Nara’Shin

Image drawn and owned by Aito

### Occupation

Writer for an Anthropology Journal on the Citadel: a Hanar- Run publishing called ‘Enkindling Galactic Culture’

### Education

Some College - Studied Alliance college courses aboard the SSV AuroraHierarchy courses aboard the THS Virocon

## OOC Info

### Status

Active

**Nara'Shin nar Ulnay vas Citadel** is a quarian Anthropology writer and operative of the CRC.

## Biography

Being born on one of the liveships of the Migrant Fleet, Nara was presented with more options at her birth than most Quarians were offered. She had more space, more freedom, more resources, and this made the early stages of her life more comfortable on board the Ulnay than they might have been if she were born on a smaller ship like the Alerai. Both of her parents -- Rena’Shin vas Ulnay and Duun’Shin vas Ulnay -- were programmers who maintained cyberwarfare and life support systems respectively. They had expected Nara to similarly study software and programming, especially considering it could be profitable on her Pilgrimage. However, at a young age when she began going to school, Nara displayed herself to have a much deeper passion for linguistics and conversation than she did for mathematics, syntax, or the sorts of things that a young programmer may occupy themselves with before being of age to start studying code. Many suggested that she would be a fine candidate for her future ship’s representative in the Conclave, the way that she spoke, but politics did not seem to be her passion. Instead, her interests in primary school drove her towards linguistics and literature: art and storytelling becoming her favorite subject of study in her schooling, for the way that it explored the ability of a language to express thought and emotion, as well as a writer’s understanding of it.

This passion for arts and linguistics was of great inspiration to Nara in her youth as she moved to secondary schooling around 2178, but left her with some particular issues in regards to her upcoming pilgrimage. Quarians had a strong value for art and storytelling, but it could only be indulged on board ships that had the excess of resources to entertain them, meaning that if she followed her passions, she would be limited to applying to another lifeship like the Rayya. More pressingly, art was not of an objective societal value, which meant that she would need something truly groundbreaking in order to be accepted aboard a ship for providing entertainment. It is much harder to display the value of art to the flotilla compared to Geth code or a new ship. Despite this, she found herself unable to sway herself from her passion for art and literature. Part of her hoped that in further and more in depth study, she may be mused with an idea of what she could pursue for her Pilgrimage. However, the truth that she eventually admitted to herself, is that she was and is a creature of emotion, and believed life was hardly worth living if people disavowed their passions. This, in her secondary education around 2185, was the beginning of her interest in philosophy, though it would take a back seat to her interest in culture later in life.

When the Quarian Migrant Fleet joined the Terminus Confederacy early in to 2186, the year that she would start her Pilgrimage, Nara expressed an open discomfort with the tentative alliance they now shared. Practically she recognized that the Flotilla needed allies in the Terminus systems, since they spent much of their time in that sector of the galaxy. However, the Hegemony’s liberal permission of slavery, the Krogan Empire’s interest in conquest and war, and the overall political interests of the Terminus Confederacy made her uneasy. Quarians, as a race without a homeworld or much military strength, could easily be taken advantage of by the krogan or the batarians. Or be pulled into another war that could limit their resources even more than they were by the war against the Geth. Classmates her age often indulged in talks of politics in their downtime, especially given the choice to join the confederacy, but her disagreement with the Admiralty Board narrowed her group of friends. Ana’Vaan nar Ulnay, Shel’Pyth nar Ulnay, Irini’Ryth nar Ulnay and Evyl’Das nar Ulnay either agreed with her, or found their political differences less important, and maintained a tightly knit group over the coming turbulent months. Their instructor, Vitan’Relan vas Ulnay, expressed support of the Admiralty’s decision, and encouraged his students to trust them, which offered some insights about Quarian politics. He encouraged some of the Ulnay’s children to aspire to be part of the Conclave if they disagreed with the actions taken by the fleet, even if this decision was largely in the Admiralty’s hands.

