Lieutenant Syrial J'naii
Name Syrial J'naii
Position Chief Medical Officer
Rank Lieutenant
Character Information
| Gender | Agendered/Non-Binary | |
| Species | J’naii | |
| Age | 43 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5’2” | |
| Weight | 120 lbs | |
| Hair Color | Dark Brown | |
| Eye Color | Dark Brown | |
| Physical Description | Syrial is a lean person, on the skinnier side of average. What little mass they do have is mostly muscle instead of fat. They are not particularly strong; or particularly pretty or handsome. Syrial is quite androgynous in appearance. They have short dark brown hair which is kept just a bit longer and messier than most J’naii after their time spent around other species. They have the distinctive forehead of a J’naii. While their face leans more towards feminine in appearance their body seems to be closer to that of a young man, with a flat chest. They look younger than they are. |
Family
| Spouse | Koren (43, male J’naii) | |
| Other Family | Sibyl’s parents are Soor and Jorai but they don’t use the terms mother and father on J’naii. |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Syrial (pronounced like Cereal, which Syrial might joke about at times) is a J’naii. One of the most interesting things to them is the concept of gender found in other species. Despite being fairly well versed in the anatomy of it due to medical training, Syrial is still quite often confused about the cultural differences between the two - and often mixes them up. Unlike most J’naii, Syrial has embraced they/them pronouns. Although it isn’t an exact translation of their pronoun in their native language, J’naii has accepted that it is easier for humans and others to accept, rather than accidentally slipping into calling them a he or a she. Syrial also uses the last name J’naii for paperwork purposes, even though they don’t have a last name. They accidentally wrote that down when applying to join the academy and the name stuck. Because they’re usually the only J’naii around, it works well enough. Overall, Syrial is easily amused and fascinated, always kind. Truth be told, they have descended so far into pessimism and nihilism that it has looped back around into optimism and kindness. If nothing matters in life, why not just have fun? If you expect the ship to explode and kill everybody on it the minute any sort of alarm goes off it is a pleasant surprise when you are simply being shot at. Syrial is easily fascinated by things, especially inanimate objects and will tell others, in detail about their opinions on things. They are extremely open minded. Syrial lacks a bit of self confidence, and doesn’t want to take on too much responsibility. (In fact, Syrial is quite adverse to any sort of responsibility beyond their medical duties, in which they only have confidence through experience.) Therefore, they’ll sometimes act a bit less competent or serious than they really are. That, combined with their easy going nature and naivete about many of the other species due to the J’naii’s relative isolation makes them seem a bit airheaded at times. Syrial is terrified of death, though at times they might do risky things, almost as a way to challenge this fear. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | +Optimism +Open-mindedness +Good at hugs -Avoids responsibility -Naive -Physically weak |
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| Ambitions | Syrial doesn’t have any grand ambitions. When Syrial left J’naii, they felt they had to be perfect. There was the J’naii’s reputation to uphold, after all - they were usually the first J’naii most people would meet, so they had to make a good first impression. That’s what Syrial told themselves, anyway. A more honest source of this perfectionism came from desperately wanting somebody (preferably their parents, but anybody would do) to be proud of them, while also being scared of having people rely on them. Once Syrial gave up on the goal of having a perfect image they gave up entirely, now just living day by day. Always a follower, never a leader. Syrial does have a special interest in humans and Starfleet. Their parents’ inordinate fondness for humanity has rubbed off on them a bit. |
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| Hobbies & Interests | Honestly; a new one every week. Syrial is the master of picking up hobbies and then forgetting about them. One week it will be painting, one week it will be some instrument, one week it will be plants. The only hobbies that have stuck with them have been reading and playing the cello, though Syrial is honestly quite bad at the latter. |
