Jelandra Gear/Personal history

Childhood

Jelandra was an accident, in more ways than one. Her mother had fallen pregnant en route to the Cardassian front lines, and was forced to take what she viewed as an inconvenient detour to deliver the child on Betazed. But even before the delivery, it was evident that there were complications with the girl. From eight months into the gestation period, Jadrice could feel the psionic tendrils emanating from the tiny creature within her womb, a severe warning signal to any Betazoid.

The child would be born with her telepathic powers active. To what degree was uncertain, but that made very little difference - the baby would be sensing thoughts and emotions long before its mind was trained to deal with such. Such children invariably suffered tremendous psychological trauma unless kept in strict isolation until their minds could be conditioned to handle the weight of their abilities; even those raised in complete isolation were never 'quite right'. Jelandra's pre-birth development was aided by the fact her pregnant mother was on a starship with barely a hundred people aboard - had she been in a more intensely populated area during the pregnancy, Jelandra would have undoubtedly been significantly more imbalanced.

Jadrice's House utilised all of its social and political pull to ensure the unborn Jelandra had a place waiting for her at the Betazed Research Academy, a respected institute in the fields of science and medicine. As the birth neared, Jadrice found herself needing to concentrate more and more just to keep the tiny mind of her daughter from deafening her. During the birth itself, Jelandra did not cry; rather she radiated a calmness that affected the medical staff and her mother alike. This unnerved Jadrice, and is at least partially responsible for her decision to all but abandon her daughter as soon as she was fit to resume her duties. The day after the delivery, Jelandra was transferred to the Early Developer Project within the BetaRAc's Isolation facilities.

Left to be raised by the institute, with occasional token visits from relations that cared little for the 'flawed' daughter, Jelandra's first real bonds were with the researchers assigned to monitor her condition. One of these, a noted half-Betazoid psychologist by the name of Quentin Gilligan, handled most of her pastoral care; he was astonished to see the rate of her mental development. Surrounded by near-genius intellects, isolated from almost all other sources of telepathic input, what thoughts Jelandra was forced to hear were complicated and impossible for her to understand; but that did not stop her from trying.

Jelandra's father, Becknar, visited her as often as his duties permitted. The toddler Jelandra relished these visits, her father's mind making a welcome change from the minds she was used to. He would introduce the child to simple telepathic thought puzzles - games such as pattern matching, mazes and the like. Over time, these developed into logical thought progression games.

Psychologically, Jelandra was an interesting case - considerations of Borderline Psionic Psychosis aside. She spent the first three years of her life in the relative calm, punctuated by moments of elation or depression, that is the research world. Coupled with her father's approach to father-daughter-playtime, this fostered within her the idea that every problem was a puzzle that might be solved with effort. Her young mind applied this ethos universally, including to her own predicament. By the age of four, she had managed to erect mental barriers strong enough that she could go out in public.

By the time Jelandra was five, Gilligan, with whom she had developed an especially close bond, determined her to be ready to enter the ITG facility - the Betazoid Academy for the "Intellectually and Telepathically Gifted". The ITG had begun its existance as a program for early-developing telepaths attached to BetaRAc, but it had over the past century evolved into a more wide-ranging program which would cater for her particular intelligence while at the same time, by its very nature, continue the training she required to cement her telepathic defenses. It was, ironically, through this program that she met the first member of her father's House besides himself: Zoe.

Zoréa Salayus Hitorin Gé'ar, Jelandra's cousin, was a charismatic, angelic child. She was also, for a five-year-old, disturbingly insightful. She lacked Jelandra's telepathy, en route to develop those powers at a more normal stage of her development, but nonetheless was and has always remained the most perceptive person of Jelandra's acquaintance. The two became fast friends, and it was through this family tie, rather than her more prestigious maternal ties, that Jelandra got her first taste of Betazoid High Society.

This had a profound effect on Jelandra's perceptions of familial interaction. Aside from her dormitory, and her continued communications with Dr Gilligan, she had hitherto been very self-sufficient. Spending time with Zoe's family demonstrated 'normal' family life to her for the first time, and she found that, while she could live without it, she truly enjoyed spending time with others in a social setting. Not wanting to be seen to be outdone by a lesser family, House Midral took a renewed interest in Jelandra, and while this gave her easier access to more prestigious events on the aristocratic social calendar, she rarely went anywhere without Zoe.

Also, during her first year at the ITG, she met Daysaan Kavrel, a young boy of almost equal social rank to her own. Day, Jelly and Zoe became good friends over time, each complimenting the others' strengths. Together they were unstoppable, and successfully drove both their peers and their teachers to distraction.