In April of 2186, the talk of war on the horizon made Nara increasingly uneasy. For a variety of reasons, she had little interest in supporting a war spearheaded by the Terminus Confederacy, and seemingly motivated by the batarian’s distrust of the Council. This unease had a slight positive side effect on Nara: it made her more eager, and more comfortable in starting her Pilgrimage. It would be a chance to avoid having to contribute to a war she disagreed with, and a chance to discover the galaxy, and affirm her beliefs about how foolish it was for the Migrant Fleet to enter this war. She opted to leave as soon as possible after her 18th birthday in mid-April. Some of her school friends encouraged her decision, while others thought she was leaving them behind. With the promise to maintain contact with them, Nara left the fleet for the Citadel, imagining that it would be a wealth of culture that would offer her chances to fulfill her Pilgrimage. She left the fleet and arrived on the Citadel less than two weeks before the war broke out.

Nara was correct about the wealth of culture on the Citadel, but she had overestimated how welcoming it would be to quarians. She struggled during her first several months on board the station to be recognized as anything other than a vagrant, and was dismissed by many as an agent of the enemies of Citadel space. The few who understood that being a quarian did not mean she was aligned with the Fleet in the war, would still pass over her as a homeless and jobless wanderer. She struggled to be permitted in stores and was regularly denied leases for a living space, as most of the Citadel refused to welcome Quarians after the initiation of the war. Running low on her initial fund of credits, Nara began to seek means of employment, trying to think carefully about who, if anyone, would hire a quarian. The only application that even received a response was one put out to the Sirta foundation to be a guest service specialist: being signed on with the agreement that she wouldn’t see her customers in person. The Sirta foundation would rather avoid any confrontations based on her being a quarian, but slightly more willing to hire her, considering the quarians’ reputation for advanced technical knowledge. Her humility and passion for the minds and emotions of others made her an acceptable fit for the position. Nara was under the impression that she would be able to pursue her Pilgrimage in her downtime, but rather quickly found her life stagnating in her position at Sirta as a minimum wage worker. For nearly six months, she remained at her job there, hidden away, never seeing customers, and unable to move forward, until an opportunity presented itself. One of her callers requesting service was a System’s Alliance captain of an Alliance Merchant Marine vessel: a joint effort between the System’s Alliance and Oxford University to explore and study alien culture.

Captain Geoffory O’Connell of the SSV Aurora had called the Sirta foundation with regards to his on-board translation software functioning too slowly to fulfill his missions effectively (especially when ‘negotiating’ with Krogan). Nara seized the opportunity to persuade Captain O’Connell to take her aboard: violating her contract with Sirta to not engage in person, but overwhelmed with elation that she might be able to piggyback on Alliance cultural research and find something useful for the Flotilla. Nara offered O’Connell and the Aurora an updated, modular translation program that allowed the Aurora to easily adjust what words were or weren’t translated. After integrating the new software, and ensuring it didn’t slow down the ship’s other processes, she offered herself as someone who could handle minor service roles, menial tasks, and aid in further software complications. As a non-military vessel, it was slightly more acceptable for the Aurora to offer space to a quarian, and she pleaded herself as being displaced due to the war, and wanting to make a difference. While skeptical of taking a third party aboard, O’Donnel recognized Nara as a unique opportunity for the Alliance, and the Aurora: most quarians had a very community oriented mindset, and it was rare to see one so openly oppose the actions of the admiralty. Her disapproval of the war piqued his curiosity, and her offer of Quarian literature would benefit the Anthropological research the Aurora was performing. Eventually Captain O’Donnel was convinced enough to take a careful gamble on her.

Nara’Shin was listed as a ‘cultural advisor’ aboard the SSV Aurora in December of 2186, and would spend the next year aboard. She held no official rank, handled tasks that members of the crew would rather not, and sat in on Anthropology classes held by Professor Ruaraish Garret, as part of the Aurora’s partnership with Oxford. While technically a guest of the captain, per her request, Captain O'Donnell encouraged Garret to at least allow her to listen, since part of the Aurora’s goal was to help the Alliance be more diplomatic with aliens. For her first three months aboard the vessel, Nara struggled to be taken seriously, or to interact with the crew much. Many were uneasy about having an alien aboard, even if they were meant to be researching alien cultures: having considered the Aurora a safe space, it seemed that Nara’s presence made them rethink this. However, recognizing that Captain O’Donnell and Professor Garret seemed to interact with her, she eventually was offered some tentative conversations with some members of the crew, and had some chances to nurture minor friendships with a few of the Aurora’s crew. When further months passed, some of those who interacted with her offered her options to join them in recreational activities, such as drinking, karaoke, and movie nights. Her growing understanding of the methodology of anthropologists led her to study these interactions further, to understand the culture of Human friendships, and how they differed from those of Quarians. Nearing the end of her sixth month aboard the Aurora, she compiled her hypothesis and findings in a paper she submitted to Professor Garret for an unofficial review. While not amazing in itself, Garret was under the impression that her observations would further help the Alliance understand the culture of the Quarians, and how they looked at the galaxy.

