Daughter of the Cerulean Sun - notagonk/ant Tajara Whitelist Application

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BYOND Ckey: not-a-gonk

Discord Username: anthony.albanese

Character Names:

Species you are applying to play: Tajara

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General Whitelist Requirements 

What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: A slightly darker Enforcer Silver (#B2B2B2)

Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: Yes indeed!
 

Why do you wish to play this species?: As tempted as I was to say it's just because we’re in the midst of a Tajara Lore arc right now, applying for this whitelist has been something I’ve been wanting to do for years. As a player and a lore deputy myself, I’ve always been amazed by how present the politics and everyday events of the lore are in the lives of tajaran characters, and the sheer amount of work which has gone into making that possible. In particular, I want to highlight how important the relationships between our tajara characters and their national allegiances are, which stood out to me as such a strong example of resonance between lore presence and game presence, being what made me so determined to get this whitelist.
 

What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: In abstract: the harsh conditions of Adhomai, history of domineering societal classes, and rapid technological advancements brought on by contact with humanity, make playing tajara an inherently unique experience.

Dating back to prehistory, tajaran society was constructed around a strict caste system designed to reinforce the power of the ruler-priest Njarir’Akhran caste, and despite the goal of the First Revolution to dismantle this system, its remnants haunt Adhomai to this day. The tajaran caste system, which exists alongside (and complements) other concerns such as national loyalty, social class, or other similar structures found in human society, create another layer of complexity with how the individual interacts with the wider collective. Whether playing a Hharar expected to take up the family trade, or a Zhan-Khazan expected to fulfill the ever-growing need for menial labour in the mines and on the farms, few are able to escape their mandated purpose. Additionally, the massive amount of recent, impactful events in tajaran history have allowed the leap from 20th century technology, to integration with the Spur at large, to be within living memory for the tajara. The tumultuous nature of this history, partly caused by tajaran infighting over human corporate intervention on Adhomai, has formed a dynamic between the two which underscores the experience of a tajara working aboard the flagship of these same corporations; many despise the corporations for attempting to subjugate Adhomai and its people, while others dream of finding a NanoTrasen job to escape their circumstances.

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Character Application

Character Name: Djramirra K'ahkijur Ket’dynhzir (Typically excluding Dynasty aspect as 'Djramirra Ket'dynhzir', or rarely a shortened version of the Individual aspect 'Rami' amongst close friends and family)

Djramirra Ket’dynhzir was born in K'ahkijur, a satellite town on the outskirts of B’urr, Ras’nrr in 2433, to M’sai parents who had both fought in the First Revolution. Belonging to the first generation of tajara born to the People’s Republic, Djramirra’s early life was greatly defined by the emerging project of a unified, Hadiist monoculture; thanks to her mother being a mid-level staff officer in the Grand People’s Army, and her father an NPD liaison to the municipal Party branch, she enjoyed all the benefits afforded to the urban intelligentsia of the Republic. Enamored by her mother’s tales of revolutionary adventure and glory, Djramirra dreamt of becoming a great general from a young age, becoming a troop leader in the local Young Ras’neers youth brigade, taking junior Baghrar classes, and practicing marching drills each day. And yet, despite all her prayers to S'rendarr, her Hadiist fantasy was put to the test in 2445. Blissfully unaware of the struggle between the pro- and anti-corporate wings of the Party, the 12-year-old Djramirra arrived home one afternoon to learn that her father had been arrested, detained, imprisoned, or worse. Eavesdropping on conversations between her mother and their extended family, she learnt that her father had been collaborating with several disgruntled Party functionaries to sabotage the growing presence of NanoTrasen on Adhomai, attracting the attention of the PSIS. Despite Djramirra’s mother assurances that her father’s arrest was a minor mishap which would only last a week, she quickly came to see the behemoth human megacorporation, masquerading as a friend to the tajara, as no better than the Njarir subjugators her parents fought two decades earlier. Increasingly disillusioned with her Hadiist convictions in her teen years, Djramirra buried her grief with apathy, spite, and acts of minor delinquency, only being saved from juvenile detention due to her family connections on multiple occasions.

