Gila Thevn

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Alternate Universe

Shint War Universe

“Even a second of freedom is worth more than a lifetime of bondage.” James Frey

CIC Desdemona
Gila Thevn
Position	Physician
Rank	Ensign
Species	Mizarian
Gender	Female
DOB	236705.07
Age	34
Birthplace	Pozaron, Mizar II
Writer ID	A240006GS1

An alternate version of Gila Sadar located in a reality where a vast majority of the Universe has been subjugated by the Shint.

Gila grew up as a slave on Bajor, spending the majority of her life thus far enslaved to the conquerors. After an incident that made her the first Mizarian murderer in modern history, she stowed away aboard a Shint freighter, escaped and now serves aboard the CIC Desdemona.

	Description

• Height: 1.73 m (5"8')
• Hair: None
• Eyes: Dark brown
• Build: Average build, long and nimble limbs.
• Posture: Straight and 'at attention', even when relaxed.
• Taste in Clothing (when off duty): Varied, but always fully covered and hooded. The colors are usually black along with some brighter colors, like purple, orange or yellow.
• Voice: Slightly deeper than most, plenty of inflection and cadence.
• Handedness: Right-handed.

	Personality

Defined by her upbringing as a slave child in the slum, Gila is crafty, deceptive and used to having to fight for what she wants. Throughout her childhood, these personality traits were wielded for the benefit of her family - altogether too demure to fend for themselves - but as an adult, she wields them for her own benefit. She will rarely accept a no at face-value, and is entirely willing to go around people’s backs if she considers the benefit to outweight the risks.

In spite of what her upbringing might suggest - and quite in tune with what Mizarian culture remains - Gila does feel at home in a hierarchial structure. This comfortability with taking orders and doing what she's been told not only made her a good slave - and thereby a decent undercover asset - but also works to her benefit aboard the Commonwealth ships, as it's all she has to fall back on without proper military training.

She is a naturally observant and curious individual, seemingly with a sponge for a brain, as she eagerly devours great amounts of knowledge when she's exposed to it. Her expertise lies particularly in the fields of sociology and Shint occupational tactics, but any new skills and knowledge she's exposed to will be examined and analyzed thoroughly.

Suffering from survivor's guilt following the many deaths of family and friends in her past, Gila is private, a bit of a loner and tends to volunteer for solo missions (often labeled suicide runs). She can be prickly, but in reality, she's a festering wound beneath a veneer of control, but far too addicted to the feeling of freedom to do anything about it.

Personality Type

ISTJ-T / The Logistician

+ Honest and Direct, Very Responsible, Calm and Practical, Effective Worker, Jack-of-all-trades

- Stubborn, Insensitive, Too Reliant on Structure, Judgmental, Often Unreasonably Blame Themselves

Likes

• Learning - Gila's opportunities for expanding her knowledge were limited during her youth, so she's making up for it now by learning as much as she possibly can.
• Hoarding - Growing up in an environment where she had to earn what few scraps were available, she now uses her freedom to fill her life with as many things as she can, useful or no.
• Fashion and style - Her upbringing meant she usually wore slave uniforms, and much of her work still relies on that old form of dress. Thus, whenever she's not currently on a mission, Gila does what she can to look individualistic, even if her taste in clothes is quite dour and modest.

Dislikes

• Social gatherings - Gila is private and she doesn't like being reminded of people she lost. More than anything, she's afraid of making new friends she'll lose, so she tends to remain on her own whenever possible.
• Being coddled - While she might not know much of the Commonwealth, Gila's far too independent and zealous in her pursuit of knowledge and independence for her to accept anything resembling coddling or protection.

	Skills

• Shint Sociology and Linguistics

She can read and understand Shint, due to her upbringing and her parents’ primary function, and has a good understanding of their internal hierarchies and strategies.

• Mizarian Medicine

She’s been trained in Mizarian traditional medicine practices by her husband.

• Shint Technology

She has decent knowledge of Shint technology, particularly their communication methods.

• Kleptomania

A talent she picked up during her youth, Gila still employs it frequently. Often, this involves swiping trinkets and decorations for her bunk area, but other times, she retrieves weapons and valuable intel for the Desdemona's crew.

	Relationships

Celom - Husband Celom was kind, demure and a thoroughly devout husband to Gila, the perfect calm to her turbulent nature. She added vigor to his life as he tempered her more unorthodox escapades, and by all accounts, you couldn't find a better match. Their marriage was defined by respect, caring and support, sharing in each other's lives in all things. In many ways, just as Celom was a positive influence on Gila, so too was she a negative influence on him, inspiring him to be more proactive in his defiance of their oppressors as he started treating and sheltering resistance members. After the death of their son half a decade ago, Celom grew melancholic and withdrawn, but no less attentive to his wife. It was thanks to him and the friends he'd made as part of his medical profession that Gila was sent away from Bajor, and given a chance at freedom. Gila misses him and hopes he is well, but wouldn't return to the life of a slave, even for him.

