Indrid Yirah was born in 2374 as the youngest child to Redena and Darin Kiaon. He grew up in a small town called Heran’zul. Sandwiched in a valley surrounded on all sides by hills and mountains, it rained often and the scenery was filled with lush vegetation, including many kinds of grasses and wildflowers. The people there mostly raised livestock, as they had been doing for hundreds of years and it was in this scenic, if not somewhat static, landscape in which Indrid was raised.
In his youth, Indrid was known for two things, his wide-eyed curiosity, and his general tendency to be flaky. The moment he picked something up he put it down again, leaving a trail of half finished projects and partly studied hobbies, of which there were many, in his wake.
He decided to join the Starfleet Academy rather on a whim, something that was typical of the young Trill. From the outside it seemed like an odd choice and many people he knew just assumed it would be another thing that he dropped after he took the preliminary test but, in truth, Indrid had recognized that his life needed a direction and figured that Starfleet would at least provide him with opportunities to grow.
After months of studying Indrid managed to pass the Academy entrance exam, only barely making the cutoff. His years in the Academy were difficult as, while he didn’t lack intelligence, discipline and good time management skills were just as alien to him as some of the fungi in Commander Niles’ biology class. Outside of his classes he joined the Starfleet Academy trivia team.
It was during his second year as an Academy student in which the idea of being joined with a symbiont took root in his mind. He had thought about it before, but more as a passing curiosity than giving it any serious consideration. It was in one of his biology courses where a guest lecturer from the Symbiosis Commission on Trill gave a presentation on the science behind joining that he began to think about it seriously. His final paper for the class ended up being about the commonalities in behavior between Trill symbionts and some species of Earth parasites that altered the behavior of their hosts. While far from being the most tactful paper that he could have written, it was what got him interested in learning more about the evolution between Trill and symbiont. However, there is only so much one can learn from books and interviews; by the end of his third year he had put in his application with the Symbiosis Commission to be joined.
Some time later, and two months after he had been joined to the Yirah symbiont, he was assigned to report to Commander Jo Marshall for his senior exam. And that is where his story truly begins…
The Yirah Symbiont was born in 2005, spending the first 100 years of their life growing and developing in the pools of Mak'ala before being joined for the first time in 2105 to Nalan Kozihn.
The Yirah Symbiont is currently 395 years old.
Hosts
- Nalan Yirah (née Kozihn):
- Born: early 2080
- Joined: late 2105 (Age: 27)
- Died: 2184 (Age: 104)
- Years as Host to Yirah: 77
- Biography: Had a degree in philosophy. Enjoyed fishing as a hobby.
- Jarvul Yirah (née Harves):
- Born: 2163
- Joined: 2185 (Age: 22)
- Died: 2281 (Age: 118)
- Years as Host to Yirah: 96
- Biography: Owned a restaurant and brewery. Had a daughter named Gina who died in a shuttle crash. Also had a son.
- Edbur Yirah (née Jiax):
- Born: 2251
- Joined: 2281 (Age: 30)
- Died: 2301 (Age: 50)
- Years as Host to Yirah: 20
- Biography: Edbur had the shortest life of any of the Yirah Symbiont hosts. Joined with Yirah after graduating with his bachelor's degree in nursing, Edbur was interested in helping people with rare diseases, traveling on missions with groups of medical professionals to the distant outposts and colony worlds that had been stricken with unknown diseases.
One of these missions was to an outpost that had many different species, including Centaurans, humans, Trills, and Tellarites. Many of the colonists had contracted a nervous system disorder by eating sick plants, and it was believed that Trill were immune as none of the Trills in the colony who had contracted the disease had exhibited any symptoms. As such, the mission to the outpost included only Trills. While there, Edbur ended up contracting the disease, but didn't think anything of it since it was not believed to effect Trills, and knowing that the disease wasn't contagious, was cleared to return back to Trill.
Over the next several months however, Edbur began to experience symptoms of dementia. When he went to the doctor it was found that the disease, while not able to effect an unjoined Trill, was able to attack the link between Trill and Symbiont. Knowing that his condition would only worsen, doctors on Trill went to work trying to find a way to cure Edbur, with him trying to help as much as his rapidly declining health allowed. As this was a time before Odan had revealed the fact that some Trill were joined to Symbionts, the doctors on Trill could not ask for help from outside sources. When it became apparent that the doctors wouldn't be able to find a cure in time to save the connection between host and Symbiont, Guardians at the pools of Mak'ala began to prepare a quarantine pool to place the Yirah Symbiont in. Edbur then underwent surgery to have the Yirah Symbiont removed and, with the connection between the two broken, died a few days afterward.
- Nazria Yirah (née Tazir):
- Born: 2259
- Joined: 2316 (Age: 57)
- Died: 2400 (Age: 141)
- Years as Host to Yirah: 84
- Biography: In the years between Edbur's death and Nazria's joining, Yirah remained in the quarantine pool at Mak'ala. Trill doctors were able to find a treatment that sent the disease into remission and allowed for Yirah to once again be joined with a host. However, with most initiates fearing a relapse of the disease, it was difficult to find an initiate that would take Yirah. At 57 years old, Nazria was older than most initiates and agreed to be Yirah's host.
- Indrid Yirah (née Kiaon):
- Born: 2374
- Joined: 2400 (Age: 26)