And in 2449, Djramirra found her purpose. Having recently turned 16 years old, with no concerns for her future, she listened to the beginning of President Al’mari Hadii’s infamous proclamation against foreign imperialism with little interest. However, as the Champion of the Free Tajara’s speech went on, his attacks against human corporate greed, and vows to curtail their influence on Adhomai, resonated with Djramirra just as her mother’s revolutionary tales had in her childhood. Inspired by Al’mari’s promises of a Free Adhomai, an Adhomai free of the same k'strelkii which took her father from her, she enrolled into a military academy, and graduated as an Akhet of the Grand People’s Army shortly after. While waging war against the megacorporate machine attempting to conquer Adhomai was her dream, Djramirra knew that this was inevitable whether it happened tomorrow, or in a decade's time. Besides, were the royalist raskaren in Harr’masir, who were trying to revive the enslavement of the caste system, not equally deserving of her ire? It was also during this period that Djramirra became increasingly faithful to Messa, carrying a talisman of the pale sun on herself at all times, and praying for the protection of her parents. Furthermore, she befriended a M’sai named Mahirija, a fellow cadet from her academy class, with the two growing closer after being assigned to the same post.

A sense of impending change was universal across Adhomai in 2451, but few could have predicted the assassination of Al’mari Hadii.

Qarakhran Djramirra Ket’dynhzir delivered the grim news to her small squadron of troops with a stern face and a steady voice, giving them no hint of how terrified she truly was. How could this have happened; did the royalists manage to infiltrate Nal’tor, had the human corporations grown tired of their demands not being met, was some power-hungry PSIS official executing a coup from the highest levels of government? These questions were quickly quashed when Njadrasanukii Hadii took presidential office and set out to destroy Al’mari’s hard-fought efforts to reform the corruption of the Republic. When Halkiikijr Nated'Hakhan, commander-in-chief of the Grand People’s Army, and a loyal supporter of Al’mari, then accused Malik of being a treasonous usurper, Djramirra threw her (paper)weight in with the Adhomai Liberation Army, and thus began the Second Revolution.

Djramirra’s unit saw K'ahkijur completely liberated in only two days, and moved to join the larger effort at B’urr. Now faced against the servile lackeys of both the Njrarir and the human corporations, she fought to expel the Hadiist forces from Ras’nrr for five years, gaining some experience as an adequate officer, though being mostly relegated to the rear lines for garrison duty in the early war, due to her inexperience. However, as the PRA gained the upper hand in eastern Ras’nrr, she found herself defending the city against the incoming Hadiist counter-offensive in vain. As the forces of the Republican Army arrived at B’urr’s doorstep, Djramirra considered retreating to K’akhijur, but the thought of her mother’s disappointment, her father’s disappointment, strengthened her resolve. Meeting with other ALA units in the city, they all agreed a conventional defence against the inbound Hadiist forces was futile, and that they would wage a guerilla war to make occupation of B’urr untenable, at least until ALA reinforcements could arrive.

Thus, in 2459, Djramirra founded a partisan resistance cell called the Kazarrhaliir’al Messa (can be translated as “Heralds of the Cerulean Sun”) at the age of 26, along with other junior officers, most notably an old friend: Mahirja, who despite being sent to southern Ras’nrra with the outbreak of the Second Revolution, had returned soon before B’urr was ‘taken’ by the Hadiists, and became Djramirra’s loyal second-in-command. As the years go on, and Adhomai’s borders begin to take their modern shape, she finds much greater success in guerilla warfare, discovering her greatest strength to be in the civilian population; disseminating Al’marist propaganda, distributing charity for the poor, infiltrating government organisations with undercover operatives, and even the occasional theft or hit contract when funds are tight, are the methods through which the Kazarrhaliir’al Messa fight for a liberated B’urr. However, while the group remained somewhat successful in the neighbourhoods they operated in, the Kazarrhaliir’al did not expand far beyond their original core of ALA veterans, and were unable to convince the war-weary civilian population to enter another fight they were unlikely to win. Their lack of expansion, coupled with the attrition dealt by the Republican Army, NPD crackdowns, and the newly formed Democratic People’s Republic of Army focusing on the Das’nrra and Harr’masir fronts, forced the Kazarrhaliir’al to finally relocate to ALA-controlled K’ahkijur in late 2460. 

For the first time in over a decade, Djramirra would return to her familial home, an eerie reminder of what seemed like another life. Her mother had passed a few months ago from illness, though the two had grown distant since losing her father, she prayed that Messa would guide her parents to one another in the afterlife. Djramirra was further alienated from her extended relatives because of her refusal to be married, due to the open secret of her relationship with Mahirja, seen as a disrespect to S’rendarr’s blessing of new life. Afforded only a few months of respite, the tumultuous presidential election and attempted coup in 2461, which saw Nated begin to spearhead the transition to civilian control, saw the Kazarrhaliir’al Messa join the rest of the southern Ras’nrr junta in submitting to the DPRA government. Somewhat uncommon for a Liberation Army officer, Djramirra was generally supportive of Almrah Harrlala’s election as the President of the DPRA, partly because of Nated’s assent for her victory, and seeing her as a determined and hardworking leader (for a civilian), although this opinion will degrade as her terms in office are eventually plagued by the Amohdan rebellion, her government’s development of their nuclear arsenal and continued efforts to modernise DPRA infrastructure provide a counterweight. Alas, the Second Revolution comes to a tense close in 2461 with the Armistice of Shastar, leaving Djramirra’s militant convictions a little more worn out than they once were.

