Post by Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy on Feb 5, 2012 0:41:05 GMT -5
Password: eopie
Character permission Sparrow
Name: Zamria Bey
Race: Togruta
Age: 28
Height: 5’ 6”(not including montrals)
Weight: 133 lbs
Birth place: Outside Corvala, Shili
Appearance:
Zamria is, in a word, willowy. She has an extremely slender figure, but not at the cost of muscle or at the detriment of curves. Her body has padding in all the correct places in amounts that are far from the greatest in the galaxy, but are attractive in a modest way. By no means is she busty, gifted only with B-cups, and neither is she gifted particularly ‘downstairs’ in comparison to some. Her appeal is in her lithe grace, the way she moves and the certain intangible quality about her that reveals to others who she is.
Like all Togrutas, she possesses montrals and lekku, the horn-like sensory organs and the hollow headtails of her people. Her montrals are shapely and well-formed, symmetrical and curving slightly back, to the sides and then back inward, with the tips pointing out. They are fully grown at their adult length. Her lekku rest at her waist. The stripes on her lekku are almost wavy, and they slowly turn into shapes across between chevrons and slash marks as they reach her montrals, as they fade to white in the center, and darken at the very edges and tips of the montrals.
Her skin is a vibrant red color that only seems to blend in with anything at night, unless she is on her native Shili, where she blends in reasonably well with the turu-grass scrubs day or night. It is punctuated by ‘slash marks’ of white cutting across her body. The only visible ones when she is fully dressed are a pair next to each other on her left arm, one on the right side of her neck, and one cutting across her stomach at an angle.
Zamria’s face is worthy of admiration, and is easily her best asset. She has a sculpted jaw tapering to a chin that is distinct yet rounded, full lips that conceal brilliant white teeth, including two dramatic fangs, and she has a patrician nose. Her face is neither narrow nor wide, with cheek bones just barely pronounced enough to be noticeable on her skin. Her eyes are possibly the most compelling aspect of her face. She has complete heterochromia iridum. Her right eye is a beautiful light blue shade while her left is a dark brown, so dark it is almost black. This is her greatest insecurity, and she worries it makes her unsightly. Her facial markings are especially unique when it comes to Togrutas, essentially two slash marks extending from her cheek and crossing over her eyes, colored lips, and a triangular mark on her forehead. On the whole though, her face is quite beautiful.
In terms of clothing, Zamria is very much like two different people. One is a casual young woman at home in relaxed attire, and the other is a Senator’s aide in more formal attire. The only constant is her bare feet, as she follows the Togruta practice of avoiding shoes for, as she puts it, religious reasons. When relaxed, she has a tendency to wear halter tops and tank tops showing off some midriff paired with loose cargo pants, usually in olive and brown respectively, topped off with a sturdy and wide double-pronged brown leather belt, from which hangs a few utility pouches holding such things as a datapad and hold-out blaster. She also forgoes the convention of bras, since in her opinion they serve no purpose. Her formal wardrobe consists of a white floor length skirt in a soft and silky fabric, and a tunic also in white, detailed with a dull gold. It is very professionally cut, but doesn’t sacrifice femininity. She pairs it with a Togruta sash made of rare white leather with gold-painted details. In it, she has an almost angelic appearance.
On the rare occasion she finds herself in a hostile environment, one filled with snow or one with burning hot ground, she will dress appropriately, including shoes. She owns a pair of over-the-calf lace-up boots of brown leather for just these occasions. They are made from leather from Shili, so as to preserve a connection to nature. In the cold she has a few options. The first is a long brown coat with a fur collar, falling to her shins. The second is a grey parka with a hood designed to accommodate her montrals.
On occasion she finds herself in a position to swim, but lacking the ability to swim naked thanks to societal standards she has little interest in. On those occasions, and when sunbathing in places requiring her to wear clothing, she has a gold colored bikini, one on the small side but still covering what needs to be covered.
While technically not a part of her appearance, Zamria’s voice is certainly worth mentioning. She has a flawless Coruscanti accent (British) when speaking Basic, to the point where vocal communications can convince other people she is human. Her voice is generally calm and collected, with plenty of confidence, though at times a playful quality comes through.
Personality:
Zamria is generally a quiet woman, something hardly unusual for the Togruta people. She prefers to use few words, and not particularly flowery ones either. However her job puts her considerably at odds with that desire, and she’s learned the ability to speak in the flowery and diplomatic language of politics. She may be fluent in that language, but it is neither her first or preferred tongue. When off the clock, she tends to have monosyllabic replies ready for almost everything, only venturing into substantial conversation when she has a genuine interest in the other person, or people. When she does have an interest though, she has a keen mind, rapier wit, and excellent sense of humor, often self-deprecating.
One especially interesting trait of her is a gross lack of modesty. Often she forgets to answer the door clothed, which has resulted in those delivering food getting an eyeful of Togruta on more than one occasion. She doesn’t really see the point in the societal convention of clothing, and it manifests itself in her personal life quite often. When not at the Senator’s office or the Senate, she has no qualms sporting a low cut halter top and pants, simply because she wants to feel the breeze. She also fails to understand the societal convention of bras, which in her opinion serves no purpose whatsoever. Again she differs from the galaxy’ standards.
She is bold and unique, marching to the beat of her own drummer. She has little qualms for society’s standards outside of her job, and when on her own she is a bit of an unusual person, a tomboy without losing femininity, and a tough woman who still has a vulnerable streak, a woman who cares. But on some things she can seem apathetic, when she really isn’t. One prime example is the homeless and disadvantaged. She believes in common Togruta fashion that those who cannot keep up with the whole must be left behind, and while she finds it sad that some suffer, she cannot bring herself to sacrifice the progress of the whole. On an individual level though, she practices what charity she can in an effort to ‘encourage’ them to keep up with the ‘tribe.’
Zamria is an extraordinarily capable young woman with a knack for getting any kind of job done, no matter how impossible it may seem. She has a dogged determination about her when it comes to tasks, and when she gives her word something will be done, she’ll ensure it is done even if it kills her. On more than one occasion she’s disappeared from the office for days at a time laboring to accomplish a task assigned to her. Everything she is told to do she does thoroughly, with great attention to detail.
Another constant for her is hobbies. She has invested great time and effort into building her skills at archery, something she’d done since she was a little girl on Shili, and martial arts, something she took up in an effort to stand out in her family and discipline her emotions. She doesn’t do anything halfway, and her persistence has resulted in her becoming capable of beating down men twice her weight and truly excellent archery, a rare skill in the universe.
In terms of relationships, Zamria is a bit of a black sheep. She’s promiscuous to an extent, but truly doesn’t have that great an interest in sex. She thinks more in terms of relationships and emotional bonds. If she doesn’t have an interest in someone’s character, she has no interest in becoming intimate. While not modest, she is only flirtatious on rare occasions, like after a few drinks. Her sexuality is traditional, and she has no interest in anything particularly ‘freaky.’ Neither is she a prude. She has no qualms over having sex with an interesting person, since it is ‘just’ an activity, but she does have a true interest in relationships. She hopes someday to meet a good mate, but she is genuinely apprehensive. She has no interest in children at all, and she’s worried that between her demanding job, her modest looks, and her heterochromia, she won’t be able to attract a suitable mate. And she doesn’t want to content herself with the bottom of the barrel.
She is a bit of a nature enthusiast, with a religious devotion to all things growing and a true love for plants and animals. She is also a hunter, and views even her prey with deep respect. Even the food on her plate is something she is thankful for and in close tune with. Whenever she has an opportunity to leave Coruscant, she chooses a natural destination to go to. Surprisingly her love of nature extends beyond Shili, and to every type of world with life on it. It is one of the subjects she could talk about endlessly.
Zamria is also, as is common for Togruta, exceedingly loyal. She forms exceptional loyalty to people, most notably her senator, followed by organizations, followed by concepts. While she values such things as honor, she has no qualms doing dishonorable things for the Republic, the Senator, or Shili. Those are her holy trinity of devotion, and Force help you if you question or demean any of them. Like a vicious akul, she will spring into their defense, physically if need be, though she doesn’t find herself in fights often or go looking for them.
Occupation: Political Aide
Rank: Aide to the Senator for Shili.
Skills:
Archer- Zamria is a top notch archer, extremely deadly with a bow, though the skill hasn’t really had any combat applications in countless years. However when it comes to hunting it has uses, as well as recreation.
Martial Artist- She is a skilled hand-to-hand fighter, with many years of practice at it for both fun and self-defense.
Problem Solver- Zamria has a knack for knowing the right people for anything, legal or otherwise. She uses that to the best of her ability in her job.
Equipment:
Recurve Bow : Her bow is made of local materials on Shili and given to her by her father. 60 lbs draw.
SoroSuub DM-21 Hold out Blaster
: She carries it concealed in a pouch or in the glovebox of her speeder.
SoroSuub Model 88 Speeder: She owns a model with a white body and blue trim. It is one of her prized possessions, even if she doesn’t understand all the nuances behind it.
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 6
Speed: 6
Leadership: 3
Unarmed: 5
Melee Weapons: 2
Ranged Weapons: 6
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: 0
Telepathic: 0
Body: 2
Sense: 2
Protection: 0
Healing: 0
Destruction: 0
Alignment: +2
Bio:
BIRTH
Zamria Bey was born on Shili in 3629 BBY, the fourth of seven children, and the first daughter in the family. Her father was Horvra Bey, and her mother Ashra Bey. He was a craftsman in his tribe, and she was a healer, skilled in traditional Togruta ways as well as modern medicine. However, they were both more distant from the Tribe itself than some, having, like many near Corvala, looser ties. They lived in a small house in the hills near the city, in a curious mix of the old and the new. Ashra made calls to the assorted settlements in the area via speeder bike, ensuring modern medicine was available for serious injuries, and Horvra spent many hours in his workshop, taking advantage of both traditional and modern tools, making art and tools and selling them in the capital city, to tourists mostly.
Zamria’s birth was hardly remarkable, done at home under the supervision of another healer, and went well. She was a healthy little orange girl (whose skin darkened with age), born without montrals or lekku, as was normal. In fact, the only thing that was abnormal about her was her eyes. One eye was blue, and the other a deep brown. At first her father was troubled by this, and worried if his first daughter was somehow defective, but his wife eased his worry by telling him the truth. It was only an aesthetic problem, and the child was fully healthy.
Together they chose to name her after Ashra’s mother, an elderly Togruta woman, a Jedi-turned-wise-woman with the Tribe, who was present for the birth. She was a woman strong with the Force, and she could see a sensitivity in the child, ever so minor. A sensitivity that was confirmed by the girl’s blood test, carried out by the other healer. Her midichlorian count was lower than most Jedi, as with all Togruta, but enough to classify her as Force-sensitive nevertheless. The Jedi were notified, and within a few days the Jedi Watchman arrived to request the child.
She was at the very lowest end of what would enable her to be taken by the Jedi, and the Watchman didn’t deny she wouldn’t likely be the most powerful in the Order, but made promises of a good life. However Zamria’s parents weren’t so keen to give up their only daughter for what seemed like a life of mediocrity as a Jedi. Instead they turned down the Watchman’s offer, content to raise their own child, who remained ignorant of her force sensitivity.
EARLY LIFE
The early years for Zamria were largely unremarkable from the standpoint of an infant. She was always precocious though, quickly learning to crawl, and learning to vocalize, which she promptly put to use by being loud. However the one thing that would always still her crying was a lullaby sung by her mother in Togruti. Just a few verses and she’d be asleep in her crib, made by her father’s hands years ago for her brothers.