| Personal History | In 2348 a Federation starship answered the distress signal of a small J’naii research ship that had malfunctioned. This wasn’t a remarkable meeting; not even the first time the humans and J’naii had met. But to the J’naii on the ship, that answer was a literal lifesaver. Two of the J’naii were especially touched: Jorai and Soor, the only married couple on the ship. Jorai was fascinated, beyond just being touched; they were the pilot of the ship and had taken up piloting to see the stars. To meet (what was to Jorai) such a caring race that seemed so keen on exploring and had travelled further than any J’naii had was amazing, even if they were a lesser, gendered species. It was Jorai that made the decision that Syrial would be part of that, even before they were born. Jorai and Soor didn’t realize that all their pressure and expectations might hurt Syrial; they just wanted their kid to achieve more and go further than they ever did. In 2351, Syrial was born. They had a pretty average childhood, in the scheme of things. They were quite intelligent and tested well; always near the top of their class. Despite that, Syrial had no big goals, no ambitions beyond grades and making their parents proud. It was their parents, not them, that decided they had to join Starfleet. Jorai spent those years currying up favor with bureaucrats to try and get Syrial a place in the Academy, and Syrial did their part with their grades. Syrial was okay with this. They tried their best and put their full effort forward. Their best (and in rough times, only) friend throughout their childhood was named Koren. When the two were only one year away from graduation, Koren told Syrial that he felt male. Syrial, while not entirely approving of such, respected Koren’s wishes and helped him keep that fact a secret. The same year the two graduated, they got married. Not out of any sort of love; Syrial had no intentions of forming a relationship themselves. They were too busy with their schoolwork and planned to leave for Starfleet anyway. They mostly did this so that anybody who was starting to suspect what Koren was would have their suspicions diverted. The two remained close friends and lived together for that year while Syrial attempted to get into Starfleet academy but Koren kept all his own relationships with other J’naii who felt female. When they were 19, Syrial left for Starfleet Academy. This involved more pressure on them than they ever felt in their life. Not only were they finally challenged for once academically, they felt like they had the whole image of the J’naii riding on their shoulders. Syrial was a picture of seriousness and a model student. They focused on the medical aspect of it all; partially out of a fascination with the strange, dimorphic appearances of most other races. That was one of the most memorable years of Syrial’s life and in that year they did well. They had good marks and grades and were developing new friendships. And for once, Jorai was truly proud. All good things come to an end though, and Syrial’s time at the Academy was cut short. In 2371, Syrial got a call from home that Jorai’s ship had crashed. Both their parents were seriously injured, with Soor unresponsive and Jorai in critical condition. Syrial took leave from the Academy, despite their good marks in the first year, to take care of their ailing parents. With them, they brought a pet cat, aptly named “Cat.” (Who lived out the rest of its life on J’naii) Syrial just wanted to go home. They were still a kid at heart; and in the face of potential loss, they just wanted their family. Both Soor and Jorai survived, though Soor never fully recovered. Those first couple months were some of the hardest of Syrial’s life. But they had to continue on. They were still an ambitious, eager to please youth that couldn’t just sit around tending those two. Because Syrial had focused on medicine in that one year, Jorai convinced them to go to medical school. That way Syrial could continue a meaningful line of education down this path, while staying close to their parents. In only a couple months, Syrial had returned to that same studious young adult they were back at the academy. Besides; this would all look great on a med school resume, right? Syrial spent the next seven years studying medicine and working at their medical residency. They conveniently missed out on the whole Dominion war going on while the J’naii didn’t get themselves involved in interplanetary politics - they weren’t a Federation species, after all. In that time, they become closer to their husband, Koren. The two resumed living together. Koren continued to have his other relationships, and there was no place for jealousy in such an open marriage. But the two began to grow genuinely close to each other. Compared to all the humans, even Koren seemed pretty androgynous (despite Syrial’s attempts to not think of him in such a way). And Syrial’s time off planet, now wearing their hair longer and bringing back some human idioms, made them seem exotic and feminine to Koren. Both Koren and Syrial were a bit uncomfortable with how attracted to each other they were, but it was how it was and with good communication their relationship grew stronger than ever - perhaps into something that might truly be considered love. It was only that seed of discomfort that made the two so willing to drift apart when Syrial finally left J’naii for good. Syrial did well in medical school, taking it upon themselves to study other species as well in preparation for potentially going back to Starfleet. After seven years, when Syrial finished J’naii medical school and their parents were in a more stable position, Syrial finally applied to go back to the Academy. This was a bit unorthodox; but Starfleet hadn’t necessarily put a time limit on their sudden leave of absence, and the renewed application of somebody who already had a medical doctorate was tempting. They suggested Syrial repeat the first year, but Syrial convinced them to let them at least try starting the second year; they could repeat it if it were too difficult. Syrial finished up their final three years at