Raifi Zaren

Character Information

Gender		Male
Species		Trill (Joined)
Age		38 (155)
Date of Birth		2351
Place of Birth		Leran Manev, Trill

Character Type

Starfleet ID

Serial Number		CV-273-0031
Security Clearance		Level 1
Duty Watch		N/A

Physical Appearance

Height		6'
Weight		163 lbs
Hair Color		Brown
Eye Color		Dark green
Physical Description		Zaren can be a startling sight at first glance. He is tall and lean and muscular, well-dressed and well-kept, but usually the first thing that is noticed about him is the giant eye apparently staring right out of his throat. (The tattoo can be a little too lifelike for some.) His hair is kept long on top and short on the sides, and is usually combed back out of the way. His eyes are dark green, steady, and house stories older than he seems. He has three warddrobe items that do not get recycled: -a black felt bowler hat -a titanium ring with 'You jump, I jump' inscribed in Trill, hanging from a long silver chain, interspersed with black meteorite beads -a small silver plated ring that looks like a metal feather curled twice around his little finger
Body Art		Raifi has a variety of tattoos (some he designed and inked himself, others - the older ones - were done for him). The most prominent of these is a giant predatory bird that appears to be just landing on his collar bones, its wings outspread, its face a shield housing a giant eye right at the center of his throat. He also has various stars, constellations, whispering faces, and DNA sequences tattooed and/or drawn all over.
Portrait

Family

Father		Jan Cahil
Mother		Quola Cahil
Brother(s)		Bele, Pilin (twins)

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Zaren is what one might call 'permanently fascinated'. He lives for self-expression and a large part of his fascination with journalism is the potential to help others find ways of expressing their inner selves to the outside world. He sees everything as a part of a cosmic whole, and has a great underlying desire to help people accomplish their own personal goals. Raifi has been said to have a rather 'zany charm'. He's not necessarily likable, but he doesn't make an effort to be. His concern is with the truth, with the story, with the currents running under the obvious line. True stories don't get told by men not willing to make waves. He is most productive when working with a group of people, brainstorming and coming up with solutions to puzzles. He is energized by the presence of others, and inspired by what inspires them.
Strengths		He learns and thinks globally; not with precision, but in terms of 'close enough'. What matters to him is if something works; if it works, he can work with it. Perfection, for him, is found in the flaws. This also tends to make him more aware of patterns in his environment, which can be helpful in some instances and can make him paranoid in others, sensing connections where there might be only coincidence. With age comes wisdom, or so they say. Zaren would never be one to call himself 'wise' by any standard, but three previous lifetimes of experience have taught him patience. The longer he lives, the more he realizes how much time is usually wasted on petty jealousies and pride and the silly transitive things that end up meaning very little in ten or twenty years. Hurrying towards a destination isn't usually worth it, when the journey holds so many discoveries. Life is too short to waste time on hate. He doesn't feel the need to win every argument. He knows that everything can change in the blink of an eye, so he rides the wave.
Weaknesses		Life is for living, and Zaren considers himself no exception. He takes hold of every opportunity and rides it to its edge. Fear is fine and good, but if you let it stop you from testing your wings, you'll never fly. Then again, you'll also never fall on the ground in a broken heap, but that's the risk, isn't it? That's the thrill. By the way, is there anything more satisfying that sitting down to tongo and walking away with everyone else's latinum? At the end of a very dangerous life, Zaren died an untimely death thanks to a tiny pollinating bee. He has not quite moved past the irony of that. Nor of the sound of a buzzing insect. You'd be nervous, too. Dying is not all it's cracked up to be. He's accepted his powerlessness in the scheme of things, but that doesn't mean he's satisfied. Zaren can develop very strong opinions about situations; especially situations where he feels that a person or group are being Wronged. These opinions can sometimes lead him astray of his original intent. And because he's willing and used to seeing multiple sides in a matter, he can find himself debating himself in circles on a subject. Lack of resolution in these situations can be very frustrating for him. Transporters... yes, they're convenient, but is convenience really worth being split into billions of tiny particles and flying quantum fast through space? Maybe. Is convenience worth being dizzy and sick as a dog on the other end? ...That would depend on the story that's waiting there. Zaren shoots from the hip. He spent most of a lifetime steeped in deception and he's found that he prefers a life of radical honesty. That's not to say he doesn't have a good poker face, but when push comes to shove, he's more likely to say what's on his mind than tack about. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile. Chocolate. And Osol Twists.
Ambitions		-to explore the universe to its fullest extent -to complete an entirely new skin of ink -to experience things, not own them
Hobbies & Interests		-tattooing/piercing -stories, hearing them and telling them -sailing, scuba, fencing -maps, politics, and chocolate -sleight of hand, wrestling, gambling (Arjin) -brain teasers, belaklavion, que'el quin (Selik) -art, calligraphy, bonsai tree (Velen)
Vernacular		Casual and conversational. Zaren loves words; they have a flavor to him and having a conversation is, for him, like having a delicious meal. As a journalist, he knows that misunderstandings come easily and have far reaching consequences, so he makes an effort to make sure that what must be understood, is. He switches tracks easily between colloquialisms and poetry, precision language and radical honesty.
Orientation		Bisexual
Language(s) Spoken		Bajoran, Cardassian, Federation Standard, Ferengi, Trill