She had three brothers before her, a pair of twins at 16 named Nari and Bari, who were both patient souls dedicated to family. When their father was in the workshop and their mother was away making calls, they both tended to Zamria and her brother Davar, age six. They learned all about how to take care of their little sister, and they wound up with protective streaks a mile wide.
As months grew into years, her development became more apparent. Her montrals and her lekku began to grow out, her fangs started to grow in. She had an insatiable desire to chew things with them, to the point of adding teeth marks to the crib. Soon she switched away from mother’s milk to bits of meat, common to her people. And then, to her parents’ great pride, she started to learn to eat thimiar.
They started her with dead ones, teaching her to eat the small rodents that served as a food staple, which took some encouraging at first. But once she mastered that, they introduced her to live ones, demonstrating how to properly dispatch them with teeth, which Zamria caught on to perfectly, in true Togruta fashion. It was, after all, in her blood. And it wasn't bad for a three year old going on four.
GROWING UP
It didn’t take long for Zamria to realize that she was different from her brothers. Anatomically they were different, and she knew she was of a different gender, like her mother. However that didn’t stop her from making every effort to become one of the boys. Whether it was play-fighting or manly activities like spitting contests, she was determined to be just like her brothers, who she viewed as tough role models. This came as amusement for bother them and her parents, who assumed she’d simply grow out of it in time. To an extent they were right, and to an extent they were wrong.
Schooling was a prospect that they took very seriously in the Bey household, seriously enough that they were prepared to take drastic action. Zamria's parents had always regretted being so far away from formal schools, and they felt guilty for opting to homeschool their eldest children rather than giving them a more social upbringing. Out of a desire to avoid repeating the same mistakes, they moved to give the twins easy access to higher education in Corvala, and the other two children good schooling in government run schools.
The new abode in Corvala was a good piece of real estate, a two story stone building mixed with the unique Togruta architecture that resembled their montrals so much, tall and curving, with excellent views of the city streets. Up above was their place of residence, and down below was their father’s workshop and a place to sell his wares.
For Zamria, this all meant a change of pace to what was ‘city life,’ or what passed for it in Corvala, a sprawling city with a relaxed feel and not much hustle or bustle. But coming from a rural country experience, it was a rather dramatic change still. And school was most definitely an exciting experience for her. It also proved a rather awkward experience for her parents.
For the first three years of her schooling, Zamria Bey was a troublemaker of the worst magnitude. Pranks, fights, and general lack of attention all seemed to follow her around like lightning followed storm clouds. And she was almost destructive. Living with brothers, brothers who were big, strong, and capable of scrapping well, had prepared her for the task of schoolyard fights with bullies. Very soon it became known on the playground that messing with Zamria was a dangerous thing to do that often resulted in black eyes.
However, merely being able to beat up others didn’t help her fit in. She was a girl with a boyish attitude, neither welcome among the girls or the boys, half a member of both but not fully belonging. And to make it worse were her eyes. She’d always been aware they were different, but now around other children she became increasingly aware of them. She was teased, called names, and mocked for her difference. The ways of children were cruel, and she was very much a victim to them.
Some children might have channeled that frustration into school, and strove for excellence. Zamria instead seethed inside, pent up and ready to explode onto others when provoked. In classes she was dismally quiet, even for a species known for being quiet. Her hand was never raised, even when she did know the answer. It didn't win her any favor from her teachers, and it was hardly a surprise that she viewed school more as an unpleasant chore than an opportunity for learning.
When she was eight years old, things changed for her. Her mother and her father wanted to channel her discomfort and her anger into something productive that she could relax with, some sort of hobby she could truly pursue. They decided to cater to her strengths, and for her birthday she was given a beautiful composite bow just her size, handmade by her father. He told her archery would be fun if she dedicated herself, and he was right. The girl enjoyed it immensely and always had a burning desire to go to the range. Unbeknownst to her, her command of the Force enhanced the strength in her arms and the control of her breath, enabling her to perform with a better technique. Shrewdly, her mother promised Zamria that if she behaved well at school, without fighting and by doing well at her studies, they would take her to the range more.
Their deal worked, and their only daughter improved her grades and her attitude, even winning herself a few friends with her better behavior. They were extremely proud.
It was only one year later that Ashra became pregnant again, with twins for the second time. This time they were a boy and a girl, named Vran and Ashla respectively. With her parents’ hands full with children, the young Zamria found herself spending even more time with her brothers, who had long ago stopped thinking of her as a little girl. She persuaded them to take her to the range, and with extra requests, she persuaded her way into a martial arts class for children. Her parents were more than a little ambivalent that their daughter with a track record of getting into fights wanted to learn how to fight better, but Ashra wisely deduced that it would be another discipline, a way for Zamria to regiment herself. They both agreed and allowed her to do so.
It became a major diversion for her, and something she readily embraced. It took her successfully through the years, and channeled all her frustrations perfectly, helping her grow beyond it. She matured with the discipline, and she no longer felt the need to beat people up when they made fun of her eyes. She was in control of her emotions.
Soon puberty began to arrive, and it brought about changes in her. Her figure started to change, and she started the process of growing into her body. It also brought about a new femininity, and she could no longer be mistaken for a little boy. She was distinctly a girl, despite lacking a ladylike attitude. But already new personality aspects were manifesting themselves.
The child was a perfectionist in a way, with a stubborn determination to do everything right, from history to science and everything in between. Hobbies, schoolwork, friends… All of it demanded success. She was stubborn too, never giving up and admitting defeat. She always had to be a winner, she had to better for those she cared about. It was in turns endearing and annoying.
Zamria was also quiet. While some children gossiped or talked endlessly about hobbies, she was content to answer with one word replies unless the conversation tipped to her. She was most definitely the strong and silent type, which was slightly odd for a teenage girl.
However, she did grow to be more concerned with her appearance, no longer content to have dirt on her lekku or under her fingernails, and developed a keen interest in relationships, though her primary interest was her own. From the beginning she’d been a tomboy, and her personality didn’t change from that. She just learned how to dress in a more appealing way that was just as practical, taking up shirts that showed a little cleavage, not that she had much, and gave her access to fresh air. She always topped it off with a pair of cargo pants. Just enough femininity to show she was indeed female, and tomboy practicality for the rest.
Her parents weren't especially thrilled by it, her father not at all, and her brothers felt much the same. They didn't fancy their little sister dressing like a grown woman. Again, it was her mother who showed understanding. It was a natural part of growth, one that was inevitable and couldn't be fought against.
Meanwhile in academics, she was showing a certain aptitude. While she was passable in math and science, her true aptitude lay with language and history. She learned about the history of the Togruta people, the histories of the tribes and two cities, the history of the Republic even, and understood it. She also understood writing, and when the time came to study it, government.
She knew immediately that was where her interest lay, and she was determined to make it so. She knew that hard work would be essential to gain any government job with the Republic, so she redoubled her efforts, keeping up her martial arts and her archery to relieve the increasing amounts of stress.
Class by class she grew in knowledge and understanding, but her personal life lacked the developments she would have liked. The boys she was interested in didn't seem to share any interest in her, and no one asked her out. She still had a legacy around the school, and interest in her was lacking. Her reputation wasn't aided any when she asked a boy out first, and was met with rejection and gossip. She took it out on a punching bag.
Finally, she graduated, with a solid ranking in the upper tiers of her class. Fluent in Togruti and Basic, she set off to find a source of higher education at the age of 18.
LEARNING THE ROPES
Zamria began her application process for various universities in the galaxy, and was successfully admitted to the University of Coruscant system, which stood as a very proud moment of her life. It was for her parents as well, as she was the first member of the family to pursue an off-world education. Previously all of them had received little more than a traditional education, except for her brothers who had successfully completed local college programs and taken the technical jobs most Togrutas had no interest in or understanding of.
Her experience was a new one, leaving for a brand new world, the glowing capital of the galaxy, when she’d never even been off of Shili before. Naturally they took every care to prepare her, and make sure she was well-provisioned. She was given a new wardrobe in her usual style, but one purchased from vendors catering to off-worlders, so she’d blend in better. If such a thing was possible for a Togruta.
She was loaded onto a transport leaving the city, and she began the journey to Coruscant. It was hardly a fast ship, and it took several days with which she had the chance to experience space travel in all its glory. Namely she spent most of the trip pacing the small observation deck and staring out at the stars rather than being confined to her small quarters. She even took naps curled up on the small sofa in that observation deck, and she even brought her food there to eat. Yes, the view in hyperspace made her dizzy when she stared at it for too long, but it was vastly better than the narrow metal walls of her room.
At long last, from that room the stars became normal again and she had a view of Coruscant in the distance, growing closer and closer. The brilliant lights were truly something to admire, and she remained glued to the window all throughout the landing cycle. They’d arrived at night, and the lights were more dazzling and brilliant than anything she’d ever seen before.
She found her way over to an air taxi while carrying her meager belongings in a single suitcase, her favorite recurve bow tucked over her shoulder, and she paid the Rodian pilot to take her to the Southern Campus of the University, home to their political science and government schools. She spent the ride glued to the window peering out at the sites they passed. The Jedi Temple lit in the distance, the Galactic Senate building. Countless skyscrapers. And then they reached their destination.
The Southern Campus. Built in the new architectural style like the Senate district, it was a sleek and bright complex, teeming with courtyards, dormitories, and lecture halls. All of them with excellent design properties. Sleek, seamless, smooth.
As she soon found, she’d been in the later group of arrivals, and as such orientation wasn’t until the next day. She was whisked away to the New West dorm, where she had a quarters on the eighth floor, looking over the campus, which itself loomed over much of the surrounding landscape, giving a very distant view of the Senate itself, still lit up from her window.
She found her roommate was a Firrerreo girl named Charille, with a lovely gold skin and black hair with a vivid yellow streak in it. The two looked roughly the same age, and only the second day did Zamria discover Charille was actually thirty. Apparently her species didn’t show much in the way of age, as she grew to learn eventually. Charille was a smart woman, one who’d spent a few years on her homeworld taking odd jobs and saving up credits for her own education, with the hopes of winning a government job there someday.
The next day was new student orientation, and she was given a great tour of the campus along with the other forty students from her floor, led by their residential assistant, a Twi’lek junior named Anoon, with green skin and headtails. He was, if anything, informative to a fault. He knew his way around the Southern Campus blindfolded and he told them about all the hot spots on the campus, where to go to study, where to eat, where to hang out. It was an extremely full day, one that built up the anticipation to great levels. And then in the evening the floor bonded together with takeout food in the common room.
Out of the whole floor, twenty girls and twenty boys, she was the only Togruta. In fact it was worse than just that, she was the only one on the entire campus. She had to admit though, it was far from surprising. The entire population of Shili was measured in millions rather than billions, and most didn’t stray far from their homes. The Jedi were the major exception, and she imagined if she ever visited their Temple as a tourist she’d see a few of her kin. But in the meantime, she was rather alone.
Luckily she was able to bond socially with other students anyway, though beginning her classes took up most of her effort. Her first semester she was taking a class on Basic, an introduction to governance, a course on economics, a course on foreign policy, and one on galactic history. Her professors were all excellent instructors, though one particularly stood out. An elderly Ithorian who spoke using a vocalizer, and her foreign policy instructor. He’d been a part of the Ithorian senate delegation when he was young, and his was the voice of experience to her, which was beneficial as he was one of her advisers. He advised her on study habits and resources, and encouraged her to find a study group.