By the age of eight, Jelandra had demonstrated that her abilities were not merely psionic, or intellectual. Her father gave her a baby grand piano for her sixth birthday, hand-made on Earth; determined to show him how much she appreciated the gift, Jelandra practised her scales and pieces with the same devotion that she practised her people's religious rites. Within two years, she had demonstrated virtuosic ability with the Human instrument.

Similarly, at the age of seven she was introduced to the practise of bladedancing, a Betazoid sport at which her maternal line had historically excelled. Driven to try and prove herself worthy of the Midral name, overcoming significant disadvantages in height and length of arm, Jelandra qualified for the ITG's competitive bladedancing team without the aid of private tuition, or indeed her own sword (she had needed to borrow Zoe's mother's). In acknowledgement of her success, her maternal grandmother presented her with a family blade, which Jelandra still possesses.

Between her Bladedancing and piano practise, Jelandra filled most of her extracurricular time in practise. Zoe and she remained something of a fixture in the social scene; it was predicted, quite accurately, that the two would become heartbreakers given time. In the mean time, however, they were pretty, elegant and sophisticated book-ends, brought out by Jelandra's grandmother at the family Matriarch's whim.

The politicking never subsiding for long on her world, her great-grandmother summoned her to stay at her estate for a year. Over this period, she grew to understand her family Matriarch; she found, over time, she loved the old woman more than her own mother. Just as certainly, Jelandra found she detested her mother's mother, who saw her as nothing more than a flawed creature unworthy of her titles.

Against her grandmother's advice, her Matriarch introduced her formally as an heir of the line, and a Daughter of her House. The old woman also brokered a Genetic Bonding with the Seventh House regarding Jelandra's friend, Daysaan. Jelandra did not truly comprehend the idea at this point.

Her Bladedancing continued to improve; by the time she was ten years old, she challenged and successfully bested the ITG's First Blade and team captain, ascending to the position herself. Over the following years, she continued her specialisation in dance forms and single combat, still finding group combat and performance forms difficult as a function of her natural shortness.

While ITG failed to qualify for the inter-primaries during her first two years as captain, they did qualify in her third. During the competition, she received a particularly nasty shoulder-wound while engaged in single combat with the First Blade of the Opal Academy. She won the bout on points, but ITG still failed to topple the reigning champions, coming in second.

Full Timeline

1. 235701.31: Born at BetaRAc Research Facility.
2. 235702.01: Transferred to EDP Facility within BetaRAc, Telepathic Training Division.
3. 235702.04: First meets Dr Q. Gilligan, her assigned psychologist.
4. 235706.21: Transmits her first cohesive telepathic sentence: 'Quin-quin funny!'
5. 235708.19: Declines her first words: "I l-love dahdah."
6. 236102.23: First visits a public market; tastes uttaberry icecream for the first time - love at first sight.
7. 236206.09: Begins schooling at the ITG on Betazed, under BetaRAc supervision. Meets Zoe and Daysaan.
8. 236208.11: Debuts in Betazed High Society; makes quite an impression on her family Matriarch, her great-grandmother.
9. 236301.31: Gifted a piano by her father.
10. 236402.25: Introduced to Bladedancing; demonstrates a lack of natural aptitude; resolves to improve through practise.
11. 236410.12: Qualifies for the ITG competitive Bladedancing team, specialising in dancing forms and single combat.
12. 236512.09: Officially presented to the High Families as a Daughter of the Third House.
13. 236607.20: Genetically bonded to Daysaan Kavrel of the Seventh House.
14. 236703.14: Becomes captain and First Blade of the ITG Bladedancing team.
15. 236911.11: Is wounded during the finals of the inter-primary Bladedancing tourney; wins her round on points. ITG placed second.

Teenage Years

Things to write about:

• How did he do in an educational setting?
• What type of sports did he play?
• What were his interests academically? Socially?

Full Timeline

1. 232001.01: Event.
2. 232001.02: Event, etc.

Pre-Academy Years

Things to write about:

• Did she attend an Academy prep school? Or college? Or medical school?
• What were her goals and ambitions at this time?

Full Timeline

1. 232001.01: Event.
2. 232001.02: Event, etc.

Academy Years

Things to write about:

• Did he enjoy the Academy?
• Any friendships with professors?
• Any personal relationships? Notable classmates?
• How did he choose his course of study?

Full Timeline

1. 232001.01: Event.
2. 232001.02: Event, etc.

Post Academy/In the Fleet

In this section, you are going to reflect on the character's personal life in StarFleet. Feel free to break this up into sections, as well.

Full Timeline

1. 232001.01: Event.
2. 232001.02: Event, etc.