This increased standing with Garret, and her rapidly growing grasp of the studies performed as part of the Aurora’s partnership with Oxford, allowed her to make a case to take part in some scientific and observation missions that the Aurora stopped to fulfil. While initially hesitant to permit an unofficial member of the crew to take part in any sort of objective off the ship, her time bonding with the crew and with Garret garnered her some level of trust, allowing her to accompany them in collecting some samples from archaeological sites, and from their opportunities to collect alien literature.

After this year, upon the understanding that she needed to research other species’ idea of culture in order to submit something meaningful to the Flotilla, Nara submitted her official desire to Captain O’Donnel to leave the Aurora. While surprised by her request, few members of the crew were intimate enough with her to be heartbroken that she was moving on. After a few quiet goodbyes, her request was officially granted, and on a routine supply run to the planet Invictus, Captain O’Donnel advocated for a Turian vessel to take her aboard.

Captain O’Donnel, as part of his attempts to increase Humanities standing with the Turians, offered ‘one of his crew’ to Turian Captain Ianus Megalos of the THS Virocon. While a more generalized research vessel, the THS Virocon had opportunities for Nara’Shin to study Anthropology as the Turians saw it. Megalos, initially, thought that the presentation of Nara’Shin was a joke, as he could think of no reason a Quarian would be on a Human vessel, and was skeptical of whether or not he could take her aboard, knowing the Hierarchy supported the Citadel in the war. However, as a research vessel that didn’t actively partake in front line combat, the Virocon was not directly involved in the war, and could operate with a greater degree of independence. Having a Human captain vouch for her also helped soften Megalos’ apprehensions, and O’Donnel suggested that she could be a strategic asset who could provide Intel on the quarians. This was a bluff, as sharing intel would be treason against the Migrant Fleet, but it was enough for Captain Megalos to begrudgingly opt to take Nara aboard. In early January, 2187, Nara boarded the THS Virocon and would spend six months aboard, similarly sharing and discussing anthropological research with Lieutenant Amplios Ioannis.

Adjustment to the culture of the Virocon was a great deal more difficult for Nara than aboard the Aurora. While Humans struggled to become friendly with her, their friendships were relatively direct and clear cut. Turians, however, were a great deal more outwardly impersonal and professional, making it more difficult to read when one was being friendly, as opposed to simply practically amicable. The knowledge that she had a home on the Citadel, and supported Citadel space, made crew members more likely to be cordial with her, but she struggled to develop friendships. Secondarily because Turian society did not necessitate or even encourage the level of intimacy and friendship that Quarian society did: considering military service a form of duty, and expecting to return to personal lives after the fact, Turians thought of their crew more often as coworkers than as friends. Quarian culture was comparatively familial, more emotive, and tightly knit.

While Nara understood that she would need to temper her tendency to attach to others in order to integrate into Turian culture, another issue presented itself: Turian social rituals tended to be a great deal more physical than Nara would be able to withstand. As a militaristic culture, Turians would tend to bond over things like target practice, hand to hand combat, and their combat deployments together. While many of them understood Nara’s inability to participate, as any one of those activities could risk tearing her suit, it made social integration difficult. One can only study a culture so much by watching it without participating. Sharing the turian’s dextro-Amino-Acid structure, Nara was able to join the crew more easily for food and drink, and they were professionally amicable with her.

Over time, she began to note the differences in their cordial interactions with her to their cordial interactions with one another: while they continued to act amicable for the sake of working together, certain social ques indicated a deeper level of unspoken friendship. This friendship, having been developed through their experiences training and fighting together, was not shared with Nara, even if the crew was largely polite. Eventually, however, she noticed a few Turians who expressed, at the very least, slightly more than amicable tolerance; not quite friendship, but perhaps curiosity.

