Worlds In Her Eyes

Name: Rghyna Bhroel

Species: Quosm (also their word for People) are an amphibious species with varying flesh textures and patterns. The main markers between the ethnicities within the species are variances in the scalp tendrils and facial features including presence or lack of concentrated (and specialized) visible sensory nodes. They all tend toward large eyes and irises that seem to be windows not to the soul, but to the soul of the galaxy. Highly sensitive fleshy tendrils grow from their scalps give the vague impression of dreadlocks. These are a sensory organ providing a sixth sense for cosmic waves (of the high-energy particles variety). As such the Quosm developed a culture attuned to interstellar occurrences, which their societies rise and fall because of and to celebrate. They evolved on a planet battered by volatile stellar events due to being within an extremely dense are of the galaxy. They often find their way off-planet as natural navigators (their own spacecraft have no navigation systems and they are often employed as crew for the craft of other species). They have several rich and widely varied cultures and societies. After reaching adulthood they do not display visible signs of aging (though there can be a slowing down and encroaching absentmindedness or general increasing tiredness) as other species and barring accident, foul play or disease the natural lifespan is equivalent to Terrans of approximately 120 years.

Age: 87

Height: 6’2” (188cm)

Tendrils: Dark indigo, some reaching down to mid-back, others curling just past her shoulders—living sensory organs that occasionally quiver in response to unseen cosmic pulses. These are hyper-sensitive to cosmic radiation, EM fields, gravitational shifts, etc., and sway subtly in rhythm with pulsars when at rest, lash when startled.

Eyes: Swirling nebulae trapped within obsidian irises which shift refractively, resemble miniature galaxies and shimmer with faint sparks of starlight flickering deep within the pupils when agitated or deeply engaged.

Appearance: Mottled opalescent skin, subtle gradients between pale-blues and violets depending on ambient light; long, webbed fingers tipped with retractable claws; high cheekbones framing a sharply angular face. A vague sheen to self-moisturizing skin (though she avoids drying out and becoming sort of ‘breath’ by daily moisturizing gel application) and secretes a thin pearlescent film when stressed. The vocal sacs behind her ears inflate slightly when she hums subsonic frequencies.

Clothing: While on duty or just aboard during traversal the standard skintight ship-suit (self-regulating insulation, refracts cosmic radiation), utility belt with a variety of ship-standard tools, magnetic wrist braces for zero-G clumsiness mitigation. Off duty, on station or planet-side she tends toward casual outfits varying based on atmosphere and climate or the local culture. She tends toward favoring high-tech shifting hues of brighter colors that contrast her complexion. Occasionally adorned with shards of meteoric iron forged into delicate jewelry that hums in the presence of cosmic radiation.

Personality: A contemplative melancholic by nature, but capable of sudden enthusiasm, almost joyful frenetic focus when intrigued. Speaks in low, sonorous tones and her words are measured and often follow the lead of non-Quosm conversational partners to avoid unintended offenses against cultural etiquettes. Occasionally prone to poetic abstraction even while discussing subjects not quite so deep as celestial phenomena. Deeply curious about ephemeral things such as other species’ lifespans, intriguing new planetary weather patterns, the concept of "forgetting." Displays an almost clinical detachment about violence, yet shudders at the sound of cracking ice or the scent of burning. Views destruction/creation as natural cycles, but loathes artificial disruptions. Deeply introspective, cosmically fatalistic, unexpectedly whimsical.

Sexuality: Intrigued by the concept and does enjoy tactile explorations despite the species procreating via spawning and have no use for sex for reproduction. Exposure to other alien peoples have introduced the Quosm people to the pleasure of sexual intimacy, as much as their anatomical differences require some adjustments to the practice.

Kinks: learning the mating rituals and sexual practices of other alien species, most often just by inappropriate questions or just watching, Even she isn’t quite sure if she is voyeuristic for science or her ‘scientific curiosity’ covers up for innate voyeuristic urges. She documents alien mating rituals and Terran colleagues have been known to call her logs "The Xenophile’s Kama Sutra"

Likes: the friction of fine sand against her skin, deciphering echoes in cavernous spaces, collecting the discarded exoskeletons of deep-sea creatures (it’s shells, she likes to collect shells), the taste of oxidized metals, the smell of fresh air (begins to crave it somewhere around the halfway point of most stints on spacecraft). The sound of nebula-static against hull plating. Tracing patterns in asteroid dust. Freshwater rainfall for the rare planetary luxury it is, it reminds her of home.

Hates: Artificial gravity wells, the smell of ionized plasma, unannounced physical contact (her tendrils recoil violently at surprises), silence that lasts longer than 47 minutes. Extended complete silence is especially upsetting as Quosm hear cosmic background radiation as a song and total silence is beyond unnerving for all of her species (she’s only experienced it within intensely shielded rooms and never wants to again). Deeply dislikes direct conflict and has used cosmic phenomena as weapons (e.g., luring pursuers into quasar jets)

Quirks and Contradictions: Despite her species' attunement to cosmic rhythms, she (and most Quosm) are hopelessly uncoordinated in zero-G environments (she flails like a beached jellyfish in weightlessness despite her navigational gifts). Claims to despise superstition, yet refuses to speak during solar flares, believing it "dulls the clarity of celestial speech." She cultivates bioluminescent fungi in their quarters, singing to them in subharmonic frequencies to accelerate growth. Hoards xeno-erotica datachips like sacred texts (a porn collection, she has a hidden smut library). Uncontrollable tendril-twitching during solar flares shivering like a struck tuning fork.

Backstory: Born during a gamma-ray burst event (‘The Great Ghost Pulse’) her tendrils developed hypersensitivity—a mutation that left them inundated with phantom signals from dead stars. As a tad she and a few others of those in her clutch were ostracized or just teased and scoffed at for “listening to ghosts” and had to work twice as hard to learn and master the deciphering of her tendril’s senses. Early in her adulthood she enjoyed interpreting cosmic currents for the interstellar merchants around the spaceport near the shallow floodplains where she was spawned (in one of the modern nursery pools). During her juvenile years she studied and honed her skills in the spaceport city’s traverser training center with a navigational focus of course. For the last four decades Rghyna has served as an interstellar navigator aboard various commercial trade vessels, translating pulsar songs into jump coordinates—though some whisper she plots courses toward cosmic anomalies, not away. Yet for more than forty years she has successfully guided varied crafts and crewmates clear of catastrophic stellar events.

Occupation: Navigator/Stellar Cartographer (unofficial title ‘Omen-Taster’)