Lieutenant Vaiko

Pronoun key:

• Ke=He/She
• Kem=Him/Her
• Kemself=Himself/Herself
• Kir=His/Her
• Kirs=His/Hers

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

• Name: Vaiko
• Rank: Lieutenant
• Race: Xenogen, Giruto'eh subrace (Humanoid)
• Ht: 5'4"
• Wt: 120 lbs.
• Skin: Pale blue
• Ears: Slightly pointed
• Eyes: Large, dark purple, slit pupil
• Hair: Purple, streaked with pink, straight, knee-length, worn loose
• Sex: Hermaphrodite
• Eyebrows and eyelashes are dark purple. Eyebrows arch. Very little other body hair. Hair contains small, hair-like tentacles (which are also knee-length), they are prehensile, but have little strength individually and are generally used as sense organs. Sex organs of both genders, usually enclosed within the body when not sexually aroused. Small breasts. Build is curvier than a man, but generally straighter and more muscular than a woman's.
• Age: 67 standard Earth years (appears much younger)

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

• Mild chemical sensitivity through hands and tentacles.
• Tentacles can also generate a mild electric shock.
• More powerful chemical sensitivity through tongue.
• Empathy and touch telepathy.
• Biological DNA storage, sorting and recombination abilities.
• Night vision.

Skills:

• Excellent in the biological (especially genetics and botany) and social sciences and chemistry
• Great in other science areas.
• Good in Giruto'eh, Federation Common, and Vulcan languages.
• Fair to poor in several other languages.
• Fair in Giruto'eh judo, which makes significant use of pressure points and the tentacles' shock ability (especially applied to said pressure points), as well as the more typical grapples, holds and throws.
• Good to fair in standard Starfleet stuff as well.
• Very poor in social skills which require an understanding of hierarchy or gender relations (savoir-faire and such)
• Generally fair to good in other areas

HISTORY:

As might be surmised, the Xenogens did not originate on Kirete. It is one of several worlds that they call home, though they are mostly scattered. Their planet of origin isn't known.

The Xenogens are a "race" that gathers the genetic material of other races. This DNA is stored, selected, recombined and passed on to their offspring, meaning that no Xenogen is quite like any other. They do not know what their original appearance might have been like.

Vai, as well as kir Xenogen "mother" Heita, is a member of the Giruto'eh branch of the Xenogens, which are humanoid in appearance. Ke has several "fathers," none of whom ke knew personally. Vaiko's genetic predecessors come from most of the known humanoid races, including Human, Vulcan, Romulan, Andorian, Green Orion, Klingon, Betazoid, and even Ferengi, as well as other, less well-known, humanoids and non-humanoids, many of whom are long extinct or were absorbed wholesale into the Xenogen race.

Kir full name is 'Vaiko'. The name is computer generated and assigned by a selected Xenogen to be unique for each Xenogen. In situations where a "family" name seems desirable, Vaiko uses 'Giruto'eh'. Friends generally call kem 'Vai'.

Vai spent the most of kir early years on Kirete studying ecology, biology, xenobiology, chemistry and the linguistics of the races that visited there. As was often the case with Xenogens, kir home world soon lost its interest in the face of the myriad of races that visited and Vaiko began travelling off-world. Ke studied sociology at Harvard on Earth, then switched to anthropology and finally archeology.

Ke worked with a Vulcan archeologist, Dr. Sunak, in several digs before returning to the more interesting world of school, and a different area of interest.

Ke studied physics for a year, and then switched to astrophysics, and then dropped out, bored.

After travelling and working odd jobs for a number of years, Vai applied to Starfleet Academy and was accepted. With Vaiko's vast experience and education, ke impressed kir instructors there. Kir one weakness was kir tendency to bore easily and kir interest in fellow cadets, equal to kir interest in studies. Vai's racial predisposition to pursue interesting genetic possibilities caused great concern among the counsellors at the Academy. But Vaiko always did well in studies, so it was difficult to convince kem that it was a problem.

Beliefs:

• Vai believes that most personality, abilities and achievements are the result of genetics, and takes little personal pride or interest in such.
• The Xenogen society is very non-hierarchical. While Vaiko accepts the need for a leader and organiser in any group endeavour, ke doesn't generally treat those in leadership roles with more or less respect that any other. They are all just people to kem.
• The Xenogens have a standard that genetic sample gathering may only be done on willing subjects or with sexual partners. Vai keeps to this standard.

Personality:

• Because of the hermaphroditic nature of Xenogens, Vai thinks of kemself and others in gender-neutral terms and often has difficulty with gender-specific pronouns in other languages. Since a rather violent encounter with a Klingon who objected to Vai calling him a "her," Vai has tried to do better, but still messes up often.
• Off-duty, Vai dresses in whatever appeals. It's more likely to be a colourful or flowery skirt, dress, sari or sarong than it is to be clothing considered more "masculine", thus leading many to assume that ke is a female. Ke doesn't correct the use of gender-specific pronouns with regard to kemself.
• Because kir hands and tongue are chemically sensitive and Vai can learn a great deal about an object just by handling and "tasting" it, Vai handles things a great deal more, and especially interesting objects will be tasted as well.
• Vai generally keeps the fact that kir hair is not all hair as a sort of ace in the hole, using kir hands for chemical sensing and reserving kir tentacles for emergencies (like the aforementioned incident with the Klingon).
• Xenogens tend to raise their children collectively, with each member of the community expected to watch out for the welfare, entertainment and education of the children. Around children, Vai will unconsciously adopt a parental role (and be surprised when others don't).

Ambitions:

• Vai's main ambition is to gather good genetic material to produce the best offspring possible. Most Giruko'eh Xenogens don't become fertile till somewhere in their 70s to 90s, though this varies considerably, so Vai has some time yet.
• Vai has no interest in achieving higher rank, though ke will not object to being given higher ranks.

Hobbies:

• Vai grows and hybridises flowers.
• Ke also has a great interest in linguistics and the great literature of the languages ke speaks. Anyone who fluently speaks a language that Vai doesn't will immediately draw kir interest.