Alas, the cold war calls for soldiers, and while the conflict on Adhomai may have stagnated, there are tajara across the stars in need of liberation. Summoned to active duty, Djramirra is promoted to the rank of Kazkhran, and tasked with leading the Kazarrhaliir’al Messa (reformed as a company-strength element following its reintegration into the ALA proper) to an assignment on the newly Liberated Gakal’zaal. Finding herself on the opposite side of a guerilla conflict, the Kazarrhaliir’al were tasked with providing training to professionalise the partisans of the Gakal’zaal Liberation Front, though Djramirra would soon discover the wider struggle between the Huwaytat Junta, and the opposing Mroiikhrans Hro'rammhad and Hotak. While having some respect for Hro’rammhad’s conduct and success on the Das’nrra front, she sees his opposition to irregular warfare as naive and unrealistic, and his support for large-scale democratisation as hasty. Meanwhile, she sees Hotak and his Commandos’ eccentricities as a stain on the reputation of the ALA (and even a distasteful appropriation of Messa in regards to Hotak’s persona), but the effectiveness of their tactics and intelligence-gathering capabilities are unmatched, and are undoubtedly just as responsible for the DPRA’s survival as Hro’rammhad’s Tank Corps. This leaves Andranik Huwaytat, the unaligned, enigmatic Rhaza-Akhran of Gakal’zaal, as a unique opportunity in Djramirra’s eyes. From 2461 to 2464, the Kazarrhaliir’al based themselves in the sinta-majority city of New S’th, attempting to improve the dire state of the local Gakal’zaal Liberation Army garrison through internal methods, being unable to effectively utilise the sinta population.

While returning to their compound after talks with local New S’th merchants in 2464, Djramirra, Mahirja, and a handful of staffers, protected by a token GLA escort, were ambushed by Yizarus Brigade partisans fielding automatic weapons. By the time reinforcements arrived, most of the group, including Mahhirja, had been killed. With the surgical amputation of her entire left leg, which was unsalvageable from the shrapnel of an improved explosive used in the ambush, Djramirra spent months recovering in a Zikala hospital, having ample time to contemplate her failures in becoming a great general, unable to defeat the Njarir slavers, the megacorporate drones, or even a ragtag group of unathi who used her own tactics against her. While she received a medal, and a promotion to Zarkir with an office job liaising between the Huwayat junta and the ALA, Djramirra’s strength to fight seemed extinguished, and she asked one of the Sun Sisters working in the hospital for guidance.

In early 2465, at 32 years old, Zarkir Djramirra Ket’dynhzir was granted an honourable discharge from the ALA after one-and-a-half decades of service. With the Messa’s guidance, she realised that Al’mariism needed soldiers who fought with the pen, and not the rifle; all those years ago, it was her mother’s tales, then Al’mari’s speech, which gave her the impetus to dedicate her life to the cause of liberation, and that is where power rests. Applying for a post within the DPRA’s unimpressive Office of Diplomatic Services, Djramirra was hired within days and dispatched on the long journey to the Free Tajaran Council on Himeo as an attache to representatives on the planet. She was successful in building connections with both civilian DPRA and ALA representatives during her assignment, although it was the FTC which reinforced her faith in Al’mariism by proving one of its most important principles: any tajaran state, including those not on Adhomai, will naturally dismantle the caste system enforced by the Njarir. Conversely, she also sees the FTC as an example of how internal conflict allows the independence of the tajara to be subordinated to an imperialist, human corporation, or any other interest. Why then, should the tajara stick their heads in the snow while the other species of the Spur grow stronger? If Al’mari’s desire for a strong, independent Adhomai are to be achieved, Djramirra concludes that the DPRA must shirk isolationism, and force the Spur to accept their independence.

By 2467, Djramirra was assigned to directly liaise with the Little Adhomai Liberators in the Republic of Biesel. While not enthused to travel to the heart of humanity’s megacorporate greed, she knows that the tajara in Mendell City need the support of Al’mariism more than nearly anywhere else. Plagued by the corporate-human sympathisers of the PRA, and the backwards Njarir-worshipping NKA, travelling to District Six seemed a natural evolution for the struggle of liberation to Djramirra. Embedded within the centralised DPRA command for the Liberators, she worked to ensure that DPRA citizens would be protected from the dangers of legal bureaucracy by assisting with visa papers, communicating with local government members, and waging various other mundane, white-collar battles.