So she did. She even went a step further and made her own study group, drafting in Charille, a male Rodian named Glor, a Twi’lek girl named Sinya, a human boy named Ben, and another human man named Davrin. Three girls. Three boys. The study group, who ultimately became fast friends. In a way they were highly complementary. Zamria was the quiet one, and to offset her Sinya was a bubbly extrovert. Charille was the smart one, and Ben was the one who needed her help most of all. Glor was the hardest worker, and Davrin was the one who couldn’t seem to ever make anything work right. But between all of them, they balanced out.
They had a lot of fun that first year, making several things into regular traditions. They would all gather together in the common room to watch the swoop races on the Holonet, with everyone making food in the small kitchen to share. Sinya made dishes with munchfungus, and Zamria found herself making kebobs of every meat imaginable. Both were well-received at their little social events.
And of course they studied, as they were all taking the same classes, albeit at different times and with different teaching assistants. But they were genuinely able to help each other, and any time someone had difficulty grasping a concept, there were others willing to step in and aid them.
Winter vacation arrived as if only a few weeks had gone by, and it was time to travel back home to Shili for one week of leisure time between travel and classes. And it was at that time she was able to make a gesture. Charille and Zamria had been together as roommates for months, and only right before the break did they truly get to know each other. And it all started when Zamria walked in and found her Firrerreo roommate crying.
That had come as a great surprise to the Togruta, as Charille was normally so confident, capable, and collected. Promptly she asked what was wrong, and was given a teary answer. Charille had lost her parents the year before, and she had nowhere to go. She’d sold off her home and her belongings to afford Coruscant University, and she was going to be alone.
Well, Zamria couldn’t let that happen, and she scrounged together enough money to take her roommate home with her for a week, which did entail begging her parents. But at the end of the week, they were both at home on Shili, sharing a room, which was when the young Togruta learned she now had a little sister on the way, her mother was pregnant. That was welcome news, though while at home she was lacking any real interest in children herself.
She, instead, spent most of her time taking trips into the country, hunting, and teaching Charille some of the basics of archery. That wasn’t precisely an easy task, as the Firrerreo woman was hardly well-versed in any martial pastime. But she did make a willing helper and spare set of hands on the hunting trip they took the first day, netting dinner for the week, though carrying a prey animal and two women on the speeder bike was a bit much.
The Bey family adapted well, and were able to accept a Firrerreo into their home with open arms, largely out of devotion to their daughter and trust in her judgment. And Charille felt most welcome there.
When they got on the ship for the return voyage to Coruscant, the two were even better friends. Together they spent time playing assorted games in the lounge and complaining about the food served during the trip. There was a surprising amount of talking considering how quiet Zamria was. When it came to the right subjects and with the right people, the silent Togruta was surprisingly talkative.
The next semester came, and some new classes joined the old ones. Zamria continued her course on Basic, learning more advanced topics such as literature, and working on her accent again. Accent hadn’t been a huge focus of her education on Shili, which had resulted in a rolling and lilting accent, one she slowly removed for a proper Coruscanti one. She also started to learn her third language, Huttese.
The study group returned to full swing, carrying on as usual after the interruption of break. And with the arrival of spring, romance was in the air. Ben and Sinya became a couple, and a rather cute one at that. And increasingly, a little something between Zamria and Davrin started to form. It started small. Just glimpses at first. Then sitting next to each other on the sofas in the common room. Soon their feet were touching, and then she was leaning her head on his shoulders, and he was very careful to avoid losing an eye to her montrals. It took a month, and there were never actually any words involved until they started kissing. Even then it was mostly Davrin talking as Zamria proved to be ‘the quiet one’ yet again.
And on top of that, she wasn’t sure if she loved him. She simply enjoyed his company and the fact he was a warm body against her. He was there, and available, and he didn’t really demand much of her. He didn’t cling to her like a puppy or talk her ear off, and he made for a decent companion. She never let him as close to her as Charille, and she still took her trips to the nearest archery range alone.
One day when she was on her way back, walking home to the University in the dark, someone made the mistake of trying to jump her. However he was obviously without experience with her species, and didn’t know her montrals gave her a passive echolocation, and she could detect his movement as he came up behind her. He learned when he took a fist to his nose, followed rapidly by a knee to the groin. Then as he charged again she threw him into a wall, knocking him out. She took out a spare bow string from her pack, tied him up, and called the CSF. When she returned late that night, she simply answered the inevitable questions with “I was delayed,” though later she was coaxed into revealing a few details.
Soon the first year was drawing to a close, and in hindsight things were looking quite adequate. Her grades were good, she had a core group of friends, her personality was intact, and she was even in a relationship of sorts. She was ready for the summer though, and home.
Returning home, she resolved to make the most of Shili’s natural beauty and amenities, by spending every minute she could outside of Corvala, camping out in the hill country, hiking around from the different villages of her native tribe, hunting and cooking her own food, drinking from brooks and streams. Thanks to her Force sensitivty she enjoyed great physical health, running faster, jumping harder, and thriving with physicality. She also had an excellent sense of timing while hunting, and a keen tracker's instinct due to her senses. Her parents completely understood their daughter had been deprived, and they rightly realized that with a month of free reign she’d stray back home.
They were perfectly correct, and a month later she left the forests and scrub for the comfort of her own home and family, sleeping in her own room again. She returned to all her old fun activities. Sparring with her brothers, archery on the weekends. She also took to doing a little cooking for prepared meals, a luxury, and she found herself stargazing from the rooftop with a fire in the firepit, though she hardly needed it for warmth during the mild Shili nights.
But she came back to Coruscant at the end of the break again, and she resumed where she’d left off. Exactly as she’d left off, with the same roommate, the same boyfriend, and very similar classes. Her dorm was different this time, a newer one called Riva South, which lacked the views she’d grown accustomed to, but had a much nicer interior. The rest of her circle of friends had moved on to different dorms as well, which meant their swoop-race get-togethers were on a rotating basis, though they kept the tradition intact, down to the food.
Sinya and Ben were still a couple, as were Davrin and Zamria. And late in the fall, they consummated their relationship, and Zamria lost her virginity. But she was under no youthful illusions that he was a prince or a prospect for marriage. He was just there to meet her physical needs. That was all their relationship was. However, he was rapidly growing more attached to her than she was to him.
That didn’t become a pressing issue until the end of the second semester, when Davrin made a proposal. Literally. And then things took a turn. In the longest string of words she’d made in years, she explained the full situation to him. The Togruta took the whole of her feelings about him and made them crystal clear. She enjoyed his touch and his company, but she had no romantic interests in him, and she didn’t want to make a life commitment to him. Needless to say, he didn’t take it well. He left, and with their own division a fracture was created in the study group. Sinya wasn’t sure what to think, and Ben was ambivalent. He’d been close with Davrin, but he wasn’t fully prepared to side against Zamria. Glor left the group in protest immediately, and Charille was, of course, close with her still. However the initial magic was gone, and the group slowly drifted apart, and what had been daily meetings became weekly. Sinya and Ben moved on to different friends, and Zamria would have been perfectly content to remain rather alone and quiet, if not for Charille.
The Firrerreo woman was still staunchly loyal to her friend and roommate, and wanted to ensure that Zamria did have some friends and a proper social circle rather than being alone by herself, and she also set about the task of finding her friend a relationship. One that wouldn’t fail.
However, Zamria lacked the confidence to believe she could land a good catch in the relationship department. What she was after at this point was little more than friends with benefits, and that sort of thing didn’t always attract the best people. She was also worried about her eyes, about heterochromia making her unsightly.
However Charille’s plans were thwarted by the end of the school year and vacation once more.
Zamria went home again, and while there she weighed her options, what she could do, what she wanted to do, and how to straighten out her personal life. She managed to narrow down three possible career fields, each with advantages and drawbacks. The first option was probably the most lucrative: working for the private sector. Many corporate worlds needed people with governmental degrees and political understanding to have smooth operations. The downside was the plethora of undesirable corporate worlds. Not all of them were sandy beaches like Murkhana. Then there was the possibility of returning home to work in Corvala or Cover City, doing work for the planetary government. But Zamria had a bit of a lust for adventure and activity, and while she loved Shili, she wanted to see more of the universe than just her native soil. That left taking a job with the Republic in some manner, which seemed the best course of action to her.
And personally? Charille wanted her in a stable relationship with a nice man, and wanted her to have other friends. She wasn’t necessarily opposed, but it was so much effort on top of her studies to find friends, and relationships beyond friends with benefits were taxing. And she wasn’t convinced the right sort would be interested in her.
She came to the conclusion she’d simply let Charille do whatever she insisted on without question or complaint, and see if any of it worked out. That seemed to be the path of least resistance.
When summer was over, that was precisely what she did, yield to her roommate’s attempts to play matchmaker, which yielded several takers and only a few successes. The highlights, the peak and the valley opposite each other, a Zabrak named Corvo, and a Corellian named Ren. Corvo was a economics major, and surprisingly wasn’t boring. Instead he was an active guy, playing sports and even owning his own speeder bike that he traveled around on. He was also interested in a casual relationship, which took the form of attending a few events together, sharing a couple drinks, and having sex a few times. However they both strayed in separate ways, and he found himself in a relationship with a human girl, one that was serious. And into the picture came Ren.
Ren was a government major from Zamria’s class on Republic economic policy, and he was, in a word, arrogant. It seemed the whole world revolved around him, and he was convinced he knew better than the Chancellor, than the Senate. He put himself on a pedestal, and what made it even worse was that in terms of looks, he had it all. Chiseled abs, a strong jaw, piercing blue eyes… And unfortunately he set his sites on the Togruta girl from Shili. Charille tried to dissuade her, but Zamria couldn’t help herself, and before she it knew it she’d slept with him, and Ren had left again, bragging to his circle of friends that he’d bedded a Togruta.
Zamria was horribly embarrassed, and there was a good deal of crying in her room between classes. Charille even skipped a few of her own just to give her roommate comfort. But through her sadness came new friends, kind people who’d learned of her plight and wanted to comfort her. Two of them, a human named Sara and a Twi’lek named Aola had been previous ‘conquests’ of Ren, and they bonded with Zamria through their own shame. They became fast friends quickly, with Charille welcomed in as well.
Unlike the old study group, this new group of friends didn’t involve schoolwork. It was purely social, visits, going out to eat, cooking things in the dorms, and watching sporting events. They didn’t share much in the way of classes, but they were good friends despite that, loyal to each other. And in Zamria’s case, steadfastly loyal. Like most of her species, she’d developed a staunch and unwavering loyalty, to the Republic, Shili, and her friends. To be true, Sara and Aola weren’t archers like her, or even into martial arts, but they were still valuable to her, and they encouraged her to further her goals, to serve the Republic.
In that spirit, Zamria applied for a summer internship with the Galactic Senate, and thanks to a good record, she won a spot there serving with the pages. It was simple work over the summer, little more than escorting tourists and running errands deemed only slightly too important for droids. But to her, it was important. Getting aides and members of the delegation fresh cups of coffee and being a courier for them was rewarding, because she was literally aiding in the daily operation of the Republic. That was special to her. And with so many siblings at home to worry about, she wouldn’t be unduly missed. So she had her summer, and she enjoyed it.