Personal History		Raifi Cahil was born on Trill, in the capital city Leran Manev, in 2351. His family was quite wealthy thanks to his mother's family history in asteroid mining resources and his father's controlling interest in Cahil Intergalactic - a resource distribution firm with extremely lucrative contacts throughout the Federation belt. Raifi was the third born to his parents, after his twin brothers before him, and largely came as a surprise to them all. A rather pleasant surprise, as it happened, but still... surprising. His parents were, frankly, obsessed with getting one of their children through the Symbiosis Commission's rigorous selection process - they saw Joining as a means for political ascent and expansion - and demanded that all of their sons excel in every avenue of study the Commission deemed neccessary. However, outside of that course of study, all their children were allowed to pursue their own interests. Pilin and Bele both came at their father's business from alternate sides. Even from the age of eleven, they both had their eyes firmly fixed on Jan's seat at the Cahil Capital building. Raifi's interests were many and varied. He was a curious soul, and every subject brought before him was interesting, but no one thing ever held his interest for long. It was the questions that drove him, the answers were a passing fancy. So, while his brothers struggled with advanced courses on economics and interplanetary trade agreements, Raifi went sailing. Then scuba diving, since he'd learned how to brave the waters of his world. He learned to fence because it was the only sport that kept his brain intrigued as well as the rest of him. He read books and articles; he played chess and challenged himself with complex brain teasers. And at the age of seventeen, he began a collection that would last him his entire life: tattoos. He adored the sensation of needle piercing skin, the way his jaw tightened and he had to hold himself still and steady against the temporary pain. He loved the art that remained a part of him afterwards. And although it wasn't his, it belonged to friends of his. Artists from the Devritane who he particularly admired. Words that made him grin. He attended university for communications, and his parents thought this was evidence of him finally settling on a career. Starfleet, perhaps, would be a boon since they had no one in the service so far. Or becoming a political pundit on the global stage. Raifi's head was somewhere else entirely. He used his education and his degree to give him an even longer leash. There was more - always more - that he wanted to see and learn. When he graduated, he was accepted instantly into Initiate training, just behind his brothers. The difference was that Pilin and Bele understood their parents reasons for wanting them Joined. Raifi just wanted it, without reason. It was precisely because of this freedom, lack of manipulation, and his inborn curiosity that he and Zaren were Joined in 2373. Raifi and Zaren were made for one another. They both yearned to find the connection between what could be and what was, and they did so together by exploring. Raifi Zaren's journey took him all over, seeking out new stories, new experts, new possibilities, and new experiences - and sharing those with whoever would listen. He traveled with freighters, cataloguing information about crew life for those that were planet-bound, then disembarked and did the same - telling the stories of men and women who spent their entire lives on a single planet to those who had only ever known the stars. He followed the stories that everyone was covering, but he approached them from a different angle - more interested in the individual's experience than rattling off the details of an event. He was fascinated with local cultures and flavors, but only until the end of the story. Then he was ready to move on to something new. When news came that a new star had been discovered, and new planets for potential colonization, Raifi felt compelled to go and share what he could of the new discoveries with his viewers, which was how he eventually landed aboard the USS Venture. Zaren's Host History: Zaren has, from the very beginning - even before its first host, been an eager soul bound to understanding and discovery. (2234-2244) Velen Vayo, housed discreetly and quietly at the Trill Institute of Sciences, had been thrust into a course of study she would not have chosen for herself. She was a kind, generous woman whose mind might have been suited for the field of Botany which she researched, but her heart was not. When she Joined with Zaren, she was infused with Zaren's joy at the smallest molecules and largest lifeforms. But she was also infused with the newly joined symbiont's inherent need for experience and that need inspired her to set out to do what she'd always longed to. Velen left the Institute with the support of her husband Toran, then applied and attended the Chi'tar Academy of the Arts for two years. Her ink-wash paintings were extraordinary and her history in the field of botany gave her style a depth of realism and understanding of shadow and motion. Some of her work can be found at the Academy, and