Having found a new way to fight for Al’mari’s legacy, Djramirra continues to look onto the future with hope, knowing that Messa will guide the tajaran people to prosperity in due time. In her function as a government employee, she has become well-appraised with the politics of Adhomai, and even in the wider Spur, having mastered her control of Tau Ceti Basic. She sees the tensions between the civilian government of the DPRA and the ALA junta warlords as the primary reason that the other two Adhomaian nations remain standing. Wishing for Al’mari’s mistakes not to be repeated, Djramirra wants to see Nated create a durable, democratic state, unable to be usurped by another Malik Hadii. Thus, she holds mostly Moderate Al’mariist views, although departs in some areas where she is more closely aligned with Natedism. One notable dissonance to her mostly moderate views are those regarding unathi, who she sees as no better than Njarir with scales and horns. Djramirra will speak at length about the primitive feudal obsessions of the Izweski, although the attack which left her disfigured, and her companion dead, are never spoken of.

Following her exemplary performance in Little Adhomai, Djramirra has received her newest assignment: the SCCV Horizon. The megacorporate flagship is planning to travel to Adhomai, and conduct operations deep within the territory of the ALA juntas. Having read the reports detailing the events of the Horizon’s past expeditions in S'rand'marr, Djramirra knows that whatever happens in the coming months could have monumental impacts, and prays for Messa’s protection as she boards the shuttle to her new post.
 

How have the recent events of the Orion Spur impacted your character? Events such as the Phoron Scarcity, the Solarian Collapse or even the Invasions of Biesel for interstellar-wide affairs, while region-specific events such as the Peacekeeper Mandate, The Titan Rises or even Cold Dawn may impact your character.

Ultimately subject to the arrival of NanoTrasen, and integration of Adhomai into the wider Spur, Djramirra was most significantly affected by the consequences of the phoron scarcity on the nations of Adhomai themselves. Overreliance on the human corporations is one of her greatest concerns, and thus she is determined to see the tajara decoupled from the megacorporations, before they drag them into oblivion once the phoron runs dry. Otherwise, the Horizon’s own missions to Adhomai are a perfect example of Djramirra’s anxiety about non-tajara intervening in tajaran affairs for their own benefit. The Horizon, NanoTrasen, and the EPMCs, being the most prolific offenders here, she is yet to reckon with having to face all three at once in her new post.
 

How does your character view the *megacorporation they work for?

*Being a consular officer, Djramirra is employed by the civilian DPRA government, so I figured it would be more useful to write her thoughts on that, considering I’ve detailed her thoughts on the megacorporations at some length already.

Djramirra has only recently become a civil servant, and following a lifetime in the ALA, is still adjusting to the new expectations placed upon her as a consulate official of the DPRA. While she may be skeptical of the civilian government’s competency to liberate Adhomai, their recent successes in improving standards of living within their territory, while the juntas continue to suffer embarrassment after embarrassment, leave her conflicted. If the DPRA were able to improve the floundering PVSM, or make greater use of the AJIC as a tool to protect tajara abroad, then Djramirra may find herself becoming a greater supporter of the civilian government than before.

Additional Comment: I couldn't think of a way to fit the actual Parivara, or the Ma'ta'ke Gods, into Djramirra's backstory, so I will include a few points here to show I didn't ignore them!

• While recognising the positive impact of the Parivara in earlier tajaran history, Djramirra is wary of the application of the church as a tool for oppression by the Njarir. Holding a personal affinity with her faith in Messa, however, she does hold the Sun Sisters in high regard, and the Priests to a lesser extent. Grappling with these contradictions, Djramirra has largely come to regard her faith as an individual spiritual concern, believing liberation of the tajara from their current woes is achievable only through Al'mariism, and Al'mariism alone. Indeed, her tendency to pray solely to Messa, and incongruence with the marital practices of the faith, make keeping her worship a personal matter a much safer choice.
• On the other hand, Djramirra cares very little for the Ma'ta'ke Gods, or their worshippers, seeing their ignorance of Messa's divine light for natural ambience, in favour of their idol-worship, as childish. However, the disorganised and vast range of Ma'ta'ke beliefs across Adhomai is hardly a concern in her mind; as long as long as they keep step with revolutionary Al'mariism, she cares little which member of the Pantheon one worships.