School returned, for the final year, and the employment search slowly began for all in her circle of friends. Sara was an economics major, and she’d had an internship with SoroSuub, so she was well geared for the private sector. Aola was majoring in journalism, and her winning smile and rare red skin made her a prime candidate for the field. And Charille? She’d had an internship for the Senator of Denon, and an invitation to seek employment with him. That left Zamria, who knew she wanted to work with the Republic somehow. And luckily for her, in her very last semester she received an offer from the Senatorial delegation of Shili, inviting her to come interview for a job. At her first available weekend, she took the trip by airspeeder to the Senate offices, found her way to that of the Senator for Shili, and sat down to an interview with the Senator’s personal aide.
There were many questions, all in Togruti, many revolving around her personality and her past more than merely her academics. They expressed an interest in her as a person rather than in dry clinical material. That was interesting in her opinion, and it took a lot more effort on her part, speaking and talking about herself. Luckily her time as a page had prepared her, giving tours was good practice for speaking.
The aide was pleasantly surprised by her answers, and he agreed to give her a job at the offices when she graduated, though it certainly wasn’t a glorious one. But it was still precisely what Zamria had wanted, a job working for the Republic, aiding a Senator in her own small way.
The next month came graduation, and her parents had bought passage off of Shili for the very first time in order to see her special day. It was a formal ceremony held in the large amphitheatre of the Southern Campus, and Zamria was one of the students without a cap to match her gown, thanks to her physiology. She stood out among the sea of faces, and they watched her move up to the dais when called, receiving her diploma, and then heading back out to wait. Once it was all over, she met with Aola, Sara, and Charille and all their families, and they streamed out to a restaurant for a meal together celebrating the end of four years of work.
Three Twi’leks, three Togrutas, two humans, and one Firrerreo all sat down to a meal together, and everything was perfect. They chatted, the families chatted, and everyone found food and drink to their liking. It was a flawless night, one of those times when everything goes perfectly, when wars and problems are forgotten. It went down in her memory as one of the best days in her life. And at the end of it, her parents presented her with a hand-crafted gift from home, a white and gold Togruta sash, an elaborately detailed one made of leather. They told her it was a piece of home she could always have with her.
OUT IN THE WORLD
Zamria was 22, had her degree, knew Togruti, Basic, and Huttese, and now had a job working for the Shili Senatorial delegation. The Shili Embassy was in the Senate District, and conveniently they provided her with an apartment in Nicandra Plaza, in the District, and conveniently close to the Embassy Mall. There were a few perks to the job, but the apartment was still very small. Hers was a studio apartment, fully functional, but minimal. It was a single room with a large window with a view of the street, with a kitchenette in the corner, a bathroom across from it, and a small living area in the middle. Her bed was in a loft accessible by a ladder. But the real advantage was that it didn’t cost her much, just an automatically deducted portion of her paycheck that left her considerably more credits for life expenses. So she started to work with a thin smile, doing everything asked of her with efficiency.
For the first year, she was given very simple tasks, things many embassies would have used droids for. She acted as a receptionist, she made coffee, she answered incoming calls, and she ran minor errands as needed. It was fast-paced work that didn’t demand too much focus from her, which suited her fine. It wasn’t a real strain on her abilities, and she knew that this had to be temporary, that sooner or later more serious demands would be made of her.
It wasn’t a bad life, though she found the dress code a little difficult. Every day she carried with her a bag, and she changed out of her cargo pants and tank tops and into a proper tunic and skirt, with her lovely sash. The commute was dreary, and she made herself a promise: to save up her money and buy a nice air speeder and save herself the walk and the public transportation.
In the second year, her tasks changed slightly. She was sent out more often, going to pick up items, from food to reports, and going out again to deliver goods. There was always something to be done, and playing courier gave her a very important set of excuses after an incident.
A psychotic man threatened her with a knife on the airbus, and she managed to disarm him when he lunged at her, thanks to years of practice since she was a kid with martial arts, something she’d never abandoned throughout her life, but it raised the question of safety, particularly when she was carrying valuable documents. As a result, she was granted a weapons permit and bought a small blaster pistol to keep her safe when fists wouldn’t cut it, and they supplemented her income with a loan to get an airspeeder, which would be paid back without interest through deductions from her salary. She combined it with her own savings, realizing now was her chance to fulfill her goal of a GOOD speeder.
Luckily, Sara was working for SoroSuub, and a quick call arranged for their sales representatives to offer Zamria a serious discount on a luxurious ‘Shu’ speeder, in blue and white, like her lekku, as the sales person pointed out. And yes, with the excitement the markings on her lekku had flared into a more pronounced blue, losing their normal sedate blue/grey. Now that she had the speeder, learning to fly it was her next goal. Luckily, lessons were readily available, and a tutor gave her full instruction. By the end of the month she was flying around with skill and confidence, something she’d do well at for the rest of her life.
A CAPABLE WOMAN
Armed with a blaster, her fists, and a speeder, Zamria Bey was rapidly given more serious roles, and greater responsibility. Though she dealt with the actual Senator only rarely, she was viewed as a valued aide by the delegation, and she started to get personal requests too, requests to find things on sale or to pick up spare clothing. She learned how to fulfill those requests, learning to scout around for good deals, where to find the best, where to find the cheapest. She was forced to, by necessity, become a savant of sorts, a woman wise in the ways of Coruscant, who could recommend any restaurant or any shop, someone with an opinion on everything.
In her third year as an aide, she became the go-to woman for questions, and for problems. If anyone needed a problem solved, they talked to Zamria, and she got it solved. No one ever bothered asking her how, which was good. On more than one occasion she slipped bribes to get her answers, or she turned a blind eye to less than legal activities to fulfill her job.
And she was so good at it, the Senator was proud to call her an aid and made here a special vow: Whenever something had to be known, had to be discovered or found out, Zamria would be the one to do it. She was deemed the exclusive fact-finder for the delegation, the woman ready to go anywhere and do anything.
However, for her money was always in short supply, and she didn't have very much opportunity to save up for the future or for a rainy day. Her salary was small, but she had perks like her speeder and her apartment that didn't need to be paid for.
She had her first fact-finding mission in 3603 BBY. The Senator wanted an informational packet put together on the Jedi Order's relationship with Shili, for promotional purposes. It was a very simple one, as all she had to do was call the Jedi. She arranged an interview with the watchman, the same one who'd seen her as a child, and she gathered statistics about Togrutas and the Jedi Order, profiling some of the past Grandmasters and Councilors of her species.
Over the next two years she visited Republic military forces twice, prepared an embassy dinner, and even found the time to pay her family a visit at home. She was, unsurprisingly, popular with the soldiers, and she had no problems getting a feel for how things were going in the military. They were honest and open with her, which she appreciated. And it didn't hurt that she was a pretty girl in a sea of men. Unfortunately she didn't have the time to take advantage of that.
Her family likely wouldn't have been very understanding of her liaisons. She never told them about a single one, preferring to keep her sexual life to herself rather than face parental criticisms about sexual relations outside a mated couple.
She did, however, extend them an open invitation to visit her on Coruscant at any time. One she never expected them to take up. They were busy with children after all.
Zamria kept up her martial arts practice at a local studio, practicing sparring with partners, and she kept current at an archery range, converted from a warehouse in a light industrial zone. None of her coworkers were particularly keen on doing either activity with her, and that suited her fine.
Her coworkers weren't exactly her friends. By necessity her job was independent, and she didn't socialize much. She didn't have any friends actually, preferring the quiet to a conversation nine times out of ten. And she found that holodramas managed to capture her attention quite well. Between her job, her entertainment system, her hobbies, and the occasional romantic liaison, she was perfectly set.
RP Sample: Zamria Bey sat on the sofa in her Coruscant apartment, tired with the day already. There were no limits to what she’d do for her Senator of course, but today had tried pushing her endurance. The office had been planning a party to celebrate the unification of Shili for easily a month, but there were always some details that got over looked. In this case it was drinks, and only a few days from the big day, definitely not enough time to order anything from Shili. And the Togruta population on Coruscant was… small. And Coruscant? Well, Coruscant was big. Very big.
She’d spent the whole of the day scouring the city for a place to buy alcohol from Shili, running from import shop to import shop. Finally she found one in the Hirkenglade prefecture, a new shop opened the week before by a pair of immigrants from Shili, who’d brought with them, among other things, several casks of native wine. With great relief, Zamria had paid them for their goods, arranged for delivery to the party, and invited them along for good measure.
Despite all her efforts though, she was in a good mood. Tired, but a good one. She’d done her job, and done it well, and there was satisfaction in that. Like in hitting a bull’s eye on a target at the archery range. Simple pleasures without the need for substances. Of course now she was too tired for archery or for a workout. It had been all she could do to order food from a restaurant that delivered, hop in the shower, get clean, dry herself off with a towel and walk back out to her couch and sit on it, watching the Holonet news.
A chime came at her door and she walked over to it, bare feet sinking into the plush carpet of her simple apartment. She keyed open the door and the human man outside nearly dropped the bag of food she’d ordered. A large, meaty sandwich and ‘fries.’ The latter of which served absolutely no dietary purpose, but agreed with her well at times like this.
She looked down and realized why he’d nearly dropped the food. After her shower she hadn’t bothered to put on clothes again, and her form was fully exposed. She simply blinked, then shrugged and waited to hear the price as she counted the credit chips in her hand.
The rattled human blinked and forced his eyes up from her breasts to her eyes, and held out the bag of food in exchange for the credits.
“That’ll be seven credits.”
“Right,” Zamria said as she dropped them into the man’s hand, plus an extra one as a tip. “Thanks.”
“No, thank you…” The man managed awkwardly as he palmed the money and rubbed a hand through his brown hair, making a mental note to always take the deliveries to this apartment.
She took the bag of food into her hand and keyed the door shut again, padding back over to the couch and settling in on it, still not bothering to wear clothes. After all, she wasn’t going out or anything. What did anyone care what she wore in the privacy of her own home?
She unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite of it as Lyn Bondara appeared on the screen, delivering the day’s news. More about the war. More about the Senate. Both were topics of interest to Zamria, who was very much the Republic Citizen. Of course she had faith too, faith in the Galactic Republic to endure, and as strange as it sounded for a political person, faith in the Senate to ultimately do the right thing.
They’d win the war. They always had after all.
And on a totally unrelated note, her sandwich was delicious. The meat was flavorful and melted into her mouth, and the vegetables on it were far from objectionable. The sauce was absolutely delicious, and the cheese? Well, cheese was always good. In fact, the sandwich deserved something better than the news of war, and Zamria changed the channel to whatever holodrama was on right now.
As it happened, this one was a crime drama with a hard-nosed human detective with piercing blue eyes and a strong chin, who was, at the moment, threatening a Rodian with a blaster unless he talked. Gritty. Tense. Precisely the sort of thing she doubted would ever happen in reality, which was precisely the reason she’d switched over to it, as she rightly realized while munching on fries.
Now if only she could find a guy like that cop. Firm chin, nice eyes. Of course aesthetics were important, but personality mattered just as much. And she had to admit that she was troubled. Finding that total package of looks and heart was a daunting task for anyone, and when it was just her there? Well, she wasn’t a modest woman, but her looks? In her own estimation those were modest. Decent curves that didn’t really set her apart from any other woman. And then there was the matter of her eyes, her great insecurity. One an ice blue, and the other a deep brown. Heterochromia. She’d debated getting a contact lens for one eye to look more normal, but they were just so uncomfortable, and it would only be disguising the real problem. She just had to deal with that.
Soon the sandwich and the fries were gone, the volume on the viewscreen was lowered to a dull murmur, and Zamria Bey was curled up on the couch, asleep after a long day.
