedly arrested while vandalizing a government building in his absence. [A2] The possibility of their testimonies incriminating him alongside them barely featured in his mind. Thankfully, it would be a possibility that would at least for now not come to pass, as he graduated a very different person as to when he first enrolled.

He would return to his family home afterwards, but he could hardly stay. His father continued to be a harrowing presence in his life, being interested not in his newly acquired degree but his lacklustre performance in political science. His mother was supportive of him as she always had been, but something deeper now gripped Larr’s mind. It was shame, and guilt, and fear of what his species would do to themselves in the future. Some more time passed, and Larr would complete his general medical residency, yet still the feeling of existential dread proved to be inescapable. But he was certainly going to try. He had to get off Adhomai.

In the face of protest from his parents and peers alike, he soon set out for the next ship bound for Tau Ceti, though Biesel would not be his final destination. Stories of slum-like conditions and warring gangs in Mendell city filtered down to him from his father and associates had given him a less than positive opinion of the place, while simultaneous years of fascination with humanity had given him an idyllic view of Solarian space, fully believing it to be unequivocally better than many of the alternatives. Granted, in light of certain political and social developments it may have been quite hard for him to find a place on any Solarian planet. But his sights did not rest on just any Solarian planet. He was on-route for Eridani I. Larr may have changed during his visit to Quizosa, but still he was driven by a belief that he deserved the best. He deserved high-quality surgical training, on a high-tech planet, with high pay to boot. With much more lax employment regulations within the Eridani alliance, it truly was the ideal destination for a tajara with more money than sense.

Larr began to have second thoughts almost immediately upon setting foot upon Eridani. At first just the mere sight of the sprawling, bottomless cityscape left him weak at the knees and gasping at the smoggy air. It certainly looked a lot more glamorous from the other side of the spur than it did now he was here. But he simply was not going to run back to Adhomai with his tail between his legs. He was in Sol space, the most prosperous land of opportunity in the galaxy; it was time to get down to business. It took a little while, but thanks in part to his long-practiced skill of speaking tradeband he was eventually successful in being taken into surgical residency at a Nanotrasen-sponsored hospital. Here he would get almost everything he had hoped for: excellent training, access to advanced medical technology, and potentially opportunities to finally prove himself. But despite this, his doubts did not fade, and his unwavering faith in Solarian superiority had begun to erode.

It did not take long for Larr to discover the aspects of life on Eridani that were not as publicly advertised. He was aware of the pollution beforehand, but he was not fully aware of what that meant for daily life. It was highly unpleasant, if not nigh-impossible for him to spend any amount of time outside without some sort of face mask, once again confining him indoors most of the time. Then there was the prejudice levied against him. Again, he had failed to consider how such a thing would affect him. At least in the professional sort of workplace he was employed at, it was not as overt as it could have been, but still he was forced to push himself to meet unreasonably high demands, as well as put up with ignorant ‘good-faith’ comments and the occasional snide remark. Each day left him feeling more and more drained. He felt isolated, every interaction with another person seemed ingenuine, patronizing on some level. Yet even though Larr could excuse all of this in the name of receiving high-class training, there came a point, even for him.

It would take the combined forces of the Phoron crisis and subsequent Solarian collapse to allow Larr to at last see the gaps in his stubborn worldview. As news of seceding planets and rocketing phoron prices hit Eridani, Larr was left in dismay, no longer knowing what to think. With his long-standing convictions now crumbling around him, and his training at last coming to an end, he again felt a desire to move on, but where? The cost of living on Eridani had reduced his personal wealth significantly, which he had hoped would be remedied by the increased pay he would receive after completing his training. Moving to Tau Ceti or another Biesellite planet did not seem right to him, the future of human-dominated space now looking unclear. Returning to Adhomai was out of the question. That was almost like admitting defeat. But now dead set on not spending another moment longer than necessary on this fake, smoke-filled planet, he would find a promising position upon a corporate vessel, an SCC flagship, potentially a very attractive addition to his resume.

His time on Eridani had shaken his beliefs but had also granted him time to reflect on himself. If Sol was no longer what he was looking for, then what was? Did he really despise his home so much as to never wish to return there ever again? He had left Adhomai out of a mix of dread, embarrassment and shame, but he had always told himself that he cared for the future of his species as a whole. But did anything about him give that impression? He had not even tried to show that he cared, having abandoned everything he supposedly cared for at the earliest opportunity. Had this all been worth it? Or was he just a coward, a traitor? But he couldn’t be thinking like this, not now. He had to put these thoughts aside and focus on his career. He’d do what he always did in times of crisis, buckle down and get to work. All he needed was to work. It was all he needed.

How has the recent events of the Orion Spur impacted your character?

Having spent most of his recent life outside of Adhomai and on Eridani, my character has been affected by the Solarian collapse much more than any recent event on his home planet. The phoron scarcity crisis in particular has shaken their belief in Solarian superiority perhaps more than anything else and has been a key factor in beginning the end of their jaded attitude towards Adhomai.  

How does your character view the megacorporation they work for?

They have a degree of respect for NanoTrasen, recognising that the corporation and others like it helped Adhomai industrialize and bring his species into the 24th century. He is also pleased with the advanced surgical training they provided to him, being a large reason as to why he left Adhomai in the first place. However, he is not completely blinded by loyalty to a corporation and realises that while they may have helped his planet a great deal, they are also the source of immense controversy upon the very same planet, not to mention the spur in general, and for good reason. That being said, his job is very important to him, and he would not dare jeopardise it by actively rebelling against his employer.

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Extra notes

Upon one’s first read-through of the backstory above, one may get the impression that Larr is designed to be a stateless person, having drifted away from the DPRA and now losing faith in Sol as well. However, this is not the intention I have for this character. While Larr is certainly dissatisfied with the current state of the DPRA, he currently does not completely hate it either. (Despite what he might say in casual conversation) This is because in his opinion he still regards it as the best choice out of everything else, due to it being the only true example of a democracy upon Adhomai, however flawed it may be, and because despite everything he still misses home. He is a conflicted individual that is slowly growing past his pig-headed and selfish nature, and I hope to roleplay him as such in-game.

[StewardsCap]

I like Graul Porlip as a character, and I think the player is very passionate! I hope they can show the same for the Tajjies! +1