These were the individuals that she focused on, as they could be her best chance to integrate more deeply. She was noted as having several private talks with Servus (Servicemen) Evelnia Antonis, who was among those who expressed this curiosity in her. Antonis was who Nara became closest with aboard the Virocon, and seemingly offered her tips for how to behave more defensively if ever she were invited to a combat training session. In what appeared to be a desperation to fit in, Nara stepped forward to fight Antonis on one of the evenings the crew was hosting hand-to-hand combat, both for training and for fun. Nara quickly lost this fight, even with Antonis going easy on her, but it did achieve its intended effect: it produced a reaction.

Some Turians were impressed by Nara even attempting to fight like that, having thought a Quarian wouldn’t risk a suit rupture, and others criticized her for risking her own health in something she couldn’t handle. These reactions, and her growing closer with the crew having partaken in at least one of their social rituals, granted her more insights for her research on Turian relationships. Helped greatly by her budding relationship with Evelnia Antonis, whose reactions to Nara provided more context to how Turians thought and socialized. While the personal motivations are unclear, it seems as though Nara and Antonis’ relationship was no longer an immediate priority for them. While their relationship could have soured, it is possible that they both prioritized their duty to their people, or that Nara was eager to celebrate the peace achieved at the Galactic Summit. Shortly after her six month on the Virocon came to an end, in June of 2187, Nara put in a request to transfer back to the Citadel.

A year and a half into her Pilgrimage, Nara had an understanding of the last things that she needed in order to return with her findings on socialization and relationships to the fleet: most notably, a degree indicating she was entitled to speak on such matters. Returning to the Citadel, seemingly having her transport paid for by Evelnia Antonis, she requested a lease for an apartment in Kitholi ward, and a rapid transit pass, imagining she would stay for the following year. She used her experience working with Captain O’Donnell and Captain Megalos to apply to a Council sponsored university in the Persidium, where she would spend the next year studying for a Citadel recognized degree in Anthropology. She studied largely under an Asari professor named Rayxees Mazea, who recognized the importance of her Pilgrimage, and attempted to aid her in making her findings concrete enough to return to the Flotilla. To this end, Nara was recommended for an internship, and later a job, with a Hanar run scientific journal run out of the Persidium: Enkindling Galactic Culture.

Nara would contribute to minor articles over the next year, including pieces encouraging people of Citadel Space to stay strong in the coming conflict against the Reapers. Even nearing a point at which she could return to the fleet, the war against the Reapers now took priority, especially since Nara felt her position with Enkindling Galactic Culture allowed her the chance to help people. Nara used what she could of her skills in writing and Anthropology to motivate the people of the Citadel to stay strong, and contributed a minor role to defending herself and some colleagues during some skirmishes on the Citadel. Enkindling Galactic Culture fortified its office before the end of the Conflict, but continued to offer its intellectual support to the war effort.

Eventually publishing a major article about all of the cultural ideas shared by all major species of the galaxy, giving them something personal to unite over, more so than just a common enemy.

Shortly after the defeat of the Reapers, Nara finally returned to the Migrant Fleet in January 2188 to submit her experiences with Anthropology to the Rayya, hoping it could help in maintaining amicable and intimate relationships aboard the lifeships, by drawing from other cultures. After a brief review, the leadership of the Rayya was willing to accept her for her findings, in hope that she could contribute to social harmony in the fleet. For a time, she worked as a sort of social counselor who aided Quarians in their relationships, but she found she was not as motivated as she’d hoped to be. Having been in Citadel space for the entirety of the war with the Terminus Confederacy, she remained skeptical of the fleet and its actions. Secondarily, she found that she was hardly even using her research into culture specifically, now that she had settled into the singular culture of the Quarian Fleet. She maintained her contact with many of her colleagues from Enkindling Galactic Culture, and was envious of the research and studies they were performing on the Citadel following the Reaper War. Feeling that she could be of better use to the Flotilla studying in the field, Nara requested a transfer to the Citadel, where she could return to her previous work with the Anthropology journal. Ensuring that she would forward her findings to the fleet, and be more helpful there than she could be on board the Rayya, her transfer was granted, and she was permitted a shuttle to take her back to the Citadel. She was able to purchase a slightly larger apartment in the Kitholi ward, now a one bedroom as opposed to a studio, and was a formal member of the Migrant Fleet now that she had completed her Pilgrimage.

