A'kora : Operations

[Roughtrade]

The Rihannsu novels by Diane Duane had a strong influence on the background and personality of this character.  I know it is considered semi apocryphal these days, but her influence on the Romulan characterization in the early versions of the Star Trek RPGs is evident and I believe I also see it in the way Vonda McIntyre adapted the script to novel in Wrath of Khan. Cultural differences can be chalked up to being raised on a colony world.

 

Current Image

Still Deciding, but probably good enough.

 

History in Brief
Born of a Romulan father and a Vulcan mother on the planet of Trianguli V in the year 2313. In 2320 her home world was stricken by the deadly Phyrox Plague, which has a mortality rate of 99.99%. An outcaste by birth, she was abandoned along with many others that the ruling council thought unimportant and left behind in the evacuation.  A Federation research party rescued the survivors and brought the children to Vulcan. A’kora was raised in Vulcan traditions but the birthright of Logic is not hers. The conflict between her Romulan Passion and Vulcan Logic drove her to leave Vulcan and join Star Fleet.

 

Slightly Expanded...

Born in slavery, A'kora does not know the year of her birth.  She never met her mother, who had been driven to suicide by the process which is required to induce Pon Farr in a Vulcan female.  Her Romluan father barely acknowledged her existence and A'kora became a menial laborer as soon as she could hold a cleaning implement.  When the plague came, the Romulans abandoned slaves and did not expect any of them to survive or they would likely have murdered her before leaving.  

 

Raised by a typical Vulcan family, A'kora was actually rather happy.  Vulcans might consider her barely more housebroken than a sehlat, but it was far better treatment and conditions than her previous seven years as a slave.  Her adopted family was supportive and they mitigated much of the prejudice which Vulcan society might have inflicted upon her.  A'kora was still aware of their disapproval and struggled hard to fit in and be the proper Vulcan child. Only her older sister, T'jhal, considered that trying to suppress all emotions might be damaging to A'kora in the long run.  

 

On Vulcan, A'kora was encouraged to (some might say, driven to) a medical career.  The theory being it would temper her Romulan 'blood thirst' and other negative qualities.  She developed an interest in forensic medicine and as an assistant to one of the few Vulcan medical examiners, A'kora visited Starbase 22 to investigate a rare murder of a Vulcan citizen.  Direct exposure to Star Fleet personnel convinced A'kora to abandon medical practice and Vulcan entirely.  After a few years on her own with trading vessels and small scale merchants, A'kora was approached by Star Fleet Intell to infiltrate a Romulan shipyard and acquire blueprints to the newest Romulan military designs.  

 

In return for her services, Star Fleet Intell backed A'kora's application to the Academy.  She proved to be an excellent student and learned as much from her human students as she did from the Academy Instructors.  Though perhaps the lessons she learned were not always the ones which the Academy might have wished.  A'kora has adapted quite readily to the human concept of 'one hand washes the other' and has learned to cultivate favors and the art of the back room deal.  She has taken to this ideal with a Romulan ferocity, tempered perhaps by six months of having worked undercover with a Star Fleet Intelligence Operative.  

 

 

A'kora Final.pdf

[Roughtrade]

STARFLEET PERSONNEL RECORD
OFFICIAL USE ONLY

 

LAST: None
FIRST: A’kora
MIDDLE: None
RANK: Ensign
AGE: 58 (approx)
SEX: Female
HEIGHT: 175cm
WEIGHT: 61.25kg.
HAIR: Black
EYES: Blue
DOB: 2313 (approx) Month Undetermined 
PLACE OF BIRTH Helguard

RELATIVES: Natural (none) Sakol (Adopted Father) T'vara (Adpoted Mother) T'jhal (Adopted Sister - Older)

PRE ACADEMY SKILLS/ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Graduate of the Vulcan Medical Academy (2364)

STAR FLEET ACADEMY (2367 - 2371)
MAJOR : Hyperdimensional Physics and Warp Propulsion Design
MINOR : Engineering Subsystems and Sublight Propulsion Design

STARFLEET ACADEMY
1) Freshman Cadet Cruise, USS Reclaimer, Life Sciences
2) Sophomore Cadet Cruise, USS Independence, Security
3) Junior Cadet Cruise, USS Kubrick, Engineering
:: :: ::