Character permission Sparrow
Name: Zamria Bey
Race: Togruta
Age: 28
Height: 5’ 6”(not including montrals)
Weight: 133 lbs
Birth place: Outside Corvala, Shili
Appearance:
Zamria is, in a word, willowy. She has an extremely slender figure, but not at the cost of muscle or at the detriment of curves. Her body has padding in all the correct places in amounts that are far from the greatest in the galaxy, but are attractive in a modest way. By no means is she busty, gifted only with B-cups, and neither is she gifted particularly ‘downstairs’ in comparison to some. Her appeal is in her lithe grace, the way she moves and the certain intangible quality about her that reveals to others who she is.
Like all Togrutas, she possesses montrals and lekku, the horn-like sensory organs and the hollow headtails of her people. Her montrals are shapely and well-formed, symmetrical and curving slightly back, to the sides and then back inward, with the tips pointing out. They are fully grown at their adult length. Her lekku rest at her waist. The stripes on her lekku are almost wavy, and they slowly turn into shapes across between chevrons and slash marks as they reach her montrals, as they fade to white in the center, and darken at the very edges and tips of the montrals.
Her skin is a vibrant red color that only seems to blend in with anything at night, unless she is on her native Shili, where she blends in reasonably well with the turu-grass scrubs day or night. It is punctuated by ‘slash marks’ of white cutting across her body. The only visible ones when she is fully dressed are a pair next to each other on her left arm, one on the right side of her neck, and one cutting across her stomach at an angle.
Zamria’s face is worthy of admiration, and is easily her best asset. She has a sculpted jaw tapering to a chin that is distinct yet rounded, full lips that conceal brilliant white teeth, including two dramatic fangs, and she has a patrician nose. Her face is neither narrow nor wide, with cheek bones just barely pronounced enough to be noticeable on her skin. Her eyes are possibly the most compelling aspect of her face. She has complete heterochromia iridum. Her right eye is a beautiful light blue shade while her left is a dark brown, so dark it is almost black. This is her greatest insecurity, and she worries it makes her unsightly. Her facial markings are especially unique when it comes to Togrutas, essentially two slash marks extending from her cheek and crossing over her eyes, colored lips, and a triangular mark on her forehead. On the whole though, her face is quite beautiful.
In terms of clothing, Zamria is very much like two different people. One is a casual young woman at home in relaxed attire, and the other is a Senator’s aide in more formal attire. The only constant is her bare feet, as she follows the Togruta practice of avoiding shoes for, as she puts it, religious reasons. When relaxed, she has a tendency to wear halter tops and tank tops showing off some midriff paired with loose cargo pants, usually in olive and brown respectively, topped off with a sturdy and wide double-pronged brown leather belt, from which hangs a few utility pouches holding such things as a datapad and hold-out blaster. She also forgoes the convention of bras, since in her opinion they serve no purpose. Her formal wardrobe consists of a white floor length skirt in a soft and silky fabric, and a tunic also in white, detailed with a dull gold. It is very professionally cut, but doesn’t sacrifice femininity. She pairs it with a Togruta sash made of rare white leather with gold-painted details. In it, she has an almost angelic appearance.
On the rare occasion she finds herself in a hostile environment, one filled with snow or one with burning hot ground, she will dress appropriately, including shoes. She owns a pair of over-the-calf lace-up boots of brown leather for just these occasions. They are made from leather from Shili, so as to preserve a connection to nature. In the cold she has a few options. The first is a long brown coat with a fur collar, falling to her shins. The second is a grey parka with a hood designed to accommodate her montrals.
On occasion she finds herself in a position to swim, but lacking the ability to swim naked thanks to societal standards she has little interest in. On those occasions, and when sunbathing in places requiring her to wear clothing, she has a gold colored bikini, one on the small side but still covering what needs to be covered.
While technically not a part of her appearance, Zamria’s voice is certainly worth mentioning. She has a flawless Coruscanti accent (British) when speaking Basic, to the point where vocal communications can convince other people she is human. Her voice is generally calm and collected, with plenty of confidence, though at times a playful quality comes through.
Personality:
Zamria is generally a quiet woman, something hardly unusual for the Togruta people. She prefers to use few words, and not particularly flowery ones either. However her job puts her considerably at odds with that desire, and she’s learned the ability to speak in the flowery and diplomatic language of politics. She may be fluent in that language, but it is neither her first or preferred tongue. When off the clock, she tends to have monosyllabic replies ready for almost everything, only venturing into substantial conversation when she has a genuine interest in the other person, or people. When she does have an interest though, she has a keen mind, rapier wit, and excellent sense of humor, often self-deprecating.
One especially interesting trait of her is a gross lack of modesty. Often she forgets to answer the door clothed, which has resulted in those delivering food getting an eyeful of Togruta on more than one occasion. She doesn’t really see the point in the societal convention of clothing, and it manifests itself in her personal life quite often. When not at the Senator’s office or the Senate, she has no qualms sporting a low cut halter top and pants, simply because she wants to feel the breeze. She also fails to understand the societal convention of bras, which in her opinion serves no purpose whatsoever. Again she differs from the galaxy’ standards.
She is bold and unique, marching to the beat of her own drummer. She has little qualms for society’s standards outside of her job, and when on her own she is a bit of an unusual person, a tomboy without losing femininity, and a tough woman who still has a vulnerable streak, a woman who cares. But on some things she can seem apathetic, when she really isn’t. One prime example is the homeless and disadvantaged. She believes in common Togruta fashion that those who cannot keep up with the whole must be left behind, and while she finds it sad that some suffer, she cannot bring herself to sacrifice the progress of the whole. On an individual level though, she practices what charity she can in an effort to ‘encourage’ them to keep up with the ‘tribe.’
Zamria is an extraordinarily capable young woman with a knack for getting any kind of job done, no matter how impossible it may seem. She has a dogged determination about her when it comes to tasks, and when she gives her word something will be done, she’ll ensure it is done even if it kills her. On more than one occasion she’s disappeared from the office for days at a time laboring to accomplish a task assigned to her. Everything she is told to do she does thoroughly, with great attention to detail.
Another constant for her is hobbies. She has invested great time and effort into building her skills at archery, something she’d done since she was a little girl on Shili, and martial arts, something she took up in an effort to stand out in her family and discipline her emotions. She doesn’t do anything halfway, and her persistence has resulted in her becoming capable of beating down men twice her weight and truly excellent archery, a rare skill in the universe.
In terms of relationships, Zamria is a bit of a black sheep. She’s promiscuous to an extent, but truly doesn’t have that great an interest in sex. She thinks more in terms of relationships and emotional bonds. If she doesn’t have an interest in someone’s character, she has no interest in becoming intimate. While not modest, she is only flirtatious on rare occasions, like after a few drinks. Her sexuality is traditional, and she has no interest in anything particularly ‘freaky.’ Neither is she a prude. She has no qualms over having sex with an interesting person, since it is ‘just’ an activity, but she does have a true interest in relationships. She hopes someday to meet a good mate, but she is genuinely apprehensive. She has no interest in children at all, and she’s worried that between her demanding job, her modest looks, and her heterochromia, she won’t be able to attract a suitable mate. And she doesn’t want to content herself with the bottom of the barrel.
She is a bit of a nature enthusiast, with a religious devotion to all things growing and a true love for plants and animals. She is also a hunter, and views even her prey with deep respect. Even the food on her plate is something she is thankful for and in close tune with. Whenever she has an opportunity to leave Coruscant, she chooses a natural destination to go to. Surprisingly her love of nature extends beyond Shili, and to every type of world with life on it. It is one of the subjects she could talk about endlessly.
Zamria is also, as is common for Togruta, exceedingly loyal. She forms exceptional loyalty to people, most notably her senator, followed by organizations, followed by concepts. While she values such things as honor, she has no qualms doing dishonorable things for the Republic, the Senator, or Shili. Those are her holy trinity of devotion, and Force help you if you question or demean any of them. Like a vicious akul, she will spring into their defense, physically if need be, though she doesn’t find herself in fights often or go looking for them.
Occupation: Political Aide
Rank: Aide to the Senator for Shili.
Skills:
Archer- Zamria is a top notch archer, extremely deadly with a bow, though the skill hasn’t really had any combat applications in countless years. However when it comes to hunting it has uses, as well as recreation.
Martial Artist- She is a skilled hand-to-hand fighter, with many years of practice at it for both fun and self-defense.
Problem Solver- Zamria has a knack for knowing the right people for anything, legal or otherwise. She uses that to the best of her ability in her job.
Equipment:
Recurve Bow : Her bow is made of local materials on Shili and given to her by her father. 60 lbs draw.
SoroSuub DM-21 Hold out Blaster
: She carries it concealed in a pouch or in the glovebox of her speeder.
SoroSuub Model 88 Speeder: She owns a model with a white body and blue trim. It is one of her prized possessions, even if she doesn’t understand all the nuances behind it.
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 6
Speed: 6
Leadership: 3
Unarmed: 5
Melee Weapons: 2
Ranged Weapons: 6
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: 0
Telepathic: 0
Body: 2
Sense: 2
Protection: 0
Healing: 0
Destruction: 0
Alignment: +2
Bio:
BIRTH
Zamria Bey was born on Shili in 3629 BBY, the fourth of seven children, and the first daughter in the family. Her father was Horvra Bey, and her mother Ashra Bey. He was a craftsman in his tribe, and she was a healer, skilled in traditional Togruta ways as well as modern medicine. However, they were both more distant from the Tribe itself than some, having, like many near Corvala, looser ties. They lived in a small house in the hills near the city, in a curious mix of the old and the new. Ashra made calls to the assorted settlements in the area via speeder bike, ensuring modern medicine was available for serious injuries, and Horvra spent many hours in his workshop, taking advantage of both traditional and modern tools, making art and tools and selling them in the capital city, to tourists mostly.
Zamria’s birth was hardly remarkable, done at home under the supervision of another healer, and went well. She was a healthy little orange girl (whose skin darkened with age), born without montrals or lekku, as was normal. In fact, the only thing that was abnormal about her was her eyes. One eye was blue, and the other a deep brown. At first her father was troubled by this, and worried if his first daughter was somehow defective, but his wife eased his worry by telling him the truth. It was only an aesthetic problem, and the child was fully healthy.
Together they chose to name her after Ashra’s mother, an elderly Togruta woman, a Jedi-turned-wise-woman with the Tribe, who was present for the birth. She was a woman strong with the Force, and she could see a sensitivity in the child, ever so minor. A sensitivity that was confirmed by the girl’s blood test, carried out by the other healer. Her midichlorian count was lower than most Jedi, as with all Togruta, but enough to classify her as Force-sensitive nevertheless. The Jedi were notified, and within a few days the Jedi Watchman arrived to request the child.
She was at the very lowest end of what would enable her to be taken by the Jedi, and the Watchman didn’t deny she wouldn’t likely be the most powerful in the Order, but made promises of a good life. However Zamria’s parents weren’t so keen to give up their only daughter for what seemed like a life of mediocrity as a Jedi. Instead they turned down the Watchman’s offer, content to raise their own child, who remained ignorant of her force sensitivity.
EARLY LIFE
The early years for Zamria were largely unremarkable from the standpoint of an infant. She was always precocious though, quickly learning to crawl, and learning to vocalize, which she promptly put to use by being loud. However the one thing that would always still her crying was a lullaby sung by her mother in Togruti. Just a few verses and she’d be asleep in her crib, made by her father’s hands years ago for her brothers.
