Zihe’Faere

## Zihe'Faera nar Rayya

**Zihe’Faere nar Rayya** is a quarian epidemiologist who wants to cure the quarian need for suits.

## Biography

Even at a very early age, Zihe has been the source of both great pride and great embarrassment for her parents, Nen and Maena’Faere. When their daughter showed signs of being an early talker and reader, they were thrilled. Her parents continued to foster her intelligence as best they could throughout childhood and into adolescence. But though she showed a tenacity towards learning, she also questioned every authority and her rebellious streak was well known throughout the community. Incredibly stubborn, Zihe’s unwillingness to accept an answer she did not agree with has both been a hindrance and a boon to the young lady.

Naturally curious, she was constantly getting into things and exploring places she shouldn’t. Though she was never a malicious child, Zihe wanted to be free of the restrictions put in place for her safety. She was routinely ill as a result, at times severely so, putting undue strain on her family and ship. The extranet became a haven for a sick girl during these times of infirmary and quarantine, but also brought her renewed unrest. Zihe became envious of aliens that could live free of infection or worry of illness, who could touch the environment- and each other - with all their senses and without a filter.

One of the more public incidents occurred when Zihe outright refused her first proper envirosuit. Zihe dreaded the occasion, protesting quite loudly to everyone within earshot, which some of the other children started parroting. Tired of the outbursts from the pre-teen, and wanting to make her an example, the ship’s captain stepped in and publicly demanded that Zihe either begin to take her health and her role on the ship more seriously or not only would she would be shown off on her Pilgrimage early, but the other Captains would also be notified about her behavior aboard the Rayya.

Faced with an implied exile, she quickly capitulated and received her first suit. Her parents were beyond mortified, and though she was finally free to roam the ship, Zihe found herself under a strictly enforced house arrest. It would be several months before she was allowed out of her quarters, and quite some time before her parents trusted her to be out of an adult’s eyeshot at all.

Her father, a structural engineer, was less affected by his daughter’s stubbornness than his wife Maena, one of the *Rayya*’s midwives, as he was frequently away from the living areas on the ship. To keep her daughter out of trouble, once she was able to move freely about the ship Zihe was put to work under her mother’s supervision as a junior or apprentice midwife.

Helping her mother care for other quarian mothers did help drive home the importance of following strict sterile conditions, and while she did feel guilty that her actions greatly impacted her community, her midwifery experience also reinforced Zihe’s anger. After a particularly difficult birth that ended in the death of the mother and the child, Zihe began again openly questioning why her people continued to live this way.

When it came time for Zihe to embark on her pilgrimage in 2161, at the age of 16, she requested to be taken to Thessia. Once there, she hit the ground running and enrolled in Serrice University, first merely auditing classes and applying for any grant or loan that she could find. Initially turned away from most avenues, Zihe chose to attend several classes for no credit, and found as many jobs as she could, from waitressing, custodial, courier - anything she *could* do, she would. With the introduction into medicine from her mother, Zihe gravitated toward the sciences, and after her first year one particular field stood out to her the most.

Zihe knew what gift she would bring back to the Fleet: the ability to live without an envirosuit. Throwing herself into work and study, Zihe spent the next several years of her life desperately trying to fund her education, jumping to different schools and planets as jobs or public tolerance of her presence grew thin, doubling up on-campus and online courses so she could catch up.

After several years longer than it takes most students, she achieved her medical degree in the winter of 2173. She continued to study, even writing a published thesis on the immunology paradox of needing envirosuits and how their dependence on them further weakened quarian biology, perpetuating the dependency cycle. The thesis was received with a mixed reception, creating a reputation for the young scientist. Zihe was too busy with her research to care much about how she was received by academics, however, but she wasn’t completely above using this limited fame to her advantage, landing herself a job with a small lab loosely funded by Binary Helix. It wasn’t long before Zihe led the research that eventually produced a new type of rebreather. Impressed with her tenacity and productivity, Zihe was allowed to utilize the lab to further her own research on quarian immunology.