 

[Roughtrade]

FEDERATION SCIENTISTS SAVE REFUGEES
(From "The New York Times" June Fifth, 2320)

Once again Star Fleet personal have shown the galaxy the true meaning of racial harmony. A Vulcan Science Expedition, sponsored by Star Fleet, has investigated the sudden depopulation of the Colony of Thieurrull.  (Federation designation Trianquli V, but nicknamed Helguard by a human scientist who studied the ruins after it was cleared by the Vulcan Science Council)  The former Romulan possession was found to be abandoned due to the virulent Phyrox Plague.  This deadly disease has a 99.99% mortality rate. At risk themselves from exposure, Federation Science teams have moved in and found only a handful of survivors from this once proud and viable colony whose population formerly numbered in the millions. In a magnanimous gesture, the Planet Vulcan, long known for it's distrust of anything Romulan, has offered to adopt the survivors, none of whom are older than the age of seventeen. For more information, see "Plague Survivors" on page twenty-four.


Vulcan Academy Student Evaluation - First Year
A’kora shows interest in her classes but lacks the dedication of the other students. Her control over even the most basic of the precepts of Sarak's Nine Stairs of Logic are minimal at best. This Office understands the unusual nature of her upbringing and takes into account her late start in life, but cannot excuse her behavior. Logic dictates that if the student is unable to perform than a different path for her life be found. Desire alone will not make her competent.

Professor T'pvuk

Vulcan Academy Student Evaluation - Graduation
Student A’kora has fully completed the studies and earned the degree awarded her by this University. She still lacks greatly in control of her emotions and I cannot in full conscience submit her application to the Humans at Star Fleet. Her continued inability to control her emotions will not bring honor to our planet. Our failure to understand the problems faced by the survivors of Trianguli V and how they may be integrated fully within proper Vulcan society is evident. It is the suggestion of this office that Student A’kora be assigned duties as an intern at a remote position so that she may focus more upon her studies at Logic and Control.

Professor Suran


Star Fleet Evaluation for Cadet A’kora
Cadet A’kora shows a remarkable talent at Engineering and is an adept student.  That said, Cadet A’kora is the angriest Vulcan I've ever met. I don't know if it's because of her greater age, or this anger management problem, but none of the other Vulcan Cadets will associate with her. In fact, her only friend seems to be an Andorian senior who is a technical assistant in one of her classes.

All of which is immaterial, Cadet A’kora excels in her classes, doesn't instigate any problems, has a dedication to the more military side of instruction and clearly has a strong desire to continue in Star Fleet as a career.

Lt Cdr Jerry Fiztgivens
Counselor, Star Fleet Academy


Final Evaluation of Ensign A’kora
Ensign A’kora has graduated in the top of her class in Engineering and has adapted to human culture with greater ease than many Vulcan applicants.  She will make a fine engineer and no doubt will be back here some day to share her experience with a new group of cadets.

Admiral George Charun
Commandant, Star Fleet Academy

Psychological Profile
Ensign A’kora is not ready for a position of leadership. She has issues, deep issues, involving her abandonment by the Romulan Colonists and the thick headed "experts" on Vulcan who let her sink into isolation and tried to crush what ever spirit she might have had. These issues are under control most times, but the occasional outburst of anger I have seen proves to me that there is a danger somewhere. Whoever recommended that Star Fleet give all those children to the Vulcans needs to have their head examined. Note, I do not say she is unfit for Star Fleet, I say she requires some special classes and maybe a few months of in depth examination without the pressures of training to distract her from self healing.

It may be that I am over reacting. I've never seen any Vulcan with anger management problems before, so no doubt it seems a glaring problem due to the contrast. Brass in Star Fleet Intel owes her a favor and has already overruled my objections to Ensign A’kora's continued advancement. But dammit, I hope someone listens to me. Someday, if she doesn't deal with these issues, someone is going to be hurt. Badly.

Cmdr Thomas Burns M.D.
CMO Starfleet Academy
 

 

[Roughtrade]

Personality Notes

A'kora understands humans far more than she pretends to, and enjoys manipulating their perceptions of how a 'Vulcan' should act. She gets along far better with crewmen and dock workers than officers and has an almost reflexive dislike of anyone with a superiority complex or who is snobbish. Given the chance, A’kora would rather hang out in the Chief’s Mess than the Officer’s Lounge. A’kora enjoys camaraderie, either with fellow engineering staff or with team mates.