the Academy with only decent marks. They were intelligent, yes; and while they scored well in anything related to medicine their seven year “gap” after the general courses of the first year made them struggle a bit with the other classes. Their time after that was much more orthodox. They spent only two additional years under Starfleet medical before being sent out for more hands-on training. Their first assignment on a ship was in 2383, on the USS Nyla. This was a small medical research ship, and they stayed for only a year. Despite the fact that they got only average grades at the Academy, they were a highly motivated individual with much more medical experience than would expect from a fresh Ensign. They were recommended by their Captain to go back to Starfleet medical and pursue a career in research, instead of general ship work. They did. Syrial was used to following orders, and they were a very serious, studious person. But that wasn’t what they wanted. After all, some of Jorai’s love of the stars had rubbed off on them, and while they worked on Starfleet medical dutifully, they made it clear that they wanted to be assigned to a ship. It was only in 2385 that their request was fulfilled, and they were assigned to a new ship, the USS Dragon. They served on two more ships after that - the USS Seattle and the USS Mercy, the latter where they were promoted to assistant chief medical officer - until in 2388 their life changed. Of course there came that one person that Syrial couldn’t save. In their case, it was a woman named Agatha Black and, luckily for their confidence in their medical career, not a patient. Agatha was another medical officer. She was madly in love with Syrial. Syrial was not in love with Agatha; they simply weren’t attracted to gendered people. Syrial felt some guilt for not reciprocating that affection, but even more guilt once she died to save Syrial, taking Syrial’s place when Syrial was about to run into a collapsing building to try and provide medical care on a planetary visit that should have been routine. This was in 2388, while serving on the Mercy. Syrial felt like they had failed all the expectations of the J’naii. Agatha might not have been a patient, but she was a friend, and Syrial considered themselves in part responsible for her death. Syrial threw away all their ambitions and spent a year just plodding along in life trying to find themselves. Their next year of service was good, medically adept, but uninspired. They were transferred between a few ships who had heard good things about their relatively young promotion and serious attitude, only to find what was, more or less, a depressed and jaded doctor. They still remained a loyal officer, but obedient and without creativity or enthusiasm. After a while they finally came to terms with Agatha’s death, behind a shield of overt positivity - though there’s still some holes in that shield: Syrial doesn’t believe themselves worthy of trust or responsibility, and is still terrified of the concept of death. By the time of their next reassignment in 2389, Syrial was practically a new person. They were enthusiastic, optimistic through their strange brand of pessimism, and fun-loving. Better than the previous year, of course, but different than the person they had been before. This personality was surprisingly endearing to some, and while Syrial now tried to avoid responsibility, they decided that mental rule didn’t apply for medical care and so they continued to act as a competent doctor. They never stayed on one ship too long though, partially because of the luck of the draw with where Starfleet assigned them, and partially because they didn’t want to stay on a ship for long enough to anybody to really trust them, because they didn’t trust themselves - hopefully a hurdle they can overcome in the course of their time on the Chimera. They actually turned down a couple positions on larger ships for one where they might be with a crew further out in the stars… and with less expectations and hopefully less actual work. |
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| Service Record | 2370-2371: Cadet, Starfleet Academy 2371-2378: Leave of Absence; Student at J’naii Institute of Medicine & Residency 2378-2381: Cadet, Starfleet Academy 2381-2383: Ensign, Additional Studies at Starfleet Medical 2383-2384: Ensign, Medical Officer, USS Nyla 2384-2385: Ensign, Medical Research at Starfleet Medical 2385-2386: Ensign, Medical Officer, USS Dragon 2386-2386: Ensign, Medical Officer, USS Seattle 2386-2387: Lieutenant JG, Medical Officer, USS Seattle 2387-2388: Lieutenant JG, Medical Officer, USS Mercy 2388-2388: Lieutenant JG, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Mercy 2388-2388: Lieutenant JG, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Heroism 2388-2388: Lieutenant JG, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Seattle 2388-2389: Lieutenant JG, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Meadowlark 2389-2391: Lieutenant JG, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Johnson 2391-2392: Lieutenant, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, USS Johnson 2392-2392: Lieutenant, Additional Studies at Starfleet Medical in Genetics 2392-2393: Lieutenant, Chief Medical Officer, USS Rose 2393-2394: Lieutenant, Chief Medical Officer, USS Mexico 2394-???: Lieutenant, Chief Medical Officer, USS Chimera |