She had three brothers before her, a pair of twins at 16 named Nari and Bari, who were both patient souls dedicated to family. When their father was in the workshop and their mother was away making calls, they both tended to Zamria and her brother Davar, age six. They learned all about how to take care of their little sister, and they wound up with protective streaks a mile wide.
As months grew into years, her development became more apparent. Her montrals and her lekku began to grow out, her fangs started to grow in. She had an insatiable desire to chew things with them, to the point of adding teeth marks to the crib. Soon she switched away from mother’s milk to bits of meat, common to her people. And then, to her parents’ great pride, she started to learn to eat thimiar.
They started her with dead ones, teaching her to eat the small rodents that served as a food staple, which took some encouraging at first. But once she mastered that, they introduced her to live ones, demonstrating how to properly dispatch them with teeth, which Zamria caught on to perfectly, in true Togruta fashion. It was, after all, in her blood. And it wasn't bad for a three year old going on four.
GROWING UP
It didn’t take long for Zamria to realize that she was different from her brothers. Anatomically they were different, and she knew she was of a different gender, like her mother. However that didn’t stop her from making every effort to become one of the boys. Whether it was play-fighting or manly activities like spitting contests, she was determined to be just like her brothers, who she viewed as tough role models. This came as amusement for bother them and her parents, who assumed she’d simply grow out of it in time. To an extent they were right, and to an extent they were wrong.
Schooling was a prospect that they took very seriously in the Bey household, seriously enough that they were prepared to take drastic action. Zamria's parents had always regretted being so far away from formal schools, and they felt guilty for opting to homeschool their eldest children rather than giving them a more social upbringing. Out of a desire to avoid repeating the same mistakes, they moved to give the twins easy access to higher education in Corvala, and the other two children good schooling in government run schools.
The new abode in Corvala was a good piece of real estate, a two story stone building mixed with the unique Togruta architecture that resembled their montrals so much, tall and curving, with excellent views of the city streets. Up above was their place of residence, and down below was their father’s workshop and a place to sell his wares.
For Zamria, this all meant a change of pace to what was ‘city life,’ or what passed for it in Corvala, a sprawling city with a relaxed feel and not much hustle or bustle. But coming from a rural country experience, it was a rather dramatic change still. And school was most definitely an exciting experience for her. It also proved a rather awkward experience for her parents.
For the first three years of her schooling, Zamria Bey was a troublemaker of the worst magnitude. Pranks, fights, and general lack of attention all seemed to follow her around like lightning followed storm clouds. And she was almost destructive. Living with brothers, brothers who were big, strong, and capable of scrapping well, had prepared her for the task of schoolyard fights with bullies. Very soon it became known on the playground that messing with Zamria was a dangerous thing to do that often resulted in black eyes.
However, merely being able to beat up others didn’t help her fit in. She was a girl with a boyish attitude, neither welcome among the girls or the boys, half a member of both but not fully belonging. And to make it worse were her eyes. She’d always been aware they were different, but now around other children she became increasingly aware of them. She was teased, called names, and mocked for her difference. The ways of children were cruel, and she was very much a victim to them.
Some children might have channeled that frustration into school, and strove for excellence. Zamria instead seethed inside, pent up and ready to explode onto others when provoked. In classes she was dismally quiet, even for a species known for being quiet. Her hand was never raised, even when she did know the answer. It didn't win her any favor from her teachers, and it was hardly a surprise that she viewed school more as an unpleasant chore than an opportunity for learning.
When she was eight years old, things changed for her. Her mother and her father wanted to channel her discomfort and her anger into something productive that she could relax with, some sort of hobby she could truly pursue. They decided to cater to her strengths, and for her birthday she was given a beautiful composite bow just her size, handmade by her father. He told her archery would be fun if she dedicated herself, and he was right. The girl enjoyed it immensely and always had a burning desire to go to the range. Unbeknownst to her, her command of the Force enhanced the strength in her arms and the control of her breath, enabling her to perform with a better technique. Shrewdly, her mother promised Zamria that if she behaved well at school, without fighting and by doing well at her studies, they would take her to the range more.
Their deal worked, and their only daughter improved her grades and her attitude, even winning herself a few friends with her better behavior. They were extremely proud.
It was only one year later that Ashra became pregnant again, with twins for the second time. This time they were a boy and a girl, named Vran and Ashla respectively. With her parents’ hands full with children, the young Zamria found herself spending even more time with her brothers, who had long ago stopped thinking of her as a little girl. She persuaded them to take her to the range, and with extra requests, she persuaded her way into a martial arts class for children. Her parents were more than a little ambivalent that their daughter with a track record of getting into fights wanted to learn how to fight better, but Ashra wisely deduced that it would be another discipline, a way for Zamria to regiment herself. They both agreed and allowed her to do so.
It became a major diversion for her, and something she readily embraced. It took her successfully through the years, and channeled all her frustrations perfectly, helping her grow beyond it. She matured with the discipline, and she no longer felt the need to beat people up when they made fun of her eyes. She was in control of her emotions.
Soon puberty began to arrive, and it brought about changes in her. Her figure started to change, and she started the process of growing into her body. It also brought about a new femininity, and she could no longer be mistaken for a little boy. She was distinctly a girl, despite lacking a ladylike attitude. But already new personality aspects were manifesting themselves.
The child was a perfectionist in a way, with a stubborn determination to do everything right, from history to science and everything in between. Hobbies, schoolwork, friends… All of it demanded success. She was stubborn too, never giving up and admitting defeat. She always had to be a winner, she had to better for those she cared about. It was in turns endearing and annoying.
Zamria was also quiet. While some children gossiped or talked endlessly about hobbies, she was content to answer with one word replies unless the conversation tipped to her. She was most definitely the strong and silent type, which was slightly odd for a teenage girl.
However, she did grow to be more concerned with her appearance, no longer content to have dirt on her lekku or under her fingernails, and developed a keen interest in relationships, though her primary interest was her own. From the beginning she’d been a tomboy, and her personality didn’t change from that. She just learned how to dress in a more appealing way that was just as practical, taking up shirts that showed a little cleavage, not that she had much, and gave her access to fresh air. She always topped it off with a pair of cargo pants. Just enough femininity to show she was indeed female, and tomboy practicality for the rest.
Her parents weren't especially thrilled by it, her father not at all, and her brothers felt much the same. They didn't fancy their little sister dressing like a grown woman. Again, it was her mother who showed understanding. It was a natural part of growth, one that was inevitable and couldn't be fought against.
Meanwhile in academics, she was showing a certain aptitude. While she was passable in math and science, her true aptitude lay with language and history. She learned about the history of the Togruta people, the histories of the tribes and two cities, the history of the Republic even, and understood it. She also understood writing, and when the time came to study it, government.
She knew immediately that was where her interest lay, and she was determined to make it so. She knew that hard work would be essential to gain any government job with the Republic, so she redoubled her efforts, keeping up her martial arts and her archery to relieve the increasing amounts of stress.
Class by class she grew in knowledge and understanding, but her personal life lacked the developments she would have liked. The boys she was interested in didn't seem to share any interest in her, and no one asked her out. She still had a legacy around the school, and interest in her was lacking. Her reputation wasn't aided any when she asked a boy out first, and was met with rejection and gossip. She took it out on a punching bag.
Finally, she graduated, with a solid ranking in the upper tiers of her class. Fluent in Togruti and Basic, she set off to find a source of higher education at the age of 18.
LEARNING THE ROPES
Zamria began her application process for various universities in the galaxy, and was successfully admitted to the University of Coruscant system, which stood as a very proud moment of her life. It was for her parents as well, as she was the first member of the family to pursue an off-world education. Previously all of them had received little more than a traditional education, except for her brothers who had successfully completed local college programs and taken the technical jobs most Togrutas had no interest in or understanding of.
Her experience was a new one, leaving for a brand new world, the glowing capital of the galaxy, when she’d never even been off of Shili before. Naturally they took every care to prepare her, and make sure she was well-provisioned. She was given a new wardrobe in her usual style, but one purchased from vendors catering to off-worlders, so she’d blend in better. If such a thing was possible for a Togruta.
She was loaded onto a transport leaving the city, and she began the journey to Coruscant. It was hardly a fast ship, and it took several days with which she had the chance to experience space travel in all its glory. Namely she spent most of the trip pacing the small observation deck and staring out at the stars rather than being confined to her small quarters. She even took naps curled up on the small sofa in that observation deck, and she even brought her food there to eat. Yes, the view in hyperspace made her dizzy when she stared at it for too long, but it was vastly better than the narrow metal walls of her room.
At long last, from that room the stars became normal again and she had a view of Coruscant in the distance, growing closer and closer. The brilliant lights were truly something to admire, and she remained glued to the window all throughout the landing cycle. They’d arrived at night, and the lights were more dazzling and brilliant than anything she’d ever seen before.
She found her way over to an air taxi while carrying her meager belongings in a single suitcase, her favorite recurve bow tucked over her shoulder, and she paid the Rodian pilot to take her to the Southern Campus of the University, home to their political science and government schools. She spent the ride glued to the window peering out at the sites they passed. The Jedi Temple lit in the distance, the Galactic Senate building. Countless skyscrapers. And then they reached their destination.
The Southern Campus. Built in the new architectural style like the Senate district, it was a sleek and bright complex, teeming with courtyards, dormitories, and lecture halls. All of them with excellent design properties. Sleek, seamless, smooth.
As she soon found, she’d been in the later group of arrivals, and as such orientation wasn’t until the next day. She was whisked away to the New West dorm, where she had a quarters on the eighth floor, looking over the campus, which itself loomed over much of the surrounding landscape, giving a very distant view of the Senate itself, still lit up from her window.
She found her roommate was a Firrerreo girl named Charille, with a lovely gold skin and black hair with a vivid yellow streak in it. The two looked roughly the same age, and only the second day did Zamria discover Charille was actually thirty. Apparently her species didn’t show much in the way of age, as she grew to learn eventually. Charille was a smart woman, one who’d spent a few years on her homeworld taking odd jobs and saving up credits for her own education, with the hopes of winning a government job there someday.
The next day was new student orientation, and she was given a great tour of the campus along with the other forty students from her floor, led by their residential assistant, a Twi’lek junior named Anoon, with green skin and headtails. He was, if anything, informative to a fault. He knew his way around the Southern Campus blindfolded and he told them about all the hot spots on the campus, where to go to study, where to eat, where to hang out. It was an extremely full day, one that built up the anticipation to great levels. And then in the evening the floor bonded together with takeout food in the common room.
Out of the whole floor, twenty girls and twenty boys, she was the only Togruta. In fact it was worse than just that, she was the only one on the entire campus. She had to admit though, it was far from surprising. The entire population of Shili was measured in millions rather than billions, and most didn’t stray far from their homes. The Jedi were the major exception, and she imagined if she ever visited their Temple as a tourist she’d see a few of her kin. But in the meantime, she was rather alone.
Luckily she was able to bond socially with other students anyway, though beginning her classes took up most of her effort. Her first semester she was taking a class on Basic, an introduction to governance, a course on economics, a course on foreign policy, and one on galactic history. Her professors were all excellent instructors, though one particularly stood out. An elderly Ithorian who spoke using a vocalizer, and her foreign policy instructor. He’d been a part of the Ithorian senate delegation when he was young, and his was the voice of experience to her, which was beneficial as he was one of her advisers. He advised her on study habits and resources, and encouraged her to find a study group.