A couple years later, Zihe felt she was on the brink of a breakthrough, but Noveria and Council laws heavily restricted the use of sapient test subjects. Frustrated with her lack of progress, she published what turned out to be an incredibly controversial piece sparking a serious debate amongst her colleagues. Several of her peers, also feeling frustrated with their lack of tangible progress and stagnation of research on multiple projects, reached out to Zihe and invited her to join a new lab. She soon abandoned Council space for a less restricted platform to create a brand new company.

Zihe has been in Terminus space ever since, at an unnamed research station on the outskirts of the Omega system. Left alone, mainly due to a reputation as being a no-questions asked medical facility, Zihe and her cohorts were free to research without restriction, occasionally putting out a call for anyone desperate enough for a few credits. While the Terminus Confederacy barely crossed Zihe's radar, the destruction of Omega and the ensuing Reaper War in 2187 did however force the research station to retreat into Council space, taking what data they could. Luckily, it must have been deemed of little consequence to the Reapers and it escaped unscathed when Zihe returned later.

Over the next three years, Zihe had subjected herself to multiple tests and experimental immunoboosters, to varying degrees of success or failure. I'm the summer of 2189, Zihe and her team developed a new booster that had a much longer lasting effect than the standard ones quarians currently received.

When the Council Recovery Corps was announced, Zihe initially paid it no attention. However, as the fledgling organization’s reputation grew, and her funding dried up, and with boosters to market, Zihe considered applying to the CRC (and its state of the art R&D and hospital facilities).

Zihe will not return from her Pilgramage without life altering research that benefits her people as a whole, and leads to the ability to lose the suit once and for all.

Or she will die trying.

## Personality

To say Zihe is driven is an understatement. When determined she becomes laser focused, intent on finishing her task or accomplishing her goal. This however has the tendency to devolve into great stubbornness, as Zihe is unwilling to let go of an idea once she adopts it. Failure or a lack of progress is frustrating to the woman, but she tries to use disappointment to strengthen her resolve, applying scientific principles to most aspects of her life. She doesn't like to admit defeat, and Zihe will try to find different ways to approach any given situation. Though Zihe would consider herself friendly, she has an appearance of being in a hurry.

Though not necessarily introverted, Zihe would not be considered an excellent conversationalist. Since she is not a fan of small talk, Zihe will abruptly exit the conversation if she feels it is going nowhere. On the other hand, Zihe is highly intelligent and passionate, and this can lead to impromptu deep, philosophical conversations if the interlocutor is receptive to non-traditional introductions. Alternatively, this can also lead to awkward silences and embarrassment—usually for the other party. Always a scientist, she tends to analyze even personable interactions, which can irritate or even annoy her closest friends.

While Zihe is extremely proud of her people, their ingenuity and resourcefulness, she views their dependence on envirosuits to be their biggest weakness. She deeply resents a continued existence literally cut off from the world around her, and refuses to live in constant fear of illness or death. This has, at times, impaired her judgement and exposed her to what her quarian shipmates would call unnecessary risks.

## Physical Description

Zihe wears a glossy black enviro-suit with red accents, but it can hardly be described as plain. The suit is fine and appears new, with hardly any blemishes. The polarized visor appears almost white, making it difficult to make out Zihe’s violet eyes and facial features underneath. Underneath her suit, her jet black hair is a stark contrast to her light blue-grey skin.

At 5’8” tall, Zihe is taller than other quarian women, though she remains petite for her build. Her body is lean and well toned, her thighs and calves well defined. Regardless of whether at rest or on duty, Zihe moves with the fluidity and grace of a dancer. When conversing it can be difficult for even other quarians to read her body language, as she often appears stiff to other people. Zihe rarely gesticulates, even to emphasize a point, so when she does it is only when extremely impassioned. Rarely will she be seen slouching or overly relaxed, even amongst close friends, due in part to her excellent posture from years of dancing.

### Abilities

* Snap Freeze
* Shield Boost
* Energy Drain