She returned to her studies with Enkindling Galactic Culture in April of 2188, shortly after her 20th birthday, hoping she would be able to aid the Migrant Fleet with knowledge and insights from cultures across the galaxy. In the process, she would likely offer this same aid to the Citadel, and any residents who subscribed to Enkindling Galactic Culture. While the Citadel would be her actual, physical home for the foreseeable future, she did not qualify as part of its ‘crew’, in the sense that one would be to their home ship in the Flotilla. Considering her articles and research were forwarded to the Rayya, and she had been formally accepted there before returning to the Citadel, she was renamed to Nara’Shin nar Ulnay vas Rayya.

Later that year, when the Batarian Provisional Government garnered more and more legitimacy, Nara wrote greatly on how unique it was in regards to how batarians historically functioned. The Hegemony and what it stood for had been so quintessentially ‘Batarian’ for thousands of years, and to create something new that no longer permitted slavery or encouraged autocratic rule was unprecedented. She, now a long term resident of the Citadel and Citadel space, was in support of the Provisional Government and the Citadel in the coming Civil War.

When the war informally ended with the formation of the Hegemony-in-Exile, Nara wrote on reasons that the remaining governments of the Terminus Confederacy may align well with the Citadel Council, and the historical and cultural aspects that have allowed and prevented these governing bodies from cooperating in the past. Nara would later receive criticism for being a Quarian who openly criticised the military actions of the Migrant Fleet over the last three years, and some questioned how she could align with Quarian culture without aligning with Quarian politics. She has not officially addressed these claims, as she asserts she works “for a scientific journal, not a tabloid magazine.”

Nara’Shin’s history of open discomfort with batarian politics was challenged slightly as conflict continued to evolve between the Batarian Provisional Government and the remnants of the Hegemony. While she had expressed hesitation about the fleet siding with them in her childhood, and used her opposition of the Galactic Civil War to align with humans and turians during her Pilgrimage, the suffering of the batarian refugees was becoming too much for her to ignore.

The foundation of the Council Recovery Corps in July caught her attention as someone who attempted to use her knowledge of culture to help people, especially during the Reaper War in 2188. From July to December she attempted to focus on her work with Enkindling Galactic Culture, with some comfort taken knowing that the CRC would be aiding the refugees. However, after six months of operation, she was no longer able to rest idly without offering some form of aid. She submitted to her publisher that she would need to work remotely for some time, and would provide her own studies and observations from individuals on the Resurgence, as well as in any relief missions she was sent on, and submitted her application to the Council Recovery Corps.

## Personality

Nara’Shin, first and foremost, describes herself as being oriented around others. She is an extroverted individual who quickly and deeply attaches herself to those around her. She lives her life primarily driven by the people around her, and secondarily by her own goals. While it is not uncommon for a Quarian to develop familial relationships with their friends and compatriots, Nara has been noted as affectionate and friendly by the standards of other Quarians. She believes that there is no society or reason for being without other sapient beings, and that emotions are the only means that sapient beings experience the world, and as such, invests herself in ensuring that others around her enjoy themselves. She has been noted as optimistic and idealistic in this endeavour, which can be infectious to those receptive to it, and annoying to those who do not reciprocate her affections.

She thrives and enjoys herself most when sharing and positing perspectives on philosophy, emotions, or art, and professes to live to this end. To such a degree that silence or a professional, impersonal relationship can drive her to be anxious or uneasy. In this way, Nara is partly dependent on having others around her, and will function poorly if she is unable to feel close to those she works with. Her optimism, however, can make appeasing this side of her relatively easy, as it can make her gullible and naïve. In her idealism, she asserts that a degree of naivete is important for a complete society, as individuals would not receive a sufficient amount of pity or mercy if there were not people ‘naïve’ enough to give them an opportunity for redemption. Nara, rather proudly, professes to wanting to be this sort of person: who can offer second chances.

