Name: Alkira Gambandee
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Appearance: Played by - unknown Himba woman. Alkira's weathered skin and rough musculature mark her as someone whose entire world is the great outdoors. She stands at 5' 7", and has long black hair woven into tight braids. Her dark brown eyes are always darting around rapidly, drinking in all of the sights around her.
Job - Skills: Delta. Alkira has many skills relating to survival on her home planet, but cooking and handcrafts (sewing, making weapons, pottery) are the most relevant to her service on the Huxley. She isn't a warrior, but is far from helpless in combat, and is a very good climber.
Augmentations: Like all the people of her planet, Alkira has a magnetoreceptive sense. On a planet with a moderate or strong magnetic field, she can sense magnetic north, and sometimes gain a sense for large rock formations nearby. On a ship or station, she can sense the main power conduits, and smaller ones if she is close enough.
History: Alkira had a good life in the Wal'piri tribe on Tomadan. She grew up learning crafts and plant gathering from her mother, and scouting and navigation from the men of the tribe - an unusual but not dishonourable calling for a girl. She served her duties to her tribe well, and upon becoming a woman at sixteen, she gladly welcomed the advances of the strongest and most handsome men of the tribe. This led to her bearing a child at eighteen, a strong, healthy boy.
Something was wrong, though. After her pregnancy, Alkira suffered from dizziness, weakness and insatiable thirst. The Wal'piri's wise shaman recognized the curse under which she laboured, and instructed her to eat only meat in an attempt to purify herself. This kept her alive, but her condition still grew worse. As a measure of last resort, the shaman sent her to climb the Spire of the Sky People. The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was reaching the gleaming cave at the top of the spire and reciting the mystical incantation the shaman had taught her:
I want to join the Delta Project.Personality:Curious - On Tomadan, Alkira had always wanted to see what was beyond the next horizon, and also what the other men and women in her tribe had experienced and wanted to share with her. Now she is living beyond the horizon of all horizons.
Desperate - Alkira knows that she is only alive because of the ITA and the Delta Project. She will do almost anything for the crew of the Huxley, although serious abuse may change her views.
Affectionate - Alkira is a very social creature, and forms strong emotional bonds with other people very quickly.
Sexuality: Bisexual. The Wal'piri view on sexuality is complicated, but that's what her sexuality boils down to.
Expectations: Paleolithic tribeswoman figuring out spacefaring technology! Also the change in social structure between her tribe and the Huxley should be interesting to explore. Naturally, I'm hoping she gets put to good use sexually, by multiple people and/or in a public area would be nice! I'd also like people to make good use of her other skills, like cooking and handcrafts. There's also the fact that she has a terminal illness which the ITA's technology is holding at bay, which could lead to some interesting scenes and conversations.
World Building:Tomadan is a large planet, with many wide, open savannah regions near its equator, punctuated with large plateaus and mesas. Precipitation is low, so the people of Tomadan must migrate often to find enough water, plants and animals to sustain their population. This scarcity of water has kept the tribes of Tomadan from becoming sedentary and making the jump to Neolithic life.
One unusual feature of Tomadan is its very strong magnetic field. Not only does this result in spectacular aurorae, visible almost from the equator, but it has led the people and animals of Tomadan to evolve strong magnetoreceptive senses, which they use for navigation.