So she did. She even went a step further and made her own study group, drafting in Charille, a male Rodian named Glor, a Twi’lek girl named Sinya, a human boy named Ben, and another human man named Davrin. Three girls. Three boys. The study group, who ultimately became fast friends. In a way they were highly complementary. Zamria was the quiet one, and to offset her Sinya was a bubbly extrovert. Charille was the smart one, and Ben was the one who needed her help most of all. Glor was the hardest worker, and Davrin was the one who couldn’t seem to ever make anything work right. But between all of them, they balanced out.
They had a lot of fun that first year, making several things into regular traditions. They would all gather together in the common room to watch the swoop races on the Holonet, with everyone making food in the small kitchen to share. Sinya made dishes with munchfungus, and Zamria found herself making kebobs of every meat imaginable. Both were well-received at their little social events.
And of course they studied, as they were all taking the same classes, albeit at different times and with different teaching assistants. But they were genuinely able to help each other, and any time someone had difficulty grasping a concept, there were others willing to step in and aid them.
Winter vacation arrived as if only a few weeks had gone by, and it was time to travel back home to Shili for one week of leisure time between travel and classes. And it was at that time she was able to make a gesture. Charille and Zamria had been together as roommates for months, and only right before the break did they truly get to know each other. And it all started when Zamria walked in and found her Firrerreo roommate crying.
That had come as a great surprise to the Togruta, as Charille was normally so confident, capable, and collected. Promptly she asked what was wrong, and was given a teary answer. Charille had lost her parents the year before, and she had nowhere to go. She’d sold off her home and her belongings to afford Coruscant University, and she was going to be alone.
Well, Zamria couldn’t let that happen, and she scrounged together enough money to take her roommate home with her for a week, which did entail begging her parents. But at the end of the week, they were both at home on Shili, sharing a room, which was when the young Togruta learned she now had a little sister on the way, her mother was pregnant. That was welcome news, though while at home she was lacking any real interest in children herself.
She, instead, spent most of her time taking trips into the country, hunting, and teaching Charille some of the basics of archery. That wasn’t precisely an easy task, as the Firrerreo woman was hardly well-versed in any martial pastime. But she did make a willing helper and spare set of hands on the hunting trip they took the first day, netting dinner for the week, though carrying a prey animal and two women on the speeder bike was a bit much.
The Bey family adapted well, and were able to accept a Firrerreo into their home with open arms, largely out of devotion to their daughter and trust in her judgment. And Charille felt most welcome there.
When they got on the ship for the return voyage to Coruscant, the two were even better friends. Together they spent time playing assorted games in the lounge and complaining about the food served during the trip. There was a surprising amount of talking considering how quiet Zamria was. When it came to the right subjects and with the right people, the silent Togruta was surprisingly talkative.
The next semester came, and some new classes joined the old ones. Zamria continued her course on Basic, learning more advanced topics such as literature, and working on her accent again. Accent hadn’t been a huge focus of her education on Shili, which had resulted in a rolling and lilting accent, one she slowly removed for a proper Coruscanti one. She also started to learn her third language, Huttese.
The study group returned to full swing, carrying on as usual after the interruption of break. And with the arrival of spring, romance was in the air. Ben and Sinya became a couple, and a rather cute one at that. And increasingly, a little something between Zamria and Davrin started to form. It started small. Just glimpses at first. Then sitting next to each other on the sofas in the common room. Soon their feet were touching, and then she was leaning her head on his shoulders, and he was very careful to avoid losing an eye to her montrals. It took a month, and there were never actually any words involved until they started kissing. Even then it was mostly Davrin talking as Zamria proved to be ‘the quiet one’ yet again.
And on top of that, she wasn’t sure if she loved him. She simply enjoyed his company and the fact he was a warm body against her. He was there, and available, and he didn’t really demand much of her. He didn’t cling to her like a puppy or talk her ear off, and he made for a decent companion. She never let him as close to her as Charille, and she still took her trips to the nearest archery range alone.
One day when she was on her way back, walking home to the University in the dark, someone made the mistake of trying to jump her. However he was obviously without experience with her species, and didn’t know her montrals gave her a passive echolocation, and she could detect his movement as he came up behind her. He learned when he took a fist to his nose, followed rapidly by a knee to the groin. Then as he charged again she threw him into a wall, knocking him out. She took out a spare bow string from her pack, tied him up, and called the CSF. When she returned late that night, she simply answered the inevitable questions with “I was delayed,” though later she was coaxed into revealing a few details.
Soon the first year was drawing to a close, and in hindsight things were looking quite adequate. Her grades were good, she had a core group of friends, her personality was intact, and she was even in a relationship of sorts. She was ready for the summer though, and home.
Returning home, she resolved to make the most of Shili’s natural beauty and amenities, by spending every minute she could outside of Corvala, camping out in the hill country, hiking around from the different villages of her native tribe, hunting and cooking her own food, drinking from brooks and streams. Thanks to her Force sensitivty she enjoyed great physical health, running faster, jumping harder, and thriving with physicality. She also had an excellent sense of timing while hunting, and a keen tracker's instinct due to her senses. Her parents completely understood their daughter had been deprived, and they rightly realized that with a month of free reign she’d stray back home.
They were perfectly correct, and a month later she left the forests and scrub for the comfort of her own home and family, sleeping in her own room again. She returned to all her old fun activities. Sparring with her brothers, archery on the weekends. She also took to doing a little cooking for prepared meals, a luxury, and she found herself stargazing from the rooftop with a fire in the firepit, though she hardly needed it for warmth during the mild Shili nights.
But she came back to Coruscant at the end of the break again, and she resumed where she’d left off. Exactly as she’d left off, with the same roommate, the same boyfriend, and very similar classes. Her dorm was different this time, a newer one called Riva South, which lacked the views she’d grown accustomed to, but had a much nicer interior. The rest of her circle of friends had moved on to different dorms as well, which meant their swoop-race get-togethers were on a rotating basis, though they kept the tradition intact, down to the food.
Sinya and Ben were still a couple, as were Davrin and Zamria. And late in the fall, they consummated their relationship, and Zamria lost her virginity. But she was under no youthful illusions that he was a prince or a prospect for marriage. He was just there to meet her physical needs. That was all their relationship was. However, he was rapidly growing more attached to her than she was to him.
That didn’t become a pressing issue until the end of the second semester, when Davrin made a proposal. Literally. And then things took a turn. In the longest string of words she’d made in years, she explained the full situation to him. The Togruta took the whole of her feelings about him and made them crystal clear. She enjoyed his touch and his company, but she had no romantic interests in him, and she didn’t want to make a life commitment to him. Needless to say, he didn’t take it well. He left, and with their own division a fracture was created in the study group. Sinya wasn’t sure what to think, and Ben was ambivalent. He’d been close with Davrin, but he wasn’t fully prepared to side against Zamria. Glor left the group in protest immediately, and Charille was, of course, close with her still. However the initial magic was gone, and the group slowly drifted apart, and what had been daily meetings became weekly. Sinya and Ben moved on to different friends, and Zamria would have been perfectly content to remain rather alone and quiet, if not for Charille.
The Firrerreo woman was still staunchly loyal to her friend and roommate, and wanted to ensure that Zamria did have some friends and a proper social circle rather than being alone by herself, and she also set about the task of finding her friend a relationship. One that wouldn’t fail.
However, Zamria lacked the confidence to believe she could land a good catch in the relationship department. What she was after at this point was little more than friends with benefits, and that sort of thing didn’t always attract the best people. She was also worried about her eyes, about heterochromia making her unsightly.
However Charille’s plans were thwarted by the end of the school year and vacation once more.
Zamria went home again, and while there she weighed her options, what she could do, what she wanted to do, and how to straighten out her personal life. She managed to narrow down three possible career fields, each with advantages and drawbacks. The first option was probably the most lucrative: working for the private sector. Many corporate worlds needed people with governmental degrees and political understanding to have smooth operations. The downside was the plethora of undesirable corporate worlds. Not all of them were sandy beaches like Murkhana. Then there was the possibility of returning home to work in Corvala or Cover City, doing work for the planetary government. But Zamria had a bit of a lust for adventure and activity, and while she loved Shili, she wanted to see more of the universe than just her native soil. That left taking a job with the Republic in some manner, which seemed the best course of action to her.
And personally? Charille wanted her in a stable relationship with a nice man, and wanted her to have other friends. She wasn’t necessarily opposed, but it was so much effort on top of her studies to find friends, and relationships beyond friends with benefits were taxing. And she wasn’t convinced the right sort would be interested in her.
She came to the conclusion she’d simply let Charille do whatever she insisted on without question or complaint, and see if any of it worked out. That seemed to be the path of least resistance.
When summer was over, that was precisely what she did, yield to her roommate’s attempts to play matchmaker, which yielded several takers and only a few successes. The highlights, the peak and the valley opposite each other, a Zabrak named Corvo, and a Corellian named Ren. Corvo was a economics major, and surprisingly wasn’t boring. Instead he was an active guy, playing sports and even owning his own speeder bike that he traveled around on. He was also interested in a casual relationship, which took the form of attending a few events together, sharing a couple drinks, and having sex a few times. However they both strayed in separate ways, and he found himself in a relationship with a human girl, one that was serious. And into the picture came Ren.
Ren was a government major from Zamria’s class on Republic economic policy, and he was, in a word, arrogant. It seemed the whole world revolved around him, and he was convinced he knew better than the Chancellor, than the Senate. He put himself on a pedestal, and what made it even worse was that in terms of looks, he had it all. Chiseled abs, a strong jaw, piercing blue eyes… And unfortunately he set his sites on the Togruta girl from Shili. Charille tried to dissuade her, but Zamria couldn’t help herself, and before she it knew it she’d slept with him, and Ren had left again, bragging to his circle of friends that he’d bedded a Togruta.
Zamria was horribly embarrassed, and there was a good deal of crying in her room between classes. Charille even skipped a few of her own just to give her roommate comfort. But through her sadness came new friends, kind people who’d learned of her plight and wanted to comfort her. Two of them, a human named Sara and a Twi’lek named Aola had been previous ‘conquests’ of Ren, and they bonded with Zamria through their own shame. They became fast friends quickly, with Charille welcomed in as well.
Unlike the old study group, this new group of friends didn’t involve schoolwork. It was purely social, visits, going out to eat, cooking things in the dorms, and watching sporting events. They didn’t share much in the way of classes, but they were good friends despite that, loyal to each other. And in Zamria’s case, steadfastly loyal. Like most of her species, she’d developed a staunch and unwavering loyalty, to the Republic, Shili, and her friends. To be true, Sara and Aola weren’t archers like her, or even into martial arts, but they were still valuable to her, and they encouraged her to further her goals, to serve the Republic.
In that spirit, Zamria applied for a summer internship with the Galactic Senate, and thanks to a good record, she won a spot there serving with the pages. It was simple work over the summer, little more than escorting tourists and running errands deemed only slightly too important for droids. But to her, it was important. Getting aides and members of the delegation fresh cups of coffee and being a courier for them was rewarding, because she was literally aiding in the daily operation of the Republic. That was special to her. And with so many siblings at home to worry about, she wouldn’t be unduly missed. So she had her summer, and she enjoyed it.
