Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sputnik_shanu) wrote2014-04-05 09:08 pm
sputnik_shanu) wrote2014-04-05 09:08 pm
Entry tags:
application for City of Ariel
□ Name: Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu
□ Journal: sputnik_shanu
□ Series: Farscape (SciFi television series and subsequent BOOM! comics)
□ Canon point: Just a second before her death in a Prowler during the War for the Uncharted Territories (Farscape Comic #15 - "Nothing Left To Lose")
□ History: Here's the character wiki: http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Sikozu_Svala_Shanti_Sugaysi_Shanu
The wiki page on her species is here: http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Kalish
Together they are pretty decent, especially with the events including and after the Peacekeeper Wars. Both could stand a better explanation of the position of the Kalish in Scarran Society. As a people, they are held just a few steps higher than slaves to the Scarrans, forced to be the technicians and administrators of the Scarran Empire. Given that their world in inside of Scarran controlled space, and the general ruthlessness and cruelty of Scarran discipline, the Kalish have little choice but to serve.
The wiki articles are also severely lacking on information about the genetically engineered bioloids that the Kalish use in their resistance movement against the Scarrans. In all likelihood, the technology used to create bioloids was originally created by the Kalish, and the form which they surrendered to the use of the Scarrans was both simplified and tailored to the Scarrans' uses, those being to manufacture double agents in the shape of existing members of an enemy race to spy for the Scarrans. The version of the technology which the Kalish seem to have somehow been able to keep secret from the Scarrans is more sophisticated, able to create a unique entity with its own personality, likes and dislikes, etcetera, and these people, the Kalish bioloids, are created by their own people to be their species' resistance movement. The process by which they manage to create new and distinct individuals is not known, though Sikozu tells John and Chiana that she 'grew up' in Scarran space, which seems to suggest at least that the Kalish's bioloids require some sort of maturation cycle, so they are probably not created as fully-formed adults like the Scarran's version.
This information is about all their is to go on for Sikozu's early years, though it does present a picture of a 'childhood' probably beginning in some sort of hidden, underground laboratory being indoctrinated against the Scarrans so that when she became fully mature, she would channel all her passion and energy into fighting for her people's freedom. And it seems to have worked, because Sikozu was willing to sacrifice everything she cared for (her affection for the crew of Moya and her relationship with Scorpius) in order to finally make a deal with the Scarrans to free her people. But, unlike what the wiki seems to suggest, I do not believe that Sikozu was programmed in the technological sense of the word. Her loyalty to the resistance is strong, but it is not an absolute. She was willing to help incite a riot between the Kalish and the Charrids in order to allow for a rescue attempt for Scorpius. The riot resulted in the deaths of several Kalish and served no real purpose in furthering the resistance's goal.
The bio given in the wiki is otherwise fairly accurate and complete.
□ Personality:
Sikozu Shanu is many things, but the short list would definitely include the words brilliant, stubborn, arrogant, naive, angry, determined, practical, brave and self-sacrificing.
First and foremost, she is a genius. Her species is naturally highly intelligent (they are the ultimate techs of the galaxy) and intelligence is the quality she most values in herself and that she finds most attractive in others. She tells Crichton that she "studied harder than you could imagine and sacrificed more that you will ever attain" in order to reach expert status in several fields, including but not limited to astronomy, physics, thermodynamics, engineering, and leviathan biology. Most of her knowledge, however, is academic rather than practical. She has studied a lot but she hasn't experienced (as Rygel so kindly tells her when they are both shrunk down to the size of a finger and Sikozu tries to deny that it is happening because it doesn't fit with her knowledge of science). But even though she can be a little naive and even panicky when the facts don't fit with what she expects, she has a strong ability to think on her feet. She is quick to formulate plans and makes it a point to compile encyclopedic knowledge about the places she goes and the people she meets. Her technical knowledge of leviathans saves Moya's crew more than a few times while she is with them, even though the reality of the living ships is a little different than what she expected from all her books.
Despite her naivete, Sikozu still has great confidence in her intelligence and her abilities, which often makes her come off as quite arrogant. It doesn't help that she often finds that she is far smarter than most of the people she comes in contact with and she isn't always kind about letting them know that she finds herself to be superior. She can be rude and insulting, especially when someone's ignorance irritates her, which is not a rare occurrence. Her relationship with Chiana on Moya was antagonistic at first for this reason, because Chiana's inability to think something through before acting frustrated Sikozu greatly, especially during their first meeting when it ruined Sikozu's plans for escaping a dying leviathan. She also gets angry easily in situations like that, partially because her life has been hard and brief and focused and she doesn't have time for stupidity. Her anger expresses itself in scowls, glares, insults, sharp words and the occasional throwing of objects, as when she became angry and fed up with the Earth scientists who wanted to examine her and who ignored her insistent refusal and so she threw the phone out the door (and after it, Noranti's sheet music).