Her passion for philosophy and anthropology have led her to think often about her motivations for acting, but prefers to be simple and hopeful about the way of the galaxy. Feeling fulfilled in being deeply bonded to people, and finding her place of helping people by understanding them sufficiently ethically fulfilling. Even if she has been teased on occasions for her childishness.

### Exceptional Skills

* *Xeno-Filmography:* While partly associated with her professional focus on Anthropology, Nara’Shin has a passion for the films and vids of other species of the galaxy. Humans, asari, and turians are a wealth of interesting stories depicted on film that she has a deep passion for watching and talking about. Enjoying silly, cheesy old films and modern, emotional, and well executed stories from various cultures throughout the galaxy.

* *Extranet Vids:* In her downtime, when not willing to commit her attention to a complicated story in a film, she will often consume shorter vids on SelfCast, though these are often also journalistic in some way. Stories about interesting people on the Extranet, animations posted to SelfCast, or mystery-horror vids. This somewhat defeats the purpose of the idea of consuming ‘something less dense’, though she insists this is why she chooses Extranet Vids over films. She has been known to spend an equal amount of time between the videos and forums about said videos.
* *Audiobooks:* Similar to her interest in film, her passion for listening to audiobooks has some roots in her occupation in anthropology. However, she will rarely drive herself to consume new stories as opposed to re-listening to old ones, making it somewhat more for personal entertainment, as opposed to study. Often favoring Human and Asari authors who focus on horror and drama.
* *Collecting Plushies:* While her apartment on the Citadel is relatively small, her bedroom is adorned with a wide plethora of small, cute stuffed animals from various places across the galaxy. Many of them were ordered via the Extranet, but several are self professed impulse purchases from markets in Kithoi Ward Markets, Zakera Ward Markets, and Illium Markets while she was passing through. Ranging from space cows, rabbits, space monkeys, and space rabbits, they are a common weakness for her if they are large, soft, and have simple faces.

## Physical Description

Nara’Shin is a short Quarian whose suit (and therefore, outward appearance) boasts bold, bright colors that are intended to create the image of one who is energetic and friendly. These colors, however, risk engendering the image of one who is flashy and boisterous, considering their brightness. The base of her suit is a sheen black fabric, and the shawls and hood that adorn her suit are a bright pink with a gold highlight forming the patterns on her hood. Patterns on the outward fabrics worn over her suit are an ancient Quarian calligraphy, forming words such as ‘fortune’, ‘love’, ‘wit’, and ‘wisdom’. She has professed to align with some of these words less than others, but admires its cultural significance all the same. Helped by the fact that the pink makes for a more traditionally ‘cute’ look, compared to some more formal Quarian outwear.

The corners of her hood clip together just beneath her collarbone, and stretch out to her shoulders where they make the shape of a small cowl; draped slightly over her shoulders. The secondary cloth adornment is much like a cloth sash or belt that hangs off her left hip, folding in intricate ways indicating that there’s more fabric than at first there may appear, but it has been folded up so she can move easier. Another scarf, or perhaps a sash, is often wrapped around her left arm, acting as a sleeve that adds a bit of flair to her movements, the way that it dangles from her arm.

Underneath her helmet, she has slightly pale lavender skin and silver eyes, which are common traits for Quarians. Her hair, somewhat uniquely, is a dark brown hue that is slightly distinguishable from more common black hair among Quarians. It is hardly cut, but is often tucked away so that it forms a messy bob when not restricted by her helmet; curls and waves forming in a way that makes her hair interesting to look at, but overall messy.

Nara’s figure, near her chest and shoulders, is slightly more stocky and squared, particularly around her shoulders, which draw attention away from her modest bust. She doesn’t appear to be outwardly fit, nor is she overweight, but she has expressed insecurity about the wider bone structure of her shoulders, and the inability of her upper body to compensate for this. Her waist, however, creates the image of a more noticeable figure, with wider hips, and more well defined legs. In an attempt to look more aesthetically appealing, she intentionally will position her sash to accentuate her hips, drawing attention to them, and away from her upper body.

### Abilities

* Combat Drone
* Overload
* AI Hacking