Eyni - Son (Deceased) Eyni Thevn was a bright and happy child, possessing the good and kind nature of his father and the inquisitive and clever mind of his mother. He was the kind of child that could charm anyone into letting him cause mischief, and still receive affection afterwards. In the ideal world, he would've had a glorious future, filled with successes and failures, but the world of the Shint was not ideal for a Mizarian child. Eyni - and the light in his parents' lives - died before his ninth birthday.

Koja - Father (Deceased) Gila's father was an important part of their planet's surrender to the Shint Empire - one of the lead Spiritualists who preached for peaceful cooperation - which meant he was both a very valued, and very hated Mizarian in the years that followed. Many sought him out for spiritual guidance, hoping that the Way of the Kahlto would guide them into a peaceful settling into their new existence. Few openly hated him, but he forever bore the stigma of 'The Father of Subjugation'. His death was slow and laboured, but natural.

Cefli - Mother Gila’s mother was the most important part of Gila's upbringing. While her father was busy caring for the spiritual wellbeing of the Mizarian people living in their slum, Gila's mother was more-or-less single-handedly responsible for raising their children. It was Cefli who encouraged Gila's unorthodox behavior and appetites, though her father often found them contradictory to the teachings of the Wheel. Perhaps, Cefli often argued, Gila's strangeness was a blessing in disguise? Cefli still lives, the Head House Slave of an important Shint family on Bajor, but Gila hasn't spoken to her in years.

Eyla - Older sister (Deceased) Eyla and Gila were close as can be, the two Sadar children born before the coming of the Shint. Gila remembered very little, having been very young when Mizar II was conquered, but she eagerly listened to all the late night stories her sister told her of the world before, when their parents were asleep and unaware that their daughters spoke of such things. While Eyla protected Gila's innocence as children through stories and shared memories, Gila protected Eyla's independence, often using her wits and deceptive nature to defend her more demure sister. In motherhood, Eyla and Gila were confidants and best friends, and when Eyla died, Gila felt as though a part of her - the joy and optimism nurtured by her sister's hands during childhood - died with her.

Fhol - Younger brother (Deceased) Fhol was the first Sadar child to be born in captivity, and the early times of slavery on Bajor were hard on the infant Mizarian. He died before his second birthday, plagued by health concerns that could've been easily rectified just a few years earlier, before the coming of the Shint.

Brill & Nothi - The Twins Brill and Nothi were the twin children born when Gila was a pre-teen. At that point, life in Bajor's slums had stabilized enough that their health was not in immediate danger, and Gila was instrumental in their early years as their primary caretaker while her father's health failed, and her mother and Eyla were busy with their duties. While Brill was every bit the demure Mizarian and used to spend hours on the lap of their ailing father, listening to stories of the Kahlto, Nothi was more active and curious, preferring to hang onto Gila's back as she ventured into the slums. Nothi's temper cooled as he grew older, but he still resembles Gila far more than both of their parents in nature. Gila hasn't seen either of them since she left Bajor, but she's hopeful that they are well.

Kolya - Nephew (Deceased) Kolya was Gila’s nephew, two years older than Eyni, and became very much a surrogate for Gila's innate need for motherhood upon her son's death. Kolya was creative, curious and driven, in many ways a truer mirror of Gila's own mind than her own son had ever been. These elements of his nature were encouraged and lauded by their family, surely evidence that great things were in store for him. He died when attempting to defend his mother from the abuse of their Shint handler, and their deaths were the final straw that broke any semblance of normalcy in Gila. The Shint had robbed her of two sons now. She would die before they took any more...

Vailani Zoyara - Childhood Friend (Deceased) Zoyara a young Bajoran girl growing up in the slums alongside the recently relocated Mizarians. Tensions between the two species were often rapt, as the Bajorans struggled to accept the almost apathetic deference with which the Mizarians regarded their oppressors, but such concerns were for adults to worry about. With her unusual temper, Gila had a far easier time making friends with the Bajoran children than her fellow Mizarians, and none more os than Zoyara, the daughter of Vailani Tovan, the defacto community leader of the Bajoran community in their slum. Their friendship remained strong as they grew up, even as the Vailanis had to flee the slum as they become key figures in the Bajoran resistance against the Shint. It was in large part due to Zoyara's participation in the resistance that Gila herself became an informant, and convinced her husband to make his "clinic" an underground safehouse for any members in the city. Zoyara's death - caused by loyalty and Gila's thoughtless attempt at revenge against the Shint that killed her sister and nephew - still weighs heavily on the Mizarian woman, causing nightly terrors to visit her. There'd be no justice for Zoyara before either Gila joined her, or every Shint was gone...