Practicality comes with the territory of her intelligence. When presented with a situation, she can deconstruct it and figure out the best solution (according to her own reckoning) and enact it swiftly and generally without complaint, no matter how scary it is (as when she had to climb into the nest of a spider creature that had only a few hours before severed her arm and leg in order to steal the energy orbs needed to heal the rest of the crew) or disgusting (as when she had to cover her hands in D'Argo's vomit in order to operate his genetically locked ship) or painful (as when she demands that their captors cut of her finger rather than Aeryn's because she knows that Aeryn would have no chance to reattach her digit). Practicality also makes her opportunistic, which she shows the crew of Moya on several occasions. If she has to flirt, lie, bribe or manipulate in order to do what needs to be done, she will do it without hesitation, including flirting with a Grudek she was clearly afraid might take advantage of her, manipulating a member of her own species in order to stage a jailbreak at a quarantine station, and making a deal with the devil in agreeing to be a spy for the Scarrans in order to secure freedom for her people. The consequences of those actions to herself don't matter so much to her as the result for her plans does, and in that way she is also rather selfless.
The two best examples of her self-sacrificing side both occur near to the end of her short and violent life. The first is that same deal that she made with War Minister Ahkna, to be a spy and report of Scorpius' and the crew of Moya's comings and goings in exchange from the freedom of her people from Scarran rule. Sikozu of all people knew how much the Kalish hate the Scarrans, how resprehensible they would find that deal, and yet she went through with it. And for her actions, she was exiled from her people as a traitor, despite the fact that it was those very same traitorous actions that earned freedom for the Kalish. But she knew going in that it would end that way, and so rather than play towards her own ends, she sacrificed her own happiness in order to be sure that her people had the chance to be happy and to escape from under the thumb of the Scarrans. This bargain with the Scarrans also made her an enemy of her lover, Scorpius, who's sole consistent trait is neverending hatred for the Scarrans. She knew this would happen as well, knew that she couldn't keep a secret like that from him forever and that he would take his revenge on her for it. Unfortunately, she didn't realize just how much that betrayal enraged Scorpius and that the revenge he would eventually take was to ask his new allies, the Kkore, to obliterate that Kalish race from existence.
And the other occurs shortly after she gets that news from the gleefully recorded message from Scorpius that he had sent bouncing around the galaxy in her direction. After the revelation that she was one of the very last of her kind, she felt she had nothing left to lose, but that everyone else might have something to gain from her own death. As a battle with Grennij forces began to go south and Moya was too injured to flee quickly enough, Sikozu boarded a Prowler and did a suicide run on the two attacking vessels, destroying them both at the cost of her life. But she was glad to have some purpose in those last few moments, to be able to protect the beautiful leviathans she had come to love, and to protect Aeryn and Crichton and their baby and over 20,000 others. She didn't stop to think of herself, she just saw what had to be done and did it with very little ceremony, only pausing long enough to tell Crichton and Aeryn that their infant son loves them very much.
She does care about people, despite her brusqueness and her occasionally argumentative nature. The circumstances of her life are so steeped in science and violence and largely devoid of genuine care, she has trouble sometimes expressing her feelings. She does so more by actions, by smiles or touches or an offer of help, than she does through words. Rarely is she direct in words about her kinder feelings towards, however quick she is to let someone know when they are making her angry, though she does have an easier time expressing admiration for ideas and objects.
□ Age: Appears to be in her early 20s
□ Gender: Female
□ Appearance: At first glance, Sikozu appears to be a pretty, if eccentrically colored, human woman. She is about 5'3" with her boots on and has wavy red-orange hair. Her skin is predominately caucasian looking but along her hairline, over her temples and cheeks, down the sides of her neck, between her fingers and on her chest and arms there is a much more orange hue, with shades of dark purple, dotted with a pattern of thin gold scales. Her eyes are an opaque shade of teal and, although she has eyebrows, they are so close to the color of her skin as to be nearly indiscernible. As far as apparel, she tends to prefer the color orange for everything (as a continuing theme to her appearance). She knows her body is nicely shaped and seems perfectly comfortable with a bare midriff and cleavage showing, but she does like to cover up her legs. Often she wears boots that come almost to her knees with leggings beneath her skirt. As for hairstyle, she rotates between leaving it free and wavy and twisting it all up into little coils all over her head (the hairstyle which earned her the nickname 'Sputnik'). But despite some minor differences in outward appearance, her physiology is compatible with that of humans and other humanoid/sebaceanoid species.