School returned, for the final year, and the employment search slowly began for all in her circle of friends. Sara was an economics major, and she’d had an internship with SoroSuub, so she was well geared for the private sector. Aola was majoring in journalism, and her winning smile and rare red skin made her a prime candidate for the field. And Charille? She’d had an internship for the Senator of Denon, and an invitation to seek employment with him. That left Zamria, who knew she wanted to work with the Republic somehow. And luckily for her, in her very last semester she received an offer from the Senatorial delegation of Shili, inviting her to come interview for a job. At her first available weekend, she took the trip by airspeeder to the Senate offices, found her way to that of the Senator for Shili, and sat down to an interview with the Senator’s personal aide.
There were many questions, all in Togruti, many revolving around her personality and her past more than merely her academics. They expressed an interest in her as a person rather than in dry clinical material. That was interesting in her opinion, and it took a lot more effort on her part, speaking and talking about herself. Luckily her time as a page had prepared her, giving tours was good practice for speaking.
The aide was pleasantly surprised by her answers, and he agreed to give her a job at the offices when she graduated, though it certainly wasn’t a glorious one. But it was still precisely what Zamria had wanted, a job working for the Republic, aiding a Senator in her own small way.
The next month came graduation, and her parents had bought passage off of Shili for the very first time in order to see her special day. It was a formal ceremony held in the large amphitheatre of the Southern Campus, and Zamria was one of the students without a cap to match her gown, thanks to her physiology. She stood out among the sea of faces, and they watched her move up to the dais when called, receiving her diploma, and then heading back out to wait. Once it was all over, she met with Aola, Sara, and Charille and all their families, and they streamed out to a restaurant for a meal together celebrating the end of four years of work.
Three Twi’leks, three Togrutas, two humans, and one Firrerreo all sat down to a meal together, and everything was perfect. They chatted, the families chatted, and everyone found food and drink to their liking. It was a flawless night, one of those times when everything goes perfectly, when wars and problems are forgotten. It went down in her memory as one of the best days in her life. And at the end of it, her parents presented her with a hand-crafted gift from home, a white and gold Togruta sash, an elaborately detailed one made of leather. They told her it was a piece of home she could always have with her.
OUT IN THE WORLD
Zamria was 22, had her degree, knew Togruti, Basic, and Huttese, and now had a job working for the Shili Senatorial delegation. The Shili Embassy was in the Senate District, and conveniently they provided her with an apartment in Nicandra Plaza, in the District, and conveniently close to the Embassy Mall. There were a few perks to the job, but the apartment was still very small. Hers was a studio apartment, fully functional, but minimal. It was a single room with a large window with a view of the street, with a kitchenette in the corner, a bathroom across from it, and a small living area in the middle. Her bed was in a loft accessible by a ladder. But the real advantage was that it didn’t cost her much, just an automatically deducted portion of her paycheck that left her considerably more credits for life expenses. So she started to work with a thin smile, doing everything asked of her with efficiency.
For the first year, she was given very simple tasks, things many embassies would have used droids for. She acted as a receptionist, she made coffee, she answered incoming calls, and she ran minor errands as needed. It was fast-paced work that didn’t demand too much focus from her, which suited her fine. It wasn’t a real strain on her abilities, and she knew that this had to be temporary, that sooner or later more serious demands would be made of her.
It wasn’t a bad life, though she found the dress code a little difficult. Every day she carried with her a bag, and she changed out of her cargo pants and tank tops and into a proper tunic and skirt, with her lovely sash. The commute was dreary, and she made herself a promise: to save up her money and buy a nice air speeder and save herself the walk and the public transportation.
In the second year, her tasks changed slightly. She was sent out more often, going to pick up items, from food to reports, and going out again to deliver goods. There was always something to be done, and playing courier gave her a very important set of excuses after an incident.
A psychotic man threatened her with a knife on the airbus, and she managed to disarm him when he lunged at her, thanks to years of practice since she was a kid with martial arts, something she’d never abandoned throughout her life, but it raised the question of safety, particularly when she was carrying valuable documents. As a result, she was granted a weapons permit and bought a small blaster pistol to keep her safe when fists wouldn’t cut it, and they supplemented her income with a loan to get an airspeeder, which would be paid back without interest through deductions from her salary. She combined it with her own savings, realizing now was her chance to fulfill her goal of a GOOD speeder.
Luckily, Sara was working for SoroSuub, and a quick call arranged for their sales representatives to offer Zamria a serious discount on a luxurious ‘Shu’ speeder, in blue and white, like her lekku, as the sales person pointed out. And yes, with the excitement the markings on her lekku had flared into a more pronounced blue, losing their normal sedate blue/grey. Now that she had the speeder, learning to fly it was her next goal. Luckily, lessons were readily available, and a tutor gave her full instruction. By the end of the month she was flying around with skill and confidence, something she’d do well at for the rest of her life.
A CAPABLE WOMAN
Armed with a blaster, her fists, and a speeder, Zamria Bey was rapidly given more serious roles, and greater responsibility. Though she dealt with the actual Senator only rarely, she was viewed as a valued aide by the delegation, and she started to get personal requests too, requests to find things on sale or to pick up spare clothing. She learned how to fulfill those requests, learning to scout around for good deals, where to find the best, where to find the cheapest. She was forced to, by necessity, become a savant of sorts, a woman wise in the ways of Coruscant, who could recommend any restaurant or any shop, someone with an opinion on everything.
In her third year as an aide, she became the go-to woman for questions, and for problems. If anyone needed a problem solved, they talked to Zamria, and she got it solved. No one ever bothered asking her how, which was good. On more than one occasion she slipped bribes to get her answers, or she turned a blind eye to less than legal activities to fulfill her job.
And she was so good at it, the Senator was proud to call her an aid and made here a special vow: Whenever something had to be known, had to be discovered or found out, Zamria would be the one to do it. She was deemed the exclusive fact-finder for the delegation, the woman ready to go anywhere and do anything.
However, for her money was always in short supply, and she didn't have very much opportunity to save up for the future or for a rainy day. Her salary was small, but she had perks like her speeder and her apartment that didn't need to be paid for.
She had her first fact-finding mission in 3603 BBY. The Senator wanted an informational packet put together on the Jedi Order's relationship with Shili, for promotional purposes. It was a very simple one, as all she had to do was call the Jedi. She arranged an interview with the watchman, the same one who'd seen her as a child, and she gathered statistics about Togrutas and the Jedi Order, profiling some of the past Grandmasters and Councilors of her species.
Over the next two years she visited Republic military forces twice, prepared an embassy dinner, and even found the time to pay her family a visit at home. She was, unsurprisingly, popular with the soldiers, and she had no problems getting a feel for how things were going in the military. They were honest and open with her, which she appreciated. And it didn't hurt that she was a pretty girl in a sea of men. Unfortunately she didn't have the time to take advantage of that.
Her family likely wouldn't have been very understanding of her liaisons. She never told them about a single one, preferring to keep her sexual life to herself rather than face parental criticisms about sexual relations outside a mated couple.
She did, however, extend them an open invitation to visit her on Coruscant at any time. One she never expected them to take up. They were busy with children after all.
Zamria kept up her martial arts practice at a local studio, practicing sparring with partners, and she kept current at an archery range, converted from a warehouse in a light industrial zone. None of her coworkers were particularly keen on doing either activity with her, and that suited her fine.
Her coworkers weren't exactly her friends. By necessity her job was independent, and she didn't socialize much. She didn't have any friends actually, preferring the quiet to a conversation nine times out of ten. And she found that holodramas managed to capture her attention quite well. Between her job, her entertainment system, her hobbies, and the occasional romantic liaison, she was perfectly set.
RP Sample: Zamria Bey sat on the sofa in her Coruscant apartment, tired with the day already. There were no limits to what she’d do for her Senator of course, but today had tried pushing her endurance. The office had been planning a party to celebrate the unification of Shili for easily a month, but there were always some details that got over looked. In this case it was drinks, and only a few days from the big day, definitely not enough time to order anything from Shili. And the Togruta population on Coruscant was… small. And Coruscant? Well, Coruscant was big. Very big.
She’d spent the whole of the day scouring the city for a place to buy alcohol from Shili, running from import shop to import shop. Finally she found one in the Hirkenglade prefecture, a new shop opened the week before by a pair of immigrants from Shili, who’d brought with them, among other things, several casks of native wine. With great relief, Zamria had paid them for their goods, arranged for delivery to the party, and invited them along for good measure.
Despite all her efforts though, she was in a good mood. Tired, but a good one. She’d done her job, and done it well, and there was satisfaction in that. Like in hitting a bull’s eye on a target at the archery range. Simple pleasures without the need for substances. Of course now she was too tired for archery or for a workout. It had been all she could do to order food from a restaurant that delivered, hop in the shower, get clean, dry herself off with a towel and walk back out to her couch and sit on it, watching the Holonet news.
A chime came at her door and she walked over to it, bare feet sinking into the plush carpet of her simple apartment. She keyed open the door and the human man outside nearly dropped the bag of food she’d ordered. A large, meaty sandwich and ‘fries.’ The latter of which served absolutely no dietary purpose, but agreed with her well at times like this.
She looked down and realized why he’d nearly dropped the food. After her shower she hadn’t bothered to put on clothes again, and her form was fully exposed. She simply blinked, then shrugged and waited to hear the price as she counted the credit chips in her hand.
The rattled human blinked and forced his eyes up from her breasts to her eyes, and held out the bag of food in exchange for the credits.
“That’ll be seven credits.”
“Right,” Zamria said as she dropped them into the man’s hand, plus an extra one as a tip. “Thanks.”
“No, thank you…” The man managed awkwardly as he palmed the money and rubbed a hand through his brown hair, making a mental note to always take the deliveries to this apartment.
She took the bag of food into her hand and keyed the door shut again, padding back over to the couch and settling in on it, still not bothering to wear clothes. After all, she wasn’t going out or anything. What did anyone care what she wore in the privacy of her own home?
She unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite of it as Lyn Bondara appeared on the screen, delivering the day’s news. More about the war. More about the Senate. Both were topics of interest to Zamria, who was very much the Republic Citizen. Of course she had faith too, faith in the Galactic Republic to endure, and as strange as it sounded for a political person, faith in the Senate to ultimately do the right thing.
They’d win the war. They always had after all.
And on a totally unrelated note, her sandwich was delicious. The meat was flavorful and melted into her mouth, and the vegetables on it were far from objectionable. The sauce was absolutely delicious, and the cheese? Well, cheese was always good. In fact, the sandwich deserved something better than the news of war, and Zamria changed the channel to whatever holodrama was on right now.
As it happened, this one was a crime drama with a hard-nosed human detective with piercing blue eyes and a strong chin, who was, at the moment, threatening a Rodian with a blaster unless he talked. Gritty. Tense. Precisely the sort of thing she doubted would ever happen in reality, which was precisely the reason she’d switched over to it, as she rightly realized while munching on fries.
Now if only she could find a guy like that cop. Firm chin, nice eyes. Of course aesthetics were important, but personality mattered just as much. And she had to admit that she was troubled. Finding that total package of looks and heart was a daunting task for anyone, and when it was just her there? Well, she wasn’t a modest woman, but her looks? In her own estimation those were modest. Decent curves that didn’t really set her apart from any other woman. And then there was the matter of her eyes, her great insecurity. One an ice blue, and the other a deep brown. Heterochromia. She’d debated getting a contact lens for one eye to look more normal, but they were just so uncomfortable, and it would only be disguising the real problem. She just had to deal with that.
Soon the sandwich and the fries were gone, the volume on the viewscreen was lowered to a dull murmur, and Zamria Bey was curled up on the couch, asleep after a long day.