Victor 'Vik' Olivera - A... Friend. Vik was part of the crew of the CIC Everdeen when it attacked the freighter Gila served on, and thereby he was inadvertantly part of her escape from the Shint Empire. Vik was a flittering existence, on and off various ships over the years as his skillset was needed elsewhere, but whenever the two were on the same ship, Gila found him a staunch ally, and the two share a bond one can only get when killing a lot of Shint side-by-side. Gila hesitates to truly call anyone a 'friend' - knowing that anyone who befriends her is next on the universe's target list - but when alone, when no one but herself is privy to her thoughts - she is proud to think of the triggerhappy Human as a friend and ally in their neverending fight.

	Personal History

Slave to the Shint

Mizabet was enveloped by the War pretty early on, its inhabitants absorbed by the invaders due to their docile natures and used as a slave caste within the Skint Empire. Gila - who was only four when the Shint invaded her world - grew up within their Empire as a slave, and had to learn how to work with what tools she had been given. Clever and curious, the young Mizarian became the breadwinner for her family due to what her mother saw as an ‘uncommon amount of brazen’ within the girl.

Growing up in the slums on Bajor, where her parents were used as slaves to an imperial archivist, Gila was used as a ‘Jack-of-all-trades’ youth, assisting with both menial engineering tasks and correspondence delivery. Her quick mind and drive to learn allowed her to gain an advantage over her more demure peers, and she expanded her knowledge of the empire and its inner workings through reading stolen correspondence and propaganda material. These aspects of her also meant that Gila got along better with the Bajoran kids than her fellow Mizarians. Chiefest among those was Vailani Zoyara, the child of Vailani Tovan, a prominent figure in the Bajoran community.

As a young woman, Gila was married to a fellow slave - Celom Thevn - who moonlighted as a doctor in the slums, taking care of Bajorans and Mizarians alike. One night, a few Bajoran resistance members - underground guerilla fighters working against the Shint conquerors - came to them for aid, and among them was Zoyara, Gila’s childhood friend. Gila convinced her husband to shelter them for the night, and they cared for their injuries. After that, Gila started sharing intel she’d gathered during her workday with Zoyara’s resistance cell.

Eventually, Gila and Celom had a son named Eyni. He was the apple of their eye, and for a time, despite the horrible conditions of life in the slums, life was good. When Eyni was bordering on nine years old, a horrible pandemic spread through the dirty neighborhoods of the slave slums, and faced with a lack of medicines and too few medical personnel, Eyni was among many children who ended up dying. Celom and Gila were both devastated, and Celom in particular never quite recovered. The pair never had another child.

Gila was by all accounts a good slave - productive and hardworking - and she’d never really considered genuinely escaping from the routine of her everyday life, even if she was helping the resistance. That all changed, however, when Zoyara brought her unwelcome news. Eyla and her teenage son, Kolya, had been killed. Murdered, by their handler. Learning of this made something break in Gila, who’d seen Kolya as a surrogate for Eyni, and she made plans. Infiltrating the home of Eyla’s former handler, a Shint News Anchor, Gila planned to kill him and then commit suicide, so she couldn’t lead the Shint peacekeepers to Celom or Zoyara. What she hadn’t anticipated was Zoyara convincing her resistance cell to go in after her and get her out. They almost made it, but just before escaping the city they got into a skirmish with Shint peacekeepers, and Zoyara fell to enemy fire.

The death of her oldest friend because of her own failings still weighs heavy on Gila to this day.

Escaping to the Commonwealth

In a bid to keep Gila safe, Celom managed to secure her a place as a slave on a front-bound weapons freighter under an alias, and the two had a heartfelt farewell. She doesn’t know where he is now, or if he’s even safe… Closer to the front, the freighter she served on got involved in a skirmish with Commonwealth forces, and seeing an opportunity to escape the Empire, Gila snuck away from her workcell to board the other ship. She brought a large amount of downloaded logs filled with mercantile correspondence and navigational logs to barter for her passage, and seeing promise in her, she was absorbed into the crew.

She worked on the CIC Everdeen for just under two years, often utilized as an infiltration expert - no Shint looked twice at a Mizarian running errands, after all - and communications specialist. The Everdeen eventually met the fate of many Commonwealth ships - destroyed. Most of the crew died, but Gila was among the few crewmembers successfully evacuated and rerouted to the Desdemona, where she’s been ever since.