□ Abilities/Powers: Due to the fact that she is a bioloid Kalish, she has several abilities inherent to her physiology. Because her body is uncommonly light, she is able to shift her center of gravity, which allows her to walk on walls and on the ceiling. The engineered aspects of her physiology make it so that she can generate fire in modest amounts from her hands and fingers and she can emit from her body a huge burst of radiation designed specifically to kill Scarrans (which probably will be of no use whatsoever in Ariel unless Scorpius shows up, which is laughably unlikely). Because her brain cannot tolerate translator microbes (her canon's answer to facilitating communication between different cultures, essentially a universal translator) she cultivated the ability to learn any language simply by listening to someone speak it for a little while (including babytalk, as she proved by communicating baby Deke's love to his parents only a moment before her own death). She has the ability to reattach limbs that have been severed (as is seen in the show with her hand, her finger, and her arm and leg). Not sure if it counts as a "power," but in the spirit of abilities outside those of a normal human, the efficiency of her body makes it so that she only has to eat about ten times a year. Additionally, she has also studied extensively and is a very quick learner with an eidetic memory. She's also quite good at hand to hand fighting.
□ Personal Items: Some of her clothing (a couple of very orange outfits, one including some light body armor), a DRD (http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Diagnostic_Repair_Drone) and a small pulse pistol.
□ First Person Sample:
[audio]
I do not like being subjected to a physical examination without my consent. I like even less that some kind of primitive piece of technology has been placed in my head.
[There is a lot of attitude in the young woman's voice, but hidden under the hard edge and the lilting accent (does she sound Australian?) is an undercurrent of fear. Despite what the people in that prison of a 'Reeducation Center' told her, hiding her bioloid status has become so ingrained in her, that even the thought of being found out by people who know nothing of the politics of the Scarran territories frightens her. Even now, when she knows everything is decimated, her people destroyed. Old habits die hard.
Not to mention, given her brain chemistry, she's lucky that the frelling chip in her head hadn't killed her.]
However, since I am new here, I would not be opposed to learning more about this place. Primarily, how I might be able to find passage back to my ship.
[And now that soft accent floats on a slightly suggestive turn in her voice.]
Anyone with knowledge that could help me would earn my deepest gratitude.
□ Third Person Sample: On the test drive meme here: http://theloonybin.dreamwidth.org/18777.html?thread=11287385
□ Journal: sputnik_shanu
□ Series: Farscape (SciFi television series and subsequent BOOM! comics)
□ Canon point: Just a second before her death in a Prowler during the War for the Uncharted Territories (Farscape Comic #15 - "Nothing Left To Lose")
□ History: Here's the character wiki: http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Sikozu_Svala_Shanti_Sugaysi_Shanu
The wiki page on her species is here: http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Kalish
Together they are pretty decent, especially with the events including and after the Peacekeeper Wars. Both could stand a better explanation of the position of the Kalish in Scarran Society. As a people, they are held just a few steps higher than slaves to the Scarrans, forced to be the technicians and administrators of the Scarran Empire. Given that their world in inside of Scarran controlled space, and the general ruthlessness and cruelty of Scarran discipline, the Kalish have little choice but to serve.
The wiki articles are also severely lacking on information about the genetically engineered bioloids that the Kalish use in their resistance movement against the Scarrans. In all likelihood, the technology used to create bioloids was originally created by the Kalish, and the form which they surrendered to the use of the Scarrans was both simplified and tailored to the Scarrans' uses, those being to manufacture double agents in the shape of existing members of an enemy race to spy for the Scarrans. The version of the technology which the Kalish seem to have somehow been able to keep secret from the Scarrans is more sophisticated, able to create a unique entity with its own personality, likes and dislikes, etcetera, and these people, the Kalish bioloids, are created by their own people to be their species' resistance movement. The process by which they manage to create new and distinct individuals is not known, though Sikozu tells John and Chiana that she 'grew up' in Scarran space, which seems to suggest at least that the Kalish's bioloids require some sort of maturation cycle, so they are probably not created as fully-formed adults like the Scarran's version.
This information is about all their is to go on for Sikozu's early years, though it does present a picture of a 'childhood' probably beginning in some sort of hidden, underground laboratory being indoctrinated against the Scarrans so that when she became fully mature, she would channel all her passion and energy into fighting for her people's freedom. And it seems to have worked, because Sikozu was willing to sacrifice everything she cared for (her affection for the crew of Moya and her relationship with Scorpius) in order to finally make a deal with the Scarrans to free her people. But, unlike what the wiki seems to suggest, I do not believe that Sikozu was programmed in the technological sense of the word. Her loyalty to the resistance is strong, but it is not an absolute. She was willing to help incite a riot between the Kalish and the Charrids in order to allow for a rescue attempt for Scorpius. The riot resulted in the deaths of several Kalish and served no real purpose in furthering the resistance's goal.