Getting past her defenses is difficult, A’kora lets very few become close to her. But she is fiercely loyal to those who she considers a friend and she is very protective of her subordinates. She may run them ragged with drills and maintenance, but for her crewmen A’kora will go to the mats and beyond.

A'kora is a greasemonkey. She will never develop new and esoteric engineering marvels, but she can fix any damn thing she gets her hands on and seems only to be truly happy when she is elbow deep in fixing broken equipment. Previous commanders may have negative comments about her attitude or her off duty activities but none have ever faulted her ability to keep a ship running smoothly under the worst of conditions.

Humans might barely notice or consider A’kora just another cold tempered Vulcan, but anyone familiar with Vulcans will note that A'kora is a Vulcan with anger control issues. The slight tightening at the corner of her mouth, a tense muscle in her neck, a bit of color in her cheek, minimal reactions which a human would probably miss but would be unmistakable to a Vulcan. She does not have complete control of her emotions.

Perhaps a strength, perhaps a weakness, A’kora is adept at circumventing normal protocol when it suits her needs. She knows which supplier will put her work order at the head of the line in exchange for a case of Romulan Ale and knows where to get her hands on a case of Romulan Ale on short notice. A purely Romulan attitude, A’kora likes to have a web of favors to work in order to expedite processes which otherwise might frustrate her.

Ambition is a strange word to A’kora. If cornered and made to endure an intense emotional inventory, A’kora would be forced to admit she wants approval. Born a slave, she has an inner core of self doubt that she keeps buried and locked down. A’kora wants acceptance but due to her own (unacknowledged) insecurities she tends to make it harder on those who try to get close.

Accomplishments; that’s another story. A’kora has already managed to cause the utter ruin of the family that had enslaved her.  It would make her happy to hunt down the remaining few survivors, if any, and engineer their ruin or even death. But she doesn’t feel it’s worth wasting her time. And perhaps more enjoyable to think of them in ruin as hunted refugees.

Goals are something A’kora has troubles with. As a child, her goal was to not be a slave. Then she was on Vulcan and her goal was to try and fit in, and then just to escape Vulcan. Then it was revenge, then it was to enter Star Fleet, then it was to become an Engineer. She keeps reaching her goals and then she flails about when she can’t figure out why reaching these goals does not make her happy.

As for vices, besides indulging in arguments for the sake of arguments, A’kora likes coffee, peppermint candy (but not together) and human soap operas.

 

How to Spot a Romulan

To someone who is familiar with the differences between Vulcans and Romulans...  A Vulcan linguist may recognize that the root word for “A’kora” before it’s contraction as a “Vulcanized” female name is a word for a rather caustic lye cleaner used in Vulcan pre-industrial revolution era. A Romulan linguist would further recognize it as a word used for a scrubbing tool used by slaves on poor planets (or slaves who’s masters are very stingy with buying supplies) to clean floors. (Basically the word means “Floor Scrubbing Tool” but implies hand tool, not mop) It is typical of slaves who are physical labor to be named after tools or objects of their position. Therefore anyone with a decent knowledge of Romulan culture as it applies to slavery would recognize A’kora as a “slave name” that has been further altered in the Vulcan female style.

A’kora eats meat. Vulcans are vegetarians. This might be noticed if someone is trying to figure her out or is curious about her nature.

[Roughtrade]

If someone were to ask “Hey, what’s the story with that A'kora person?” they could find out the following...

 

A'kora is a Vulcan of some sort...  As a matter of fact, A'kora is half Vulcan, half Romulan.  She does not hide it exactly, but she does not advertise it either and is more than willing to let people make mistakes when it comes to assuming she is full blooded Vulcan.  That said, her childhood rescue is a matter of public record and anyone with ten or twenty minutes and a really good search engine could probably dig up the news reports, especially if they start looking for information on Romulan Vulcan cross breeds. 