also at the Devritane Museum, Teirsa Art Museum, and the Academy of Arts and Sciences in both B'tar and Karel. Velen had two children before she Joined and two after, but her fifth and last pregnancy encountered complications and she died, still young, a mere ten years after her Joining. For the next host, the Commission elected to Join Zaren with twenty-nine year old medic Selik Spalen. (2244-2313) Unfortunately, despite Zaren's best efforts to make the transition easy, Selik's lover, Timor Chara, couldn't handle the changes in Selik, nor could he overcome his jealousy over not being selected for Joining himself. After they split, heartbroken Selik Zaren could no longer bear to live in the city where so many memories waited around every corner. Despite his love for his homeland, Zaren traveled to Bajor and began anew with an emergent medical facility in Dahkut. During his life post-Joining, he worked with med-evac victims, emergency medical teams on the Federation/Cardassian border, helped starship security and Bajoran military with field forensic examinations, and taught three generations of new emergency medical personnel - human, Bajoran, and Trill alike. When Selik was 98, he died peacefully in his sleep in his home on Bajor, and Zaren transitioned into a new host - a pilot with a thirst for adventure named Arjin Lan. (2313-2373) Arjin Zaren took his small scout ship and wandered the stars as single-run merchant, wreckage scavenger, and purveyor of information, pod-hopping between ships, stations, moons, and planets. In his time circumnavigating the Federation/Cardassian border, Zaren was independently recruited by Trill, Cardassian, and Federation Intelligence services and found himself in a far deeper web than he'd anticipated when he'd first begun his travels. He aided the Bajoran rebellion by smuggling information, weapons, food, and medical supplies to the rebels, carried messages between Intelligence agents in opposing factions, and eventually found himself in a Cardassian prison block for his troubles. With luck and timing, he was smuggled out and returned to Trill before he could be put to death for actions against the Cardassian Union. Back on Trill, he spent a great deal of time in quiet contemplation, seriously considering the depth and breadth of mortal corruption. The longer he spent surveying the savagery of nation against nation, the more he longed for the quiet days when he had simply had a studio, some paint, and a dream; something small and lovely - a little piece of the universe whose mysteries had not yet been decoded and the time and freedom to interpret those mysteries as he liked. At the age of eighty-seven, Arjin Zaren was stung by a bee while tending the garden of the home he retired to on Trill and died almost instantly. Fortunately, plans had already been made for Zaren's next transition, and he was moved safely and swiftly to a new home with Raifi. Previous hosts: Arjin Lan (male) - Pilot/Merchant Selik Spalen (male) - Emergency Medical Technician/Forensics Velen Vayo (female) - Artist
Medical History		Low blood pressure. High sugar/caffeine intake.
Service Record		2367 - Enters the Kural University for Arts and Sciences 2372 - Graduates with full honors in Communications. -Defers a job for the FNS when he is accepted into the Symbiosis Commission as an Initiate. 2373 - Joins Zaren. -Rides out on a Trill transport shuttle bringing arms to the Starfleet ships on the front lines and records a multi-part documentary series on the officers there, and the progress of the Dominion War. Stops on the USS Grefils, the USS Wilson, and the USS Porter. 2375 - While other reporters are covering the treaty of Bajor, Raifi is interviewing the families of officers returning from the front lines - and those who do not. -He records a series on the rebuilding of Bajor. 2376 - Travels to Earth for the first time and documents the lives of officers returned from the war, Terran reactions to the final battle, and the rebuilding of the Fleet. 2380 - Befriends a Bajoran ambassador - Blenis Naprem - and starts traveling with her on the USS Quasar, compiling notes on Bajoran/Trill/Federation trade relations post Dominion War. -Transmits a three part documentary series on the subject in addition to local reporting. 2385 - Leaves the Ambassador to settle on Ferengrinar to begins a series on Ferengi Economical Advancements and Recovery. -Befriends a Ferengi tailor - Akre Foss - who starts making contacts for him to interview. -Transmits a documentary series on the subject of the Ferengi Economic Re-Structuring in addition to local reporting. 2386 - Begins a series on Romulan refugee efforts. -Transmits the first three parts of the documentary series. 2387 - Heads to Starbase 103. Covers the underground networks and local point of view of the failed Ferengi Alliance with the Federation, and Romulan refugee activity, in addition to local reporting. - Gets word from an old acquaintance still aboard the USS Venture, that the Venture has discovered a new star system. High tails it over, braving even his extreme distaste for transporters to cover the story.

Character Progression System

Skills and Perks

Skill Training