The bio given in the wiki is otherwise fairly accurate and complete.
□ Personality:
Sikozu Shanu is many things, but the short list would definitely include the words brilliant, stubborn, arrogant, naive, angry, determined, practical, brave and self-sacrificing.
First and foremost, she is a genius. Her species is naturally highly intelligent (they are the ultimate techs of the galaxy) and intelligence is the quality she most values in herself and that she finds most attractive in others. She tells Crichton that she "studied harder than you could imagine and sacrificed more that you will ever attain" in order to reach expert status in several fields, including but not limited to astronomy, physics, thermodynamics, engineering, and leviathan biology. Most of her knowledge, however, is academic rather than practical. She has studied a lot but she hasn't experienced (as Rygel so kindly tells her when they are both shrunk down to the size of a finger and Sikozu tries to deny that it is happening because it doesn't fit with her knowledge of science). But even though she can be a little naive and even panicky when the facts don't fit with what she expects, she has a strong ability to think on her feet. She is quick to formulate plans and makes it a point to compile encyclopedic knowledge about the places she goes and the people she meets. Her technical knowledge of leviathans saves Moya's crew more than a few times while she is with them, even though the reality of the living ships is a little different than what she expected from all her books.
Despite her naivete, Sikozu still has great confidence in her intelligence and her abilities, which often makes her come off as quite arrogant. It doesn't help that she often finds that she is far smarter than most of the people she comes in contact with and she isn't always kind about letting them know that she finds herself to be superior. She can be rude and insulting, especially when someone's ignorance irritates her, which is not a rare occurrence. Her relationship with Chiana on Moya was antagonistic at first for this reason, because Chiana's inability to think something through before acting frustrated Sikozu greatly, especially during their first meeting when it ruined Sikozu's plans for escaping a dying leviathan. She also gets angry easily in situations like that, partially because her life has been hard and brief and focused and she doesn't have time for stupidity. Her anger expresses itself in scowls, glares, insults, sharp words and the occasional throwing of objects, as when she became angry and fed up with the Earth scientists who wanted to examine her and who ignored her insistent refusal and so she threw the phone out the door (and after it, Noranti's sheet music).
Practicality comes with the territory of her intelligence. When presented with a situation, she can deconstruct it and figure out the best solution (according to her own reckoning) and enact it swiftly and generally without complaint, no matter how scary it is (as when she had to climb into the nest of a spider creature that had only a few hours before severed her arm and leg in order to steal the energy orbs needed to heal the rest of the crew) or disgusting (as when she had to cover her hands in D'Argo's vomit in order to operate his genetically locked ship) or painful (as when she demands that their captors cut of her finger rather than Aeryn's because she knows that Aeryn would have no chance to reattach her digit). Practicality also makes her opportunistic, which she shows the crew of Moya on several occasions. If she has to flirt, lie, bribe or manipulate in order to do what needs to be done, she will do it without hesitation, including flirting with a Grudek she was clearly afraid might take advantage of her, manipulating a member of her own species in order to stage a jailbreak at a quarantine station, and making a deal with the devil in agreeing to be a spy for the Scarrans in order to secure freedom for her people. The consequences of those actions to herself don't matter so much to her as the result for her plans does, and in that way she is also rather selfless.
The two best examples of her self-sacrificing side both occur near to the end of her short and violent life. The first is that same deal that she made with War Minister Ahkna, to be a spy and report of Scorpius' and the crew of Moya's comings and goings in exchange from the freedom of her people from Scarran rule. Sikozu of all people knew how much the Kalish hate the Scarrans, how resprehensible they would find that deal, and yet she went through with it. And for her actions, she was exiled from her people as a traitor, despite the fact that it was those very same traitorous actions that earned freedom for the Kalish. But she knew going in that it would end that way, and so rather than play towards her own ends, she sacrificed her own happiness in order to be sure that her people had the chance to be happy and to escape from under the thumb of the Scarrans. This bargain with the Scarrans also made her an enemy of her lover, Scorpius, who's sole consistent trait is neverending hatred for the Scarrans. She knew this would happen as well, knew that she couldn't keep a secret like that from him forever and that he would take his revenge on her for it. Unfortunately, she didn't realize just how much that betrayal enraged Scorpius and that the revenge he would eventually take was to ask his new allies, the Kkore, to obliterate that Kalish race from existence.