 

With this in mind, A'kora is odd, does not seem to 'get along' with other Vulcans and does not associate with them. By some unspoken agreement, other Vulcans do not talk about why any more than she does. She prefers the company of crewmen to that of other officers and is on friendly terms with most of the CPOs on board. In temperament the A'kora is coldly polite, as are most Vulcans. She is more open to physical contact, and will shake hands when greeting someone for the first time if they are human or indicate that they follow that custom.

She most commonly wears coveralls with her rank pips on the collar instead of the normal uniform. This is not a violation of uniform regulations, just not very common for an officer. Her uniform often has the signs of her having been “in the gear” as she often checks the status of repairs herself and is in fact seeming to be at her happiest when she is elbows deep in some large and dirty repair job.

For recreation, A'kora can be found participating in almost any competitive sport. Team sports are a favored activity, but she has a reputation for being a bit of a bully towards referees if they show any sign of being able to be intimidated by her rank or her ability to get under people's skin. Rugby and Soccer she does well in, but she has been thrown out of enough baseball games for technical fouls and arguing with referees that she no longer joins for more than a pick up game or casual afternoon. Handball and Racquet ball are also among her common played sports.

She also knows a form of martial arts that is unfamiliar to most Federation personnel. Most mornings, for an hour before the day officially starts, A'kora can be found practicing katas from this style, or working at strikes against a punching bag. She will not spar with anyone unless they are highly skilled in their own right.

[Roughtrade]

Annnd...  That is probably enough saved spots.

 

Been avoiding Yard Work for about two hours now.  Should have done it before it got hot outside.

 

Want to save a thing someplace

 

Blah

Bolah

Blah

Blahhablah

 

 

[artsmythe]

Wow.... You really know how to procrastinate.

[Roughtrade]

I get super picky about some formatting things.  Like having a paragraph that the last sentence/line of it is just one word.

 

<eyes first post>

 

BRB.  Gota edit something....

[RpgNott]

Plz ignore

Edited June 17, 2022 by RpgNott (see edit history)

[Roughtrade]

I guess I need to say it's ready to be reviewed?

 

Also, can you remove Rpgnt's post above?  Not only do non-sequitur comments in my character threads annoy me greatly but...

 

I know it can be done on the classic site.  Just wondering about the functionality of it here. 

Can the "owner" of a game area manipulate things at the same level?

Is there a "merge" function?

 

On 6/15/2022 at 5:10 PM, RpgNott said:

Well done

I should say thank you.  But now I am curious about if the function is available.

[Roughtrade]

Since I wasn't trying to be secret about it all...

 

Yes, it worked!  You can unhide it if you want.  I have enough 'personal spots' saved for making notes if the character gets into the game.

 

Once I thought about it, I was mostly curious about the functionality of this site vs old site and if removal of things was possible.  And then it became a thing I wanted to know if it would work but making an entire game advertisement and forum area seemed a bit excessive just to test it myself.

[Roughtrade]

And, of course, ten seconds later I start thinking of other things I want to test and should make my own area anyways just to do it.

 

The "Private From" function on Classic Mythweavers.  Most people don't even know about it, which makes it even more useful really.  You can use Private Tags to make a message which only a few others can read.  You can also use "Private From" and then everyone except those persons listed can read it.  Super useful for short and snarky comments...  which of course I *never* used it for.....  But also useful for games where one character was separated from the others and the GM is required to cut one person out of the information but still allow visitors and readers to see what is going on.

 

I really like the Merge function on the Classic site.  I use it a lot to clean up notes to myself or to handle timing errors when someone's post requires an action from someone else.

 

I love playing with the language function on the old site.  Most people don't use it, but it is so much fun when playing an Oracle with the Curse of Tongues.

 

I could probably go on quite a bit, but this is rather a non-sequitur discussion I am having with myself all it's own now..

 

Edit... Oh!  Another One!  The Classic Site let you review your own edits and even 'roll back' to them if you wanted.  

[Roughtrade]

I guess you should change the name of my thread to Engineering ......

 

....or Operations if you have to.....

[Scarecrow71]

@Roughtrade

 

Actually, you might be able to make that edit yourself.  Edit the very first post in the thread, and you should be able to edit the title.

[Roughtrade]

Well.....  If you let me decide......

 

Oh hai!  I can see where it says the title of the thread was changed.

Where is the privacy tags so I can be snarky?

 

I will change it to Ops Boss .... eventually...