Arwin Silverman

Dr. **Arwin Lee Silverman** was a human archaeologist who went missing with the Great Rift Expedition in 2174.

## Biography

A South African native whose childhood was spread across the world, Arwin was instilled early on with an obsession for travel and discovery. Much to the chagrin of his family, who wanted Arwin to be the next in a long line of marines, it instead helped him find his true passion in life: the field of anthropology.

Arwin hardly waited until he was out of high school to begin pursuing his doctorate at a small private college in Oxford. It was there that he finally settled on specializing in the culture-historical aspect of archaeology, and for him, where his life truly began. Arwin was wildly intelligent, and had the uncanny ability to dive headfirst in the ruins of whatever ancient society he was focused on at the time and return with every secret they'd ever tried to keep in tow. As far as masters of their field went, Arwin proved he was at the very top of his game quite quickly.

As a result, he was granted far more leeway than most, which allowed him the freedom to go on countless expeditions and archaeological digs over the years. One such adventure paired him up with a social psychologist named Monica Selkridge, who, like him, had a fascination with the world and its many strange people. While Arwin would be digging into the lives of those long gone, Monica studied the people who were there now, and how they'd adapted and incorporated ancient beliefs and practices into their own society.

They found a comfortable rhythm with one another and worked together for a long time before finally, in 2154, Arwin and Monica were married. She began to teach, while Arwin took a long trip deep into the Amazon for the better part of that year. For the most part, despite Monica taking on a more stationary position as a professor, life for the two of them remained largely unchanged.

The year 2157 upended everything, though, after contact with aliens was finally made. Monica was chosen by the Alliance to join a team working on creating a first-contact protocol - and so was Arwin, to an admittedly lesser degree - and her contributions were a large part of why humanity was able to recover politically from the First Contact War so quickly. She and the entire team received worldwide thanks and recognition for their work, but Monica had always been an introvert and was happy to escape the attention by Arwin's side as they embarked on a new adventure.

Aboard a small science vessel romantically donned the *SSV Boongaree*, Arwin and Monica spent almost a decade exploring the furthest corners of the galaxy in a grand journey of discovery. Though he now technically functioned as a free agent, Arwin frequently sent data on his many discoveries back to the Alliance, expanding their knowledge of both the Milky Way and its many inhabitants with every report.

His work and tenacious curiosity made Arwin among the top choices for an interspecies expedition to Klendagon in 2169, where he and two other lead anthropologists would explore the planet's Great Rift Valley. It was the kind of opportunity he'd be waiting his entire life for - the kind of opportunity one wouldn't get twice, so he accepted the offer almost immediately. Monica shared his passion and excitement, and was incredibly happy to see his efforts over the years pay off in such a truly spectacular way.

Kicking off the expedition, Dr. Silverman was introduced to Daleris L'Mari, an asari matriarch who'd been interested in Klendagon for centuries, and lauded salarian geoarchaeologist Brina Vetai who would be his partner in the underground exploration of the Rift. It didn't take long to set up all of their equipment and finish preliminary searches of the area, and before long Arwin and his team were elbow deep in dirt as they prodded Klendagon for its secrets.

Some rather impressive discoveries were made over the years, most interestingly the crumbling, long-buried ruins of an ancient city whose bulk seemed to have been the target of whatever scarred the land, but the dig ground to an abrupt halt in 2174 when the Silverman-Vetai Party failed to return from a search below the surface. Teams went down over the course of the next several days to look for them, each one venturing deeper than the last, but with no sign of them being found, the responsibility fell to Dr. L'Mari to officially halt the expedition and alert everyone to the situation.

Though both Daleris and Arwin's wife have doggedly continued to search for him over the years, hopes of finding him or anyone else alive have waned with every failed attempt and each passing day. And with the small cache of credits that Monica has left and Daleris nearing the end of her life, the two of them may only have one more chance to solve the mystery of Arwin's disappearance before it's too late.

## Personality

* Exuberant
* Spontaneous
* Optimistic
* Aspirational
* Inquisitive

## Physical Description

A tall and slightly husky individual, there's a twinkle in Arwin's eyes that betrays the kindness and humor lying underneath his rough and grizzled appearance. A lifetime of laughter is evident in the lines around his eyes and mouth, and in the way his face crinkles when he smiles - which is more often than not the kind of expression he wears. Arwin has deep, dark brown skin and tightly coiled black hair, and sleeves of intricate tattoos on both arms that feature intense surgical scars on his forearms as their main point of focus. Not a man to hide his shortcomings or run from mistakes, Arwin is proud of his past, and the freedom of his heart and soul can be seen in the way he carries himself - unbothered, unburdened, and unafraid.

## Armament

### Combat Arms

An academic by trade, Dr. Silverman was only minutely trained with the M-6 Carnifex heavy pistol and his omni-tool was installed with the combat abilities Neural Shock and Tactical Scan.