And the other occurs shortly after she gets that news from the gleefully recorded message from Scorpius that he had sent bouncing around the galaxy in her direction. After the revelation that she was one of the very last of her kind, she felt she had nothing left to lose, but that everyone else might have something to gain from her own death. As a battle with Grennij forces began to go south and Moya was too injured to flee quickly enough, Sikozu boarded a Prowler and did a suicide run on the two attacking vessels, destroying them both at the cost of her life. But she was glad to have some purpose in those last few moments, to be able to protect the beautiful leviathans she had come to love, and to protect Aeryn and Crichton and their baby and over 20,000 others. She didn't stop to think of herself, she just saw what had to be done and did it with very little ceremony, only pausing long enough to tell Crichton and Aeryn that their infant son loves them very much.
She does care about people, despite her brusqueness and her occasionally argumentative nature. The circumstances of her life are so steeped in science and violence and largely devoid of genuine care, she has trouble sometimes expressing her feelings. She does so more by actions, by smiles or touches or an offer of help, than she does through words. Rarely is she direct in words about her kinder feelings towards, however quick she is to let someone know when they are making her angry, though she does have an easier time expressing admiration for ideas and objects.
□ Age: Appears to be in her early 20s
□ Gender: Female
□ Appearance: At first glance, Sikozu appears to be a pretty, if eccentrically colored, human woman. She is about 5'3" with her boots on and has wavy red-orange hair. Her skin is predominately caucasian looking but along her hairline, over her temples and cheeks, down the sides of her neck, between her fingers and on her chest and arms there is a much more orange hue, with shades of dark purple, dotted with a pattern of thin gold scales. Her eyes are an opaque shade of teal and, although she has eyebrows, they are so close to the color of her skin as to be nearly indiscernible. As far as apparel, she tends to prefer the color orange for everything (as a continuing theme to her appearance). She knows her body is nicely shaped and seems perfectly comfortable with a bare midriff and cleavage showing, but she does like to cover up her legs. Often she wears boots that come almost to her knees with leggings beneath her skirt. As for hairstyle, she rotates between leaving it free and wavy and twisting it all up into little coils all over her head (the hairstyle which earned her the nickname 'Sputnik'). But despite some minor differences in outward appearance, her physiology is compatible with that of humans and other humanoid/sebaceanoid species.
□ Abilities/Powers: Due to the fact that she is a bioloid Kalish, she has several abilities inherent to her physiology. Because her body is uncommonly light, she is able to shift her center of gravity, which allows her to walk on walls and on the ceiling. The engineered aspects of her physiology make it so that she can generate fire in modest amounts from her hands and fingers and she can emit from her body a huge burst of radiation designed specifically to kill Scarrans (which probably will be of no use whatsoever in Ariel unless Scorpius shows up, which is laughably unlikely). Because her brain cannot tolerate translator microbes (her canon's answer to facilitating communication between different cultures, essentially a universal translator) she cultivated the ability to learn any language simply by listening to someone speak it for a little while (including babytalk, as she proved by communicating baby Deke's love to his parents only a moment before her own death). She has the ability to reattach limbs that have been severed (as is seen in the show with her hand, her finger, and her arm and leg). Not sure if it counts as a "power," but in the spirit of abilities outside those of a normal human, the efficiency of her body makes it so that she only has to eat about ten times a year. Additionally, she has also studied extensively and is a very quick learner with an eidetic memory. She's also quite good at hand to hand fighting.
□ Personal Items: Some of her clothing (a couple of very orange outfits, one including some light body armor), a DRD (http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Diagnostic_Repair_Drone) and a small pulse pistol.
□ First Person Sample:
[audio]
I do not like being subjected to a physical examination without my consent. I like even less that some kind of primitive piece of technology has been placed in my head.
[There is a lot of attitude in the young woman's voice, but hidden under the hard edge and the lilting accent (does she sound Australian?) is an undercurrent of fear. Despite what the people in that prison of a 'Reeducation Center' told her, hiding her bioloid status has become so ingrained in her, that even the thought of being found out by people who know nothing of the politics of the Scarran territories frightens her. Even now, when she knows everything is decimated, her people destroyed. Old habits die hard.
Not to mention, given her brain chemistry, she's lucky that the frelling chip in her head hadn't killed her.]
However, since I am new here, I would not be opposed to learning more about this place. Primarily, how I might be able to find passage back to my ship.
[And now that soft accent floats on a slightly suggestive turn in her voice.]
Anyone with knowledge that could help me would earn my deepest gratitude.
□ Third Person Sample: On the test drive meme here: http://theloonybin.dreamwidth.org/18777.html?thread=11287385